Best Erotic Romance 2014 (22 page)

Above me, he was a perfect mixture of the powerful creature I barely knew and this new incarnation intent on the basest needs of his own body.

I wondered how I must appear to him, completely unraveled and moaning and begging for more as he fucked me. Was my transformation as stark as his?

The way he moved was perfection, his hips tilted just right so that every thrust brought a delightful bump against my clit. I tipped my head back with a gasp as the first prelude to an orgasm rippled throughout my pussy.

He pounded me harder. “Just like that. I always knew you'd just let go if I got you in bed.”

I would have told him to shut up again, but as he went on
urging me to come I couldn't imagine anything could get me wetter. I reached around and cupped his ass. Muscle went taut beneath my palms each time he pushed deep.

“Oh
fuck
,” I managed to push over my tongue as heat flooded me.

I surged up, only to be brought down by Teal's power as he slammed into me. His gaze finally left me as he tipped his head back, his moan cut off with the last thrust that drove me to the center of the bed.

It was as though I had been locked in time, suspended midair by the psychotic pleasure that seemed to have no end. I held on, keeping him deep inside and reveling in the glorious throb that lingered where his dick twitched between my slippery walls.

And then, with a deep breath from each of us, it was over. Teal sagged, his face a mask of exhaustion, and rolled away.

Even as I basked, my body pumping with adrenaline, worry reappeared. We'd burned—
boy
, had we burned—but would Teal go cold on me again?

As though reading my thoughts, he reached out and dragged me into his arms. Tangled up and surrounded by his strength, I felt so safe. I always felt safe with Teal, but with his heart thumping beneath my cheek I felt more than that—I was his to keep safe.

“That was unexpected,” he said at last, and laughed when I did. “No, really. I really was going to make you sleep on the sofa.”

“It's a good thing you changed tactics. You know how I am in the morning if I haven't had a decent sleep.”

I pushed up so I could look at him. Goddamn, if he wasn't smiling. A real fucking ear-to-ear smile.

“I don't want you to quit on me,” I said, running my fingers along his bare chest. “You're the only person who doesn't budge
when I push. I like that. I like you.”

“I think you can convince me to stick around, as long as you don't have me running off after you in the middle of the night again.”

“I'd like to think I'll be otherwise occupied in the middle of the night.”

I kissed him. I couldn't get enough of him. The phenomenon of his mouth hard and bruising mine, tongue twisting, made me higher than any number of shots could, or stripping down and jumping in the ocean.

And what a high.

“Don't you forget,” he muttered, his hand sliding down to my ass, “I still have one more smack left.”

“Don't think I won't find a reason to get you to use it.” He squeezed my ass and I squealed. It didn't hurt, but I was still a little tender. I settled back down, chin propped on his shoulder, and grinned. “Don't worry, I'll be very good in public, but now that I know what's in store for me you can bet I'll work extra hard at being very bad behind closed doors.”

GOING IT ALONE

Lucy Felthouse

As I sat at the table cradling my cup of tea, I contemplated making a run for it. Checking my watch, I ascertained that there were still fifteen more minutes before he was due to arrive, so I could easily leave enough money on the table to pay for my drink and go. I'd be hiding behind my curtains at home before he even arrived.

It wouldn't work, though. He knew where I lived, so if I didn't turn up, he'd come around to my house to see if everything was all right. He was that kind of guy.

I berated myself for thinking about standing him up. He didn't deserve that, not one bit. I was just being a wimp. We'd have a lovely afternoon, I was sure of it. After all, we'd already had dozens of conversations and spent quite a lot of time with each other, and yet this was our first official date. The first time we'd be alone together—albeit in a busy cafe.

The thing that was terrifying me the most wasn't that this was a date, it was that we'd be there without our buffers. Otherwise
known as our dogs, Sparky and Chance.

That's how we'd met. I'd been walking Sparky through the park one afternoon and spotted a man and his dog coming in the other direction. I'd expected a polite smile and a nod as we passed, but the canines obviously had other ideas. They'd both strained on their leads to sniff at each other, and as I tugged at Sparky's lead to pull him away, it became apparent that he didn't want to leave. Nor did the other dog. Sighing, I let Sparky do his own thing for a little while, hoping the pair would tire of their bottom-sniffing and allow us all to go our separate ways.

The other dog's owner had obviously had the same idea, and we stood opposite each other as our pets continued their mutual examination. I had the awful thought that Sparky was going to try to mount the other dog and embarrass the hell out of me, so I had to ask, “Is yours a dog or a bitch?”

“A dog.”

I heaved a sigh of relief. “Ah, mine too. They certainly seem to like each other.”

We looked down, then back up at each other, smiling.

And that was how it started. We ended up chatting about our dogs: their breeds, their age, funny anecdotes about them and so on. The entire time I was thinking about how attractive he was. He had dark cropped hair, lovely hazel eyes and a killer smile. His voice and laugh also had the ability to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up—in a good way.

By the time we parted ways, dragging our reluctant pets behind us, I had the world's biggest crush. And I didn't even know his name.

Later, it occurred to me to wonder why I hadn't seen him around before. I'd always walked Sparky in that park, and I'd have certainly remembered seeing
him
there.

A few days later, I found out. I was taking a brief pause in my
work as a self-employed accountant, and happened to look out of the window just as he walked past with his dog, who I now knew was called Chance.

