Last Call (3 page)

But he had sent Joe to the Ranger.

She smoothed his T-shirt over the hard curves of his chest. Breathing in the faint remnants of his cologne, clean and masculine, like sandalwood and hickory, was a reminder that she didn’t know him from Adam.

But he did smell nice.

And he looked nice too. Chiseled features softened only by sleep and a shadow of whiskers. A long, narrow nose, slightly crooked—she imagined it had been broken at least once. Even his Adam’s apple appealed to her. She traced the stubbly protrusion with a finger, fascinated at the movement when he swallowed. Still, he slept.

She slipped her hands beneath the T-shirt, encountering a smooth back.
Very nice. Is the front smooth too, or…no. Mm.
Crinkly soft hair. She found a nipple in one tuft and used the pad of her middle finger to tease it until it grew erect. When that wasn’t enough, she gathered his shirt until she could dip her head beneath the sheet and taste that nubbin.

He groaned, and his hips bucked against hers, but he didn’t wake up. Joanne smiled and moved to the other nipple.

Her head still buzzed from too much alcohol, but this she knew. This she could focus on. Salty male skin against her tongue. She trailed her lips down rippled abs and reached…damn. Jeans. Undaunted, she worked on the button, then the zipper, which made a delicious sound in the quiet apartment.

She walked her fingers beneath the flaps of his fly and under the waistband of his underwear until his hot flesh filled her palm. The musky scent of man filled her nostrils and made her mouth water.

He sighed, rolling onto his back. She followed, engulfing the tip of his cock in the same movement. She wasn’t sure if he still slept, but his hips answered each pull of suction. When his jeans and underwear got in the way, she held him in her mouth and used both hands to bring them down below his hips.

“Mm.” Perfect. His balls were free. She reached down to cup them in her palm, roll them with her fingers. She wrapped her free hand around the base of his now fully erect staff and squeezed.

“Holy shit.”

He was awake. She smiled as much as she could with her mouth full. His need was so sexy, and her sex swelled and grew slick with her own desire.

Unable to move his lower half with his jeans halfway down his legs, he ran his hands over her arms and shoulders until they finally found purchase in her hair.

Drops of his saline desire melted on her tongue, and she swallowed it down. Her lips massaged around the rim, then slid down his length, encasing him in her mouth. Sucking her cheeks in, she pulled back, moaning when he clenched handfuls of hair. “Josie. You shouldn’t… Christ.”

“I should.” She trailed wet kisses down to his balls and back up to take him to the root again. He filled her mouth. His tip kissed the back of her throat, and she swallowed, letting her tongue dance along the base of his cock.

He hissed. She hummed. He groaned and pumped his hips.

His balls were heavy in her hand, and she played with the hard spheres inside the soft hair-smattered sac. Using her own saliva to lubricate her twisting hand, she found a rhythm that harmonized her mouth and hand.

He murmured words she couldn’t understand, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he gave himself to her. She pleased him. She wasn’t a failure. Now to make him come. Her mind might be swimming, but she knew that to swallow his pleasure would be the ultimate power. The proof that she was a desirable woman.

With that burst of pride, she sucked harder and pumped her hand along his shaft.

“Josie. No. No…stop, stop.”

She was pulled up by her shoulders, his cock slipped from her mouth, and she whimpered.

“No. Josie, you can’t,” he continued. “You’re drunk.”

“I want to.” She kept her eyes closed, but she held his cheeks in her hands and spoke against his mouth. “I need this. Let me show you.” His face was rough. She outlined his stubble with a finger, dipping into his mouth when she reached it. She traced the edge of his teeth. “Kiss me.”

He did. A rough desperate kiss that took over her whole body. His tongue swept her mouth, stroked every inch, confident and sure. She moved closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. She needed this. The validation from a man that she was a desirable woman. Deep down, she knew it was wrong to ask, but her inhibitions were sufficiently muffled, and with the level of desire running through her veins, she went for it.

“Inside me,” she gasped. “I need you. Help me. Show me I’m okay. Please.” She kissed him and hooked his hips with her ankles, bringing him against her. Clothes. She reached down to remove her underwear but found his arousal instead. She wrapped her hand around him and stroked him slowly with a milking pull.

“No, Josie. We can’t. You need to stop, you’re killing me.”

