Remembrance: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series Book 4) (20 page)

She felt a current of desire snake through her body when he opened his mouth and looked at her playfully, but she schooled her features even though she could feel her face flushing with heat.  She put some mashed potatoes on her spoon then leaned forward to hold it in front of his mouth, pulling the spoon back and teasing him slightly when he moved his mouth forward.  He gave her a look then moved quickly to capture the spoon in his mouth before she could pull it away again.

He chewed thoughtfully then swallowed.

“What do you think
?” she asked.  “They’re great, right?”

“I’ve had better,” he shrugged.

“What?!” she screeched.  “Where?”

“The ones you made on Thanksgiving.  Your mashed potatoes are better than these.” 

She preened under his compliment then joked.  “Was that another sexual innuendo?  I’m trying to think what my ‘mashed potatoes’ could be,” she chuckled.

He licked his lips.  “Something that’s smooth and creamy.”  He made a point to look down her body and settle his gaze between her legs.

She knew she must’ve blushed to the roots of her hair.  “Luke Daniels, you complain about my mouth and yell at me for saying certain things to men, but you’re worse than I am!”

“You said you wanted dirty talk.  Do you want me to remove that from the list?  I told you, tonight was research.”  He looked at her with a sexy laziness, enjoying himself entirely too much.  “If you can’t handle it,” he began, letting his voice hang at the end of his statement and taking another bite of chicken.

She narrowed her eyes at him and pointed her spoon at him.  “I can absolutely handle it, Luke.  It’s just that you haven’t talked to me this way, ever, until a couple of weeks ago so I’m just trying to retrain my brain.”

“Am I offending you?” he asked seriously.  She thought he sounded concerned, but as always he was the master of removing emotion from his face, so she wasn’t sure.

“Of course not.”  She made sure to catch his eye before adding, “I told you I like it.  It’s on the list, isn’t it?”

He smirked.  “It is indeed.  How dirty do you like it, Janie Callahan?”

“Very dirty.”  She made sure to take her time on the syllables of the word ‘very’, rolling it around on her tongue in a sultry tone.  She decided right then and there that she was going to get that foot massage.  And she wasn’t going to scream.  Someone needed to teach him a lesson, so she’d just bite her lip off if necessary…but she absolutely, would, not, scream. No way, no how.

He must’ve read her mind, because he raised an eyebrow, as if impressed with her ‘very dirty’ comment and said, “Well, you better finish up your dinner then because I believe I promised you a foot massage, demonstrating how I make a woman scream with pleasure.”  His eyes smiled at her.  “I can talk dirty while doing it too,” he said,
totally enjoying himself.  “Can you handle it, baby?” 

She was sure her eyes were glazed over because she was beyond turned on at this point, her heartbeat pounding between her legs where a pool of wetness soaked her panties.  She took a deep breath.  “I can take whatever you dish out, Daniels.”

He nodded, thinking.  “You sure about that?”

“This is just to gather research so you can find the perfect guy for me, right?” she clarified, wondering how he would respond.

“Hm,” he sounded affirmatively.  “This will help me know the direction I need to go in searching for that right man.  Your reactions will show me what you like, what you need,” he said quietly.  “Convincing you of my mad skills is just an added bonus,” he said with a quirk to his mouth.

She licked at her bottom lip and put her food down, then stretched out her body on the sofa.  Looking at him, she rested her wrists above her head on the armrest.

“Game on, Lukey.”

“Well, this is g
oing to be fun,” he said with a cocky grin, his eyes moving from her own then proceeding to her hands above her head then down her body.  He set his food down and walked toward the bathroom.  “I’m going to wash my hands.  Where do you keep your body lotion?”

Holy shit, she was really doing this.  “Bottom right drawer of the vanity in the bathroom.”  She barely got the words out before he left the room.  She breathed slowly and closed her eyes,
digging deep for the strength she would need in the coming minutes.  A realization struck her as her eyes flew open.

Shit!
  She bolted up off of the sofa.

“Luke,” she yelled.  “I’ll get the lotion!”  She practically collided into him as he was coming out of the bathroom, lotion in hand.  “Oh, good,” she stammered.  “You found it.  That’s, that’s good,” she swallowed.

The color was high on his cheekbones, but again, his face was expressionless.  The only thing that showed any emotion was his coloring.  “Was there a problem?”

“No, no problem,” she stammered. 
Why would there be a problem?  It’s only the same drawer where I keep my vibrator.  And now I know you’ve seen it.  No problem at all.

He took her arm and led her back to the sofa.  She was already questioning whether she could pull this off without making a fool of herself.  Now that she knew he’d seen her vibrator, she was completely off kilter.

“Lay down, just like you were.  Keep your hands on the armrest like you had them before,” he said softly.

Holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit.

She took a deep breath and lay down on the sofa as she’d been just before her embarrassing realization.  After one more calming breath she closed her eyes briefly just as she heard him turning off one of the side lamps.  Her eyes opened to see the loft cast into shadows with a lone light left on near the kitchen.

Breathe, Janie.

He sat down at the foot of the sofa and peeled her socks off one at a time, placing her feet in his lap after doing so.  He took one sock and stroked her foot to remove the fuzzies that had been left there and she jumped with a nervous laugh.

He chuckled. “Tickles already?  This doesn’t bode well for you, Janie,” he teased.

“I got this,” she said, trying to bolster her courage.

He clasped his fingers together and stretched out his arms in front of him, cracking his knuckles as if preparing to get down and dirty.  He grabbed the lotion.  “It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again,” he said maniacally.

She gut laughed, knowing he was quoting the infamous creepy scene from
Silence of the Lambs
.  After they’d had their chuckle, he spoke again.

