“You up to showing it to me?” she asked, her body on fire with need.
“Believe me when I say I’m up.” He swooped in, and gave her another kiss, then his hands slid to her breasts. “That’s another move to distract you,” he told her. He never dropped his hands.
Her nipples hardened, growing more sensitive against the lace of her bra. “Although I was never your traditional high schooler, I believe I can safely say that the girl wasn’t really fooled by your maneuvers.”
“And here I was working under this grand illusion all this time.” His lips touched hers again, his tongue doing delightful things to her mouth. “My favorite move at the time was the thumb circle.”
He circled her breast with his thumb, his rotations getting tighter and tighter until he reached the tip. “If I were feeling bold, I’d move to below her shirt.”
Her stomach quivered when she felt his fingertips caress her bare skin.
“I like your bold moves.”
“Then check this out,” he said. He leaned over and gently sucked her earlobe into his mouth. She felt his hands on her back, then the looseness of her bra.
She moaned as he fully cupped her breasts. “That was some move,” she told him.
He chuckled. “Ready for third?”
“There’s another base?” she asked, her body beginning to tremble in excitement.
“Oh, yeah.”
She almost whimpered as his hands left her breasts. Then she realized their destination. She slid her legs apart as his hands skimmed down her waist, over her hips and to the place between her thighs. She cursed her tight pants for being in the way.
“What I wouldn’t have given to touch a girl like you here at seventeen.”
“Think of something,” she teased.
“I don’t know, but I’m feeling the exact same kind of desperation.”
She laughed, loved knowing she made him desperate. He rubbed her though her jeans, and suddenly she was desperate. His hand created a delicious friction, and she grew warm and wet and ready to take him inside her body.
His lips found hers again, and he kissed her with a hard, passion-filled caress. At the same time, his hand plunged into her jeans under her panties, his fingers discovering her clit.
She pulled her mouth away, moaning. “Ian.”
“More? Relax. I want to touch you all over.”
“What’s the goal of baseball?”
“To hit a home run,” he said, his lips lowering to her collarbone.
“What does it mean with a girl. With me?”
He stopped. Glanced at her. “To make love to you.”
Her body trembled. She was ready for a home run. “Ian, would you like to come up for some coffee?”
“I can’t tell you how much I’d love a cup of coffee.”
IT WAS THE QUICKEST he’d ever exited a car. Ian followed her upstairs and into her apartment, nothing and no one around them. They were the only two people in the world. The large front room was still scented by a subtle hint of oil.
Ian locked the door behind them, and trailed her into the kitchen. “Should I actually pretend to make it?” she asked.
A smile briefly touched his lips as he practically stalked toward her. Ava sucked in a breath. The lessons had stopped. Now they were just man and woman. And primal instinct.
He grasped her head, then brought her mouth to his lips. This kiss was neither controlled nor deliberate, but hungry and ready for her.
This was no slow seduction. Only need and passion.
“You on top,” she said.
He almost growled. Ian bent, reaching under her knees and hauling her against his body. He marched into her bedroom, and carefully set her on the mattress. He moved to follow her, but she held out her hand.
“Wait,” she ordered. “Watch.”
She tugged her shirt up and over her head. She’d never bothered to rebutton her jeans after his ministrations in the car, so with a quick flick of her wrist, the zipper was down and her pants off.
She lay against her pillows wearing nothing but a sexy bra and panties. They matched. Black with little pink bows. His new favorite color.
She also hadn’t bothered to snap her bra into place after he showed her his moves in conjunction with second base, so the material slipped easily off her body.
She sat before him in only those skimpy little panties. He’d felt what secrets were hidden behind that tiny swatch of lace. She’d described imagining his fingers there, his cock learning those secrets of hers when he’d taught her about phone sex.
What he hadn’t done was see her. Her fingers hooked around the edge of her panties, and she slowly wiggled them down her thighs. She kicked them away, and lay before him naked. Availing herself desirably, his arousal grew.
“Ava, here’s another conversation you probably need to learn. The condom discussion. Do I need to get them? I have some in my camera bag. But I want you to know that I always play it safe, and I get tested all the time because of my trips overseas. I’m clean.”
“Me, too.”
He swallowed. “What about pregnancy? You protected there?”
“You don’t want to use a condom, do you?”
“I can think of nothing else but the erotic feel of your skin against mine.”
“I’m protected there, as well. Don’t worry, I won’t get pregnant.”
He moved toward her, and she put her hand out again. “Wait. Not yet.”
He groaned in frustration, but then his eyes widened as she ran her hands down her body to caress her breasts, circle her navel, stroke her clit. His breathing turned shallow and his heart almost went through his ribs at the site of her fingers touching, drawing pleasure, from the very place he wanted to be.
“You like watching me touch myself, don’t you, Ian?”
He nodded. “Most men love to see a woman take pleasure in her body. It turns them on, makes them harder.”
His cock swelled against his jeans. Quickly he stripped, and her eyes cut his erection a glance. A feminine smile lifted her mouth.
“You see, for men, finding orgasm comes easily. Not so much for women. It takes a little time. Then women discovered the secret, their true power. It’s in their pleasure. A man’s pleasure, your pleasure is actually heightened by mine.”
He nodded, his eyes never leaving the vision of her fingers caressing between her legs.
“That’s nature’s way of making sure man took care of woman. And if a woman finds a man who’s all into taking that time, she knows she has a winner. Nice how it works that way. Look at me, Ian.”
His eyes traveled slowly up her body until he met her gaze.
“You’re going to make me feel good, aren’t you?” she asked, half question, half demand.
“Yes. So good.”
She smiled, rested against the pillows and spread her legs for him.
He took himself in hand, moved toward her and found where she’d opened to him. She moaned at the intimate thrust of his flesh sliding into hers.
She locked her legs behind his waist, her body a perfect fit for him. He began to thrust more deeply inside her. Ava started to move with him, against him. Her face tightened. Her muscles gripped him. He ground his hips against hers, finding her clit. That sent her over the edge.
She screamed, her climax hit hard. Her moans, her grip of his penis, it was all too much. He went right over the edge with her.
Soon their breathing returned to normal. The only other sound was the blowers from the heating unit keeping them warm. She lay in his arms, stroking his skin. Utterly content.
Her fingers found the knot of flesh below his right shoulder blade. The scar.
“I was shot.”
Ava gasped, her brows knitting together in concern. “Why?”
He shrugged. “Some people don’t like reporters.”
“So they shot you?”
There were worse things than being shot at, he’d seen plenty of it. Normally, he wouldn’t have a problem talking about it. But Ava, as he was quickly realizing, had spent an idealized youth jetting from one remote archaeological dig to another, then from the protected walls of university to on-the-job research among cultures that were actually getting along. Not his area of expertise.