Just Her Type (22 page)

Chapter 27

“You didn’t have to wear
the sweater,” Kendra whispered to Dominic. The pair waited for the Love Nest
Ninjas concert to begin at a popular nightclub venue. He wrapped an arm around
her shoulders and their fingers intertwined. “That was so sweet of you.”

Dominic sported a sweater that looked as if Kendra
had knitted it in the dark—and with her feet.

He wore it with a “sunrise peach” —as Kendra
described it— button-down shirt and a pair of dark fine-wale cords.
 
The November evening was cool enough for
him to hide the sweater underneath his cashmere overcoat. Instead, Dominic had
carried the cover-up draped on one arm and braved the curious stares and a few
unabashed snickers from passersby, not to mention the low temperature. He’d
done this to show his gratitude to the woman he now officially considered his
woman, though he had not revealed this upgrade to her. Yet. She’d gifted him
with her first sweater project; the least he could do was wear it with pride.

“I love it,” Dominic said, meaning while it was
indeed god-awful looking, he cherished what it symbolized. That evening, it wasn’t
about garnering admiring gazes as a well-dressed man. For him, clothing had
always been about expressing his mood and individuality. That night he wanted
to show Kendra how much she’d come to mean to him.

“I made every mistake possible.”
 
Kendra adjusted the crisp collar of his
shirt to camouflage the sweater’s drooping neckline. “The gauge is off so the
sizing is all wrong.”

“I like it nice and roomy.”

“I couldn’t wait to give it to you.
 
I took it off the blocking board while
it was still a little damp so some of the stitching looks a tad lumpy and
bumpy.”

“The way I prefer my oatmeal.”

“I didn’t get enough hanks from the same dye lot
so there are unintended variations in color.”

“I hear tie-dye is making a comeback.”

“Look. There’s a huge hole right,” she poked
between his pecs, “there.” Like a meteorologist working a weather map, she
pointed to various areas of the sweater. “Dropped stitches there, there, there,
and there.”

“Those dropped stitches make it truly one of a
kind.”

“Thank goodness for that.”

“And I’m deeply touched you thought of me, made
this ‘secret project’ especially for me.”

“I know what you’re wondering. If I hated the
sweater so much, why did I give it to you? Well, I didn’t think it looked so
bad at first. But now, in this light, the truth is painfully obvious. And I
didn’t think you’d actually wear it.”

“I have a surprise for you, too,” he said.

Her eyes went wide. “You do?”

“Yup.”

“Revenge for the sweater?”

“Nope.”

“What is it?”

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you now.”

Dominic smiled, now confident Kendra’s efforts to
friend-zone him had been ineffective. Since returning from Maui, they’d spent
as much time together as they could. He’d even talked her into accompanying him
to a friend’s Halloween party and wearing coordinating costumes. (It was her
idea to dress as members of an eighties hair metal band.)

She’d also joined him for taekwondo workouts at
his favorite
dojang
gym, where he’d
taught her basic self-defense moves.
 
Her eagerness to learn more about his interests encouraged him. And
she’d looked great in that white
dobak
she’d insisted on calling her “workout jammies.”

The more Dominic learned about Kendra, the more he
wanted to know.
 
They were alike in
enough ways to be compatible, but also different enough to keep things
interesting.

At first touch, he’d been steel around her because
she was sexy as hell. But he’d only teased her, ultimately vowing to wait for
sex. It had been challenging. He’d succeeded, alternating between taking cold
showers and cranking the shank after their dates.
 
Then there had been several phone sex
sessions for which he would’ve gladly emptied his bank had she billed him.
Muy caliente.
The mounting anticipation
could be a good thing; their first time making love would be all the sweeter.
 

But while physical attraction was important, she’d
fascinated him in other ways:

 
Funny.
 
Her wit, with just the right amount of
snark, would keep him in her thrall.
 
And she even rolled with most of his dumb-ass jokes.
 
Triple cool points for that. And she
could channel Cher with the best of them.

Smart
.
He’d never seriously dated anyone in the industry so unlike previous
significant others, she was knowledgeable enough to go toe-to-toe on most
publishing-related topics.

Successful.
Her boutique agency was among the best.

