Striking Distance

“Yes, Javi, please!”

He leaned in, cupping one breast with his hand, holding it for his mouth, his tongue flicking lightly over the aching, puckered bud while the other hand slid slowly, agonizingly down her side, over the curve of her hip, along the outside of her thigh and up the inside again, his fingers teasing and tickling her skin. “Is it okay if I touch you—”

Before he could finish asking the question, her hips answered for her, moving against his hand.

He gri

Her heart gave a hard knock.

He began to stroke her, teasingly at first, his mouth finding her nipples and suckling her again, the two sensations together almost more than she could handle, the ache inside her making it impossible to hold still. Her hands moved restlessly over his shoulders, her anticipation building.

When his mouth left her breasts it was almost a relief because she knew where he was headed. But he wasn’t in a hurry to get there. He trailed kisses over her rib cage and down to her belly, flicking her overly sensitive skin with his tongue, making her body jerk just as she’d done to him earlier.

Without breaking the rhythm he’d built with his hand, he ducked one shoulder down and then the other, catching her thighs, nudging them farther apart. “Mmm . . . Beautiful.”

But rather than putting his mouth on her, he began to kiss and nibble her i

She sank backward onto the bed and lifted her feet onto his shoulders, all hesitation fading in the face of his sensual onslaught.

“Oh, yeah,

bella

, open for me.” He parted her labia, lowered his mouth to her, and tasted her with a single long lick.

She gasped, her back arching, her fingers curling in his hair.

He licked her again and got the same response, his groan proof that he was enjoying the sight and taste of her. He flicked her clit with his tongue, drew it into his mouth, and sucked, tugging on her with his lips.

Laura had forgotten what it felt like to have a man’s mouth on her, had forgotten the staggering pleasure of it. She buried her fingers in his hair, let her knees fall open to give him more room, and was rewarded with a deep groan, the low sound sending vibrations through her swollen flesh.

She was trembling now, her breath coming in pants and gasps, his mouth working magic. Some part of her had longed for this, longed to give herself to him, to be strung out on him, to reel out of control at his touch. Oh, God, it was sweet!

But that delicious ache inside her—it wouldn’t go away. She felt a throbbing emptiness, her body yearning to be filled, needing to be filled.

She panted out the words.

“Inside me.”

With a moan, he slipped a finger and then two inside her, stretching her, filling her with slick, deep strokes, driving her toward the edge.

And then she was flying, orgasm shimmering through her in blazing, golden waves, the bliss of it tearing a cry from her throat as she was lifted skyward, then left to float breathless and weightless among the clouds.

After a time—she couldn’t say how long—Javier drew her into a sitting position, scooped her into his arms, and lowered her to her pillow, stretching out beside her. His gaze was warm, his lips wet, his skin drenched in her scent.

“A thousand ways?” Tremors of pleasure still shivered through her.

He smiled, ran a finger over her lower lip. “That was just one.”

CHAPTER

22

JAVIER DIPPED THE strawberry first into melted chocolate, then into brown sugar, and then into the dish of sour cream. He held the strawberry to Laura’s lips, watched her take it with her tongue.

Her eyes drifted shut as she chewed. “Mmm.”

She sat beside him wearing her bathrobe over hot-pink panties and a white cotton tank top that left little to his imagination, her hair still wet from their shower.

He leaned in and licked a spot of chocolate off her lower lip. “That good, huh?”

She opened her eyes, smiled. “Your turn.”

She selected a fat, red strawberry for him, dipped it in the three small dishes, then held it to his lips.

His gaze fixed on hers, he took her offering and chewed, the sweet-tart-chocolate taste combination surprising him as it exploded across his tongue. “Mmm. Amazing.”

She’d been right when she’d said it was a culinary orgasm.

They’d already polished off their eggs Benedict—which, Javier had discovered, was just a name for poached eggs served on an English muffin with Canadian bacon and some kind of lemony sauce—and were finishing their mimosas and the strawberries he’d grabbed on the way back from his run. He hadn’t had many breakfasts as nice as this, and he knew he would never forget it, not only because of the food and the company, but also because it had followed one of the most incredible nights of his life.

He would remember every moment of last night until the day he died. Last night, he had watched Laura come back to life in his arms. She had trusted him, and together they’d found a way to break through her fear. No, they hadn’t had conventional sex—no tab A in slot B—and yet it had been one of the most sensual nights of his life. If he’d doubted that he was in love with her, those doubts had been blown to bits.

Wouldn’t the guys get a kick out of this if they knew? The Cobra was hopelessly, helplessly in love—and happy about it.

You are in deep shit,

chacho

.

As for Laura, she’d slept through the night without a single nightmare—which was more than he could say for himself—and seemed more like her old self than she had since he’d arrived in Denver, more playful, more lighthearted, a smile on her beautiful face more often than not. Just seeing her happier made him happy.

They’d already made love once this morning, making creative use of touch and tongues and tile walls—not to mention Laura’s pulsing showerhead.

“That’s two,” he’d whispered when she’d sunk against him in a boneless, postorgasmic stupor.

There was nothing like sex to wake up a man—or a woman—in the morning. And, despite his nightmare, this was the most relaxed he’d felt in months.

He reached for another strawberry, dipped it, and held it out for her. “Where’d you learn this? Is this the way your grandma serves strawberries, because, man, if it is, I got to figure out how you stay so ski

She raised a hand to her mouth, fighting not to laugh while she chewed. “I learned this from my college roommate. She learned it from some other woman and used it to try to seduce some guy she was seeing.”

“She went to all this trouble for that? All she had to do was tell the man he’d be getting puss—” The a

The corners of Laura’s eyes crinkled, and she burst into laughter. “Just so you know, the p-word doesn’t offend me provided you use it for the correct body part and not to insult people. And, honestly, Javi, I think all women understand that about men. In this case, she was looking for more than sex.”

“Oh.” Okay, that made sense. “She was?”

Laura dipped a strawberry for him and held it. “I think Kim wanted to do the traditional thing—marriage, kids, the dog.”

“You got something against dogs?” He took the fruit from her and was again blown away by the taste.

“I’ve always been focused on my career.”