Crossing to the side of the bed, she hesitated. Remembering their kiss, and then the blowjob she had given Geo, she wondered if he’d be true to his word and return the favor times three. Then she wondered if she would be able to let him.
Hell yes, her body screamed while her heart and head whispered, Be careful.
Looking into Geo’s sleep face, Sunny took a deep breath and decided to ignore the fear that clawed at the base of her throat. Another one, and she was able to climb back into the bed, lying down as close to the edge as she could manage, leaving nearly two feet between them.
Geo watched with a hint of a smirk on his lips. “You can move closer, sweetheart. I won’t bite, unless you ask me to.”
Recognizing a line she had used in her first book, she giggled as she shifted a little closer. “You’ve read my books?”
Geo nodded with a grin. “Several times. They’re wonderful stories, and I don’t do a lot of reading. But after reading the first one, I bought them all, then proceeded to read them, one right after the other. When I finished, I read them through again. And again last week when Gigi told me you would be here.”
Sunny could not help the blush that burned from her hairline all the way to her nipples. “Thank you, kind sir. I’m glad you enjoyed them.”
“And now that I know you a little better, I understand,” he said, shifting closer, cutting the remaining distance between their bodies in half. Then he reached out, wrapped one arm around her back, and pulled her. He did not stop until her breasts pressed against his chest with only layers of soft cotton knit material between them.
“Understand what?”
“You,” he said as he eased her over onto her back and leaned over her.
“What about me?” she breathed. She fought hard to control the panic clawing at her muscles as she tried to remember if she had brushed her teeth before falling asleep.
But she could not remember, and Geo did not seem to care as he tilted his head slightly and closed the gap between their lips.
It was a tender, almost innocent kiss, for about five seconds. Then her need exploded as if her entire being had been doused with gasoline and then set on fire. Wrapping her arms around his broad, strong shoulders, Sunny took the lead, growing bold as she thrust her tongue past his lips to explore.
The fact that he allowed it shocked her. She taunted and teased Geo in a manner she had dreamt about, and written about in her books, but never actually tried before. Then her hand slid down and around to the front of his body. Her rational brain kicked on just as she reached the waistband of his boxers. She froze with three fingertips tucked between elastic and skin.
What in the hell was she doing?
“Don’t stop now, baby girl,” Geo said, dragging his lips across her cheek and down her neck to where it joined her shoulder.
Though she tilted her head to the side, allowing him easier access, Sunny could make no other move of her own. Memories of the degrading words of her three past boyfriends slammed through her. Tears sprang up at the thought that Geo would someday think as they had, that she was a crazy bitch running hot and cold. Then the voice of her father, the loudest of all sounded, calling her a slut and a whore the night he caught her and her first boyfriend making out on their third date chimed in. All at once Sunny knew it was over before he had even begun.
Jerking away, she rolled away so her back was to him before curling into a ball. She imagined she looked like one of the pill bugs she had thought were so neat when she was a kid. If somebody messed with them they turned into a hard-shelled little ball until their attacker went away.
“Sunflower? What happened? What’s wrong?” Geo said, laying a warm palm on her arm, which only made her flinch. “Where did you go?”
“Please,” she whimpered as tears filled her eyes once more. “Please just go. I’m not what you think I am. I’m not what you need.”
But he did not leave. A hand began to rub up and down her back. “And what do I think you are?” he asked, his voice as gentle to her ears as the fur on a baby rabbit.
The tears overflowed once more, and she sniffed twice before she could whisper, “A woman who you meet at noon, and sleep with for the few days while she’s in town before moving on to the next woman as soon as she’s gone. I can’t be like that, no matter how I acted yesterday afternoon. That’s just not me.”
She felt Geo move on the bed and tensed even further when he slipped one arm under her body. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her across the bed as easily as if she were a ball of fluff and not a curvy woman made of flesh and bone. She ended up on his lap, her side pressed against his chest, his chin resting on the top of her head and his arms wrapped securely around her, as if protecting her from the world.