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  Aubrey was lost in him. The feel of him under her fingers, in her mouth, filling her senses. She sucked him hard enough to make him rumble deep in his chest with pleasure and then he was pulling free from her and she was the one making nonsense noises.

  “Later. Plenty of time for that later,” he murmured in her ear. “Your mouth on me, my mouth on you. I plan to go down on you until you beg me to stop.”

  That free-fall feeling filled her belly and she moved restlessly on the bed, trying to get closer to him.

  “But first,” he said, parting her legs, running his hardness along her wet, slick softness. “I need to be in you.”

  She held her breath when he entered her. And then he stilled and moved his hips just enough to make her exhale slowly.

  He moved again. Just a little. Just a rocking motion. And then she was coming undone in the small soft bed under the man who hadn’t left her head since she’d left the city.

  “That was easy.” He laughed. “If I were a different man I’d be patting myself on the back.”

  His lips slipped along her collarbone, his tongue darted out to taste her skin and goose bumps sprang up to meet him.

  She patted his back, groaning, laughing and completely giving herself over to that sweet spot in time. “I’ll do it.”

  “I want to see you,” he growled.

  She barely had time to process the words before he rolled to his back. The coverlet hit the floor with a soft thud and she found herself upright on him, her body still sealed to his. His hardness still triggering all the sensitive nerve endings deep inside.

  She sighed, hung her head and beneath that waterfall of hair watched his face. He looked intense and beautiful. The stubble on his jaw was darker than his hair but threaded with just the smallest flecks of sterling. She brushed her fingers along them to hear the rasp.

  “You’re gorgeous,” he said. His fingers bit into the meat of her hips as he began to move her to his will. Aubrey rode him, unencumbered by worry or fear the way she sometimes could be in bed. Was she pretty enough, hot enough, cover girl enough? Not now. Now was only the goodness of their bodies together and the connection.

  That sweet connection.

  It hummed through her like a current.

  He cupped her ass, spurred her on, drove up under her. He was egging her on toward another orgasm and when he tipped her hips forward just so, watching her as if she were the center of the universe and thrust up deep inside her, Aubrey curled her fingers against his chest and gave in to the second orgasm. It was a flash of light and heat and sweet, sweet pleasure.

  His face grew serious. He reached up and touched her cheek. Slid his fingertips along her lips. Aubrey touched her tongue to the tip of each one and when his motions grew more frantic, almost wild, she sucked his fingertip into her mouth and drew on it. His skin was salty and rough beneath her tongue. She sucked again and his fingernails dug into her hip.

  “Jesus, Aubrey,” he said. That was all. And then his eyes slammed shut, his head tilted back, he exposed his neck to her and she pushed her fingertips to the thrumming pulse there. Felt it kick, thunder and then thud as he came. Saying her name over and over again as the force of his release hit him.

  On the tail end, she dragged her hips from side, grinding down against him and she came at the very last second. A small fluttering blip of a sensation, but an orgasm all the same.

  She found herself saying his name when it happened. Like a short but sincere prayer.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Someone’s knocking,” Mike groaned. His knee slipped perfectly in the hollow behind hers. His arms curled around her and he pulled her close. Aubrey felt the nudge of his hard cock against her bottom.

  She groaned.

  “Shouldn’t you be releasing me if someone’s knocking, instead of pulling me closer?” she whispered. She wasn’t quite sure she wanted to know who was at the door.

  “I’m hoping it’s all a dream.”

  In response to his mumbled wish another soft knock sounded in the small room.

  “Who the hell?” Aubrey sat up and immediately noted the absence of his arms and body heat. It made her feel as if she were missing something important.

  “I have no idea but tell them to go away and never come back. We have today in Key West and that’s that. So shoo, visitor, shoo.” He rolled to his back, eyes fully open. The startling blue was extremely evident in the narrow stripe of sunlight that was painted across the bed. The blind wasn’t closed all the way.

  “I will. Once I know who it is.”

  Another knock.

