Wild Thing Read online

“Yeah, when hell freezes over.”

  ***

  As if Hunter didn’t feel like a total asshole already, that’s what his sister and Gina would call him to his face if they knew what a mess he’d made of the whole situation. Still, there was a big difference between making love and sex, and he couldn’t imagine a man not wanting to make love to Toni. She was beautiful, intelligent, and from what he could see, extremely passionate about everything but sex. To her, sex was something you did by rote, like brushing your teeth. He walked backward with her to the couch and pulled her down along with him. She tried to scoot out of his arms, but he had one wrapped around her waist. She couldn’t go far. “Tell me about your last relationship.”

  “Relationship? I’d hardly call it a relationship—it was more like a series of dates. I’ve never had a let’s-go-steady-talk-everyday-and-see-each-other-every-weekend kind of relationship, if that’s what you’re asking. Hence the book my mother gave me. See? There’s nothing to talk about.”

  “Did you break if off, or did he?”

  “Do you have a hearing problem?” Toni stared him down, but he wasn’t about to give up. “I don’t know. I guess it was just a case of a mutual lack of interest.”

  “The man must have been brain-dead.”

  She ignored his comment and continued. “I hadn’t realized I hadn’t seen him in a while until I ran into him at the gym.” She took a deep breath and looked at him through the corner of her eye. “We exchanged nods.”

  “You exchanged nods?” What the hell did that mean?

  “Yeah, pretty much.”

  “And you’d slept with him?”

  Toni turned so her back was practically to him. He pulled her closer so she leaned against his side.

  “I didn’t sleep with him. I had sex with him.”

  He tucked her shoulder under his chin. “You had sex with someone who didn’t rate more than a nod?”

  With an exasperated sigh, she turned to face him. “Now that I think about it, I guess I wasn’t interested in a repeat performance. If I had been, I would have talked to him. But…” She shrugged and shook her head. “No, it was definitely a case of a mutual lack of interest.”

  Toni stared into the fire, her mind probably going a mile a minute. Was she examining her life? Her relationships or lack thereof? He wasn’t sure, but the expressions crossing her face told their own story. Her body tensed visibly as if she’d figured something out or maybe saw something in herself she wasn’t happy with.

  “You know, just because I had sex with Mark doesn’t mean I sleep around a lot.”

  Hunter reached over, squeezed her thigh, and wished she hadn’t given the creep a name. “If you’re dating men like that Mark guy, it’s no wonder you don’t make a habit of it.” He was thankful she laughed.

  “So, Dr. Phil, what broke up your last relationship?”

  “I work a lot, and I’m gone for extended periods. She wanted a nine-to-fiver. She’s a nice woman, but I wasn’t who she needed me to be.”

  Toni stared at him. “And you made love to her?”

  He stared right back. “Yes.”

  “Does that mean you loved her?”

  “No, it means I cared about her.”

  “Can you make love to someone you don’t care about?”

  “No. And in case you’re wondering, I care about you, Toni.”

  She wrapped her arms around herself. “I guess I care about you too. I was really upset when I thought you were dead.”

  Hunter couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m glad.”

  “You’re glad I was upset?” She moved away from him. “You think that was funny?”

  He leaned over, gave her a quick kiss, and slid closer. “No, I’m glad you care about me.”

  She broke eye contact. “Yeah well, this caring thing is new to me. I’m not sure I like it.”

  He kissed her again, and this time she held on for the ride. She was sweet and innocent for a woman who purported not to be. He slid his lips from hers and toward her ear. “Ah, another first. The first time is always scary.”

  He pulled her back onto his lap, sucked her earlobe into his mouth, and nibbled as she tilted her head, giving him more room. He wanted to explore her, inside and out.

  He gave her ass a pat and wished he hadn’t tossed her the boxers earlier. “We better get to bed. We’re going to have to leave here by 8:00 a.m. to get to the inn in time for work tomorrow.”

