Stealing Home

chapter 19



LORELEI HAD THOUGHT her comment would get to him, but he’d surprised her. Instead of responding he’d just smiled, grabbed her hand, and tugged her from the room. Now she was standing with him in the parking garage, an incredulous look on her pretty face.

“You own a Ferrari? You have got to be kidding me.”

Mark laughed and pushed the unlock button on his key ring. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

He glanced at Lorelei over the gunmetal gray hardtop. She had her jaw open just staring at his baby. Then she asked, “Do you know what these things cost?”

God, she was a delight. “I’ve got an idea, yeah. Since I bought it.”

She looked like she wanted to deck him. He grinned.

“You going to get in, or am I going to leave you here?”

Scowling at him, she opened the door to the sleek car and got in, muttering, “People like you make me sick, you know that?”

He slid in beside her and ran a hand over the glass-smooth gearshift. “Yeah, we should all be shot. Buckle up, sugar, ’cause it’s going to get wild.”

“Up yours, Cutter.”

“I love it when you sweet-talk me.” He started the car, hit the gas pedal until the powerful engine roared, and smiled across the interior at her. “Call me an ass again. That one gives me serious wood.”

Even though she tried to hide it, he saw a smile tug at her lips. She shook her head and looked out the passenger window as he made his way through the parking garage. He launched the sports car up the ramp and they merged into downtown Denver traffic.

When they came to a red light and stopped, she said, “You know what these are called?”

Yeah, Ferraris. The light turned green and Mark barely touched the gas—the car leaped. “No, what are these called?”

“Penis extensions.”

He said around a laugh, “Honey, you’ve seen my penis. We both know there’s no problem in that department.”

She just gave a sexy little hmmm in her throat.

“You think there is?”

Finally she glanced at him, down at his dick, and back up at him. Laughter lit her green eyes and turned them to liquid moss. “I’m not answering that. It’ll get me in trouble.”

He knew she was goading him, but he fell for it anyway. As he sped the car up the interstate on-ramp he said, “Is ten inches too small for you?”

“Ten inches? Huh. Felt more like five,” she said, and laughed.

Saucy wench.

“Now, Lorelei, we both know that’s not true. But if you want I can pull it out right now and we can measure it.”

Her mouth dropped slightly and kind of floundered, making him laugh. Then she blushed. His breath lodged behind his rib cage and his hands gripped the steering wheel. Why did an innocent blush have such a strong effect on him?

“You’ve actually measured your penis before?” she said when she recovered, her voice full of curiosity. He slid his gaze from the road and his stomach tightened when he saw her gaze was firmly locked on his crotch. His dick jerked to attention and pulled his fly tight across his lap. Her eyes grew round.

“I was lying, Lorelei.”

She licked her lips and a spear of lust shot to his groin. “You were? About what?”

“It’s actually ten and a half inches.” Now he really was lying. It was eight. And, yeah, he’d actually measured his pecker before. What guy hadn’t?

“Lord have mercy.” Her faced flamed.

Something settled around his heart, squeezed. He ignored it. “Why are you getting embarrassed now?”

“It’s just hearing you say it, that’s all. It’s like me telling you my bra size.” She paused, shook her head. “Wait, no, it’s way worse.”

Mark tapped the gas and whipped around a blue Ford Explorer. Conversations with Lorelei were never dull, that’s for sure. She wasn’t shy about things. He loved that about her. “What is your bra size? I’ve been wondering that actually, ’cause you’ve got great tits. They fill my hands up real nice.”

Her laughter snuck inside him and warmed his chest. “Gee, that’s a real sweet compliment, Mark.”

“Anything for you, baby.” He grinned. “So what size are you? D cup?”

She pursed her lips as she considered him. God, that mouth of hers drove him crazy. If he had to pick a favorite feature on her it would definitely be her lips. And in the past few days they’d been all over him.

“Thirty-four D,” she said finally.

Hot damn. “Nice. Very, very nice.”

Before he combusted or drove his shiny car off the road he changed the subject. But they’d definitely be fogging up the windows later. “Ever taken the interstate to Vail?” She shook her head. “There’s this real pretty drive along a windy road up there that’ll take us to Lookout Mountain.”

“What’s Lookout Mountain? A teenage make-out spot?”

They’d just passed Golden and were steadily speeding up into the base of the Rockies. Pine trees and aspens with their new spring leaves began to close in around them.

“It’s actually not really a pull-out spot, but a windy road that rings the side of the Rockies. It’s got a helluva view of Denver. I thought you might like to see it.” He grinned and downshifted as they started to climb. “It’s also a great make-out spot.”

For the next hour conversation meandered casually from one trivial subject to another. Since their little entanglement earlier that day, Lorelei had been determined to keep the talk casual. Mark knew that he’d touched on something back in the bedroom. He’d seen it on her face. She was hiding something big. That wasn’t a surprise. What was—what had bothered him more than he cared to admit—was that whatever it was hurt her deeply. The pain in her eyes had nearly undone him.

