Never Too Much Read online

  She stilled at his growled statement, and he could feel her confusion. “No.” She put her hands against his chest, as if bracing him away. “I don’t wear any jewelry.”

  Her nonanswer made him want to explode. “Damn it, are you married?”

  She shook her head. “Divorced. And don’t curse at me.”

  That threw him—and relieved him. He settled back, thoughtful, aware that her attention on him now was more wariness than interest. He didn’t understand himself. “The divorce is final?”

  “For a while now.”

  Damn, had she been a child bride? The thought didn’t sit well with Ben. He waited for her to share the barest details, to give a clue about why she’d gotten divorced, how long it had been. He waited for her to be like so many women he’d known.

  He wasn’t really surprised when she remained silent.

  Her hand flattened on his chest, tentatively, then with more confidence. Unable to help himself, Ben bent toward her. “One more small kiss, okay?”

  He took her silence as agreement and touched her mouth with his, easy, gentle. Her lips were warm and so damn soft, he slid his tongue over her, not entering her mouth, just tasting her.

  She made a small sound and angled her head slightly away from him. Her hand kneaded his chest and her voice was low, sincere, breathy. “You are about the sexiest man I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe I even noticed because I never do, not really.”

  More brash honesty. Ben wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but she was touching him, so he didn’t move, didn’t interrupt her.

  “Now that I have noticed, it’s hard not to keep noticing.” Her hand slid up, almost to his shoulder, idly stroking him. “You make me feel . . . funny.”

  “Good funny?”

  “I suppose. But there’s a lot going on in my life. I have things all planned.”

  His laugh sounded strained even to his own ears. Damn, she only touched his chest, not any place vital, not any place sexual. But he liked it. A lot.

  Insanity.

  “I’m not asking to take over your life, Sierra.” Yet he knew that he’d already considered all the ways he intended to get involved with her.

  “I know. But it’s complicated.”

  “What could be less complicated than sex between two consenting adults?”

  “For you maybe, but not for me.”

  “Why don’t you let me show you how uncomplicated it could be?” Ben waited, tense with anticipation for her answer.

  “All right.”

  Her agreement took the wind out of him, and he shuddered.

  Then she added, “One night of sex. I suppose I can handle that.”

  “One night?”

  “Yes.” She touched him again, her small hands moving over him, up to his shoulders then around his neck. “Who knows when I’ll feel like this again? Nothing today seems real anyway. And you’re right, how complicated can one night be?”

  No, hell no. Ben didn’t want one night. He wanted . . . well, more than one night, damn it. “There’s a problem here, Sierra.”

  “What?”

  “I made you a promise, remember? No sex.”

  “But . . .”

  “Uh-uh. I’m not letting you change your mind now. You’ll blame me in the morning.”

  She stiffened. “I take responsibility for my own actions, Ben Badwin.”

  He could believe that. Ben knew firsthand that she had a hard time sharing with anyone, even when she desperately needed a helping hand.

  “I know.” He kissed her again, this time as he wanted, slow and deep, then deeper still, giving her his tongue and feasting on her mouth until she was breathless and clinging to him, her fingers tangled in his hair, holding him close. They were both panting.

  Damn, she turned on so fast, he felt singed.

  She wanted him now, and he wasn’t above using her natural sensuality against her. Forcing his mouth from hers, Ben said against her throat, “I’m going to offer you a really workable solution. Okay?”

  She tipped her head, making it easier for him to kiss her there. “What solution?”

  Moving slowly so that he didn’t startle her, giving her time to refuse him, Ben stretched out next to her. He drew her close, aware of her trembling excitement, her wildly beating heart. He was shaking, too. It wasn’t every night that he met a woman who pushed all his buttons. It wasn’t every night that he hopped into bed with a stranger either. But Sierra didn’t feel like a stranger and he wanted her too much to quibble over what was or wasn’t proper.

  She was so skittish with him, this might be his only opportunity to prove a point, to show her that when he gave his word, it meant something. It’d test him to his limits, but he could handle it.