My brief pause became considerably longer as I scrambled downstairs to put some shoes and a coat on, grab Sparky's lead and head out of the door, with a confused-looking dog padding along behind me. I knew I was behaving like a crazy woman, but I didn't care. Ever since we'd met in the park, I hadn't been able to stop thinking about him. It was insane, and ever so slightly disturbing, but I couldn't help it.

He'd done something to me, and damned if I wasn't going to see it through. It occurred to me that he might not be available or he might not fancy me, but I wasn't bothered. I'd rather know either way, than spend more time torturing myself about it.

I walked toward the park, taking a different route than the one he and Chance had used, meaning we'd probably meet in the middle, like we had before. I just hoped he
was
heading for the park. There were plenty of other places he could have gone, and I couldn't wander aimlessly around the entire village looking for him. That would be full-on stalker behavior, as opposed to the milder form I was adopting now.

Thankfully, though, my scheming paid off. As planned, we met in the middle of the park. As soon as we got close, our respective animals' joy at seeing each other meant it would be almost impossible to pass by without talking again.

“Hello again,” he said, as we stood side by side, watching our excitable pets.

“Hi,” I replied, biting back the next words that wanted to come out of my mouth.
Fancy seeing you here
.

“Shall we let 'em off for a run?” he said, indicating the dogs.

My response was to bend and unclip Sparky's lead from his
collar. My new crush did the same for Chance. They immediately bounded off, playing some crazy game of chase, and I headed toward a nearby bench with the guy in tow.

This time, I found out more about him. His name was Jake, and he'd just moved to the area. That explained why I hadn't seen him before. From there, we chatted about a variety of things, and although I didn't ask him outright, the way he spoke led me to believe he was free and single. I mentally rejoiced. Our talk remained fairly superficial, and any lull in conversation was taken up by the antics of the dogs, who occasionally bounded over to us to say hello in their panting doggy way, leaving muddy paw prints on our clothes, then running off again.

Which is why I was so terrified of our being on an actual date. Up until now, the dogs had always been there as a talking point if we ran out of things to say, and an excuse to go home after an appropriate length of time. They'd helped us avoid awkward silences and given us an excuse to be there in the first place.

This time, however, we were going it alone. I felt pressured to be witty and entertaining and make sparkling conversation. The fact that I really liked him made it so much worse. I was just about to make a mental list of things we could talk about when he walked in. I had a few seconds to admire him before he glanced in my direction and smiled before heading over to the table.

Desperate not to show my nervousness, I went for the nonchalant look, taking a sip of my tea and hoping that he didn't notice when I dribbled some down my chin. I swept the back of my hand across my face as subtly as possible and was once again cradling my cup when Jake reached me.

“Hi, Debbie,” he said, his proximity already causing my heart rate to increase, “can I get you a top up?” He indicated my drink.

“Yes, please. That would be lovely. Tea with milk and two sugars, please.”

Giving a nod, Jake made his way to the counter. I watched him go, enjoying the spectacular view of his rear end, and desperately hoping he wouldn't turn and catch me looking.

Soon, he was back with our drinks and he quickly engaged me in conversation. We'd already covered all the basic stuff people talk about in our many chats in the park, so we were onto deeper stuff, like exes, education, family; that kind of thing. It wasn't until I finished my second drink—which was tepid by then—that I happened to glance at my watch.

“Bloody hell, is that the time?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Jake raised an eyebrow. “You got somewhere else you need to be?”

“No, not at all. I just didn't realize we'd been here that long. I bet poor Sparky's crossing his legs though!”

Jake grinned. “I bet he is. I left Chance in the garden, so he'll be fine. Do you need to go back and check on him? I'll walk you back if you want.”

I don't know what it was that made me suddenly so bold, but my next words surprised even me. “I've got a better idea.” I lowered my voice. “Rather than paying for more tea here, why don't we go back to my house and have some for free? Or you can even have something else to drink, if you like!”

“Oooh, you do spoil me,” Jake said with a wink, sipping the last of his drink. “But I like your idea very much. Just let me go and settle our bill and I'll meet you outside.”

Before I could mention paying my share, he'd jumped up and was already moving to the counter. Sighing happily, I made sure everything was in my bag, grabbed my coat and headed outside. I was just thinking about how hot Jake was and wondering if
he fancied me as much as I fancied him when he appeared next to me.

“Ready?”

“Yep. Sure you can handle the long walk?” I was being sarcastic, of course. My house was just a few minutes' walk away.

“Oh, I think so. There's life in the old boy, yet!”

I elbowed him playfully in the side. “Hey, if you're an old boy, then that makes me an old girl!”

“How so?”

“Well, I'm only a year younger than you.”

We had a tongue-in-cheek argument about who was old and who wasn't, and soon we were back at my house. Once I'd grabbed my keys and unlocked the back door, we were met by an excitable Sparky, who bounded around our legs a couple of times, then disappeared into the garden. We shrugged off our coats and hung them on the rack by the door, which I left open so Sparky could get back in. Then I moved into the kitchen and filled and flicked on the kettle.

I turned to ask Jake what he wanted to drink, fully expecting him to be looking around the house—I know I would have been had the roles been reversed—but instead was startled to find him standing close behind me.

“Oh, h-hello,” I said, his proximity making me nervous, “you all right?”

“Yes,” he replied quietly. His intense gaze made my heart pound, and an unexpected rush of arousal headed to my groin. He said nothing else, just continued to look at me, and I had to resist the temptation to squirm.

“Are you all right”—he took a step closer, trapping me between his warm body and the work top—“with this?”

I gulped. “Y-yes.”

“Good, because I'd really like to kiss you now.”