Читать книгу Virgin Seductress - J.M. Jeffries - Страница 10

Riley picked at his lonely plate of spaghetti. After Nell had dropped her bombshell, he was surprised he’d still ended up alone tonight. Well, maybe that was a good thing. Tomorrow evening would be soon enough to start her education. Hell, he was probably in for a few new things himself.

His head was still reeling. In a short time his boyhood fantasy was about to come true. Nell, naked and willing in his bed. He raised his eyes to Heaven. Thank you, God. He twirled the tomato-paste-covered noodles on his fork. As he lifted the fork he heard a knock on the back door. A second later the door opened. Only one person walked into his house this way—his ex-wife Chloe.

“Riley Francis Martin, what the hell is going on?” The back door slammed and the stained-glass panels rattled.

Gritting his teeth, he waited for the sound of antique glass to hit the handmade Italian marble he’d laid there three weeks ago. “Hello to you, too, Chloe.” He heard her high heels click on the hardwood hallway floor as she made her way to the den. He took a quick look around the room, even though he knew there was nowhere to hide.

He knew her moods, and he felt that he was in for one now.

Riley put down the fork and picked up the television remote control, fighting the urge to hit the volume control to turn up the sound and tune her out, but that wasn’t going to be a safe option. Reluctantly he turned off the Braves baseball game he wasn’t watching anyway and waited to hear from his ex, or, as he sometimes like to call her, the Harbinger of Doom.

Chester gave a low whine, then got up from his doggy bed in the corner and slunk out of the room like the coward he was. His toenails clicked on the floor as he ran out of the den. Chloe and Chester had never been the best of friends even on a good day.

Chloe tapped her way into the den and leaned over his TV tray, gripping the edges tightly. Her dark brown hair swung along the crest of her shoulders. Her pale brown eyes blazed at him. “And just what in the ever-lovin’ hell has gotten into your head?”

Riley shrugged and pointed to the television. “Watching the game and eating dinner.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You know what I mean.”

Guess that wasn’t the answer she wanted. “Actually, no I don’t.” When in doubt, go for dumb.

Her long red fingernails tapped on the TV tray. “Why are you are turning Nell Evans into your personal sex puppet?”

Okay, now he knew what had gotten her knickers into a twist. He sat back in his chair, knowing he was in trouble and wanting to get out of face-slapping distance. Chloe had never hit him during their marriage, but there was always a first time—and he was pretty sure she was close to reaching her boiling point. “How did you find out?”

Chloe straightened up and flipped her hair back. “Nell told me everything.”

Riley cringed, his stomach roiling This was not good. “She did?”

“She even asked me to go shopping with her in New Orleans. She wants the works. A new wardrobe, a new hairstyle and a new face.”

Oh, God! How could Nell tell his ex-wife? “She really told you?”

Chloe crossed her arms and tapped her fingers on her arms. “When a girl like Nell decides to get herself a new image, there is a reason behind it besides falling into a lot of money. I weaseled an explanation out of her. One that would curl the hair of the most jaded of people.”

You mean you got out the velvet-covered rubber hoses, he thought. When she wanted info, Chloe could be merciless. “You didn’t hurt her, did you?”

She sneered at him. “That would be worse than kicking a puppy.”

Maybe so, but Chloe was going to ruin Nell. He could just picture her in makeup, fake nails and dyed hair. Not that Chloe wasn’t one of the most beautiful women in the universe, but Nell was perfect the way she was. He didn’t want another beauty queen, he wanted Nell. “Don’t help her. Please. I like her the way she is.”

“She wouldn’t take no for an answer.” She spread her arms in a dramatic gesture. “She thinks I can help her craft a whole new sophisticated image for the Big Apple. She said spare no expense. How could I turn down something like that?”

Yeah, so she can look sexy for some other guy. That didn’t sit well with him. “Damn.”

Now the hands went to her hips. “Don’t you dare hurt her. She’s not like your usual women. She doesn’t understand the rules of the game.”