  “Ben?”

  He nuzzled her temple, felt her still damp hair, her silky soft skin. He wanted to strip her naked, to move atop her and slide deep.

  Instead, he murmured against her ear, “Let me help you. You’re tired, and you need to sleep, but sleeping isn’t easy when you’re aroused.”

  Predictably enough, she went rigid and tried to put some distance between them. “What are you talking about?”

  He pulled her closer. “I’ll take care of you.” He kissed her earlobe, nibbled on it. “Give you an orgasm.”

  She gasped. “But I want . . .”

  “To have sex? Nope.” He continued to touch her, encourage her. “That is, we won’t have intercourse, which is what you didn’t want, right? But there are other ways for me to make you feel good, Sierra.”

  She held herself still with uncertainty, doubt and what felt like shock. He waited for her to be sarcastic, to get angry.

  Instead she whispered, “You really think you can?”

  Everything male in him expanded. Determination, excitement. He levered up on one elbow and gazed at her in the darkness. “Damn right.” He’d make her feel very good—so good, she wouldn’t be able to stop with just one measly night.

  Her small hand on his chest contracted, fisting in his shirt, tugging him closer. He wanted to feel her hands on his bare flesh.

  Ben said, “Let me get this off,” and levered away from her to remove his shirt.

  When he cuddled her close again, her breath came fast, heating his skin. “So what do you say, sweetheart?”

  She gazed up at him with a look of consternation. “What about you?”

  Ben kissed the tip of her nose. “I’ll consider it a gift.”

  Low and shaky, she said, “I don’t know. That doesn’t seem fair.”

  His fingertips found her chin and he turned her face toward him. Even without light, he could see that her eyes were wide, curious and cautious all at once.

  Foreign emotions clamored inside him, turbulent and wild and overwhelming. He touched her lush mouth and felt his cock throb with need. “The thing is, I want you so much it’s making me nuts. I don’t understand it, but it’s true. But I want you to want me just as much.”

  She made a sound that was part confusion, part disbelief. “I do.”

  “No, not yet.” But she would. He kissed her mouth, teasing her with gentleness, with light touches that made her strain toward him for more. “Let me make you feel good, okay?”

  Ben could feel her shaking and knew it was with arousal now, not anxiety. Her scent was stronger, intoxicating, making him shake, too.

  “We’ll go one step at a time.” He smoothed his fingers across her nape, feeling the baby-fine curls there, stroking until she tightened against him. He shifted to the fragile bones of her shoulder, then slowly to her upper chest. He held his breath, waiting, but she didn’t complain, didn’t tell him to stop.

  Her T-shirt had a loose scooped neck. He splayed his fingers just above her breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra and the soft cotton of her tee tantalized him.

  His voice went hoarse, deep. “If I do anything you don’t like, you’ll tell me. We can stop whenever you say.”

  Shifting subtly, she nestled her head between his n
eck and his shoulder. Her breasts brushed his chest, his wrist. Her legs tangled with his, her hips snuggling closer to his groin. Her upper thigh pressed his erection, inciting him further. “Sierra?”

  He felt her very tiny nod of agreement and wanted to shout with his relief. “Good.” He kissed her forehead, her temple. “That’s good.”

  She shifted again, trying to get his hand on her breast. Ben was in no hurry; in fact, he intended to do a fair amount of sensual teasing. Women loved it and he sure as hell had no complaints. He wanted to drive her wild, to make her as uncontrolled as he felt.

  Opening his mouth against her throat, he kissed her, wet, hot, sucking her skin gently against his teeth to deliberately mark her. When she looked in the mirror, he wanted her to remember this night, this moment. He wanted her to know that whatever was between them, it wouldn’t go away in one damn night.

  “Ben . . .”

  With a light stroke, he teased her upper chest, back and forth, dipping into her cleavage, trailing away. Her skin was so warm and satiny. He slipped his fingers just under the neckline of her shirt and brushed the edge of her left nipple. She inhaled sharply, released a ragged moan.