  “Coming!” Aubrey called. She noted she sounded annoyed. She couldn’t help it though. She was annoyed.

  She tripped on a minor crease in the carpet and flailed gracelessly toward the door. Her robe slipped loose and she tightened it. Aubrey opened the door and blinked. Hard. Several times.

  “Cruz?”

  Cruz Reyes from day one, he of the single stunning dimple, leaned against the door jamb. His t-shirt was formfitting without being too tight. Some surfer slogan was blurred across the front. Aubrey watched him subtly flex his significant muscles. He licked his lips, reminding her of L.L. Cool J. It wasn’t so much that she didn’t find Cruz attractive. He was just the wrong guy at the wrong time.

  “Hi,” he said.

  Aubrey swallowed hard. “Um. Hi?”

  “I wanted to check in,” he said.

  “Check in? Um…” She backpedaled for a moment, thinking maybe Gail or someone at the Checkered Horse had contacted him. “Is there a problem?”

  His toe, in a brown leather flip-flop, inched across the threshold. She watched it. The moment felt surreal. This was a moment from The Graduate. Should she say, “Cruz, you’re trying to seduce me?”

  He was at least seven years her junior, Aubrey thought. Maybe more.

  “I wanted to make sure my pictures were okay.” His eyes were on the V created above her cleavage by her soft gypsy-fabric robe.

  “They were fine. They were great!” she amended. “All the photos were wonderful. I had good material to work with.”

  This was a time when she didn’t want to be rude. She didn’t want to damage the young ego in front of her.

  “Good, because if you needed me to, I could reshoot them.”

  He took another almost imperceptible inch forward. She backed up just a touch. Caught herself. Stood strong. Back in the short foyer that led to the bedroom proper, Aubrey heard a rustle. Cruz did not.

  “No need,” she said smiling. “In fact, if you’ll excuse me, I have to pack. I leave shortly and I need to—”

  Cruz broke protocol and reached out, taking her upper arm in his hand. Aubrey saw no maliciousness in his gaze—he probably thought he was being movie-hero perfect, in fact. But when she pulled back lightly, he didn’t release her.

  “Cruz,” she said calmly. “Let go of my arm.”

  His gaze faltered then. Confusion, annoyance, a touch of anger. But he let her go.

  “I thought that maybe—”

  “Maybe you have the wrong room?” Mike said, stepping into the foyer where he could be seen. He wore his jeans and nothing else. His feet were bare, his chest was bare, his hair stood up in little peaks that indicated sleep-induced bedhead.

  Cruz’s face fell.

  “I just—”

  “Made a mistake,” Mike said good-naturedly. “I saw the pictures.” He put his hand on Aubrey’s shoulder and pulled her back a step. That way he was closer to Cruz than she was.

  Nothing in his posture indicated he felt threatened, just finished with the conversation.

  Cruz shook his head, took a step back. Aubrey was relieved to see him look sheepish and not challenging. The last thing she wanted this morning before even having coffee was a male pissing contest.

  “Sorry, man. I didn’t know.”

  Mike offered his hand and Cruz shook it. “Accidents happen,” Mike said.

  “You’ll be hearing from Checkered Horse
about payment,” she said. “I uploaded the pictures last night.”

  “Already did,” Cruz said. “It was in my online payment account last night. Bye,” he said really fast. In that one word, his age was evident. He practically fled.

  Mike kicked the door shut. “Booty call first thing in the morning,” he said, pressing her to the door.

  “Shut up.”

  “He wanted you to invite him in. He wanted to be the pizza delivery guy in the porn movie scenario.” He chuckled but untied her robe while he was talking.

  Cool air and the closeness of Mike sent her skin into a skittering slide of prickly skin and shivery sensations.

  “What was he? Twenty? Twenty-one?” she gasped. Her robe fully open now, her body exposed to him. Just the feel of his gaze on her sent her body into a wild jolt of desire. She went softer for him. Wetter for him. And she’d been pretty soft and wet for Mike from the moment she woke up. So that was saying something.

