IF JESS HAD ANY DOUBTS that Katie was more experienced than he was, she’d just eliminated those doubts. Sure, he’d maneuvered her into having sex with him on the bench. He’d thought that was so clever of him.
But she was the one who’d made it work. Man, had she ever. He hadn’t been able to keep from coming. Even worse, he hadn’t had much to do with her climax. She’d given herself one. And only one, because he hadn’t been able to last once he’d felt her contractions. He was disappointed in himself.
As they propped each other up, heads resting on each other’s shoulders, he took a long, quivering breath and tried to make amends. “Katie, I’m sorry. I wanted to hold back, but I…couldn’t.”
She stirred against him. “Why would you want to hold back?”
“So you could keep going. Have another one, at least.”
She met his comment with silence.
He didn’t think silence was a good thing. “Katie?”
“I didn’t know we were keeping score.”
“We’re not, but I was hoping the first time that I could last longer.” Because a woman like you would probably expect that. You’ve been studying these things and I…haven’t.
“Jess, trust me, the orgasm I had was fine. I wasn’t worried about having a second one.”
Damn. Now she was trying to protect his feelings. How humiliating. He needed to beef up his reputation.
Lifting his head from her shoulder, he leaned down to nuzzle her soft throat. “Tell you what. Let’s take a shower, have a glass of wine and try this on an actual bed.”
She raised her head to look at him. There was no welcome in her eyes. “I don’t think so, Jess.”
The pain of rejection twisted in his gut. “Was I that bad?”
“You weren’t bad at all! Stop saying that!”
“Look, you don’t have to pump me up. I’m sure you would have appreciated more control on my part.”
“Is that all you care about? Your precious control? I thought we were having a great time together, and all you can talk about is the fact that I only had one orgasm.”
Now he was confused. Apparently she wasn’t upset about the number of orgasms. She was upset because he’d brought up the subject. “Look, I was only trying to—”
“Never mind. Just never mind, Jess!” She disentangled herself from his lap and stood. Her torn panties fell to the floor.
Which was another thing. He’d torn her underwear without giving it a thought. He’d been so filled with lust that he would have ripped aside any piece of clothing that kept him from her. He didn’t usually do things like that either. “I’ll buy you a new pair,” he said.
“I couldn’t care less about new underwear.”
Before he’d figured out what she had in mind, she grabbed her purse and jacket and stomped out of the wood shop. He was in no shape to run after her.
As he listened to the sound of her car starting up outside, he tried to figure out what had just happened. Here she was, the host of a show called Talking About Sex, and that’s what he’d been trying to do! Anyone who’d read the Kama Sutra from cover to cover and knew how to work those Kegel exercises would have certain expectations, right?
Right! She’d put on quite a demonstration for him, and he’d responded like an eighteen-year-old. Then he’d tried to apologize for coming too soon, and she’d acted as if that was the worst thing he could have said to her. Women! How were you supposed to figure them out?
KATIE GOT A MILE DOWN the road and turned around. This was stupid. She had the prospect of having some of the best sex of her life with Jess. So what if he wasn’t moved by the significance of it all? He hadn’t understood her emotional needs thirteen years ago and he didn’t understand them now either, but that didn’t change the fact that nobody gave her sexual thrills like Jess.
So what if he would never be her happily ever after because he had the sensitivity of a tortilla? Life wasn’t perfect. Jess wasn’t perfect. Just because she wouldn’t ever marry him didn’t mean she should deprive herself of the physical joy he could bring her.
Instead of storming off in a huff because he’d been more interested in counting orgasms than rhapsodizing about a mutual climax, she should have taken him up on his offer of a shower, some wine and a romp in his king-size bed. If she didn’t expect him to get sentimental, if she went into it looking for great sex and nothing more, then she’d be fine.
Her hazy dreams of a future together were probably doomed anyway, even without this problem. This conflict over the construction would be a bone of contention forever. Even if he considered sex with her to be the spiritual experience of a lifetime, he’d still be hell-bent on tearing down a piece of her history.
So she had a choice between being a martyr to the cause or getting some outstanding satisfaction from Jess. Cheryl had advised Katie to have some fun with this. She hadn’t ever insinuated that Jess and Katie were soul mates. Katie should just use this guy for some mutual mindless sex. It was a fair exchange, wasn’t it?
After parking in his driveway, she tucked her keys in the pocket of her skirt and left her jacket and purse in the car. Then she locked the car and walked through the courtyard again. As she rang his doorbell, she thought of what she wanted to say.
He opened the door wearing running shorts and the same T-shirt he’d had on earlier. He was also barefoot and looked understandably surprised to see her. “Is something wrong? Did your car break down?”
“No. Everything’s fine. Can I come in?”
“Sure.” He stepped aside. “Listen, I know I said something wrong a few minutes ago. I’ve never been good with words. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I shouldn’t have flown off the handle.” She turned to him. Live for the moment, she reminded herself. Soon she and Jess would be naked and writhing on a king-size bed. That was her only goal right now.
“Why did you?” He looked genuinely puzzled.
