WITH KITTY IN HIS arms, Josh stepped down the hallway horny and hard and wondering how things had gotten so hot so fast. He’d never let a kiss get so immediately out of hand. He could only imagine what Kitty must be thinking.
Ask The Beek to come in for dinner and in ten minutes you’re naked and crying out your first orgasm.
Classy, Josh. Real classy.
He’d only intended to go for a kiss. He’d wanted to find out if these sparks he’d felt between them were just a product of his fantasies, set to fizzle the moment he had the real thing in his hands. He’d half expected it to turn out that way, had attributed his interest in his neighbor to the forbidden-fruit syndrome—the appeal of taking something he shouldn’t have as opposed to real desire for the woman herself.
Only, when he’d held her in his arms and locked lips with hers the sparks didn’t fizzle, they exploded. And now he was caught in a bonfire, not sure where this night might end.
“That one,” Kitty said, pointing to the last room on the right. He’d thought for sure he’d walk in and find a frilly bedroom stuffed with silk flowers and antique dolls. Instead he found a four-poster bed dressed with a quilt and packed with so many sinful ideas he nearly turned around in search of the couch.
He was going to need more than one night.
He set her on the bed and began unbuttoning his shirt as Kitty went to work on his jeans, her eyes growing wide when she pulled down the fabric and his stiff cock sprang out before her.
She gaped. “It’s so…big.”
He looked at himself then at her. “Darlin’, you definitely know how to stroke a man’s ego.”
“But it is,” she said plainly.
He started to spout out something about merely being average but the words froze in his throat when she palmed him and took the tip into her mouth. What felt like a speeding freight train swept through him, jerking his hips and lunging a curse from his mouth.
“Oh, babe, you better not—”
“Mmm, I like it,” she said, positioning herself square in front of him then using her other hand to cup his balls. “Besides, I think it’s your turn.”
He stood rooted in amazement as he watched his sweet humble neighbor take him into her mouth and lick him. This, the woman who’d tripped over her words practically every time they’d exchanged greetings, the one who worried over her pearls, who wore cute embroidered chinos and sold little porcelain farm animals to old ladies in mom jeans. His sweet Miss Kitty was now sucking him off like a seasoned pro. If that wasn’t the ultimate wet dream he didn’t know what was.
His heart pounding in his chest, he touched his fingers to her soft silky hair. “Oh, babe, that’s incredible.”
“You’re so hard.” She pressed her lips to the base of his shaft and began kissing a path to the tip.
Each touch pumped a burst of pleasure straight through him, pushing him further toward the edge and sounding off alarms when she circled her tongue around his cock and gave it a long slow stroke. He had to close his eyes to keep from exploding, and when she added a soft massage to those sensual kisses, he had to pull from her grasp and take a step back.
“I’m hard enough,” he said, his voice strangled as he worked to hold on. His jeans still hanging from his waist, he reached into his back pocket and took out a condom. “Let’s move the party.”
And then he was on top of her, sheathed and stiff and aching for the sweet taste of her smooth curvy body in its entirety.
Slowly, he eased inside, giving her tight space time to adjust while he tried not to notice the sexy flush to her cheeks or the way those dark-chocolate eyes had turned all naughty on him. But his traitorous brain made him peek, and what he saw nearly broke him in half.
Oh, help him, she was beautiful, aroused and relaxed and sprawled across her bed like an angel with wings. He pushed in the rest of the way and began a steady stroke, watching as her breath hitched, as a shimmery glow coated her beaming face, as she ground and begged and bucked and finally came apart around him. And when she did she took him with her, flailing him into a climax so sharp he literally cried out for mercy.
The whole experience shook him, leaving him dazed and wondrous and not quite sure of himself. Josh liked sex. And he’d had plenty of it in his adult life. But this time had been different. Different how, he didn’t know, but when he collapsed on the bed and cradled her in his arms, he couldn’t deny the feeling that he’d just wandered into something deep.
She lazily stretched her arm over his chest and sighed. “That was amazing.” Then she gave him a sleepy smile. “Promise me we can do that again before you leave.”
He forced a smile, his gut instinct alternating between the urge to flee and the desire to stay. But when he opened his mouth, he heard himself say, “Anything your heart desires, babe.”
“THIS IS DELICIOUS,” Josh said, and not just to be nice. As he sat at Kitty’s table digging into his second helping of slow-cooker coq au vin, he tried to remember the last time he’d been treated to a simple home-cooked meal. Probably not since he moved to California, for sure.
“I’m glad you like it,” Kitty said. “It’s a recipe I stole from my mother’s card file.”
Using perfect table manners, she cut off a small slice of chicken and took a dainty bite. With her clothes back on she’d returned to the prim and polite woman who’d sweetly greeted him in Auntie Bea’s, only now her nervous edge was gone, and more enticingly, Josh was well aware of the sinful sex kitten that lurked underneath that proper facade.
