Winters' Thaw Read online

  Kevin couldn’t help laughing, only to be instantly captivated by her return smile. What the hell were they doing talking about this crap when they could be indulging in their own make-out session?

  “Seriously? Eight years old?” He leaned forward to kiss her before swiping his tongue across her closed lips. “His loss. He should have waited a few years when wet could be hot.”

  Her murmur of agreement, which parted her lips, was all the encouragement he needed. Within seconds he was the one with his tongue in her mouth and she wasn’t complaining.

  But she did hesitate when he tried to unclasp her bra.

  She tried to hide it right away but he sat back, not willing to let her get away with it this time. Forcing herself to do something she didn’t want to do was a distinct no in his book.

  “Elle?” He used his finger to trace the lacy edging at her cleavage until she opened her eyes to look at him. “Question two. Why are you so afraid to lose the bra?”

  Okay, she could do this.

  “I’m not afraid, exactly,” Elizabeth said. “I just know I’m…different from what you’re used to.”

  Kevin’s eyes dropped to her chest and he stared as though he had X-ray vision. “Do you have an extra nipple or something?”

  If anything, he looked more intrigued. “That’s not as uncommon as you think but no.”

  “Do you have nipples? I mean, the bumps I see could be stick-on.”

  Great. Now he was just messing with her, which oddly gave her more courage to set him straight. “Eyes up here, bud. There are two of everything and only two of everything. I’m talking about gravity. I’m not only older than you’re used to, I’ve nursed two kids.”

  “If you’d had three, that extra nipple would have been useful.”

  “Kevin!”

  “What do you want me to say?” He caught his finger in the front clasp of her bra and gave a little tug. “I like real breasts. Doesn’t matter what size, what shape, pierced or not pierced. I’ve dated women with implants and I don’t find it attractive.”

  She wasn’t buying it for a minute. “Isn’t that every man’s fantasy? Legs to the armpits and breasts to the eyebrows?”

  “Are we still on the blunt honesty kick?” he asked.

  “Of course.”

  “I slept with one of them and it was like trying to balance on two handballs. I don’t think it was all that comfortable for her either. The sex was okay but there wasn’t a repeat.” He traced the swells of her breast with the back of his finger. “A woman’s skin is so soft. I like to feel as much of it against me as I can.”

  It would have been better not to laugh at that moment but she couldn’t help it. All she could see was Phil fruitlessly thrusting away at Tanya, only to be bounced off like a trampoline. Hey, maybe that was how she’d sprung a leak!

  “Did I say something wrong?” Kevin asked.

  “No, the complete opposite,” she assured him. “Thank you. You have no idea.”

  His fingers came to rest on the clasp again. “So enlighten me.”

  She focused on the pulse point in his neck and nodded. What was it Rachel had said on the blog? “Take a deep breath, throw back your shoulders and go for it.”

  There was a quick tug and the sides relaxed. She felt his fingers grasp the edges and peel the cups away.

  A heartbeat later the tip of his finger traced her nipple. “Definitely not stick on,” he confirmed. “Elle, you’re beautiful.”

  It was hard not to believe him. His voice was deeper, raspier and his finger wasn’t one hundred percent steady. She slowly raised her eyes to find him looking not at her breasts but at her face.

  “I have stretch marks,” she choked out the words. It shouldn’t matter but dammit it did! This man had never seen her breasts before gravity took its inevitable toll, hadn’t shared in the joyous reason she had stretch marks.

  “I see them,” he dropped his gaze and trailed his finger along a particularly deep one. “You’re beautiful,” he repeated.

  The heat in his eyes didn’t diminish. He leaned forward and her nipple was engulfed in liquid fire. “Oh!” She caught her breath. “That feels amazing.”

  His answer was to groan, then treat her other nipple to the same pleasure. The next thing she knew he had her horizontal on the couch, his big hands caressing her breasts, her neck, her belly while he sucked and licked her sensitive nipples.

