To All a Good Night Read online

  “This isn’t the time for modesty, Maggie.”

  “I’m fine.”

  Uh-huh. And he was the damn tooth fairy. He peeked around her to catch sight of her in the mirror. The back of her camisole dipped low, revealing her shoulders and spine, lovely and smooth. And as he already knew, the panties were small, boy cut, and revealed more lovely, smooth skin. They rode low on her hips, yet slid up high enough to reveal the bottom curve of her sweet ass. She was holding said sweet ass but he could still see that one cheek was bleeding. “You’re not fine.”

  She sagged, letting her shoulders fall as she dropped her gaze from his and pulled out a box of Band-Aids. “Okay, dammit, I’m not.”

  All irritation vanished. “Come on,” he said gently, and grabbing the box of Band-Aids, pulled her into her bedroom. “You should really buy stock in these.” He sat on the bed and patted the mattress next to him.

  Miserably, she shook her head. “I can’t sit.”

  “Lie down.”

  “Oh, God,” she moaned, still holding her butt. “I should have just stayed sleeping. Did you know that we burn more calories sleeping than we do watching TV?”

  “Fascinating. Come on, it won’t be that bad.”

  “That’s because it’s not you baring your ass.”

  “True.” He patted the mattress again. “How about I close one eye, will that help?”

  She let out a low, glum laugh, and crawled up on the bed. “Did you know that elephants are the only animals with four knees?”

  “I did not know that.” He was trying not to know other things. Like she possibly had the sweetest ass he’d ever seen.

  Slowly, carefully, she sprawled out on her tummy. “Did you know that every human spent about a half hour as a single cell?”

  “Maggie, don’t be nervous.”

  “Or that every year about ninety-eight percent of the atoms in your body are replaced?”

  “Fascinating. Listen, it’s going to be okay, I promise.” One spaghetti strap of her cami had slid down over her arm. The hem had risen to mid back, revealing a strip of skin that he wanted to nibble. Her legs and feet were bare. He wanted to start at her toes and lick his way up to the world-class wedgie she had going on.

  “Jacob?”

  He cleared his throat. The last time a woman had lain on her belly for him, he’d been naked and about to have a very different experience. “Yeah?”

  “Just look already!”

  “Okay.” He very gently slid the material of her panties over one cheek, so that it further bunched in the middle. Her entire body was clenched so tight, she quivered. “Relax,” he said, stroking his finger over the already blooming bruise.

  She let out a sound that might have been a laugh. “You pull down your pants and we’ll see if you can relax. What do you see?”

  He saw two creamy cheeks that were so perfect he wanted to lean down and kiss them, divided by the bunched up silk that much to his regret managed to hide all the feminine secrets between her thighs.

  “Jacob!”

  Right. What did he see? Since she didn’t want to hear that he saw things that made him weak in the knees, he cleared his throat. “You’re already bruising and need ice.”

  She wriggled around. “Any glass?”

  “Hold still.” She had two long cuts from the broken plate. He probed them both while she hissed out a breath. “No glass,” he finally said, reaching for the Band-Aids. “All you need is a little TLC….” He covered the wounds and then, because he couldn’t seem to help himself, he bent over her and did as he’d been dying to, and kissed the spot.

  She gasped and rolled painfully to her side, her hair in her face, her eyes wide. “What was that?”

  “I was kissing it all better. Did it work?”

  “I…” She blinked and slid her hands beneath her to cup her bottom. “Yeah.”

  Both cami straps had slipped down now. Her breasts were full, pressing against the thin material, her nipples two hard, mouthwatering points. Her gently curved belly was rising and falling with each breath, of which she took many. Her panties were snug, the effect being that the satin did little more than outline her every dip and nuance, and if he thought he’d wanted to nibble her ass, it was nothing compared with this particular area.

  “Jacob?”

  With difficulty, he lifted his gaze to her face.

  “You really are different,” she whispered.

  “From…?”

  “Me.”

  That tugged a laugh out of him. “Yeah, and trust me, I’m very grateful for those differences.”

  “No, it’s just that you were right before. The guys I usually fall for are the male version of me.”