He didn’t want to care. Didn’t want to feel like someone had cheap-shot him in the gut with a line drive. Things weren’t supposed be complicated for him. No messy feelings, no attack of conscience. Nothing but fun and games until it was time to move on. That was the way it had always been. Hell, he hadn’t dictated it. He’d only followed the lead from the women in his life. Now he made no apologies for how he’d chosen to live. And, yeah, he knew what that said about him and he didn’t care. He was trying very hard not to care.

After he’d found out about Dina’s infidelity he’d vowed not to be a fool again. Not only that, but he’d made a promise to himself that he’d never tell another woman his secret. The way Dina had treated him after she’d found about his illiteracy had proven to him it was a mistake to admit to such a weakness.

Only one woman had ever known the truth about him—other than his mother, Leslie, and Dina. Molly Sawyer. Sweet, innocent pastor’s daughter and the first girl he’d ever loved. He used to sit behind her in church and spend the hour inhaling the rose scent of her shampoo. Then he’d go home and spend his nights fantasizing about her. He’d been a real Sunday regular there for a few years.

It never seemed to bother her that he’d get tongue-tied, stumble over his words. That he wore braces and had an acne problem. Or that his hands were too big for his frame and he tripped over his size thirteen feet regularly.

All she’d cared about was what was inside him. When he’d told her about his dyslexia she’d smiled so sweet his heart had nearly exploded. She’d told him with such youthful conviction that God didn’t mess up when he made people. He’d made Mark perfect, just the way he was. She’d told him that he was special in the best way possible.

Then she’d taken off her little cross necklace and put it in his palm, curled her fingers around his. Told him to keep it for every time he felt unworthy and to remember what she’d said. And she’d kissed him. Soft and innocent on his trembling lips, and his world had burst with young love for her.

And that’s why he kept the cross for good luck. Every time he felt overwhelmed, worthless, frustrated beyond endurance, he reached for it and it reminded him. Even after Dina had slept around on him, called him stupid, and broke his heart, he remembered.

It had kept him going.

And now there was Lorelei Littleton, come to take his necklace from him. He wanted to be able to categorize her with all the rest—with Dina, the dozens of meaningless women of his past. It was where she belonged. No one special, no one to think about a year or two down the road.

But he couldn’t do it. Beyond his control, his better judgment, his past experience, he was beginning to cast her in the same pure light as an innocent preacher’s daughter with a heart of gold.

It scared the living shit out him.

The sun had sunk behind the mountains by the time he reached the winding curve of road that opened over Denver. He slowed the Ferrari and pulled over on the shoulder, the passenger side facing the city lights. He heard Lorelei’s intake of breath as he put the car into neutral, shut of the engine, and pulled the e-brake. He left the interior lights on so the dash lights glowed over them before he turned to her and looked out the window.

The city stretched below them like an ocean of lights. Everywhere he looked he saw them glittering. To his left he could see Boulder and Longmont, their lights bleeding into the outskirts of Denver. Straight ahead he could see the long straight run of Colfax Avenue.

He liked the view from his condo. It was up close and involved. But this—this kicked ass. Almost otherworldly from the perch halfway upside the mountains. He liked to drive up there in his car, hug the Ferrari to the winding curves as he sped along. When he found an unoccupied spot he’d pull off and sit. Sometimes he’d pop in a CD, but most of the time he liked the quiet.

He’d wanted to share it with Lorelei.

“Mark, this is beautiful. Absolutely breathtaking.”

His eyes skimmed over her and he felt his chest tighten. “Yes, beautiful. Breathtaking.” he agreed, and didn’t mean the city lights.

She turned to him. “Do you come up here often?”

He heard the question she was really asking. “I like to drive up here by myself time to time. I don’t bring women up here, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Her voice was soft, “You brought me.”

Yeah, he had. He wondered briefly what that said about him, what it meant, then decided he really didn’t want to know. His head was already too full of unwanted thoughts.

Reaching his arm out, he gathered a thick strand of her silky hair and rubbed it between his fingers. “I thought you’d enjoy it.”

Her breath hitched and she whispered, “I am enjoying it.”

He smiled at her and leaned close. “And I thought we could neck in the car like teenagers.”

Her smile warmed his soul. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a make-out session in a car.”

Tension curled in his gut when she licked those lush lips of hers. He made a strangling sound low in his throat. “God, you’re so hot, Lorelei. Do you have any idea what your mouth does to me? I think about it a dozen times a day sliding warm and wet over my cock and it makes me burn for you.”

She sucked in air and it shoved her amazing breasts out toward him. Her voice sounded kind of breathy when she said, “I haven’t done that yet, Mark.”

