“Who are you kidding? It’s been fifteen years and you know it. You dug him in school; you know you did,” Jade teased. “Don’t you believe for a second that while I was crushing on Rex I didn’t notice you lusting after his brother. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We both loved them from afar, and it was damn hard.”
Riley had liked Josh back then, but she’d pushed him out of her mind through college, and even in the years that followed—until that night at the concert, when she’d felt the door to her heart crack open. Over the last two days, the power with which those bottled-up feelings she’d tried so desperately to ignore returned made her feel like a love-starved kid.
“Okay, fine, you’re right, but you know me, Jade. I’ve never fallen for a guy so hard that I want to be with him every second of the day, and certainly not after two days. Do you think it’s just the whole new city, hot guy thing?”
“Do you?”
Damn it. Only Jade would push her to the wall. “Honestly? No. But doesn’t that make me one of those stupid girls who throws caution to the wind and gets swept away on the fallacy of love?”
“Hey, I take great offense to that,” Jade said.
“You know what I mean. You and Rex lusted after each other forever. I had a crush, and apparently Josh had a crush, but not like you two did. The way you two looked at each other for all those years? I swear you two burned a scorching path between you that everyone else could feel, even if you couldn’t act on it. You guys were on fire. What if his desire for me fades? How do you know when love is enough?”
“So the sex isn’t hot?”
“No, the sex is steamin’ hot. And it keeps getting hotter. But I don’t want to end up like my parents. I want heat forever. I wanna be chased around the living room when I’m fifty, swatting at my horny husband.” Riley thought about the way Josh was an eager, pleasing lover and about how she came alive when she was with him in ways that she never had before. The fear of becoming like her parents must be clouding her thoughts. We’re just as hot as Rex and Jade.
“You can’t know, Ri. You’re asking for assurances that no one can give you. I know what you’re worried about. You don’t want to be like your parents. You’re afraid you guys will get too comfortable with each other. Even those couples that start out hotter than me and Rex sometimes end up with no spark at all, and then the ones who started out warm end up kinky and hot. You have to go with your gut. And we do control those things, you know.”
Riley was brushing her teeth, listening to Jade. She rinsed her mouth. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that when things cool off, we turn up the heat. Jeez, Ri, you’re the one who told me to go for it. Why are you worried? Maybe you don’t like him as much as you thought you did.”
“No, that’s not it.” She closed her eyes and let Jade in on her secret fears. “The problem is, I like him way more than I thought I did, and it’s scary. I think of him all the time. When he calls, my pulse races. When he kisses me… Oh, God, Jade, it’s so much more than toe-curling sex. We’re so comfortable when we’re together, even with the sneaking around. It’s like we’ve been together forever. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I’m so confused. And hiding it all at work just totally sucks.”
“It’s all good, except the hiding it thing. I wish you weren’t stuck with that. That’s really stressful.”
“I could quit and then there would be no issue.” Riley heard the regret in her own voice again, as she had the night before.
“You’re insane. He’d never want you to do that. This will work out. These things always do. Besides, he set Cruella straight. Maybe she’ll quit.”
“I don’t want her to quit. I just want her to be nice. Besides, it’s not just her. Everyone will think I slept my way to the top. Cruella’s just the most vicious of them all.” Riley paced the hallway. The conversation was making her nervous. She didn’t want to think about Claudia finding out about her and Josh. “Enough about me. How are you? What’s going on?” she asked.
“I’m great. You’re coming home for Christmas, right?” Jade asked.
“I promised you an outfit; of course I’ll come home. Did you get the pic I faxed?”
“Yes, and I loved it. You’re so talented,” Jade said. “How do you find the time?”
“I don’t eat,” Riley joked.
“Oh God, don’t be one of those girls.”
“I never would,” Riley assured her. “I gotta get ready to go to the office. Love you,” she said.
“You too, Ri. Call me tomorrow. Let me know how things went with the family.”
“You’re a fool. They’re your family, not mine.” Riley laughed.
“They’re not mine officially yet. We’re not even engaged.”
“Close enough. Gotta run.”