  She didn’t move off his lap. She turned her face so they were nose to nose. “What are we going to do in bed?” She was clearly uncomfortable, yet still direct.

  Hunter held back a chuckle. He didn’t want to get slugged by her twice in one day. God she was sweet when she was completely out of her element. Her eyes got all wide. “We’ll probably lie down, talk for a while, watch the stars come out, cuddle up together, and sleep.”

  “Oh.” She slid off his lap and stood. If he wasn’t mistaken, she looked a little disappointed.

  “Something wrong?” He went to stir the fire, making sure it would be banked for the night before closing the screen. When he turned she was studying him so intently, she practically squinted.

  “Are we going to make love?”

  “I guess that’s up to you.” He hit the lights, put his hand on her lower back, and gave her a little push. “Come on.”

  ***

  Toni was more confused now than she’d been at any other time today, and that was saying a lot. Hunter slipped his arm around her and led her to his room. What the heck was he up to? She’d never met a guy who after a few false starts didn’t just want to get off. He wanted to talk and cuddle? What was up with that? Not to mention all this talk of making love. She’d never known a guy to say the L word unless he was after something.

  “I’ll find you a new toothbrush.” He switched on the lights in the bathroom, handed her one fresh from the dentist’s goody bag, and turned to leave.

  “You don’t want to brush your teeth too?”

  He shot a surprised look over his shoulder, and she took a second to drink him in. He was really beautiful for a guy. “I thought you’d want some space.”

  “You do have two sinks. I’m not afraid of spitting in front of you if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “I’m not worried.” He started brushing before passing her the toothpaste. He was the neat, squeeze-the-tube-from-the-bottom type guy. She squeezed from the middle. That was the way she’d always done it before, and she didn’t think now would be a good time to change. He’d have plenty of time to squeeze the toothpaste back into place after she left, but for now, she wanted to shake things up, as least as much as he’d shaken things up in her world.

  Toni didn’t remember ever brushing her teeth in front of anyone—not a boyfriend or even a parent. She’d always been alone, though she chose to think of herself as the independent type. Even when she was little, she remembered coming home to an empty apartment, climbing up onto the counter of the bathroom to clean out her own cuts and scrapes from the playground. It was a far cry from the way Hunter cleaned her scrapes earlier. She couldn’t remember another time anyone had taken care of her.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  She spit and rinsed, cleaning out the sink while she did. There was nothing worse than spit stains in a sink. He rinsed his too and even wiped down the countertop. “Nothing earth-shattering. I was trying to remember if I’d ever brushed my teeth with anyone before or shared a bathroom.”

  “No brothers or sisters?”

  She shook her head, avoiding his eyes, and dried her hands on the towel. “Nope. I’m an only child.”

  “What about your parents?”

  She put her toothbrush in the holder next to his for the morning. “They divorced when I was a baby. I guess one of them must ha
ve taught me to brush. I don’t remember.”

  Hunter threw his arm over her shoulder and led her to bed, pulling down the covers. “I used to dream of having a bathroom to myself. I had to share with my sister and two brothers. The place was as busy as a one-hole outhouse at a keg party.”

  The big bed faced a wall of windows. She climbed in and scooted over. “Don’t tell me you had an outhouse.”

  He slid in beside her and pulled her into his arms. “No, we had indoor plumbing and everything.” He hit the lights, and the room went dark.

  Toni didn’t know what to do with her hands or how to lie there, especially since Hunter lost his shorts before joining her in bed.

  Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, he’d scooted down to her level with his head close to hers and pointed to something in the sky. “That, right there, is Pluto.”

  “Ah, an amateur astronomer.” His naked body pressed against hers, his heat radiated through the T-shirt and boxers she wore, and he was discussing a planet? Or was it a star? She didn’t know if Pluto was the planet that had recently lost its planet status, or maybe it was Uranus. She swallowed the laugh that always followed the word Uranus and did her best to stay very still.

