“What about the rest?” Sam asked.
“The rest of what?”
“Your body. You have to bathe everything at some point.” Of course she would. But…
“Are you offering to help?”
“Absolutely.” He grinned.
“If we do that,” she said directly, and out loud, “it will lead to much more than simple washing.”
“You seem pretty sure of that.”
“Completely.”
“I realize that there were extenuating circumstances, but I feel like I still need to test to see that you retained some of the knowledge I attempted to impart last night.” Ah, yes, the
examination
he’d said she would need to be sure that she’d learned what she needed to from his instruction. The idea of it last night had excited her and this morning was nothing different.
Sam reached for her bottle of liquid body wash and soaped his hands. Not the bright blue net sponge hanging around the lid of the body wash, but his bare hands.
“You gonna take that swimming suit off?” he asked.
“No.”
Evidently her lack of hesitation amused him. He chuckled. “I realize that I have more experience than you do with this, but I figured you knew that naked was part of the sex thing.”
75
Erin Nicholas
She was going to give in. They both knew it. But she still wanted to make him work for it. “It’s not a
requirement
, though.”
“Makes things easier.”
“True. But insisting on naked limits the time and place, doesn’t it?” He grinned and reached for a foot, that he began soaping. It was heavenly and Danika let herself moan in appreciation.
“You’re an any-time-any-place girl?”
“I like to have options.”
“I like to see what I’m doing.” He ran his slippery hand up her calf and back down.
“I figured you’d be good enough by now to find your way around without looking.” He chuckled. “I haven’t gotten lost for a long time.” He switched to her other foot and calf.
“I’ll bet,” she muttered. The truth was, Sam was way out of her league. She didn’t doubt that she could still stay in control sexually with him, but she wasn’t sure she’d want to. Which definitely meant she couldn’t even get close.
At least not any closer than letting him soap her thighs.
“Back to the issue of how to know if you learned anything last night…”
“I’ve been busy, what with the ER and all. I haven’t had time to study,” she protested, as butterflies kicked up a party in her stomach.
His voice was husky, his eyes hot, as he slide his hand to her inner thigh and ran it from knee to just centimeters short of the crotch of her swimming suit. “This is a pop quiz. No warning or prep time.” She wasn’t a bit scared, or even intimidated, by him. Just excited. “All right, I’m ready.”
“Okay.” He switched his hand to her left arm, running his palm up and down the length from wrist to shoulder. “True or false—you need dildos, gel and videos in order to have an orgasm.” With him? No question. “False.”
He leaned in and kissed her. It was unexpected, but very, very good. Slow and deep.
When he lifted his head, she was breathing hard. He ran his hand, and the soap, over the skin on her shoulder, neck and chest that was exposed by the swimming suit.
“True or false—you need sexy underwear to have an orgasm.” She shivered as the left strap of her suit slid off her shoulder.
“False,” she said, somehow.
“Very good,” he murmured, leaning in and capturing her lips again as his hand brushed over the skin exposed just above her breast.
He ran his hand down, over her breast and ribs to her stomach, dragging soap over the nylon fabric.
Like she cared. Especially when his hand returned to cup her left breast and teased the nipple into a tight, stiff point. She should stop him, she thought as she let her head fall back. In a minute.
76
Just Like That
“True or false—you need a penis inside of you to have an orgasm.” His breath was hot against her ear.
She gasped as his hand rubbed back and forth over her stomach, then slid lower, palm down, to cup her through the swimming suit.
Even with material between them it felt amazing.
Then he slipped under the elastic edge, brushing over her curls.
“Um.” She thought hard, trying to remember the question as her mind wanted to simply stop thinking and just feel. “I’m thinking that’s also—” She gasped as the pad of his finger brushed over her clitoris.
“False,” she breathed. “Usually.”
His finger stopped moving and she moaned. “What do you mean
usually
?” She pried her eyes open. Then she shifted, trying to get closer to his finger. But he wouldn’t resume the motion.
