Awakened (Intimate Relations) (4 page)

His short burst of
People
magazine fame hadn’t been at all helpful in fixing things. In fact, that period in his life had been an absolute nightmare. In spite of all he’d done, inside he knew he would never succeed enough, earn enough, achieve enough to feel as if he had value.

The women who’d suddenly flocked to him had definitely reinforced that image—they hadn’t cared about Marc Reed, but they were sure as hell interested in his net worth.

Tonight, though, Mandy was looking at him as if he were the answer to every dream she’d ever had. It was an unfamiliar feeling, to look into a woman’s eyes, a woman he found absolutely fascinating, and see that emotion returned. Unfamiliar and terrifying.

“You are so beautiful.” He reached for her and again he wished he could be what she needed, what she wanted. “Ah, Mandy. So perfect. You have no idea…”

She stepped into his embrace, wrapped her arms around his waist, lay her head against his bare chest, and mumbled, “No, Marc. You have no idea.”

He felt her shudder. Was she crying? “Mandy?”

When she raised her head, she was smiling, her lips twitched and thank goodness it was laughter, not tears. He didn’t get it. Not at all, and his frown must have told her exactly that.

“What?” She rolled her eyes in a most dramatic fashion. “Marc, I told you. Six, maybe seven years ago at least, I was watching you. I had the biggest crush on that hot guy on the bike, kept waiting for him to come in for coffee, but he never stopped. I wondered where he was going, who he was, what he did. Then when I saw the picture in
People
of Marcus Reed, I thought that must have been you in spite of the old bike, but I realized that if it was you, you were so far out of my league that there was no way in hell we’d ever end up…” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “But here we are, so let’s just stop talking, okay?”

He tightened his arms around her and held her close. “Works for me. But Mandy…”

“Yes, Marc?”

He laughed. “Don’t expect a guy with smooth moves. I’m much better with software than I am with women.”

“Hmm … all that tweaking of code, fingers flying on the keyboard? It’s got to be good training for something.” She slipped her fingers beneath the waistband of his jeans and he rolled his hips forward without thinking. She raised her head and stared at his mouth. “Your sexy lips pursed in concentration, working on some tough code. Yeah. Definitely good.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sexy lips?” He sucked in a sharp breath. “One can hope.”

She glanced up, smiling, and then focused on his pants again. She flipped the metal stud free at the waistband and lifted the tab on his zipper. Slowly, with both of them watching the snail-speed progress, she drew the tab down, unzipping his pants one set of metal teeth at a time.

The sound echoed in the room, or at least it sounded that way to his heightened senses.

By the time she reached the bottom, his cock was pressing against the fly of his cotton knit boxers and he had to grab her hands.

“If you so much as touch me, the party’s going to end right here.”

“Really?” Eyes wide, she stared innocently up at him. Innocent like a barracuda …

He leaned close and kissed the big grin off her mouth. Damn, but her lips were so good, full, and warm, and when he lifted her against him and felt the soft press of her warm breasts against his chest, his whole body shivered with the shock of connection, the full knowledge that he needed to be inside Mandy now. He broke the kiss, inhaled, exhaled, sucked in another deep breath, and turned them both toward the bed.

When he fell, it was with Mandy on top of him. She landed with her knees to either side of his thighs, her hands grasping his shoulders. He lifted just enough to grab the nipple on her left breast between his lips, sucking it into his mouth, pressing the tautly furled tip with the flat of his tongue.

Her body was sleek and warm, her nipple a hard knot of puckered flesh between his lips, and he couldn’t get enough of her.

She moaned and arched her back, but then she was scrambling out of his reach, grabbing the waistband of his jeans and tugging them down his hips. His boxers went with the denim, though she had to pause and lift the elastic over his erection. Biting back a terribly unmanly sigh of relief, Marc raised his hips so Mandy could pull all the offending cotton over his ass, down his legs, and off.

She sat back on her heels and stared at him. His cock twitched, standing there between his thighs, leaning most obscenely in Mandy’s direction. He thought of it as a homing device and almost laughed when that simple thought had him swelling harder, larger.

Raising her head, Mandy made eye contact and then slowly shook her head. “I can’t believe you’ve been hiding this from me, Mr. Reed.”

