JOSH went up on his knees and curled his fingers into her waistband. He tugged her boxers and panties down her legs and then tossed them over his shoulder. The way he stared down at her, made Sarah’s pulse race.
“God, Sarah, seeing you right now…Forget the dream. I’ve died and gone to heaven.” He took her ankles and pushed them in until her knees were up and her feet were flat on the mattress. Josh placed a hot kiss on each hip bone.
“What are you doing?”
His lips trailed along her inner thighs, licking and sucking on the sensitive skin next to the heart of her. His gaze flicked up as he went flat on his stomach. “You mean you don’t know?”
If it was what she thought, no one had ever done that before. “It looks like you’re going to…”
“Take you to heaven with me? You’d be right.” Sarah went up on her elbows. Josh pushed the pillows at the end of the bed toward her. “Rest against these and you can watch.”
Watch? Did she want to do that? Sarah took the pillows from him. Hell yes, she wanted to do that. She leaned back against the cushion, breaths coming faster, waiting, wondering, anxiously hoping for what would come next.
“Oh, sweet Sarah. Look how wet you are. You’re glistenin’ with it. Is that all for me?”
Sarah nodded out a yes.
He slid his hot, rough hands down her inner thighs and pushed them wider. “Tell me, Sarah. Tell me who you’re wet for.” Josh ran his tongue up and down the center of her, teasing her with long licks and gentle flicks until her thighs trembled. Sarah lifted her hips, trying to get closer, needing to feel more of that delicious sensation.
With the palm of his hand, he pushed down on her lower belly until Sarah was flat against the mattress again. Josh held her still, unable to move unless he let her. His fingers pressed into the soft flesh of her thighs. “Tell me and I’ll give you more.”
“Josh, please!”
“Tell me.” His voice was a low command.
Josh’s tempting mouth was barely an inch away from where she needed it most. His hot breaths teased over her wet, swollen flesh in teasing bursts. His calloused fingers squeezed and released, then he rubbed the prickly whiskers of his night beard in a gentle swipe against the sensitive skin where her thighs met her sex. Oh, sweet Lord. Sarah tried to arch up, but he kept her pinned down. Knowing Josh, he would stay put simply to torture her.
Her trembling was out of control. “It’s you. You do this to me.”
“That’s right. Remember that.”
If Sarah didn’t need more of that sweet torture, she’d yell at him for being so damned cocky. Josh lowered his head and lapped at her. Oh God. They both moaned. He laved against all her nerve endings, licking her, tasting her, he moved faster and faster. He pushed both hands under her ass and hoisted her closer so he could feast on her. It was so good, Sarah couldn’t get enough. Her body was tightening, coiling up, right on the precipice of going over. Seeing what he was doing to her, feeling all of that soft hair at his temples rubbing between her thighs and that wicked tongue flicking over and mastering her clitoris, it was almost more than she could take.
Sarah knew she was moaning, crying out his name and throwing a few “oh, Gods” in there for good measure. She couldn’t help it, couldn’t stop it. She didn’t think it could get any better until he entered her with two fingers, thrusting deep. He pumped into her as he sucked her bundle of nerves between his lips. That was all it took. The spasms started at her feet and pulsed all the way up until she was contracting around his fingers, riding out the spasms of her orgasm. Josh kissed along her thighs, smoothed his hands along her legs, waiting for the last of the aftershocks to settle.
She felt boneless when he kissed a path from her lower belly to her sternum. Josh wrapped her leg around his hips and latched on to her nipple, drawing her in, sucking her so hard she felt it in her womb. His left hand toyed with her other breast, rolling her nipple, holding it so he could switch sides and pull that one into his mouth too. Sarah lifted her pelvis and pulsed it against his in the same rhythm. The length of his cock slid along her slippery folds, not quite entering her. Up, down, suck, pull. Through their wicked dance, she was bathing him in the evidence of her desire.
Josh stilled his hips. They’d been rocking against hers just as hard as she was thrusting up against his.
He gave her nipple one final pull from his lips before letting go. “Hold on. I’m this close to thrusting inside you.”
“Do it! I want to feel you inside me. I need you to fill me up, Josh.” She canted her hips against him in another glide against his erection.
“Oh, Jesus. Wait! Hold on, Sarah. Damn. I gotta get a…” The thick head of his cock slid right toward her entrance. “…need a condom.”
“I don’t have any.” Sarah’s hips stilled.
Josh reached for a plastic bag on the floor next to the bed. “I do.”
“Thank God. Hurry, Josh.” Her legs crossed at his lower back and pulled him closer. She tightened her thighs to keep him in place.