So he was clueless, but he was also yummy. She’d be a fool not to take what he so obviously wanted to give her. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Let’s not make this complicated. I like having sex with you.”
Heat flared in his eyes. “I’m glad, but—”
“Do you like having sex with me?”
“You’d better believe I do.”
Desire tightened within her. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad having a man intent on giving her multiple orgasms. “Then let’s do it.”
“That’s all? No conditions? No special instructions?”
Only to myself. “None. I know I’ve been playing hard to get.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s putting it mildly. But I guess I should expect that, seeing as how you have that show and everything.”
“What does my show have to do with it?”
“It’s obvious.” He waved a hand in the air. “You’re an expert in the field, so you’d want to try stuff out, test a guy to see what he can take.”
“You think you’re some sort of lab experiment?” That blew her away. He really didn’t know her at all.
“In a way, yeah. That’s fine, though. I’m not complaining.”
“You like being a lab experiment?”
“It’s been pretty damned exciting, Katie. Yeah, I like it.”
Apparently she’d played the bad girl a little too well. He seemed to be attracted to her because she was, as he put it, an expert in the field. No wonder he hadn’t gotten all warm and fuzzy over their first mutual orgasm.
Well, that made this very easy. “Jess, the experiment’s over. I just want to have hot, sweaty sex with you. No more games.”
He gazed at her as if he couldn’t quite believe it. Then he reached out and clicked the dead bolt, locking them in. “I’m not about to turn down a chance like that. Come with me.” He took her hand and laced his fingers through hers.
An expert in the field would be nonchalant about walking with him down two steps to the living room and across to a wide hall. But Katie’s heart was pounding as they neared the end of the hall where a pair of double doors stood open. The dim light revealed the corner of a bed, a four-poster in dark wood. His bed.
This is only for sex. She needed to keep chanting that to herself so that she wouldn’t start imagining that they were headed for something more. Maybe she should have suggested they go to a hotel after all, to underline the impersonal nature of this event.
Yes, a hotel would have been better. Once she stepped into his bedroom, she could feel his personality there almost as strongly as in the wood shop. The bed, end tables and armoire were massive and telegraphed the virility she’d always associated with him. A leather chair and a floor lamp made an equally bold statement of masculinity.
“I suppose my bedposts are phallic symbols,” he said.
“Classic.” The thick posts definitely qualified. Maybe she was susceptible to that kind of suggestion because she’d always liked sturdy four-posters. The delicate spindly ones didn’t appeal to her, but this…oh, yeah.
Then she noticed the white teddy lying on the comforter and the unlit pillar candles on the dresser and both bedside tables. She gestured toward the teddy. “For me?”
“Yeah. But after I heard the first part of your show, I decided the wood shop was where we should start out.”
At that moment she realized this was the scene he’d pictured years ago when he’d imagined how they would eventually make love. Maybe he had a tender, sentimental side after all. Maybe…No, she’d been down that road one too many times.
He’d set this up because he’d wanted to seduce his field expert and he thought white lace and candles would do the trick. After listening to her show, he’d switched to a different venue. He’d been trying to outthink her.
She’d intended to make him work for everything she gave him, and he’d done that. Presenting him with challenges had given her a sense of power which had served her well the past few days. She hadn’t been easy for him, and that was okay with her.
But now that she’d cured herself of sentimental longings, she didn’t have to throw obstacles in his way every five minutes. The process had been sort of exhausting, come to think of it. She was ready to relax and enjoy some no-strings sex.
She picked up the teddy. “Would you like me to put this on?”
He glanced from her to the teddy, then back at her, his gaze already growing hotter. “Yes.”
She noticed another set of double doors standing open on the far side of the room. “The bathroom?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Then I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be here.” There was something in his tone—something rich and deep. Appreciation, maybe, or gratitude, as if he truly valued having her there.
Damn, she was doing it again. She had no solid evidence that he was gaga over her. Therefore she would not go gaga over him. End of story.
She wouldn’t even allow herself to go gaga over his bathroom, although it was the kind of bathroom she’d always dreamed of having. Closing the double doors to give herself some privacy, she looked around and gave a little sigh of pleasure.
The white marble and white tile might have looked stark, except that he’d chosen deep purple towels and glittering gold faucets, so the bathroom looked as if it belonged to royalty. The scent of his aftershave hung in the air, and one of the oversize towels on a hook by the shower felt damp.
On an impulse Katie stripped down and stepped around the tiled wall into the shower. Of course he had multiple showerheads. Of course. When she turned them on and was engulfed in an invigorating spray, she moaned in ecstasy. A shower like this was almost foreplay.
Consequently by the time she’d toweled dry with another one of those thick purple bath towels, she was feeling very sexy. Slowly she stepped into the white lace teddy, and as she did, she caught a glimpse of herself in the large mirror behind the marble counter.
She looked like a Playboy centerfold.
Was that the image Jess had of her? She’d certainly never had that image of herself. She wouldn’t have bought this teddy, thinking that it belonged on a woman with more cleavage. But the way the teddy fit, she seemed to have plenty of cleavage.
