Boys Of Summer: Sliding Home / Fever Pitch / The Sweet Spot

Clearing his throat and raising his voice, he said, “Hello?”

The woman immediately jerked her head around to stare at him. Which was the exact moment he recognized her.

“You,” he whispered, completely shocked. He hadn’t known what to expect, but it definitely had not been this. Because the cursing, dusty little jeans-wearing package was the same dark-eyed angel he’d seen an hour ago sitting four tables away.

Riley smiled. Things were suddenly looking up. Fate, aided by a box full of foam hands, had given him a second chance. And maybe now he would go ahead and act on his devil-red hunger for the woman who’d been wearing the devil-red dress.

5

SMILING, Riley watched the flustered woman analyze his presence. She, of course, recognized him, too. He hadn’t changed his entire persona in the hour since he’d left Diamond.

While they stared at one another, those big eyes of hers reached saucer diameter. “What…?”

“I heard a scream,” he explained, raising his hands, palms out, so she wouldn’t feel threatened. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. “I’m fine, thanks.” Frowning at the mess, she added, “My stock attacked me.”

“Kinda gives new perspective to the idea of roving hands.”

Her eyes twinkled. “I’ve known guys who seemed to have more appendages than an octopus before, but this was a bit extreme.”

Lips twitching, he stepped closer. Though tempted to ask her if she needed a hand, he modified his offer. “Need some help?”

“Thanks for not asking me the obvious.”

“Busted,” he said with an apologetic shrug. “I almost did.”

“I probably would have slugged you if you had.”

Since the woman probably only stood about five foot four, he didn’t consider that much of a threat. But the fierce look on her face was so damned adorable, he didn’t dare laugh at her. He’d learned growing up with his petite mother—who could silence any of her six-foot-plus sons with one frown—not to question the power of an upset woman.

Hiding his amusement, he looked around, wondering why she’d been “attacked” only by the hands. Everything else was stacked just as haphazardly. She was lucky the shelf of replica trophies hadn’t landed on her head. “Got a little overstock here?”

Her succulent lower lip stuck out in a weary pout. “I think my inventory reproduces at night when I leave.”

“Which is why you’re here working so late? Trying to prevent any…procreation?” His voice softened on the last word, and he heard his own intensity as a whole litany of images returned to mind. The ones he’d been picturing when he’d considered taking her up on her sultry, unspoken invitation at dinner.

He couldn’t help eyeing the foam hands. That yellow mountain might be a mess to clean up, but he’d bet it was very soft.

The woman sucked in a deep, audible breath, and her lips parted as she licked nervously at them. She’d heard his hesitation and correctly interpreted it. Something deep and basic passed between them—an acknowledgement of the brief connection they’d shared earlier in the evening. The realization that they were both feeling the same heated awareness. Maybe even a silent admission that something was going to happen.

Something exciting. Something erotic. Something amazing.

He hesitated, wondering why he was feeling none of the reservations he’d felt before about indulging in one night of erotic sex with a seductive stranger. Because right now, he wanted more than anything to taste her lips and feel that slender body pressed against his own.

She rose, kicking a few #1 hands out of the way. He didn’t waste time watching her feet, however, not when her tight jeans were much more interesting. As was the shirt she wore, which highlighted the indentation of her waist and the softness of her arms. It also emphasized the delicate swell of her breasts.

Riley forced himself to lift his gaze, not wanting to make her uncomfortable, though she’d certainly been inviting stares at dinner. But since she was just as attractive all the way to the top of her head, he sank deeper into hot water.

She’d not only changed her clothes, she’d also brushed her hair out so it hung in a thick, loose curtain around her pretty face. She appeared younger than she had before, softer, though every bit as attractive. And he was reacting to her every bit as strongly as he had then.

There was still that tiny hint of recognition that told him he’d seen her before, but damned if Riley could place her. So he forced the thought away…no way would he have forgotten those lips. That face. That incredibly hot little body.

Finally, he couldn’t help confronting her on the obvious. “You look different than you did earlier.”

