Just Trust Me…

8

BRETT AWAKENED and opened one eye to look at the clock on the bedside table, not surprised to note it was 6:00 a.m. The same time he awoke every morning. Didn’t matter what time he went to sleep, his internal body clock came awake at 6:00 a.m.

But unlike other mornings, today there was a gorgeous, naked woman in his bed, the back of whose lush, feminine form was spooned against his front. His morning erection nestled snugly against the curve of her spine, and her soft breast filled his palm, and her scent…warm skin misted with a hint of spent passion, filled his head.

Definitely a huge improvement over waking up alone. One he suspected he could get used to.

Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply, then suppressed a groan. She just smelled so damn good. And felt so damn good. And looked and tasted so damn good. Hell, she even sounded good…the teasing note that entered her voice when her eyes glittered with mischief, her smoky laugh, the way she moaned when he was deep inside her, that sexy groan she made just before she came. All so damn good.

He brushed his thumb slowly over her velvety nipple and felt it pebble beneath his touch. Last night had been…incredible. Like nothing he’d ever before experienced. Sure, he’d had great sex before, had spent the night wrapped around a woman, but something about this woman made it all feel so much more intense. Passionate. In a way that simultaneously captivated and scared the crap out of him. If someone had asked him yesterday morning if he believed in love at first sight, he’d have laughed his ass off. The entire notion went completely against his pragmatic, scientific nature.

But now he wasn’t so sure. Because something sure as hell had happened to him the instant he saw her.

That was lust, you ass, his inner voice informed him. Possibly. He couldn’t deny that he’d taken one look at that transparent skirt of hers and all the blood that usually resided above his neck and operated his brain had gushed below his belt and settled in his groin.

But he’d felt lust before. Strong lust. This…this was more. His common sense, upon which he normally relied heavily, kept reminding him that now was a bad time to get involved in a relationship-he had important decisions to make regarding his career and future and he didn’t need the waters muddied any more than they already were. And even if he were to get involved, he certainly shouldn’t contemplate doing so with an Upper-East-Side princess.

But all that common sense didn’t stand a chance against the way this woman had made him feel from the first moment he’d seen her. The instant he’d caught her scent. His reaction to her was, without a doubt, further validation of his formula. Proof that a person’s unique scent, determined largely by their DNA and immune system, was a powerful aphrodisiac. Not that he’d required further proof, but the fact that he’d now personally experienced it was just the icing on the cake. How much more powerful would his attraction to her be if she used the cream he’d devised?

Would she be interested in his scientific explanations of the cream’s properties? Or would her eyes glaze over with boredom as Lynda’s used to when he discussed his personal research work? Did he even want to discuss his findings with Kayla-a woman he barely knew? He’d hinted that he would, but how much should he really tell her? He didn’t know, but surely it couldn’t hurt to reveal what he’d published in the scientific journals. That information was, after all, available to anyone who cared to read it.

He didn’t doubt for a minute that his formula would work, but hell, he had to question how much more sexually attracted he could possibly be to her. A slow grin tugged at his lips. He didn’t know, but he sure as hell wanted to find out. Another night like last night wasn’t something any guy with a pulse would turn down.

Of course, tonight wouldn’t be nearly as comfortable as last night. They’d had a bed-not that they’d exclusively used it during their sex marathon. Tonight they’d be on the trail, sleeping in individual tents. He knew two things damn well-one of their tents would go empty, and sleep would have very little to do with it.

Speaking of their hike…it was about time they got up. He had to pack his gear and check out of the hotel, and Kayla needed to go back to her hotel to do the same. Then maybe some breakfast together followed by the bus ride to the tour’s starting point.

His gaze wandered over her glossy auburn hair and the ivory-smooth slope of her bare shoulder. So far he’d liked everything about Kayla, but it wasn’t too difficult to like a woman who was witty, intelligent and charming in a restaurant, plus uninhibited in bed. Nor was it necessarily a challenge to exhibit those qualities while dining or having sex in the comfort of a hotel room. It would be interesting to see how an uptown girl did on the trail.