Not his rules. Nell seemed to be playing by her own set of rules. Rules he was willing to play by for one taste of her sweetness. Rules he’d bend in a heartbeat. Hell, he’d run naked down Main Street coated in honey and pickle juice if she wanted him to. “Chloe, she came to me for help. How could I turn down an offer like that?”

“She is like a woman possessed.” Chloe paced the den, then stopped and stared at him.

“Tell me about it,” he agreed.

“I think she wanted to ask about the intimate details of our marriage.”

Pain shot through his head like a bullet. He pinched the bridge of his nose. What had he gotten himself into? “Don’t say anything about how things were between us.”

A sly grin appeared on her full red lips. “Trust me, your secrets are safe with me. Nobody would believe me anyway.”

He might have started out that way, but once he understood the game and learned all about peak performance, his abilities had improved tremendously. “Gee, thanks.”

“Grow up, Riley.” She sat down. “Why did you agree to this?”

Now, how did he tell his ex-wife about fantasies over another woman that had been in his head since he’d formally been introduced to his hormones? Despite all the things that had gone wrong between them, he and Chloe had never lied to each other about anything. They’d married because Chloe had gotten pregnant with Benjy. They’d had a good marriage as marriages go, but it had been built on their son, not on love for each other. “It just sort of came up.”

Chloe rubbed her eyes. “I can ask this because we have a lot of history together, and we’re better together as friends than we ever were as husband and wife. You have always secretly lusted after Nell, haven’t you?”

Chloe had the wonderful gift of being able to cut through the bullshit, no matter what. He’d always figured he’d hidden his Nell-lusting pretty well. He’d been faithful to Chloe no matter what he might have wanted to do. That was what real men did, but what did a man say in a situation like this? Denial was right there on his tongue. “Well…”

Chloe held up her hand. “You don’t have to spare my feelings. Honey, I’ve seen the way you stare at Nell sometimes. Half the time you could trip over your tongue like a lovesick boy. She’s a sweet, beautiful woman. You could do a lot worse. I don’t know how you’re going to let her go when she’s done with you.”

“She’s not really looking for forever. And neither am I. I’m not good at long-term anymore. If I was I’d still be your husband.”

Chloe suddenly looked sad as old memories filled her eyes. “I know if Benjy hadn’t died we’d still be together. I never deluded myself about our relationship. Neither did you. We made the best out of a confusing situation. When the unthinkable happened, we didn’t have enough love for each other to keep the bitterness away. Maybe if we’d had other children we could have kept going. I’m not good at living in the past, I like to keep moving forward.”

“You think your being so understanding makes me feel better? I can’t…I wish…” He floundered for words. Pain still raged through him. Pain that never seemed to leave him or lessen. He could go on with everyday life but, damn, the raw hurt never went away. “I should have been…I didn’t know how to be there for you. You were so—”

She shook her head. “I didn’t know how to be there for you either. No one is at fault. Passion is a great thing, and we had that to spare. But it wasn’t enough to keep us together. Stop letting his death eat you up. You’re still alive. He was killed by a drunk driver. We did everything right. We had him for four years. That’s more than a lot of people get.” Tears filled her eyes and she impatiently brushed them away with the back of her hand.

He knew she was right, but letting himself not feel beyond the surface seemed safer. He wasn’t like her. She had a lot in her heart. Every bit he had was taken up by his son. And when Benjy had died, he’d closed himself off to everything. “How come you’re the smart one?”

She dropped her fist on his knee. “I’m an ex-beauty queen. All that mascara stimulated my brain cells.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot.”

As she stood, she wiped a tear away from her cheek. “If you hurt Nell, I promise I’ll gut you.” Her chin went up. “And I won’t be quick about it.”

He had no doubt Chloe meant every word. He didn’t want to hurt Nell. As she’d said, damaging Nell would be worse than kicking a puppy—it would be stomping the poor thing in the head. “Nell is safe with me.”

“Be ready at nine on Saturday morning. You are going to the land of the enemy.”

