Slow Hands Read online

  The place was unbelievably elegant. Dripping with expensive furnishings. Beautiful. Rich-looking.

  And about as cold a room as he’d ever seen.

  Entirely suitable for the ice princess of the financial district. But not for the woman who’d grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him up against the wall outside that pub to kiss the lips right off his face.

  Maddy was watching him, having stepped inside ahead of him to punch a few buttons on a security alarm panel. There was a glimmer of hesitation in her expression, as if she really cared what he thought about her home. Why she’d care about the opinion of a blue-collar rescue worker, whose single piece of art in his apartment was an eight-by-ten framed picture of a Dalmatian on a fire truck, he had no idea.

  “Well?”

  “Wow.”

  She wrapped her arms around her waist and stared at the room, obviously noting his unenthusiastic response. “My sister decorated it for me,” she whispered. “I just don’t have the knack for that sort of thing. Or the vision.”

  That figured. From what he’d heard so far, he had absolutely no interest in ever meeting the sister. Especially not if she envisioned this when she looked at Maddy, whom she obviously did not really know at all.

  “Great view,” he mumbled, meaning that. She did have an amazing view of the magnificently lit Chicago skyline. One entire wall of windows ran the width of the living room, laying out the city below as if he was looking at a galaxy of stars from above.

  She perked up, smiling broadly. “Isn’t it? That’s why I bought it. Well, that and the bathroom.”

  Bought it. She owned this icy masterpiece. Not her father, not her family. She didn’t just rent it. The woman he’d taken out for wings and beer had enough money to actually purchase a place like this.

  He’d known that. Logically, he’d known. Still, the meaning of it had at last completely sunk in.

  His feet suddenly felt leaden. For the first time since the moment they’d met, Jake felt the slightest bit intimidated. Uneasy at the stark, irrefutable evidence of how different they were.

  There was no way he could keep up with this. Nor would he ever even want to try.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He threw off the momentary uneasiness. Tomorrow, maybe he’d think about how unsuited they were for one another. Tonight, well, they were perfectly suited in the only way that really mattered. He’d could definitely keep up with her in other ways.

  Starting in her bedroom.

  “Nothing.” He gave her a wolfish smile. “So where is this three-man bathtub?”

  “Hey, none of that kinky stuff,” she reminded him with a saucy wink. Then she turned and sashayed down the hall, kicking her cute, strappy sandals off her feet midstride, as if not wanting to waste time once they reached the bed.

  He followed, not in any hurry, because they had all night, but still unable to stop himself from lifting his shirt over his head and tossing it to the floor with her shoes.

  She led him into a darkened room, flipped on the light, and spun around to gauge his reaction. But when she saw him standing there in just his soft, low-slung jeans, she froze as if she’d never seen a man’s body before.

  “Oh, my God.”

  The sexy woman actually licked her lips while her gaze greedily roamed over his bare chest and shoulders. She looked even hungrier than she had when their waitress had deposited a pile of nachos in front of her tonight.

  “I never imagined,” she whispered, lifting her hand toward him. She didn’t step closer, merely scraping the tip of one finger down his throat, until reaching the hollow of his throat. There it remained, connected by the tiniest strand of static-charged air to his raging pulse. “I’ve never seen a more beautiful man.”

  Jake half groaned and half laughed.

  “I mean it. You’re beautiful. You should be on display somewhere, dipped in bronze. You’re so hard, so strong.” She ran her hand down his chest, letting her pink-tinged nails rake lightly across his abs. She didn’t pause, caressing him until she reached the waistband of his jeans, which hung low on his hips. Visibly swallowing, she added, “Yet so lean, too.”

  “You’re killing me. You know this, right?”

  She ignored him. “I’d pictured…when I went to the auction, I’d figured you’d be skinny. Elegant. Not…not like this.”

  He barked a harsh laugh. Skinny he was not. And elegant he’d never tried to be. “I work out sometimes. Not out of vanity, out of necessity.”