She’d admitted while they’d eaten their sandwiches that she wasn’t much of an outdoorsy gal. That she’d never been camping or hiked anything more strenuous than Manhattan’s streets. She attended yoga, Pilates and spinning classes, and clearly was physically fit. Still, he was curious to see how she’d react to less-than-stellar accommodations. If she proved a good sport and rolled with the punches, he wondered if he’d leave Peru with his heart still belonging to him. Of course if she turned out to be a whiny complainer…well, best that he found that out sooner rather than later. Before his heart became more involved than it already was.

But his gut told him she’d rise to the occasion. That he’d somehow discovered a buried treasure when he hadn’t even been digging. His life was already getting back into balance, and the trek to Machu Picchu hadn’t even begun. Certainly he was making up for lost time in the sex department. Speaking of which…

He ran his hand down her smooth torso, his fingers brushing over the curls at the apex of her thighs. Kayla made a soft moaning sound and shifted against him, her silky skin touching him from chest to knee. She then turned onto her back, her thighs falling open, an invitation he wasn’t about to ignore.

His fingers glided lower, to lightly caress her soft folds. A long purr rumbled in her throat and she spread her legs wider, lifting her hips into his touch.

Looking down at her, he watched color slowly flush her cheeks, her breaths becoming longer and deeper as her sex grew wet. He slipped a finger inside her and slowly caressed her slick inner walls. She opened her sleep-heavy eyes and their gazes met.

“Good morning,” he said, leaning down to brush his mouth over the soft plumpness of hers.

“It’s definitely off to a good start,” she murmured. Her hand moved down and stroked over his erection. “Hmmm. You seem happy to see me.”

He groaned as her fingers wrapped around him and gently squeezed. “Very happy.”

She turned her head and glanced at the clock, then looked back at him, her green eyes glowing with sensual heat. “You’re an early, um-” she squeezed him again “-riser.”

“We need to shower, dress, get our gear together-which will require a trip to your hotel-and I thought you might like some breakfast before we catch the eight o’clock bus to the tour’s departure site.”

She stretched sinuously and undulated against his hand, all while her fingers drove him crazy circling the head of his penis.

“Gathering gear and breakfast…is that the best you have to offer a girl in the morning? Especially when she’s facing four days of severe roughing it?”

He lowered his head to lazily swirl his tongue around her taut nipple before drawing the bud into his mouth. “I might be able to do better.”

She arched beneath him and gasped. “Oh, that’s definitely better. What else ya got?”

“What else ya want?”

“You. Inside me. Right now.”

“Are you always this demanding?” he asked, reaching for a condom on the beside table.

“Sometimes. When I really want something. But being naked with you definitely brings out the demanding in me. Is that a problem?”

“I’ll try to make the best of it.”

“Good.” She snagged the condom from his fingers then in a lithe rolling motion-no doubt courtesy of her yoga classes-she straddled his thighs. He reclined beneath her, his avid gaze drinking in the gorgeous sight of her astride him, her hair in wild disarray, nipples erect and damp from his tongue, dark-red curls between her spread legs glistening with the wetness of her arousal.

“You realize I’m now going to want to be awakened in a similar fashion every morning we’re on the trail,” she said as she slowly rolled the condom down his length.

“So you’re telling me you’re not only demanding, you’re spoiled, as well.”

“Figured it was best to throw all my bad habits right on the table.” She raised up on her knees, then slowly sank down the length of his erection. He sucked in a hard breath as her tight, wet heat engulfed him, sizzling lust along his nerves. When he was buried to the hilt, she looked down at him through half-closed eyes. “And if I’m spoiled, it’s all your fault.” She rocked her hips, her satiny inner walls clamping around him, dragging a groan from his throat as he thrust upward. “You’ve set an extraordinarily high benchmark. Be warned-you have your work cut out for you.”