  With some surprise, Ben registered her reaction. How long had it been for her? Already she trembled all over and he’d barely touched her. “You really are on the ragged edge, aren’t you, honey?”

  Her teeth sank into his shoulder, not hard, but definitely hungry. She nodded.

  Oh, this would be fun.

  Feeling like a magnanimous conqueror, Ben dismissed his own frustrated need to concentrate on hers. Gauging her every response, he cupped her left breast fully, squeezing gently, caressing her. Sierra gave a throaty purr of wonder and lifted into him. Ben moved his palm over her nipple, again and again, then caught her nipple and lightly pinched.

  With a broken gasp, she twisted against him.

  Ben pushed her onto her back and bent over her, kissing her throat, her chest, finally settling his mouth on hers. She tasted incredibly good and returned his kiss just as wildly. He continued to taunt her nipple, tugging, rolling. Her back arched as she devoured his mouth.

  Panting, Ben lifted his head. “It’s too damn dark in here.” Her form was a murky shadow, indistinguishable to the eyes. He wanted to see her, but he had to hold her hands down so he could move away. “Just a sec.”

  He reached to the nightstand and turned on the flashlight. He wasn’t cad enough to shine it right on her, though he wouldn’t have minded stripping her naked and exploring her in detail. For whatever reason, she fascinated him, from her forthright manner and sexy mouth to her unbridled sensuality.

  Ben swallowed a groan and quickly set the flashlight upright on the nightstand, removing the temptation to scrutinize her small body in detail.

  The mellow glow of light filtered out to the corners of the room, falling in selective places and glinting off Sierra’s auburn hair and her pale skin.

  The flashlight didn’t help as much as Ben had hoped, considering he saw everything in a red haze. He reached for Sierra, voice shaking, hands trembling. “Let’s get this shirt off you.”

  “Wait.” Dim light slanted over her cheekbones, the bridge of her nose, a shoulder, the rise of a breast. Her eyes remained mysteriously dark with her long lashes leaving feathery shadows on her cheeks.

  Blood thundered through Ben’s veins. He held the hem of her shirt in both hands. “What is it?”

  “I haven’t been with anyone except my ex.”

  Would she forever take him off guard? Ben worked her words over in his mind, trying to decipher her meaning. “You’re saying you’re not real experienced?”

  “It’s not just that.”

  “What else?” When she didn’t answer fast enough, he leaned down and kissed her, his mouth moving warmly over hers, firm but brief. Full of urgency. “Tell me.”

  He could hear her breathing now, her reaction again swift and hot. “I’m not very good at . . . at coming either.”

  Her words were so stimulating, Ben groaned. God, he’d wanted a challenge . . . Well she was that, a constant bundle of challenges. Trying to sound as serious as she had, he whispered, “It’ll be fine, you’ll see.”

  Her trust washed over him seconds before she released the shirt. “All right. If you’re sure.”

  He touched his nose to hers and smiled into her mesmerizing eyes. “Just close your eyes, relax, and leave it all to me.”

  Chapter Four

  There was so much promise in the way Ben said that, how he looked at her, that Sierra couldn’t get a single word out.

  She hadn’t thought about sex much in the past few years. There hadn’t seemed any point. She’d been busy trying to survive, making efforts to get her life into some kind of order. Men, and sex, had gone way down on her list of priorities. But Ben . . .

  He literally took her breath away. In a secret little part of herself, she was thrilled with how things had worked out. Not that she wanted or needed the added hassle of damage to her property. She’d have her hands full getting the repairs taken care of.

  But the whole situation had necessitated that she be here in Ben’s bed, and now he was touching her and kissing her and wow, the man was potent. His every look, his every word, made her feel things she hadn’t even known existed.

  He wanted to give her an orgasm. Not have sex with her, because that would mean breaking his word. But he looked more than capable of accomplishing the deed, of doing all kinds of things, really. The idea made her nervous, made her heart race.

  It excited her unbearably.

  Despite what common sense told her, despite her sense of propriety, she wanted him to touch her. And so she did as he asked and trusted him.