A sharp, cold chill ran up his spine, and he could smell his own fear. He had never gone shopping with Chloe when they’d been married and he sure as shit wasn’t about to go now they were divorced. “What do I know about women’s clothes?” Okay, he was good at getting them off. And paying for them. That was the extent of his expertise and he planned to keep it that way.

“Trust me. You know plenty.” She hooked a thumb toward his bulging magazine rack in the corner next to Chester’s bed. “And don’t try and hoodwink me, I know you have your own subscription to the Victoria’s Secret catalog.”

I’m so busted. He hoped he looked a little bit ashamed, but he didn’t think so. “That may be so, but I’m still not going with you.”

“You damn well are coming. I’m not the one she’s hoping to impress. I’m not about to make over your sex puppet all by myself.” She smiled. “I’m not that good.”

What the hell did he know about dressing a woman. “I don’t know about that crap. Take Mario.” Mario, an old high-school friend of them both, owned a fashion boutique the next town over.

“You are a straight man. You know what other straight men like. Mario is wonderful, but given no firm direction, he’ll dress the poor thing like a drag queen. I want your help on the clothes.”

“Damn. I knew this was going to get way too complicated.”

Chloe leaned on the doorjamb and crossed her arms. “I should have figured out long ago why you liked me to dress up as a waitress, as opposed to a French maid or a candy striper.”

He was a guy, what did she expect? The heat of embarrassment crept up his face. The naughty waitress was his favorite fantasy. “I plead the fifth.”

She pursed her lips. “I didn’t make the connection until after our divorce when you started hanging around the diner every day for lunch and dinner. But there is one good thing about this.”

“What?”

Pushing away from the doorway she shrugged. “At least you never called me by her name.”

She had always been a woman who could be direct no matter if she hurt his feelings. But that statement was particularly low. “That’s cold, Chloe.”

“I call it like I see it.” She saluted him. “And we’re taking your Escalade. I’m driving. You’d better have it detailed.” She whirled around and tapped her way toward the back door.

Chloe was right, he did get to have one of his major sex fantasies fulfilled, although he didn’t want to think about making sweet virginal Nell into his personal sex puppet. Especially since she planned to take her act on the road. Somehow the thought of her leaving so soon was not sitting well with him.

Sitting back in his easy chair, he swallowed the acid in his throat.

Nell had been surprised when the phone rang and Riley had called to say he would be right over. When they had parted earlier in the day, she’d thought he would take some time to really think about her offer, but here he was on his way.

She’d taken a quick shower, put on her prettiest skirt and white cotton blouse, then rushed around the living room straightening pillows and pushing a feather duster over every little knickknack and her grandmother’s antique clock on the mantel over the fireplace. Her grandmother had loved the clock and for a second Nell felt a storm of tears brewing at the sides of her eyes. She wouldn’t cry, not anymore. She needed to move forward.

She heard Riley’s car pull up into the driveway. She gave herself one last look in the mirror as she tossed the feather duster into a drawer. From the drawer, she pulled out a small spiral-bound notebook and pen and set it where she could easily find it. She’d bought the notebook at Doolittle’s after she’d left Riley. If she was going to learn so many new things, she needed to take notes.

The doorbell rang and Nell checked her breath and then opened the door to find him leaning against the jamb looking so masculine he sent heat racing through her like a summer thunderstorm. Her heart pounded at the look in his face and she stood aside to let him in.

Riley walked in looking big and male and out of place among her grandmother’s dark wood furniture. His sheer masculinity just made everything smaller. Nell felt as if she were violating some sacred temple as she looked around her grandmother’s small tidy house and tried not to think about what she and Riley were about to do. But Riley had insisted that she would be more comfortable in her territory.

The black shirt and tight jeans fitted over every muscle of his body. Her heart fluttered. She wished she didn’t feel so anxious.

Sex was a biological function like breathing or eating, right? What was the great mystery? Wiping her damp palms on her yellow-and-black floral skirt, she took a deep calming breath. The less nervous she was the more likely she was going to be a better student.

