Blue Colla Make Ya Holla (27 page)

“I can’t,” she whispered.

“Can’t or won’t?”

She shivered softly. “You don’t really want me, Boone. You want the me of twenty years ago…I’m not that girl anymore.”

“I’m not that kid anymore, either. I’m a grown ass man, Caroline. I’ve done things you can’t even imagine…things I’d never dream of telling you because I couldn’t stand to see how you’d look at me once you knew. I know what I want. I don’t need you to make that decision for me.”

She started to protest, to say something else, but he was done talking. It was getting them nowhere. She didn’t think he wanted her? He’d give her all the proof she could handle.

With a slight shift of his weight, the space between them ceased to exist. He pressed his body against hers as his mouth settled over hers. Their first kiss had been gentle, but the second one was something else. He didn’t seduce. He took.

Sucking her lower lip between his teeth, he nipped it hard. She let out a startled cry, and he swept his tongue into her mouth. Bold, demanding. With every glide of his tongue against hers, with every scrape of his teeth, he showed her just how much he wanted her. Pressing his hips against her, feeling the softness of her flesh cupping his raging hard-on, neither had any doubt just how much he desired her.

Boone had stopped thinking. The point he’d been trying to prove was lost in the storm. His hands roamed over her body, sliding beneath the hem of her sweatshirt and encountering soft, warm skin. He didn’t stop there but continued his journey until he could cup her bare breast in his hand. The soft weight of it in his palm coupled with the temptation of her pebbled nipple was too much.

Gripping the hem of her shirt in his other hand, he tugged it upward until it bunched beneath her arms. But her perfect breasts were completely bared to him. Pulling his mouth from hers, he took just a moment to savor the glorious sight before dipping his head and tasting each one. Closing his mouth over the hardened peak, he sucked gently, then teased with his tongue. But when he used his teeth, scraping against the sensitive tip, she screamed.

His Caroline. His quiet, well mannered, always well behaved Caroline let out a scream that was worthy of any one of the thousands of pornographic fantasies he’d ever had about her. Sliding his hands over the generous curves of her hips, cupping her ass in his palms as he finally tasted the sweetness of her skin, it was literally his dream come true.

Her hands clutched at his shoulders, holding onto him. One slid into his hair, holding his head in place. It was a small victory, but it was enough.

Pulling away from her, he rose up. Looking her directly in the eyes, he said it firmly, leaving no room for doubt. “I know exactly what I want…and it’s you. Nobody but you.”

She stared at him for a few seconds, her eyes wide, pupils dilated, breath ragged. Then her chin lifted, and she offered him a slow, sexy smile. “Show me.”

Boone didn’t waste a second. Picking her up, he tossed her over his shoulder and headed straight for the bedroom.

*

Caroline was too
stunned to protest. Before she’d even realized what he intended, he’d tossed her over his shoulder and was packing her off. The only time William had ever picked her up had been on their wedding night. He’d carried her over the threshold and then complained that his back hurt. It had been a mood killer to be sure.

Boone didn’t seem to think her weight was much of an obstacle. He moved swiftly, offering her a prime view of the well-defined muscles of his perfectly sculpted ass shifting beneath faded denim. He kicked the bedroom door closed behind them and then dumped her on the bed. He was on top of her before she could think. His hungry mouth was everywhere, stoking the fire he’d lit inside her.

His hands roamed, stripping away clothes with an ease that would have alarmed her if her brain were still functioning. Instead, she could only feel, lost in a whirlwind of sensation and need.

Her shirt vanished, her pants followed, and a tiny part of her brain inched toward panic. She was completely naked before him, no protection, no armor. It was broad daylight, and every flaw was on display. But the rational part of her brain was clearly not in control. Instead of reaching for the covers or hiding from him, she just gave herself over to him, to the skilled heat of his hands and the play of his mouth on her skin.

His hands coasted over her thighs, parting her legs. Callused fingers touched her intimately, sliding over her cleft, teasing, taunting, and then slipping inside her. Each stroke, every subtle movement had her aching for more. But he refused to hurry, refused to rush toward the finish she so desperately wanted. Instead, he coaxed her along a slow, steady climb.

“Boone, dammit! You’re killing me,” she finally managed.

He only chuckled in response. “But what a way to go!”

“More,” she said, her voice pitched somewhere between a plea and a demand.

A slow smile spread over his face, and he slid lower on the bed, pressing hot kisses over her ribs, down to her navel. Just as he dipped below it, the roughness of his beard teasing her skin and spiking her desire ever higher, the front door slammed.

“Boone! Caroline!”

It was Lucy.

Boone dropped his head onto her and against the soft flesh of her belly and uttered a filthy word.

He rose up quickly, though, as Lucy began making her way through the apartment. “Do not move,” he said. “I will get rid of her, and we will finish this.”