Riley felt better after talking to Jade. She unlocked the front door for Josh and went into the bathroom to shower, then caught sight of the mirror and raised her eyebrows. As she debated taking a quick rinse before he arrived, the front door opened, and a minute later, Josh was leaning against the doorframe, glistening with sweat and looking at her with a hungry stare.
“I was just thinking about you,” she said. He looked so damn sexy all revved up from his run. And here I am in nothing but a T-shirt. Under his heated stare, her hands were drawn to his waist. Riley lifted his T-shirt and ran her hands up his sweaty chest, then dragged her tongue up the center of his salty, rippled abs. Her body responded to the taste of him, swelling with need. She licked around his nipple, using one hand to stroke him beneath his shorts, and pressed the other flat against his chest as she teased him with her teeth.
“I missed you,” she said.
He lowered his mouth to hers, running his tongue over her lower lip, taking her lip between his teeth. Riley’s nipples hardened beneath her shirt as he slid his hand down her back to her bare ass, then around to the front, where he touched her until she was swollen and wet.
He whispered against her lips, “Riley, let me love you.”
Riley’s breath caught in her throat as he slipped out of his clothes, his chest and leg muscles strained against his glistening skin. He held her gaze as he turned on the shower, then lifted her shirt off of her trembling body and led her beneath the warm spray of water. The bathroom filled with steam, but in response to Josh’s tender touch, goose bumps rose on Riley’s skin. He lathered a washcloth and gently washed her from shoulder to fingertips, lifting her arms above her head and doing the same to the sensitive skin beneath, sending another shiver right through her. With a soft touch, he washed her neck and breastbone, then cupped her right breast and gently ran the washcloth over her skin.
“I realized something when I was running this morning,” he said in a breathy voice.
Riley closed her eyes as he moved to her other side and repeated the same sensuous caresses; then he moved behind her and placed his cheek against hers.
“I want you to feel how much I care for you,” he whispered. He gathered her hair and placed it over her right shoulder. “Not just sexually,” he continued as he washed her back. “You’re an intelligent, kindhearted woman, Riley, and the more I get to know you, the more I want to cherish you.”
Riley opened her eyes as he came around to her front and touched her cheek with his wet palm. She leaned in to the warmth of his hand, once again at a loss for words. Yes! Cherish me, she wanted to say, but her heart had swollen, her throat tightened, and when she opened her mouth to speak, he kissed her. She felt his heat against her belly, hard and ready. She reached for him and he touched her arm.
“We have all the time in the world. Let me love you. Sex can wait.”
Every inch of Riley called out for Josh. Her heart was so full, and his words touched her deeper than any part of his body ever could. She closed her eyes while he bent to his knees and washed her inner thighs with slow, careful stokes. She felt a tug down low in her belly. He moved to the other side and drew the washcloth down her calves and up the outside of her thigh. Riley had never felt anything so sensual. Her legs weakened beneath his touch. She inched backward, leaning against the cold, wet, ceramic-tiled wall. The flash of cold against the warmth of the water dripping down her skin sent a thrum of electricity through her. She touched Josh’s shoulders as he worked his way back up her body, touching her with his strong hands and leaving a trail of soft kisses over her breasts, up her neck, and finally, he took her in a savage kiss. She arched against his heat, amazed that she had any control over her body at all after the way he touched and loved her, washing away all of the stress and worry. She couldn’t think. She reached between his legs, ready, wanting, needing him.
“Not yet,” Josh whispered. “Turn around.”
She did as he asked without thought or hesitation. He ran his fingers through her hair, and she tilted her head back. She heard the click of the shampoo bottle, then his hands were tangled in her hair, massaging the shampoo into her scalp with his fingertips. She closed her eyes again, relishing in the decadence of being treasured. When the water ran bubble free, he kissed her neck, then lathered the washcloth and caressed in long strokes down her backside to the curve where it met the back of her leg, and he washed her, gently spreading her legs just enough to reach between. Riley thought she might come from the sheer erotic state her body was in. She put her hands flat against the tile, yearning for him to take her.