Feisty!
 
She did not hesitate to call him out
on his egotistical bull when necessary. And her competitive spirit and hyper
ambition rivaled his. That was saying something. Dominic could find a challenge
in any situation, even his annual eye exams, in which he felt compelled to read
the smallest print of any eye chart the optometrist flashed before him.

Family
oriented
. He admired the way she doted on her aunt.
 
And she couldn’t pass a baby carriage or
stroller without extended cooing over its tiny passenger.
 
He’d never forget the time they’d made
the impromptu one-hour trek to a New Jersey Cracker Barrel for the pancakes and
the way she’d charmed the bratty boy who had challenged her to several peg game
matches, which she’d obviously thrown.

Strong.
Look
at the directness she’d displayed while discussing her childhood without her
biological mother and father.
 

There were so many little things. Too many to
count. Such as the way she always made a point to say something uniquely nice to
all waiters and waitresses, no matter how subpar the service.
I worked as a waitress when I was in
college. You never know what kind of day a person is having,
she’d told him
after encouraging him to leave a good
tip anyway.
 

But he was most impressed by her unassuming
reaction after he’d inquired about her volunteer fundraising work with
Sedgemont Friends, a small local literacy group she’d co-founded with three
others, that provided free reading instruction to adults. She chaired an annual
book fair with all proceeds presented to the group’s center. He’d stumbled
across that information in one of his many industry magazines.

 
Underneath that independent,
tough-beer-swigging-I-don’t-believe-in-grownup-fairy-tales facade, he also
sensed a vulnerability and a real deep-seated fear of opening up, giving her
heart, to a man. She required the patience and compassion only Dominic could
offer.
 
Sometimes people have trouble putting what they feel into words,
she’d
said one night in Maui. They were discussing his parents, but she could’ve also
been referring to herself.

While he’d been more expressive regarding their
relationship, he didn’t need words to tell him what he saw in her beautiful
brown eyes, what he felt in her tender touch.
 
He’d dated enough. His fortieth birthday
was just days away, and finally he knew
exactly
what he wanted in a woman.
 
Males
didn’t have the same biological ticking time bombs as females, but he longed
for what his brothers had before he got too old.
 
A wife. And lots of kids.

Kendra Porter was
the One
for him.
 
He
could already envision their future together.

“When do I get the surprise?” Kendra asked.

“Soon,” Dominic said as the lights went low and a
comedian jogged onto the stage to warm up the crowd.

“A hint. Please!”

Dominic squeezed her hand and gave her a soft kiss
on her forehead. “Sit back and enjoy the show.”

“Oooh! I can’t wait,’’ Kendra said with child-like
enthusiasm.

Chapter 28

After the concert, Dominic
and Kendra went to her apartment.
 
Her determination to keep her distance flagged. And though she’d been
back home for weeks, she hadn’t made definite plans to meet her Cupid4You.com
beaus.

The couple stepped inside her foyer, and Dominic
took her in his arms and kissed her. She greedily kissed him back and tore at
his clothing as he tore at hers.

“I want you,” she said. “Tonight. Now.”

They began to undress. Kendra bent over to ditch
her boots, the ones with short-inner-side-of-the-leg zippers. Their removal
required angling the foot just so. The first one came off without a hitch, but
the second proved trickier as she hopped around on one foot. She pogoed toward
the window, nearly tangling in the curtains before it came off.
Success!
 
With hungry eyes still on Dominic,
she chucked it toward its mate.

She darted back to him and pawed at his sweater.

“Let me remove it.” Dominic took a few steps back
and winked at her.

“Careful. Behind you,” she warned, when he almost
toppled over her leather ottoman.

“I’ve got this.”
 
Dominic tugged the sweater over his head
and dropped it on the slip-covered sofa. He let her have her way with his shirt
as she grabbed and yanked a button popped off. They started a clothing trail on
her rug.

