After Hours Read online

  “Clothes really do make the man, and yours are a little outdated. You have way too fine of a body to hide it behind vintage.” Oh, man, had she just said that? It didn’t have to be a big deal that her huge mouth had taken over yet again. Not if she made it sound factual, like something that would naturally come from brazen Tawny. “Don’t look so surprised. You said you’ve been working out. Obviously, it’s paid off. If you wear the right clothes, many a wild and willing woman is going to take note. Let me help dress you, Andrew.”

  The smile appeared, sparking the yummy dimple in his cheek. His eyes glimmered with naughtiness. “As opposed to undressing me?”

  “What?” And had she thought of him as both yummy and naughty?

  “Sense of humor…I was working on it.”

  “Oh. I knew that.” Pasting on her best Tawny knows all look, she assured, “Trust me, shopping is a must-do event. We can pick up some new boxers and briefs while we’re at it.”

  “Both?”

  “Of course! Women want both. One puts what you have on display, the other hides it just enough to make us curious.” Not that she meant to include herself as part of that “us” factor, or to drop her gaze to his crotch. She’d wondered if he could see how damp her panties were. If the obvious bulge of his groin was a sign, the answer was a big yes. One big, thick, long, hard yes.

  Desperate to get her mind out of his briefs, or boxers, or whatever it was he wore beneath his grandpa slacks, Tawny looked up and said, “Just not both at once.”

  Andrew chuckled, the sound surprisingly deep and rich. Like his ass, his kiss and so much more, the sound shouldn’t have belonged to a nerd. “Right. I should be done working on your computer by six thirty. Is it okay if I pick you up at seven?”

  “It’s a date. A shopping date,” she amended quickly. She hoped it was fast enough to stop him from believing she wanted a date of any other kind. It hadn’t been even close to fast enough to stop her from wondering how a real date with Andrew, the nerd who seemed less and less like one with every moment, might end.

  Andy had endured the shopping trip, much of which had to do with the fact that his true taste matched Tawny’s well. He wasn’t making any promises about lasting through the movie. She’d suggested they take in the ten-o’clock show since they were already out, and the obvious place to take a woman on a first date was a dark theater. Plenty of opportunity to get his arm around her shoulders, or even better, his hand on her thigh.

  Sitting in the last row of the nearly empty theater, directly behind a couple who’d passed the necking stage and were now into the under-the-clothes, fondling and moaning stage, he didn’t want his arm around her shoulders or his hand on her thigh. He wanted her naked beneath him and crying out his name.

  Shit, he had to remember she was a potential felon. He’d used her morning absence from her computer to rig it to freeze up and require assistance to fix; he could have gone in the back way and networked to her system from his own, but didn’t want the tracks leading back to him. While she’d seemed hesitant about his looking at her computer while she was away, he hadn’t found anything to suggest suspicious activity, just file after file of design work. His gut said he’d find the same lack of evidence when he retrieved the mini recorder from her phone.

  Rick would be pissed when he reported in next, but Tawny wasn’t shaping up to be a criminal. From the way he’d observed her interacting with Jilly to the many pictures set about her living room of her with who looked to be her parents and brothers, he could guess the only thing she wanted out of Joyce was friendship. Between Joyce’s timid nature and Tawny’s out-there attitude, it seemed an unlikely match. But then, so did Tawny and an IT geek, and she’d been plenty attracted to him earlier today.

  With his face inches from her spread thighs, the scent of her arousal had been difficult to ignore. The sight of it darkening her skimpy panties had been damned impossible. The slick sounds and heavy breathing coming from the couple in the row in front of them was more than impossible to ignore. Only one thing made that sound: a finger pumping into an aroused pussy.

  Hot breath caressed Andy’s ear and he turned far enough to realize that the couple in front of them weren’t the only ones breathing hard. Tawny’s focus was riveted on the pair, her breath coming out in uneven waves.

  He should remember she was hands-off material and leave her alone. Only, the thought of toying with her was too much to resist. He leaned toward her until her springy red curls tickled his nose and his lips feathered along her earlobe, and whispered, “Is that the kind of thing you had in mind for my first date?”

