“Come on!” She looked up into his eyes, saw the disbelief there. “You really didn’t enter our contest yourself, did you?”
“Does it matter as long as I’m here?”
She shook her head. “Not a bit.”
He cupped her face, his fingers combing back her hair. “Then, where were we?” He bent and captured her mouth and Carly assumed it was a rhetorical question.
She couldn’t get enough of his mouth moving over hers, his tongue playing with hers. She writhed beneath him when he caught her breast in his palm, kneading and caressing it until the nipple became a sensitive peak. His lips deserted her mouth and left a hot, moist trail down her jaw and neck to the top of her breast. He tugged the thin strap of her cami down until he could capture her nipple and draw on it deeply.
Shifting his weight to her side, he teased her nipple as the fingers of his other hand slid down her hip and slipped under her thong.
She moaned, bucking in time to his intimate touch. The exquisite pressure was building inside her.
The orgasm hit her hard and fast and she cried out. A fog of pleasure enveloped her. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t quite believe this was happening. That she’d let this happen. She was vaguely aware he was pressing tiny kisses around her breast, still stroking her sensitized core. He was skilled, all right. But it was more than that. More than just his unbelievable physique and charming smile. She’d met plenty of good-looking guys. But Joe seemed—the word sounded silly—but...he seemed sincere.
“Well, my job is done here.” Joe started to remove his hand and sit up.
Her eyes snapped open and she caught his wrist. “What?”
He grinned and chuckled. “Just wanted to see if you were still with me.”
With a growl, she shoved his chest until he lay on his back. She climbed over him, straddling his knees, unzipped his pants and encircled his cock. “Oh, I’m with you, all right.” She bent and took him in her mouth.
Behaving like this was so unlike her. She didn’t usually do playful in bed. This wild, intense response to Joe was mad. She’d probably regret it.
But not tonight.
He moaned and whispered her name. Thus encouraged, she put all her effort into driving him crazy. She took him deep and then teased him with her tongue, then deep again. He cursed and lifted his hips, tangling his fingers in her hair.
When she raised her gaze to watch him, his eyes were squeezed closed, his head thrown back and she could see a vein or two enlarged in his neck. She grinned. Turnabout was fair play. She swirled her tongue around the head once more before he urged her to stop.
“Okay, I give.” His chest rose and fell in heavy breaths, but his mouth was turned up in a lopsided smile. “Uncle. You win.”
With a seductive smile Carly pulled the cami over her head and tossed it to the floor. His gaze dropped to her breasts and he reached up to cup them in his large callused hands. His touch was so sensual, the look in his eyes admiring. She hadn’t felt desirable in so long.
She wanted him inside her.
She kneeled in order to drag her thong down and off, but she lost her balance, flailed awkwardly and fell onto him.
“Whoa!” He caught her and rolled her to her back, smiling. “You aren’t as graceful as you pretend.”
Carly clamped a hand over her eyes. This was ridiculous. What was wrong with her? She was twenty-eight, not eighteen. And even at eighteen she hadn’t fumbled sex as badly as she was tonight. First she’d insulted his fidelity, now this. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”
The aggravating man chuckled more. “If it helps, I like you better this way.” She felt him tug her thong down to her ankles and off. Then, as she lifted her fingers away from her eyes, his hand traced a path up her leg, sending shivers along her skin.
Wait. She rose to her elbows and gripped his wrist. “So, you’re saying you didn’t like me before?”
“I didn’t say that. But maybe I like you a little more this way.”
“What way?”
“Relaxed. With your guard down.”
She let out a relieved breath. Relieved? Since when had she ever worried about being liked? Oh, who cared? He was caressing her hip, her stomach, and he’d leaned over to close his lips around one nipple, then moved his hand slowly down.
Her breathing faltered as he delved between her thighs with the exact right amount of pressure and an exquisite sense of timing. Much more of this and she’d be a goner for a second time. But she wanted him inside her when she came again. “Joe.” Was that her voice all husky and trembling?
“Hmm?” he answered around nibbling her other nipple, his unshaven jaw tickling her breast.
She gripped his shoulders. “Stop teasing me.”
He narrowed his eyes, but he was smiling. “Really? You have to boss me around even now?”
Boss him around? Is that how he saw her? She wasn’t demanding. She was begging. She was coming apart in his arms.
With a sigh, he rolled above her, pushed his erection against her hip and took possession of her mouth. She made approving noises, wrapped her arms around his neck, and hooked a leg over his thigh. “I’m not bossy I just know what I like.”
He chuckled against her lips and then pulled back long enough to grab a condom from his pocket before getting rid of his pants completely. “And this is what you like?”
She quirked a brow. “Yes, please.”
The way he looked at her, it was as if he knew how lonely she was, how scared she was to admit she needed someone. His gaze seemed to penetrate the layer of bravado she’d built around herself. As if he could see the real Carly.
“All right.” In a fluid motion he rolled on protection and fitted himself to her entrance. Then, with a satisfied groan he was where she wanted him. Needed him.
She gasped at the feel of him inside her. His head dropped to her neck as he began moving, thrusting at an angle and in a rhythm that made her say wicked things. She wasn’t usually verbal in her lovemaking, but she found herself murmuring, “Yes. Oh, yes. Oh, Joe,” over and over again.
The more she encouraged him, the faster and harder he thrust, building to a frenzy of pleasure. “Please.” Winding her fingers into his silky black hair, she nipped at his ear, as everything spun out of control. She cried out, clutching his back at the same time he froze above her. His muscles contracted beneath her hands as he made a low growling sound deep in his throat and pumped his hips one last time.
Neither of them moved for several minutes. She was still reveling in the best sex of her life. He was breathing heavily above her, but careful to keep his weight on his elbows. She almost wanted to pull him down and tell him it was okay, to relax, to touch his skin to hers, but that seemed too intimate. Too...emotional. And yet, she felt a niggling sense of happiness. As if things weren’t as dire as she’d always believed they were. She smiled and rubbed his back and he moaned and moved to her side. Air blew over her sweat-moistened skin and cooled her.
He rolled to his back and ran a hand through his hair. “Wow.”
“Yeah.” There. That sounded okay, didn’t it? Not too enthusiastic. She wasn’t gushing any more than he was.
But she wanted to. She wanted to roll over and press kisses all over his sexy, strong chest. How silly was that? She needed to get herself back under control. She should get up and head to the bathroom and tell him to find his own room now. And not to expect that this was going to happen again. Because it wasn’t. It couldn’t.
She had a photo shoot to supervise. This was the most important career opportunity of her life.