“Smoking is dangerous behavior,” West continued. He rolled onto his side, so his body faced hers. “And we’ve talked about it already. Maybe you need some additional incentive to give it up?”
“I probably ought to tell you why I…” His words caught up to her racing mind. “I probably ought to, ah…” The look in his eyes made her voice stall out. It took three full seconds to recover it. “What kind of incentive are you talking about?”
“Well, Reckless, I did a little research on the topic, and can you guess the number one reason smokers say they smoke?”
Uh-oh. There was going to be a lecture after all. Experience had taught her the best way to cut the quit-smoking discussion short was to take the words out of the other person’s mouth. “Because we’re a bunch of self-destructive, nicotine-addicted knuckleheads?”
“Nope. Not even close.”
Huh. Leave it to West to keep her guessing. “All right, then. According to your research, why do people smoke?”
“To relax.”
She blinked. No counter argument rushed to mind. “Okay, I’ll buy that. So?”
“So…” With the sweep of an arm, he sent her sheet sailing to the end of the bed, startling the dog to the floor in the process. “I aim to provide you with a better form of relaxation.” Levering himself into a sitting position with a stunning array of crunching stomach muscles, he splayed a hand on her shoulder and eased her onto her stomach. “Head okay?”
“Uh-huh.” She might have forgotten she had a head altogether, because the sight of West, magnificently naked, crawling toward her prone body sent all her blood to places far away from her brain.
“Good.” The mattress groaned as he slung a knee over her and straddled her thighs. She waited, breath bated, as she imagined what he had in store for her. Her bare skin tingled from the chill of the air conditioner and anticipation of what was to come. Where would he touch her first?
Two big, warm palms eased onto her shoulders. Strong thumbs slowly kneaded the muscles low in her neck. Without really meaning to, she moaned.
The thumbs didn’t pause, thank God, because they were steadily dissolving every ounce of tension in her body, but a low voice rumbled over her shoulder. “Still okay?”
“Y-yesssss.” Confessions could wait. They could definitely wait.
“Relaxed?” His hands made their way to her shoulder blades and magically loosened muscles wound tight from lugging around heavy secrets in addition to that big-ass bag he’d mentioned earlier, and trays of food, and hours upon hours of playing guitar. “So, so relaxed.”
While his thumbs searched out and released trigger points along her spine, long fingers brushed the sides of her breasts. Incidental contact, she knew, but her body couldn’t tell the difference and instantly started to hum. The hum intensified to a low-level throb when he brushed the vulnerable swells again. Definitely not an accident this time. Unable to hold still, she shifted her hips, which caused a heady slide of skin against skin where sturdy knees bracketed her thighs.
His voice slid over her, too, low and slightly tactile with morning roughness. “The thing about smoking, according to the experts, is that it only appears to relax you. Inhaling the nicotine eases the discomfort of withdrawal that sets in when your system starts to miss the drug and causes a brief hit of a brain reward known as dopamine.”
“Your research sounds…” His hands eased down to her lower back and stopped at the crest of her hips, so the twin arcs of his extended thumbs framed her ass. “…very thorough.” The throb in her blood lowered and centered heavily between her thighs. She shifted again, lifting her hips to entice his hands to continue their journey down her body.
“You don’t know the half of it,” he went on, calmly ignoring her body’s plea and keeping his hands where they were, idly tracing her phoenix with one thumb. “Turns out there are other, better ways to give your brain that reward. These experts recommended certain non-chemical stimuli proven to shower your brain with dopamine. Methods capable of drenching it in wave after euphoric wave of pleasure. Perhaps you’d like to learn more?”
“I’m dying to learn,” she admitted, a little shocked at the degree of strain in her voice and the power of the need he’d sent spiking.
“Great.” He eased her over onto her back. “A few simple rules shouldn’t be a problem for such an eager student.”
Oh God. The way he said rules made her insides quiver. “Office Donovan and his rules. I should have guessed.”
“Just for this lesson. First rule is you keep that banged-up head of yours right there on that pillow. Second is you speak up right away if anything I do is too much for you right now.” He gave her navel ring a gentle tug, making it impossible for her to think. “Can you abide by those rules, Reckless?”
“Anything,” she said quickly, relinquishing her slippery grip on dignity and then kicking it to the curb completely by silently imploring him with another squirm of her hips.
The mattress springs squeaked, and then firm but gentle lips brushed her navel, tweaking the charm with his tongue. “Promise, Roxy? I don’t want to do anything to hurt you.” He bestowed another kiss, a little longer and, oh sweet heaven, wetter, as his tongue laved the spot. “We can always shelve this lesson until you’re ready.”
“I’m ready. I swear.”
The tip of his tongue speared lower, tr
acing a path down…down…down. She gasped and, unable to help herself, lifted her head and turned so she could see their reflection in his mirrored closet doors.
He lifted his head as well. Stern words tickled her wet skin. “Reckless, we’re two seconds in and you’re already breaking the rules. Can you be a good girl or not?”
“I can. I swear. It’s just…” Desperate to demonstrate her compliance, she lowered her cheek to the pillow. “You can’t do this to me and expect me not to want to watch.”