Her fingers dug into his arms as she tilted back her head and screamed her release. Her body convulsed as he shoved his cock to the hilt one final time. She could feel him heaving over her, heard him shout as her own body tightened around him. She sucked air into her starving lungs, gasping for breath as she continued to spasm around him.
She managed to unlock her ankles and let her legs slide down his flanks as her arms fell back to the counter beside her. Lucas buried his head between her breasts and she could feel his lungs heaving against her as he struggled to catch his breath.
When he started to pull away, his face stuck to her for a moment before he managed to pull himself upright. The motion pushed him deeper inside her and her cunt pulsed again, making her moan as he carefully withdrew. She turned her head and watched him, her eyes mere slits as he removed the condom, dumped it in the garbage and grabbed a napkin to clean himself up. That done, he hitched up his pants again, yanking the zipper up but not bothering to button it.
It was only then that she realized just how sweaty and sticky she felt. “I need a shower.” She tried to sit up, but it was too much trouble. She’d try again in a minute.
Lucas smiled at her. It was the first time she’d ever seen him really smile. It changed his whole face, making him look younger and more carefree. She felt absurdly pleased that she was the cause of it.
“You’re a mess,” he laughed as he eased her into a seated position.
Grumbling, she halfheartedly pushed him away. “You’re no better.”
He swept her into his arms, carrying her across the living room and toward a hallway. “I know. That’s why we’re both getting a shower.”
Chapter Eleven
Almost two weeks later, Candy still blushed every time she remembered the night of their first “official” date. She still had a hard time looking at his kitchen counter without being swamped by the memories of what had happened there.
And the shower afterward! She waved her hand in front of her face to cool herself off. She’d never showered with a man before and the experience had been earthmoving, to say the least. Lucas had made sure to soap every inch of her body. “Just to make sure that all the chocolate and honey is gone,” he’d assured her with a wicked gleam in his eye. Well, she’d gotten back at him for that, returning the favor.
They’d ended up tumbling, soaking wet, into his bed where he’d made love to her again. Honestly, the man was insatiable, but where he was concerned, so was she. They’d spent much of their free time together since then, as well as some work time. True to his word, Lucas had agreed to do some of the promotional events she wanted him to.
She’d set the first one up to coincide with the grand opening of the new Coffee Breaks. Lucas had been surprisingly charming to the reporter, answering her questions patiently. Candy had been pleased that the book would get a big write-up for the “Arts” section of the Sunday edition of paper, but she’d also been uncomfortably jealous of the easy way he’d interacted with the reporter.
At least she had been until Lucas dragged her back into the kitchen with him. There he’d pinned her up against the wall, kissed her senseless and in a growl reminiscent of a cranky bear had told her that he was only putting up with this publicity nonsense because of her and that she darn well owed him for it. She’d been thrilled to her toes and had eagerly shown her thanks later that night.
It had become a game between them from that moment onward and for every promotional event he did for the book, he teasingly told her that he expected something from her in return. Candy twirled in her chair and laughed as she remembered what had happened after he’d given an in-depth interview to a local interest magazine. They’d barely made it through his front door before he’d taken her up against the wall. It had been hard and fast and incredibly erotic.
She licked her lips in anticipation over what might happen after his appearance on a local cable talk show tomorrow afternoon. Her pussy contracted and her nipples tightened, making her groan. The man was turning her into a sex fiend. She shook her head and turned her chair back to face her desk. But it was more than that. Much more.
They’d spent a lot of time together over the past few weeks and the more time she spent with Lucas, the more she liked him. Liked him! Who was she kidding— she was in love with the man. Groaning, she lowered her head to her desk. She hadn’t meant for it to happen. Hadn’t even known that it could happen so fast. But it had and she had to deal with it.
Raising her head, she rubbed her temples and sighed. The man was playing havoc with her emotional well-being. Like someone on a roller coaster, her emotions kept swinging back and forth from happy to sad to frustrated. But she was an adult and had gone into this affair with her eyes wide open. She couldn’t cry foul and change the rules now just because she had to go and get all emotional.
But it was Lucas’ fault. Beneath that gruff, hard exterior lurked a man with a large heart. She saw it in the way he interacted with his employees, whom he treated more like an extended family than people he paid to work for him. She saw it in the obvious affection and caring he had for Katie and her husband.
The first time she’d seen Katie again after the storage closet incident had been initially somewhat awkward. They’d run into each other at the official opening of Coffee Breaks and it had taken all Candy’s determination not to slink away from the other woman. But Katie had smiled and simply asked, “Should I call you Candace or Candy?”
That had made her laugh. “Since nobody I know will call me Candace, I’ve given up on the idea. So, call me Candy.”
Katie had made no mention of finding them alone in the storage closet or about what they’d obviously been doing in there. But she had issued a subtle warning, telling Candy how special Lucas was and how those who knew him wouldn’t like to see him get hurt.
She pressed her hand over her stomach, trying to settle her jumbled nerves. As if she would hurt him. She was more likely to be the one to bear the scars from this relationship, as she was in far over her head. It had happened so quickly, she hadn’t had time to stop it.
But she wasn’t sure she would have stopped it even if she could have. Spending time with Lucas was soothing her ravaged ego. She hadn’t been truly aware of just how badly it had been damaged by her breakup with Gary. Lucas made her feel sexy and womanly and very beautiful.
But it was much more than that. He filled empty spaces within her that she hadn’t even realized were there. To their mutual delight, they’d discovered that they had a lot more in common then either one of them had anticipated.
They were both homebodies and loved to curl up in the evenings and watch movies. Lucas had taken to cooking them dinner almost every evening and she loved to work alongside him in the kitchen, helping him prepare their meal. They shared long discussions about everything from politics to books to views on life in general. She not only found him fascinating, but also loved the intent way that he always listened to what she had to say and treated her opinions with respect, even if he didn’t always agree with her.
It was a new experience for her. In previous relationships, she’d been guilty of hiding her true thoughts, not wanting to rock the boat or make trouble, but with Lucas she didn’t feel that restraint. Because she knew this wasn’t a forever kind of relationship going into it, she hadn’t held back at all. In fact, with Lucas, she was more herself than she’d ever been with any other man in her entire life. It was liberating and really brought home to her just what had been wrong in earlier relationships.