“Please.” She opened her eyes and caught his gaze. His eyes wide, nostrils flared. He might be in control of himself but barely. “I’m not drunk. I know what I’m doing.” Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. The bed still spun a little.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them again and shook his head. “You’ll regret it in the morning. I never want to be a regret.”

Joanne had a man in bed with her. Hard. And he was pushing her away? Was she really that bad? After about three seconds of self-pity, Joanne found her determination.

“Look, Joe. I’ve had a shitty day. I lost my job, which sucked anyway, but it paid the bills. My boyfriend—who sucked worse—dumped me for another woman, and he said some things that…well, let’s just say my pride took a blow. I got drunk by myself in a dive I swore I’d never set foot in, and my big brother sends one of his friends that I’ve never met to collect me. I puked on my favorite neighbor’s grill, and I have to pack up tomorrow to camp on my brother’s couch until I find a new job and a new place to live.

“Now, if I were a man, you wouldn’t think twice about my desire for a sexual release. It’s only because I’m female that you think I don’t know what I’m doing.” She leaned over him, poking him in the chest. “Well, let me tell you this, Joe…”
What was his last name?
“Joe. I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m a twenty-five-year-old woman who feels like she’s a complete failure as a grownup and a flop as a sexual being. I’m not asking for a relationship. Hell, I don’t even know your last name, but I had your dick in my mouth. All I need is five minutes of your time to help me feel like I’m not a total waste of space.”

Her breath hissed through her teeth. Now she’d done it. She had the guy pinned to the pillows with her tirade. He looked her over like she had one eye, orange scales and had just dropped from the sky.
When the hell are you going to learn, Joanne?
She’d let her mouth run away again.

She flopped onto her back and swore at the ceiling. “You know what? Forget it. Hell, for all I know, you’re gay.” She took a deep breath and waited for the bed to shift. Any second now, he’d leave. She turned away because it would kill her to watch. Instead, she felt one finger trail down her arm and slip into the fist she held at her side, easing it open until he could thread his fingers between hers.

“Joanne?” The tenderness in his voice brought tears to her eyes, but she furiously blinked them away. She didn’t answer. She couldn’t. She swallowed.

“Josie, look at me.”

She refused until he used one gentle finger on her jaw to do it for her. He smiled. Not a patronizing, sympathetic smile either. There was heat behind those eyes.

“You’re a beautiful woman. Never doubt that.”

She tried to look away, but his fingers on her jaw weren’t budging.

“I’ve been either half-stiff or all-out hard as a rock since I met you.” His low voice caressed her. She felt his breath, she smelled his skin, and she sank into the heat surrounding him.

Heat rushed to her face, and she managed a small smile.

“Now, I don’t know what your ex said to make you feel inadequate as a sexual being, but let me tell you something.” He edged up against her until she could feel the rough denim of his jeans against her thigh. “You sure as hell know how to turn
me
on. You’re definitely a sexual being.”

Joanne felt her heart beat. For the first time in twenty-some hours, it thumped along happily. How did he know the exact words she needed to hear? She opened her mouth, but he stopped her with two fingers across her lips.

“One more thing, before this goes any further.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“My name isn’t Joe.”

All that heat left her face. “It’s not?”

“Nope.”

“Oh. Why did I call you Joe?”

He shrugged. “I just didn’t correct you. My name is Eric Layton. I’m a firefighter and EMT for district four.”

Joanne bobbed her eyebrows and took a new look at the man’s physique. “Well, that explains this body.”

He winked. “And I’m not gay.”

Joanne laughed, loud enough to wake Linda, but she didn’t care. Linda would understand. “Have five spare minutes?”

“If we’re gonna do this, it’s going to take longer than five minutes.”

She stared up at him. The seriousness behind his eyes, the desire. The soft-yet-firm set of his mouth. She licked her lips. “You want to?”

He breathed a short laugh. “There’s a sexy-as-hell woman offering herself to me. Of course I want to. Especially if it will help rebuild her ego. I’m sworn to serve the citizens of this city, you know.”

She burrowed back against him, and he wrapped around her in return. “So, Mr. Layton. You didn’t happen to take any Sexual Therapy courses when you trained as an EMT, did you?”

“That’s part of the ongoing education program. I might need you to sign off on some credits later.”

“I’ll take good notes.” She looked up at him and was struck by the intensity of his gaze. She stared at her reflection in those blue depths for a moment until he leaned over and kissed her.

