Angie yanked down the side zipper on her new dress and pulled it over her head. Was she making the mistake of a lifetime, starting an affair with Russ Riley? Would he find her good in bed, or would he be disappointed by her lack of expertise in the bedroom?
Her love life with Buck had been mediocre at best and although the few men she had been with since were kind and seemingly appreciative of her efforts, making love to them hadn’t exactly produced fireworks either.
But on the other hand, she could not remember ever wanting a man, even Buck, the way she wanted Russ Riley. Hopefully that would make a difference.
Angie stripped off her makeup and pinned up her hair and took a quick bath in the oversized bathtub. She was just pulling on the thick terry hotel robe when a knock sounded at the door.
“That was quick,” she said as she pulled open the door and was surprised to find not Russ but a bellboy with a food cart laden with champagne in an ice bucket and a covered tray. “There must be some mistake,” she said.
The bellboy looked at his paperwork. “Miss Baxter? A Mr. Riley put in the order and said to bring it here.”
“Well, then, bring it on,” Angie said as a smile played around her lips. Russ had thought of everything.
Angie reached for her purse and was taking out her wallet when Russ himself appeared and swiftly pressed a tip into the bellboy’s hands. The smiling bellboy looked from Angie to Russ and beat a hasty retreat.
“Bet he can figure out what’s going to happen tonight,” Russ said as he crossed the room and took Angie in his arms and slowly lowered his lips to hers.
“My God woman, I want you,” he murmured as his lips met hers, crushing her to him as their bodies melted together.
There was nothing tentative as he boldly captured her mouth and edged her lips open to tangle his tongue with hers, but neither was it rough or demanding. Angie found herself responding in kind, eagerly devouring Russ’s lips with hers as they touched and tasted and explored.
For long moments they just stood and kissed, and Angie could feel her nervousness fading and desire, sharply acute desire, taking its place. When Russ finally lifted his lips from hers it was to frame her face with his hands and kiss her down one side of her face and back up the other, then place feather-light kisses on her eyelids.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured. “Even without all that war paint you favor.”
Angie smiled and ran her hands up his shoulders. “That war paint is my bread and butter,” she reminded him.
Russ grinned and ran his finger down her nose. “It has a time and place,” he agreed. “But I’m so glad I don’t have to get a mouth full of it to kiss you.” He again lowered his lips, but this time as he took possession of her mouth he reached down and untied the belt to the terry robe.
“Are you naked under this thing?” he asked as his lips trailed down her face to delicately nibble the side of her neck.
Angie nodded, her embarrassment returning as Russ parted the folds of the robe and stepped back to take in her naked body.
“Don’t be shy,” he said as he reached out and touched the tip of her full breasts with the end of his finger. “Your body is beautiful. So beautiful and so female and such a treat for me.”
He leaned down and replaced his finger with his lips, delicately lapping her pink nipple until it puckered with desire. He tortured it into a stiff little peak and then turned his attention to the other as Angie felt the hot wet tug of desire flood her most feminine regions and dampen them thoroughly.
Sensing her shyness, Russ stepped away to turn off all but the small lamp on the nightstand next to the lush, king-sized bed. Returning, he gently pushed the robe from her shoulders and onto the floor where it pooled at her feet.
Again, he ran his gaze down the length of her body, hot coals of desire lighting his eyes as he took in her body starting at her face, which had to be blazing with sensual heat.
“You are a vision, Angie,” he said softly as he ran his hand down her arm. “Every man’s dream come true.”
“And you have on too many clothes,” Angie said as she reached out and tugged his shirt out of his pants. “I would like to see you, too, you know.”
Russ whipped off his shirt, exposing the hard, muscled chest she had admired so many mornings as he jogged past her front window. He kicked off his sandals and removed his khaki shorts and black boxers in one swift movement, baring himself totally to Angie’s avid gaze.
And he was a sight.
Any remaining nervousness faded and pure hot lust took its place.
Thick, muscled shoulders gave way to a rock-hard chest covered with a light sprinkling of hair that arrowed down a washboard abdomen and flared thickly around an impressively erect penis.
His thighs and calves were also muscled and covered with the same light brown hair as his chest, and his arms were muscular and graceful.
