FOREVER MINE(8)
“I’m not talking about Jesse, Mike, I’m talking about you.” She heard him sigh and knew he really didn’t like the way this conversation was going. Too bad. He was the one who’d thrown the first stone.
There was a long pause and then he said. “Okay, let’s talk about me. I think I would be a good husband and make a bunch of kids a wonderful father, if I was interested, but I’m not. The reason I’m not interested is because like I stated before, a serious relationship usually leads to marriage, and I’m not interested in marriage.”
Before she could open her mouth to make a comment he quickly added. “And the reason I’m not interested is that I’ve been spoiled by the women out there. I’m able to enjoy the goods without any longterm commitments, so why bother? It’s the perfect position to be in.”
Sonya rubbed her forehead. Thinking of Mike in the particular position he was referring to–one where he consistently had a woman beneath him on her back–for some reason bothered her. “Okay, I guess we can agree on one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“That the both of us, for whatever reason, prefer casual relationships. Do you agree?”
“Yes.”
“Now if we have nothing else to discuss I prefer we end this conversation. I’ll see you on Saturday morning.”
“Okay. Good night, Sonya.”
“Good night, Mike.”
She hung up the phone, placed it back in the cradle and thought, so much for talking dirty.
* * *
After hanging up the phone, Mike pulled himself up to sit on the side of the bed and wondered what the hell happened with that conversation. Why had he spent at least a good twenty minutes explaining his personal make-up to Sonya? Something he’d never done for a woman before.
He stood and walked naked into the kitchen. He needed a cold beer. No, he needed to clear one damn thing up with Sonya, something he evidently didn’t make clear. He walked over to the wall phone and dialed the number he knew from memory.
“Hello?”
“I want you.”
The almost sleepy voice that picked up moments ago appeared fully awake when she asked. “What?”
He didn’t mind repeating himself. “I want you. I thought I’d give you fair warning.”
“You didn’t have to warn me. I think you’ve made that fact known. I’ve seen visual evidence of it several times.”
“Yes, but what’s different is that you never thought I had a chance.”
“I still don’t.”
“And that’s where you’re wrong. You won’t know what hit you Sonya, until it’s too late.”
“Fine. I like surprises.”
“Glad to hear it. Good night.” He smiled as he ended the call.
Five
“They’re both out like a light.”
Sonya looked over at Mike when he entered the room. They had spent the entire day at Disney World and now it was eight at night. After leaving the theme park they had taken the kids to a popular restaurant for dinner. More than once they’d received compliments, mistakenly so, about what beautiful kids she and Mike had. They had taken the false assumptions in stride without bothering to correct them.
After dinner they had brought the kids to her place where she had gotten Jessica washed up and ready for bed while Mike had taken care of a talkative Craig. Jessica had refused to go to sleep until she’d given her godfather a hug. Sonya, after giving both kids hugs, had left Mike alone with them to read them a bedtime story before he said his goodbyes.
Now she was in the living room, standing by the front door with Mike’s jacket thrown over her arm, ready for him to leave since she saw no reason for him to linger. He came to stand in front of her and she couldn’t help but remember their late night phone conversation a few days ago. He had told her where he stood with her. What he intended to do...or at least try to do.
She definitely had a problem with it. Although, she would be the first to admit that she wanted him too, but she didn’t like the thought of being added to a list of women who had him too spoiled for a lasting commitment. Not that she was in the market for one, mind you. It was just the principle of the thing. He was too arrogant for his own good.
And way too handsome, she thought studying his features, something she had caught herself doing more than once that day. Even the kids hadn’t been able to keep the sexual chemistry at bay between them. More than once they had unintentionally touched and the sparks had gone off; and that one time she had to practically sit in his lap while the four of them fit into a particular ride, she had felt his erection – hard as a rock, larger than life – poking into her backside. And he’d had the nerve to whisper close to her ear the question. “Do you want it?” She had turned, looked him in the face and said. “No.” Lying through her teeth.
