Risky Business (24 page)

She released her hold on him and sat back, shaking out her arms. She probably should get home to help Chelsea with Katie, but most likely Katie was still napping and, anyway, Allison wasn't quite ready to face reality again. Maybe when they got back, she'd go stand at the rail and look at the water, see if it felt different now that she'd seen it in a whole different light.

“Not for a while yet. When we get back, I think I'll go look at the water first. It's so beautiful here,” she said. “I love being on your bike. Thank y—” She swallowed the word, mashing her lips together, annoyed with herself for saying the exact wrong thing.

Theo swung off the bike like it was on fire. She braced her hands on the lip of the seat to steady herself, but kept her attention on the water rather than see the impatience of his tone written on his face. Call her a fool, but she wanted to cling to the last shreds of the dreamy, good feelings the ride and their surroundings evoked.

His hand cupped her cheek, turning her face to look up at him. The fire in his eyes stole the breath from her lungs. She could do little more than blink up at him, putting it all together why he'd sounded so impatient, before he took her mouth in a hard, needful kiss.

Theo had to have her. He'd never wanted anyone so much. It hurt to not to have Allison in his arms, in his bed. Sitting on his bike, with her straddling the seat behind him, he'd felt an actual, physical ache in not touching her, one that wasn't quenched by a mere kiss.

She was so lovely and sexy. He broke their kiss and pushed her dress up, then pulled her leggings down a few inches, not because he was going to do anything crass like strip her naked during the day on the side of the road, but having fantasized about what she'd looked like in wet, leopard print panties and pink bra for so long, he had to know what her underwear looked like today.

Her panties were a red, lacy thong, so perfectly Allison—sassy and sexy and surprising. He kissed her again, this time getting his tongue involved. Then he hooked a finger in the neckline of her dress and tugged. The bra she wore was skimpy and sheer black, and in no way matched the panties.

He grinned. That was so Allison, too. Wild and without symmetry, but with all her disparate parts complementing each other in unexpected ways. The boat company owner who was afraid of water. The mother with the huge heart who'd drop anything to help people and who'd won the whole town over in a matter of weeks, yet who had a penchant for anarchy when she'd had a few too many drinks—and a soldier's vocabulary to match.

She slid her hands under his shirt, running her fingers over his back, sending chills up and down his spine. Yeah, he wasn't going to be able to wait until they got back home, which wasn't what he'd planned, and wasn't at all romantic, but oh well. He needed her now, on the banks of the canal, just the two of them locked together in their own little world.

She took his cheeks in her hands and leveled a serious look at him, tempered by the flush of her skin and the dewy, just-been-kissed set of her mouth. He didn't realize how utterly he'd gone inside his own thoughts until she started talking and he didn't hear a single word. He blinked, forcing himself to focus.

“Don't tell me we're just making out again,” she said. “I need sex. With you. Like, now. I don't know how, but right now. I was a very good girl last night, not sleeping with you when I was drunk, even though I really, really wanted to, so now I need to be rewarded with an orgasm.”

Goddamn, he was crazy about this girl. How could he deny her anything said in that husky, thick-with-arousal voice? She wanted him, and the idea that in minutes they would be making love made him light-headed.

He tried to match the gravity of her expression, but he couldn't get his lips to give up their smile. “I think I can handle that.”

He unzipped the pouch behind the bike seat and took out an emergency blanket, one of those thin, metallic sheets that provided zero cushion, but a lot of warmth and coverage. He jammed it in his pocket, then scooted his hands under her and lifted, bringing her into his arms. She looped her arms around his neck and barely gave him a chance to find his balance before kissing him.

Holding her tight, he kissed her back until she released his mouth in favor of his neck. Then he carried her to the bridge, thinking that on the sandy bank, the trees were thick and they'd be less likely to be disturbed.

When he set his first foot on the bridge, she tensed and pulled away, her neck and body going rigid. Stopping, he kissed her, tenderly, wanting to let her know that she could trust him about this, that he would take care of her and keep her safe over the water. “Close your eyes. I'm not going to let you fall in the water. And even if you did, I'd rescue you all over again.”

Apparently, that was what she needed to hear because only then did she do as he asked. Though her body trembled the whole way across the bridge, and he wasn't sure she exhaled until he set her on her feet behind a thick copse of trees, he felt ten feet tall that she'd trusted him.