God, yes.
His mouth moved over hers with skilled ease. His tongue dipped and tasted, stroked and teased. His whiskers brushed her chin, her cheeks, then her neck as he covered her with his worship.

He pulled her T-shirt up to her breasts before he leaned back and looked at her seriously. “You’re sure about this?”

“Yes. I promise.”

“No regrets?”

“No regrets. No obligations. Just tonight.”

Heat flared behind his eyes before he kissed her again. He tasted rich and delicious, and she couldn’t get enough. Her hands gathered his shirt up along his back until she could tug it over his shoulders. He sat up, straddling her legs, and tossed his shirt aside.

“You’re so fucking sexy, Josie. Warm and soft.” His attention on her breasts only caused her nipples to stiffen beneath her shirt, begging for his hands. His mouth.

She pulled her shirt off and threw it on top of his. With his eyes on her breasts, she cupped them in her hands and teased each peak with two fingers.

“Damn, that’s hot.” He dropped back down to cage her beneath him and took one nipple into his mouth, brushing her fingers with a hot swipe of his tongue.

She held his face as he sucked and teased first one breast, then the other. Coils of desire tightened with each pull of his mouth. She squirmed beneath him, her pussy swollen and aching for contact. Around and around his tongue went, pulling strings of need from her sex to each erect tip. His kisses felt so good on her skin, she traced his lips with one finger, loving the hot, wet slide of his mouth.

Eric’s hand slid down her side, rubbing the curve of her hip, then taking her underwear down her thighs in a smooth caress. She kicked them free, then struggled with his.

“Wait.” His head snapped up, and Joanne blinked him into focus. “Tell me you have condoms.”

“Oh. Yes…desk drawer.” Sad that she and Andrew hadn’t yet reached the level of trust in their relationship where they could forego them, but knowing now that he had a girlfriend on the side, she should be grateful. Eric slipped from the bed and found the condoms right away. He pulled out a whole string of foil packets, and his grin when he held them up was just too damn cute.

“Think we’ll need all of those?” She laughed.

“Not sure.” He took in her naked body sprawled on the wrinkled sheets. Joanne tried not to imagine how she looked with her hair a tangled mess. Her eyes were probably bloodshot from alcohol abuse or lack of sleep, and she’d scrubbed her makeup away before bed. Even with all of that, he looked at her as if she was the dessert in a long buffet line. When his attention focused on the blonde thatch of hair screening her pussy, she brought one hand to cover herself.

“Oh Christ, Josie.” He hopped on one foot, then the other to rid himself of his boxer briefs.

His attention filled her with lust, and she used her hand to play with her slick core. He grabbed his cock and held it tight, clearly entranced by each flick of her fingers.

“Open your legs. Let me see it all.”

She drew her knees up and let them fall, opening herself to a man more than she’d ever done before. Maybe it was the slippery-nipple remnants or the knowledge that he didn’t expect anything from her, but she boldly spread her lips with one hand and slicked up two fingers of the other with her cream. She watched him closely. Each breath he took, every time he licked his lips and stroked his cock, gave her more courage. She took her clit between two fingers and tugged, moaning with the intense tickle that coursed from her pussy to her womb, only to melt into the rest of her humming body.

He crawled between her knees and licked each finger with a long drag of his tongue. She tried to move her hands, but he stopped her with both hands on her wrists. “Don’t stop. That’s so hot.” His breath washed over her, caressing her as surely as his tongue.

She tilted her hips, desperate for that tongue on her sex. “Lick me. Please, Eric.”

He did. God, did he lick her. He ate at her like he was starving for her essence. He licked her fingers, clit and lips, taking his time with each until she was writhing. The room spun wildly, and for a moment, she worried that she would be thrown from the bed with each pass of his tongue.

He pulled her index finger deep into his mouth, then took her hand in his and pushed both of their fingers inside. Sharing her intimate space with another was a foreign concept, but the erotic move filled her with need. He stroked her finger and her interior walls, answering each of her moves. Joanne curled up, lifting her head and shoulders from the bed, desperate for the release she teetered upon. Her short breaths echoed off the bare walls. She bit her lip to stifle a scream. The way he alternated between licking her clit from beneath her hand and pressing her own palm down on the nub sent her into a slow, draining implosion. Wave after wave of exquisite pulsing washed through her until her legs fell flat and she whimpered. He continued even as she came back down to earth. It took a few minutes for her to regain enough control to look down her body to meet his eye.