Playing with Fire (12 page)

“Third, you should know I’m not very
experienced at this.”

Disbelief flashed in the depths of his eyes.
“You’re a virgin?”

She shook her head. “No, but I’ve only had
one lover.”

“Really?”

“Really.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Why does
that surprise you?”

“You’re a sex therapist.”

“So?” She snorted. “Just because I help
people with sexual problems doesn’t mean I’m overly
experienced.”

“I read your book.”

She felt oddly warmed by his confession. “You
did? Why?”

“I was curious. And now I wonder how you
researched your topic.”

“It’s all clinical,” she drawled, ignoring
his teasing.

A sly grin lifted his lips. “And the toys you
recommend to your patients?”

“Come with instructions,” she answered
easily.

“Maybe we can work out a trade.” He stepped
closer.

She took two steps backward, maintaining
distance. “What kind of trade?”

He planted both feet on either side of hers,
preventing her escape. “You help me with my nightmares.” He leaned
into her and grasped her waist. “I’ll help you test your toys.”

She placed her open palms against his corded
chest, and pushed gently in a last ditch effort to discourage him.
“Shane, you need my help.”

“Yes, I do.”

“My professional help.”

He shrugged. “I’ll see Dr. Brady.”

“I want to help you,” she protested.

“I want you to help me too.” His eyes
darkened as he lowered his mouth to hers.

“Fire me, Shane,” she whispered against his
lips.

“You’re fired, Liberty.”

His lips took hers in hungry possession as
his mouth moved over hers. His tongue separated her lips and swept
inside to dance with hers. Tucking his hand into the tender hollow
of her knee, he lifted her left leg and positioned it across his
hip so that she felt his hard, long length.

Her heart pounded at the incredible sensation
of him positioned between her legs. If she moved just a hair he’d
slip right into place. The unrelenting ache made her restless and
needy and she rolled her hips until he pressed against her
throbbing core.

Her skin tingled while his hands explored the
hollows of her back, his fingers kneading her muscles, imprinting
them with his touch. She groaned when he lifted his lips.

“I want to make this memorable,” he
whispered. He straightened her top and laced his fingers through
hers. “C’mon.”

He snatched two blankets from the sofa.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” He pulled her through the
kitchen, out the back door and across the lawn until they stopped
in front of a shop building in the corner of the yard.

He handed her the blankets and then slid a
key from his pocket and opened the door. She stopped inside,
intimidated by the darkness. A shiver crossed her spine. Damn this
fear.

Shane reached around her and flipped the
light switch and she released a pent-up breath. Blinding white
light bathed the entire building.

She felt a lurch of excitement when she saw
the bright red ladder truck parked in the middle bay. “So this is
what you do at three o’clock in the morning.”

He shrugged. “The department wanted to
salvage it. I thought restoring it might give me something to do
besides sleep.”

“You need to sleep,” she insisted.

“Nuh-huh.” He patted a finger against her
lips. “You’re not my therapist anymore.”

A twinge of disappointment pinched her, only
to disappear when he took the blankets and tossed them to the top
of the truck.

“Besides, sleep is the last thing on my mind
right now.”

She took a deep breath and attempted to
control the violent thumping of her heart. He placed his hands on
her hips and nuzzled the hollow of her neck with his lips.

“Kick off your shoes.”

Carried away by her eagerness, she slid them
off without hesitation.

“Count of three,” he murmured.

Her eyes fluttered closed as his husky voice
vibrated against her neck.

“One.” His warm breath tickled her skin.

“Two.” The electricity in his touch burnt her
hips as he grasped them.

“Three.” He boosted her easily to the top of
the truck and scooted her to one side while he climbed up to sit
beside her.

A warning voice whispered in her head.
Be
very sure
.

“Liberty.” He wove his fingers through hers
and squeezed. “We’ll go slow.”

She smiled at his reassuring touch and willed
herself to relax. He reached for one blanket and spread it across
the top of the truck. He shoved the other to one side.