He laughed. It was so simple—she made him happy. He’d enjoyed her friendship from the very beginning, but this? He’d been afraid to even dream of something like this, but he grabbed Mandy at the waist, rolled with her, and held her down with his cock planted firmly against the silky, sexy, pink panties.

So close, but he had to know. “Promise me this won’t change us? That you won’t be angry and want me out of your life? I’m so afraid of ruining what we have.”

“You sure you’re not just concerned about missing out on Lola’s cooking if we screw this friendship up?”

He really did have to bite his lip to keep from laughing. “There is that, and yes, I’ve taken it into consideration. I’m her boss. I can always install a kitchen at the office.”

“I see.” She ran her fingertip along his jawline and sighed dramatically. “Then I guess we’ll just have to wing it.” The laughter, the twinkling humor in her eyes sort of faded away as she studied him. “I want you now, Marc. I can’t imagine this being anything but wonderful.”

There really wasn’t a response for that. Not verbally, anyway. He dipped his head and ran his tongue around the nipple on her left, the one on her right. Suckled that taut bud between his lips, tugging enough to wring a moan from Mandy. He repeated the process on the left one, used his lips and teeth this time.

Her short, sharp pants had to be an affirmative response. He hoped.

He kissed his way down her ribcage, mouthing each rib’s rise and fall until he reached the sleek skin over her stomach, tasting her, not following any rules or thoughts beyond what felt right, what he wanted, what he hoped Mandy wanted. Inhaling her subtle fragrance, tasting the unique flavors that were all Mandy, exploring freely after so many nights of needing, wanting. Her fingers slid through his short hair as he nuzzled her hip bones and finally moved lower to press his mouth over the satiny crotch of her panties.

He exhaled, a warm, damp breath that had Mandy rolling her hips, tightening her fingers against his skull, holding him in place. He exhaled again and felt her stomach muscles contract.

This was something he’d never done before, had never really thought about until he met Mandy. Since then? He’d fantasized for weeks, tasting Mandy in his dreams, peeling the clothing away from her body, kissing her all over.

Lifting himself up on his elbows, he rolled the elastic band down over her hips, exposing the dark blond curls between her legs and the soft pink folds of her sex already swollen and damp with her arousal. He’d never seen anything so erotic in his life.

“Take them off. Please?” She grabbed the waistband and shoved, lifting her hips. Marc went back on his heels and helped her, tugging the tiny scrap of satin over her long legs. So sleek and muscular—that long walk to and from work every day kept her in excellent shape.

Sometimes she ran with him, and following her had been its own kind of hell. Watching that perfect ass, those long, sleek legs. He ran his hands from the tops of her thighs to her ankles, feeling the lean strength beneath her silky smooth skin, the firm muscles. She wasn’t laughing anymore. There was a dark pink flush to her cheeks, across her chest, over her abdomen.

Arousal had never been so beautiful. Kneeling between her thighs, he slipped his hands beneath her hips, gently palmed her perfectly shaped bottom and lifted her to his mouth, his attention focused on the tightly furled lips of her sex. He glanced up, caught her watching him with a look of absolute wonder in her eyes. “Are you okay with this?”

“Yes. Definitely yes.” She smiled and lay her head back on the pillow. Waved her fingers in his direction. “Don’t let me stop you.”

“Right.” How he actually managed a wink, he wasn’t sure. His cock had never been this hard, rising up against his belly, fluid already covering the tip, more than ready to find a home deep inside Mandy. Doing his best to ignore the stubbornly persistent thing, he dipped his head and ran the flat of his tongue over her. She was wet and hot, her taste like nothing he’d expected.

He wanted more. He licked her again, going deeper, spearing his tongue between her damp folds, but when he found the taut nub at the top of her sex, she arched into him with a soft whimper. He felt as if he’d found the Holy Grail.

Had he found it on any of the other women? Certainly not with his mouth, probably not even with his fingers. He hadn’t taken any of those women to bed. They’d taken him.

That
People
magazine Mandy had saved? He’d been overwhelmed by the sudden feminine interest, women dragging him from the obscurity of his quiet workshop into what had turned into almost two months of constant but meaningless sex with the most predatory females he’d ever met. He really had gone a little crazy.