Josh groaned. “God, Sarah, you’re tryin’ to kill me. Let go a minute. Just a minute.”
Sarah forced her legs to go slack so Josh could shift to the side and roll on the condom. His hand slid down his erection. Up, down, then back up again. She was fascinated. She put her hand around his and followed the movement. “Do you think about me when you touch yourself, Josh?”
He met her gaze and the heat she saw there was scorching. “Sarah, I’ve wanted to fuck you so many ways, so many times. Night after night, all I’ve had were thoughts of you and nothing but my hand.” He held himself up on his elbows. “Now I want the real thing.” He pushed in the merest inch, and Sarah tried to relax her muscles to accommodate him. “Tell me you want me.”
“I want you. Please, more, Josh!”
“Are you mine, Sarah?” He sank in a little farther.
“Josh!” How the hell the man had that much control was beyond her. She dug her heels into his lower back.
“Christ, Sarah.” He kissed her shoulder, moved on to the tendon at the base of her neck and gently nipped her. “Are. You. Mine?”
Unable to speak through the emotion bottled up in her throat, Sarah nodded. After a deep breath for control, she murmured, “Yes. And you’re mine.”
“Always.” Josh thrust home, and they both cried out. It was a tight but perfect fit. She shifted her legs until they were higher up on his back. He waited a second, trembling in his fight for control before pulling back and sliding home again. “God, you’re so tight. So fuckin’ amazin’.”
He started with a gentle rocking, pulsing his hips against hers until Sarah squeezed her thighs tighter against his hips and cried out for more. Josh took her faster, harder, until their skin grew damp and the bed crashed against the wall. Sarah fisted one of her hands in the sheets, holding on for dear life. There was nothing but breathy moans and deep cries of delight. The smell of sweat and sex filled the air like an erotic perfume.
Josh grabbed her leg and pulled it up higher. There it was. There was the perfect angle. Each glide of his pistoning hips sent little explosions off behind her eyes. It was all she could do not to fly apart at the seams. Sarah’s body went taut, and Josh pulled her hard against him in heavy slams of his body against hers. It was making love; it was sex, it was hot to the point of straight-out fucking, and it was the best she’d had of all the above. He rocked into her, over and over, until she called out his name one final time and her toes curled with the force of her orgasm.
Her body was shaking, trembling with pleasure, when Josh drove in one last time and gave in to his own release. She heard his hoarse whisper. “My Sarah. My sunshine.”
He wrapped his arms around Sarah and held her flush against his body like he was afraid she would leave or disappear from underneath him.
“I’m here, Josh.” Sarah petted the hot skin at his neck and soothed him with strokes up and down the slick groove of his spine. She gave him a full body hug using her arms and her legs. “I’m not going anywhere either.”
* * * *
Josh had made it through a night without any nightmares. He knew it was morning from the sunlight filtering in through his closed eyelids and the damn woodpecker that wouldn’t quit pecking on the tree outside his window. The damn bird was seriously messing with his happy place. He’d had another dream about Sarah and it had been the mother lode of all his fantasies rolled into one. It had been so vivid that he could still smell the tropical coconut scent of her shampoo. Josh wanted to stay right here, warm, content, and thinking of Sarah.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Stupid woodpecker. Josh rolled over and right into something soft and undeniably female. Sarah.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
“Sarah, open the door, honey. It’s Mom.”
Sarah shot straight up in bed. From his position next to her, Josh could see her sleep-mussed hair trailing halfway down her naked back. Sexy. She yanked the quilt up to her neck and glanced over at Josh, then back at the closed door. “Mom?” Sarah threw the quilt over his hips for good measure. “Um, give me a second. I must have overslept.”
“It’s still early. I was going to make some breakfast, if you’d like some.”
“Oh, well, thanks, Mom. I’ll grab a Pop-Tart later.”
There was a pause on the other side of the door. “Okay, but what about Josh? Ask him how he likes his eggs.”
Sarah swiveled around in alarm. “She knows you’re here. Where did you park?”
He had to think about it. “Down the street. Why?”
“She knows you’re here.”
“Yeah, I caught that part, darlin’. Tell her I like my eggs scrambled.”
“This isn’t funny, Josh!”
“I never said it was.”
“Did he say scrambled, Sarah?”
“What? Oh, yes, he did. Scrambled.”
Lucy called through the door. “Good morning, Josh!”
“Good mornin’, Mrs. Brandon.”
“Lucy, dear.”
“Good mornin’, Lucy, dear.”