She’d only admit it to herself, but he could take her breath away like no other man ever could. In a way, he was what she always thought a real man should be. Clean, strong and a bit rough around the edges—everything her grandmother had warned her about for years. Where these bad-girl thoughts had come from was a mystery to her. All she knew for certain was that she wanted to be very, very bad. With Riley. “What should we start with?”

The corner of his mouth went up. “Touching. Men love to be touched.”

Her bottom lip trembled. She could think of nothing else but the kiss she and Riley had shared. She hadn’t expected the kiss to be so intense or so passionate. Her nerves tingled with anticipation. He took her hand and placed it on his chest. Slowly she touched him, feeling the hardness of his muscles, the heat of his skin, the texture of the cotton shirt.

She could feel him breathing, his broad chest rising and falling. Until now she’d never thought of a man’s body as a thing of beauty, but Riley was glorious. The tip of her finger grazed the fabric of his shirt and her throat went dry. Her hand began to tremble.

She was so excited. She felt so naughty and wicked and almost immoral. She tried not to think about Pastor Willis and his sermons. She was about to do everything her grandmother and Pastor Willis had warned her was bad.

“Come on, Nell,” Riley said softly, “you can do better than this.”

She licked her dry bottom lip, but didn’t proceed any further. She was too afraid to do the wrong thing. “I don’t know how.”

Riley gripped her wrist. “Let me show you.” He forced her hand flat against the wall of his chest and covered her hand with his.

His strong, callused fingers were rough on her hot skin. The longer he held on the more she wanted. She placed the other hand on his chest, right over his heart. Under her hand, his heart raced.

He took a sharp breath.

Feeling a sense of freedom, she let herself explore him. “I’ve never seen a naked man before.” Did those words really come out of her mouth? Her voice sounded strange.

“Don’t you have Internet?” he asked.

She did now. She’d had DSL put in the week after her grandmother had passed. “Well yes, but, you know, the FBI can track where you’ve been on those sites and I don’t want that on my record.” Somehow her grandmother would have found out.

He chuckled. “We’ll have to change that, won’t we?”

His low seductive laugh rolled over her, curling her toes. Nell clenched her knees together to stop their shaking. She didn’t think he was asking a question. Nor did she care. “Yes. Please.”

He lowered her hands to her side. Then he started to unbutton his shirt.

This wasn’t how she wanted to do this. She wanted to undress him herself and discover his body in her own way. Nell grabbed his wrists. His muscles flexed under her hand. “No, I want to undress you.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she was shocked that she’d said them.

Riley raised an eyebrow. “I’d like that.”

She couldn’t help herself, she giggled. “Do most men like a woman undressing them?”

“I like a woman who lets me know what she wants.”

“Why?”

“Because that means they’re as excited about going to bed with you as you are about them.”

Okay, she thought, I can do that. Nell let go of his wrists. His hands dropped to his sides. Her stomach fluttered with excitement and anticipation. There was a languid achy feeling between her thighs. She was a bit disconcerted about her body’s reactions. To go from zero to red-hot inferno had to be bad. But she didn’t care. One part of her felt as if she was abandoning everything her grandmother had taught her about what was proper. She’d heard the stories of her mother’s too-easy reputation and tried all her life to be different from that. Deep down inside, maybe she was more like her mother than she believed she was. The thought didn’t make her feel naughty as she suspected it would. “You’re shaking.”

“I’m excited.”

“Me, too.” Nell freed the top button of his shirt. His skin was a smooth earthy bronze color. He was warm and alive. The aching in her body became more fierce as she unfastened the next button.

“Nell, before we go any further, I want to make one thing perfectly clear to you.”

That this was real. She already knew that. “What?”

“If at any time you want to stop, we stop.”

He didn’t have to say that. She knew she could trust him with her body. “I know.”

“Not just with me, but with any man. Promise me you won’t waste your time on a man you can’t trust.” He reached up and touched her cheek.

