Tuesday swallowed her hesitance and said, Something just occurred to me. Hit me a little harder than Id expected it to.
Your husband?
What a weird conversation to be having and yet it was okay to share with him. So she did. I was just thinking I hadnt had a man up here. Ever.
He sat next to her on the bed, leaning his weight back on an arm as he looked her over. He died when?
Four and a half years ago.
Its been years since youve been with anyone? His voice got a little thready and it made her smile, even through the memories.
Good lord, no.
She loved sex. Loved it. When Eric had been alive theyd had it often until hed started to get sick. Looking back it should have been a clue but she hadnt seen it. Maybe if she had sooner it could have made a difference.
That was definitely not a road shed be going down.
Hed been waiting for her to keep speaking. Knowing thered be more. And there was, of course. I just dont here.
He rumbled in his chest, again, approval and agreement. It was a good, solid sound and she liked it a lot.
I do what I need to do but I dont bring it here. Said in her head, those words made her feel tough and independent. Out loud they made her sad that shed lived like that and considered it enough.
This is a seriously sexy bedroom. He shrugged, not getting worked up at what shed said. Their loss.
He wasnt going to push about Eric. About anything. She breathed a little easier.
She swung herself around to straddle his lap. The surprised pleasure on his features thrilled her.
That was sort of a boner killer, huh?
The stuff you say. It just shoots from your mouth. Its awesome. He writhed a little, stroking his totally not dead boner against her. Where only a thin layer of cotton and his jeans separated them.
You might want to know this, about my boner, that is. It takes an awful lot to kill it. And frankly, youre so delicious Im not sure it can be done when Im looking at you, much less when youre in my lap, those gorgeous breasts just right in front of me, the heat of your pussy against my cock. With all you bring itd take a nuclear bomb to kill.
This was happy in a way she hadnt felt in so long. It rushed through her as she soaked it in. She hadnt even realized how starved shed been for this. Not just sex, but zing. That connection with someone that lifts them into a totally different category in your life.
Bittersweet pleasure bloomed through her as she leaned down and buried her face in his neck as shed been craving for hours. She smiled against the skin right where it met his shoulder and took a deep breath.
His fingers on her sides tightened and she again thought about the size of his hands. Also big there.
He held her, fingers spread against the fabric of her dress, but he seemed to burn through the material to scald her skin.
She pulled back so she could look at him and right away she was smiling because Sharon and Michael Hurley really did make four stellar human beings in the looks, sex appeal and charisma department.
His grin slid from amused into sensual confidence and promise. Like he hit a switch, though she knew it wasnt put on. Shed seen his stage persona and how he acted with other people. She knew this heat between them was totally real.
It was more that all this simmered beneath a surface he worked very hard to keep intact. He drew that away sometimes to let her see to the heart of his emotions and that made her sort of...gooey. It flattered her that hed share so much intimacy. It was erotic. Simple and so powerful.
She shivered and he reached up to pull her back down to him. Once he was near enough, he stretched up to kiss her chin and then her neck.
He held her as he licked over her collarbone, which shed never considered exciting but clearly Ezra had some sort of collarbone secret because it worked. One of her hands fisted in the coverlet where shed leaned her weight as he pretty much set off fireworks by kissing her freaking collarbone.
* * *
SHE LET OUT a moan that echoed through her body straight up his cock, which was already hard to the point of pain.
He slid a palm up her back to where her dress was tied and paused a moment to be sure she was still with him. Thats when she undulated, grinding herself against his dick. Close enough he felt the heat of her.
She sat up above him so he moved to sit, as well, holding her in his lap as they perched on the edge of her bed.
Two or three seconds and he peeled the dress away from the most incredible breasts hed ever seen. Andnot that hed ever say it out loud in the same state as Tuesdayhed seen enough breasts to be somewhat of an expert.
So he couldnt be blamed for being focused on the tight, dark nipples capping some seriously fine C cups through the sheer peach-colored material of a bra that also fastened around her neck. Clever.
