Sex, Lies and Mistletoe (16 page)

She didn’t tug his buckle open, though. Instead, she slipped her fingers inside his jeans and caught hold of his shirt, pulling it free. Her palms flat against his belly, she slid them upward, taking his shirt with them. Following her cue, he lifted his arms, then finished it off himself, tossing it toward the same couch currently holding her bra.

One for one, they were on a roll.

“Mmm,” she hummed, staring at his chest as if she was mesmerized. Caleb was already sporting a pretty nice erection, but that look on her face, pure appreciative awareness, made his dick throb.

Her palms still flat, she smoothed them over his shoulders, her fingers warm and teasing as they skimmed his skin. Her nails scraped a hot trail of fire down his arms, pausing to curve over biceps that, yes, he knew it was stupid, but he flexed a little. Her soft sigh of appreciation didn’t make him feel stupid, though. It made him feel like a freaking super-hero.

Her eyes flicked to his, then back to his chest. But he saw a wicked light in their depths. Like she was up to something. Not wanting to ruin her fun and tell her there wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen or done, he relaxed and waited.

Then she pressed her mouth, hot and wet, against his nipple. And he damn near exploded.

What the hell? Her hands were skimming, caressing their way over his chest, but it was her mouth that was driving him crazy. Her tongue slipped out, tasting, testing. Tempting. Since she hadn’t made a rule against it, Caleb grabbed on to the silky warmth of her waist before sliding one hand up to cup the weight of her breast. Fair was fair, after all.

Apparently she wasn’t interested in fair, though.

Pandora shifted, trailing those hot, openmouthed kisses down his chest.

Caleb was going insane. That was the only justification he could find for his inability to hold on to any semblance of control.

For a man who prided himself in his skill, both with women, and over his body, he didn’t know what to do here. How to react. It was as if Pandora had woven a magical spell over him. Like she was an addiction, one he couldn’t resist.

Her lips, wet and silky, trailed lower down his belly, the rasp of his zipper filling the room as her teeth tugged it down.

Caleb groaned, his fingers clenched in her soft hair. He realized he didn’t give a damn.

She could keep the power.

Just as long as she continued driving him crazy.

Then her lips pressed against the tip of his dick.

Caleb growled a combination of shock and pleasure. Taking that as a go-ahead, she tugged his shorts and pants down below his knees, then her fingers trailed a teasing path back up his thighs.

She pulled back, just a little, and looked up at him. With those deceptively innocent hazel eyes locked on his, she leaned forward and wrapped her lips around the throbbing head.

He almost yelped in surprise. Then he closed his eyes, enjoying the delight of her mouth.

She was so good at this. She licked and nibbled him like a freaking lollipop.

Intense pleasure pounded through him, demanding release. Her mouth felt like heaven, the kind that only bad boys got into. Her tongue swirled, then she sucked. Hard.

He damn near exploded.

“No,” he shouted instead.

“No,” he repeated, gentling it this time and soothing his hands over the tangle his fingers had made in her hair. “Not like this. The first time I come, I want it to be inside you.”

Her brow arched and she leaned forward again, but he gripped her hair. “Not inside your mouth, either.”

Her smile was a work of art. And not just because she offered it up from her knees in front of his bare, throbbing erection. He reached out and pulled her to her feet, needing to kiss her almost as much as he needed to come.

“More,” he said, borrowing her earlier demand.

“Definitely more,” she gasped, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back. Before he could get too serious about it, though, she pulled away.

“Hey!”

“I don’t think we want these in the way,” she teased, shimmying out of her panties. She hurried over to her purse and grabbed something, showing off the condom with a grin before sauntering back.

Not trusting his body to behave if she touched him again, he held up one hand to indicate she stay where she was. Then he took the condom and slipped it on, reveling in the view as he protected them.

“You’re beautiful,” he told her, pulling her toward him. “I want you so much.”

“How much, exactly?” she teased.

