Breaking All the Rules (3 page)

“I want you
inside me,” she groaned against his hair.

“All you had to
do was ask.”

In the back of
her mind, she registered the sound of foil tearing. It was a good thing he was
thinking straight, because she sure wasn’t. She hadn’t given the slightest
thought to protection.

Then he was
there between her legs. The tip of his erection pressed at entrance of her
body, much bigger than that woefully inadequate finger had been. He didn’t give
her time to prepare. He didn’t need to. She’d been ready for this since the
moment she’d laid eyes on him, her body slick and wet and waiting for him. He
pushed through the silken folds and filled her in one thrust. A gasp ripped
from her throat, followed immediately by a sigh. He was so big, but it only
took her a moment to adjust to him. It simply felt right. He didn’t make a
sound. He didn’t need to. She knew he felt the exact same thing. So good. So
natural.

So fucking
right.

He waited mere
seconds before withdrawing, then shoved into her again. The force of his thrust
pushed her up against the door. Her head bounced against it, but she felt no
pain. All she felt was that energy building low in her body from every stroke
of his cock. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, suckling gently, his
breath hot against her bare skin. She tangled her fingers in his hair and clung
to him as he drove into her, slowly at first, then faster and harder with each
successive stroke. She clamped her body down on him, wanting every inch of him,
holding back on her release as long as she could, until she could almost scream
from the wonderful, agonizing pleasure of it.

And when she
could no longer hold on, she did scream, letting go to ride the wave of her
release. He let loose a guttural groan against her ear at the same moment she
cried out. He pushed in one last time, meeting her pelvis to pelvis, letting
her feel the spasms of his body inside her as her own rocked hers.

She came down
from the orgasm as though out of a haze, slowly becoming aware of the feeling
of her fingers and toes, of the heavy, solid male body holding her up off her
feet with one strong arm.

That should have
been the end of it. They’d both gotten what they wanted. But the longer they
remained locked together, the harder she found it to push him away. She didn’t
want to.

She wanted more.

As the moments
stretched on, her body started to respond again to the feel of him. His ear was
right next to her mouth. This time she couldn’t resist doing what she had
wanted to before. She ran her tongue along the curve of his ear. His response
was instantaneous. The erection that had only just started to soften slightly
inside her jerked, going rock-hard in heartbeat. His chuckle feathered the
delicate hairs at the nape of her neck.

He lifted his
head to look at her. She could barely see his face in the darkness of the room.
The heat still burning in his eyes was impossible to miss, and she felt an echo
of it wash over her.

No, they weren’t
anywhere close to being done.

“Ready for
seconds already?” he murmured.

She tightened
her body around him and felt his cock harden obediently in return. “More than
ready.”

“WOW.”

Hours later,
Bobby fell back against the mattress they’d finally gotten to, his breathing
coming in fast bursts. “You really know how to help a guy make the most of his
last night before shipping out.”

Equally
breathless, Nina swallowed a groan. So that was how he wanted to play it. She
should have known. Still, she couldn’t help being disappointed that he was that
kind of guy. “Look, you don’t have to make up a story. I wasn’t expecting
anything more than a night.”

“It’s not a
story. I really am heading overseas, courtesy of Uncle Sam.” He rolled over to
face her. “It’s a shame too. A night this good deserves to be repeated.”

“Oh well,” she
said, still not sure she believed him and not really caring either way. “Not
much we can do about that if you’re leaving the country.”

“I
am
planning
on coming back,” he said, his voice thick with amusement. “What do you say? Can
I give you a call when I return?”

Nina considered
the question. She really wasn’t looking for a relationship with him. Then
again, she thought, as she felt his growing erection pressed against her thigh,
maybe he wasn’t either. “You mean for a date?”

“If you want.”

She turned to
face him. “And if I’d rather have something simpler?”

He grinned
slowly. “That’d be fine with me.”

