Chapter 17

Remembering the way it had felt the night before, Pepper reached out and closed her fingers around it, stroking the soft skin and feeling the steel hardness beneath it. Kyle groaned and clamped his fingers gently around her wrist.
"I should have said look, don't touch. Damn, Pepper. You see what you do to me? Let's not rush things."
She licked her lips again and nodded. What would he think if she told him she'd never made love - had sex, Pepper; but this isn't just sex - in a shower before?
He cupped her breasts in his large, warm palms, squeezing them gently then catching her sensitive nipples between thumbs and forefingers. He locked his gaze with hers, desire swirling in the dark-chocolate pools of his eyes as he teased and toyed with her hardened buds. When he bent his head and pulled one pebbled tip into his mouth, sucking deeply, she felt the tug all the way to her core. The pulse between her thighs thundered in response, and she pressed her legs together to contain it.
How did this man have such power over her? From the first unplanned kiss yesterday morning to the incredible night in his bed to this very moment, her body responded with an intensity so unfamiliar to her.
He's leaving Monday. This is only an interlude. Enjoy it but don't expect more.
Then her brain shut off as she gave herself over to sensation. The throbbing in her core spread throughout her body, sensitizing every nerve, every pulse point. Kyle lowered one hand, coasting his fingertips over her belly button and the slight curve of her tummy. The faint brush of his hand over the curls covering her mound sent more sparks flying.
But then he slipped one finger between the folds of her sex, finding the little bundle of nerves and rubbing it with the tip of his finger.
"Ohhhhhh." The sound whispered from her on an exhalation, and she had to grab his upper arms to steady herself.
Kyle lifted his other hand from the breast it cradled and moved it to her chin, tilting her head up to him. With the water pouring down on them in a soft rain shower effect, he traced the seam of her mouth, licking the surface of each lip before nudging them open with the tip of his tongue.
His tongue was a flame, heating her inside and out, meeting the fire rising up from her core as he stroked her and caressed her. With one finger deep inside her, he found her little nub of nerves and flesh with his thumb. It was so sensitive from his attention to it that his touch set off another chain of tiny spasms deep inside her core. Her inner muscles clenched down hard on his finger, rocking back and forth on it. When he added a second finger, stretching her, the spasms increased.
Pepper was lost in a wave of sensuality, every part of her on fire from the dual assault of his tongue and his hand. She dug her nails into his biceps to keep herself from falling as the coil of need low and deep in her body began to unwind. He tasted so good, felt so good, she didn't want it ever to end. Yet she wanted to reach that crest he was driving her toward.
She had no idea how long they stood there. Time ceased to exist while he played her body as if it was an erotic instrument. He teased her, brought her to the edge then backed off, over and over. Finally, when she was ready to beg, he added yet another finger, pressed down hard on the nub, sucked her tongue deep into his mouth, and took her over the edge.
She trembled against him as the spasms rocked her, water sluicing down on her, every part of her body shuddering in response. At last, the tremors subsided, leaving her weak and trembling. Kyle broke the kiss, feathering his lips across her cheek. Then he slid his hand from her body and pulled her against him, holding her tight. Even in her euphoric state, she was acutely conscious of the hard, swollen thickness of his arousal pressing against her.
"We didn't take care of you," she whispered.
"We will." He nipped her lower lip. "After."
"After what?"
"After our shower."
He lifted the bottle of body wash from its alcove in the shower wall, poured a generous amount into his hands, and worked it into a rich lather. His hands coasted over her still-quivering body, paying careful attention to each and every part. Kneeling on the tile, he carefully applied lather to her ankles, her knees, her thighs. He touched the curve of her thighs and her hips and slid over the gentle swell of her calves. Rising, he applied the bubbles along the curve of her bottom and up her spine. Over her shoulders and down to her breasts, until he'd touched every inch of her body.
"My turn," he told her, handing her the bottle.
Pepper wasn't sure she could stand by herself long enough to do him justice, but she drew a deep breath and poured the liquid soap into her cupped palms. His body was a work of art, all hard. He must work out, she thought. His hands were too soft to be doing manual labor.
She was mesmerized by the beauty of him, touching him everywhere. When she spread the lather over the tight curve of his buttocks, his cheeks clenched then forcibly relaxed. Scraping her fingernails lightly over his nipples when she soaped his chest, she was rewarded with a sharp intake of his breath. But her touching his shaft rising proudly from his body made him blow out a breath and grab her wrists.
"I'm too close," he told her in a raw voice. "Wrap those graceful fingers around me and I might embarrass myself."
"But - "
"Let's rinse and dry off. I can't wait much longer to be inside you."
It seemed to Pepper it took mere seconds to accomplish that, and then they were on the bed, her body stretched out beneath his, her legs wide to accommodate him. Slipping his hands beneath her bottom, he lifted her to him and slowly, steadily entered her. She gasped at the fullness of the intrusion, her body responding by coating him with her liquid. She lifted her hips, allowing her to take him deeper. He filled every inch of her, lightly scraping the sensitive nerves and hitting that very sweet spot no one else had somehow ever been able to find.
Then he was moving back and forth, in and out, ratcheting up the tempo in steady increments until she lost all sense of who and what and where she was. All that existed was this man and the incredible way he made her feel. Then she was flying, over the cliff and into velvet space, her body shuddering with his as he filled her over and over and over. Spasms shook her, tremors rippled through her, and she clenched down on him over and over and over.
At last, she collapsed, her head on the soft pillow beneath it, her body limp and spent. Kyle bowed his head, still struggling for breath, his heart beating against hers. Then he gave her a long, slow kiss before easing himself from her body and moving to dispose of the condom.
Pepper knew she should get up and go to her room right now. Taking the chance of being caught two nights in a row was pushing her luck too much. But when he curled his body around hers, pulled her into him, and slid one arm around so his hand could cup her breast, she couldn't find it within herself to get up.
For a little while, she told herself. Just for a very little while. But her eyes closed, and her spent body fell into a deep slumber.