Consumed By You Read online

  A small laugh escaped his throat. He was about to turn a serious moment into a light-hearted one, but he hoped he was talking Cara’s language. He knocked back a swallow of his beer, and then set the bottle down amidst a mess of papers and magazines on his table. “Here’s the thing. I’m pretty sure Henry can help me win first prize.”

  She knit her eyebrows together. “How?”

  He tipped his forehead to the sleeping puppy, curled up like a comma by the kitchen doorway. “That right there is a top-notch chick magnet,” he said, and Cara cracked up instantly, peals of laughter rippling through the evening air that drifted in from the open porch door.

  “He is absolutely a chick magnet,” she agreed. “I bet when you take him for a walk in the town square, all the ladies are stopping to talk to you.”

  He nodded. There was just something about a puppy that reeled in women of every age, and that canine knew how to work them with his big-brown-eyed charm and wagging tail. “My plan is this. I want to bring him on stage with me for the auction. He’s my secret weapon. We’ll be the dog and the fireman, and I’m pretty sure I can nab the top prize and give the Families of Fallen Firefighters the funds they need to keep up their work.”

  “You’d be irresistible with him,” she said, in that soft, flirty tone she’d used at the club. The sound of it set his blood racing and made him shift in the chair because matters below the belt were becoming infinitely harder.

  He nearly smacked his own forehead to knock some sense into it. He was walking straight into temptation. Hell, he was knocking on the damn door and begging to be tortured by this woman. She was so damn sexy and funny, and so off-limits by her own admission.

  But here he was, sticking his foot in that door, asking for more. “Irresistible?”

  “Very much so,” she said, then grabbed her glass. She drained the rest of her wine. He ignored his beer. He needed to drive down to Calistoga in about—he glanced at the stark black and white clock on the wall—twenty minutes.

  “So I take it you need my services to make sure that your guy is ready to go on stage. That he’s perfectly behaved, and will look absolutely adorable next to you, so the women can’t resist bidding on a date with the hottest single fireman in all of California,” she said, and he squeezed his eyes shut briefly at hearing those words.

  Sure, he craved challenges, but this was testing him something fierce, as she dropped compliments left and right, which made his fingers itch to grab her, pin her down, and have her again and again. And he was the idiot walking straight into it, knowing he was going to spend even more time with the one woman who’d made it patently clear she was hands-off from here on out.

  Even so, he fanned the flames of the fire. “Hottest in all of California?”

  She nodded, and poured more wine for herself. “You know I think that, Travis. And I’m more than happy to help you and Henry win it all.”

  “The auction is in two weeks, so we’d need to do lessons more than once a week. I’m thinking we should get together every other day,” he said, reaching for a canister of gasoline and watching the flames lick the sky now.

  “That sounds great,” she said as she crossed her legs, kicking a foot back and forth, all cool and casual. His eyes were drawn to her feet; he wasn’t a foot man, but every single thing about this woman was pretty, down to the blue polish on those toenails. “I’m in,” she said with a bright smile.

  This was almost too easy. He’d been expecting some friction, some kind of pushback, given the lines in the sand she’d drawn at the park. He didn’t expect her to so easily say yes. But maybe she’d snuffed out her desire for him. Fine, if she could rein in the urge, he could damn well do the same. Play it cool. Keep it all on the level.

  “In fact,” she added, as she ran her finger along the rim of her wineglass, “it works perfectly with the favor I wanted to ask you.”

  He held out his arms wide. “Anything. You’re helping me. I’ll do anything I can.”

  “Great,” she said, and took one more sip of wine. A hearty sip. A big fat fucking gulp. Hell, was she going for liquid courage? Because she’d plowed through nearly two glasses in the span of fifteen minutes, and it sure seemed like she was fonder of wine tonight than he’d remembered. “Because here’s what I want.”

  She scooted her chair closer, ran a hand through her hair, then met his eyes. Her voice was both sultry and drop-dead clear as the next words fell from her glossy lips. “I want to finish what we started at the club. I want you to fuck me six ways to Sunday. I want to stop daydreaming about more sex with you and start having it.”