“Where’s the ladder?”

“Missing.” He chuckled. “I’ve got a new one
ordered.”

A quick and disturbing thought crossed her
mind as he reclined on the blanket. What they were about to do
required trust. Something she swore she would never do again. Until
Shane. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something in
his demeanor calmed her and erased all her doubts.

Momentary panic swept through her until she
looked into his eyes. The heart rending tenderness she found
diminished her fear and fueled her eagerness. He threaded his
fingers through her hair and cupped the sides of her face to deepen
the kiss. His tongue danced circles around hers, sending new
spirals of ecstasy through her.

He groaned while he pressed himself to her,
his arousal nudging her midsection through his jeans. Her own
desperate moan answered his. Her skin heated as his hands left her
hair, traveled down her bare arms and grasped her waist. He eased
her to one side. She stopped him in mid-roll.

“Shane, wait,” she said breathlessly.

His brow furrowed.

“I want to be on top.”

She felt her composure crack as she
anticipated his demand for an explanation. Instead, he grinned and
recaptured her lips.

She moaned as he slid her jeans off her hips
and over her backside until he pulled them from her body. With only
her barely-there silk panties between her and the buttons of his
jeans, she felt his steel hardness demand release. Empowered by his
response, she slipped her hand between them and popped the first
button to tease him with her fingertip.

He growled low in his throat and ground
himself against her hand while pressing her closer. Fueled by his
reaction, she loosened the second button. He grunted and removed
her hands from his groin and pushed them up beside her ears. Giving
her a heated grin, he lifted her tank top over her head and off her
body. Her nipples peeked out from beneath the silk of her bra,
begging to be released from restraint.

With one skilled flick of a finger, he
released the front clasp and sighed when the heated flesh filled
his palms. “Hell yeah.”

She tossed her hair over her shoulders as he
slid the bra from her body and carelessly dropped it over the side
of the truck. He gathered her breasts in his hands and pushed them
together. His tongue circled first one and then the other tip of
each rosy nipple. She burrowed her fingers into his hair and then
tightened them against his scalp when he opened his mouth on one
nipple. His lips closed and she thrust into his mouth.

Shane rolled her next to him and kissed the
top of her head, stroking her bare back with his fingertips. His
gentle massage sent her currents of reassurance; contentment and
peace blanketed her panic. She felt his uneven breathing against
her cheek as he held her close, the rhythm wild and erratic.
Swallowing her fear, she lifted her head and grasped the edge of
his t-shirt, prying the fabric from the grooves of his muscles and
over his head. She panted shamelessly while she brushed her eager
fingertips over the surface of his chest. His skin jumped beneath
her caress.

Touching him was simply not enough. She bent
her head and sprinkled several light kisses across his pecs and
down the steps of his staircased abdominal muscles.

He inhaled a sharp breath as she inched
lower. With his pants unbuttoned, his erection bucked its restraint
and common sense told her one false move on her part would spoil
everything. She kicked common sense in the teeth.

She opened her mouth and placed it just over
the sexy vee cut of his obliques, forcing a heated breath to seep
into his skin. Her tongue darted from her lips, desperate to
taste.

“Ah, Liberty.”

She barely heard his whispered response as he
wound his fingers in the strands of her hair.

Very slowly, she dragged her tongue across
his tender skin, drawing a circle to establish a target. Round and
round she marked the area until finally she sank her teeth into his
flesh.

His hips left the blanket in an upward
thrust. Her teeth tightened their hold.

“Holy shit,” he groaned.

She released his skin and soothed the area
with her tongue. His erection nudged her cheek. Moisture pooled
between her legs.

Liberty lifted her head and raised an eyebrow
in silent permission.

“No,” he said without a note of
hesitation.

She lowered her head until her mouth hung
millimeters from his shaft. “Yes.”

He reached down and attempted to nudge her
chin away from his anatomy. “No, not now. I’m too close.”

She dodged his hand and blew across his
bloated head. “I don’t think so.”

