One Hot Night Old Port Nights, Book 1 (5 page)

Most amazingly, there was no television. Several bookcases—and they were full—but no TV. Maybe he got enough of that downstairs, where there must be a dozen of them. Or maybe it was in the bedroom.

“Let me give you the tour.” He took her by the elbow and walked over to the fireplace, a gas-insert, unlike the wood-burning one in the bar. There were various sports awards, trophies and framed pictures on the mantle and the wall around the fireplace. She recognized a few of the celebrities in the photos and was taken with what a large life he’d led.

“My wall of glory.” His tone was self-effacing, but it really was impressive.

“You’ve won so many awards. Are any of them more special to you?”

He picked up one older one and looked at it fondly.

“This was the first state championship that we won when I was eight. We were the underdogs by a big margin, a total fluke that we’d even made it into the finals. When we won the championship, I knew anything was possible. I knew this was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”

He put the trophy back, and Audra was touched by the sincerity in his voice.

“Eight years old? That’s very young.”

“I started playing when I was three,” he said with a laugh.

“Three! How is that even possible? You couldn’t hold a stick.”

“My dad took me out, taught me to skate, taught me moves I needed later. And they make kid-sized sports equipment.”

“He played as well?”

“Strictly amateur leagues. He loves the game, but he never wanted to play professionally. He never pushed me to, either. Not like a lot of parents do. He just wanted to share something he loved with me, and I happened to be good at it.”

“He has to be very proud of what you accomplished.”

Scott nodded. “He was.”

Audra felt a pang in her chest at the sadness in his face.

“He’s gone now?”

“Year before last. Heart attack.”

“Oh, Scott, I’m sorry,” she said, and put a hand on his arm. She remembered a week when the bar had been closed. She knew he was out of town and figured he had some event to attend, but she hadn’t known about his father. Because she’d never asked. She’d kept their interactions strictly professional.

Well, until tonight.

“Thanks. That’s him in the picture of me when we won the Stanley Cup the first year. He came to every single game. His was the first face I saw when I came to after I wiped out on the ice that day, when I wrecked my leg.”

Audra felt her throat tighten at the absolute love in his voice, and the sadness.

“And your mother?”

“She’s fine. Doing better now. She’s been traveling a lot, and she comes by now and then to visit. She sold the house. I don’t think she wanted to stay there anymore without him. My brother bought it—he has four kids, so he needed the space more than I do. They’re here.”

He pointed to another picture of himself, topped on the ground with four grinning kids, three boys and one girl sitting on top of him. Audra smiled.

“They’re cute. And it’s clear they adore you.”

“Same back. They’re a lot of fun.”

“You like kids.” It was a statement, not a question. She knew he coached a local inner-city league, as she’d seen the sign-up announcements in the bar window and in the local newspaper.

“Sure, they’re a lot of fun. How about you?”

“I don’t know many, but they can be cute.”

“You never had your own?”

Audra stiffened, looked away. Shook her head. This wasn’t what she’d come up here for. No soul-searching conversations. They should be naked by now, shouldn’t they?

Scott seemed to sense that he’d hit some invisible tripwire and turned her to him by her shoulders, gathering her in close.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. None of my business.”

“It’s okay. I…it’s nothing I really want to talk about.”

He nuzzled the side of her ear, creating little sparks against her skin that lightened the mood.

“What do you want to talk about?”

She looked up at him. “Maybe I don’t want to talk.”

Audra wasn’t sure if she saw a flash of disappointment in his eyes, it went by so quickly. The next thing she knew, his mouth was on hers, hot and hard, wiping out any thoughts about it.

Yes,
this
was what she wanted.

Her arms snaked around his neck, fingers diving into his thick hair. The kiss was deep and carnal, getting hotter, when she pulled back a little.

“Do you have a shower I could use?”

It felt awkward, but he smiled. “Of course. How about we share?”

Heat coiled down between her thighs as she thought about being in a shower with a completely naked Scott Beckett. This was the kind of sharing she wanted.

“Sharing is good.”

He took her hand and led her down a short hallway through his bedroom—which hosted a massive king bed—and into a large en suite that took her breath away.

“Oh, Scott, this is gorgeous.”

“I had to have the entire unit remodeled when I moved in—the old apartment was completely outdated, bad electric, virtually no plumbing. The designer I hired really did a great job. I have to give her the credit.”

Audra wondered if the designer had built the open-area shower with Scott in mind. He was a big man, and he needed space. A Jacuzzi tub was in the opposing corner and the shower was enclosed by a tiled half-wall, but no doors. It took up almost a quarter of the room, and you could walk right in. There was a long teak bench that went down one side and at least three showerheads that she counted on first glance.

“I may never be able to go back to my little studio bathroom again.” She eyed dual rain showerheads with lust.

“You’re welcome to come up here and share whenever you want.”

He pulled his shirt over his head, and she started to lift her sweater, but he stopped her.

“Let me.”

She was glad for his interruption. Audra wanted this, but suddenly she’d felt more self-conscious, here in his home. It wasn’t fast and frenzied like what had happened in the bar. This was more…intimate. Personal.

His lips covered hers again, nibbling and kissing her. He paused for a moment and pulled her sweater up over her head, tossing it somewhere to the side. His hands slid up over her rib cage and covered her breasts, kneading slightly, before slipping around to undo her bra.

When it was gone, he pulled her in, crushing her breasts against his chest as he kissed her some more. Audra barely noticed when her skirt fell to the floor. She absolutely noticed when his fingers moved down to cup her ass, pressing her into his erection.

