“Do you like this?”
Behind her, Delaney’s hands tightened into fists. “Yes.”
“How much?”
“A… a lot.”
“Do you want more?”
Delaney closed her eyes and her head fell to one side. “Yes,” she answered, and he drew her nipple into his mouth. His lips tugged and she felt the pull between her legs. It felt good. So good she didn’t want him to stop. Ever. His mouth moved to her other breast and he sucked that nipple also. His tongue licked and stabbed and drove her fidgety for more. “Nick,” she whispered and pulled her wrists free of his grasp. Her dress fell to the ground and pooled about her feet. She dug her fingers into his hair, holding him to her breast.
“More?”
“Yes.” She didn’t really know exactly what she wanted, but she definitely wanted more of the hot ache pooling in her abdomen. She wanted more of him.
One of his big warm hands slid between her legs and he gently cupped her crotch. The thin cotton of her underwear was the only barrier separating his palm from her sensitive flesh. “You’re wet.”
The hot ache intensified and she could hardly speak. “I’m sorry,” she managed.
“Don’t be. I’ve always wanted to make your panties wet.” He stood once again and gave her a quick kiss. Then he grasped her waist and set her on the hood of the Mustang he’d just vacated. He moved her feet to the chrome bumper and said, “Lie down, Delaney.”
“Why?” She put a hand on his chest then moved it to the front of his jeans. She pressed against the hard bulge beneath his zipper.
He sucked in his breath and pushed her shoulders until she lay with her back against the cool metal. “Because I’m going to make you feel real good.”
“I already feel good.” She held out her arms for him as he stepped between her thighs.
“Then I’m going to make you feel even better.” He planted both of his palms by the sides of her head and kissed her like he wanted to consume her. When he raised his mouth again he said, “I’m going to set you on fire.”
Delaney looked up into his beautiful face and she wanted him to make love to her. She wanted to know what other young women her age knew. She wanted Nick to teach her. “Yes,” she said to anything he wanted.
He smiled as his skillful hands eased her panties from her legs. She felt the cotton slide down her calves and then her underwear was gone. His palms drifted up the insides of her thighs, and one of his thumbs touched her where she was slick. The pleasure was indescribable. His fingers brushed her moist flesh until she wanted to scream.
“More?”
“Yes,” she murmured and her eyes slid shut. “More.” His touch felt so good it was almost painful, the building pressure in her groin intense. She wanted it to end, yet at the same time continue forever. She wanted him naked and on top of her, filling her arms with his warm body. She opened her eyes and gazed up at him, standing there between her knees, looking down at her through heavy lids. “Make love to me, Nick.”
“I’ll give you something better than love.” He knelt on one knee and softly kissed the inside of her thigh. “I’m going to make you come.” Delaney froze, extremely grateful she was surrounded by darkness. When she’d said yes, she hadn’t meant
But he did. He slid his hands beneath her behind, then raised her to his hot open mouth. Shock held her still. She couldn’t believe what he’d done. What he was doing. She wanted to tell him to stop, but she couldn’t get the words past the warm pleasure swirling through her body. She couldn’t control the shiver tingling up her spine and instead of pulling away, she arched her back. His tongue and mouth gently caressed between her legs in much the same way he’d kissed her breasts.
“Nick,” she moaned and touched her hands to the sides of his head. The pleasure grew and tightened and each touch of his tongue pushed her toward the peak of climax. He moved one of her heels to his shoulder and tilted her hips. He took her more fully into his mouth and drew on her sensitive flesh. The incredible sensations built and coiled in her body, then shoved her over the top.
The stars above her head blurred as she felt herself pulled under wave after hot wave of ecstasy. She called his name over and over as heat flushed her thighs and breasts. Involuntary contractions shook her, and when it was over she felt changed. She was shocked by what she’d done and who’d done it to her, but she wasn’t sorry. She’d never felt so close to anyone else in her life, and she wanted him to hold her.
“Nick?”
He gently kissed the inside of her thigh. “Mmm.”
At the touch of his lips, she suddenly became very aware of her embarrassing position. She felt her cheeks burn as she slid her foot from his shoulder and sat up.
He stood and cupped her face in his hands. “More?”
She was naive, not stupid, and she knew what he was asking. She wanted to give him the same awesome pleasure he’d just given her. “More.” She pulled his T-shirt from the waistband of his jeans and released the buttons of his fly. His hands wrapped around her wrists and stopped her.
“Be still a minute,” he said right before a beam of light struck him full in the face. “Shit!”
Delaney glanced over her shoulder and was blinded by two headlights gunning toward them. Pure adrenaline shot through her veins, and she pushed Nick and jumped off the hood at the same time. Her dress lay at his feet and she reached for it just as Henry’s silver Lincoln slid to a stop beside the Mustang. She pulled the summer dress over her head but her hands shook so bad she couldn’t button it. “Help me,” she cried to no one in particular.
Nick turned, and he reached for the buttons at the waist of her dress. He whispered something to her, but she couldn’t hear him over the pounding in her ears.
“Get away from her!” Henry bellowed the second he opened the car door.
She managed the top two buttons but was helpless to control the panic welling within her. She glanced at the ground and saw Nick’s big foot in the crotch of her panties. Distressed little sobs filled the top of her lungs.
“Get your filthy damn hands off her!”
Delaney looked up just as Henry reached them. He shoved Nick and pushed her behind him. Both men were of the same height, same build, same flashing gray eyes. The Lincoln’s headlights lit every excruciating detail. The stripe on Henry’s dress shirt, the silver in his hair.
“I never thought you’d sink this low,” Henry said as he pointed at Nick. “I’ve always known you hated me, but I never thought you’d sink this low just to get back at me.”
“Maybe this has nothing to do with you,” Nick said, his brows lowered on his forehead.
“My aching ass this has nothing to do with me. You’ve hated me all your life, and you’ve been jealous of Delaney since the day I married her mother.”
“You’re right. I have hated you all of my life. You’re a son of a bitch, and the biggest favor you ever did my mother was deny you ever slept with her.”
“And you finally got your revenge. The only reason you screwed Delaney was to get back at me.”
Nick folded his arms over his chest and rested his weight on one foot. “Maybe I screwed her because she makes me hard.”
“I should beat the hell out of you.”
“Give it your best shot, old man.”
“Oh, God,” Delaney groaned as she finished the buttons on her dress. “Henry, we didn’t-”
“Get in the car,” Henry interrupted her.
She looked at Nick, and gone was the gentle lover who’d made her feel beautiful. “Tell him!” A few moments ago she’d felt so close to him, now she didn’t know him at all. He appeared relaxed, but it was an illusion. Or maybe she did know this Nick. This surly man before her was the Nick she’d grown up with; the man who’d picked her up earlier had been the illusion. “Please, tell him nothing happened,” she pleaded with him to help her out of the worst of it. “Tell him we didn’t do anything!”
One knowing brow rose up his forehead. “What exactly do you want me to lie about, wild thing?” he asked. “He saw you sitting on my car like a hood ornament. If he’d been a few minutes earlier, he would have seen a hell of a
