Page 36 of The Hacker
He yanked on his T-shirt and ran his fingers through his hair, which only made the bed-mussed waves stick out at different angles.
“You can use my brush,” Dawn said. “It’s on the dresser.”
“That bad?” He ducked down to check his reflection in the mirror and grabbed the brush. “Thanks for the loan.”
He collected his sneakers and socks before sitting down on the bed next to her. She scooted over to lay her cheek against his back, feeling the flex and stretch of his muscles as he tied the laces. He smelled like clean laundry, a touch of garlic from the restaurant, and sex. She turned her face to inhale more deeply.
“Are you sniffing me?” he asked, a laugh of delight in his voice.
“You smell fantastic.” Her stomach grumbled and she remembered that they had skipped dinner. “Good enough to eat.”
He reached around and pulled her onto his lap, the covers falling away so she felt denim against her bare bottom. His gaze burned hot. “I want to taste you again.” He skimmed his hand over her thigh slowly enough to give her time to stop him.
But his words sent desire pulsing through her. She opened her legs to allow his hand between them, her head falling back as he eased first one, then two fingers inside her and rocked the heel of his hand against her clit. “Leland,” she breathed on a long exhale as tremors of pleasure vibrated through her. “That feels so good.”
“Yes, yes, it does. So hot, so wet, so smooth.” He nipped at the spot where her neck and shoulder met. “So frustrating that I have to go to work. But first ...” He withdrew his hand and sucked on his long fingers with a lascivious smirk. “So delicious.”
“Hey, no fair starting something you’re not going to finish.” She grabbed his wrist and tugged it back toward her thighs.
“Oh, I’m going to finish it,” he said with a low, lewd chuckle even as he resisted her grasp. “I’m just going to let you wonder exactly how for about ten hours.”
Joy exploded in her brain. He was coming back!
“You’re a tease.” She took a small revenge by wiggling seductively against the partial erection she could feel pushing against his jeans.
“Who’s teasing whom?” He kissed her lightly on the lips and set her back on the quilt.
“Such good grammar from that fancy private school.”
He stood up. “You don’t know how hard this is.”
“Actually, I do. I was sitting on it.”
He groaned and briefly cupped her cheek as she swung her legs off the bed. “Don’t get up. I can find my way to the door. And if you walk there naked, the temptation may be too much for me.”
Shewantedto lure him back into her bed—just to curl up against his strength and warmth—but she knew how selfish that was. He needed to go back to solving his corporate clients’ issues for heaps of money. Although she had an idea that the money wasn’t what drove him—it was the sense of responsibility. He’d made a promise to help them, so he wouldn’t stop until he had solved their problem. That certainly applied to the gym’s weird issues.
She crooked her finger so he would bend down before she gave him a long kiss that had him seizing her shoulders to bring her in closer. Then he released her and stepped back, her effect on him visible under the denim.
“Work. I have to work.” His voice was a rasp. “I’ve got to go.” He spun on his heel and strode out of the room as though the hounds of hell were chasing him.
She fell back on the bed, a delicious lassitude seeping through her arms and legs so that she couldn’t force herself to get up to lock the dead bolt and set the alarm. Yet.
Her body hummed with the satisfaction of two fantastic orgasms, but that wasn’t what made her hug a pillow to her chest and grin like an idiot. No, the joy bubbling through her was because she’d fallen asleep with Leland’s arm locked around her waist, yet she’d only wanted to snuggle closer to him.
She’d been wrong all these years. She hadn’t needed a weak, controllable man to feel safe. She’d needed a powerful man who could help defeat her fear. She just wasn’t sure how that had happened.
Leland rummaged in the limo’s insulated storage compartment to find a container of lasagna. He pulled a fork from a felt-lined drawer of utensils and dug into the still-lukewarm pasta. The first meaty, garlicky bite made him groan with appreciation before he shoved another one into his mouth.
Forget hunger ... great sex was the best sauce.
He focused on the food, trying not to think about Dawn in hopes that the erection smashed inside his jeans would subside.
However, images of her head thrown back as she came with his name tearing from her lips or the way she’d cupped her breasts and offered them to him or her peaked nipple parting the long, silky fall of her hair kept his cock hard, no matter how he fought to banish them.
“Oh, hell!” he muttered, adjusting the denim in an effort to ease the pressure.
He polished off the lasagna and grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler, sipping it as he sagged back against the seat to analyze the real problem.