  If he’d been doing the dishes, a plate would have slipped from his hand, shattered into shards. If he were strolling along the sidewalk, he’d have stumbled in surprise. Instead, he scrubbed his hand over his jaw, narrowed his eyes, and said, “Come again?”

  He had to be hearing things.

  Her blue eyes sparkled, a naughty look in them as her lips curved upward. “Yes. That. Coming again and again.”

  He’d walked right into a pun. “Now?” he asked, still in shock from the way she’d echoed her words from the dog park, the thing she swore they couldn’t do. This had to be a joke. Maybe a bet. Maybe she was giving him a taste of his own medicine from the other night.

  “Sure. That’d be a good start. And maybe the next day and the next and the next. But not forever. Just for, say, a few weeks? Up until the auction would probably be sufficient. We could even line up this fling with the dog training.”

  He peered around the corner, leaning back in his chair, as if he were scanning for a candid camera ‘gotcha’ moment. “Is Megan here? Is Jamie? Is this some kind of payback?”

  She shook her head. “No. Why? You don’t want to have a fling with me?”

  He nodded vigorously. “Oh, I want it. I want that more than you can even know. But are you for real? Is this a joke? Or a prank?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I ask you to sleep with me, and you think I’m pranking you? Give me more credit than that,” she said with a huff.

  He reached for her hands, laced his fingers through hers. “I will give you all the credit in the world. Just tell me, is this a real question?”

  She nodded, and there was no teasing in her eyes, no playing around, just a sweet, vulnerable, and honest look. “I want you,” she whispered, “so much it drives me crazy. But I know you don’t do relationships. This is no commitment, no dating, no fuss, no muss. Two weeks while we train Henry, and then we’re done.” She wiped one palm against the other to show it would be a clean break at the end.

  “So you want dog training and sex?” he asked, still sure he was hearing things—like, his wildest fantasies coming true.

  “Yes. The perfect combo.”

  “Okay. And not that I’m protesting, because let me make it clear, my answer is yes, fuck yes, and absofuckinglutely yes, but why the change?”

  She let go of his hands to stand up, then sank back down, straddling him. Oh, hell. There went any breathing room in his jeans. His dick did its best approximation of a flagpole.

  She cupped his shoulders, looking him square in the eyes. Being this close to her was dizzying, and an absolute rush. “Because, Travis, I can’t get you out of my head. Or my body. I went on a date the other night with the nicest guy around. I think there could be something real with him,” she said, and he bristled and nearly breathed fire. The image of her on a date with someone else made his gut twist. “But all I could think about when I was out with him was sleeping with you and all the ways I want to have sex with you.” His head was fever hot. A tremor of lust slammed into him, and he grasped her waist, digging his fingers into her hipbones.

  “There are so many ways I want to have you, Cara,” he whispered, hot and rough against the delicate skin of her throat, savoring the way gooseflesh rose instantly on her skin.

  “And that’s what I need. You gave me the best sex of my life, starting way back when we were in high school, which is crazy in and of
itself. But so it goes, and no one compares to you. Not that I have a ton of experience, but the way I see it is, I will never be able to move on and have the dream—the white picket fence, and the family, and all those things I want—if I’m still thinking of how good it is with you.”

  “Don’t forget about the time after college graduation on the picnic table in the woods by the river. And then that night three years ago when you were back in town for Alycia’s holiday party, and I kissed you under the mistletoe at the party after you sang that song, and you pulled me into a coat closet and insisted on having me right then and there,” he said.

  She dropped her face into her hands. “See? That’s my point,” she muttered, and then looked up at him. “All those times are messing with my head. And I can’t seem to connect with anyone else because I’m hung up on you. So the only conclusion I can come to is, if I’m ever going to meet Mr. Right, I need to get Mr. Wrong out of my system.”