  He slid closer, and her hand hit something. She didn’t need to be Einstein to figure out what that something was, especially since her hands were at her side. God save her from gorgeous, naked men who didn’t want to have sex.

  “I bought this place for the windows. I can look at the stars all night and not feel closed in. Look—the moon is a waxing gibbous.”

  She was still picturing what was lying against the back of her hand. “Huh?” She totally missed that last part.

  “The moon. It’s almost full.”

  His upper body was plastered to hers, and his erection twitched against her hand as his foot slid up the inside of her calf. They were still cheek to cheek and would be nose to nose if she turned her head toward him to speak. She tried to control her breathing. “You’re a show-off.” Controlling her breathing wasn’t working very well. She sounded breathless. God, this talking crap was better than foreplay, or maybe it was foreplay.

  “And I thought you’d be impressed.” The rumble of his words traveled through her body. She was impressed all right—impressed, horny, scared, but mostly horny. Hunter was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen up close and personal, and if he was for real, he was nice, and in his own way, sweet and considerate. He also smelled amazing, like pine, fresh water, and a scent that was all his own. He lay naked against her with his erection rubbing her hip. How the hell was she supposed to carry on a conversation? He thought they’d talk and then to go to sleep? Sleep was sooo not happening. “When.”

  Hunter turned to look into her eyes. “When what?”

  “You told me to just say when. I said it.”

  “You want to make love?”

  More talk? She wanted to roll over on top and have her wicked way with him, but that’s kind of what she’d done before, and he’d shot her down. She didn’t think she could deal with that twice in a lifetime, no less on the same night. Taking a deep breath, she tried not to sound as nervous as she felt.

  “I’m not sure I know how to make love. I’m guessing it has something to do with eye contact. Since you say there’s a difference between making love and sex, I gotta wonder if it’s like the difference between fresh-squeezed orange juice and frozen. Fresh is preferable, but frozen isn’t half bad, and it lasts longer, which is a plus in the sack. So—”

  Hunter kissed her. He didn’t tell her what the difference was. He just rolled on top of her and silenced her with his mouth. She couldn’t complain though; the man was a hell of a kisser. He wasn’t a wet, sloppy kisser like most guys she’d tongue wrestled with. No, his kisses were full frontal assaults in the best possible way. He didn’t just kiss with his mouth; he used his whole body. His hands roamed her breasts, her sides, the tender flesh of the inside of her elbows, behind her knees, all the while tongues tangled, parried, played. For other guys, kissing seemed to be something they did because they had to—like tagging first base on their run toward second. But not Hunter, he wasn’t going anywhere fast. He paid more attention to kissing than most guys did to the ninth inning of the seventh game of the World Series.

  With the score tied and bases loaded.

  She finally stopped timing the kiss and laid back and enjoyed the feeling of his body on hers, the soft hair on the nape of his neck, the scratch of his beard against her chin, and the way his lips were soft and firm at the same time. Kissing Hunter wasn’t a fight for control; it was more of a dance—slow, easy, and exciting.

  Her hands explored his sides, his muscles rippling under her touch as wetness and heat pooled deep in her belly. He’d hardly touched her, and she was well past ready. Not to mention impatient. Damn, she’d spent the day on a sex roller coaster. There were so many ups and downs, she didn’t know if it would ever pay off.

  Hunter pulled his mouth from hers and put his upper body weight on his forearms, increasing the pressure on her pelvis, sending a mini-earthquake through her. A little more pressure would be all it would take.

  “Toni?”

  “Hunter? Does making love always involve talking? Because right now, I’m more interested in doing. I’m sure there will be plenty of time to talk about this later, okay?”

  She pulled the T-shirt over her head then tossed it around his neck like a scarf, drawing him close. This time she was the one to silence him with a kiss. God it felt good. She sucked his tongue into her mouth and rolled her hips.

  She kind of failed at the whole silencing thing since he groaned, but at least he wasn’t talking.