Her bottom lip quivered, but she said nothing. That quiver reminded him of the hint of uneasiness she’d displayed in the restaurant. It also reminded him that there was much more to the woman than a shapely figure highlighted in either a sexy dress or a sexier pair of jeans.

“I changed back into my work clothes.”

Which didn’t explain why she’d been dressed like a siren at the restaurant. As far as he knew, Diamond’s dress code was dress casual. Not dress sexy. “Did you enjoy your dinner?”

“More than you did, I think,” she said, tilting her head back with one brow arched in challenge.

“Touché.”

“Why did you rush out, leaving your food behind?”

He answered her challenging question with one of his own. “Why did you leave and come here—alone—when you so obviously wanted to spend the night in someone’s bed?”

She sucked in a quick gasp. “That’s very…”

“Rude?” Crossing his arms, Riley leaned a shoulder against a shelf laden with trading card albums.

“I was going to say personal. But rude works, too.”

“Maybe. But it’s true. So, honey, why don’t you tell me what you were up to tonight? I think I’d very much like to know.”

Riley didn’t know why he was enjoying baiting the brunette—maybe because he was so confused about who she really was. The sultry woman in red? Or the cute, flustered young woman facing him?

To be honest, he wasn’t sure which he wanted her to be. But he still had to know. Had she been trying to pick up the Slammers star pitcher? Or Riley Kelleher, the man?

He’d like to think it was possible she hadn’t recognized him, even though she worked in a sports shop. Maybe he was reaching—grasping for what he wanted to be true—but it was at least possible. God, he hoped it was possible.

“Tell me, what did you want?” he asked, his voice lowered to a near whisper. Then, stepping closer, he added, “And why did you leave without getting it?”

* * *

JANIE COULDN’T BELIEVE Riley was standing in the back room of her store, now, when she was at her absolute worst. All the primping, trimming, polishing and highlighting she’d done with Callie and Babe’s assistance had been for nothing. Her makeover hadn’t gotten her what she’d been seeking: Riley in her bed. No, it’d simply gotten her Riley in her stockroom.

Of all the bad luck—and lousy timing—why did the man she’d so glaringly failed to seduce have to be the one to find her looking like a brainless twit in a pile of banana-yellow foam hands?

“You didn’t answer my question,” he said, his voice low and too intense for her peace of mind. As if he already knew the answer…that she’d been trying to entice him. The fact that she had failed so spectacularly kept her tongue behind her teeth.

“Maybe I’ll go first and answer a question for you,” he said when she didn’t reply. “If you’d come into Fever Pitch, I can practically guarantee you wouldn’t have gone home alone.”

She blew out a disbelieving breath. “Because there were a bunch of drunk, desperate guys in there?”

He straightened, his shoulders tensing as he eliminated the space between them in two long strides. “I meant because five minutes after I walked away from you, I was telling myself I’d made a huge mistake.”

Janie sucked in a breath, surprised by the heat—the raw honesty—in Riley’s voice. Not to mention the look in his eyes. That was attraction she saw there. The same attraction and interest he’d revealed briefly during dinner. Only now, it was magnified a million times over by his closeness. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he admitted, stepping even closer so his trousers brushed against her jeans.

Attraction? No. That wasn’t the right word. This was desire. There was no denying it, the man was looking at her through heavy-lidded eyes, his breathing slightly erratic.

It was heady, knowing he truly did want her. Had wanted her. And Janie didn’t quite know what to make of it. Considering her own body had gone completely molten the moment he’d come near, she couldn’t focus on anything but how good he smelled. How good the man would taste. How utterly amazing he would feel.

“Now tell me the truth. Why did you leave alone?”

Because you walked away from me.

The words were there, in her brain, but there was no way she was going to say them. Any more than she would admit that she’d started wearing her clothes a lot tighter, just on the off chance she’d run into him again now that she’d let Callie and Babe make her over into a baseball-star-attracting studette.

She didn’t need to say a word, because his eyes narrowed. “You weren’t going to settle for just anyone, is that it?” He lifted a hand and traced a fingertip across her jaw, then down her throat. His touch was simple yet potent, leaving her skin burning.

Stepping closer, until she could feel his breath on her face and the brush of his body against hers, he added, “Only me.”