Seeing herself in this outfit reminded her of catching her first glimpse of the publicity shot KRZE had used on the billboard ad. That couldn’t really be her. She’d given credit to the wonders of digital photography, which could make anybody look great with a few clicks of the mouse.
Lo and behold, a white lace teddy seemed to have the same effect as Photoshop. She looked good. With one last glance in the mirror, she walked out to meet Jess.
ONCE HE HEARD THE SHOWER going, Jess knew he had a little time. Heading for the living room, he grabbed a butane lighter out of a drawer and went back to light the pillar candles. The shower was still on when he finished that, so he acted on another inspiration.
His bedroom opened onto the patio through a pair of curtained French doors, which gave him access to the yellow rosebush. Fortunately he’d left the pruning shears on the patio table next to the bush. Choosing a rose in full bloom, he snipped it off and quickly pruned off the thorns.
Then he carried it back inside and laid it across the pillows. They wouldn’t want to bother with covers, so he threw those back, bunching them at the end of the bed. He was so excited he was shaking. For years he’d dreamed about this moment, and now it was finally here.
The candles gave plenty of light, so he turned off the lamps. And that was that. He couldn’t think of anything else to do. Wait—he could get a few condoms out of the box and leave them loose in the drawer. There, that was better. More accessible.
Music! He’d nearly forgotten. He hurried over to the armoire where he kept his CD player, opened the doors and punched the power button. Nostalgia filled the room. He and Katie had listened to these songs on the radio when they’d driven up to “A” Mountain to make out.
And now he really was out of things to do. He couldn’t imagine himself stretched out on the bed when she returned. Even if he did that, would he leave his clothes on or take them off? Neither option seemed good. Lying there naked was too obvious, and yet his T-shirt and shorts wouldn’t look particularly erotic.
He finally decided to sit in his leather armchair on the far side of the bed and wait for her to come out. The longer he sat there imagining her naked in his bathroom, the more aroused he became. But he wouldn’t go in there. He’d waited too long for this moment to spoil it by jumping the gun.
And another thing—no matter how good she looked, he would take this lovemaking slow and easy. He’d make sure that she had several orgasms before he came. She might not have liked his mentioning that, but he couldn’t believe she didn’t want multiple orgasms. All women did, especially ones who spent five nights a week talking about sex.
He’d been concentrating so hard on those double doors that when they opened at last, he had to blink to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. No, the doors were open, and Katie stood there pink and rosy from the shower. The tips of her hair were damp, and the light from the bathroom created a halo around her body. He’d never seen anyone look so beautiful.
Speechless, he rose to his feet. The wide expanse of the bed lay between them. He wished he’d decided to stretch out on it after all. Then he’d be that much closer to her.
“Here I am.” She reached back and turned off the bathroom light before starting toward the bed. “Boy, that music brings back memories, doesn’t it? I hope you didn’t mind, but I decided to take a—oh.” Her gaze fell to the rose on the pillow.
Slowly she reached for it. “I—I’d forgotten you had that rosebush.” She put the blossom to her nose and sniffed.
For the rest of his life he would remember how she looked standing there in the white teddy and holding the yellow rose he’d picked for her. She was everything he’d ever wanted, but he didn’t know how to tell her that, was afraid if he tried that he would break the spell. She was here. She wanted him. That would be enough for now.
“The teddy fits,” she said.
“You look…wonderful in it.” Wonderful didn’t begin to describe how she looked, but her beauty was frying his brain cells.
“Thank you.” She stretched out on her side on the pale green sheets and laid the rose in front of her. “And thank you for the rose.”
He nodded, too overcome to form a complete sentence.
“Are you coming to bed?”
“Yes.” But he didn’t want to move just yet. He needed to absorb the picture of her lying in his bed—Katie, white teddy, nostalgic music, flickering candles, yellow rose. Heaven.
She smiled. “Sometime in this century?”
He had to laugh at himself. She must think he was a complete dork. “I’m sorry. It’s just that…never mind.” He reached for the back of his T-shirt.
“What?”
“Nothing.” He pulled the T-shirt over his head and tossed it aside.
“Talk to me, Jess.”
“You look like you should be on a calendar or something.” He shoved his running shorts and briefs down in one swift movement.
She gazed at his erection. “From your reaction, I have a good idea what kind of calendar you mean.”
“If I’ve insulted you I take it back.” Slightly dizzy from the anticipation of what was about to happen, he climbed onto the bed.
“No insult taken. I feel like a calendar girl in this outfit.” She picked up the rose and stroked it over his penis.
He groaned. He’d never felt anything quite like the tickle of those soft petals. “Is that a move in the Kama Sutra?”
“Not that I know of. I made it up.” She stroked him again with the rose. “When I do that you twitch.”
Much as he enjoyed the velvety rose, twitching could lead to other things, and he didn’t want to let loss of control ruin this episode. Time for some bold moves. He was determined to acquit himself.
He took the rose from her. “Let’s see if I can make you twitch.”
“By doing what?”
“I don’t know. Lie back and let me make something up.”