His body was firmly sculpted and beautiful and he seemed perfectly comfortable with her intimate perusal. She reached out and lightly touched one of his flat male nipples.
“I’ve wanted to do that for months now.” She let her fingers drift lower, lightly inspecting the hardness of his chest and stomach before drifting down to touch his naked erection. “This, too.”
Angie expected Russ to reach out and stop her and was surprised when he let her touch her fill. She curiously caressed his jutting cock.
“Like what you see?” he asked teasingly as he graced her with a sensual smile that rocked her down to her toes.
“Oh, yes,” Angie admitted as she permitted herself one more caress before sliding her hand back up his body. “Wonderful, absolutely wonderful.”
Russ hooked his arm around her neck and pulled their naked bodies together, skin on skin, his hard chest finally making bare contact with her breasts and his jutting desire digging into her waist and telling her just how much he wanted her tonight.
He captured her lips in another drugging kiss, teasing and touching and then firmly possessing her mouth as his hands found and caressed her bottom.
Eagerly curious, Angie ran her hands down Russ’s hard back and found his butt, her fingers exploring the backside she had admired so often in the running shorts. Her touch was avid, almost greedy as she caressed him the same way he touched her.
He lingered for long moments of just touching and caressing before sweeping her into his arms and carrying her the short distance to the huge bed, lushly covered with a satin comforter. He laid her down gently and slid down beside her, his lips again covering hers as he ran his hand down the length of her body.
“I want to kiss you and touch you all over,” he declared as his fingers lightly teased at the triangle guarding her womanhood. “By the time this night is over there won’t be an inch of your body I don’t know like my own.”
Angie met his lips with hers.
Russ’s kisses were hypnotic, drugging, designed to pleasure her and at the same time draw a sensual response.
Her breathing hard, she moaned a little when his lips left hers but gasped when he began kissing a slow, tortuous path down her body, nibbling his way down her neck and shoulders before finding and caressing first one breast and then the other with his lips.
Hot, hard desire shot through her as Russ paid sensual attention to her sensitive peaks, teasing and tempting them until they were throbbing.
His mouth then drifted lower, trailing slowly down her body past her waist and down onto her stomach and even lower than that, planting a kiss on the curling triangle before sitting up and gently pushing her legs apart and baring her most sensitive region to his lustful gaze.
“So beautiful. So feminine,” he murmured as he lowered his head and touched the core of her secrets with the tip of his tongue.
Angie nearly came up off the bed as his lips worked their magic. Never in all her years of making love had a man worked such a spell on her.
Panting now, she flattened her palms to the bed and savored Russ’s ministrations as he touched and kissed and caressed, drawing her into a sensual web of lust and longing and desire so powerful and overwhelming Angie thought she would die of it.
Pleasure and pain commingled as tension soared, building in her center and spreading throughout her tender body. Her hips thrashed as the passion tightened unbearably and Russ anchored her hips with his hands as he continued his sensual assault, the tension building before it finally spiraled upward in an earth-shattering peak, tearing through Angie’s body, hard and fast and unrelenting as she gasped at the unfathomed pleasure of her release.
Crest after crest tore from her center to the tips of her toes, making her cry out in delight and wonder as he continued to ply his sensual magic. When the stunning tremors finally subsided, Angie collapsed back into the sumptuous comforter.
Russ snagged a condom packet from the nightstand and ripped it open. “Here, help me with this,” he said as he handed the condom to Angie. “And then we’ll have our pleasure together.”
“I’d be delighted,” she smirked as she took the condom and sheathed the erection that was, if anything, harder and thicker than it had been before. “Although after a climax like I just had, I don’t see how I can have any more than that tonight.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself,” Russ murmured as he positioned himself between her knees and stroked the still-quivering bud of her desire with his fingers, gently coaxing it into arousal before easing slowly into Angie’s tight entrance.
“Been awhile?” he asked softly as he fitted himself totally within her.
“Awhile,” she acknowledged as he gave her body time to adjust to his sensual invasion.
When he sensed that her body was ready, he began to move, slowly at first and then faster and harder.