Which made her an even hotter turn-on, aided by the fact that though she’d dressed and combed her hair, that pretty face still revealed the glow of a woman well-sexed and satisfied.
He took a bite of his meal then washed it down with a gulp of wine. “Despite all my years in cooking school, I find the best recipes are still those we steal from our mother’s kitchens. Running the restaurant, I don’t get enough of it.”
“Does that mean you’re willing to try my mother’s famous tuna casserole with the potato chip topping?”
He quirked a brow. “You make tuna casserole?”
“No.” She laughed. “I was being facetious, though my aunt Elena does make a delicious Tater Tot casserole with hamburger, sour cream and canned mushroom soup. It’s a heart attack on a plate but well worth the risk.”
“I’ll take you up on that one.” He chuckled and popped a pearl onion in his mouth.
Kitty was funny. When had she gotten funny? And why hadn’t he seen hints of any of this during all those months he’d worked across the street? It was as if every assumption he’d held about her was coming up wrong, and before the night was through, he wondered how many more surprises she’d have in store for him.
Which brought him to the question that had been bugging him for hours.
“So, who’s Howard?” he heard himself ask before his brain could fully deduce whether doing so was a good idea.
She didn’t so much as blink.
“Howard Bloombauer, the assistant manager down at Hollies Paints?” She waited for him to recognize the name but he’d never been in the paint store. “I guess you’ve never met him.”
“Are you, um—” how did he ask this? “—dating?”
Her eyes widened. “No, of course not. If I were, I wouldn’t be here with you.”
“I didn’t think so, but earlier you’d said something about Howard and a relationship and…”
With a casual shrug, she started in with something about spending her Valentine’s Days at a trade show and some pact she’d made with two friends about not ending up dateless and alone this year. That took her into a long history of her dating experiences which, while not lengthy, had involved a couple of relationships that ended up going nowhere. That led her to the subject of Howard.
If Josh understood it all correctly, she’d been leaving the poor schmuck waiting in the wings for her to take an interest, marry him, pop out a few kids and live happily ever after. She’d given herself a deadline and if something better didn’t come along before that date she was going to resign herself to a life as Mrs. Bloombauer—Kitty Bloombauer?
Josh’s part in all this was to show her one glorious last hurrah—her proverbial bachelorette party, it sounded like—which, she’d very appreciatively admitted, he’d provided with honors.
She’d made the whole thing sound completely logical and sane, though when he retraced it in his mind he couldn’t quite get the pieces to come together so nicely.
“So to keep from spending another Valentine’s Day stag in some bar in Chicago,” he asked, “you’re planning on marrying Howard?”
“Well, I’m not exactly going to marry the man.” Her eyes bulged as though hearing it put so plainly had her seeing the absurdity in it all. “I was only going to ask him on a date and see where it went. But yes,” she said, reaching to her neck for the pearls that she wasn’t wearing anymore. “I admit that much of Howard’s appeal is that he’s a man interested in settling down and having a family.”
And Josh wasn’t.
He got the picture. But why it gave him a sour taste of insult left him totally baffled. It was true he wasn’t interested in settling down, at least not right now. So hearing his lover accepting that fact should have him thrilled, not put him off. It was confirmation that he genuinely didn’t have to worry about this evening creating problems between him and Kitty. After all, they were neighbors and neither of them planned on going anywhere soon. Though he’d believed her when she’d said she was only interested in one night of fun, he knew through experience that sometimes what a woman said and what they meant were two different things. He should be relieved to hear her confirm that she wasn’t expecting anything from him, that in all assurance, he could go home tonight and not worry about losing their neighborly friendship.
So why wasn’t he grinning with joy?
“It sounds like you’ve got a good handle on your future,” he mumbled awkwardly. Then before he could stop himself, he spouted out, “There’s a beautiful art center up in Mendocino. Would you like to go check it out?”
She looked as surprised as he felt. “With you?”
He frowned. “Yeah, with me. Next Monday would be best since the restaurant’s closed. Can you get away from the store? The gallery gift shop is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind for Auntie Bea’s. We could drive up and make a day of it.”
He’d planned none of this before this very moment. Yes, he’d thought of the art center and had considered mentioning it to Kitty. But making it a date hadn’t been part of the equation until the thought of the impending Howard had Josh securing his place with Kitty for at least a while longer.
And the stupidity in that was something he had no intention of analyzing any time soon.
“Sure I can.” She grinned. “I haven’t been to Mendocino in years. I’d love that. Thank you.”
“Good.” He nodded. Then, before he had a chance to spout out any more bright ideas, he decided to give his mouth an activity that was far less likely to get him in trouble.
Rising from the table, he stepped over and took her hand.
“Let’s go back to bed.”