Caroline watched him walk away, the door closing softly behind him. Naked, shivering in the cold without him there to distract her, reality intruded. One word kept flashing in her mind, over and over. Mistake. Reaching for her discarded clothes, she dressed quickly before she could talk herself out of it.

*

Standing behind the
couch, hiding a raging hard-on from his big sister, Boone wanted nothing more than to kick her nosy ass out the door. But Lucy was never cooperative. If she thought he wanted her to leave, she’d dig her heels in and he’d never be rid of her.

It was a treacherous balancing act. Every second he was away from Caroline allowed her to think, which only increased the likelihood of her changing her mind and leaving him in his present, miserable state. “What are you doing here, Luce?”

She pulled a face at him. “What? I’m suddenly not welcome?”

“Luc, you never let yourself in without knocking.”

“I did knock. And I don’t want to know what you were doing that you didn’t hear me!”

Boone prayed for patience. “Lucy, you put Caroline in my house because you wanted us to be thrown together. Interrupting whatever it is you think is going on kind of defeats the purpose.”

“Not necessar—good god! What is that?” Lucy screeched as she pointed at the small box and the kitten that was attempting to climb over the top of it.

“That would be a cat.”

“That is not a cat,” she said. “It’s like someone shrunk a werewolf mid-phase.”

Boone didn’t argue. The fact was, it did look kind of like a werewolf. Cute and fluffy it wasn’t. But Caroline was. And she was naked in his bed, or she had been until his damned sister showed up. “She’s malnourished. Her fur will come in and she’ll fill out once we get enough food in her. Don’t you have a bakery to run?”

Lucy leaned forward and gingerly picked the kitten up by the scruff of its neck. Its body went limp and compliant, but it had murder in its sickly eyes. “No. It’s definitely not a cat…and I can’t believe I’m saying this, because it is as ugly as homemade sin, but bless its little heart!”

Boone watched Lucy cuddle the kitten, scratching its chin. Earlier indignities were forgiven, and the kitten began to purr loudly. If purring could ever be labeled as aggressive, that cat would have accomplished it. He also accepted the fact that he was never getting laid.

Caroline was undoubtedly fully dressed and compiling a list of all the reasons what they’d been about to do was a bad idea. Since turning around and beating his head against the wall would undoubtedly raise questions, he just leaned over onto the couch and placed his head in his hands.

“You’ll thank me later,” she said.

He looked up at Lucy as if she’d grown two heads. “Thank you for what?”

She smiled. “Delayed gratification.”

He shook his head wearily. “I am not talking about my sex life with you…and my gratification has been delayed long enough, dammit!”

“Not yours, dumbass! Hers. You’ve wanted Caroline forever. Let her want you for a while. It’ll be good for her.”

“I won’t survive it,” he said sadly. “It will literally be the death of me.”

Lucy walked over to him then, the kitten batting playfully at her earrings as it snuggled against her neck. “Boone, she’s got no job. She’s got no place to live except here with you. Let her get on her feet before you try to put her on her back.”

“I hate you,” he said.

“For being right?”

“Yes, dammit. Now give me my cat and get the hell out,” he demanded grumpily.

“It won’t take long,” Lucy said. “Send Caroline down to the shop. I’m about to take one of those obstacles out of her way by giving her a job.”

Boone took the kitten, and of course, its claws sunk into his hand. Why the hell not? Everything else about his day had just gone to shit. “Fine. I still hate you.”

Lucy kissed his cheek. “I know. Deprivation makes you grumpy. But I hear it does wonderful things for your character. And your hand strength.”

“You’re disgusting.”

Lucy laughed as she gave the kitten a scratch on top of its puny head. “I have a teenage son. You think I don’t know what you all do and how often? God above. The only time his hand is out of his pants is when he’s using it to stuff his face. I just hope and pray he washes in between!”

Banging his head against the wall was looking more and more like the better option. “Please leave before you give me any more mental images that will haunt me forever.”

‡

C
aroline entered the
bakery. She’d managed to shower, the coldest one she’d ever taken in her life, and had dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt stolen from Boone. It was her own guilty secret.

“I am not coming to work for you. I don’t need charity!”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “You do need charity! You’re homeless for the love of god! But offering you a job, that isn’t charity. You’ve helped me here in the bakery before, and you can do the work. I’ve just landed a contract to supply desserts for the University Arts Center. Every reception, every gala, every concert and art show for the rest of the season. Seems their other supplier went belly-up. Now the bigwigs will be noshing on my cupcakes while they hobnob.”

It would be a godsend. Working with Lucy was always a good time, even though working in the bakery was akin to torture. Her arms ached just thinking about it. Still, she needed the money, and she needed the distraction from the disaster of whatever was going on between her and Boone. “How much does it pay?”

“Ten bucks an hour for twenty hours a week. If it picks up when wedding season hits, we’ll go to forty hours. No benefits other than my lovely company…or do you have a better offer?”