Angie’s breath caught as she felt her body begin to spiral again, the delightful tension growing as Russ thrust inside her, taking her with him as his own passion built.
Faster, harder, she felt herself soaring back to the heights, her body trembling as she flew higher and higher toward that shining peak at the top of the mountain. She moaned as the peak neared, closer and closer until she was toppling, tumbling off, tremors of rapture tearing through her body as once again she felt the ultimate with Russ.
As the shockwaves tore through her she felt him reach the pinnacle also, his body shaking with the force of his own orgasm.
Angie collapsed, spent, into the soft comforter, moving bonelessly as Russ rolled their still-joined bodies over to lie together on their sides. His eyes were a little glazed as he stared into her face.
“You look like a sweet little kitten that just finished a bowl full of milk,” he said as he brushed her hair off her shoulder. “I told you not to underestimate yourself.”
“And you look like a fat old tomcat after he’s eaten a bird,” Angie laughed. “At the risk of sounding like a cliché, I have honestly never done that before. Had two in a row, I mean.”
Russ pulled Angie even closer to him and met her lips in a deep, sensual kiss. “What makes you think we’re stopping with two?” he chuckled as she felt him begin to harden again.
Angie looked down, startled, at where their bodies were still joined together.
“Really, Russ?” she asked disbelievingly. She had never had another man respond to her again that quickly.
“Oh you better believe it, darlin’,” he said as he flipped her onto her back and bore her back down into the pillows. “You seem to have that effect on me.”
Quickly, he pulled out, rolled on another condom, and entered her again, filling the loss she felt at his absence.
They began to move in unison again, this time more slowly as Russ’s lips caressed her face and neck and his fingers touched her heated body with sensual expertise even as his manhood moved within her to draw from her another pounding, shattering climax that left her gasping and weak.
Too spent, either of them, to move for a moment, he withdrew from her body and retrieved the forgotten platter of fruit and cheese.
Totally unselfconscious of her nakedness for the first time in her life, Angie sat cross-legged with Russ on the bed and together they nibbled the fat grapes, succulent strawberries, and ripe juicy peach slices between squares of rich, creamy Swiss.
They toasted one another with the crisp, sparkling champagne before he coaxed her into one more bout of steamy lovemaking that left her positively boneless. And, with infinite care, he pulled back the covers and tucked her inside, curling her next to him and cradling her head on his shoulder as their naked bodies twined together.
Angie’s eyes closed and she cuddled contently against Russ as his breathing evened out into that of sleep.
Lordy, what a night, she thought as a contented smile played around her lips. No wonder there had been so many women, if he made love to all of them the way he had her. He was by far the most generous lover she’d ever been with.
No other man had ever seen to her pleasure the way Russ had, making sure she was satisfied before he took pleasure himself. Oh, yes, tonight had been something else, and if tonight was anything to go by, they were going to have a hell of an affair in the months ahead.
*****
Russ lay quietly in the big hotel room as the pale morning sunlight filtered through the gauzy drapes of the picture window facing the Riverwalk. That beautiful view had sure gone to waste last night, he thought as he stared across the room.
When he suggested Angie’s room instead of his own it had been with the intention of a little romantic gazing out the window at the twinkling lights and meandering river below, and instead they had ended up in one another’s arms so quickly the romantic view of the river vanished and his only thoughts were of the beautiful, sensual woman who slept contentedly just a few inches away, her face soft and sweet in gentle repose.
Without her makeup and after a long night, maybe, maybe she looked her age, but Angie Baxter was beautiful and always would be. She was beautiful and warm and funny, and he had never in his life responded to a woman the way he had to her last night.
And he wasn’t about to admit that—to her, or to anyone else, he thought as he turned on his back and put his hands behind his head.
There had been so many women, more than Russ wanted to think about this morning, and he had never, absolutely never responded to any of them the way he had Angie. And his response to her wasn’t just the sex, as phenomenal as it had been. He felt himself responding to her as a friend, a confidante, someone with whom he wanted to share more than a smoking mattress.
And that didn’t please him.
It didn’t please him one damn bit, even as he felt himself growing hard again just at the sight of her asleep at his side, the delicate scent of one of her soaps mingling with the unmistakable aroma of very, very hot sex.