She couldn’t deny it.

“You don’t seem like the easy type.” He sounded confused.

That got her vocal cords working again. “Definitely not.”

“But you were trying to pick me up. And when I left, you dropped it.”

Definitely right.

He stared intently at her eyes, then dropped his gaze, taking in the extra tight shirt and painted-on jeans that Callie had convinced her to buy. His jaw flexing, he murmured, “You know, you look familiar. I just can’t imagine you’re someone I would have forgotten meeting.”

Oh, if only he knew. How little the man must have truly looked at her the two times they’d met at the nursing home. It had only been six weeks since he’d last seen her. And she hadn’t changed that much. Just her clothes. Hairstyle. Contacts. Makeup.

Okay. Maybe she had changed a bit and could give him a break.

“Now, back to my question,” he said, a note of urgency—and, if it didn’t seem so crazy coming from a superstar, maybe even vulnerability—in his voice. “Tell me why you were after me.”

His words were a cross between a firm demand and a sweetly purred plea. And the genuine depth of interest in his tone reminded her of why she’d come up with the crazy seduction scheme to begin with. Because, whether she’d had the confidence to admit it, deep inside, she’d knew she’d been right all along. There was something between them. Heat. Awareness. Attraction.

He might not have acted on it. But that didn’t mean it did not exist. “We’re standing here like this and you really need to ask?” she said, leaning closer, falling deeper into the magnetic well of sensation between them.

His hand moved to the hollow of her throat and he traced the back of his fingers across her collarbone. Janie hissed, wanting more. Wanting to press into him and invite him to touch her much more thoroughly. Wanting his hands and his lips and his tongue and that mouthwatering ridge of arousal she could feel, hard and huge, against her hip.

She moaned as her nipples hardened against the cotton of her shirt. The sensual reaction wasn’t caused merely by his touch, his crazy-sexy whispers or the feel of his warm breath against her cheek. But also because of her certainty that everything she’d fantasized about was real.

Riley Kelleher wanted her. Badly.

Riley glanced down, obviously able to tell she wore nothing beneath her shirt. His jaw tightened and his breathing grew more labored. For a second, Janie thought he was going to give up the talk and proceed directly to action. But she wasn’t that lucky.

“I know why you want me now,” he admitted, his mouth so close his lips brushed her temple, hinting at a kiss she could almost taste.

God, she was so lost.

“I want to know why you wanted me then, from the minute you walked into Diamond tonight. If you weren’t out to pick up any guy who made you hot—only me—tell me why. I need to know.”

She was losing the fight to keep her sanity with every featherlight breath, each delicate caress on her skin. Losing thought and reason and discretion. Which was why she finally leaned up and said, “Would you please just shut up and kiss me?”

His eyes flared in surprise. Having him this close, and knowing she might never have the chance again, Janie wasn’t going to let him back away. Not without sampling, at least once, that incredible mouth. So she took a kiss. Stole it, seduced it from him, whatever it might be called. Twining her hands in his thick hair and curling her body against his, she pulled him down until their mouths met. Licking at the seam between his lips, she sighed as he parted them to meet her tongue in a wet exploration.

Riley had stiffened ever so slightly when she’d surprised him by making such a blatant first move. But he quickly relaxed, as if he could resist no more than she could. He dropped his arms to her waist, tugging her closer.

Lord, the man was so aroused. So big. The realization sent a flood of desire through her, making her weak. She moaned into his mouth as that thick ridge in his pants pressed against the juncture of her thighs. He responded by lifting one of her legs in his hand, tilting her hot, damp center directly against him. The pressure from her tight jeans and her swollen sex—smooth and vulnerable—made her arch harder.

He shifted a little, his lips moving away from hers for a second, as if he might end the kiss. She was in no way ready to let it end, knowing, deep down, that she might have only this moment. This one brief, delightful moment when she could believe she was about to have a wild, steamy affair with a man who literally took her breath away.

She just couldn’t let him stop kissing her, couldn’t let his brain reengage. “More,” she moaned. “Please, more.”