  There was no way Jake would put somebody’s life at risk by letting himself get too out of shape to do his job. He lifted gurneys—usually with heavy bodies on them—every single day. He squeezed into small spaces in collapsed buildings, he often hauled around some backbreakingly heavy equipment. Those things mattered—possibly enough to be the difference between life and death to an injured person. Staying in top physical condition was an absolute requirement for his own safety and for that of others.

  “Is it a necessity that your shoulders are as broad as my legs are long?”

  He chuckled, glancing down at those delicate, sexy legs, in such perfect proportion to the rest of her, despite her claim that they were too short. “I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration.” Then he reached for her hips, cupped them and drew her close. “But I’m willing to examine them, up close and personal, just to make sure.”

  “I’d hate to ask such a sacrifice of you.”

  “What can I say? I’m a nice guy.”

  Maddy, who’d been inching closer as they engaged in the light, verbal foreplay, tilted her head back and watched him intently. “You are, aren’t you.”

  “You make it sound like it’s a bad thing.”

  She shook her head. “You’re a contradiction, that’s all. I don’t know that I understand you.”

  “Understand this.” He said nothing more, bending down to cover her mouth with his. Slipping his hands into her hair to cup her head, he licked her lips, demanding access.

  Maddy opened for him, her tongue meeting with his in a warm, slow exploration. Different from the crazy-hot kiss outside the pub. Different…but just as good.

  Their bodies melted together in fluid grace, rather than heated, crazed grinding. Her softness cradled every hard place on him, molding to his chest, his groin, his thighs. Every delicate curve offered warmth and welcome and pure feminine invitation.

  “Jake…” she whispered against his mouth, though he knew she had nothing to say. Nothing that really needed to be said.

  They’d talked a lot since they’d met. Now it was time for their bodies to do all the communicating.

  Reaching for the bottom of her pink top, Jake tugged it free of her waistband, sliding it up with agonizing restraint. He didn’t look, didn’t trust himself to see her yet and not completely lose control. He concentrated instead on kissing her temple, tracing her high cheekbone with his mouth, kissing his way to the lobe of her ear. And continuing to pull that fabric up, inch by inch, allowing only the tips of his fingers the pleasure of contact with her warm, soft skin.

  She was gasping, her choppy breaths hitting his neck as she twisted against his hands. “Please.”

  “Mmm, hmm,” he replied, not giving her the frenzy she wanted. She might have been calling the shots back outside the pub. But for now, their first time, he was taking control.

  He liked it slow. And intended to make her slow down, too. He wanted Maddy to accept every ounce of pleasure he could give her rather than rushing them both directly toward that precipice and leaping over it.

  “You have the softest skin I have ever felt,” he murmured.

  “Yours is rough,” she whispered, her voice throaty, hungry. Rubbing her face against his lightly grizzled jaw, she shivered and added, “Deliciously rough.”

  “Not too rough for your cheek?”

  She shook her head, wordless, mindless, as if afraid to distract him from the unhurried, steady progress he was making with her shirt. He’d reached the bottom edges of her
bra now. Remembering their earlier encounter, his mind flooded with the image of that hot pink lace barely covering those magnificent mounds and luscious, taut nipples.

  “Not too rough for your neck, either?” He moved there, kissing his way down her throat, pressing his mouth to the hollow.

  She shook her head again. Lifting her hands to his head, she twined her fingers in his hair. Jake edged away just enough to smooth her top all the way up, his palms skimming against the sides of her breasts, then all the way along her upraised arms. He disentangled the fabric from her long, thick hair, then tossed it aside.

  Looking down at her, he muttered a silent prayer for strength, picturing the endless ways he wanted to savor these twin things of beauty, barely contained by their lacy covering. Oh, so many ways. Soon.

  “What about here?” he asked, easing down her body. “Too rough here, sweetheart?” He slowly dropped to his knees in front of her, letting his mouth skim past the very center of the pretty, frilly bra until he reached the vulnerable skin of her midriff.

