The second she walked off the range, I was on her. “That”—I pecked her on the mouth—“was”—another kiss—“so”—a longer smooch—“cool.”
“Thanks. I had fun.” She passed over her last paper target. “A souvenir for you.”
“As a warning to tread lightly if I ever piss you off?”
“No. It’s supposed to assure you that if we do run into bears on our next biathlon, I can fire away at Smokey and protect you.”
“I’m so crazy about you, Lennox.”
“Same here.”
“What now?”
She cocked her head. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes. Unless you want to play William Tell, and then . . . hell no.”
“Maybe next time. They do have an archery range here.” She took my hand and led me out of the building. But instead of going to the parking lot, she towed me around the corner and pushed me against the bricks.
I touched her face reverently, because she touched me on so many levels.
She reached up and loosened my tie. “How many times did you run your hand through your hair? Because—no offense, but it is kind of out of control.”
“I had month-end reports to do and they’re always hell on my hairstyle.”
Lennox unbuttoned my shirt as we spoke. Then she pressed kisses down the center of my chest. She opened her mouth over my left nipple and began to suck on it through my T-shirt. That felt so damn good it didn’t register that she’d unzipped my pants until I felt cold air hit my boxers.
“What are you—?”
“I’m touching you, like you touched me yesterday.” She stroked my length over the fabric, and that was more erotic somehow than her bare hand.
She bit down on my nipple and I arched back with a soft groan.
I clenched my hands into fists at my sides, my knuckles scraping the rough bricks, in shock and awe at how this woman had known what I needed, when I hadn’t known myself.
Soft lips moved down my jawline. She flicked her tongue over the pulse pounding in my throat, her hand sliding up and down as her thumb rubbed across the wet tip. Fast. Slow. Her grip perfectly tight, but perfectly tender.
“Don’t hold back,” she warned in a husky voice that made me harder yet.
This . . . interlude had caught me by surprise, and was such an epic turn-on, the way she knew just how to touch me—not only with her hand, but with the little nuzzles, the openmouthed kisses and hot breath across my damp skin—that I didn’t have a prayer of holding back.
I whispered her name and tacked on a drawn-out “Yes” when she pulled me over the edge.
Her mouth was hungry on mine, sharing her breath with me, because I’d forgotten how to breathe.
When I finally came back down from that rocket ride into pleasure, I felt her smile against my throat.
She tucked me in, zipped me up and rebuttoned my shirt, while I was helpless to do anything but watch her ministrations.
“You okay?”
“Better than okay.” I forced my fingers to unclench and I touched her cheek. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Because now we’re even.”
“Lennox. Baby, I’m not keeping score.”
“Neither am I. I wanted to touch you and I did.” She turned her head and kissed the base of my palm. “I’ve let go with you once; you’ve let go with me once. Next time, I want all of you. I’ll give you all of me.”
I murmured, “We’ll see,” just to watch the fire flash in her eyes.
“Yes, maybe we will. Maybe I’ll show up in your office wearing just a trench coat and a smile. Since we are officially out as a couple.”
“Did you have a difficult day because of that?”
“No, but I was pretty isolated. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.” She opened her mouth. Closed it.
“What?”
“No PDA at work, okay? I don’t want what’s between us to cause more gossip than it already has.” She leaned in and rested her cheek against my chest. “We’re both private people. Let’s not let anyone change that for us.”
“Deal.” I tilted her head back to get at her mouth. The kiss we shared was lazy and sweet and we were both reluctant for it to end.
Her shiver broke me out of the haze and I gently urged her back. “You’re cold.”
“A little.”
“Any chance I can warm you up in my bed tonight?”
She shook her head. “Another night.”
“That’s why I wanted to see you.”
“I’m not going to like this, am I?”
“Only if you don’t care that I’m going to Atlanta for the week.”
“The whole week?”