Dominic unzipped her pants to reveal her shabbiest
period panties, an antiquated pair of those Fruit of the Loom Ladies, full
coverage fit.
Whoops!
She’d had no
idea tonight would be
the big night.
After
discovering all of her sexiest (hand-wash only) undies were still drying on the
towel racks in her bathroom, in haste she’d donned the pair with too-loose
elastic (perfect for pre-menstrual bloating) and a utilitarian sports bra for
high-impact aerobic activity that squashed the girls into an immobilized
uni-boob. Then she recalled that this tube-like construction—deceptively
easy slipping on, but problematic to remove—mimicked Chinese
handcuffs.
 

Thank goodness, she’d changed the sheets that
morning. And she always displayed pretty Rigaud candles, gifts from Alyssa.

Dominic made such quick work of the panties, he
didn’t seem to notice how old and ugly they were before tossing them
aside.
 
He jerked her back into his
arms, planting open-mouth kisses on her neck, shoulders, tattoos, and pierced
belly button as his fingers fastened on her ribcage to keep her in place. One
hand skimmed upward and stalled.

Would someone ever design a cinch-to-remove sports
bra for the buxom gal that lifted, separated,
and
prevented boobs from bouncing up to sock the eyes? Kendra
waited as Dominic tried to finesse the removal of her last scrap of clothing.

***

If seeing Kendra
semi-naked for the first time took Dominic’s breath away, he’d never recover
from the sight of her stripped bare.
 
“You’re simply stunning,” he said with reverence as he appraised her
contours and lavish curves. A perfect hour-glass. All woman. All his.
Finally!
 
His jaw clenched as white hot lust
pounded through his veins. His teeth caught his bottom lip. He had worked his
way up her torso and plunged his tongue back inside her mouth before his hands
moved over breasts still encased in what look like black tourniquet that made
them appear at least three sizes smaller than they were.
 
How
does she breathe in this damn thing?
He ached to touch and taste her there,
feel the weight of all that lusciousness in his hands, suckle her erect
nipples, but when he tried slipping his fingers underneath the fabric, it
refused to give. He moved to dip inside the top with no success. The straps
would not budge without digging into her delicate flesh.

“Wait.” With a sensual grin on her lips, Kendra
took a kittenish step back and tried tugging at it. As she did a little shimmy,
she tried slipping her thumbs underneath its band to no avail. A sheen of
perspiration had practically fused it to her skin. She wriggled again and tried
to pry fingertips under the stubborn band Tug, tug, wriggle, wriggle.

Both released frustrated sighs when it still
wouldn’t shift.

“There’s no sexy way to do this,” she said,
marching toward the kitchen. “I’ll be right back.”

When she returned, Dominic’s eyes went wide and he
instinctively covered his junk as any naked man would do when someone charged
at him with scissors the size of hedge shears. “Whoa! Careful now.”

“Snip. Snip. Snip,” she teased. “No worries. I
noticed you’re already circumcised.” She passed him the scissors and motioned
toward the bra. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

“You sure?”

“Yes!”

 
Dominic smiled and clipped, finally
freeing her from the blasted thing and tossing it across the room. “We’ll
perform an exorcism on it later.” He moved to his discarded pants and overcoat
and removed handfuls of condoms. “I had a feeling about tonight. And I’m always
prepared. Because you’re such an over-the-top foodie about colors—”

“You have colored and flavored condoms?” Kendra
grabbed one for closer inspection. “Clearly you were confident about your odds
of scoring a blow job.”

“We have Screw-Berry, which has an essence of
blueberry, in case you were wondering. There’s Wham-Bam Banana, Lick-Me Lime,
Grab-Ass Grape.” Dominic grinned. “Surprise!”

“
These
are what you’ve been taunting me with all night?” She punched his shoulder.
“You! I’ll bet you’re the guy who gifts a girl with skanky lingerie for
her
enjoyment.”

Amusement twinkled in his eyes. “I am.”

“You’re such a dork-a-dingus, but I like it! In
here.” Kendra molded herself against him again, backing them toward the
bedroom.
 
Not bothering to light the
scented candles, she fell on the bed. He tossed her “surprises” on the
nightstand, and then covered her fully naked body with his.

Kendra reached to turn off the nightstand lamp.

“Oh, no you don’t. I don’t want to miss a thing
when I have all of you,” he said.

 
Busy
hot hands explored everywhere as their mouths mated.