  It was good. Better than good. It was everything she’d fantasized about for years. She could feel the heated pull all the way to her toes when he drew at her nipple, felt the throb between her legs when he licked and nuzzled. She lost track of time and everything but that incredible mouth until he nudged her legs apart and settled between them.

  “Let’s go to the bedroom,” he groaned.

  Her nerves hiccupped and she took a mental gulp before she reined them in. The man and the moment weren’t going to get more perfect, dammit! Why couldn’t he have kissed her a bit longer?

  She instantly felt guilty. It wasn’t his fault she’d choked and he hadn’t gone far. He was kissing her neck, her ear, working his way to her mouth while his fingers did wicked things to her nipples. Things which seconds ago had threatened to bring her to orgasm.

  By the time he reached her mouth, he knew something was wrong.

  “Elle…”

  She winced. His tone was filled with frustration and a hint of warning as he spoke the name of the woman he thought he’d met. The woman Elizabeth so wanted to be at that moment.

  She completely understood his frustration. He may have started off by receiving a hell of a blowjob but he’d just spent a good half an hour talking her out of her bra and now she was holding back again when the whole purpose of his being there was to have sex.

  Chapter Seven

  “Believe me, I’m just as disappointed as you are.” Elle sat up and Kevin watched as she refastened her bra, dammit. He slumped against the back of the couch and closed his eyes, trying to figure out where the fuck he’d gone wrong.

  “I won’t be angry if it’s time for you and your bag to be out of here, no questions asked,” she said.

  His eyes shot open and pinned her with disbelief. “Are you asking me to leave?”

  She shook her head. “Not at all. I figured you’d want to go.”

  “I’m debating it,” he was frustrated enough to admit.

  She winced and truth or not he felt like an ass even before she asked, “What’s stopping you?”

  “You’re not doing it to be coy.” He reached for her hand. “Bottom line, I like being with you. So what’s it going to take to get you to tell me what this is about? Obviously something was said and or done to make you feel insecure about sex. You’re confident in every other way that I’ve seen.”

  She shook her head again. “It’s not one thing, it’s twenty-plus years of mediocre sex. The only way around that is for us to have great sex.”

  Kevin wasn’t buying it. It had to have been her ex. He was also smart enough to know that asking, What the fuck did that asshole do to you? wasn’t going to help.

  “Forging ahead isn’t working for you,” he said quietly. “And if you’re looking for me to do it anyway, that’s not going to happen.”

  She didn’t say anything. She still didn’t look at him. She also didn’t start crying or snap on him. Or offer to blow him off again, which he would have found insulting.

  If he’d needed proof, he had it. Elle Winters was not a drama queen.

  She wanted him to stay. She wanted to sleep with him. He wanted to stay and he damn well wanted to sleep with her.

  They knew what wasn’t going to work. Maybe what they needed was a different jump off point.

  It was definitely worth a try.

  “Elle?” He squeezed her hand until she turned to look at him and he knew he was doing the right thing. “How about if I trade my last red zone question for spending the night together, naked, in your bed. We can talk, play around if we feel like it but if
the rest doesn’t happen it’s okay. I have a feeling we’ll have a great night anyway.”

  Hope instantly changed her expression. “But having sex would still be the goal?” she asked.

  He gave a slow nod. “Seems to me we both want that to happen. What do you think? Fair trade?”

  “More than fair.”

  He grinned. “I want it noted that I remembered to include not just the bra but both pieces of underwear.”

  “Duly noted,” she smiled right back. “So what are we waiting for?”

  She was back. The woman he’d met last Friday night, the one who’d kept him hard all week, rocked him twice and had him willing to work for more. Oh yeah. This was going to be one helluva night. It already was.

  * * * * *

  Elizabeth Winters had a naked man in her bedroom. She wished she could freeze time to go post that fact to the girls on the cougar site. Not to gloat but to seal the moment with her keyboard so she could savor it later. Unfortunately that would mean leaving the room, which meant leaving the gorgeous naked man all alone.