  Observation was a key part of his PI job. Despite the darkness, he didn’t miss the way she shivered or the rough edge to her quiet laugh. “Not even close. That’s just—”

  “Exciting?” He didn’t bother to stop his stimulation from reflecting in his tone. Even nerds got horny, right?

  Tawny jerked her face toward him, their lips almost brushing. She pulled back a few inches. “Is it to you?”

  Andy leaned in closer, greedily inhaling her electric scent of spicy cinnamon. Kissing her wouldn’t be wrong, not if he did it for the sake of the assignment. He found her mouth in the dark and quieted her startled gasp with his lips. He rubbed once softly, then retreated far enough to murmur, “Call me a nerd, but, yeah, hearing the way she’s panting, knowing his fingers are inside her cunt, fucking her until she’s so wet and hot she can’t hold back any longer, that’s exciting.”

  “I’ve never heard you talk that way, Drew.”

  She sounded breathless. Not nearly breathless enough, though. He wanted her needy, hungry, aching for his touch—that’s the way he’d been since turning back to find himself face-to-crotch with her this morning at the office. He’d have her that way in a heartbeat if it wasn’t for the fact that he was working a case and that he’d already pushed his luck with his words.

  “Sorry, it slipped out. I guess I overheard one of my sisters’ boyfriends talk that way. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “I wasn’t offended. Just…surprised.”

  “Maybe I’m naturally impulsive after all.” And maybe the longer they sat there whispering about sex in the dark, the more he wanted that very thing.

  Adjusting his cock so that it didn’t feel so liable to split his boxers and slacks, Andy straightened and focused on the movie screen. He grabbed a mint from his coat pocket and popped it in his mouth, well aware that the cool taste would never be enough to calm his hard dick. Then again, he didn’t have to calm his dick—just make Tawny not want it.

  On the big screen, the guy in the hero role took out a high-tech gadget that resembled a souped-up Palm Pilot and proceeded to use it to track the whereabouts of the villain. Andy worked with and researched surveillance equipment regularly enough to know that the device didn’t exist in the real world, but Tawny wouldn’t know that. “No way, he has the new GeoMac V7,” he said, as if it was the best thing since cleavage. “I’d kill to get my hands on one of those things.” He glanced at her. “Do you have any idea the capabilities that thing has? With its speed and unlimited storage, you’d never need another handheld again.”

  Her mumbled, “Uh, yeah,” response assured he’d accomplished his goal of firmly resettling his geek hat and eliminating any chance he had of getting his mouth back on hers or anywhere else on her shapely body.

  “No kiss?” Tawny bit her lip to keep from calling herself an idiot out loud. So Andrew had walked her to her front door in a fashion that made their night out seem like a real date—that didn’t mean she wanted a kiss. She didn’t want one. She hadn’t even wanted the one he’d given her in the movie theater.

  Right, and she also hadn’t been so stimulated by the sounds of the guy in front of them fingering his date, she’d probably left behind a cum stain on her seat.

  It was strange and inexplicable and something she never saw coming in a million years, but she wanted Andrew’s kiss. Wanted his touch. She wanted to drag him inside her
house and live up to her wild-woman image again and again. And it wasn’t just because she’d gone so long without getting any that she deserved a Born-Again Virgin label. If that was the case, any man would do. But any man wasn’t looking good right now. Just one. The nerd standing in front of her.

  His eyebrows pulled together behind his glasses. “Do you think I need the practice?”

  “Honestly?”

  He nodded, and she smiled. Too bad for him that honesty wasn’t on the menu tonight. Not that he would be suffering from what was on the menu. “You weren’t that bad, but your technique could use some fine-tuning.”

  “I guess we’d better have one then.”

  “Great!”

  His look said he was shocked by her enthusiasm, and she quickly added, “I want you to be as ready as possible to face your next sexual conquest.”

  “Ah, gotcha. How’s this?”

