He pointed to the tube of lube. “As long as I have two hands and a tongue, we’re not going to need the Astroglide.”
She tapped the book on her nightstand. “The guide specifically recommended it.”
“Yeah, yeah, the guide. He skimmed the title and noted the five green tags peeking neatly from the side. “May I?”
She nodded and offered it to him. “I guess now would be a good time to let me know if you have any objections. I flagged the chapters I want you to help me with.”
“Of course you did.” Taking the manual, he quickly flipped through. If he found highlighted text or margin notes, he might have to sweep his good intentions aside and ball her overactive brains out, right then and there. “Let’s see…” He opened to the first tab. “Chapter 3, no problem.”
“Good.”
He flipped the pages to the next flagged chapter. “Chapter 6, fine, but we’ll need to go shopping unless you’ve already got—?”
“No, we’ll need to buy the…ah…accoutrements.”
“Leave it to a woman to find an excuse to shop for something as basic as sex. I know a place in Lexington—”
“I figured online would be more private and convenient.”
He shook his head and tipped the book to the side to take in an illustration. “No. Field trip to Lexington is the way to go. This is the kind of thing where you want to be able to handle the merchandise before you make a purchase.”
“Okay,” she sighed. “We’ll work in a trip to Lexington.” Her tone made him smile. He’d messed with her precious plan again.
“Anything else?”
“Don’t know yet.” He advanced to the next flag. “Chapter 9 is one of my personal favorites…and 10,” he added, flipping again. When he came to the tab on chapter 13, however, he paused, reread the title, and then glanced through the text and illustrations to make sure he hadn’t misinterpreted anything. Was she serious? A quick glace her way suggested she was. “I’m vetoing this one.” With his index finger, he tapped the page.
“Why?”
“Well, first off, you won’t like it, and second, in case you had other ideas, I sure as hell don’t want you doing it to me.”
She took the book from him and read furiously. “Be serious. I’m not even equipped to do it to you. You do it to me. According to the experts, men love chapter 13. See?” She shoved the damn thing in his face, her finger pointing insistently to the five stars preceding the section.
He moved the book aside. “I don’t care what the book says. Trust me, your so-called experts don’t know everyth—”
“Look, I chose all the five-star items and chapter 13 is one of them. If you don’t help me with it, I’ll have to find someone who will.”
The comment brought an immediate flare of some unfamiliar emotion he refused to name. He battled a strong urge to toss the book out the window, throw her down on the bed, and show her she already knew exactly what to do to bring a man to his knees.
She must have sensed she’d rubbed him the wrong way, because those long lashes lowered, then rose a bit and she looked at him from beneath. “Please?”
Ah, hell. “We’ll see,” he replied reluctantly, figuring he had a few weeks to get her to lose interest in chapter 13. “I take it you penciled in chapter 3 for our first lesson?”
She nodded. “We should get started.” With that romantic lead-in, she reached for his fly. He intercepted. Hell yeah, they were slowing things down. Why she wanted these lessons might still be a mystery, but he’d learned something about himself—namely, a stripped-down, strictly sexual arrangement didn’t interest him. Not with her anyway.
“Let’s try something else first.” Before she could answer, he cupped her jaw and brought his mouth down on hers.
Slow, deep, deliberately thorough, he delved and tasted before pulling back to look at her.
She slowly unveiled those big brown eyes and he noticed her dilated pupils—wide and open and locked on him.
“Chapter 2—‘The Ins and Outs of Kissing’?” she whispered.
Christ, she was too much. “Important to master the fundamentals, don’t you think?”
She nodded, so he obliged. This time he skimmed his teeth over her soft lips, grazing the upper, biting her lush, full lower one until she made an urgent little sound deep in her throat. Her fingers sank into his hair and she pulled his mouth down hard on hers. All the simmering tension of the evening came bubbling to the surface, making the kiss rougher, hungrier, than he planned. But she curved her hand around his neck, leaned into him, and gave as good as she got.
Her mouth moved under his, her lips fast and fierce and silently demanding. Tight nipples poked insistently into his chest, driving him insane. He desperately wanted to lower the zipper at the back of her dress, shove it down, and suck those diamond-hard points into his mouth, but if he did, he wouldn’t be able to stop until he had her spread out on the bed with her legs wrapped around his neck, chapter 3-ing her until she couldn’t see straight. While that might suit her plans to a tee, chapter 3 wasn’t on his agenda for tonight. To distract himself, he slid his hands along her throat until his thumbs caressed her collarbones. She clasped her other hand around his neck and arched against him. An unconscious offer every part of him from the neck down wanted to accept—hell, was dying to accept—but his masochistic brain said no.