  The man who now expected her to get very naked too.

  It was a brilliant plan on his part to get her most uncomfortable aspect over with. She could do this. According to his visible gauge, she turned him on. A lot. The question was how to go about it. If she wanted to stand up straight and throw back her shoulders for the whole bra removal thing that meant the panties had to come off first.

  Kevin’s lips parted in surprise when she hooked her fingers in the silk at her hips and slid her panties down her legs. His cock had doubled in size by the time she got her bra off and tossed it aside. She slid under the covers onto her back, sheets pulled up to her armpits.

  Hot damn, Edie was right about that too! Her breasts looked nice and full squeezed in from the sides by her arms.

  Kevin didn’t appear to be shy. Then again, there was nothing to be shy about that she could see. He climbed onto the other side of the bed and came up on one elbow over her.

  “I like your room,” he commented as if they were sitting in a public place. “It’s very you.”

  “Thank you,” she automatically replied, then bit her lip to keep from smiling. It felt so odd saying the normal niceties while lying naked together.

  “Being naked in your bed together was a trade for the red zone question. You still owe me three in green or orange.”

  “Oh really?” Elizabeth couldn’t help noticing that his biceps were within reach of her fingers. Couldn’t help noticing, or taking advantage of the opportunity. “Who gets to decide if a question crosses the line into red?”

  “Hmm.” He acted like he was seriously considering the answer but his eyes twinkled with humor. “You do. But I’ll get to ask a different question.”

  “All right, I’m game. Go for it.”

  “Do you ever want to get married again?”

  That one was easy. “Probably not but I reserve the right to change my mind.”

  His fingers touched her side under the covers and came to rest on her hip. “Was there a lover before your ex?”

  “Yes but just one. That was orange, by the way.”

  His eyebrows rose and he gave her hip a gentle squeeze. “Sorry, that only pertains to questions.”

  “I was talking about the question.”

  “That was orange? Huh.” His fingers went on the move. It would have been really hard to protest since hers explored him too, as much as she could reach while keeping her elbows by her sides.

  His chest was amazing, so strong and nicely sculpted. He worked out and it showed. Felt pretty damn good too.

  “How old were you when you lost your virginity?” he asked.

  “Seventeen. How old were you?”

  “Sixteen and that question is now a draw. I have one left and I’m going to make it count.”

  Elizabeth nodded but no new question came. He was breathing harder, no doubt because her index finger had found his nipple and teased it in a swirling pattern. She flicked the hard nub from below and he jerked in response.

  The next thing she knew he was over her with his legs outside of hers, his palms skimming up her sides until he was the one bracketing her breasts.

  Every inch of his hard, hot cock branded her just above the knees. She felt a brief second of panic before he began to inch down her legs not up, leaving a blazing trail with his mouth and his leaking cock.

  “Your pussy looked so pretty before you hid under the covers.” His voice was thick with lust. “Did you prepare yourself for me?”

  Oh god, his fingers had found one nipple, his tongue the other. “Yes!” she cried out, both to answer his question and to get him to keep going. She arched against him, her clit scraping his hair-roughened belly. The sensations were incredible and they didn’t stop. Another scrape and she realized it wasn’t just her movements. He was migrating down her body.

  He stopped to tongue her bellybutton. “I’m exercising my option for another question. You have an incredibly talented mouth, Elle. Did either lover ever bring you to orgasm with their tongue?”

  Oh! Was he saying he wanted to do that? From the look on his face, he sure did. She couldn’t quite get her “talented” tongue to work, so she shook her head no. He made a strangled sound, as though cutting off a groan.

  She had brought up her frustration with oral sex on the blog and the other women had convinced her it was all in the technique. In other words, her lovers had sucked at it. One of them literally and not in a good way.

  This was something she felt good about trying, especially with Kevin. She had a feeling he knew what he was doing.

