Page 16 of The Trouble with Sexy (Rock Canyon, Idaho 0.50)

She nibbled her lip and tried to push the little voice of doubt from her mind.

She caught him watching her in the dim light and flushed. She moved her hand up to run her finger over his mouth and whispered, “That was wonderful.”

He let out a breathless chuckle. “Just wonderful?”

She smiled softly and offered, “Amazing?”

He flashed a grin in the dark. “Better.”

“Mind-blowing?”

“Keep ’em coming.”

He covered her laugh with a kiss and rolled to his side. He leaned up on his elbow, looking down at her. She lost her smile and whispered softly, “How was it for you?”

He reached out to stroke her face, leaning over her again, his lips hovering. “You are the most beautiful, intoxicating, and extraordinary woman I have ever been with.”

She caught her breath and whispered, “Really?”

His mouth took hers deeply, making the moths dance and her eyes flutter. When he pulled away he whispered back, “Really.”

Chapter Four

Six days until Valentine’s Day . . .

IT FELT LIKE she had only been out for a few minutes before the feel of warm hands on her stomach woke her up from a weird dream about puppies eating her socks. She smiled sleepily, her eyes still closed. “Are you ever satisfied?”

She felt his lips against her neck, and he breathed his reply across the sensitive skin, “No. I’ll never get tired of feeling you come apart in my arms.”

She felt her body tighten at his hushed words and pressed back into him, only she felt rough cloth instead of naked skin. Her eyes popped open in surprise and she turned over to find him fully dressed. He laughed at the wide eyes and slightly opened mouth. “I went out to get breakfast.”

Her stomach rumbled at the mention of food, and he kissed her open mouth quickly. “Come on lazy, I’ve got plans for you.”

She grabbed the blanket and held it to her breasts. “I thought you had things to do today?”

He grinned at her. “I’d rather be with you.”

Sweet warmth spread over her and she reached out to him. She climbed onto her knees and pulled him into her arms, kissing him softly, running her fingernails along his neck. He groaned aloud and pulled back gently. He stared down at her, his eyes stormy. “Ryan, if you don’t stop that, we’ll never leave this bedroom again and we’ll starve to death.”

She sighed and started to climb off the bed. “Okay, I’ll go take a shower.”

He pulled her back into his arms and glowered at her. “Wow, that wasn’t much of a fight. Did I wear you out already?”

She gave him a sultry smile and slid her hands down his body, sliding one hand over the hard bulge under the fly of his jeans. “Hmmm, somehow I don’t think so.”

He grabbed her hand and pulled it up, kissing her palm. “Come on, you hussy. Daylight’s a-wasting.”

Ryan smiled as she stumbled into the bathroom, wrapped in the blanket for modesty’s sake. She stared at herself in the mirror and gasped in horror. Mascara and eyeliner were smeared around her eyes like a raccoon’s mask and her lips were swollen from kissing. She scrubbed her face with bar soap, cringing when some of the stinging liquid got into her eye, frantically rinsing it. Then, looking at her face again, scrubbed clean and her hair looking like rats had been living in it, she couldn’t believe she was standing in her bathroom after a night of mind-blowing sex and the most gorgeous, wonderful man was waiting in her kitchen with breakfast.

Humming to herself, she pushed all the little niggles of doubt to the back of her mind as she turned on the shower. She scrubbed her body, her hand trailing over places that Gregg had spent extra time kissing, her eyes closing and a smile spreading over her lips as flashes of the night before made her body sizzle. The hot water sprayed over her skin, loosening tight muscles that had stretched and flexed in ways they hadn’t before. But it wasn’t just what he’d done to her body. He’d told her things about himself, about his mother and sister, and how hard it had been after his dad left. He’d talked to her like he never had when she’d been just Ryan the friend. That had to mean something, right?

She turned off the water and climbed out of the shower. She tried to get ready quickly, drying her long tresses and brushing her face lightly with the mineral base and a little mascara, trying to separate the black lashes like Megan at Macy’s had shown her. Satisfied that she looked presentable, Ryan slipped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and went back into her bedroom, where she opened the dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of white briefs and a cotton bra, shrugging off Gracie’s advice for today, at least. There was no

way she would be comfortable running around with scratchy lace creeping up her hind end.

After clipping the bra into place she called through the door, “So what are we doing today?”

“What?”

---