Russ turned his head as he felt Angie stirring beside him. He felt a grin steal across his face as she blinked at him sleepily.
“Good morning,” he said softly, his earlier displeasure forgotten as he breathed in her warmth. “I have one condom left. Want to use it?”
Angie smiled and nodded her head.
“Only this time I get to make love to you,” she said as she slid her naked body across the bed and threw her leg over his body. She tossed aside the covers as she straddled him. Russ feasted his eyes on her graceful neck and shoulders, lightly tanned from late afternoon visits to the Heaven’s Point beach, the full breasts that swayed just a little when she walked, the nipped-in waist and soft but flat stomach, the little auburn triangle that guarded her feminine secrets, the long, shapely legs that curved into graceful ankles and feet. Her lush breasts bobbed as she bent over and kissed his lips, touching and tasting and nibbling before running her tongue down his neck and onto the tattoo that graced the left side of his chest.
“You feel all warm and hard,” she said as she raked her fingernail down the hair sprinkling his chest. She stopped to play for a minute with his nipple before her fingers trailed lower, teasing and caressing his navel and lower stomach before finding and gently encompassing his now-hard cock.
“Do you like it when I touch you down here?” she asked as her fingers danced up and down his throbbing organ.
“Are you kidding? You keep it up and I’m going to come right here and now,” he admitted as he felt himself grow even harder.
Angie grinned wickedly and stroked his cock one more time before snagging the condom and rolling it into place.
“Be damned if we’re going to waste an erection like that,” she murmured as she eased over him and impaled herself. He tried to sit up. “No, I want to make love to you,” she protested. “Allow me.”
He couldn’t do that, not completely. But for the most part it was Angie’s show, her lips parted and her eyes glazed over with desire as she made love to Russ with everything she had.
Faster and faster, higher and higher, she threw her head back and pounded into him, her hair a wild mane swirling around her shoulders as she rode him in sensual abandon.
Russ stared up at her and allowed himself to be caught up in her delight as thrust by thrust she brought them both higher.
He fought the impending climax, determined to hold on until Angie had her pleasure, but when he felt her body start to convulse around him he let himself go, abandoning himself to shock aftershock of pure, unadulterated delight as her body throbbed in tandem with his.
“Good grief, woman,” he said as she rolled off him and curled up in a satisfied heap beside him. “The things you make me feel.”
They lay together quietly for a few minutes before Russ made himself sit up.
“I’ll call room service and get some coffee up here,” he said as Angie pulled the covers over her body. “You can snooze for a couple of minutes while I use your shower.”
Angie nodded and turned over.
Russ gathered all the used condoms and tossed them in the bathroom before taking a quick shower. He had pulled on his shorts and was drying his hair when a knock sounded at the door.
“Angie, I think the coffee’s here,” he said as he threw open the door and found himself staring Wade Baxter in the face. Oh, hell, he thought as Wade’s eyes widened and the young man took in Russ’s naked chest and the towel around his neck.
“I guess you’re not the coffee,” he said as Wade stared past Russ to the sight of his mother still curled up in bed.
“Aw, Jesus,” Wade breathed as Angie raised her head off the pillow and stared at her son in shock. “Shit. Tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”
Russ stepped out into the hall, pulling the door shut behind him. “It’s exactly what you think it is,” he said without apology. “I spent the night with your mother. Who, I’ll bet is in there right now rushing around trying to get her clothes on and come out here and smooth your ruffled feathers. Are you going to embarrass her by making her do that?”
Wade shook his head. “No, I won’t do her that way. But you and I are so going to have a talk.” Russ opened the door a crack and Wade stuck his head inside. “Morning, Mom,” he said.
Russ heard Angie mumble something as Wade stepped back.
“Good for you,” Russ told Wade as he stepped in the room where, sure enough, a red-faced Angie was cursing and pulling on a pair of yellow jeans.
“Wade and I are going downstairs for breakfast,” he said as he picked his shirt up off the floor and rammed his feet into his sandals. “Why don’t you grab a shower and meet us in the coffee shop?” He reached out and put his hand on Angie’s arm.
“Chill, Ange. It’s all right. Honestly.”