She smiled too,
glad she’d read him right instead of turning him down outright. She should have
known a guy like him wasn’t looking for anything long-term any more than she
was. A man didn’t go trolling the clubs the night before he was sent overseas
looking for his future wife. As long as that was understood, they would have no
problem. He was right. A night like the one they’d just shared deserved a Round
Two, as long as that was all it was.

“So we’ve got a
deal?” she said.

“Deal,” he
agreed.

“Great.” She
shoved him onto his back and straddled him in one smooth movement. “Morning’s a
long way away, though. You weren’t planning on getting any sleep tonight, were
you?”

She heard his
soft laugh as she lowered her mouth to his.

“Who needs
sleep?”

Chapter One

Three Years
Later

“You’re
humming.”

At the sound of
Ashley’s voice, Nina looked up from the kitchen counter, only to realize the
second she stopped that her friend was right.

“I guess I was.”

Stepping into
the room, Ashley gave Nina an indulgent smile as she hung her bag on the hook
inside the door. “Do you know there’s only one reason I’ve ever heard you hum
in all the time I’ve known you?”

Nina turned her
attention back to the gluten-free cupcakes she’d been icing. “And what reason
is that?”

“Bobby must be
back.”

The mere mention
of his name was enough to bring a smile to her lips. A surge of adrenaline
spiked through her system.

Bobby is back
.

Nina tried to
hide the reaction by keeping her head down, but she had a feeling there was no
way to mask the flush of anticipation that rose to her cheeks. She felt the
heat of it too strongly, like her face was on fire.

“I thought so,”
Ashley said. “How long has it been this time?”

“Too long,” Nina
admitted before she could think about it. “Which is why, barring some
last-minute emergency, I’ll be leaving a little early today, if that’s all
right with you.”

“Hey, I’m not
the boss,” Ash shrugged. “If you want to take off early for your booty call, I
can’t stop you.”

Nina rolled her
eyes at Ashley’s teasing tone. “First of all, there are some people who can
pull off ‘booty call’ without sounding ridiculous. You’re not one of them. And
second, nobody's the boss. This is an equal partnership.”

“In that case,
I’d rather you didn’t take off early to get laid.”

“Okay, maybe not
that equal.”

They shared a
laugh, and Nina thought not for the first time how glad she was to have Ashley
here working with her. The past three years hadn’t been easy. They’d both had
to put plenty of long hours and a lot of sweat and tears into the place.
There’d been times, especially in the early days, when it had looked doubtful
they’d make it. But in the past year, Sweet Sensations had finally gotten on
solid ground. Sharing that accomplishment and working side-by-side with her
best friend was something Nina wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.

“Fine,” Ashley
sighed with an exaggerated huff. “Take off now for all I care. At least one of
us is getting some.”

“What about that
guy you’ve been seeing, the doctor?”

Moving toward
the sink, Ash rolled her eyes. “I ended it last night.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing worth
telling. That’s why it’s over. We finally slept together last night. Needless
to say, he treated me to the most boring thirty seconds of my life, and I’m
including the time it took him to roll on and off of me in that generous
estimate.”

Nina tried not
to smile. “A little quick on the draw, was he?”

“So quick I
didn’t even realize anything had happened. The worst part was that he didn’t
even care that I hadn’t gotten anything out of it. He got off, and that was all
that mattered.” She shot Nina a look. “I know what you’re going to say. ‘Typical
man.’”

“I wasn’t going
to say that. Bobby always makes sure I’m satisfied, and he’s more than willing
to work at it for as long as it takes.”

“Sure. Rub it
in, why don’t you?” Ash groused good-naturedly as she stepped up to the counter
beside Nina.

“I’m sorry,”
Nina said, meaning it. Ash seemed trapped in an unending cycle of losers,
leading to one disappointment after the next. Yet somehow she managed to keep
putting herself out there, summoning the hope necessary to believe the right
guy was out there for her. Ashley continued to have a romantic’s heart. Nina
didn’t know how she did it.