“This much.”

Done talking, he grabbed her tight and took her mouth in a deep, devouring kiss. Her moan of delight was all he needed to know she was ready. He grasped her hips, his hands curving into her butt and lifting. Her arms tight around his shoulders, she wrapped her legs around his hips.

In one quick, delightful thrust, Caleb was inside her. She was tight, hot and wet. Delicious. His hands gripping her hips, he thrust, his hips setting a fast rhythm.

“More,” she breathed against his throat as she undulated in a tempting dance, pulling him in deeper.

Deeper and deeper. Harder and faster.

Her moans became whimpers. Her breath heated his neck as she dug her fingernails into his shoulders, gripping him so tight her heels dug into the small of his back.

He couldn’t think.

All he could do was feel the incredible sensations building. Tightening. Need pounded at him. Her mewling pants were driving him higher.

Then she came. Her gasp was followed by the soft chanting of his name. Over and over and over, she called out to him.

He couldn’t restrain himself any longer. As her body spasmed and contracted around him, he exploded in delight.

His mind spinning, aftershocks of the sexual blast still zinging through his body, Caleb let his head fall back against the wall. He unclenched his fingers from the soft cushion of Pandora’s butt to let her slide her legs back to the floor. She puddled against him like a purring kitten, nuzzling her head under his chin and giving a moaning sort of sigh that made him feel like king of the sex gods.

“Bed?” he groaned against the warm, smoothness of her throat.

“That door over there,” she murmured, her words more a husky purr than anything. Caleb forced his eyes open, looking around for
over there.
There were two doors, one cracked open enough that he could see was a bathroom. Handy. The other was closed. There was a bed waiting on the other side of that door.

The trick was to get to it.

He had a whole lot of warm, wonderful woman wrapped in his arms.

His slacks were around his ankles. Pure class, he thought as he rolled his eyes. His boots were still laced tight, so he couldn’t kick his pants off and romantically sweep Pandora into his arms.

Romantically. Holy crap. A hard-core realist, Caleb knew the effects drugs could have on the body. But asparagus and oysters? That all-natural aphrodisiac thing was pure bullshit.

At least, he’d thought it was until now, as he stood with his head still reeling, his jeans jammed down around his socks like a pimply faced adolescent getting it for the first time behind the school gym.

Now? Now he was thinking up ways to be romantic.

Again…holy crap.

Pandora gave a sighing little wiggle, her curves pressing tighter against him, the deliciously pebbled hardness of her nipples scraping against his chest and her flowery-scented hair rubbing under his chin.

A part of him—he swore it was Hunter’s voice—was kicking in to lecture mode. He shouldn’t be doing this. The plan was to use her store’s proximity to keep an eye on his father. Not to use her, in any way, shape or form.

But was it using? his body argued. He was seriously interested in her. She was gorgeous and sexy and fun. And this didn’t have to get in the way of his investigation, so what did it matter?

Who gave a damn how he’d got here.

Caleb vowed in that second, as he brushed a soft kiss against the top of her head, that he was going to enjoy the hell out of this night. Whatever was driving it, he was the one having the fabulous ride.

Well, he and Pandora.

And it was time to make sure she got a ride she’d never forget, either.

“Round two,” he promised. “This time, I’ll show you what I can do with my boots off.”

8

“WELL?” KATHY PRODDED in a frantic admonition, leaning across the sales counter so far her butt was almost up in the air. “I can’t believe you didn’t call me last night to tell me about your dinner. I’m your best friend. Your confidante. Your coconspirator of all things naughty. And I have to drag myself out of bed on a cold Saturday morning and brave the crazy shoppers to nag you into filling in the deets?”

A little freaked at the idea of verbalizing all the images that’d been playing in Technicolor through her head all day, Pandora rolled her eyes. She was trying her best to ignore Kathy’s chipper curiosity. Especially since the store
was
filled with holiday shoppers, all with varying degrees of gossip expertise.