“I’ve wanted you, wanted this…wanted to be with
you like this for what seems like forever,” he said, kneading her breasts.

Kendra sighed as he alternately drew her beaded
nipples inside his mouth and swirled his tongue around her areolas. “And I’ve
wanted you, too.”

“I hope I don’t come in three seconds,” he said
between kisses.

 
“Only
you would admit something like that before our first time together. And that’s
why you’re utterly adorable, Dominic Tobias.”

“
Utterly
adorable
ain’t what I’m going for.”

 
Kendra
felt the hard evidence of his desire against her leg. “But you are.”

“It’s just game to lower your expectations before
I blow your mind.”

“If you do, um, jump the gun, remember we have all
night,” she said to reassure him.

“We do, don’t we?”
 
Dominic replied with a wolfish laugh
against her breasts. “Then you won’t walk for a week when I’m done with you,
wench!”

“Ah, Alpha Man returns!” Kendra laughed and
watched as he reached for Wham-Bam Banana. “So take me, my friend,” she added
with a theatrical purr. “Make me your
lovah
.”

Dominic braced himself above her and eased between
her silky thighs, sliding in as deep as their bodies would allow. “Yes, oh
yes,” he said with a moan of satisfaction.

Kendra’s eyes closed. Soon lost in her private
pleasure, she nipped at the skin on his broad shoulders.

“Look at me.” He lifted her knee to his waist.

Kendra couldn’t.
 
Not if her goal was to focus on the
passion
.
They were just friends,
good friends
, giving and receiving
pleasure. Still, something inside her heart stirred and bloomed.

“Look at me,” Dominic said again as his eyes
smoldered with desire.

Kendra pushed past her hesitation.
 
Only after their gazes met did he begin
their most erotic dance yet. Unhurriedly.
 
Skillfully. He worked her as if each stroke would bring him a little
closer to her soul.
 

“I love,” he whispered, “being with you. I love
who I am with you, what you bring out in me. How you accept me for who I am.”
His heartfelt words and movement created a steady, delectable beat at her core.

“And I…” Kendra eased one hand toward his. “Oh,
Dominic.” Their fingers intertwined. She wrapped her legs around him and tipped
her hips up, expressing with her body what she couldn’t say with words.

“You feel so good,” he said as their lips met
again in achingly slow, satiny kisses. The intensity of it all, the perfect
melding of the emotional and physical, was like nothing she’d ever experienced
before. Her toes curled as the hair on his chest brushed against her inflamed
skin. That beat quickened and strengthened to a release radiating through her
womb and ripping a gasp of pleasure from her throat too soon. She stilled, panting
and riding the wave as he continued to rock above her, his strokes increasing
in cadence, penetration, and power. He released her hand to latch onto her
hips, tucking himself in to the hilt. Abandoning restraint, he thrust into her,
muscles flexing, face flush and hard with determination, reigniting her own
arousal and sending another divine tremor through her as she called his name.

As her heat surrounded him, Dominic knew he would
never get enough of her. He would memorize the parting of her lips, her mewling
pleas for more, the softness of her breasts against his chest, and the way her
eyes went misty when he told her what she meant to him. He held back until he
felt her walls quake. But now, he clenched his jaw, drove harder, faster, and
higher as she arched against him and held on, absorbing all he had to give and
urging him on with her hands gripping his ass. He claimed her mouth, still
holding her tight. A groan of ecstasy tore from his lips when his climax
thundered through him.

***

“Looks as if I was the one
who, um, jumped the gun,” Kendra said about a half hour later, relaxing in
Dominic’s spooning embrace. “I closed a little too quickly.”

“It was not a race, you know.” Dominic rolled with
her until she was on top, straddling his hips.
 
Eyes smoky and heavy-lidded, he reached
toward the nightstand. “And remember, we still have all night, and plenty of
Grab-Ass-Grape to spare.”

“We do, don’t we?” Kendra laughed, took the
condom, and unrolled it on him.

Dominic kneaded and slapped her bottom. “Now,
ride’ em, cowgirl.”

Kendra braced one arm against the headboard and
inch by tantalizing inch took him deep inside again and slapped him back.
“Giddy-up, horsey.”