“Easy for you to say,” she murmured, but she sat down on the bed and pulled the jeans back off. “See you in a bit.”
Russ joined a contrite Wade in the hall. “Russ, I…”
“Save it,” Russ said as he jerked his thumb toward the elevator. “I’m not talking or listening to you either one until I get some coffee in me.”
Wade shrugged and they said no more until they were seated on the coffee shop patio overlooking the river. Russ gave his order of huevos rancheros to their server and turned to Wade.
“What does your mother normally like for breakfast? We’ll go ahead and order for her.”
Wade glanced down the menu. “Just a basic breakfast. Eggs, bacon, biscuits. And coffee.” He ordered steak and eggs for himself and turned to Russ.
“I guess this is old hat to you,” he said dryly. “Mornings after, I mean. Emily said you were a player in a big way.”
Russ shrugged. “I’ve done a few. Your point would be?”
Wade thought a minute. “You’re not exactly the man I would have picked out to be my mother’s, uh, whatever,” he said finally. “You know.”
Russ let his eyebrow shoot up as he looked Wade in the eye. “And since when is it any business of yours who your mother’s ‘uh whatever’ is?”
“It’s not,” Wade said. “Never has been, never will be. But Russ, I do try to look out for her, have been since I was ten years old. Not because it’s supposed to be my role in life but because she’s got nobody else on this planet to do that for her.”
“What about her family?” Russ asked.
“Too far away and besides, they weren’t thrilled with her for taking me on in the first place. So yes, I try to look after Mom. My father was a real SOB and hurt her badly and I don’t want it to happen to her again.”
Russ narrowed his eyes and stared across the table at Wade. “Do you honestly think I would raise my hand to your mother?”
Wade’s eyes went wide. “God, no, that isn’t what I meant. I don’t want her feelings hurt, Russ.” The young man floundered a minute. “Like when a man they really like or want to marry dumps them or something.”
“I see.” The waitress put three steaming cups of coffee on the table and Russ reached for his. “Wade, your mother assures me that the last thing she wants is to get serious about another man or marry again. She’s quite sure that all she wants from me or any other man is a bit of lighthearted fun.”
Wade made a sound somewhere between a snicker and a snort. “And if you really believe that I have a Christmas tree farm in Guatemala to sell you.
“Look, if my son-of-a-bitch father hadn’t done such a number on her she would have remarried a long time ago and have a houseful of little kids by now. I don’t care what Mom says she wants or even thinks she wants, she’s not the lighthearted fun type and she’s sure not a one-night-stand kind of lady. That isn’t the Mom I know.”
“Maybe not, but it is the Angie your mother has made known to me and I intend to go with that version until the lady tells me differently,” Russ snapped.
Wade’s eyes narrowed at the rebuke and he opened his mouth to say more but clamped it shut when they both spotted Angie sailing through the door and peering around anxiously until she spotted the two of them sitting together.
She was dressed in the jeans from earlier and a brightly printed T-shirt, and she had applied her usual flattering makeup.
She made a beeline for the two of them, her smile a little too bright as she gave Wade a gentle kiss on the cheek. “Did you and your friends have a good time last night?”
Wade’s eyes met Russ’s and Russ nodded imperceptibly. Nothing more would be discussed this morning and neither would say anything to further embarrass Angie. But Wade’s comments irked Russ to no end.
Angie wasn’t interested in anything more than a brief affair. Angie was in no danger of being hurt. Her son was wrong about her. There was no way Angie expected more from Russ than he was prepared to give.
Ben and Patsy came out to the patio just as they were finishing and invited the three of them to join them for another cup of coffee.
Russ hid a sigh of relief when Wade declined, saying he and Benny needed to get on the road. Ben appeared to have declared a truce, at least for the morning, but Russ thought he caught his father looking at him and Angie with a bit of speculation.
Did Ben realize he’d spent the night in Angie’s room? Would Ben care if he knew?
Russ told himself it didn’t matter; he didn’t care what Ben thought, but as he packed his duffel for the drive back, he couldn’t help but wonder if Ben thought Angie beneath the Riley family, or, even though it was a moot point, if his father would approve of Angie as his only son’s girlfriend.