That was unexpected. But I like it. He bent his head to press his lips to the left curve of her cleavage before he popped the back open and got rid of the bra. I like this even more.
He took her breasts in his hands and she sucked in a breath, her hands braced on his shoulders as she arched her back.
Cant lieI like that, too, she gasped out as he tugged on her nipples.
He needed more. More access. More everything.
He half stood, bringing her with him and spun, dropping her on her back on her bed before settling between her thighs.
Thats when he finally noticed the dragonfly tattooed on her belly, just beneath and between her breasts. An art nouveau design with an Alphonse Mucha flair in delicate, simple lines.
Beautiful. He licked over it and up the bottom swell of her left breast. Her fingers slid into his hair, holding him in place.
He delighted in her responses. The way her skin, nearly bronze in the low light, pebbled up as he licked over it. The sounds she made would never let him misunderstand what she liked and expected. A soft, ragged moan of pleasure, an impatient huff, a pleading sigh. She tugged a little harder than necessary when he did something she didnt like and arched into him when he hit a good spot.
There was something so fearless and fierce about her, about the way she liked what she liked and demanded it. It was a sort of full-tilt sensual experience, but it was real and raw and made him hot all over. It fed that gnawing hunger that drove him so hard he was dizzy with it.
Everything about her pressed against him in the best sort of way. The air smelled of her, of that unique warm, spicy floral scent she wore. Of her sex. Of her skin. He came to attention when he realized hed be leaving his scent all over her things. Yes, he liked that a lot.
Her body spread out on her bed excited his senses as he took her in. She was tall. Powerful. He loved all the juxtaposition she came with. Athletic but not so much she didnt still have the swell at her hips, the curves and feminine abundance that made his mouth water. She might dress up and wear heels, but her hands were those of a woman who used them to work.
Hed seen the jewelry she made and the work shed framed. Tuesday was a woman who loved creating beautiful things and he could totally relate. She was bold and strong and vibrant even as she was also cool and elegant and soft.
Confident in a way most of the women hed been with in the past couldnt get near. And yet vulnerable. The whole of her was everything he craved and worried about at the same time.
Shed taken off her little tortoiseshell glasses and left them on the table so now he could see the smattering of freckles on her cheeks and just how long her lashes really were.
Hed seriously never seen anything like her hair. It was magnificent, an inky dark mass of gorgeous curls. It looked even better spread out around her head as she lay in bed.
Her eyes slowly opened at she stared up at him. There was no sense of urgency. This was playing out how it should, which made him a little nervous, but it wasnt outweighed by the need racing through him to have her.
He hissed as she slid her hand up inside his shirt, over the skin of his back, her fingertips digging into the muscle, urging.
She tipped her neck as he kissed down it and then down her body until he backed off the bed enough to stand. I need that dress off. I want to see all of you.
Quickly, she was up and on her knees, her dress whipped off and tossed to a nearby chair, remaining in nothing more than a whisper-thin pair of panties in that same sheer material as the bra.
He was so fortunate.
Ezra tipped his chin at her. All.
She shimmied from her underpants and continued to kneel there, facing him, utterly and gloriously naked.
He took a long look at her. Beauty, you slay me.
He yanked his shirt off and she sighed happily.
You should take your shirt off onstage. Or maybe not. She frowned briefly. But in front of me you should whenever you like. Or whenever I like. Whichever.
His hands moved to the buttons on his jeans and her gaze never left them. All in all, when he finallycarefullygot out of them and his boxers it was really clear how much he enjoyed her gaze on him.
And that nearly painful erection nearly lost all its vigor when a thought occurred to him. Please tell me you have condoms.
She froze. Shit. Hang on. She scrambled from the bed and headed into her bathroom but shortly returned with some little packets he recognized as his brand. I do. Should I give you one for your wallet? She winked.
Laughing, he grabbed her as she walked by and sent them both to the mattress.
I wasnt going out looking to get laid.
She reached between them, wrapping her fist around him and giving his cock a few slow thrusts and sending his thoughts into disarray. Yeah? Seems to me, Ezra, that you and I have been headed right here since the first time I met you.