At least he’d finally come to his senses, but not until he’d had sex with close to a dozen women—never anyone more than once—and it had been some of the worst times he could remember. He never, ever wanted to feel that way again. A commodity, somebody one lucky girl hoped to snag, at least long enough to get her hands on his rapidly growing income.

He didn’t remember any of their names, didn’t care to see any of them ever again. Each and every single one of them had been a beautiful, intelligent predator. He’d come to his senses after one particularly bad evening and hadn’t been with a woman since.

Mandy was more than making up for all those terrible nights. As her body writhed in his hands, he grew more confident with each lick and stroke. When he thought she might be close to coming, he concentrated on her clitoris—such a technical name for that small nub of nerves at the top of her sex—ground zero for all those wonderful sighs and whimpers she was making. He held her bottom with his left hand, teased along her cleft with his right, entering her with two and then three fingers.

He was fairly big and he didn’t want to hurt her, but this he’d actually researched, proof Mandy was right—computer skills weren’t all about the software.

He wrapped his lips around her clit and tongued, then suckled that sensitive bit of flesh. Thrust deep inside her with his fingers. Her knees clamped the sides of his head, her vaginal walls clamped down on his fingers, her body arched, and she screamed.

He’d never imagined Mandy as a screamer, but he couldn’t stop grinning as he slowly brought her down and then reached for one of the condoms on the bedside table. He had himself sheathed and back between her knees in a heartbeat. Carefully he took himself in hand and pointed his erect cock at Mandy’s center with his eyes locked on hers, on the dreamy look on her face, the sparkle of tears in her eyes.

She wanted him, Marcus Reed. The man, not his money, not his name. Just him. He pressed forward, she lifted her hips, he pushed harder and filled her, and it was unlike any other time with any other woman. He was meant to be here, with Mandy. She was beyond unique, and she was his. He’d never wanted anything or anyone this much. Somehow, some way, he had to figure out how to keep her—and keep her safe. He leaned forward and kissed her. Put his heart and soul in his kiss, hoping like hell he didn’t screw this up. Not this, not when, for the first time in his life, he knew exactly how coming home should feel.

*   *   *

Still in shock when Marc’s lips met hers, Mandy opened to him. His lips were damp, even his chin, and she knew she tasted herself in his kiss. It was wonderful and raw, and so erotic she trembled. He filled her, so completely, so perfectly, she almost cried. Maybe she would. Later.

She’d never once been with a man who’d gone down on her. For that matter, she’d never gone down on a guy, either, but she wanted to. With Marc, she wanted to do everything. His lips parted over hers, his tongue swept boldly across her teeth, tangled with hers before he gently ended the kiss. She arched to the stretch and burn as he thrust deep between her legs, slowly pulled out, and then tilted his hips and just as slowly filled her again.

“More,” she said, and wondered who this woman was, asking Marc for more. “I want all of you, Marc. Harder. Faster.”

He sucked in a breath. “I don’t want to hurt you, Mandy. I’m big. You’re tiny.” His laugh sounded beautifully strained. She liked that. A lot.

“Not that small, and I’m a lot tougher than I look.” She raised her hips, meeting him mid thrust, felt the thick head of his cock slide across her cervix. “So good. More.”

“Greedy, aren’t you?”

“Only for you. I’ve waited so long.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and palmed his taut butt. The man had an exquisite body, toned and sleek, and while he’d said he wasn’t good with women, she wasn’t sure how he could get any better. “Unrequited lust isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

“Truth,” he said, and he rolled his hips, thrust harder, faster.

Her body was already spiraling high, finding that peak once again. Another first. She’d never come with a man during sex. It always took a little help, if not from the guy, then she’d do it herself, but tonight—with Marc—it appeared that wasn’t going to be a problem. Not at all.

He went back on his heels, taking Mandy with him. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck, and her heels pressed against his butt. He pounded into her, deeper, harder, so much deeper than before. From this angle, he managed to connect with her clit on every pass, but when he leaned close and took her nipple between his lips and teeth everything connected—a super-charged bolt of sensation linked her breasts, his mouth, her womb, his cock.