Nell rubbed her face against his palm. She drew from his strength. He knew how to comfort a woman and make her feel safe. “I promise.”

Nell undid another button and pulled the hem of his shirt out of his jeans. She pushed the fabric aside to reveal his wide shoulders. He shrugged out of the shirt and she leaned back to look at the smooth expanse of his chest. He was beautiful. The shirt dropped from her cold fingers to the rug, landing near his feet.

She raised her eyes to him again, and saw that his entire body was sculpted like a Greek statue, all corded muscles and six-pack abs. His skin was smooth and a rich cinnamon-brown that made her gasp. No statue, he was alive and hot, not cold marble. His chest rose and fell with every breath. His nipples, small and brown, were like hard pebbles. Carefully she reached up and touched one nipple with the tip of her finger.

Riley sucked in a quick breath and Nell felt a surge of power. This was better than unwrapping her presents on Christmas morning. Nell glanced down at the telltale bulge in his jeans. Pride swelled inside her. She, plain old Nell, could make a man feel desire.

Riley leaned forward until his mouth was less than an inch from her ear. “That’s what you do to me, Nell. What you’ve always done to me.”

She met his smoldering gaze, silently thanking him, but not sure if she completely believed him. “I want to see you naked.”

His mouth curved into a smile. “You say the sweetest things.”

She’d never felt so bold in all her life. Something about the twinkle in his eyes, the wicked smile that just made her feel so darn comfortable and more importantly…confident. “You make me feel very naughty.” Naughty and wicked and any number of things. She hoped her grandmother wasn’t sitting on a cloud looking down and watching her.

“Good for me.” He ran a hand up her arm to her neck and the line of her jaw.

She wanted to purr. The feel of his fingers on her skin sent a shiver through her that made her want to curl her toes and fall back on the sofa. Her hands went to the waistband of his jeans. “I didn’t think I’d ever be so bold.” Not with any man. So few men had ever been in her life.

He started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” she asked impatiently.

He looked down at his feet. “I’m just really glad I took off my socks and shoes.”

She opened her mouth to ask why.

Riley winked at her. “It will make it easier for you to get my pants off.”

She covered her smiling mouth with her fingers, refusing to be shocked. Refusing to let all her grandmother’s rules about dates and men rush through her head. Flinging caution to the wind, she ran a questing finger across the round bulge of his jeans. “I see what you mean.”

“Come on, Nell. Take off my pants. See what you do to me.”

The metal button on his jeans gave her a little resistance, but she finally managed to unbutton it. The jeans fell open and she slipped her hands inside the waistband to caress the smooth skin of his hips. He wasn’t wearing any underwear. How very improper—and so very sexy.

She thought of her own little-old-lady underwear—cotton panties and a plain cotton bra. She’d have to get new sexy lingerie when she went shopping with Chloe on Saturday. For a second her mind wandered at the thought of sexy fire engine-red thong panties and a matching bra of smooth satin. Maybe blue would be better; she wasn’t a “red” type of girl.

She didn’t realize she’d stopped stroking him until he covered her hand with his.

“Don’t stop now,” he said, his breath coming out in a rush. “I’m enjoying myself.”

“Really?”

“You have very soft hands. I like being this close to you, too. You smell good.”

“Cotton blossom lotion.” Her grandmother had given her a selection of lotions, soaps and perfumes over the years and she’d always been saving them for when she’d need them. Tonight, she knew, was the time to crack the seals on those bottles. “I didn’t want to smell like chicken-fried steak, but you probably don’t want to know that, do you?”

“Chicken-fried steak isn’t so bad, but I’m pleased you went with cotton blossom. I like a lot of things about you.” He gently nibbled at her ear.

Heat started in her nipples and spread in ever-widening circles around her breasts. “Thank you for doing this for me.”

He pushed a stray tendril off her cheek. “Trust me, it’s my pleasure.”

His low, seductive voice rolled over her. The deep tones stirred her senses. “Not just the sex part, but for making me feel beautiful. Wanted.” For making her feel like a real woman.

