Prepared to thank him and quickly send him on his way, she pasted a smile on her face and cracked open the door. But it wasn’t her neighbor, it was Elijah. He stood on her stoop in a pair of faded jeans, his tan, muscular arms stretching the sleeves of his red New Horizons T-shirt as he tossed his keys from hand to hand.
“Hello,” she said, blinking in surprise.
His gaze lowered to her robe. “Just getting up?”
“No. I met Darci in town for breakfast and didn’t have time to get ready beforehand, so I just showered.” She’d also done a conditioning treatment on her hair, given herself a mani-pedi and rubbed her whole body with some vanilla-scented lotion. She told herself she wanted to look and feel her best to start her new job, that she was doing this as a matter of routine. But she knew Elijah had more to do with it than she cared to admit.
His lips curved into a devilish smile. “Then I’d say my timing is perfect.”
Not only was he smiling freely, he was smiling at her. “For...”
“I owe you a little something, remember?”
Slightly concerned by how easily he could make her knees weak, since she was supposed to be keeping some emotional distance in this relationship, Cora drew a steadying breath. “You don’t owe me anything.”
He reached out and tugged on her belt to loosen it, so she stepped back to let him inside. The last thing she needed was for someone to drive by and see them. “You don’t think it’s too risky to come to my house during the day? If you’re not careful the whole school will be talking about us.”
“What do you mean? It’s much safer to come during the day. Then it doesn’t look like we’re trying to hide anything.”
That made sense, but the fact that her robe was coming open also made it difficult to think. He continued to pull on her belt—slowly so she’d have time to stop him if she wanted. But she didn’t stop him, and soon the belt fell to the ground.
Suddenly nervous, she wet her lips as she stared up at him. “So now it’s my turn, huh?”
“Unless you have other plans for the next hour or so...”
Cora felt she should come up with something. Put this off, at least until she could regain her perspective. She shouldn’t be this excited.
On the other hand, she’d just spent two hours getting ready to see him—and here he was.
Dipping his head, he kissed her long and slow as he slid his big hands inside her robe and gripped her waist.
He wasn’t holding back today. Last night had convinced him that she wasn’t skittish, wasn’t going to bail out too easily. “I take it you don’t want to...to talk first,” she said.
“No. I’m not interested in talking.”
Cora found it quite erotic that she was naked while he was fully dressed. She also liked his level of focus. “So there’d be no point in putting on my clothes.”
“Why make me take them off again?” He hoisted her up onto the dining table, putting her on her back.
She caught the lapels of her robe so it wouldn’t fall completely open. The soft terry cloth was beginning to feel like a safety blanket. But he pulled the fabric out of her grasp and ran his fingers over her bare stomach and breasts.
Cora shuddered as a ripple of pleasure went through her.
“You like that?” He continued his light touch, skimming up her neck to her face, where he ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “You’re so beautiful.”
The compliment surprised her. He wasn’t much for that sort of thing. She told herself not to take him too seriously, but at the same time she caught his hand and pulled his thumb into her mouth.
His pupils flared as her tongue moved over his skin, and he lowered his mouth to her breast.
Every nerve seemed to fire at once; she’d never been more aroused.
“Now I see how convenient a Brazilian makes everything,” he said as his mouth moved down her stomach. “Easy access. I like that.”
Cora couldn’t even speak. His hands were on her hips, and he was pulling her toward him, spreading her legs so he could fit between her knees. “Maybe...maybe we should wait until we know each other better for this,” she said, finding her voice.
“Because...”
“Because it...it makes me really self-conscious.”
“You don’t have to be self-conscious with me.”
He bent his head. When she felt his tongue, she nearly jumped off the table.
“It’s okay,” he murmured, his breath warm. “Relax. This is going to be fun.”
The next few minutes were more than fun; they were mind-blowing. Cora drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes as he used his mouth in a way she’d never experienced before. The sucking motion was so subtle, so gentle and so incredibly effective that her legs began to quiver. She felt his hand rub one of them, as if in encouragement, before that hand slid back up to her breast.