  His hands were so large, so rough and dark, that seeing them lift her shirt was an enticement in itself. She closed her eyes as her breasts were bared and prayed she wasn’t a disappointment. She just didn’t know about such things, what a man like Ben might expect sexually, physically. She was healthy, lean, her build average as far as she knew. But she was proud, and she hated the idea that she might be less than he expected.

  “Lift your head.”

  Keeping her eyes shut, Sierra raised up and the shirt got swept up and over, then tossed aside. Ben’s hands closed on her bare waist and he just sat there, not doing anything, not touching her in any other way. He wasn’t even breathing hard.

  He didn’t seem overcome with lust at the sight of her naked breasts. In fact, he seemed calmer, more controlled now that he’d gotten her upper body bare.

  The suspense of not knowing what he thought wore on her so she peeked up—and saw him devouring her with his gaze. His shadowed face looked hard, the set of his jaw exaggerated by the slanted light. His nostrils were flared, his naked chest rising and falling.

  Without a word, he slowly bent down and drew her left nipple into his mouth.

  Heat. And wet suction.

  And soft, luscious strokes with his velvet tongue.

  With a shuddering groan, Sierra felt the insistent pull of his mouth everywhere, in the pit of her stomach, in her trembling thighs, between them. She caught his head, holding him to her, letting him know without words how much she liked it.

  Ben kissed his way to her other breast and treated it to the same attention. To Sierra, he didn’t seem to be in any hurry but already her every nerve ending jangled. “Ben?”

  He rose up and took her mouth, plunging his tongue in, stroking deep, sucking at her tongue. At the same time, he cupped both breasts in his hands, thumbing her wet nipples, rasping them. It was like sensation overload and Sierra tried to tell him with her kiss, with the movement of her body, that she wanted, needed more.

  He whispered, “Hush, not yet,” and went back to kissing her. Long, deep, eating kisses that drugged and provoked her and made her ache. A liquid warmth coiled inside her, drawing tighter and tighter until it seemed she couldn’t bear it. And still he didn’t do anything else, just played with her breasts and kissed
her in that mind-numbing way.

  She hadn’t realized a kiss could be so consuming, so effective. But the more his mouth moved on hers, the more she wanted it. Breathing became secondary to his taste, the connection such a kiss provided. She’d forgotten, or she’d never known, that there was so much pleasure in a man’s hungry kiss.

  Her breasts swelled, her nipples felt unbearably sensitive, but he didn’t relent. Every so often he left her mouth to kiss her throat again, the joint of her shoulder. She felt so sensitized in so many places that everywhere he touched sizzled with awakened nerve endings. He raised her arms and licked lazily at the inside of her elbow, down to her wrist, where he gently drew on her pulse. Sierra writhed. He pulled her to her side to face him and his hand went to her behind. Fingers spread wide, he cuddled one round cheek.

  “You have such a sweet ass,” he rumbled roughly while squeezing and kneading, urging her closer, and Sierra was thrilled with the blunt compliment. “Wanna take your shorts off now, too?”

  She nodded, anxious to be naked so he’d touch her more. She felt on the verge of something truly wonderful, something explosive, and was anxious to get there.

  Ben’s laugh was husky with triumph. He sat up to untie the loose drawstring that kept her shorts in place. After rolling her shorts down, he tugged them off her ankles.

  “Beautiful legs,” he murmured.

  She was naked except for her panties and she started to hook her thumbs in them too, wanting to experience it all.

  “No, there’s no rush.”

  She started to insist otherwise, but then Ben looked up at her face—and cupped his hand over her sex.

  “Mmmm. Nice and hot.”

  With his big fingers pressed there, it was all she could do not to squirm against him. She inhaled a shaky breath and parted her thighs just a bit.

  He watched her, his awareness so keen she felt caught in his gaze, unable to free herself.

  “Wet, too.” His fingertips teased gently. “You’re enjoying this? You want more?”

  It took two breaths and a lot of concentration to nod. “Please.”