A throaty laugh told her he wasn’t nearly finished, either. His words confirmed it. “Much more.”

Riley returned his mouth to hers, this time taking control of their embrace. He slowed things down, capturing her frenzy and turning it into a lazy seduction of thrusts and licks, as if he found her utterly delicious and couldn’t get enough of her taste.

Janie honestly couldn’t remember an experience in her life as pleasurable as this one. With his broad chest pressed against hers, one hand dropping to cup her bottom with sexy familiarity and his glorious mouth kissing her as if he needed her tongue to go on living, she gave herself over to it. To this perfect, heady, purely sexual feeling, knowing there was nothing she wouldn’t do to make love with him, here and now. Even with the knowledge that come morning, he would think of her as just another groupie and would never want to see her again.

This was what she’d wanted all along, wasn’t it? To be the flavor of the month…of the night. Only she would not be vanilla. Tonight she’d be something much more tasty and decadent.

Tasty. Oh, God how she wanted to taste him. Before proceeding to stroking him, feeling him, riding him.

“You smell amazing,” she whispered against his lips, her head filling with his masculine scent. Her body was reacting, growing even wetter as she recognized the familiar—delicious—physical aromas of desire, sex and carnality.

He moved his mouth from hers and tasted his way across her jaw, licking, sucking, biting lightly. “You, too.”

He wasn’t pulling away. Wasn’t ending things. So she went a step further…taking more. Daring one more touch, wondering how far she could go before he remembered minor details such as the fact that she’d never answered his questions. That he didn’t know her full name. And that they’d met before.

Resting her hands on his shoulders, she kneaded the thick muscles of his strong arms. “You’re like a rock wall.”

He laughed softly, shifting so he could scrape the tips of his fingers across her belly. “You’re very…very…soft.”

His touch was electric. Sizzling.

Reaching for the top button of his shirt, she slid it free, then kept unbuttoning. Janie sampled every bit of slick, salty skin as it was revealed. Nibbling a path down the well-defined muscles, she detoured to suck lightly at his flat, male nipple. His muscles quivered with every touch of her lips.

“Have I told you I love man smell?” she asked with a wicked sigh as she breathed him in. “Yours, in particular?”

“I don’t believe so,” he said, sounding far away. Risking a quick peek up, Janie saw his head was back, his eyes closed, as if he wanted to savor everything she was doing to him.

Which, as far as she was concerned, was her cue to do more. So when she reached the bottom of his dress shirt, unbuttoning the last button and tugging the fine, silky material free of his trousers, she didn’t even hesitate. Instead she pulled her leg out of his strong grip and dropped to her knees.

Fortunately, those foam hands were nice and cushiony.

“Whoa…we can slow down.” His voice was throaty. Surprised.

Looking up at him, Janie licked her lips, letting him see her want. And her intentions. “You really going to stop me?”

One of his brows shot up. “Depends on what you want to do.”

What she wanted to do? Well, that was easy. She wanted to devour him, lick him up like a big, fat lollipop. Which was probably easier to say with actions than with words. So she reached for his belt buckle and slowly unfastened it.

He reached for her shoulder. “Darlin’, I mean it. We could go back a few steps.”

“Uh-uh.” No way she was going to slow down, to give him a chance to reconsider. To start talking again. Not before she’d tasted him, imprinted his hot, musky flavor in her brain and sucked on that powerful ridge straining against his zipper.

“Let me,” she whispered, wondering if he realized she was begging…not just trying to seduce him. “Please don’t stop me.”

“You’re joking, right?” he asked with a laugh that sounded more like a groan.

That was all the permission she needed. Janie didn’t look up anymore, completely focused on touching, tasting…taking.

Her hands didn’t even shake as she reached for his waistband, though she moaned when her fingers brushed against his huge erection. Or maybe he did. Maybe they both did.

She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, watching wide-eyed with her heart pounding loud enough to drown out every sound except her own choppy breaths. Then slowly, carefully, she unbuttoned, then unzipped his pants, tugging them—and his black boxer briefs—down to his lean hips.

“Oh, God.” She gasped at the sight of his sex—long and erect—jutting mere inches from her face. Her lips. Her tongue.