“Just keep thinking it’s no different than when you were a kid.  I used to make you scream with laughter all the time.  Now you’re just
going to be screaming with pleasure,” he said confidently, giving her an arrogant look.  “I’m only going to touch your foot and talk to you.”  He lowered his voice.  “You’re going to fight it with everything you’ve got, if I know you.  But you will be screaming, Janie.  Trust me.  I told you when I play for real, I always win.”

She swallowed hard.  “We’ll see,” she said with fake bravado.  Then she took a breath and closed her eyes tightly.

“Uh, uh,” he said. 

She opened her eyes not understanding.  When she made eye contact with him he said, “Don’t close your eyes.  Eyes on me.  The whole time.”  His look was one of challenge.

She swallowed and stared into his eyes.  All of a sudden she was nervous.  Luke was about to give her a foot massage and she was terrified.

“You okay?” he asked, placing his hand over one of her feet, his warm roughened hand on her cold toes feeling like heaven.

Play it cool, Janie.  That’s your new mantra.
  “Why wouldn’t I be?  I’m about to get a foot massage by
the
Luke Daniels.  I hope I don’t scream too loudly.  Wouldn’t wanna scare the neighbors,” she said cheekily.  It came out breathy, like she was about to hyperventilate.

He smiled then squeezed some lotion into his hands.  As he rubbed them together, he inhaled.  “Now I know why you always smell like strawberries and vanilla,” he murmured.  Then he looked back at her and said, “Keep your eyes on me.  No looking away.”

Um.  Okay.

“Okay,” she breathed.

His blue eyes looked intently into hers and he murmured, “Ready?”

She nodded and his hands engulfed one foot as he began rubbing. 

Oh, my.
 

This wasn’t going to be easy.  She immediately bit down on her bottom lip to keep from whimpering.

“Does it tickle?” he asked quietly watching her reaction.  She looked at him and shook her head no.  She took a deep breath and watched him.  At the same time she noticed how fast her stomach was moving, her breaths coming quicker.

“Good, I don’t want it to.  It should be relaxing.  Sensual,” he said under his breath while looking at her.

Keeping eye contact during this was going to be harder than she realized.  She didn’t know how long she could keep it up.  It was as if he was stripping her soul.  She felt vulnerable with him, especially while he looked her in the eye and she was trying not to melt under his touch
and
have a screaming orgasm.

“Relax, Janie.  You’re tensing up.”

She nodded and looked away.

“Look at me,” he reminded her softly, forming a V with two of his fingers and directing them to his eyes.  When she did, he praised, “That’s it.”  She loved when his tone became commanding like that, then softened with encouragement when she did something he liked.  It made her feel special, connected to him, cherished by him.

Just then his thumb kneaded right under her big toe and she seriously felt like she’d just creamed herself.  She bit down even harder on her lip and squirmed, gripping the arm rest above her with her hands.  He kept at it and she thought she was going to jump out of her skin.  It felt
incredible.
 

She closed her eyes to focus.

“Open them and look at me, Janie,” he said.  She whimpered quietly and opened her slumberous eyes finding his drilling into her.  “What are you feeling right now?”

“I think you just found a knot or something,” she whispered, not able to speak any louder.

His eyes smiled at her and he said quietly, “No, not a knot.  This spot right here,” he said as he pressed under her big toe, “is a very special area of the foot.  Do you know why?” he asked in a sexy soft voice.

She shook her head slowly.

“Where do you feel it on your body when I press here?”  He was so quiet, so sensual.  With the lights dim, she was on a cloud of sensation.

“Everywhere,” she breathed.  And she did.  It was like her brain totally switched into sex mode.

He chuckled.  His thumb moved lower under her big toe until he was kneading right in the center of her arch, creating circles over and over. 

“How about now?” he asked.  So quietly, softly.

It was like an arrow straight to the core of her body, where the pressure built and she could feel the slick folds rubbing against each other every time she moved to release some of the tension.

She bit harder onto her lip.

“Tell me.”  He wasn’t letting up.  He wouldn’t stop looking at her, probing her with his eyes as his hand found the ball of her foot and he pressed.

She swallowed and tried to calm her accelerated breathing.  “I’m feeling good.  It feels good.  You’re very good at this, Luke,” she babbled, trying to act nonchalant. 
Maybe you could say ‘good’ one more time, Janie.  Geez.

The corner of his mouth moved up.  “I asked you where you were feeling it.”  His fingers moved down to her heel and pressed at her lower arch.

A small groan escaped before she could stop herself and she tried to cover it with a cough, like she had when he’d touched her foot in the shoe store.  “Well, my foot’s feeling pretty good right about now,” she croaked out, finally answering him.

“Tell me more.  Where else does it feel good on your body?”  One of his hands moved to the top of her foot and began making slow hard circles into the skin there, while the thumb from his other hand continued kneading the sole of her foot.  A shudder went through her body and she lost focus, her eyes closing.

“Look at me, Janie.”

Shit.  Her eyes sprung open and found his again.  God, she wanted him.  His eyes were so intense looking at her; she could feel them touching her skin.

“Tell me where you feel it,” he demanded softly, his voice sounding like velvet scratching on a roughened surface.

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” she practically moaned.  Truthfully, she felt it in her loins.  Is that what he wanted to hear?

“Yes, you do.  I want to hear you say
where
it feels good.  And do you want to know why I already
know
where it feels good, Janie?” he asked, leaning forward.  “Because this spot right here?” he began to say and pressed right above the heel in the center of her arch.

She could feel her eyes closing and her head fell back.  She gritted her teeth. 
Do. Not. Scream.

“Eyes on me.”

She finally managed to pry her eyelids open, gulping for air as quietly as she could.  He was sure to be getting annoyed with having to repeat the same instructions over and over.  She just couldn’t seem to keep her eyes open.  What he was doing to her just felt too good.  He continued speaking.