Trying to act professional, she struggled to wrap gold foil paper around an octagon-shaped box while the customer tapped her foot impatiently in time with “Jingle Bells” playing through the store’s speakers.

“Whose idea was it to offer free gift wrapping?” she muttered as the tape stuck to the wrong part of the foil paper, pulling the glittery gold off when she tried to move it. Wrinkling her nose, she glared at the package, then glanced at the eagle-eyed customer who’d now taken to finger tapping to show her displeasure.

Oops.

“That’d be the same person whose idea it was to try out her hot and horny holiday meal last night and isn’t sharing how it went,” Kathy said, her voice escalating from whisper to hiss loud enough to garner shopper attention.

Her face on fire, Pandora gave a hiss of her own.

“Shh. I’ll share. Later,” she promised as she gave in to the finger-tapping pressure and started the wrapping all over. “Now, help me with this ribbon, okay?”

“No.” Kathy straightened, keeping her hold-the-ribbon fingers hostage and giving Pandora a stubborn look.

“Pandora, the gossip grapevine is running amok,” Laurie, a waitress from the nearby diner, said as she approached the counter with a basketful of holiday shopping. “Lacy Garner claimed Caleb Black was in here flirting up a storm the other day. But Jolene Giamenti was telling everyone and their neighbor that Sheriff Kendall was interested in you. Now I’m dying of curiosity—which of those fine-looking gentlemen are you interested in?”

Pandora’s lips curved as she wondered how to answer that. She’d never had two eligible men interested in her, and definitely never had the town gossiping over which one she’d choose. Her ego, starting to show its fragile face again, glowed a little at the idea.

“Which one?” repeated the finger-tapping Mrs. Vincent, giving a nod of approval for the wrapping and indicating that Pandora hurry up with a little wiggle of her fingers. “As if there could be a question. A sweet girl like Pandora is going to date our fine sheriff. Why would she have any interest in a hoodlum like Caleb Black? Of course, all three Black kids were wild. But Caleb, being the oldest, seemed to make a point of being the best troublemaker, too. Why would Pandora date someone like that?”

Why? For fourteen orgasms in one night, maybe? Or the soft sweetness of the kiss he’d brushed over her forehead before he’d left in the wee hours of the morning? Maybe because Caleb had a sense of humor almost as fine as his gorgeous body. Or that he was fun and entertaining and made her feel amazingly sexy and clever.

Pandora shifted from one foot to the other. The movement brushed her thighs together and instantly shot tingling little reminders of her wild night through her body. She shivered. She didn’t regret for one second the evening that had led to such pleasure. But still, she needed to keep her professional persona intact. It didn’t matter that this was her own sex life and as such, nobody else’s nosy business. Just as it hadn’t mattered that she was innocent in the debacle with Sean. She’d learned the hard way how easy it was for public opinion to destroy a career.

“Are you going to share, or aren’t you?” Kathy prodded, snatching the package and tying the bow herself with a quick, sassy flick of her fingers. “I have a lot to do today. My mother wants to go shopping for matching Christmas sweaters, then I have to take the dog to the photographer to reshoot the holiday card.”

“You know if you had cats, those cards would come out a lot better,” Pandora pointed out, taking the package back, bagging it and handing it to Mrs. Vincent with a smile. “Cats are great at lying still.”

She, Kathy and the two customers all looked toward Bonnie and Paulie, who were curled up together in the window, a picture of furry contentment on the alpaca throw displayed there.

“So what’s going on?” Mrs. Vincent prodded, taking her bag but not leaving like a polite customer who minded her own business should. “Are you associating with that riffraff, Caleb Black? I hear he’s been a huge stress to his daddy. Not that Tobias Black is a pillar of all that is good and right in the world, what with dating girls his daughter’s age, those motorcycle types in and out of his shop and the constant traffic of questionable personalities. But he deserves better than a do-nothing son like that boy.”