She opened her eyes, shifting her focus in rapid-fire succession to the bridge, then the island, then the sky—the seductress gone, replaced by a nervous, vulnerable, skittish creature. He stroked her hair, planted a brief kiss on her lips, then wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her tightly up against him. Determined to coax her desire back to the surface, he took her mouth harder than he ever had. His hands delved under her dress again, pushing it up until his fingers splaying against the skin of her stomach.

This wasn't the way he wanted to make love to her the first time, somewhere he couldn't strip her down and worship her body properly, but if he had his way, this would only be the first of many times in the hours, days, and years to come.

After looking around, he found a soft patch of grass that didn't seem too wet. He let her go, then spread the blanket out, withdrew his wallet from his back pocket, then sat, resting his back against a tree. He'd never done anything like this, outside, in public, but it was just crazy enough to make sense. If he'd learned anything in the last month, it was that being with Allison was like skydiving: if you could get past the fear of jumping, then all that was left to do was enjoy the ride.

When he looked up again, her leggings, panties, and boots were in a pile on the grass. With his jacket on, her bare legs, and the fire in her gaze, she was the sexiest damn thing he'd ever laid eyes on. He motioned her over with a tilt of his head. Her feet straddled his outer thighs and she made to sit, but he stopped her.

He slid his hands around her hips beneath her dress to cup her ass. He'd touched her flesh back there when they'd been drunk, but he had no specific memory of the shape and feel of her curves in his hands, which was a shame because she felt exquisite—lush and soft and perfect, like the rest of her. He buried his face between her dress-clad thighs.

Her hands plunged into his hair and she whimpered. He opened his mouth, breathing hot air through the fabric to the center of her. He got his lips involved, then his nose, teasing lightly until her breath caught and her hands fisted in his hair.

Dizzy with need that was growing more profound by the moment, he coaxed her down to straddle his lap. They kept their upper bodies close, kissing and breathing into each other while hands explored. She lifted his shirt, touching him all over, turning the ache into a coil of raw need. Then her hands slid lower. She pulled on the end of his belt until it unlatched, then made short work of the button and zipper.

His cock surged up, straining his cotton briefs. She gripped him over the fabric, her touch so provocative that he groaned aloud. His chin fell forward onto her shoulder. He held still for her and allowed himself a moment to simply feel her hand exploring his body with tentative strokes, knowing he was exactly where he was supposed to be, with exactly whom he was supposed to be with.

She pulled the elastic band down on his boxers and closed her hand over his shaft. Keeping her grip on him, she rocked up and got her mouth close to his ear.

“You are the hottest man ever.” She gave him a decisive tug, stretching his skin. “And you have the hottest, hugest body I've ever seen. Do you have any fucking idea what you do to me?”

She was lucky he didn't blow his load right there, with her talking dirty to him like that. He loved it when she cursed, even though he wasn't doing anything to her at the moment worth cursing about. Time to change that.

He slid his hand up her thigh below her dress and snuck his index finger between her pussy lips. Her face tipped up to the sky and she released her hold on his cock. “Oh, damn. Theo.”

He slid his middle finger up against his first finger. She was wet and hot and so damn responsive to every twitch and swirl over her clit. She braced her hands on his shoulders, rocking her hips against his fingers, whimpering like she needed it harder. He increased the pressure of his touch, working in relentless little circles, riveted to the sight of such a beautiful woman coming undone in his arms.

Then her face fell forward and she pressed her lips to his, looking into his eyes. Those fathomless eyes of hers widened when he pushed his two fingers inside her. Her mouth fell open in a silent cry. He used his other arm like a band around her waist, keeping her lower body locked close to him as he impaled her on his fingers up to his knuckles.

After a few hard thrusts, he added a thumb to brush against her clit. She gripped his neck, smushing her face against his cheek, her pussy pulsing with the beginning flutters of pleasure.

He pulled his fingers out and got a condom from his wallet. They all claimed to be lubricated but that was bullshit marketing, so he spit on his hand and gave himself a couple good tugs. With a hand on her waist and another on his cock, he guided her body until his head nudged her entrance.

“Theo . . .”

He heard the trepidation in her voice and paused, meeting her gaze.

