Close to You (14 page)

No, he thought as he sped down Lincoln
Avenue, that wasn’t entirely why he was rushing over there. He
wanted to see her, to touch her. To pamper her after a long
day.

There was nothing wrong with
that.

As long as that was what his
motivation really was, he heard Rick’s voice say in his
mind.

It was, but there was Margaret. He
needed to tell Eve that his mother was her nemesis. He’d let that
piece of information remain hidden for long enough. Maybe when he
confessed, he could help her deal with his mom.

When he arrived at Grounds for
Thought, Eve stood in the window looking for him. She waved, locked
up, and hopped up into his truck. “I’m going to be horrible
company, you know. I’m likely to fall asleep on you.”

She had faint bruises beneath her
eyes, but she was as beautiful as ever. He touched the corner of
her tired smile. “That sounds great. After your bath.”

She perked up. “Bath?”

He smiled. “Just wait.”

They arrived at his house ten minutes
later, but she was asleep.

So much for confessing. Tonight
obviously wasn’t the right time.

Neither was it the right time to take
her, to make her cry out for him, like he’d been imagining all
day.

He watched her, chest expanding with
feeling. Truthfully, he felt just as happy at the thought of
holding her all night while she slept.

Rick would have called him whipped.
Treat didn’t care in the least.

She stirred when he lifted her out of
the truck’s cab. “I can walk.”

“
Let me carry you.” He
kissed her forehead and took her inside, straight to his
room.

But he bypassed the bed and went into
his bathroom. Setting her down, he ran water for a bath, threw some
salts in, and set a towel for her.

She frowned sleepily at the room.
“This is awesome. That view is amazing.”

He smiled. The view of the Golden Gate
Bridge was one of the things that sold him on the house. He’d
deliberately replaced the wall next to the bath with windows so he
could enjoy it.

Now he drew the blinds halfway up for
Eve’s privacy. “Do you need anything else?”

Her brow furrowed. “Aren’t you joining
me?”

He stilled. “You want me to join
you?”

Her frown deepened. “I’m tired, not
dead.”

And then to punctuate her words, she
shrugged out of her coat and yanked her shirt over her
head.

Her bra consisted of patterned black
mesh, with a tiny red rose in the middle. The sheer triangles did
nothing to hide her nipples, and he swallowed thickly as they
hardened under his gaze.

Without a word, she stripped out of
her pants to reveal matching panties that sat low on her hips. They
were equally sheer, and also had a tiny red rose, only more
strategically placed.

“
I feel like a kid on
Christmas, faced with the biggest present ever.” He stepped in
front of her and ran one finger down between her
breasts.

“
Then unwrap me,” she
whispered huskily.

Chapter Twenty

Then unwrap
me
.

Eve had no idea where that’d come
from. She’d never been a siren before.

With a growl, Treat palmed her butt
and pressed himself against her. He was already hard, and she could
feel the heat of him through his jeans.

He wrapped his hands around her hips
and pushed into her, burying his face in her neck. She moaned when
he nipped her there and arched back against him.

One hand still holding her hip, his
other moved up her ribcage and closed on a breast, squeezing before
focusing on the nipple. “We may not get to the bath right
away.”

“
I think I can live with
that.” Fisting his hair in both her hands, she pulled his mouth
down to hers.

As volatile as their kisses were
before, they were nothing compared to this one. She could taste his
hunger, as desperate as hers was, and it was delicious. Hooking her
leg around his, she rubbed herself against his hardness.

He grasped her butt, one cheek in each
hand, and squeezed. His thick fingers dipped between her cleft,
inching lower and lower until he slipped under the panties and into
her wetness.

They groaned in each other’s
mouth.

He lifted his head a little. His eyes
were heavy-lidded and burning with intensity. “I’m not going to be
able to go slow. The first time is going to be fast and hard and
sweaty.”

“
Good.” She tossed her bra
aside.

He picked her up, carried her to his
bed, and threw her on it.

Chapter Twenty-one

Treat looked down at the bed and knew
this wasn’t real. He’d stepped into one of his more vivid fantasies
where Eve wore sinful black mesh and an expression to match. It was
one of his better fantasies because she lay sprawled before him
with barely contained impatience, her smooth legs open.

Except he swore the smell of her was
real. And her taste—well, he was positive he hadn’t imagined
that.

Which meant only one thing:
Eve really
was
naked before him, except for a patch of see-through fabric
covering her secrets. She really
did
want him as badly as he wanted
her.

That alone made him hot.

He pulled the T-shirt over his head
without losing sight of her. Damn, she was gorgeous—more than he’d
imagined, and he’d done a lot of that. He wanted to tear off the
scrap of cloth she called underwear and take a look at
her.

Goddamn, he wanted
that
.

He popped open the first few buttons
of his jeans and then kneeled on the bed between her legs. “Is all
your underwear like this?” He ran a finger over the red flower on
the front of her panties.

She shivered. Her legs fell open a
little more, but her eyes stayed glued to the front of his jeans
where his cock strained to free itself.

His blood pressure kicked up as she
licked her lips. “If it were?” she asked.

Her voice was all sex and he hadn’t
touched her yet. He wanted to growl and dive into her, but he kept
himself in check.

He pulled on his fly and unbuttoned a
couple more. “That sounds like a challenge.”

