Rock my world - By Cindi Myers Page 0,54
the job. He pulled down the top of the swimsuit and trailed his tongue over the valley between her breasts and she closed her eyes against the sheer pleasure of the contact.
She opened her eyes again, determined not to get carried away too soon. She laced her fingers through his hair, surprised at how soft it was when it looked so coarse. “Did you have to wear your hair cut short in prison?”
He sighed. Was he annoyed at her questions? Or resigned to answering them? “Not really. We had to wear these orange pajama pants and pullover tops. And rubber sandals.” He pulled back and propped himself on one elbow, his gaze searching. “Why are you so interested? Is this some kind of a turn-on for you, knowing I was locked up?”
She smiled. “Think of it as a kind of foreplay.” She sat up and squeezed his arm. “I want to know what it was like. I want you to know it’s okay to talk about anything with me. To let out the feelings you’ve kept locked up inside.”
He looked away. “Feelings are dangerous. Emotions take over, you stop thinking and do stupid stuff.”
The anger in his voice startled her. When had he ever done anything stupid? “Like with Bonnie?”
“Not Bonnie.” He looked at her again, his gaze probing, as if he wanted to make sure she understood what he was saying. “There wasn’t any real feeling there. I think that’s why I slept with her in the first place. She was safe. She didn’t care enough about me to dig deep.”
And I do. Did he understand how much she cared? “Then what are you talking about? When have you done something stupid because you let emotion take over?”
He sat up, and rested his elbows on his knees. He was naked and she was still half-dressed, their passion subdued in exchange for a different kind of intimacy. “In California, I had a best friend. Another jock at the station where I worked. We were roommates for a while, we hung around together, even dated some of the same women. He…he was kind of like a brother to me.”
She touched his arm, wanting to reassure him. “Was he into drugs, too?”
“Oh, yeah. He’s the one who turned me on to them. Introduced me to his dealer. I thought it was because we were such good friends.”
“What happened?”
“They picked him up for something, he had a kilo of coke with him. He’d been popped before, so he was looking at hard time. His lawyer cut a deal. If he’d reveal his sources, they’d go easy on him.”
“So he turned in the dealer?”
He shook his head. “No. He knew if he did that, he’d end up dead. So he told them I was his source.”
The hurt in his eyes as he remembered this betrayal pained her. “Did you ever get a chance to ask him why?”
“He said he was doing me a favor. He was teaching me a valuable lesson in life—trust no one.”
“He was wrong.” She knelt in front of him, her voice insistent. “You have to trust someone some time. Otherwise, you’re always…alone.”
“Yeah, well, it hasn’t been that bad. Until you came along. You made me start thinking differently. That night in the Furniture Gallery. When we talked…” He shook his head. “I couldn’t believe the stuff I said to you. Stupid stuff, like about my father…”
“It wasn’t stupid. It was real. It made me feel…connected to you. You felt it, too, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Scared the shit out of me.”
“Are you scared now?”
His eyes met hers, doubt in his expression. “Honest? I am…a little.”
She nodded. “I am, too. I think that means these feelings are real. Don’t run away from them.”
He lay back, and pulled her down alongside him. “I’m not running anywhere. I’m staying right here with you.”
Together, they got rid of her shirt, then her skirt and the swimsuit. He raised up on one elbow and looked at her, his hand tracing the curve of her hip. “You’re beautiful.”
It was something men said at a time such as this, but something a woman never got tired of hearing. “The way you look at me—you make me feel beautiful.”
He scooted down and kissed her left breast, making circles with his tongue, drawing closer and closer to, but never touching, her erect nipple. She arched against him, craving his mouth on that sensitive peak. She felt him smile against her breast, then he scraped his teeth across her, making her gasp.
His