“This is my first time since Katie was born. Since she was conceived, practically. I'm nervous.”

He almost said
,
“Do you want to stop?” But he figured there was a long way between being nervous and being ready to quit. “It's just me,” he said instead. That didn't seem like reassurance enough, so he added, “What are you nervous about?”

“If I can do it. If I can come . . .”

He thrust up and pulled down, seating himself about halfway inside her. If that was all she was worried about, then they were going to be just fine, because he was going to make sure she came, no matter what. The air rushed out of her in a huge whoosh of an exhale. Her mouth opened, her eyes rolled up. Theo smiled. Yeah, she was going to be just fine.

But damn, she was tight, too tight. He didn't have much thrusting power in this position, so he let gravity do its thing while he kissed her, deep, with long, slow strokes of his tongue against hers. He could actually feel her muscles relaxing all around him, and her jaw relaxed and her gaze softened again.

“It's just me,” he repeated, because for reasons he didn't understand, that mattered to him. It mattered that she was comfortable in his presence, that this—what they were doing now—was just what they did, the two of them. It wasn't some huge deal, no matter how profound it felt, because he was going to make love to her all the time, every chance he got, so this, right now, in the grass, with the encroaching clouds dimming the colors of sunset and casting the trees and water in shadow, was only a drop in the bucket of what they were going to do together.

Her pussy did a slow slide down his cock, excruciating because his body was screaming out for motion, but she was in the driver's seat for this one. When she was all the way onto him, he ground his teeth together and groaned, fighting against a sharp wave of pleasure at the sensation.

“Shh,” she said. Her fingers lighted over his cheek. “It's just me.”

They shared a quiet smile. With his hands on her waist, guiding her movement, she rocked in a slow building rhythm that was, for Theo, the most agonizing bliss imaginable.

Then, the unthinkable happened. A peel of thunder sounded, the clouds opened up, and it started to pour.

Their shocked gazes locked together. “Oh, my God, Allison, I can't believe—”

Her face screwed up and he knew she was going to cry, but what could he do? His mind was racing a mile a minute. Here it was the most incredible moment of his life and the stupid fucking rain had to ruin it by making her cry. Then a smile broke out on her lips. She threw her head back and laughed. Actually laughed.

“Bring it, Universe!” she called to the clouds.

Maybe this wasn't ruined after all. He rocked her a little, getting his cock hard inside her again. “I can get this blanket out from under me and cover us, or we can go back to the landing.”

She blinked water out of her eyes and shook her head.

“I'm serious,” he said. “I can get—”

She set her hands on his cheeks and kissed him to shut him up. “I know what I said last night about me not doing it on a boat, but I've changed my mind. Water's my curse. It's worked its way into every important moment of my life, including so many important moments with you. I'll take you in the rain. I'll take you on a boat. I'll take you however you come to me.”

He kissed her again, in reverence to her magnificent, indomitable spirit. He'd take her any way she came to him, too. She started up her slow movement again, squeezing her muscles, milking him with slow precision.

He pulled her arms out of the jacket, then slid it over both their heads, creating their own private haven from the storm. The rain was cold and soaking, but she was spared from the brunt of it by his jacket, and that was good enough for him.

He didn't let them move for too long before getting his fingers back on her clit. She'd been worried about coming, and for all her courage about the rain, it couldn't have helped her arousal, so his number one priority had to be setting her mind at ease, letting her know that they weren't in a hurry, and that he was going to do everything in his power to get her where she needed to go. He was so focused on her pleasure, he nearly forgot about his own except for the shot of ecstasy with every motion of her hips, every squeeze of her pussy muscles.

It was dark and hot under the jacket, with their heads and bodies so close together and both of them breathing hard. Like a cocoon, a place out of time just for them, two people whom the world had damaged, but who, together, were whole again. They left all the noise and the weight back on solid ground—her fears, his fears, the pasts that wouldn't leave them alone, the unfairness of the world that had cast them together.

She whimpered against his cheek, her body shaking as she got closer. He kept up the swirl of his fingers on her clit and set his other hand on her fabric-covered breast. Her nipple was tight and poking against the wet material. He rolled it between the pads of his fingers until her whimpers grew more frantic, mirroring her movements.

“Theo, I can't hold back . . . I'm going to . . .”