“Christ Liberty, seriously.” He rolled his
hips in an effort to escape.

She chuckled and laid both hands on his hips
to still his movement. “C’mon Captain, you know you want it.”

Her tongue circled the tip of his shaft and
then dipped into the slit on top.

He groaned and pushed his jeans and boxers to
his thighs. “Hell yeah,” he growled as he wound his fingers back
into her hair. “Go easy or I won’t be responsible for the
consequences.”

Now released from its silky prison, his
erection stood tall. Long, hard and quivering for attention.

She wrapped her lips around the head, eased
downward until he rested halfway inside her mouth, and then pulled.
Slowly. Nipping the strong muscle with her teeth on the way up and
out of her mouth.

“Easy like that?” she murmured.

Her scalp tingled when he tightened his hold
in her hair, lifted his hips, and painted her lips with the head of
his shaft.

“Open for me, Liberty. Let me in to feel you
suck me hard.”

Her thighs tightened and her core pulsed at
his demand. She opened her mouth wide and drew him in until he
bumped the back of her throat. Ignoring her gag reflex, she
swallowed. And then again. And again to work her throat muscles
around him.

Shane rocked his hips back and forth, sliding
his erection up and down her throat. She moved one hand to squeeze
the root of his shaft. Her whole body ignited. Her clit screamed
for attention. She whimpered against his flesh.

The muscle in her mouth pulsed, leaving a
different, salty taste on her tongue.

“Enough.” Shane yanked himself from the
depths of her mouth, cupped her chin, and urged her upward. “Time
out, sweetheart.”

He rolled her to one side and her panic
returned. “I told you —”

“Sshh.” He traced one fingertip across her
bottom lip. “You can have the top, I promise. Eventually.”

His promise chased the tension from her body
and quickly replaced it with impatience. He smoothed his hand
across the top of her panties and she lifted her hips, silently
begging him to slip underneath and play. Very slowly he worked the
last barrier over her hips and down her legs until the silk fell to
the floor.

He reached between her legs and massaged the
needy, slick flesh with his thumb. “God you’re wet, baby.”

Her inner muscles clenched at his
observation.

“Are you as wet on the inside?”

Liberty gasped as he slid a finger inside and
began an intimate caress.

“Nice. Hot and wet.” He introduced another
finger and she moved her hips in time to his stroke. “That’s it,
take what you need.”

She rolled her head to one side. “I need you,
Shane. Now.”

“Not yet.”

“But I can’t —”

“You can, and I’m gonna watch.”

When he arched his fingers upward and
increased his rhythm, she had no choice. No way could she stop the
orgasmic freight train barreling down on her, and she’d be totally
insane to even try.

Shane leaned down and nuzzled her neck with
his lips. “Come for me, sweet baby.”

Her body tightened one last time. She
squeezed the tops of his shoulders and rode the wave that
threatened to drown her.

“Shane!’ His lips smothered her scream as her
body soared. His fingers continued their massage until her body
quivered.

He lifted his lips. “Again.”

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

He gave her a cocky grin and placed his lips
in the valley of her cleavage. “Oh, it’s possible.”

He moved them to the hollow of her stomach.
“Okay,” she conceded, “it is. However, most women don’t.”

He lifted his head and arched an eyebrow. “I
think you’ve proven you do things you didn’t think possible.”

Had he been anywhere other than flat on his
stomach between her legs, she might argue. However, the warm breath
he blew across her sensitive, still very achy clit proved
otherwise.

She released a soft sigh, now putty in his
hands. “You’re absolutely right.”

As soon as he opened his mouth and clamped
his lips closed around her clit, she knew the next big moment
wasn’t far away. Not when he nibbled the tip and then traced her
opening with his tongue. All the way around and then
counterclockwise. Licking, massaging, caressing.

She pushed further into his face. “Don’t
tease,” she groaned.

Her muscles screamed as he applied just
enough pressure to keep them interested. His tongue continued to
stroke her, first with a feather’s touch and then wrapped her clit
and sucked.