"Shh, shh."
Her memory quickened. She should remember something. She knew it.
But before she could grasp the elusive memory, his mouth was making love to hers again and all thought scattered.
He lifted her arms and folded them around his shoulders. Then his hands slid from her elbows down the undersides of her arms to the shallows of her armpits. He paused an instant before continuing downward to the outer curves of her breasts. He massaged them with the heels of his hands. Jenny sighed into his mouth.
"Feel good?"
She murmured an affirmation. The kiss deepened.
She angled her head so that one of her cheeks was lying on his chest. He bent his head down low over hers, seeking, always seeking, for her taste with his agile tongue. His arms went around her and drew her closer still. One of his hands slipped below her waist to her derriere. He pressed her against him, positioning her so she would feel the full urgency of his desire.
She moaned and rubbed her middle against his. The heart of her femininity felt feverish and swollen, but it was a delicious malady she suffered from. She throbbed, achingly but wonderfully.
"Jenny, I want you."
He moved his hand between their bodies, covered her breast, kneaded it lovingly. The pad of his middle finger found the sensitive crest and coaxed it into hard arousal.
"Ah, that's sweet." He complimented her as though she had done something miraculous. "So sweet. I want to see it, taste it, taste you."
He ducked his head and kissed her breast through her blouse. His tongue moistly nudged the tight peak. "I want to make love to you." He moved his mouth to her throat, where his lips could touch her warm skin. His voice was hoarse. "Do you understand? I want to be inside you. Deep, deep." His lips claimed hers again, wildly, more demanding.
"Hey, you two, open up." There was banging on the door. "I've brought the party."
Cage lifted his mouth from Jenny's and uttered a vicious obscenity. Then he drew in a shaky breath. He looked back down at Jenny and smiled crookedly. "We can't deliberately hurt her feelings."
Jenny worked herself free of his arms.
He went to the door and welcomed Roxy inside.
* * *
Chapter 9
«^»
Roxy bounced in, carrying a jug of wine in one hand and a grocery sack in the other. "Hey, what's all this?" Cage asked, relieving her of the sack. He peeped inside. "Chips, dips, popcorn, and cheese."
"Just as I said, a party," Roxy chirped happily. "Hi, Jenny. Is the apartment all right?"
"It's fine, thank you."
"Gee, it looks terrific." Roxy whistled as she surveyed the new furniture. Cage had had the delivery men arrange it as they carried it in, after having consulted with Jenny on where everything was to go. The pieces fit well within the dimensions of the room.
"Got glasses?" Roxy asked. "Come on, let's toast your new place." Without invitation she made her way into the kitchen, with Cage right behind her. Jenny had no choice but to follow, though it was crowded in the small kitchen with all three of them.
Cage ripped open a package of corn chips and popped the lid off a plastic container of prepared dip. He gouged into it with his chip and offered it to Roxy. She took a bite of it, laughing because she was trying to pull the cork out of the wine bottle at the same time. What Roxy didn't eat of the chip and dip, Cage put into his own mouth. Then he licked his fingers.
Jenny remained in the background, feeling out of her element in the midst of their hilarity. She wasn't in a party mood.
"I don't provide this service to all my tenants, you understand," Roxy told Jenny as she washed the price tags off the glasses they had bought that afternoon. Apparently Roxy had no qualms about making herself right at home in a stranger's kitchen. "But since you're a friend of Cage's and he's a friend of mine… Ugh!" She grunted when he reached around her from behind and hugged her hard, his hands locked beneath her lush breasts.
"You betcha. Friends to the bitter end."
"Get away from me, you fool, and slice the cheese."
Jenny felt like a fifth wheel. She didn't belong with them. She didn't know how to participate in their kind of teasing banter. Roxy seemed to know exactly what to say to make Cage burst into laughter. His hands were unintimidated about touching her frequently.