  Sweeter words were never uttered by a woman. Because this was a dream come true. Cara was his fantasy girl, but she was more than a fantasy. He’d had her, and he knew just how good it was when the two of them were together. He slipped his fingers under her shirt. She trembled at his touch and his hands traveled north, seeking out those wondrous breasts, which damn near seemed to be calling his name. “So you need to fuck me to stop wanting to fuck me?”

  She leaned her head back in a yes, her throat long and inviting. So feminine, so enticing, and so primed for hot kisses. He blazed a trail up the column of her throat as she answered him with the hottest words ever: “Fuck me hard, and fuck me slow, and fuck me wild.”

  That sounded more like a recipe for wanting more sex, but Travis wasn’t going to protest. He was dying to slide into her wet heat, to feel her body take him deep and shudder beneath him. “And that’s all you want?”

  “That’s all I want. Well, I do like it when you get all bossy and tell me what to do, so I want that too,” she said, pulling back to shoot him a mischievous look as she trailed her fingertips down his chest. His breath hitched. “I want your body, and I want to walk away when we’re done.”

  He yanked her closer, her chest slamming against his as he nibbled on her earlobe, drawing out a moan. Then he bit down. She yelped lightly, and he soothed out the sting with his tongue. “You can have anything you want with me. You name it. You tell me how you want to get me out of your system, and I will deliver it,” he said, and flicked open the button on her jean shorts. She gasped as he tugged down the zipper. “But first, you’re going to strip for me. So stand up and take these off.”

  She scooted away from him, kicking off her sandals then dipping her thumbs into the waistband of her shorts.

  “Take them off slowly as you look at me. Don’t rush a damn thing. I want to know that you’re undressing just for me. Show me how much you want this,” he instructed, leaning forward, parking his elbows on his thighs as he savored the gorgeous sight before him. Cara, stripping in his kitchen, giving him that wild look that undid him. Like she’d done at the club. Like she did at the Panting Dog all the times he bumped into her there. Like she’d done every moment they’d been together. When they were alone, she ditched the fun, sweet, quirky hometown girl she also was, and turned into this naughty woman who craved dirty sex with him.

  “You sure you want them off all the way?” she asked, tilting her head and batting those eyelashes.

  “Positive.”

  “Like this?” She inched one side down over her hip, a sliver of her panties peeking out. Dark pink. Sinfully hot.

  “More. All the way off.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I do say so. Show me what you wore for me.”

  She stopped undressing and gave him a chiding look. “How do you know I wore something just for you?”

  “Because you came here to seduce me. You came here with a plan. You were armed with a proposition you knew I couldn’t resist. And I bet you chose your weapons wisely,” he said, arching an eyebrow as he reached his fingers to the patch of pink lace that she’d revealed. He hooked his thumb underneath and brushed the pad against her hipbone, watching as she drew a sharp breath. “All the way off, now. Let me see.”

  “Tell me if my weapons work at disarming you, Travis. Tell me if they make you want to take me right now and throw me down on your bed,” she said as she pushed her shorts over her hips, down to her thighs…and oh holy fucking hotness.

  His dick pounded against his jeans, and he stopped moving. Just stared at her panties. They were pink, black, lacy, and so damn enticing. His throat was parched. He lowered his head, bending to her waist so he could brush his lips against the fabric. A delicious moan fell from her mouth to his ears. He ran his finger between her legs. She was so wet that the pads of his fingers were damp. A landslide of want tumbled through his body.

  “Cara, you’re going to need to wear sexy lingerie every day for the next few weeks, because it drives me absolutely wild. Everything you do does.”

  She bit her lip, then said in a sexy, husky voice, “That’s exactly why I wore them.”

  He tugged her shorts off the rest of the way, and she stepped out of them.

  “But let me make one thing clear,” he said.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m not taking you on the bed. You didn’t come to me with this proposition so I could hold your hand like a blushing schoolboy and walk you back to my bedroom, then dim the lights, put on soft music, and do it all slow and gentle.”

  “You’re right. I didn’t come to you for that.”

  “You came to me because you know we’ve never bothered to wait for beds,” he said, running his hands down her bare legs. “And if you want to get me out of your system, it’s going to happen everyplace but the bedroom. Get on my table. We’ll start there.”

