same time, like velvet over steel. She squeezed gently, and then stroked him once, twice . . . halfway through her third stroke, he caught her hand in his, forcing it away.
CJ was just thinking that this was her dream, and she should be able to do what she wanted, when Mac broke their kiss and suddenly dropped out of her hold. Blinking her eyes open, she glanced down with confusion to see that he’d dropped to his knees between her legs and was now—
Gasping, she reached back to brace her hands on the countertop as he caught her under the knees, drew her butt to the edge of the counter, and then buried his face between her legs. She’d barely recognized that her bathing suit was suddenly gone when his tongue rasped over her trembling flesh, pushing all thought from her mind and making her buck and cry out. Her legs instinctively tried to slam closed. His shoulders prevented that, but it was an instinct that she had repeatedly, though it was quickly followed by her feet pressing hard into the cupboard front as she lifted her hips into what he was doing as he used his lips and tongue to drive her crazy.
The man was teasing her, lashing the bud that was the core of her excitement lightly with his tongue and then shifting his attention to suckling on the protective lips around it before lashing her again. Just when CJ was ready to pull his hair and push his face more firmly against her, he suddenly shifted gears and began to suck hard on the bud even as he slid one finger into her.
CJ cried out then, a harsh guttural sound that seemed to be ripped from her very depths as her hips tried to buck on the countertop but were held in place by Mac. Gasping for breath now, every inch of her trembling with mounting excitement, CJ arched on the countertop, her body so stiff and tense she began to fear her back would snap under the pressure, and then the tension snapped instead and she convulsed, a long ululating cry sounding her release. Lost in the wash of pleasure, she didn’t even notice when Mac straightened before her and spread her legs even farther as he stepped up to her. She did notice, though, when he thrust into her.
A long gasping groan slid from CJ’s lips as he filled her, and she grabbed desperately for his shoulders, then pressed her forehead to his chest as she tried to catch her breath.
For one moment they remained like that, just holding each other with him deep inside her, but then Mac leaned his upper body back and bent to claim her mouth when she instinctively raised her head. This time it was a slow, languorous kiss, a luscious exploration that was almost soothing until he began to move his hips, slowly withdrawing himself from her and then just as slowly easing back in. His angle with each exquisite move resurrected the passion she’d just spent, stirring it languidly back to life with each stroke.
It was CJ who changed the tempo in the end. First, she deepened the kiss, tilting her head and thrusting her tongue out to tangle with his aggressively, and then she dug her heels into his behind, spurring him on. She got the exact response she’d hoped for; Mac began to surge into her more quickly, thrusting as deeply as he could over and over with mounting need and speed. Feeling her behind slip backward on the countertop, CJ gave up her hold on Mac to throw her hand back in search of the wall to brace herself, but pain startled a soft cry from her throat and had her opening her eyes . . . to darkness.
Fourteen
CJ was not seated on the kitchen counter of her cottage on a sunny summer afternoon. Instead, she was horizontal on a soft surface in darkness. Her bed at Millie’s bed-and-breakfast, she realized as her hands moved over the sheets tangled around her body. Good heavens! She must have been thrashing around like a fish out of water. The sheets had become a tight, cinching belt around her waist, her T-shirt was up under her armpits, leaving her chest bare, and where the hell had her panties gone?
Sitting up in bed, CJ felt around for the lamp, and nearly knocked it over. She had to grab the lampshade to keep it in place, but then felt