Gemma smiled, abject relief flowering in her chest. “That’s odd.”
Chev rolled over and captured one soft nipple in his mouth. “What?” he murmured against her awakened skin.
“That Wilcox would have a change of heart about the photos. Why?”
“Who knows?” Chev murmured, traveling up to nuzzle her neck and covering her body with his. His thick erection pressed against her thigh.
A rogue thought popped into her mind. She frowned and lifted his right hand, the one with the scrapes across the knuckles. “Chev, did you go see Lewis Wilcox?”
“Maybe,” he said, then kissed her ear.
Gemma gasped. “You beat him up?”
He ran his tongue along the sensitive cord of her neck. “I didn’t have to. One punch and the guy was willing to negotiate.”
“Negotiate what?”
Chev sighed and scratched his temple. “His cell phone and the promise that he wouldn’t go public with the photos in return for his pretty TV face.”
Shocked and flattered that Chev would stand up for her, she cupped his face in her hands. “You did that for me?”
“Yeah. I told him if he had a beef with your ex, he should take it up with him and keep you out of it.”
Gemma smiled and whispered in his ear, “And what can I do for you?”
He nudged her sex with his. “You’re doing it. No mask, no costumes. It’s you that I want.”
He entered her body to the tune of their mingled groans and made love to her slowly, his eyes locked with hers throughout. Watching his expression change with every nuance of heightened sensation opened her mind and body, magnified every touch, left her feeling out of control and hopelessly lost in him. This recklessness was like being disconnected from her physical self. She was powerless to do anything except go where his body took hers.
When her orgasm began to claim her, he urged her to the highest pinnacle she’d ever reached physically and emotionally. She came in a shattering clash, and carried him over the edge with her as he shuddered his release with full-body spasms. He cried her name over and over, pulsing inside her. Then he collapsed and rolled over, pulling her to his chest.
“I’m glad you’re a morning person,” he said, between recovering breaths. “It’s the best time of the day to have sex.”
Gemma closed her eyes. She knew a sign when she saw one. “I love you,” she blurted.
In the ensuing silence, she died a hundred deaths, wishing back her words. His hand traveled down her spine, over the curve of her hip. “I love you, too.”
She lifted her head and stared at him, at his amazing eyes that spoke to her.
He sighed. “I feel a but coming on.”
“The auction is in two weeks. You’re leaving. And I have to be honest with you, Chev. Even though the job at the museum is ending soon, I don’t know if I can ever let go of the watch-me games. It’s…part of me.”
He twined a strand of her hair around his finger. “So we have two weeks to see where this goes.”
She nodded. An experimental period for them both to assess their options. This intense blaze they felt for each other might burn out. Or one of them could change their mind. They were both quiet, both lost in their own thoughts.
The two weeks stretched before Gemma like a big question mark.
22
“ARE YOU SURE you want me to do this?”
Gemma bit into her lower lip and nodded at Chev. “It’s for the best.”
His expression was pensive as he held the Auction Today sign with one hand and drove it into the ground with several whacks of the mallet. She stood back and looked at the sign, content with their decision.
A sedan pulled up next to the curb in front of the Spanish house. A suited man stepped out, along with a couple. “We’re here for the auction?” he shouted.
“Change of plans,” Chev said, waving them over. “This house is on the market instead—131 Petal Lagoon.” He settled his arm around Gemma’s shoulder. “Last chance to change your mind about moving in with me.”
“Nice try,” she said with a laugh. “As soon as my house sells, you’re stuck with me.”
Another car pulled up behind the first, then another. And it was still an hour before the auction. “What beautiful birds!” a woman exclaimed, obviously enchanted by the two peacocks strutting across Gemma’s lawn. A peahen had arrived out of the blue, much to the cock’s delight. They had become a celebrated pair in the neighborhood.
“Guess both of us cocks got lucky,” Chev murmured to her as he carried the mallet back to his pickup parked near her mailbox.
She elbowed him, but laughed. Then she spied a brown sack in the back of his truck and frowned. “What’s that?”
Chev seemed flustered and tried to move the sack out of sight. “Nothing. Grass seed, I think.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Let me see it.”
He hesitated, then lifted the bag that read “Wild bird seed—for turkeys, pheasants and peacocks.” The bag was almost empty.
Her eyes widened. “You were feeding it? In my yard?”
Chev gave her a sheepish smile and nodded.
“That’s why I couldn’t get rid of it!”
He shrugged. “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”
She punched him playfully, but he countered with a kiss. “Now that you’re going to be a bigwig executive assistant to the director of the museum instead of a tour guide, if you get the urge to…you know, it’s okay…as long as you come home to me.”
“Always,” she murmured, brimming with love for this sexy, sexy man.
“What’s the letter?” he asked, pointing to the envelope she’d brought out with her.
She turned it over and smiled at the address. Dr. Michelle Alexander. “A thank-you to an old friend.”
Gemma walked to the mailbox, wondering about the other young women in her Sex for Beginners class, where they were and if, like her, they’d received their fantasy letters at a pivotal point in their lives. And if, like her, they would use their letters to reclaim a part of themselves.
She hoped so. Because of her letter, the future lay before her, no longer a question mark, but a bold exclamation point.
Gemma placed the thank-you note in the mailbox, raised the flag and turned back to Chev, her heart full of him. She’d finally learned who she was. And she’d found a man who knew it—and loved it—too.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2269-8
WATCH AND LEARN
Copyright © 2008 by Stephanie Bond, Inc.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.eHarlequin.com
Three women. Three fantasies.
Years ago Gemma, Zoe and Violet all took the same
college sex-ed class, one they laughingly referred to as
Sex for Beginners. It was an easy credit—not something
they’d ever need in real life. Or so they thought…
Their professor had them each write a letter, outlining
their most private, most outrageous sexual fantasies.
They never dreamed their letters would be returned
to them when they least expected it. Or that their own
words would change their lives forever…
Don’t miss Stephanie Bond’s newest miniseries:
Sex for Beginners
WATCH AND LEARN
(October 2008)
IN A BIND
(November 2008)
NO PEEKING…
(December 2008)
Sex for Beginners
What you don’t know…might turn you on!
Dear Reader,
Have you ever run across an old childhood diary or a note you wrote in high school or college? It can be fun, and even revealing, to see what you were thinking when you were younger, what things were important to you.
The seniors at Women’s Covington College who took the Sexual Psyche class (dubbed by the students as “Sex for Beginners”) were given an assignment to write down their innermost sexual fantasies in the form of a letter to themselves. Their letter was to be cataloged with a code for anonymity and remain sealed for ten years, then mailed to them.
When international flight attendant Zoe Smythe reads her letter, she’s headed to Sydney, Australia, for a leisurely layover before returning to America to be married. The naughty words she wrote years ago spur her to embark on a last-chance torrid fling with a hunky Aussie…. But will she ever want to leave?
I hope you enjoy In a Bind, the second book in the SEX FOR BEGINNERS trilogy. Please tell your friends about the wonderful stories you find between the pages of Harlequin novels! And visit me at www.stephaniebond.com.