“You are beautiful.”

She didn’t quite believe him, as much as she wanted to. “I’m nervous I’ll do the wrong thing.”

“Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“I want…” Don’t get shy now, Nell, she chided herself. “I want to do more.” Deep inside her a feeling she didn’t recognize grew and grew.

He guided her hand. “That’s good.” The corner of his mouth lifted.

His words were barely more than a whisper, but they echoed through her head. Nell took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and pushed his jeans down, feeling her knuckles skim across his hips, his thighs, and when she reached his ankles she stood, but didn’t open her eyes. She was so frightened and excited she wasn’t sure if she could speak.

“Look at me, Nell.” Riley’s voice sounded tight and hoarse.

She opened one eye. She was level with his smiling mouth. She opened the other eye, and let her gaze roam down to his strong chin. Then to the corded muscles in his neck. She studied the wide set of his muscular shoulders. He had a little scar just beneath his collarbone and she wondered what had happened. She found another little scar in the crook of his elbow. She glanced down and spied the tip of his erect penis. She bit her bottom lip. Oh! He was so big.

Riley dragged one foot out of his pants then the other, then he kicked them aside. “Touch me, Nell.”

“Where?”

“Anywhere you want. Everywhere you want.”

Nell reached and pressed her hand flat against his chest. She was going to have to work up to touching his penis. Living, breathing muscle contracted under her hand.

She put her other hand on his shoulder. She moved closer and planted a kiss right on his heart. He groaned. Nell felt power radiating from him. She moved her lips over his smooth skin. “You are so beautiful,” she murmured.

“Thank you.” He pulled her close to him, pressing her tightly to his chest. He kissed her, his lips soft, his tongue hard.

Nell felt his penis pressing into her through the light cotton material of her skirt. The moist heat stunned her. A flood of emotions raged inside her. Finally, she thought, she would know what other women knew, feel what other women felt.

Nell’s hands roamed over his body. She licked his skin, loving the salty taste of him. Riley trembled as she ran her fingers down the smooth skin of his back and then around his hips to the heat of his penis. She loved the feel of the smoothness in her hand. In all her life, she’d dreamed and wondered what a man felt like, and the reality exceeded all her dreams.

Nell giggled, feeling wanton and feminine. Had she known this would be so intoxicating, she would have found a man a long ago time, despite her grandmother’s warnings that men weren’t to be trusted.

She wanted to touch Riley everywhere. With her bottom lip caught between her teeth, she reached out and touched the tip of his hard penis and jerked back, surprised. The skin was velvety hot and silky smooth and slightly moist. As she curled her hand around him and stroked from base to tip, a moaning sigh escaped his lips. What had she been missing? Apparently a whole lot.

She wasn’t certain what she’d expected, but she found herself thinking about the sex education classes she’d had, and she realized how inadequate they had been. The classes had not even prepared her for the most basic of her emotions. The clinical aspect of sex was one thing, but the reality was far different.

She cupped him in both hands, running her palms down the sides. His penis seemed to jerk in her hand as if it had a mind of its own.

This is what women yearned for. She wrapped her fingers around him. Her eyes closed as she tried to imagine them making love, him on top of her, being touched by him, invaded by him. Her mouth opened, her breathing became labored.

“Nell?”

She looked up at him, letting go of his penis. “Am I doing something wrong?”

“The doorbell.”

She looked toward the front door. It might be rude, but she wasn’t home.

Before he could respond, the doorbell rang again. “Don’t answer,” he said, his voice harsh.

She smiled at him. “I don’t intend to.” Not for anything would she interrupt this session. If it was another floral arrangement from someone in town, the florist could leave the arrangement. If it was someone else, that person could come back when they realized she wasn’t going to answer.

The front door crashed open. “Hello?”

Nell froze with her fingers still wrapped around Riley’s penis.

“Nell, honey,” came a once-familiar trilling voice. “It’s Mama. I’m home.”