Someone Like Her(30)

 “Okay.”

 “Now where was I? Oh, yeah, I remember. I was about to do this.” He trailed his fingers down the valley of her breasts, over her stomach and to her jeans, pleased when she gave a little shiver. With practiced ease, he unbuckled her belt and unsnapped the jeans.

 So many times he’d done this, but never had he wanted a woman so badly as he did Maria. He ignored the warning bells going off in his head that he just might have left the safety of the shore and was diving headfirst into the deep blue sea without a lifeline.

 She wasn’t a one-night stand—a woman who understood the game—and he wouldn’t treat her like one. For however long this thing between them lasted, he would be true to her.

 He unzipped her jeans and exposed matching red lace panties. God have mercy. It would be a miracle if he lasted two minutes once he was inside her. Sliding his hand inside her panties, he cupped her mound and just held it there, letting her heat seep into his palm.

 She pushed against his hand. “Jake, I need—”

 “Hush. I know what you need.” He slipped his fingers through her curls and into her folds. She was hot and wet, and he clamped down on his need to tear their clothes off and make love to her that very second.

 At the moment, his needs didn’t count. It was only about proving she wasn’t immune to sex or to him. He pushed a finger into her sheath and found her clit with his thumb. With his other hand, he played with her breasts, tested their weight in his palm, flicked a fingernail over the nipples.

 She raised her knees and pressed her feet to the mattress. Her breaths grew louder as she struggled for air. “Jake.”

 His name came out of her mouth as a rasp, as if she barely managed to speak it. In response, his cock pressed against the zipper of his slacks looking for a way out. It wanted her, and it wanted her immediately. He’d always been able to control himself, taking all the time he needed to get a woman ready, but with Maria he may as well have been a boy getting lucky for the first time.

 “Jake, please.”

 “I know, baby, I know.” Still circling her clit with his thumb, he slipped a second finger inside her sheath—now drenched with her cream—and she clamped her muscles around them. He lowered his mouth to her ear. “Let go, Chiquita. I’ll catch you.”

 And she did.

 Jake wrapped both arms around her chest, and sucked in air right along with Maria. What had just happened? When she came, so had he. Never had he done that before. Hell, he hadn’t even unzipped his pants, hadn’t touched himself. It had been amazing, and it scared the hell out of him.

 He needed a time-out, needed to think about what he was getting into. What he couldn’t do was give any hint she’d rocked his world to its very core, and now he needed some space to get his bearings back. Thanks to her idiot boyfriend, she would blame herself for doing something wrong.

 “Still think you’re immune to sex?”

 She tilted her head back against his shoulder and gave him a big grin. “I think you’ve proven otherwise.” Her smile slipped and her expression turned shy. “That was my first ever orgasm. Thank you.”

 If he were a peacock, he’d spread his tail and strut. “You’re more than welcome, believe me, but you mean the first you’ve had with a man, right?”

 She shook her head.

 “Haven’t you ever masturbated?” Didn’t everyone?

 Again, her head shook. “You have to understand, growing up with Lovey Dovey and everything with her revolving around sex . . . I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to be as different from her as possible.”

 “And you are, but it isn’t because you do or don’t have sex, or even whether or not you pleasure yourself.” He pulled her hair away from her neck, wrapped it around his hand, and tugged her head back. Eyes as warm as melted chocolate stared up at him.

 He was in trouble all right, but he kissed her anyway.

 Before this went any further, he’d best take that time-out and decide if the direction he was headed was where he wanted to go. “You know what?”

 She twisted around and sat back on her heels. “What?”

 His gaze strayed down to take in her magnificent breasts clothed in the lacey bra, on down over her trim waist, and then to the jeans, still unzipped and showing a hint of the red panties. He’d bet his retirement fund she tasted as good as she looked, and she was his for the taking. Nothing had ever stopped him before, so why was he hesitating?

 “Do I know what?”