Run To You

used her tongue tornado on him. He groaned and told her not to stop, but he didn’t lose it. Not like her. Not even when she cupped his testicles in her hand and sucked an orgasm from him that sounded like it came from deep down in his soul. His muscles turned hard and he swore like a Marine, but he didn’t lose control. Not even when she stayed with him to the end. When his muscles relaxed and he let out his breath. Not even when she stood and slid up his body, his still erect penis between them.
    “You okay?” she asked as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
    “You’re good at that, Boots.”
    She smiled. “I got mad skills, too.”
    He kissed her forehead. “Ready for some room service?”
    Her brow wrinkled and she pressed herself against his erection. “You want food?”
    “Not for me. You’re going to be up all night and need your strength.”
    She laughed. “What if I’m tired?” She totally wasn’t.
    “If you wanted sleep, you shouldn’t have woken the beast.”
    T he beast .
    Stella bit the inside of her cheek and turned her face to look out the passenger window of the SUV. She gazed at the tall skinny pines of central Louisiana as memories of the previous night’s experience with the beast flashed in her head.
    After the first encounter, Beau had ordered gumbo and jambalaya and pecan pie from a restaurant in the Quarter. It had arrived with a white Sancerre, and they’d gorged on rich Cajun food and French wine. Then they’d gorged on each other, finally falling asleep in the wee hours of the morning.
    Memories of his warm hands and hot mouth and slick tongue licking wine from her breasts and belly made her smile, but the memory of things he’d learned in a Hong Kong massage parlor set her cheeks on fire. Things that gave new meaning to “happy ending.”
    She felt his gaze on her from across the SUV and turned to look at him. He was once again clean-cut Captain American. The late morning sun lit up his hair and white T-shirt like he was a superhero. Not the talented badass who knew things. Things she’d never even read about. Things that made her say “I love you” when she clearly didn’t.
    “What?” he asked.
    “What?”
    “Your face is getting red.”
    “It’s hot outside,” she said, which was an obvious lie since they were in a vehicle with the air-conditioning blasting. She took a sip of her second latte of the day and brought up the embarrassing moment before he did. “Sorry about the ‘I love you’ last night.”
    He shrugged, and an arrogant smile twisted the corners of his lips. “Like I said, it happens.”
    “Well, it’s never happened to me before. Has it ever happened to you?” she asked, although she figured she knew the answer.
    “What? Screaming ‘I love you’ at the height of orgasm?” He shook his head. “Nah. I told you I’m not romantic.”
    Yep, that’s what she’d figured. “I don’t think I screamed.” He was too restrained, even at the height of ecstasy.
    “You screamed.”
    She hid her smile behind her cup. “Maybe I raised my voice a little. I couldn’t help it once I beheld the beast .”
    He laughed. A sexy, masculine chuckle that worked its way out. “You must be growing on me. That was actually funny.”
    “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome, Boots.”
    Now a question she’d been wondering about since Biloxi. “Are you really ‘on the bench’?”
    He turned his gaze to the road. “Obviously not now.”
    “Because of last night?”
    “Yeah. I know you’re going to say that what we did last night wasn’t sex. You can believe that if you want. I’m not judging you, but I know better.”
    They hadn’t had sex. They’d fooled around. There was a difference but she wasn’t going to split hairs and argue with him. Not when her body still tingled with afterglow. “Why are you, or were you, on the bench? You’re obviously not a virgin so that bird has flown the coop. You’re an attractive, healthy man and—” She gasped. “Is there something wrong with you?”
    “No, but if you are concerned about that,” he said as a frown settled across his brow, “don’t you think you should have asked before now?”
    Yes! But he was Beau. Captain America, and she felt so safe and protected around him.
    “Don’t you think you should have asked last night?” He glanced at her, then back at the road. “For the record, I’m clean as a monk.”
    “Me too.”
    “I know.”
    “How?” He was so annoying. “Are you a