Touch Me (21 page)

Flushing with excitement for them both, Rose released the head with a little pop, then concentrated on getting his shaft slick and shiny. She slid her mouth up and down, her tongue licking in broad strokes, and his fingers twisted in her hair to hold it away from her face.

A shiver climbed her spine. He was watching. She didn’t need to see his eyes to know that.

With his shaft wet, she cupped it in her palms. Bending to take in the head once again, she twisted her hands up and down while sucking, lowering her mouth when her hands slid toward the base, moving upward to the tip when her hands spiraled higher.

Payne’s breath was harsh above her. The sound of it and the bite at her scalp from his hand in her hair caused wetness to rush between her legs. She rocked a little on her knees, as if that could ease some of the maddening arousal.

On the downstroke, she stilled her hands at the base of his cock. She squeezed there as she eased back, taking in air and admiring what she’d created. His hard-on appeared belligerent and almost painful, but it was hers to tame and it was hers to offer relief.

“You are so fucking beautiful,” Payne whispered.

Her eyes closed, pleasured by the rough tightness of his voice. Then she leaned forward again, rubbing her cheeks, nose, and lips along the muscled rod. He made a helpless noise and she felt the flex of his fingers in her hair and then she dove on him again and quickened the pace.

His groan was a delicious sound and she pumped her mouth over him, going as fast as she could. His hips hitched forward and she slid one hand to his balls, now tucked tight and high at the base of his shaft. She heard his breathing change and sensed the increased tension in his leg muscles. This was her moment, even though it was his.

Once upon a time, Rose was here.

“Rose, baby.” His voice was guttural. “If you don’t want…”

Ignoring his warning, she sucked harder.

Then his head seemed to swell, the shaft going bigger in her mouth too, and she yanked his jeans over his ass and cupped one muscled cheek. His body went rigid and then he was coming, his seed salty and thick in her mouth. Rose swallowed, one hand still cupping his balls, until he groaned.

“Jesus, Rose. Jesus,” he said, his hand dropping from her hair.

More than a little pleased with herself, she edged back, admiring his thick cock, only half-hard now. Then her gaze skipped left, and she saw for the first time the end of the double-helix tattoo always hidden by his clothes.

The lowermost supports of the twisting ladder were joined by a single clasp. Heart-shaped. Locked.

“Baby.”

Payne’s voice pulled her eyes up to his. He’d tossed the sunglasses aside and he reached for her now, helping her to her feet. A little smile curled his lips. “I’ve never been fraternized better in my life. Thank you.”

She could only stare at him as a new knowledge settled over her.

“Rose?” He kissed her forehead, her nose, her lips. “Let’s take this party out of the dirt, sweetheart. Then I’ll make you feel good.”

Panic took her breath. Get close to him so soon? Not right now. “I need a minute. I need—”

“Hello!” A voice from beyond the side gate was hollering. “Anybody home?”

“Shit,” Payne said, his expression annoyed as he hitched up his pants and hurriedly fastened them. “I’m gonna nail that gate shut. What the fuck’s Cami doing here?”

“You find out,” Rose said quickly, already heading toward the house and the door that led directly from the back yard into one of the bathrooms. “While I…”

Escape.

But there was no breaking free, she realized, when she stared at herself in the mirror over the sink.

Her low mood had been nothing about her father.

It was about her imminent loss of daily contact with Payne.

Examining her dirty face, her swollen mouth, her disheveled hair, she saw what he’d done to her.

Made her a mess.

Made her break her own rule, too.

Because she’d gone ahead and fallen in love with the man.

But hadn’t she wanted to break rules? a little voice whispered.

Reaching for a washcloth, she paused, considering her appearance once again. Her color was high, her eyes bright, her lips full and red. She was, yes, a mess.

But a glorious mess.

Was this what love did to a person? She felt alive and liberated and though she had no illusions that Payne would suddenly return her feelings, she decided she chose to have no regrets.

Because Rose had been changed, just as she wanted. She was in bloom.

How had this happened? What was the particular moment?

Maybe it was an organic thing, the seed planted long ago, and after a month of sunshine and Payne’s smile it had ultimately blossomed.