“What do you mean
usually
, Danika?”
“I mean, it’s probably false for most women. I’m not sure about with me,” she managed breathlessly.
Sam chuckled. “You can’t be serious.”
Her sanity was returning slowly. “
Why
would I joke about that? Especially right now?”
“You are not going to have a problem having an orgasm.”
“I have so far.”
“But we have something important here.”
“Your finger?” she asked, trying to wiggle closer.
He chuckled. “That’s not hurting the situation. But I was talking about the heat.” Her heart began pounding again, but it was different this time.
The heat
. Just like her sister had described.
“You feel it, don’t you, Dani?” He rubbed his lips back and forth across hers.
She was going to remind him not to call her Dani. It was too tomboyish. Not sexy or feminine. Except when Sam said it.
She nodded. “Yes.”
“You feel how your body temperature goes up, your heart starts racing, you can’t get a deep breath—
all just when I look at you. Because you know that I’m thinking about touching you slow and deep and long…” His finger stroked down and then his finger slipped inside of her, causing them to moan in unison.
Sam found his voice again. “Until you’re crazy for something only I can give you. And you’re body is getting ready. Priming for that moment when you need my body—the motion, the pressure, the friction—
more than you need your next breath.”
His finger stroked in and out and Danika thought she might possibly cry from the pleasure.
77
Erin Nicholas
“It’s that heat that your body puts off to make my body want to be closer and closer. And deeper and deeper.” He stroked again. “It’s not your brain, or your heart, it’s body heat—pure and simple.” He leaned over and sucked on her nipple through the wet fabric of her suit, while his finger slid deep again.
Then he kissed her, his tongue mimicking his finger’s motion. Danika’s eyes had closed at some point as Sam’s lips continued their torture. Maybe it wasn’t her brain in the rational-think-it-out-and-make-a-decision way, but it was her imagination and her nerve endings and every one of her five senses. They were all engaged and excited and working overtime.
Sam knew exactly what he was doing. His words in her ear—and her own fantasies—were as powerful as his hands on her body. Combined they were enough to make her feel so
close
. Or at least as close as she’d ever been.
“Sam,” she moaned as his finger stroked in and out again. She had to stop him.
“See, you have every potential to be a firecracker in bed. You just need the right spark to start you off.”
“Sam…” she started. Then he pressed with perfect, exquisite pressure on
exactly
the right spot. How did he know how to do that?
“Let yourself go,” he breathed against her neck. His finger circled again. “Come for me, Dani,” he urged. “Let it go.” He slipped two fingers into her, his thumb still on her sweet spot.
She wanted to. She wanted Sam to be the one to send her over the edge. Which was crazy and delicious and amazing.
And bad. Really, really bad.
She immediately pushed on Sam’s shoulder at the same time she tried to pull her hips away from his.
“Whoa.” Her body rejected the idea of moving away from Sam. “Sam, stop,” she panted.
His fingers froze. “
What?
”
“Stop. You have to stop.” Her mouth was the only part of her body that even understood the word
“stop” at that moment.
“You’ve
got
to be kidding me.”
His hand and lips didn’t move away from her but they did stop…well, moving.
She dragged in a deep breath and pushed more firmly on his chest. “I’m not kidding.” He moved a finger. “You don’t mean it.”
She bit back a groan and shook her head vehemently. “I do. You have to stop.” Sam gritted his teeth and slowly—very slowly—removed his hand from under the edge of her suit.
“
Why?
” he asked.
She sat up straighter, concentrating on breathing…and not begging him to put his hand right back.
“I just…can’t. I don’t even know you that well.” It seemed like such a stupid thing to say, considering all the time they’d spent talking.
78
Just Like That
“You told me when we left the bar that you didn’t want to know me.”
“Right. I don’t.”
“So…”
She twisted, trying to get her left hand on the edge of the tub to help her get up. Sam took her by her upper arms and put her on her feet.