Just the thought
of being out there in the dating scene was enough to make Nina shudder. She’d
been so focused on the business the last few years she hadn’t had time for more
than a handful of dates. She wasn’t even sure she remembered what one was like.
Luckily, she had Bobby to take care of her most urgent needs.

Bobby
.

The image that
rose in her mind was a familiar one, the favorite memory she dredged up every
time she thought of him. He was spread-eagle on her bed, hands stretched above
him, gripping the wire loops of the big brass frame. When she’d needed a new
bed, she’d chosen the frame specifically because of this, picturing how he’d
look at this moment.

She was on top,
riding him. He was bigger than her, stronger than her, but she was the one in
charge. Taking her pleasure. Giving him his.

His eyes were
closed, but he hid nothing from her. Every sensation he was feeling played
across his face in a constant parade. Every time she thrust herself down on
him, she saw the twitch of his jaw, his mouth opening and closing with moans
both voiced and silent. Every time she clenched her body around him, she
watched the grimace of pleasure furrow his brow and tighten the hard lines of
his cheekbones.

Sweat beaded
along his collarbone, dripping down to give his pecs a fine sheen of moisture.
One lonely drop made it further, sliding straight down the center of his chest.
It was practically begging to be licked away. She avoided its temptation, not
wanting to move away from such a perfect view.

She lay the
palms of her hands flat on his belly. They absorbed every tense and release of
his stomach muscles. His chest heaved, his shoulders hitched, with each
desperate, unsteady breath he drew.

All she had to
do was picture him like that, bucking beneath her like a wild horse she’d
managed to tame, and she was reliving it. The images brought back every
sensation she experienced at those moments. The way he felt inside her. The
gradual acceleration of her downward thrusts. The damp, musky smell of him
filling her head—

“Boy, you just
can’t stop thinking about him.”

Nina blinked and
jerked her head. Suddenly it was Ashley filling her vision, not a hot, hard
male body prone beneath her. Ash was looking at her, the corners of her mouth
twitching, humor gleaming in her eyes.

Nina lowered her
gaze in embarrassment. How had she just zoned out like that?

Too long
,
she thought.
It’s been too damn long, that’s how.

“What gave me
away?” she muttered as she tried to pull herself together.

“The dreamy,
far-off look. No humming this time, though.” Ash shook her head. “You might as
well go home now. It’s obvious you’re not going to get anything done today.”

“No thanks. At
least here I can try to distract myself. If I sat around all day building
myself up for tonight, I’d probably explode before he shows up.”

They both heard
a shuffling sound outside the kitchen and looked up toward the doorway. A
shadow lurked at the edge of the frame, indicating someone was there just out
of view. It was early and they weren’t officially open yet, leaving only one
possibility. “Jackie, did you need something?” Nina called.

Their counter
clerk popped her head around the corner. “No, it’s just so hard to eavesdrop
from out here.”

She gave a
cheeky grin, and Nina waved her in. “You might as well have a seat then. You
shouldn’t be on your feet anyway.”

Jackie waddled
around the corner, her hugely pregnant belly preceding her into the room by
several seconds. At seven months along, she already looked ready to pop at any
moment. Nina had heard more than one person ask her if she was having twins.

There was a
chair just inside the door. The younger woman gingerly lowered herself into it,
then folded her hands protectively over her belly.

Nina tried to
imagine herself in the younger woman’s shoes and couldn’t. Jackie was barely
twenty-two, married to her high school sweetheart, a Navy SEAL currently
deployed overseas. With no family she could turn to back home, she was trying
to make do while her husband was away and she waited for her baby to arrive.
Unfailingly cheerful, she was a good presence in the shop.

“So who’s this
hot guy y’all are talking about?” Jackie said eagerly, the soft Southern
cadences of her native Arkansas coming through.

“Oh, that’s
right,” Ashley mused. “You don’t know about Bobby. He hasn’t been around since
you started.”

“Bobby, is it?”
Jackie drawled. “Details, please. We pregnant, married women have to get our
excitement somewhere.”