“Let’s get wet,” he said hoarsely, standing back to look at her.

“Already am.”

He grinned, and Audra was too pleased with herself to be shocked at her own boldness, her self-consciousness evaporating.

After shucking the rest of their clothes, he walked into the shower and turned various knobs until the water was perfect. He turned another that dimmed the lights in the whole room.

Audra enjoyed watching him more than she could say. He was a powerful man, all lean muscle and hard lines, even more massive as he stood there completely undressed. Water ran down over him, making him even more delicious. Like a statue of male perfection standing in the rain.

He held out a hand. She smiled, happy to join him.

As Audra stepped into the shower, Scott caught his breath. He’d had her not more than an hour before, and he already wanted more. Her body wasn’t sculpted or hard, but perfectly curvy and soft. His fingers flexed, wanting to cradle the curves of her breast, his cock twitching.

He wanted this moment to last. Their first time completely naked together. Her eyes drifted down, past his erection, taking in the crosshatch of marks on his leg, especially around his left knee and upper thigh. He looked down the same as she did.

“From my surgeries.”

She looked at the scars and then up at him. “May I?”

Scott nodded, though he was somewhat apprehensive. He never knew how someone was going to react until they saw the damage up close. Some girls got off on the whole scarred thing, others were repelled. Some thought it made him vulnerable, or tough. To others who wanted to be with a former super-jock, it was a sign of weakness. A reminder that he was simply a man who could be hurt. Badly.

Audra only seemed curious. The water washed over her as she lowered to her knees, getting a closer look at the marks on his leg. They were angry if faded now, but had been incredibly painful at one point. He’d been offered plastic surgery, but he wasn’t that vain. His erection softened a little, thinking about it, remembering those dark days in his life. And wondering what Audra would think.

She ran her hand along one long, jagged white line that reached from the back of his thigh and around the front of his knee. A gentle touch.

She looked up, met his eyes as he watched her.

“What did they do?”

“They tried to fix it the first time, at my insistence. Didn’t work. Everything in there now is titanium. The bone was too severely crushed to heal right.”

“Must be fun getting through the airport.”

He laughed, appreciating her humor as opposed to syrupy sympathy. She continued drifting her fingers over his skin, trailing both hands up over his strong thigh, as if reading him with her hands. She didn’t seem turned on or repelled. His scars were simply a fact and after recording it, she moved on to investigate other mysteries like the back of his calf and the underside of his buttock. Her touch relaxed him, and the blood began flowing again to all the right places.

Audra broke her focus and reached for some soap. Turning it in her hands, she washed him with her touch instead of the sponges or washcloths, making Scott clench his jaw at the sensual pleasure.

This was a first. Normally women wanted him to take control. They wanted him to notice everything about them, focus on them, but Audra seemed content to explore with her soapy, mischievous hands. Scott was happy to let her do anything she pleased.

Her fingers cupped his backside, dancing lightly along the crevice of his ass, making him groan before she sought his dick and treated him to several soapy, sliding strokes.

“Audra.” His voice was choked, and he jerked back a bit as warm water sprayed over his erection. She’d taken the hand shower from the side and was rinsing him off. She continued to use that spray in some wicked new ways as she washed and rinsed his lower body. Then, without missing a beat, she took him deep into her mouth.

“Oh…God…”

Scott braced a hand on the wall, wrapping the other gently in Audra’s hair as she ran her hands back over his legs, his ass, all the while taking him deeper and showing him how a mature woman made love to a man. She took her time. Her patience and the enjoyment she took in the act made it more of an art. She wasn’t showing off or only trying to make him come. She was trying to drive him insane and doing a damned good job of it. Scott felt like his cock was the center of her universe, and that was an incredible turn-on.

She nibbled and sucked, changing her pace and depth, sometimes taking her mouth from him completely in order to travel down to his balls, nip the inside of his thigh or rub his shaft on her cheek or along her lips before sucking him inside again. It was mesmerizing to watch, though she was clearly doing this for her own pleasure as much as his.

His vision went blurry as she took him deeper, lolling her tongue around him in some magical way that sent sparks flying through his brain.

“I’m going to come,” he warned her roughly, nudging the back of her throat, wanting to push deeper.

She pulled away, looking up at him. Her hair was soaked against her skin, making her eyes seem huge and dark. Her lips were red from kissing and rubbing on him.

Damn. Just looking at her made him want to erupt. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to take a shower for a long time without this image in his mind and that was fine with him.

“Good. Me too.”

She trailed a hand down her body, slipping it down between her legs as she returned to his cock, whimpering and moaning as she got herself off while continuing to suck him.

It was one of the hottest things Scott had ever experienced. He was lost in the unstoppable explosion of pleasure that followed, filling her eager mouth, his grunts and moans joining hers. He’d tightened his fingers in her hair on reflex, but she didn’t seem to mind. He loosened them as she drew her mouth down the length of his softening dick one more time—still that long, leisurely touch—before standing up next to him.

Scott had nothing to say, no words left in his brain. He pulled her in close under the hot water, holding her there a few minutes. Then he grabbed some shampoo and urged her to turn around, letting her rest back against him, massaging her scalp as he washed. She sighed, leaning into him, happy to let him do whatever he wanted.

He wanted to do so much.

When her hair was done, he took a liquid soap and explored her shape as thoroughly as she had him. By the time he finished, she’d stepped out of the shower already and was grabbing a towel from the warmer and handing one to him.