She lifted her big blue eyes to his.
“Are you up for it?”

He grinned, not nicely. “Baby, you are
playing with fire.”

The dark promise was meant to warn
her, but damn if she didn’t look intrigued. And excited. She
grinned back at him. “Good.”

With a groan, he lunged, catching both
her hands in his and raising them over her head. He stared into her
eyes for a split second before his gaze fell to her
lips.

Pink and shiny, they were
like candy. He bit the top, then the bottom, then kissed her so
deeply he was afraid
he
would be the one to drown. It was sweet and
naughty and spiked him with such a rush that his head began to
swim.

She arched up and rubbed her chest
against his.

Transferring both her hands to one of
his, he kept them high above her head so he could look his fill.
Her nipples were the same dusky pink of her lips.

He bent his head and took one in his
mouth. Hell, yes, it was better than he imagined. He should have
known. He sucked once more before letting it slip with a pop from
his mouth and giving the other one his attention.

He let go of her arms and rolled her
onto him. He gripped her hips and ground himself into her
panty-covered mound.

She put her knees on either side of
his hips and rocked with his motion. Panting, cheeks flushed, she
looked powerful above him. Her eyes were lusted over and steady on
his, her blond hair falling into her face. He thumbed a nipple just
to see her eyes grow more vague.

“
Oh, Treat.” Her moan was
so low he felt it below the belt. She bit her lip and rubbed
herself against him.

He groaned. “I won’t last if you keep
that up.”

The smile that curved her lips was
pure temptress. “Then we’ll just have to do it all over
again.”

Her hand slipped inside his jeans and
latched on to him.

He froze, breathless, dying. He
watched her open his fly wider, powerless to do anything but lift
his hips so she could work his pants down. She squeezed
him.

He cried out and reached to stop her,
but then she squeezed again and he couldn’t do anything. “Payback’s
a bitch, you know,” he managed to say.

“
Promises,
promises.”

He thrust up into her hand, knowing he
wouldn’t be able to hold out.

“
Condoms?” she
asked.

“
Thank God.” He reached
over to the nightstand, pulled out a large box, and covered
himself.

Pushing her panties to one side, she
got up on her knees and slowly inched down on him.

She scorched him, she was so hot. And
moist. He hadn’t even touched her—not where it counted—and she was
dripping wet.

When she worked him all the way in,
she stopped, panting, and looked into his eyes. “This is
good.”

He wrapped his hands around her hips
and brought his head up to lick her breasts, from underneath the
curve to the tip of one and then the other. “This is damn
incredible.”

And he surged into her.

She gasped, and he pushed again before
she could catch her breath. Soon, they both bucked, giving and
taking just as greedily.

“
So close,” she murmured.
Her head fell back, and her hands braced on his chest. “Now,
Treat.
Now
.”

It was enough to push him over the
edge. His shout echoed hers, and he sank into electrifying
oblivion.

She was a pile of mush.

Once, her plane was delayed coming
back from a business trip in New York. To pass the time, she bought
a paperback from the airport shop, a whimsical romance because she
didn’t think she could bear reading anything serious after four
days of heavy strategy planning. She’d smirked when she read the
love scene between the heroine and her romantic interest. After
all, who went boneless after being thoroughly loved by an engorged
manhood?

Now, draped over Treat’s lip-smacking
body, she could attest to the fact that boneless actually did
happen. And it was glorious.

As for his manhood... well, suffice it
to say she was impressed. Thrilled really.

She sighed.

Treat’s grip on her butt tightened.
His hands were every bit as delicious as she thought they’d be. She
loved the calloused feel of them on her. They edged down behind her
and between her legs, the tip of one finger rubbing back and forth
so lightly she could barely feel it.

She squirmed, first trying to get
away, then changing her mind and trying to get closer.

Which must have felt good to him
because she felt him stir inside her.

So she squirmed again.

He lightly slapped her bottom before
sliding her off him so she was on her stomach on the bed. He got up
and went to the bathroom. She heard the toilet flush before he came
back to bed, lying on his side, his head propped up on a
palm.

His eyes were slumberous and heavy and
looked at her with such heat she felt herself flush.

His hand trailed all the way down her
spine. He played with the little bit of material of her thong,
pulling it so she could feel it rub against her in front. “Is this
why you never have panty lines?”

She grinned. “You’ve checked out my
panty lines?”

“
No, I’ve checked out that
you never have any.” He turned her onto her back, looking her
over—head to toes and back again. Leaning down, he took one nipple
into his mouth. He let go and stared at it so hungrily that she
felt it pucker and swell even more.

He did that, back and forth, cupping
her breasts in his hand, until she was gasping.

Rolling onto her, he nipped a path up
her throat to her jaw and then her lips.

She’d never been kissed like this. It
was thorough and she could feel it everywhere—down to her pinky
toes. It made her head spin violently and she grabbed onto his hair
to hold on.

She could feel him growing hard
against her belly. She arched her hips, trying to get friction
right there without success. She groaned in frustration.

He gave her a smile that was all bad
boy, got up on his knees between her legs, and pulled her panties
down. Wasting no time, Treat crouched down and licked her, long and
slow.

Moaning, she watched him. His eyes
captured hers and held them as he licked again, slower this time,
as if he were savoring her.

It wasn’t enough. She wet her lips.
“More.”