  She hitched a sigh. It turned into a moan when Jake rubbed his cheek there, licking at the tender, pale spot where hot pink lace met hot creamy woman.

  “That’s…that’s fine…”

  “Good. So I’m guessing this is okay, too.” He edged lower, kissing his way down her belly, dipping his tongue into the small indentation for a taste, then going down to her waistband. She made no effort to stop him as he unbuttoned, unzipped, then pushed her pants down, letting his cheek come in contact with more of her body as it was revealed.

  “That is definitely okay.”

  More than okay for him. Especially as he drew back enough to watch her cropped pants fall away. That left her clad in a miniscule pair of panties. A patch of pink fabric danced over the dark curls he saw shadowed between her legs, and a thin, lacy string looped over each full hip.

  He rubbed and nibbled and licked his way along them, around to her hip, almost groaning as he saw how little there was in the back. Little? Make that nothing.

  Thong. Oh yeah.

  He had to reach out and touch with his hands, cupping her full cheeks and squeezing. “Incredible. Don’t you ever let me hear you say you want to change this body again.”

  The way her legs shook and her hips moved in tiny, nearly imperceptible thrusts told him what she wanted. More intimate touches. More intimate kisses.

  More.

  Still clasping her bottom, he tugged her closer, tilting her pelvis so his mouth scraped against the front of her panties. He inhaled her, breathed across her, amazed at the softness of the curls against his lips, looking delicate and so pretty, even through the fabric.

  “Oh, God, please,” she groaned.

  He could give her what she wanted. Could easily nudge aside the elastic, dip his tongue, swirl it low. Could already imagine the way she’d writhe when he caressed the throbbing nub of flesh at the top of her mound. Could almost taste the warm, womanly essence he was inhaling with every deep breath. He desperately wanted to lick into the lips of her sex and drink deeply of her, knowing it would take a long time to quench his thirst.

  But that would be getting ahead of the game.

  So, instead, he began working his way back up. “Now that we’re sure I don’t need to shave, where were we?”

  She whimpered, shaking as he passed by her most erogenous spots. “I take it back, you’re not a nice guy,” she said in a broken whisper. “You’re just being mean now.”

  “Oh, Maddy, I’m not mean.” Now standing directly in front of her, he tenderly stroked her face and brushed a soft kiss on her mouth. “I’m just very, very patient.”

  Without another word, he bent over and picked her up, carrying her effortlessly to the huge bed that dominated her room. And began to show her how very patient he could be.

  MADDY WAS DYING. And living. Flying. Spinning. Both crying in frustration and shouting in pure delight as she climaxed again and again. Over the next hour, as Jake—with his incredible mouth, his miraculous hands—continued to touch, kiss, taste every inch of her body, she found herself unable to do a single thing but enjoy it.

  Rational thoughts drifted away. There was only sensation. No decision to arch up when his tongue scraped across her nipple, just a primal need to have him suckle her again. No conscious awareness that he intended to make the most intimate love to her with his mouth, just the shocking delight of it when his tongue slipped between her wet folds and unerringly delved into her core.

  “Oh, God, again?” she groaned, disbelieving as the pressure built, then roared into heat that rushed to every other part of her.

  She had not known she was physically capable of such continuous delight. The waves kept coming, relentlessly, like the pounding of the surf on a shore during a wild winter storm. They built, took her high, threw her over the crest into wild orgasm. Then eased back down, only to start building all over again with a stroke here or a kiss there.

  She understood now. Why women fought over him.

  The man had to be the world’s greatest lover.

  “I think I have to be in you now, Maddy.”

  “I’d say it’s about damn time,” she gasped. “But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I’ve loved every single minute.”

  “I know.” No cockiness. Just pure, sultry self-confidence.

  He slid up her body, finally unfastening his jeans and pushing them off his hips as he moved over her. She kissed him, licking into his mouth, tasting herself on his tongue but not giving a damn.