She was in love with a beautiful, maddening, and very complicated man—all spelled out in his magnificent tattoo.

The more public half with its dragon head was the public Payne, beautiful and fiery, dangerous…and likely to burn you if you ventured too close. The twisty DNA ladder was all about his belief that he couldn’t escape his father’s legacy of faithlessness.

But then there was the padlock heart.

To Rose, that said he didn’t dare break open that double helix and find out if there was something different inside.

A different kind of man who longed for different things.

Reflecting on that, Rose wet the washcloth and washed her face. There wasn’t much she could do about her swollen mouth and the dirt that was on her arms and legs. So she left it, and tried gamely to smooth her hair using her fingers as a comb.

A fist thumped on the outer door and she jumped. Payne’s voice called to her. “Rose, come on out. Cami says you need to hear this too.”

Breathing in, she cast a backward glance at herself in the mirror.

Once upon a time, Rose left her heart here.

Chapter Twelve

Payne watched Rose step out of the bathroom. There were still splatters of muck on her arms and legs and between the bare toes of her feet but her face was scrubbed clean.

Maybe some person might think she looked like a little kid, half-washed after playing in the mud, but that some person wasn’t Payne. Because minutes before Rose had given him an unexpected, enthusiastic, and utterly filthy blow job.

Not so filthy, not really, except it had been his Rose on her knees, her big eyes trained on his face, working on his cock like a lollipop in her mouth. As a fantasy it was dirty and hot, but in real life…

Raw.

And yeah, filthy.

Beautiful in all the nastiest of ways.

So it was his turn. He had to do right by her.

She sent him a questioning look, one of her brows arched over a gray eye. “Well?”

He couldn’t think, all his blood was returning to his cock even though she’d sucked an explosive orgasm out of him not ten minutes before. In that tank top with skinny straps and a pair of ratty cut-offs, short enough that the front pockets showed as little white triangles in front, she looked so gorgeous he wanted to fall to
his
knees.
Do right by her, fool.

Yeah, yeah. He’d get her off, starting this minute. Payne reached out to catch her arm, spinning her about. The fastest way inside was right through the bathroom.

Rose glanced at him over her shoulder. “Isn’t Cami in the back yard?”

Cami?
Christ, he’d forgotten all about his sister!

“Oh, right,” he grumbled, then turned Rose again and tugged her toward the pool. “This way.”

She slipped out of his grasp. That was okay. He pushed both hands through his hair and blew out a couple of breaths, trying to restore his cool. Cami wanted to talk to them. It wasn’t time for sex. And maybe more sex with Rose wasn’t a smart idea.

Do right by her.

His sister sat in one of the chairs grouped around the table near the pool and she watched closely as they approached. Payne frowned at her, not liking her speculative expression. Ignoring him, she transferred her gaze to Rose. “What happened to you guys?” she asked. “You’re both muddy.”

He felt Rose’s gray eyes on him, but didn’t look her way. If she was blushing he just might go caveman and carry her behind the nearest closed door, smart move or not. “We’re planting a vegetable garden,” Payne told his sister.

She coughed. “A
vegetable
garden?” She said it like he’d announced he was giving up combustion engines and going all-hybrid all the time.

“He’s promised to water it and even eat what it produces,” Rose added.

“Only if you remind him about the watering, Rose, and then slather his veggies with cheese sauce.”

Rose pulled out a chair and dropped into the seat. “Your brother’s almost a big boy now, Cami. I won’t be hanging around after he gets the doctor’s all-clear.”

And that was going to be great, Payne told himself. He was itching to get his privacy back. “So, what’s up, Cam?” he asked, because the itch he had at the moment wasn’t to be alone, but to be alone with Rose, doing what felt right.

“You’ve got a problem at the new yard,” his sister said.

He yanked out his own chair, sat down. “I don’t know. It’s looking pretty good. And I’ve got my bookkeeper all lined up.” His sideways glance took in Rose, who was frowning down at one of her fingernails, the one on her forefinger, its pink polish chipped.