Don’t look at him, don’t look at him. He thinks you’re a crazy person
.
You
are
a crazy person. Don’t
look at him.
She looked up, wanting to ask him…something…anything.
Instead, she just stared.
And bit her tongue.
She wanted him. More than she’d ever even imagined a woman could want a man. Almost as bad, she liked him. He was exactly the kind of guy she could fall for. For real.
She didn’t want to fall for anyone for real.
She took one last look at Sam’s face. Then stepped out of the tub and allowed him to dry her off with her towel. Neither of them spoke. Which helped her avoid asking him when his birthday was, what his favorite pasta was, or any other ridiculous personal thing that would mean she knew something about him other than the fact that he could single-handedly put the clitoral warming gel companies out of business.
It took three Meg Ryan movies in a row, but Sam finally realized Danika was trying to drive him away.
She’d fallen asleep hiding in her bedroom after the bathtub incident and when he’d cracked the door and seen, he’d run home for some clothes and supplies. But he’d come back here to shower, not wanting to leave her longer than necessary.
Ever since she’d come out into the hallway as he stepped from the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist, she’d been trying to get him to leave—to go to work, then to go check on Natalia and the others, and then just to go to the grocery store.
But the harder she pushed to get him out, the more determined he became to stay.
He knew she was scared of him. Not that she thought he would hurt or endanger her physically, but she was scared that he could make her give in, scared that he
would
make her give in eventually. Because he would.
He didn’t know why she’d pulled back from what had been happening in the tub. He had no idea why she would want to avoid that pleasure. She wanted him, he was positive. She even liked him.
Whatever her reason, he would respect it. For now. When he took Danika to that ultimate pinnacle, it would be because she asked him to.
79
Erin Nicholas
He wasn’t leaving until that happened.
In the meantime, she’d tortured him with a marathon of romantic comedies. It wasn’t his pick of how to spend eight hours on the couch, but at least he was with Danika. And she wasn’t using her casted hand for anything.
The credits were rolling for
French Kiss
when she turned to him. “Aren’t you bored?” He lifted a shoulder. “I’m not a big sitter,” he admitted. “Want to take a walk?”
“You should definitely go take a walk.” She said it enthusiastically.
Wow, she did want to get rid of him. He held out his hand. “Let’s go.”
“Oh, I don’t feel… I should probably take a nap.”
“Are you tired?” She looked great to him.
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
“Then I’ll wait until you’ve rested. We can go later.”
“No, you go ahead. I’m fine. I’ll just go lie down and…I’ll call you later.”
“How far do you think I’m going to walk?”
She wouldn’t look at him. “But I’m feeling so good. There’s no reason for you to stay.”
“Even if you were just going to eat PB and J, you couldn’t get the jelly jar open by yourself.”
“I’ll order pizza tonight,” she answered.
“Sounds great. I’ll eat anything, but I like all meat best.” He propped a foot on her coffee table and crossed his other ankle over it, settling in. He could be just as stubborn. He’d had plenty of practice in driving his sisters crazy.
Danika didn’t really want him to go—he knew that. And she did need him to stay. There was a lot she couldn’t do with only her left hand.
His phone rang in his pocket. One of the guys was finally calling to see why he was taking the week off, no doubt. He never took off this many days in a row and he’d only called his replacement. The guys didn’t need to know the reason for his absence. Not that they would see it that way.
It was his little sister’s number that showed when he flipped his phone open, though. “Hey, Sara.”
“Where are you?”
He glanced at Danika. “A friend’s. What’s up?”
“I’ve been trying to find you. Jessica’s party’s tonight.” Oh, shit. He was in huge trouble.
“And?” he asked, stalling. He’d totally blown off the fact that tonight was his older sister Jessica’s birthday. They were having a surprise party for her. In about three hours.
“How about the location of the party?” Sara asked sarcastically. “I need to call Ben to pass the word around and I want to get there and decorate.”