“I’m dying here,” he groaned, twining his hands in her hair. But he didn’t tug her close, didn’t try to force her in any way.

Which made her want him even more.

Janie smiled, moving closer. “Don’t stop me,” she mumbled, meaning it. She wanted to take him all the way. Wanted to suck him until he exploded into the back of her throat, then arouse him all over again so he could screw her into mindless oblivion.

But right before she touched her lips and tongue to that smooth, vulnerable skin, he muttered, “Can I at least know the name of the woman who, I suspect, is about to make me feel really, really good?”

She didn’t look up, didn’t think, barely even paused. “It’s Janie,” she muttered. “Just Janie.”

Then she closed her mouth over the tip of his thick, delicious erection and sucked him into her mouth.

6

WITH A VELVETY smooth tongue and two petal-soft lips wrapped around his cock, Riley couldn’t concentrate on much of anything except the pleasure. The wetness. The suction and the licking. The sweet coos of delight she made, as if she were getting off on this every bit as much as he was.

Then her hands got involved, stroking him, lightly running her fingers over his balls, cupping his ass. And all the while taking him deeper and deeper into her mouth, as if she wanted to drink him down, swallow him dry.

He’d never experienced anything like this. Never. Not with his ex, not with past girlfriends, not with any woman he’d picked up for a mindless lay. He’d never felt completely savored like he did right now, with this sexy little woman who looked like an angel and sucked like a professional.

“This is amazing,” he whispered, closing his eyes and dropping his head back, his entire body nearly shuddering with delight. “You’re amazing, Janie.”

Janie. Janie?

Suddenly reality kicked him in the gut. Because everything came together.

Riley’s eyes flew open. Blinking a couple of times, he tried to focus until the ceiling tiles came into view. The little bit of blood not centered directly in his dick finally flowed into his brain and it shifted into gear.

“Hell,” he said, instantly stiffening everywhere else he wasn’t already hard as a rock.

Looking down, he realized what he should have known from the start. This woman on her knees giving him the best blow job he’d ever had was the sweet nursing home volunteer he’d met a couple of months ago. His grandfather’s darling. The one he’d figured for a twenty-year-old. “Stop,” he croaked.

She heard, but must have thought he was stopping her for another reason—because he was close to finishing. Any other woman he’d been intimate with would have stopped at that. With this one, it was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. She stroked faster, sucked harder, not letting him pull away, practically demanding that he let himself go.

He wasn’t a damn saint and the urge to come nearly overwhelmed him, especially because she seemed to want him to explode right in her mouth. But something was wrong here—this whole thing was not what it seemed.

So even though he felt certain his head was gonna blow off, Riley finally managed to get the message across by putting one firm hand on her shoulder and another on her cheek. And with great reluctance, he put an end to one of the most sinfully pleasurable interludes he’d ever experienced.

* * *

THOUGH FOR A SECOND Janie wondered if Riley Kelleher had stopped her so he could plunge into her and lose himself inside her aching body, one look at his face told her she was wrong.

With a groan that sounded as though it had been ripped from deep within him, he yanked up his trousers and stepped away from her. As if a few inches weren’t enough, he shuffled backward, putting a good two feet of space between them.

Staring at one another, they both heaved in a few deep breaths. Janie slowly rose to her feet, keeping herself from lunging back into his arms by digging her nails into her palms. Riley tilted his head back and thrust his hand through his thick hair, visibly trying to grab some control.

She didn’t want him controlled. She wanted him helpless with desire. Overwhelmed, just as he’d been a few moments before.

But it was too late. It was gone. The intensity, the need…it had left him.

She’d failed. Janie had enjoyed every second of what she’d just done to him, but he, apparently, had not. The most erotic foreplay she could think of hadn’t made him rip her clothes off with pure animal passion. So short of ripping her clothes off, herself, she wasn’t quite sure how to push him over the edge.

The knowledge that the most intense oral sex she’d ever attempted hadn’t been enough was deflating, to say the least. Especially because she’d liked it so much.

“I know you,” he eventually muttered. “My grandfather…”

“Yes.”