  But she was not about to let him sheathe himself with one of the condoms she’d grabbed from the bedside table without at least a little reciprocation. Maddy had been dying to experience some of what he’d done. To touch, to stroke, to see him at the very least. He had ruthlessly stopped her every previous effort to do so in his determination to please her.

  Now, the incredible willpower seemed to have finally left him. He was almost beyond rational thought, too.

  Maddy pushed him onto his back, rolling up to kneel beside him, staring at the immense golden chest, the wiry hair surrounding his nipples. It trailed in a thin line down his flat stomach, disappearing beneath the waistband of his tight boxer briefs.

  “Oh my,” she whispered, seeing the big bulge in the middle of those briefs. She’d certainly felt the power of him pressed against her, but her eyes hadn’t yet experienced the pleasure. Nor had her hands. Or her mouth.

  That was about to change.

  She reached out, tentatively, touching a spot of wetness on the fabric. Almost dazed with need, she brought her finger to her tongue and tasted it.

  “Maddy…”

  “I don’t want to hear one word out of you,” she warned sternly. “Not a single word.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Laughter danced in his eyes, but didn’t spill from his mouth. No, his mouth was too busy emitting a deep, guttural groan as Maddy reached down and tugged at the briefs.

  She was careful, cautious when pulling them out and down. Maddy wanted that magnificent erection revealed to her as deliberately, slowly and seductively as her breasts had been to him. As if she was opening some very special, beautifully wrapped present that was going to make her incredibly happy.

  Well, wasn’t she?

  Her hand shook as the side of her pinky brushed against the smooth, incredibly soft skin beneath the cotton. Some anticipatory devil made her close her eyes, wanting to delay the delicious moment of exposure.

  When she’d finally pulled the boxers all the way to his hips, Jake lifted up a little and pushed them down and off himself.

  And Maddy finally opened her eyes.

  “Oh, Jake,” she whispered, unable to contain a tiny gasp of surprise. Not just because of how incredibly hard—aroused, throbbing and proud—he was, but at the pure masculine beauty of him. Still kneeling at his hip, she smiled—almost purred, really—as she stared greedily at the velvet-skinned member.

  Her last lover had been incredibly long and thin there, believing h
is extreme length made any kind of skill unnecessary.

  Jake, well, he was something else entirely. He might not have the inordinate length, but she should have expected, given the breadth of his shoulders and chest, that the man would be unbelievably thick in other places, too.

  My God.

  Soon he’d be doing exactly as he’d promised earlier—filling her so completely she’d wonder if she was going to break in half.

  They seemed to have skipped past the basics of a new sexual relationship, as Maddy understood them. Which meant she didn’t have to wait until the second or third time they slept together to do what she was just dying to do. Reaching out, she stroked him, one long caress along the back of his erection, then delicately touched the taut sacs beneath.

  He hissed. She remained undeterred. Spreading her hand wide, she encircled as much of him as she could, then slowly moved closer, her mouth going wet with hunger.

  “Maddy!”

  “Not a word,” she reminded him.

  Then there was no more talking, just the sensation of her lips sliding over the smooth round head, her tongue moistening him enough so she could take a little more. And a little more after that.

  Not oblivious to his clenched fists or the rock-hard muscles in his stomach, that said he was fighting very hard to remain in control, Maddy showed no mercy.

  She liked how he tasted. She liked how he felt in her mouth. She liked the scrape of his hard-yet-soft flesh against the insides of her cheeks, and the tiny groan he made when she took him all the way, as deep as he could possibly go.

  That was when he lost it.

  Without another word, Jake pushed her away. He grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her up, flipping her on her back so fast, she didn’t even have time to process the change in position.

  “Uh-uh. I don’t think so.”

  Maddy put on an intentional pout, liking that she’d driven him to such desperation. “But I was having fun.”

  “You can have more of that kind of fun later. I’m not coming in your mouth. I want to do it inside your body.”