  Andrew brought his hands to her forearms, lightly rubbing as he bent his head and brushed her lips with the same soft kiss he’d given her in the theater. Unlike in the theater, he didn’t stop with the subtle rub, but slid his hands down her hips and around to her bottom. Palming her ass, he tugged her to him and sank his tongue between her lips. Kneading her buttocks, he licked over her teeth and found her tongue with his. The taste of him exploded in her mouth, while the maleness of him burst to life against her belly.

  With each lap of his tongue against hers, his cock rubbed harder and grew longer, thicker against her stomach. Tawny sighed into his mouth, her fingers anxious to move between them and stroke his hard length. She’d accepted that she wanted him. There was nothing stopping her now. Nothing but the fact that they were standing on her front porch in a well-lighted subdivision and she’d told him that all this would be about was a kiss.

  Andrew lifted from her lips. Frustration unleashed within her over the idea that he was finished. Screw their audience—if anyone else was even up after midnight on a Tuesday night. She reached for him with the intention of tugging him back into another kiss. He moved his hands beneath her short, snug skirt and planted his lips on her neck before she could make a move. His tongue came out, licking at her hypersensitized skin. She sucked in a breath, and then a deeper one as he moved his hands beneath the waistband of her panties and cupped her naked ass. Like the night air, his hands were cool in contrast to her heated skin. The contact as he slid his hands lower and rimmed her sex from behind was too amazing to deny.

  “Yes, Drew! That’s exactly right. Keep going.”

  His tongue lifted from her neck, his mouth quickly replacing it. Nibbling on the damp flesh, he brought his hand around and fingered her from the front, running his hand along the length of her slit. Tawny’s pussy pulsed and she bit her lip to keep from begging him to go any farther. Seconds later, she learned that begging wasn’t required.

  One long finger pushed into her sheath and she cried out with the rapid entry. “Don’t stop now. You’re doing so well.”

  His mouth moved upward to her ear, first nibbling on the shell and then dipping its tongue into the center. She shivered as gooseflesh rose on her skin, and then whimpered as he sweetly worked his finger inside her wet, aching body. He pushed in and out, eliciting the same slick sound they’d heard in the theater. Those sounds had Tawny aroused beyond reason. These sounds, accompanied by the magnificent feel of Andrew fucking her with his finger, had her pussy afire and her legs quaking.

  He added a second finger and pumped them inside her dripping cunt. She closed her eyes at the force of pleasure building within her. Orgasm was just around the corner. Orgasm that crashed over her the instant he used his thumb on her clit. One brush and tremors sliced through her. Heat consumed her and her heart constricted so tightly, it bordered on pain.

  “Just like that, Drew. Oh, man, just like that!” she shouted as her sex contracted around him.

  Cream gushed around his fingers and soaked her panties. He continued to push into her, milking her sopping cunt with fast thrusts until the last of the juices drained from her body. Letting go of her ear with his mouth, Andrew stepped back to give her a thoughtful look.

  What was he thinking? Tawny silently questioned as she righted her clothing and struggled for sane breathing. No way in hell about statistics. Maybe about underwear, though. About the fact that she’d allowed hers to become drenched in plain view of her neighbors and anyone who might be driving by. Thank God she had her brazen image to fall back on.

  “So,” he finally said, “how was that?”

  That was his thought—or, rather, concern? She was lucky to still be standing in the aftermath of her orgasm, and he was afraid he hadn’t been good enough? If he wasn’t sure of how good he’d been, why tell him and ruin her chances of getting a second helping? “You’re nearly ready. A few more practice runs and I’m sure you’ll be at the top of your game.”

  A grin settled on his face that was almost cocky. Without a word, he turned and started for his car. He turned back after a few steps. She held her breath with the idea he might give her that second helping immediately. Could she be so lucky?

  “Tawny?”

  “Yeah?” Please ask to stay. Please.

  “Thanks for the lesson. I already feel more confident about finding the right woman to next warm my bed.”

  “Right. The lesson.” That’s all tonight had been in his eyes. If it wasn’t, he already would have found that right woman. He would see that she was standing in front of him. Only, she wasn’t, because Tawny was not his type any more than he was hers. Now, to convince her turbulent hormones and aching pussy…

  3

  “H ow goes the manhunt?” Jilly asked, entering the sixth-floor ladies’ room and capturing Tawny’s gaze in the mirror that extended the length of the double-sink basin.