  He shoved the magazines and papers in one swift move, letting them tumble to the floor. Henry lifted his head in curiosity, then rose and trotted out of the kitchen as if he were giving them their privacy. Perfect. Travis picked up Cara and set her on the edge of the table. Then he slid his hands under her ass and inched off those panties, his breath catching in his chest and all the blood in his body diverted to his dick once more as he watched her laid bare before him. Her beautiful bare pussy glistened with desire, ready for him.

  Chapter Eight

  Propped on her elbows, half-naked, perched on his kitchen table, she was a live wire.

  So ready.

  His eyes raked over her. Her shirt and bra were still on, but he didn’t seem to care because he was fixated between her legs now, staring at her, his eyes hooded with lust. He pressed his palms on the edge of the table and dipped his head closer, closer, closer. Oh God. She dropped her head back on her shoulders as his breath ghosted over her. His mouth was so deliriously near to where she ached madly for him.

  She shuddered before he even touched her. She’d fly to the moon any second. One touch and she’d launch into orbit.

  His tongue flicked softly on the inside of a thigh, and she cried out. He groaned appreciatively. “Love those sounds you make. I don’t want you to ever be quiet with me,” he said as he kissed her, making his way to the V of her legs.

  “That shouldn’t be a problem,” she said, then moaned again as he traveled up her flesh.

  He took his time, his stubbled jaw brushing against her skin, his face inching near, until he was so close she was sure that was the moment he’d put her out of her misery and kiss her. Just kiss, and lick, and eat, and fucking claim her with his mouth.

  Please.

  But instead, he darted to her other leg, bestowing the same lingering, soft kisses there. Killing her with desire. Red-hot, ratcheting-up-the-scale-to-the-sky want. Then, he pressed his hands against her inner thighs and parted her legs wide. “This is how I want you,” he whispered.

  “Please. You can have me any way you want.” She arched her hips, willing him to kiss her, begging with her body for him to touch her.

  He licked.


  Once.

  That was all. One long, slow, agonizingly intense stroke up her wet center, then a hard flick against her throbbing bundle of nerves.

  And her body shook with that first stroke.

  It was like a promise and a countdown all at once. This was not going to take long. Oh hell no. This was going to be a rocket ride into white-hot bliss.

  She gasped and moaned as he licked again, another hot, sweet line that lit her up like a neon sign against the night sky. Then that swirl against her clit that made her cry out again, his name like a song’s chorus on her lips. He drew her into his mouth, sucking hard then flicking his tongue up and down, up and down.

  She bowed her back, her palms jammed against the wood of the table, her knees up, her body open to him. He stopped for a second to clasp his hands on her ankles. “Let me see more of you,” he whispered, briefly breaking contact with the center of her world as he spread her all the way, making her even more vulnerable to him.

  He groaned. “Such a beautiful sight. You here for me, wanting to get me out of your system by letting me eat your beautiful pussy,” he said, and heat pooled between her legs with his filthy words.

  “Travis,” she moaned. Every atom in her buzzed as she waited, poised on the edge of a cliff for him to return. He dropped his mouth to the inside of her knee, but she couldn’t take any more teasing.

  “Does that sweet, sexy way you say my name mean you’re about ready to come on my tongue?” he asked, giving her the dirtiest of dirty looks.

  “Yes. God yes,” she said, then took matters into her own hands as she grabbed his head. Her fingers curled tightly into his hair, her nails cutting into his scalp as she drew him back to her.

  His mouth was sinful, his tongue some kind of wondrous, wicked thing as he kissed and licked and sucked. She rocked into him, keeping pace with each tantalizing stroke, each insanely delicious kiss. He scooped his hands under her ass, bringing her closer, and she thrust against him as her vision blurred and her cells blazed. The tension inside her tightened, coiling higher, twisting as she neared that edge, and then he kissed her with his whole mouth, consuming her. She snapped and screamed his name, a tornado of pleasure whipping through her, chasing down all the far corners of her body.