spine. “Thatta girl,” he encouraged through gritted teeth.
One more step she moved, her gaze trained on his groin. Her breathing increased to steady pants that did a tantalizing thing to her breasts, making them heave and strain against the cups of her bra.
He eased the shorts down again, just a fraction of an inch this time. Any farther and the peekaboo show would culminate with his dick escaping its hiding place. Not a problem, unless the abrupt move was enough to trigger her mind out of the moment.
Right now, as she came another step toward him, she was as in the moment as it got. Eyes huge and sinful blue. Lips deep pink and parted a little. Her tongue flicked out of her mouth without warning, dabbing suggestively at her full bottom lip, and his cock bucked hard enough to push the waistband out of its way.
The head of his shaft sprang free of the cotton. Claire’s eyes went wider still. Panting out a hasty breath, she brought her gaze to his…and came to a dead halt.
The air snagged in Chris’s throat. Maybe she could be that aroused and that afraid at once. “C’mon sweetheart. Two steps. Just another two steps.”
She wanted to take those last steps damned bad—he could see that much brimming in her eyes as dark, hungry need. Her gaze started to slip from his, to travel to the area past him. The area that was certain to be her downfall. “Look at me!”
Her eyes came back to his, hot and yearning, and then darted past him, out the open door. Panic replaced passion in the space of a heartbeat. Wildly, she shook her head, dancing her bangs across her forehead. “Dammit, I can’t do this! I won’t.” She stepped backward quickly, forcefully, until her legs rammed into the side of the bed and she toppled onto the comforter.
Stopping herself from falling all the way back by planting her palms on the mattress, she set her chin and glared. “It’s not happening, today or ever.”
“Then neither is sex.” Releasing a defeated sigh, Chris yanked his boxers back up. The far from graceful move proved near painful on his rock-solid shaft. Grunting, he moved inside the bedroom and closed the sliding glass door. Staying in the room with Claire so nearby and wet with arousal was a bad idea for both of their sakes, so he strode to the bedroom door.
“I should at least get a consolation prize for trying,” she said when he reached the door. No anger colored her voice, no fear. Just that needful hunger he’d witnessed in her eyes seconds before.
Against better logic, he turned around to find she’d moved up on the bed. With her back against the headboard, legs bent and parted slightly, full breasts nearly overflowing the cups of her bra with each of her deep breaths, she looked thoughtful and too damned sexy.
Coral really was her color. The way the panties were still lodged up inside her pussy and damp with her juices was his undoing.
Not that he was about to cross the room and fuck her. But a consolation prize couldn’t hurt. Rather, it could help them both. Get his mind off every other thought for a short time while relieving the knots he’d felt in her shoulders and back when he’d tried to give her a massage out on the couch. Too, it would help with building trust between them. Not to mention, it would feel damned good.
Chris moved a few feet back inside the room. “Something tells me you aren’t thinking of a gift certificate to the jelly-of-the-month club.”
A siren’s smile curved Claire’s lips as her gaze fell on his groin. “Close. I was thinking you could let me watch you stroke your jelly.”
His cock pulsed with the suggestion. He would deliver her that want, but not without getting at least something out of her for his efforts. “Why do you want me so much, Claire? You’re a beautiful woman. According to Erin, your last boyfriend was about as impressive as it gets. You can get a guy like that. Probably deserve one. So why do you want me?”
“Guys like that only stick around as long as things are running smoothly.”
“I look like the type to last the long haul?” If that was what she thought, he had bad news for her. For one, no woman who knew about his past would want him. For two, due to the sensual nature of the resort, healers were required to be single.
“No. I can’t see you as the settling-down kind,” she answered seriously. Then the naughty spread into her eyes. “But you do look like the perfect guy to spend three weeks basking in ecstasy with. I haven’t been with a man since before The Incident. After my time here, the only male I’m going to be with is the type that purrs and prefers a whole different kind of pussy.”
“What it boils down to is that you’re horny.”
“Horny.” Her hot gaze slid down his torso, feeling almost as good as a physical caress, before ending on the bulge of his cock. “And seriously attracted to you.”
“My body maybe. Me, you don’t know from Adam.” She wouldn’t be sitting on his bed in her bra and panties, let alone want to have sex with him, if she did.
“Fine. I’m seriously attracted to your body. Do I get my jelly now?”
“I’ll give you jelly,” Chris responded quickly, before the part about this consolation prize clearing his head of every other thought failed. “But you have to give me the same. And, Claire, this isn’t a jelly-of-the-month club. This is a one-time, indoor prize. You want anything more, it either happens on the deck or outside of my home completely.”
“Where do you want to do it?” Claire smiled at the wavering of her voice. Seven months ago, she would have taken advantage of her open-legged position on the bed, and already had been fingering herself until they were both too distracted for thought. Now, when she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt they were about to engage in mutual masturbation, she felt suddenly nervous.
Chris gave her another of those understanding looks that said he got what was happening in her head. After he tried to lure her out onto the deck, she wasn’t convinced he did, but then she wasn’t convinced he didn’t either. Right now, she also didn’t care.
He moved back to the bedroom door and took hold of the knob. “How about you make yourself at home and I’ll come in after a while?”
Was he suggesting role playing, or just giving her time to relax? “Am I supposed to act surprised to see you?”
“You can act however you want so long as you’re having a good time.” With a parting glance at her crotch, he left the room, pulling the door closed as he went.
Claire scuttled off the bed. She didn’t miss the irony of the situation as she hurried to the dresser and yanked open the last of the drawers he’d designated as hers. This morning she’d moved hastily so he wouldn’t catch her in the buff. This afternoon she moved hastily to ensure she was well prepared for when he returned to the room with the purpose of catching her in the buff, or at least nearly naked.
Her earlier search of his home revealed that Erin hadn’t just packed for comfort. The bottom dresser drawer held a selection of risqué clothes, as well as lingerie and a handful of sex toys. How her sister knew where she kept her toy stash, she had no idea. She didn’t want to waste time wondering either.
Chris seemed plenty happy with the coral bra and boy-panty set, so she ignored the lingerie to focus on the toys. Or rather the lack thereof.
She pulled the clothes out of the drawer in the hope of finding her favorite vibrator hiding somewhere in the pile. Her heart sank a little when a thorough search yielded no pink vibrator with a built-in clit stimulator. She didn’t need it to climax, but from the first touch the stimulator would have eased her nerves to the point that her bones felt liquefied and she had only his much-coveted return on her mind.
Accepting that she’d have to settle for her second-favorite vibrator, a short black bullet with a rotating head, she took the toy out and stuffed the clothes back into the drawer. She locked the sliding glass door for an added measure of comfort and then returned to the bed. Typically, masturbating in bed was a bit too tame for Claire’s tastes. Knowing she wouldn’t