Her Man Friday(57)
Author: Elizabeth Bevarly

"Come summer," he said, "I’ll hold you to it."

She opened her mouth to say something else, but the hand on her thigh began to creep upward, and anything she might have said dried up in her throat. And when the fingers of that hand crept in between her legs, strumming along her sensitive inner thigh, all she could manage was a very soft "Oh…" as she tilted her head to the side.

Leo took advantage of her position to nuzzle the curve where her neck joined her shoulder, rubbing his lips over the tender flesh before dragging a few open-mouthed kisses along the column of her throat. When he did, he also inched his hand further up her thigh, moving his fingers into the heated juncture for a brief caress before continuing on to palm the firm globe of her bottom.

Lily nearly lost her footing at that single, swift touch, but Leo tightened his hold on her, pulling her up more intimately against himself. When he did, she felt the press of his erection along her belly, and she almost fainted again. My, but he was a healthy man, she thought. Not that she’d had a lot of lovers to compare him to, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that he was quite… progressive… in his… thinking.

Impatient to do a little touching of her own, Lily dropped her own hands to his waist and thrust them without ceremony up under his sweater. Beneath her fingertips, she felt heat and ridges and soft springy hair, and she couldn’t stop herself from skimming her open hands up and down and around his entire torso. The hungry touches seemed to spur Leo into action—not that he hadn’t been acting already—because suddenly, his own caresses grew far more demanding.

The hand cupping her bottom moved upward, to the waistband of her tights, then dipped easily inside to immediately reclaim its place against her bare skin. In doing so, he pushed his fingers into the sensitive cleft, nudging one in particular more intimately against her. Again, Lily felt her legs go weak beneath her, so she pushed her hands higher, to his bare shoulders, in an effort to keep herself standing. When she did, the fabric of his sweater rose, too, exposing for her eyes what her hands had already discovered.

He was, in a word, glorious. All bump and sinew and satin. Helplessly, she nuzzled him, running her lips over one round, flat nipple, before laving it with the flat of her tongue and tugging it into her mouth for a taste. When she did, the hands holding her body clenched tighter, pushing her forward, so she tasted him again. And again. And again.

Gradually, she registered the fact that he’d released her skirt and was moving his other hand upward, but it wasn’t until he was palming her breast with much possession that Lily moved her body so that she could more easily accommodate him. When she did, she moved her own hand lower, to the hard ridge beneath his trousers that attested to the depth of his desire. Flattening her hand, she rubbed her palm against him, hard, because she sensed somehow that that was the way he would like it. Again and again she moved her hand over him, feeling him ripen with every stroke. She was about to unfasten his trousers so that she could take him completely in her hand, when he suddenly—and completely—released her.

"What’s wrong?" she asked as she stumbled away.

He caught her easily before she could fall, but didn’t pull her back up against himself, as she had hoped he would.

"I need for you to be naked," he said succinctly, his eyes blazing, his breathing ragged. "Right now. I need for you to take your clothes off for me, Lily, because there’s a lot more I want to do to you before we actually…" His voice trailed off, and he licked his lips. "Take your clothes off."

She told herself she should be offended by the command in his tone, but instead she only became more aroused. He wasn’t demanding because he wanted to be in control, she realized. He was demanding because he really, really, really needed for her to be naked. Right now.

So, without hesitation, she crossed her arms over herself and gripped the hem of her sweater, tugging it up and over her head and releasing it in one swift, fluid move. She tugged first one boot, and then the other, from her feet, disposing of them near her discarded sweater. Then she hooked each thumb simultaneously in the waistband of her skirt and tights and pushed both to the floor.

And all the while, Leo stood there watching every move she made, without comment, without movement, but with quite a bit of interest. Then she stood before him clad in only a wisp of pale peach bra and panties. Meeting his gaze levelly with hers, tossing the long strands of her hair over one shoulder, she reached behind herself to unhook the bra, then let it tumble unheeded to the floor. His eyes widened at the sight of her bare br**sts, but still he neither moved, nor spoke. So Lily tugged her panties off, as well, tossing them, like everything else, away without a care.

There was something unbelievably erotic about being completely na**d with a fully dressed man, she thought. She would have sworn she would feel vulnerable and defensive and uncomfortable in such a situation, but something about standing so flagrantly in front of Leo made her feel powerful instead. For a moment, he only gazed at her, as if he’d never seen a na**d woman before. And although Lily knew a man like him would have seen more than a few women naked, she could almost believe that she was the most important one of the bunch.

He began to stride slowly toward her then, and she suddenly felt less confident. He stopped when only a few scant inches separated them, and without a word, lifted his hand to fully cover her breast. Just like that, he claimed her, and just like that, Lily knew there would never be anyone else. His other hand easily covered her other breast, and he squeezed both gently before moving his hands behind her, through and beneath her hair, then down her back and over her bottom again.

Then he pulled her close, into the cradle of his thighs and said, "Now take my clothes off."

She wasn’t sure she could manage such a thing, but she gripped the hem of his sweater and pushed it higher, until the placement of his arms hindered her progress. "I’m going to need a little help," she said, smiling.

He smiled back. "Oh, all right. As long as we can take up where we left off."

She nodded, not sure she trusted her voice.

When he lifted his arms above his head, she jerked the sweater up and over, and then it, too, joined the pile of clothes on the floor. Seeing their garments mingled that way made Lily feel warm inside, and she easily moved her hands to the zipper of his trousers.

"Take your shoes off," she said.

But she didn’t release his zipper as he toed off each of his loafers and kicked them aside. That done, however, she pushed the zipper down, down, down, until a flash of bright red silk greeted her. She chuckled at the realization that all this time, beneath all his frumpy tweed and corduroy, there lurked skimpy little red silk briefs.