Lisa watched him through eyelids grown heavy with desire. She had never experienced such a strong urge to pounce on a man, but Javier tested her considerable restraint. Not because he was incredibly good-looking or a stud on the field, but because he was the man who’d called her out of the shadows to embrace her life again.
Although, certainly, the studliness did not go unnoticed. Her hands itched to undress him the rest of the way and see the full impact of his beautiful athlete’s body the way God made him.
“You call what you did to me that day a massage?” he asked, pressing her shoulder forward, urging her where he wanted her.
“I’d call it a professional and dispassionate physical stimulation of your muscles.” Her heated skin met cool sheets instead of his muscular body and she wondered how she’d sit still through whatever he had in mind. “My job, in other words.”
“I’d call it sensual torment.” His palm smoothed down her spine to rest at the small of her back, inciting nerve endings far and wide.
She adjusted her cheek deeper into the pillow, taking a deep breath to brace for the sensual onslaught he seemed to have in mind. Pleasure warmed her skin in a full-body flush. Her breasts beaded against the sheets.
“I am a licensed professional,” she argued, willing his hand to move. She wanted his touch everywhere at once.
“Hmm.” He seemed to consider her words as he seated himself on the mattress beside her, his hip nudging hers to make himself comfortable. “No wonder your hands felt so damn good.”
He skimmed along the band of her panties and traced circles up her back, his touch hypnotically seductive. She debated crawling up into his lap and ending the game by straddling his thighs, but he was so very good at drawing her in. Making her curious.
She wanted to see where it would lead. There was something endlessly compelling about a man who knew exactly what he wanted in bed. Exactly how to please a woman.
“I’m pretty sure I pressed much harder when I massaged you,” she offered, stifling the urge to writhe against the mattress.
“You want it harder.” His hands slid down her sides, his fingers straying under her arms to cup her breasts. As she requested, he flexed his fingers, increasing the pressure.
“Yessss.” She arched back to give him better access, wanting to be closer.
“I see I can’t torment you the way you tormented me.” He leaned over her, his chest brushing her back. His hands dipped deeper into the lace cups of her bra, baring more. “I want you too much.”
He plucked at the taut peaks and she felt the sensuous draw of it all the way to her womb.
“No more massages,” she warned, turning on one shoulder to face him. “I can’t handle it.”
His eyes narrowed in the dim hotel room.
“But I was saving the best massage for last.” His hands fell away from her breasts to smooth down her hips and land on the front of her thighs. “I wanted to show you how much I enjoyed those muscle manipulations you performed on the inside thigh.”
He squeezed there, the side of one hand rubbing lightly between her legs as he worked the muscle in question. Sensation swamped her, making her quiver from the pleasure.
“You’ve made your point.” She levered herself up to a sitting position and shoved his jacket off his shoulders, taking his unbuttoned shirt along with it. “Now you’d better quit talking smack and start delivering.”
She didn’t care that she sounded impatient and demanding. She’d been waiting to be alone with him for days.
Fortunately, he seemed ready for more. He angled his shoulders to help her slip off his shirt, his hands only leaving her body for a moment. Then, finally, his mouth met hers in a kiss that sizzled her insides. His tongue played along her lips, but he didn’t toy with her for long. His mouth demanded more and she gave it gladly.
Frantically, she worked the clasp of his belt and the buttons of his trousers, her task made more difficult by his straining erection. Or maybe it was so difficult because he slipped off her panties and eased a finger inside her, distracting her hopelessly until he took over the task of undressing himself.
As she lay there, breathless, overwrought and ready for him, she noticed he wasn’t wearing that cool, teasing smile anymore. He wanted this as urgently as she did.
Soon, they were both naked and ready, his body a gorgeous sight to behold as he rolled on a condom. The deep tan of his skin seemed to define all his lean muscles, and she couldn’t wait to benefit from his strength.
An admiring hum of approval left her lips while she waited for him to come inside her.
Then, he was over top of her, all around her. His hands hit the bed on either side of the pillow, his knees pushing her thighs apart before he positioned himself right where she wanted him most. She stilled herself for all of two seconds before she wrapped her arms around him, sealing her body to his, breast to chest. He had to alter his hold on her to angle her hips where he wanted them.
And oh. My.
The heat of him stretching her was like no sensation she’d ever known. Javier drew out the sweet shock of his entry, teasing her until she nipped his shoulders and twisted beneath him, then giving her all she could take and more.
Heat roared in her veins and in her womb. The beat of her heart reverberated hard, a grounding force as her nerves wound tight, poised to catapult her into pure pleasure. She grasped his shoulders to steady her, savoring every delicious inch of him as he claimed her. Seduced her body and soul.
Sensation built to impossible heights then spilled over in a climax that shook her very core. She clutched him to her, needing the anchor of his body as wave after wave of bliss undulated through her. For a fleeting moment, she realized he had her right where he’d wanted her all along—breathless and clinging beneath him. But then, he was right there with her, losing control in a climax that followed hers by mere moments.
She kissed his cheek and his neck mindlessly, her face beaded with sweat. His or hers, she didn’t know. She only knew she never wanted the night to end.
Because tonight, they were everything to each other. Friends and lovers. Adrenaline junkies who shared a passion for adventure and each other. But tomorrow she’d still be an athletic trainer who worked at a local college back in Chicago and he’d still be an international sports hero committed to his fans 162 games a year during the regular season.
And Lisa was all too aware this was one thrill that might end when the sun rose.
4
FOR A MAN WHO TOOK A LOT of chances with his career and his physical health, Javier recognized he hadn’t ever risked much in his relationships.
But now, as he lay beside Lisa in the still hours before dawn, he sensed an unfamiliar certainty in his feelings for the new woman in his life. Their time together hadn’t been some casual hookup. Things had gotten intense fast and there could be no going back to simple friendship afterward. He wanted more than that from her.
Perhaps because he wanted to know everything about her, he realized he hadn’t shared all that much of himself. He at least owed her some explanation for the other day when he’d run for the hills after kite boarding. He stroked her hair, feeling the soft warmth of her breath against his neck while she shifted beside him.
“So I guess you knew I was freaked out that day at the beach,” he began, figuring this counted as a small risk in itself. He hadn’t shared the story with anyone else.
“I didn’t know if you were more upset because of the scare I gave you or because I suggested—” she hesitated “—that maybe you’d freaked out a few people in your day, too.”