  Oh god, it was finally going to happen for her!

  Except he didn’t ease between her legs as she expected. When she felt his hot breath right there it was because he had simply kept going down her body, taking the covers with him until he had his legs neatly wrapped around hers. She couldn’t spread her legs for him if she wanted to.

  The first probe of his warm wet tongue barely penetrated her pussy, followed by a quick retreat. She held her breath for it to come back but he only licked and nipped at the tops of her closed thighs. It was nice but—

  With no warning he buried his mouth deep in the vee he’d created, using his tongue to lap and retreat, over and over until she thought she’d go mad.

  He tasted and savored, leaving no question that he liked what he discovered. She tried to lift her hips, wanted to spread her legs to give him better access but he held her steady with his big hands.

  The second she cried out he changed his technique. Now there were deep probing French kisses along with long slow licks that studiously avoided her clit. His mouth was a caress of molten silk, his tongue following to stroke everywhere he touched. It was the most incredible, yet the most frustrating thing she’d ever felt.

  “Kevin, please!” She needed that focus on her clit. Dammit, she was so close.

  “Will you come for me?” he growled.

  “Yes! Please!”

  He didn’t release her. She nearly screamed her frustration when his arms wrapped completely around her hips, tightening like a vise.

  She opened her mouth to beg again, sure he didn’t understand how close she was.

  Pure liquid heat engulfed her clit. The only sound she managed was a surprised, “Oh!” and then her world spun like a vortex. Her hands flew between her legs to clutch his head, her fingers buried in his hair.

  That soft probing tongue abruptly became direct and relentless, flicking her clit so rapidly she couldn’t catch her breath. Her belly convulsed and a tidal wave of pleasure swept through her body.

  The sounds that tore from her throat still echoed in the room when another convulsion hit, even harder than the first. “Oh my god!”

  He didn’t let go of her, didn’t ease up on her clit. Each flick of his tongue made her spasm and come so hard the bed shook from her efforts to move and his to hold her still.

  At last he released her clit, though he still held
her hips. His blissful groan mixed with her harsh gasps for breath as he went back to long licks and probing laps between her thighs.

  The urge to curl up in a ball had passed by the time he unwound himself from her body. Kevin was moving around but she didn’t have the energy to open her eyes to see what he was up to. Her body felt so hot and heavy and god help her, if there were even the slightest breeze in the room she’d come again. No wonder empires were built and lost on this stuff.

  She didn’t even care what kind of picture she presented at the moment, lying on her back with her arms flung wide. She felt like one very satisfied throbbing block of pure lead.

  Orgasms ruled!

  “Don’t fall asleep on me, Elle. Christ, not now.”

  Oh yum, he was doing that sexy voice thing again. All deep and husky and full of arousal. The bed dipped with his weight and the next thing she knew he had spread her legs. She pried her eyes open to tell him no way, that she needed more time before going through that again. Like maybe a week.

  Only it wasn’t his mouth returning to the scene of satisfaction. He came down over her at the same time there was a giant blunt pressure between her legs. He paused, nostrils flaring, arms trembling with restraint.

  “Say the word,” he growled. He started to say something else but it quickly turned to a sound of desperation as the tremors spread to the rest of his body.

  She was ready. Even if she froze again, she’d have this moment for her mental scrapbook. “Yes.”

  There was instant fullness as his cock slid deep.

  “Oh fuck!” he roared.

  He was…they were…it felt so good! But… “Condom!” She cried out the word in a panic, sure he’d forgotten.

  “It’s on. Elle, son of a bitch, don’t move or I’ll come.”

  She could see the restraint on his face, hear it in the tightly spoken words, in the way his muscles bulged and quivered. He was beautiful.

  It was obvious he didn’t want to come without her. Not again. What he didn’t understand was that his loss of control at this moment was a gift. For the first time, the voices of sexual doubt were completely silenced. This wasn’t a time to think, it was a time to feel.