“Oh, you. Breakfast will be ready in about fifteen minutes. You lazy daisies need to get out of bed.” There was a beat of silence. “Sheriff Hughes called. He’ll be by a little later. Something about some questions about last night?” Josh heard the worry in her voice.
“We’ll be out in a few minutes, Mom.” Sarah covered her face in her hands.
“All right, then. I’ll be in the kitchen. Hurry up, you two.”
Sarah peeked over at Josh. “Is it me or is she taking a naked man sleeping in my bed really well?”
“She must have had a good night herself.”
“Josh, I don’t want to think about that.”
Josh traced the naked flare of her hip with the tips of his fingers. “How about you? How are you handlin’ a naked man in your bed?”
Sarah shuffled around until she was facing him. Her gaze traveled down his bare torso and over the quilt she’d haphazardly thrown over his hips. “I think I like it.” She leaned toward him and pressed a hot kiss in the center of his pecs. “I know I like it.” Little kisses blazed a trail south.
Holy hell. “Hey, not fair.” Josh peered down at the silky blonde hair trailing over his chest and heading straight for his hips. That quilt was slipping lower down his body. “You can’t get me all hot and bothered before we face your mama.”
Sarah’s voice was muffled against his stomach. There went a hot little swipe of her tongue. “Let’s stay in here the rest of the day.”
“You temptress.” Josh wanted nothing more than to stay right where he was. “We gotta go, though. We’ve been found out.”
Sarah placed one last lingering kiss on the inner V of his hip and reclined next to him on a pile of pillows.
“True.”
“And there’s eggs.” Josh would happily miss a meal for some lovin’ from Sarah. Still, her mom was cooking, and he didn’t want to be rude.
Sarah rolled her eyes. “Oh, well, in that case, we better take that walk of shame and face my mom.”
“I’m not ashamed.”
“I’m not either. It was a figure of speech. Besides. It looks like I have to talk to the sheriff sooner than I thought.” Sarah kept the blanket to her chest, blocking off her own nudity. Rosy pink tinged her cheeks, and it hit him that she was feeling shy about her body. What the hell is there to feel shy about? She had the body of a goddess.
“You’re gonna have to get out of bed sooner or later, darlin’. I’ve seen you naked already.”
“I know!”
“Want me to go first?” He pulled back the covers and rolled out of bed.
“Josh!”
“What?”
“You’ve got…” Sarah motioned toward his midsection.
He glanced down. “Mornin’ wood? Happens. Ignore it and it’ll go away.”
“How am I supposed to ignore that?”
“Stop lookin’ at me like that, or it’ll never go down!” It was standing up straighter with all the extra attention.
“I can’t help it!” She was talking to his junk.
“Eyes up here, sunshine. Okay, let me get my jeans on.” That zipper was going to be hell. Sarah leaned down and scooped them off the floor. She managed to do it one-handed while protecting her modesty.
“Here!” The denim hit him in the face.
“Damn, Sarah. Work on your aim.” He shoved his feet into the legs of his pants and zipped as gingerly as possible.
Sarah rummaged in a side drawer for some panties and slid them on under the covers. It was too bad she couldn’t put on his T-shirt. For some reason, he really wanted to see her in it. She found her tank top and slipped it over her head. Once everything was covered, more or less, she hopped out of bed and searched her drawers for some shorts and an oversized T-shirt that had a bottle of vodka and orange juice on it, with the words “Just Screw It.”
“Like your shirt.”
“It’s for a screwdriver, get it? The drink?” She held it away from her chest, proudly showing it off.
“Got it. Cute. Speakin’ of T-shirts, have you seen mine?”
Sarah checked the floor and looked under the bed. Not finding it, she stood and did a slow spin. Her eyes widened, then she laughed.
“What?”
“Found it.”
“Where?” He followed the direction of her gaze. “How the hell did it get up there?” It was hanging off the floor lamp in the far corner, next to her closet.
“You must have really flung it when you took it off.”
“Yeah, well, I was in a hurry.”
Sarah got on tiptoe and pulled his shirt down. She tossed it to him. This time her aim was better. “I’ll use the bathroom first. I’m pretty sure there’s a new toothbrush in the bottom drawer in the vanity once you get in there, if you want it.”
“I brought a few things in case you let me stay.” He smiled, unrepentant for being prepared.
“Okay.” She narrowed her eyes at the bag next to her bed. “Give me a few minutes to freshen up, and then it’s all yours.”
Sarah unlocked the door and scooted out before Josh could talk to her about last night. He wanted to make sure they were on the same page. To use Keith’s phrase, it sure as hell wasn’t a one-and-done for him, and it better not be for Sarah either.