  Tawny stopped applying her signature hot-pink, you know you want to do me lipstick to frantically glance around the room.

  Jilly laughed. “Relax, already. We’re alone. And since when have you cared if someone hears us talking about sex? Unless you’ve finally dropped the love-goddess charade.” She cast a meaningful look at Tawny’s second-skin attire: knit black pants and a low-cut red sweater made complete by three-inch black heels. “Judging by the clothes, I’m guessing not.”

  Tawny should have dropped the act. She should have told Andrew from the beginning that she wasn’t the brazen woman she made herself out to be. But she hadn’t, and now she was trapped into keeping up the charade until Andrew’s lust lessons were complete.

  Right. Trapped. Ending last night with his masterful hands up her skirt had been such a hardship. Orgasms always were.

  Tawny rolled her eyes, hoping Jilly would take it as a “whatever” expression. “I don’t care if my own supposedly breathtaking sex life is put on display. I just don’t want Andrew’s name being brought up and people thinking there’s something going on between us.”

  “Is there?”

  Last night, after the way he’d left, Tawny had been sure the answer to that question was no. Then she’d lain awake for hours, recalling the feel of his erection cradled against her belly, and the hungry way he’d kissed her. Those weren’t the signs of a man using her solely for sexual education. They were the signs of a man who wanted to get her naked and sweaty as badly as she ached to have him the same way.

  God help her, she was going bonkers with lust for the geek. “I told you, I’m giving him lessons on how to get sex with other women. It has nothing to do with me.”

  “Mmm…” Jilly caught her lower lip in her teeth, looking as though she didn’t believe Tawny. She released her lip and turned back to the mirror. Relocating a few errant strands of blond hair, she said, “So, I know I can’t be there Saturday night to help find your new stud man, but what do you say I come over in the afternoon and help you get ready?”

  Saturday night?

  Tawny recalled yesterday’s conversation and grimaced. At the time, landing a one-night lover had seemed the only cure to her Andrew craving. Now
, despite the fact that her Andrew craving was stronger than ever, it was the last thing she wanted to do.

  She shot her friend a “get real” look. “Do you honestly think I would go to a club on my own?”

  “Brazen Tawny would.”

  Oh, that was low. Throwing her alter ego at her. “Yeah, well, open your eyes, girl, because I’m not brazen Tawny.”

  A knowing smile in place, Jilly glanced at her snug attire. “Could have fooled me.” She sobered. “In fact, you did fool me. As you might recall, even I bought into the whole wild-woman routine for quite some time.”

  “You were preoccupied.” Jilly had been so concerned with keeping up her cool-operator persona that she’d missed Tawny’s transformation from everyday girl to bad girl with too damned much perkiness. That didn’t change the fact that Tawny wasn’t a bad girl. Or perky. Take now, for example. She didn’t feel perky in the least—more like doing bodily harm to her big fat mouth for getting her into this situation.

  “The point remains—”

  “That I have a design due to the marketing heads in less than an hour,” Tawny finished for Jilly and started for the ladies’ room door. She couldn’t have this conversation now. Not when she wasn’t convinced Jilly didn’t have a point. The way she’d acted last night, shamelessly offering herself to Andrew in public view, was something brazen Tawny would do, but never the real Tawny. Unless the real Tawny and brazen Tawny were becoming one.

  Refusing to ponder the possibility, Tawny stepped out into the hallway. Or so she thought she had. The sudden pain that exploded between her temples suggested she’d actually plowed into a brick wall.

  “Whoa!” Two strong hands grabbed hold of her forearms, setting her back a ways and stabilizing her. “You okay?”

  “No kidding,” Jilly’s voice came from beside her. “I thought you were going to rebound off him and take me out.”

  Tawny gave her head a shake. The pain that had come with the collision of her nose into what she now realized was a man’s chest turned to a shallow throb as that man’s face came into focus. Andrew.