Golden Lies - Barbara Freethy [123]
"Damn." Riley pulled back with a breathless curse. "What's wrong?"
"I don't have anything. Protection. Safe sex. You know." He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
"Oh. Don't you have anything in your wallet?"
"I don't have my wallet."
"You don't have your wallet? But you drove us here. Did you drive us here without your driver's license?"
He stared at her in amazement. "Is that really the most important thing on your mind right now?"
"Sorry."
"What about your purse? Don't you keep anything handy in your purse?"
"I own a dozen purses, Riley. And today I used the sneak-into-my-mother's-house purse, which does not come with condoms."
"Then that's that."
No, this couldn't be happening, not now when she wanted sex more than she'd ever wanted it in her life. Think, she told herself. "Wait. Oh, my God. I think I can save us."
"I sure as hell hope so."
"You'll have to let me up."
He sat back and she slid off the bed, walking over to her bookcase. She ran her fingers along the spines of novels she'd read during her high school years. There it was, The Odyssey, a thousand pages that her mother would never dream of reading. She flipped through the pages until two foil-wrapped condoms dropped out. She picked them up and held them out triumphantly to Riley. "They're still here."
"From what decade, Paige?"
She pursed her lips. "They're not that old. I didn't buy them until after I graduated from college. I was trying to be a grown-up."
"So you bought condoms and hid them in a book," he said with a laugh.
"I didn't want the housekeeper to find them and report them to my mother, because then I'd get the lecture on strange men and strange diseases."
"You are crazy."
"You want me anyway." She walked toward him, dropping the condoms on the comforter.
"I do," he agreed, taking her hand and pulling her back down on the bed.
"Good."
He pushed her back against the pillows. "Now, where were we? I know." His hand went to the buttons on her shirt, his fingers playing with those buttons for long minutes, while he leisurely kissed her as if they had all the time in the world. She wanted him to pick up the pace. She wanted that hand on her breast, and it seemed to be taking forever for him to undo the buttons.
"You're torturing me," she muttered.
His grin told her just how much he was enjoying the process. "I know."
"Riley."
"Paige," he echoed.
"Touch me."
"Oh, I intend to. I intend to do a lot of touching." His hand slid inside her shirt, his fingers slipping under the lace edge of her bra, circling one nipple and then the other as they tightened and peaked under his caress.
His mouth touched hers again as he explored her breast with his hand and his leg insinuated itself between hers. She moved her hand up under his shirt, caressing the taut muscles of his back. He was a strong, powerful man, and she loved the solid feel of his body, the way they moved together so perfectly. She had always believed that when it was really right, she would know it. And she .knew it now. Knew it with all her heart.
Riley sat back, pulling his shirt over his head. She followed his lead, removing each item of clothing with a deliberate seriousness, her gaze never leaving his, answering all the questions in his eyes. She'd never stripped herself so bare before, lights blazing overhead, bodies completely exposed. That's the way she had wanted it. And she faced him bravely, offering herself to him in a way that she'd never offered any other man.
"I don't think I deserve this," he muttered. "Yes, you do. Let me show you why."
They met each other halfway, the slow teasing of the past few minutes replaced by breathless passion as they kissed, touched, stroked, caressed, made love to each other with their mouths, their bodies, their hearts, and their minds. Her dreams