An ache started in his balls and wove up his shaft. He shifted to relieve some pressure. It didn’t work. Sliding his hand to the back of her neck, he pulled her close and whispered against her mouth, “I know. But a guy can dream.”

She held him off by placing a hand to his lips. He slid his tongue out and licked the seam of her fingers. She moaned and her hand shook. Good. He was so hot and hard for her that he wanted her wet for him. “Tell me what you want.”

“I want to kiss you.”

His tongue slid between her index and middle finger and stroked the junction in lazy swirls. “Just move your hand, sweetheart, and you can kiss me however you want.” He let his teeth nip the fleshy side of her index finger and she jumped. He grinned.

“Not there. I don’t want to kiss your mouth.” Her free hand slid up his thigh and settled over his hard-on, squeezed. “I want to kiss you here.”

Mark froze as every nerve in his body screamed. He sucked in a breath. Before he could say anything Lorelei’s hands were undoing his fly and shoving his briefs down until they caught beneath his testicles. Then her hands closed around him and he swore. Flexed against her hot little hands.

“Did you do this in the car as a teenager?” she asked as she lowered over him and her breath branded him.

He could barely speak. Couldn’t think at all when her wet tongue touched the base of his erection. She made a purring sound in her throat and her tongue slid up the length of him. Sweet Jesus.

His knee rammed the steering wheel when she gripped him in a hand and licked her tongue over the head in a long, lazy stroke. He thought he was going to come right then and there. “Lorelei,” he growled, and grabbed a handful of her hair, arched into her mouth.

And when she finally closed that hot, wet mouth over him he almost did come. Desire tore through him and a groan ripped from his throat. With his heart pounding in his chest he stared down at her, and her mouth slid over him, gently suctioned him. When a lock of her hair fell across her face Mark brushed it away and held it at the back of her neck.

It was better than his fantasies—way better. He let out a growl and watched her, whispered, “I want you, Lorelei. I want to be inside your tight body.”

Her movements stilled and she looked up at him, sat up. And it felt like he’d been gut-shot. The wind rushed from his chest. She was so incredibly sexy. Her green eyes glowed in the dim light, her lush mouth was slick and swollen, her hair a dark, tangling mass, her skin flushed with arousal. His lungs squeezed painfully. He’d never seen anything more beautiful in his life.

Mark pulled gently on her hair. “Come here.”

She shuffled and he pulled her across the center console. Lorelei’s butt landed against his hard-on and her hands dove into his hair. She licked her wet lips, desire in her eyes. Hunger clawed at him but something else was there, too. Something deeper. He kept his eyes open and locked on hers when he lowered his mouth. Instead of attacking her lips, he touched his tenderly to hers. When her eyes went wide and a little wary he smiled against her. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?”

Hot breath puffed against his skin and she shook her head, lowered her mouth to his again. Mark watched her eyes drift closed and felt something inside him shift. He cupped the sides of her face in his hands and nibbled at her full lips, felt them tremble. Instead of devouring her, he let his lips trail over her face. Kissed her eyelids and heard her soft gasp. Pressed his lips against the warm skin of her temple and breathed in the scent of her.

He didn’t know what was happening, was terrified to know. But when he felt her body shudder against his he felt it somewhere deep in his soul, in that place that hadn’t been touched by anyone in years. And when he traced his lips over her jaw and saw a tear shimmer on her eyelashes, slide down her cheek, it almost unmanned him. He kissed the teardrop away and felt the rush of her breath against his left cheek.

“Oh Lorelei,” he breathed. “What are you doing to me?”

She shook her head as a sound almost like a sob caught in her throat. Her plump lips pressed together and her chin quivered. On a ragged whisper she asked, “What are you doing to me?”

Her eyelids fluttered open and her beautiful eyes focused on him. Emotions swirled in the glimmering depths. “This was supposed to be easy. I don’t know you.”

He brought his mouth back to hers, his hands still cradling her head. Fire burned in his blood. “You know me, Lorelei. Better than anyone else has in a long time.” Suddenly he couldn’t remember why he’d ever wanted easy.

When she shook her head again he frowned and his throat squeezed. His voice was raw. “Say you know me, Lorelei. Tell me you know who I am on the inside. Not who the world sees, but who I really am.” It was suddenly very important for him to hear her say it.

Something was happening between them and he wasn’t sure if he was ready for it, or if he really even wanted it. But he knew that if all she still saw him as was the professional catcher with the bad rep he might just go crazy. God knew he’d made mistakes, but he was more than his reputation, he knew that. He needed Lorelei to know it, too.

Her small, soft hands covered his and his heart stopped. “You’re not who I first thought you were.”

It started beating again, a hammer in his chest. Touching his mouth to hers he felt the current of electricity that flowed from her—took it into him and welcomed it. Sinking into the kiss, his hands slid over her body and pulled her close.

He wasn’t going anywhere.