Naked Pursuit. Jill Monroe
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forethought at all. But this next kiss would be deliberate and purposeful. And because of that, this moment felt more important.
She pulled him into the corner and leaned against the smooth wall of painted cinderblock, the coolness seeping into her overheated skin through the thin layer of her shirt. Owen braced his weight on his arm above her head. His gaze moved to her mouth, and a half smile flickered on his lips that quickly changed to an intense hunger.
Yes. She wanted to feel that. Exactly that. He gently stroked her lower lip with his thumb, and her eyes drifted shut for a moment so she could savor how he made her respond. Her blood heated in her veins and anticipation rushed through her. She drew the tip of his thumb into her mouth and he groaned. The harsh sound made her body tremble.
Never had she responded to a man like this. Never had her body craved a man’s caress on her skin so much. Stella hungered for his mouth, his taste.
“I feel like I’m losing my mind over you.”
The raw wonder in his voice triggered a deep yearning inside her. Her knees grew a little shaky and warmth flooded between her legs.
“You’re not the only one,” she admitted, her voice unsteady, and he graced her with that brief half smile again.
Stella reached for him. Her fingers curled into the muscles of his shoulders and urged him closer. He lowered his mouth to hers. It was the barest of strokes, and yet she shivered from that too-slight caress. She breathed in his intoxicating scent as her eyes closed. She locked her hands behind Owen’s neck, his short hair tickling the backs of her fingers. He continued his sensual light exploration of her mouth then finally his tongue traced the seam of her lips.
Stella gasped at the sweet sensation, and then his tongue twined with hers. Exactly.
If fourteen-year-old her had experienced the worst lip-lock at a place like this, the twenty-five-year-old Stella was wiping that memory away for good with this incredible, mind-boggling kiss. This time her lips found their target and she pressed her body against the strength of his chest, her nipples tingling inside the restrictive cups of her bra. She breathed and tasted and felt only Owen. Reveled in the sensations spiraling and building inside her.
A shrill whistle sounded near her ear. And not the silly, exaggerated I-caught-you-making-out kind of whistle. But the teacher-telling-you-to-stop-throwing-dirt-on-the-playground screech that sent a wave of panic through her system even now that she was an adult. Stella broke her kiss-tender lips from his and forced her eyes open.
She had to squint and blink a few times before the picture in front of her eyes righted itself. A man sporting a black-and-white-striped referee shirt skated toward them and waved his hands. The suspect whistle hung around his neck, suspended from a lanyard.
He slid to a stop beside them. “You can’t do that in here. This is a family place.” He emphasized the word with a disgusted shake of his hand.
“It’s adult skate night,” Owen said after glancing around to confirm that no children had magically appeared in the rink. They’d shared a harmless kiss in the shadows of a darkened corner.
“This isn’t my first lap around the rink,” the referee said. “I know what comes next.”
Yeah, she did, too. Not that either of them would have indulged in such a public place. Then again, how long before her hands found that sweet curve of his ass? Or his fingers toyed with her nipples? Her breasts grew heavy at just the thought of him palming her so intimately.
“Uh, Owen. I don’t want to skate anymore.”
His gaze lowered to hers, his eyes searching in the dark. He must have sensed the sexual cravings that battered her senses, because his spine abruptly straightened and he cleared his throat. Twice.
“Neither do I.” His voice was a whispered promise, and a shiver shimmied between her shoulder blades and settled in the small of her back. Then he focused his attention to the ref. “Sorry if we disturbed anyone. We’re leaving.”
Yeah, she couldn’t wait to be alone with this sexy man. Owen laced his fingers through hers and they moved away, the echo of the ref’s wheels on the floor sounding behind them as he returned to the rink. “Hate adult skate,” he mumbled.
“Tony,” Owen called, finding Tony and Hayden nearly hidden by a row of lockers a few rows away from them.
“Careful, you two,” Stella teased. “There’s a no-kissing policy here.”
“Found that out a moment ago ourselves,” Hayden told her, smiling.
“We’re going to exchange our shoes,” Tony said, and Owen winked at Stella before he left, causing a shaft of awareness down her back.
Beside her, Hayden seemed to be experiencing her own struggles because the woman couldn’t focus on anything but Tony’s backside as the two men walked away.
“Good for you,” Stella told her.
Hayden nodded. “Yeah, it is good. I’ve been working so hard lately, I needed a bit of distraction,” she confessed, her gaze once again straying over to Tony.
“I know what you mean. Everyone always says how rough the third year of med school is on a person, but I guess I hadn’t realized just how much of a toll it was taking on me until tonight, when I finally relaxed. I don’t think the tension has left my body in two and a half years.”
“Well, tonight I plan to get all tense, then relax. Then tense all up again.” Hayden wiped a hand over her face. “Oh, I make such terrible jokes sometimes.”
But the two of them began to laugh. Hell, Stella had just been discovered making out like an errant teenager at a school dance, but instead of feeling mortified, she was giggling with a near stranger, and it felt great. Really great.
Tony reached for Hayden’s hand just as Owen draped an arm around her shoulders. And that felt even better.
“I don’t know whether to be relieved or frightened to find two women laughing,” Owen teased.
“Oh, it’s both,” Stella assured him, trying to insert every sexy tone she’d ever heard in a movie straight into her voice.
Must have worked, because the smile faded from Owen’s face. “See you guys later,” he said, not even bothering to look away from her to address Hayden and Tony.
Hayden gave her the thumbs-up.
After stopping only to put on their shoes, they fled the rink like two teenagers who’d snuck out of the house without being caught. The cool night air caressed her skin as they stepped outside.
“You don’t mind walking back to the car instead of waiting on Tony and Hayden? I doubt we got too far from PharmaTest.”
But who was to know since they’d spent the entire ride in the backseat in each other’s arms? Stella shook her head; a little night air would do her good.
“How’d you end up at PharmaTest?” he asked, matching the length of his stride to hers as they walked. He draped his arm around her shoulders again; the heat from his body warmed her.
“I volunteer for a lot of medical studies, or at least I used to. I’m in med school now, so I don’t have much time. But since it’s fall break and this was an overnight trial, I thought I could fit it in. What about you?” she asked.
“I knew someone.”
That’s all he needed to say. At some point in his life, Owen had lost a friend. It struck her as something special that he cared enough to try to make sure others did make it to see another day. “That’s the real reason doctors do what we do. To help others.”
This wasn’t just a guy she could take to bed and leave all emotion behind. Owen was a man she could actually like. Which made him not the best candidate for a one-off night of ecstasy, but she wasn’t backing away now. Owen was the man she wanted.
“Where to?” he asked when they were