Bringing her thoughts back to the present, she offered him his jacket but he didn’t take it. Instead he said. “Aren’t you going to ask me to stay awhile for coffee?”
She tilted her head and continued to stare at him. “I would if I thought that was all you wanted.”
“But you and I know it’s not, don’t we?” he asked in a raspy voice.
“Yes.”
“Okay,” he said taking a step closer to her. “Since I get the feeling that we won’t be making out tonight, how about a kiss goodnight?”
She knew about his kisses. Was well aware of how they could make her body sizzle. But she also knew she wanted to lock lips with him something awful. A kiss she could handle. The key would be not to let it get out of control. If she were to do such a thing there was no doubt in her mind that he would have her on her back in two seconds flat. But even with that risk, she wanted his kiss. She would just have to keep her wits.
“I don’t have a problem with a goodnight kiss.” She instantly knew she had made a mistake, had underestimated his skill as a seducer, when she saw the serious glint in the depths of his blue eyes.
Her gaze fell from his eyes to his lips and she all but licked hers. His mouth was so beautifully shaped, so well defined, she pulled in a small breath just thinking about all the things a mouth like that could do for a woman.
Could do for her.
“I won’t need this for a while,” he said, taking his jacket out her hand and tossing it across the room to the sofa.
She lifted a brow. “Just how long do you think one kiss will last?”
A smile spread from one corner of his lips to the other. “No telling. You can’t stick a time limit to something like that.”
She narrowed her gaze. She could and she would. She took a step closer to him, so close her body was flushed against his. She wasn’t surprised that he was aroused. She looped her arms around his neck, deciding she would be the one calling the shots with this kiss. “Okay, Mike Kelly, pucker up.”
And those were her last words. At least they were the last that she coherently recalled.
The moment Mike leaned over and captured her mouth in his, sticking his tongue inside her mouth on her breathless sigh, she felt weak in the knees, unbearably hot between the legs and every inch of her skin felt sensitive. He began dueling with her tongue, taking control of it like it was his to have, to play with, to mate with, to inflict all kind of sensual torment.
He then escalated the kiss, went deeper, took her mouth with a hunger, a greediness and yearning that she felt all the way to her toes. And she felt something else, his hands as they made her backside the center of their attention. He cupped her rear end with a skill that had her moaning and pressing her body closer to him, to his hardness. Automatically her legs shifted to cradle his erection between them and she heard the groan that came from deep within his throat.
He momentarily withdrew his lips from hers. “Careful,” came the sexy whisper in her ear. “Or else I’ll be tempted to take this kiss to a whole other level.” He then dragged his lips across her cheeks, jaw, and then back along her lips where he brushed a heated kiss there.
She pulled in a deep breath, tried to think. But when she felt one of his hands leave her backside to slide beneath the waistband of her jeans, she fought to retain the ability to think at all. It wasn’t working. Not by a long shot.
She pulled in strength from somewhere – not sure where – and said in a ragged voice. “You’ve been told you can’t go there.”
He lips came back to the side of her ear. A tongue flicked out and licked her there, causing a shiver to pass through her before he whispered. “You said I couldn’t get under your skirt. You aren’t wearing a skirt.”
She closed her eyes as his fingers began inching past the waistband of her thong to caress the area that lay between her two cheeks. She knew she had to stay in control. “Just a play on words, Mike. Different clothes. Same meaning. You aren’t getting any.”
He slowly pulled back his hand and curved it back on her rear end. He pulled her nearer to the fit of him and said. “Umm, maybe not tonight, but eventually I’ll get some. And you will be the one begging for me to take it when I do.”
She would have pulled back and laughed at something so utterly ridiculous if he hadn’t chosen that moment to seize her mouth again. And he took it with a hunger that was even more intense than before. And her senses – at least what was left of them – got shot to hell. But he didn’t know that. He was too single-mindedly focused on her mouth to take anything else into consideration.