He was quickly losing his ability to make lighthearted conversation. “Yeah, making love with you is arduous work. I should be getting hazard pay.” Reaching up, Brett filled his hands with her breasts, forcing himself to concentrate on holding off his climax until she came, a Herculean task given her control-sapping movements: rising onto her knees only to slowly sink down, a mind-blowing slide into sensual meltdown, then leaning back to clasp her ankles, gyrating as he thrust upward into her hot wetness, harder, faster, her grip milking him until the fight not to come was a battle he was about to lose. The instant he felt the first ripples of her orgasm squeeze him, his control snapped and with a ragged groan, he gripped her hips and pressed her down as he surged upward, thrusting deeper as his climax bore down on him like a speeding train.

His breathing and heart rate hadn’t yet returned to the normal range when he felt her lips brush across his jaw. She lay sprawled on top of him, her face buried against his neck. His hands still gripped her hips and he remained buried inside her.

“Wow,” she murmured against his ear.

“Wow,” he agreed, unable to produce more than one syllable. Yet really, why try when that one described their latest bout of lovemaking so perfectly? Although, he couldn’t quite ignore the unsettling realization that he’d completely lost control of himself and his body in a way he couldn’t recall ever experiencing before.

“You were wrong, you know,” she said.

“Okay,” he again agreed, proud that he’d managed two syllables and too sated and lax to argue.

Her warm chuckle blew across his jaw. “You’re very agreeable after sex.”

“Yup.”

“Good to know. Such knowledge might induce a woman to keep you in bed all the time.”

“Okay.”

Another huff of warm laughter. “Don’t you want to know what you were wrong about?”

“Sure.”

“You said ‘good morning.’ That’s wrong. It’s oh-my-God, you-just-drove-me-out-of-my-mind-and-made-me-see-stars, freakin’-fantastic morning.”

“I stand corrected.”

He felt her lift her head and he forced his eyes open. Her beautiful green eyes glittered like jewels. “I feel-” she inhaled a deep breath then smiled “-incredible. Ready to take on the world.”

“Good for you. I feel like I’ve been rode hard and wrung out.”

“Honey, you were.” She cocked a brow. “Is that a complaint?”

He huffed out a laugh at the way she kept asking him that question. “Hell, no. Except that you’re now full of vim and vigor and I’m ready for a nice long nap.”

She shook her head. “Typical man. Well, forget it. We have gear to pack. A bus to catch. Miles of rough terrain to hike.”

“You’re killing me.”

She laughed, then pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “C’mon, lazybones. You’ll feel better after a nice, hot shower.”

His hands swept over her lush bare bottom. “I think perhaps my strength might be returning. But if we take a shower together, we might never leave this room.”

“We have to leave this room-and soon. We only have one condom left.”

She squealed with surprise as he reared up to a sitting position. “Talk about incentive. Hang on, sweetheart.” After she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, he snatched up the last condom, grasped her beneath her bottom, then headed toward the bathroom.

“Hmmm, it would appear the word condom has the same effect on you as spinach had on Popeye,” she murmured, nibbling on his earlobe between words.

“So it would seem, although scientific logic would dictate that it isn’t the word itself but the person saying it that caused this sudden boost in energy.”

“Again, good to know.”

“I don’t suppose you know how to say condom in Spanish?” he asked, reaching behind the shower curtain to turn on the water.

“I don’t suppose I do. But I bet if we went to a store and kissed passionately in front of the clerk, he’d get the idea.”

“Problem is, once I start kissing you, I can’t seem to stop. Instead of ending up with condoms, we’d probably end up with arrest records.”

“True. Luckily I have an English-to-Spanish dictionary back at my hotel.”

“So you’re not only gorgeous and sexy and hot enough to set water on fire-you’re also very handy to have around.”

She traced his bottom lip with her tongue and his body leapt to life. And he realized there was no point in even trying to deny that this woman posed a serious risk to his heart.

“Right back at ya,” she said, her lips curving into a sexy smile. “And as soon as we get in that shower, I’ll show you just how handy I really am.”

He immediately stepped beneath the warm spray of water, knowing that his heart was quickly slipping from his grasp and not giving a damn. “Sweetheart, consider me more than willing to be shown.”