  “So?” Mike asked. His voice was lazy. He was intent on what he was doing. And what he was doing was dragging a fingertip up her body from her mound to her throat. He kissed her neck before covering her wild pulse with his mouth. He sucked hard and she felt the draw on her skin deep in her belly, deep in her pussy, down in her toes.

  “So what’s he want with me?” she gasped. His fingers parted her and one thick calloused fingertip nudged her clit until her knees felt like they’d fold up.

  “He’s got a crush on the boss lady,” Mike said. He pushed his body close to hers, closing the gap between them. The heat of him crowded her body and she parted her lips for his kiss. His fingers drove into her and she said his name. Softly.

  He thrust deep, finding with great accuracy the tender knot of flesh inside her that made her body warm and supple and stroked it. When he added a second finger, Aubrey found herself panting. Her lips parted, her body loose and relaxed for him. The knuckle of his thumb dragged against her clit every time he curled his fingers.

  “Come for me, pretty girl,” he whispered in her ear.

  She did. The tone, the command, his touch, it all combined to unhinge her and she let herself come undone in his arms. There was no fear, there was no embarrassment. It was just her letting all her guard down in front of this man. Everything she had was stripped bare and he saw it.

  “Good,” he said and kissed her.

  Aubrey caught his broad shoulders up in her hands. She pulled him closer, though truth be told, he couldn’t get any closer than he was. Her bare breasts mashed to his chest. She could feel his galloping heart. It made her happy, the runaway sensation of it.

  “Get on the bed,” he said.

  She kissed him again. She slid her hand up his neck to take handfuls of his hair. She tugged lightly, feeling his body tense with it. When she raised her leg, parting her nether lips, pushing her hot sex to his seeking hand, he growled.

  Mike’s body jerked as he worked his button and his zipper. Her hands shook as she helped him push down his jeans. Aubrey took him in hand, squeezing the warm, silken length of him. Her thumb darted across the head of his cock, spreading pre-come across the cap of tender flesh.

  “Hurry.”

  “You always want me to hurry.”

  “I can never wait for you to be inside me,” she whispered.

  He stilled at her words, his eyes growing dark. So intense they startled her. “I…” He shook his head and kissed her. The words not even close to what his gestures could show.

  Mike hiked her leg up and parted her with the other hand. He traced her pussy lips with his finger, darted a finger into her to test her again. When he did, she sighed against the side of his neck, her body still reeling from the orgasm.

  “Mike—”

  “I know,” he said, with a wry smile. “I’m hurrying.”

  “Slow,” she said and grinned.

  “I can do that, Aubrey,” he said.

  The firm glide of his cock against her slit was almost unbearable. When he dragged it up over her clitoris and that sensation shot through her it stole her breath. “You feel good.”

  “You have no idea how you feel,” he said softly. His eyes were glued to the sight of his body meeting with hers.

  He stopped and leaned in to bite her nipple. He drew back, the sensitive halo of flesh caught between his teeth. Aubrey felt the draw on her skin and the faint prickling of pain in her throat and her belly. Low down where it turned swiftly to a distinctly sexual feeling.

  “How? How?” she chanted, arching her body up to meet his. To egg him on. Why was he torturing her?

  “Like the place I’m supposed to be. Always,” he said and pushed deep inside of her.

  His body crowded hers now, pressing her to the mattress as Aubrey clutched his shoulders and let her body take over. She moved against him—with him—letting him inside. Letting him take her.

  She found herself laughing even as she moaned her pleasure against his neck.

  Mike tilted his head back to watch her, smiling. He smoothed his free hand through her crazily tangled hair. “I’m not sure how I feel about you laughing while we’re doing this.”

  Aubrey raised her right leg higher, pressing her body where it was wettest and warmest to his. “I’m laughing,” she said, taking his face in her hands to kiss him, “because some kid…some model…showed up to seduce me. Me!” she laughed.

  “Why is that—?”

  She kissed him quiet, still laughing, but also a slave to her growing pleasure. “And you were here. You saved me from twentysomething-hookup-drama. You saved me.”