Damn, when she was so bold and demanding it sent a wave of desire through him, hot and fast like a wildfire. He wanted inside her and right that very moment.
Instead, he forced himself to slow down and enjoy.
Yes. That much is true. But he hadnt known for sure that shed be there and maybe hed been a little nervous and all his attention had been on the show. Hed forgotten until that moment. He wasnt good at the hey, I might get laid later better take a rubber game anymore. But I wasnt going to take anything as a given anyway.
He took her mouth again, starting off sweet, playful even. But within a minute or two things had deepened and he was so hard that even if he had got in her right then hed have come too soon.
That wasnt on his to-do list.
He eased down her body, licking the place where thigh met torso. She made a deep sound, a sort of gasp and moan all at once.
He loved that shed left the lights on so he could look his fill. He spread her open and did just that. She didnt try to close her legs against him or shy away. Instead she watched him look at her, pleased.
He took a lick and the sound she made in response was a lot like what he did when he tasted something delicious. He understood it because he wanted to make that same sound at the salty sweet of her on his tongue.
He built her climax slowly, tasting her, getting his fill of her. When she rolled her hips, urging him and he wasnt ready just yet, he pressed her hips to the mattress and her body responded just as loudly as her moan.
Oh hell yes. She liked it as much as he did.
He wasnt going to rush along when it came to the first orgasm he ever gave her, after all. Ezra wanted her to have his touch burned into her brain, wanted to make her come so hard he pushed every other memory of every other man away.
Deep down he could be petty and admit it was daunting to think about competing with the memory of a dead man. Ezra wanted Tuesday thinking about him.
Her body seduced him as he touched and kissed, nibbled and licked. All he felt, tasted and heard was her. Even the breath he gulped in was laced with her scent.
Something about her drove him to please, to preen and show off, and when he finally knew she was ready, he kept his pace relentless, pushing her hard and fast as he slid two fingers deep.
With a hoarse cry, she arched, and the hands thatd been on his shoulders shifted, her nails digging in, urging him on. He kept going, gentling little by little until he finally pressed a kiss to her belly and moved back up her body.
Now that the edge has been taken off, I have a few more things to show you.
Her smile was lazy and pleased. Cant wait.
He bent, licking across a nipple when a ruckus loud enough to hear easily from Tuesdays room sounded downstairs.
Alarmed, Ezra moved to stand quickly and quietly. You stay here. Call 911 if necessary.
No! Before hed even realized it, she was next to him in a robe.
Downstairs someone yelled Tuesdays name. At least he could thank his lucky stars he didnt have to argue with Tuesday about staying out of the way of a freaking prowler.
Shit, thats Nat.
Before he could tell her to hold up, Tuesday rushed out. With a curse, he found his pants and got them on. He snatched up a shirt on his way out and got it on right as he entered the kitchen.
Natalie looked to Tuesday with a smirk but it was a fast thing, soon replaced by worry. Tuesday had ignored it, so Ezra would let her deal with Natalie on this topic. It wasnt that he expected it not to get out if he and Tuesday finally hooked up. His family was nosy and interfering. But he didnt even know what it was between him and Tuesday yet, so it wasnt something he could explain.
Natalies expression made his gut tighten and luckily before he could demand to know what was wrong she started to fill him in. I tried calling your phone and Paddy tried Ezra. Im sorry to bug you.
Paddy came in from the living room. Is he here? He stopped short when he saw Ezra. Thank God.
Seeing his brother so worried beat at him. Ezra stepped in and took control. He touched Paddys shoulder. Patrick, youre freaking me out. Tell me whats going on.
Its Maddie.
Maddie was Vaughans oldest daughter, one of their two nieces.
Ezras heart pounded. What about her?
Appendix. Vaughan stopped by Kellys place on his way home from the arena, but they had just decided to take her to the emergency room because of her fever. He called Mom from there. Apparently if theyd waited even half an hour more it would have been really bad and burst. Theyre operating on her right now.