When she’d been jacking and sucking him, he’d noticed it himself, focusing on it as a way to keep from letting the sensations of her wet mouth and firm touch take him up and over too soon. Later, he was going to suck that finger into his mouth and then tell her to—

“Are you listening to me, Payne?” Cami asked.

Blinking, he redirected his attention back to his sister. “Uh, yeah. Well, no.” Leaning back in his chair, he tried looking nonchalant. “Say it again.”

She had a smart-ass smile on her face. “I said, some of your merchandise has been stolen.”

Rose leaned forward. “How do you know?”

“Because I went over there this afternoon to pick up a couple of items.”

Payne narrowed his eyes. He took care of his sister’s vehicles. She had the Jag that was a pure bitch to keep running smoothly, an electric car that the guys who visited his motorcycle yard gave her shit about, and a vintage Vespa scooter. Not one of them needed parts.

“It’s for a friend,” Cami said quickly, as if he’d asked. “Actually a friend of a friend who’s restoring a ’68 Dodge Charger.”

“A friend of a friend,” he repeated, and glanced at Rose.

They silently sent each other the same question.
Secret biker friend?

Cami cleared her throat. “I was after an original distributor cap and rotor.”

“We have those,” Rose said. “I remember them when I was rechecking the database.”

Payne didn’t say he was impressed by that, but he was. Before she started going to the yard just a short time ago, she didn’t know a distributor cap from a carburetor. “The staff is supposed to check bags and backpacks on the way in and on the way out.”

Cami shrugged. “Those parts can be hidden under a sweatshirt or a big jacket.”

“Yeah.” Crap. And things had been going his way. A day out with the male half of the Lemons tribe, followed by finding a naughty girl on her knees who gave him a sinful blow job. He rubbed his forehead. “We’ll have a talk with the staff. Add some more cameras.”

“Yeah,” Cami nodded, and pushed back her chair. “Sorry to bring the unpleasant news.” Standing, she eyed Payne’s bare chest. “Now I’ll let you get back to your, uh…planting.”

She snickered as she walked off, heading for the same gate she’d entered through. Definitely time to nail that sucker shut. “You could have picked up the phone!” he yelled at her back.

“I wanted to see your bright and shining faces!” she yelled in return.

“You almost saw a lot more than that,” Payne muttered as the gate slammed behind his sister.

Then he turned to Rose and it struck him hard, the sweet perfection of her bright and shining face and that sharp need he had to do right by her. Without thinking, his hand reached out to cup her cheek, the gesture tender. Cherishing.

Damn.

Doing right by her meant doing nothing more, he supposed. There was no good reason to encourage further connection through more sex. A no fraternization rule
should
be in the employee handbook.

Then his thumb drifted across her mouth and Rose closed her eyes. Need pierced him again. He couldn’t walk away. It wouldn’t be gentlemanly, would it? That night on the couch at the yard he’d left her hanging.

It wasn’t fair to leave her unsatisfied again.

“Come on, pretty girl,” he said, taking her hand to pull her up. “We’ve got a date with some hot water.”

Payne had showered with women in the past. Erotic amusement under a warm spray was nothing new to him. But when he reached the large expanse of his master bath, the carnality egging him on eased. His gaze caught the reflection of the two of them in the large mirror and he stared at it as he began to undress her.

She wore little, just the top, shorts, and a pair of teeny tiny panties that made his eyebrows raise, but he didn’t tease her about them because she was silent during the disrobing process, as if something important was about to happen. He wondered if her heart was beating as slow as his, a portent of…what?

He didn’t know.

Do right by her.

His inner voice was prodding him again and since she was so compliant now, he figured the right thing was this thing, taking her in his big shower with its multi-heads and two-step, slatted bamboo bench, perfect for all kinds of water play.

But when they were both naked and the water was set at a warm rain, he didn’t touch her with his hands. Instead, he took up the thick bath sponge and poured liquid soap from the dispenser onto its surface, then began to wash Rose.

Pulling on the back of her hair, he let the water run on her face and down her body. Then he stroked the sponge on her skin, leaving circles of small, fragrant bubbles in its wake. Her neck, her shoulder, down her arms. With his free hand he lifted each of hers in turn, washing between her fingers, taking his time.