  He shook his head at her laughter and her logic. Then his big hands grabbed her ass and hauled her forward to him. Her shoulders still pressed the pillows and when he thrust deep, they muffled her hearing in a pleasant way. Where all she could hear was her heartbeat. Her body, where she needed him most, was pressed flush against him and she found that the mounted pleasure soon reached a peak and—

  “I’m coming,” she said, desperately kissing him. “Coming, coming. Jesus. I’m coming…” She said it all in a breathless whisper.

  “Fuck,” Mike said, and then he was the one laughing.

  Her spasms shook her and her pussy gripped him tight. That final thrust brought nearly unbearable friction and then his fingers tightened on her and his breath stopped and he was following suit. His orgasm slammed him and they both sagged against one another. The soft hotel bed cradling them.

  “You don’t need saving,” he said to her. “When you said I saved you…you don’t need saving, Aubrey.”

  Aubrey grabbed great handfuls of his hair and pulled even when he grunted with pain. She kissed him, her tongue sliding softly against his as he surrendered to her kiss.

  “No. Not really. But it’s nice to know if I want to be saved you’re on board.”

  “I’m on board.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Pale sand. Blue water. Gray sky. The storms were still lingering on their last day but not really hitting. They just hovered in the sky with malicious intent.

  “Last day,” she said.

  “Last day.” Mike took her hand. “At least I gave you a few days with a bunch of hunky men.” He squeezed her hand and then lifted it to his lips and kissed it.

  “I didn’t want it.” She turned to him, sand shifting beneath her butt and the blanket they’d stolen from the hotel. “I wanted you to not push me away.”

  “I know. And I wanted to not push you away.” He shrugged. His eyes were blue-gray today to match the sky. He stared out at the white foam rolling in on the water. “But sometimes my life is a bit shaken, not stirred. And the thought of a woman since the divorce, for more than dating and the occasional dinner out or bowling, seemed overwhelming. Then I met you.” He dropped onto his back and since he still had her hand firmly in his, Aubrey dropped back with him. “And then I realized the thought of not having you in my life seemed overwhelming.”

  Her throat grew tight when he said it and though she felt it was so ver
y dramatic, tears filled her eyes. So of course she laughed.

  “And now we come to the feelings portion of our program,” she said. Then snorted. Then covered her face and gave a small cry.

  Mike grinned at her and let her hand go. But only so he could roll to his belly and gaze down at her.

  “I saw you with Laura and I saw you with my boys and I just saw you, Aubrey. Who is such an amazing fucking person? How could I not want you in my life?”

  “I’m your neighbor and that can complicate shit,” she said and then covered her mouth again.

  “But only if we don’t work.”

  “And if we don’t work?”

  “Won’t happen,” he said, brushing her hair back. The Key West wind had different ideas and immediately threw it forward in her face again.

  “And if it does?”

  “If the Universe frowns on me and decides to steal my newfound happiness and peace?” He put her hand to his chest so she could feel his heart beating. “Then I’ll move.”

  She laughed. “That simple then?”

  “The only thing I can think of,” he said. “It seems so trivial. Worrying about not wanting to be with you. I want to be with you now. I wanted to be with you yesterday. Last week. Since we met.”

  She stared at him, wanting to kiss him, but waiting. He wasn’t done talking to her yet.

  “I was just afraid,” he said. “Some for me, mostly for you.”

  “I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”

  “I know. But as I have proven, I can play knight. If the time is right.”

  “I agree.” She touched his face. It was warm from the sun and his stubble was rough under her fingers. She loved that feeling.

  “Shrimp,” Mike said.

  “What?”

  He pulled her into his arms and they watched the stormy Key West sky. His arm around her shoulder, his breath gentle on her face when he turned and spoke directly into her ear so she could hear him above the ocean.

  “Key West pink shrimp. Wild-caught. Sizeable, gorgeous, slight lobster taste to them. To die for. We have to have some before we go home.”