“Do you ever wish you’d gone to the police?” he finally asked.
She closed her eyes. She’d sensed that he’d been stewing about what she’d gone through, but she’d hoped he wouldn’t bring it up again.
“Not really, but I sometimes regret that I wasn’t strong enough to stay in school, to have been in control enough to complete my degree. And paying back a portion of the Pell Grant sucked. But, you know, with time comes perspective,” she admitted. “Sometimes I look back and I’m surprised I got out of the trailer park at all, and other times I somehow always knew I would. Do you ever regret not going away to college?”
“I’m not sure ‘regret’ is the right word. But do I wish I could have learned more? Sure. Who wouldn’t? By the way, this week is going to suck. I’ve got a club meeting tomorrow night, and I’m helping Tru paint Tuesday night. I thought I could see you after, but he wants to paint the playroom as well as the rec room. I think he’s nervous about the house being ready for the wedding. And Wednesday and Thursday I have to bartend until two in the morning.” The muscles around his jaw tensed.
“It won’t suck, and I’m glad you’re helping Tru and Gemma. That gives me time to work on the costumes.” And time to miss you.
“Can I see you Friday night? We can go on a walk down by the water, grab some dinner.”
“I think I can manage that.”
He ran his hand along her thigh. “How did you get so far under my skin that the thought of not seeing you for a night feels like my heart’s being ripped out?”
“Don’t tell Bullet that,” she teased. “He’ll want to man you up, and I like you just the way you are. And I can’t answer you, because I’m still trying to figure out how you got me to tell you all my secrets and let down my guard so fast.”
“Fast? It’s been more than eight months. That is not fast.”
She laughed. He had her there. “What’s your real name? Fast Freddy?” She was teasing, but she realized she didn’t know his real name. “What is your given name?”
“Bob. After my grandfather. Robert Whiskey.”
“Bobby. I like that a lot. Maybe I’ll call you that.”
His eyes narrowed. “Babe, you can call me anything you want, as long as you do it often.” He squeezed her butt, and she flinched. “What’s wrong?”
“My butt is sore,” she whispered. “I’m not used to riding for so long.”
His eyes darkened, and it made her laugh.
“You are a dirty biker boy.”
“You haven’t even begun to get to know my dirty side, sweetheart.”
His husky voice and the naughtiness of his words drew her in like a magnet. He massaged her butt and took her in a sweet kiss that quickly turned insistent. Their bodies touched, and she could feel every hard inch of him.
He brushed his lips over hers. “Let me soothe all your sore muscles. Lose the dress, babe. You can keep your panties on.”
Chapter Twelve
BEAR GAVE CRYSTAL privacy to undress and went into the bedroom to search for the body oil Dixie had given him last Christmas. He dug around in his nightstand, finding it beneath the rest of the crap in the drawer. When he returned to the porch, he stopped just inside the threshold. Seeing Crystal lying on her belly in the middle of his bed wearing only a pair of black lace panties was torture, but he was determined to keep his word and behave.
At least he’d try.
She blushed as he came to the side of the bed. “I’m more nervous than I was this morning when I was just as naked.”
He lay beside her, brushing her hair from her shoulder and running his fingers along her cheek. He was so full of her; he wanted to reassure her as badly as he wanted to make love to her. “You don’t have to be nervous. I made you a promise, and I’ll honor it. I’m not going to touch you anywhere you don’t want me to.”
She trapped her lower lip between her teeth, then whispered, “I think that’s the problem. I want you to touch me. And I want to touch you. I just don’t know if I’m ready to—”
He kissed her slow and sweet to reassure her.
“Then we won’t,” he promised. “Do you trust me enough to let me get out of my jeans so they don’t get oily?”
“Yes.” She watched him strip them off, her fingers curling into the sheets as her eyes moved down his body, lingering on his erection.
He crouched beside the bed. “You sure you’re cool with this?”
“Yeah.”
His eyes drifted down her slender back, to the dip at the base of her spine and over the black lace. “Where does it hurt the worst?”
“My thighs and butt, a little on my lower back. And my shoulders from holding on to you so tight.” Her smile widened. “I think I need a full-body massage.”
He laughed and straddled her hips without putting any weight on her. He poured oil into his palm and rubbed his hands together to warm them up before massaging her shoulders. She let out a long sigh. He worked his way down each arm, kneading away the tension. He rubbed between her shoulder blades, easing the stress from her body, away from her spine and along her sides, feeling her breathing slow and then quicken as his fingers brushed her breasts. He lowered his mouth to her cheek and pressed a kiss there, on her jaw, her neck, and her shoulder. Her hips rocked up beneath him, and he went back to the promised massage.
Moving lower, he rubbed the tension from around her waist and hips. She moaned sweetly, and he saw a smile lift her lips. “Scoot up, babe.”
She inched toward the head of the bed, giving him room to massage her foot. Kneading the tension from her sole earned another entrancing sound. He lavished the other foot with the same attention before working his way up her calves. He couldn’t resist kissing the backs of her knees.
“Do that again.”
He did, slicking his tongue along the sensitive skin. Her hips rose off the mattress.
“That’s hot,” she whispered.
She had no idea how hot.
His body blazed with an unquenchable thirst for her. He continued massaging her legs, and when he reached her thighs, he slowed, rubbing deep and sensually, knowing that was where most of her aches and pains were concentrated. She spread her legs wider, allowing his knees to fit between, and he caressed her hamstrings, moving up along the curve of her ass, gently stroking her cheeks. He pressed his lips to first one cheek and then the other. Her body was so relaxed, but with each press of his lips, he felt her stiffen a little, so he pulled back.
He poured more oil in his hands and gently stroked her inner thighs, but she was too alluring not to kiss. When his thumbs grazed her panties, he kissed the crease where her ass met her leg. She fisted her hands tighter in the sheets, turning him on even more. He ran his hands along her ribs, brushing over the sides of her breasts, to her arms, and all the way down to each one of her fingertips.
Coming down over her, he whispered, “Still okay?”
“Ohmygod, yes,” she said in a heady voice.