  When his body slid off hers, fear spiked through the haze of passion. A tug at the waistband of the boxers set her mind at ease and had her eyes blinking open only to be captured by his with some kind of magnetic force. She was incapable of looking away, not that she’d want to. He looked wild kneeling over her as he slid on a condom. His breathing was labored and his every muscle so pronounced, she wished she could trace them all with her tongue. His hair was mussed, his cheeks were high with color, and his eyes were dark and bright at the same time. All he was missing was a loincloth, and he could be the next Tarzan.

  She reached for him, wishing she hadn’t hurried him along quite so much. She would have liked to pick up where she’d left off earlier. Just the thought of it had her squirming. She imagined he’d go right for intercourse since he’d taken the time to don a condom, so she was surprised when he slid between her legs, held her hips in his big, rough hands, and didn’t stop at kissing his way up her inner thigh.

  In Toni’s experience, oral sex was rarely done well, which, when she thought about it, was kind of like kissing. She shouldn’t have been surprised that, like with kissing, when it came to oral sex Hunter clearly excelled. She was knotting the sheets in her fists within a minute. He took her through the paces with his mouth on her, teasing, tempting, torturing, and always controlling how close she got. She’d almost reach the point, and he’d pull her back before sending her right up to the brink. Her breath caught, and her back arched as his body rose over hers. There was a smile on his face, and those eyes held hers as his erection slid deep just as an orgasm crashed over her. Every move he made intensified the orgasm, swamping her, bombarding her with feelings so intense they drowned her, leaving her nothing to hold on to but him. She’d never experienced anything like it, and his eyes held hers captive, stripping her of all defenses. Leaving her exposed. Vulnerable. Scared.

  “Hunter?”

  “Stay with me Toni.” With every thrust of his hips, she felt more and more out of control. They were connected in every way, their eyes, their hands, their bodies. He touched her mind, her soul. His body shook as another orgasm crashed through her. She thought she heard him call her name, but then she might have screamed his t
oo. Her last coherent thought before her mind completely shut down was that this making love thing could not be good for her—nothing that amazing could be, or everyone would be doing it all the time. It was probably addictive.

  Hunter had been blindsided. He’d heard rumors about things like this, but he hadn’t believed them. Making love was great, even when it was bad. But damn, nothing had prepared him for making love with Toni. It was like they had some kind of cosmic connection that intensified everything a billion times. He was lucky he survived.

  And he couldn’t wait to try it again.

  He slid his arm under her and rolled, pulling her along with him, and settling her on top. She fit like she was made for him. It felt incredibly right, just like making love had.

  She remained quiet. When it came to making love, she definitely wasn’t interested in conversation. He wasn’t much for talking either, though something did need to be said. He wasn’t sure what exactly that was. “You rocked my world” seemed a bit clichéd. But then the reason clichés became clichés were because at the heart of every good cliché was the truth.

  “Toni?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “A huh.” She shifted, using his chest as a pillow, and then stilled. He wasn’t sure how long they rested like that. He enjoyed her weight on him as her breathing evened out and felt her relax totally. When his lids grew heavy, he rolled her off him before kissing her and getting up to rid himself of the condom. When he returned to bed, she was snoring. It was a soft, quiet snore, but a snore all the same. He slipped back in beside her, pulled her into his arms, and spooned, feeling as if all was right in his world.

  ***

  Toni woke with a start as the morning light shone on her face. She blinked and tried to move, only to be held in check by an arm wrapped around her waist. She’d fallen asleep with Hunter. She’d never slept with anyone before and couldn’t remember a time she’d slept so well—which was weird considering she was in a strange bed. Sleeping with a strange person. Not that Hunter was strange exactly. Toni’s thoughts evaporated when a kiss landed on the crease of her neck where it met her shoulder. Hunter’s arm moved, his hand caressing her from breast to stomach. His body spooning hers slid into a more assertive position—his leg slipped between hers. His erection slid against her sex.