  He paused as that sank in. “Are you falling for me, Maggie?”

  Now it was her turn to pause. “I didn’t think it would be possible.”

  “Because we’re so different.”

  “That’s right.”

  He felt himself go very still. Shit, he’d really been an idiot. Standing, he walked out of the bedroom, away from the gorgeous creature in silk, so he could think a moment. And what he thought made him very unhappy. All the alluding to Mr. Right and Mr. Wrong, the times she’d mentioned their differences…While he’d been enjoying those differences, she’d been thinking he was a step down for her. A big step. How it’d never occurred to him, he had no idea, but—

  “Jacob.”

  She’d followed him into the living room. He let out a breath and stared out her window into the dark night. “I realize I don’t have the fancy degrees or the high-paying job, but I don’t like the idea that you’re just slumming with me.”

  “No. No, you misunderstood. We’re different, yes. As in I’m anal, single-minded to the point of obsession, and frankly, socially handicapped.”

  He turned to face her but she held up a hand before he could speak. “You, however…” she continued softly, “you’re tough and confident and funny and effortlessly sexy. I’ve never been with a guy like you, Jacob, and now I know I short-changed myself. That’s what I meant before. Yes, I’ve been interested in you since I first saw you again on your ladder in a pair of worn Levi’s, looking in charge of your world, and yeah, that’s extremely shallow of me, but it’s so much more than that. I love the way you think, how you always say what you mean, no guesswork. What you see is what you get with you, and that’s…” She searched for the words. “Incredibly appealing.”

  “I’ve been interested in you since I first saw you again,” he said. “Before I even knew it was again.”

  She looked surprised. “Really?”

  “Yeah, really. You were wearing a black skirt and a white blouse, with a peekaboo hint of lace beneath. And fuck-me heels.”

  She choked out a laugh. “I was not. They were higher than my usual, but I had a meeting that day and was looking for power.”

  “You got lust.”

  “My hair was out of control.”

  “It was up in some complicated twist and you had a few strands of hair falling out the back, dangling against your sweet neck. You were late, you were rushing, and you looked like a hot mess. Emphasis on the hot. But even then it was your brain that attracted me most. I love watching you think, Maggie.”

  “Do you know what I’m thinking now?” She stepped closer and slid her hands up his chest. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pressed all that hotness up against him.

  “I could guess,” he murmured.

  She smiled, and it staggered him. “My life has always been MapQuested out,” she whispered. “The route carefully highlighted. But with you, I don’t know what to expect, I don’t know what you’re thinking or what you’re going to do. Nothing is planned out, nothing is guaranteed, and it’s…exciting, Jacob.”

  His hand swept down her body and up again. “So I turn your body on.”

  “You turn my head on.” She caught his face in her hands and went up on tiptoe. He could feel her breasts, nipples hard, pressing into his chest. “Do y
ou understand?” she murmured against his mouth. “This isn’t a fifth date, where I’ve carefully reflected and decided it’s time to put ‘have sex’ on the calendar. I haven’t lit a candle or turned on the music like I usually do because that’s what sets the mood and helps me relax. I haven’t slathered myself in some pretty-scented lotion to make sure I’m turning you on. Hell, I didn’t shave my legs—” She went still and closed her eyes, relaxing back down on the balls of her feet. “Dammit, I didn’t shave my legs.”

  He grabbed her before she could turn away, hauling her back up against him. “I don’t care. Finish. Finish what you were going to say.”

  “I want you because you’re different from the norm for me. I want you because when I’m with you, I don’t have to think. I can just feel. I know we said this was a one-time thing, but make me feel again, Jacob, just once more.” She stepped back, then slowly slid first one spaghetti strap off her shoulder, and then the other, letting the cami slip. It snagged on her nipples for one heart-stopping second, then fell, revealing her mouthwatering breasts. She nudged it past her hips, where it landed in a puddle of silk at her feet. Eyes on his, she hooked her fingers in her panties, and he stopped breathing. “Love me, Jacob,” she whispered, gliding them down past her injuries—which made her want to wince, he could tell—past her thighs to join the cami at her feet. Straightening, she reached for his shirt. “Love me.”

  He had a feeling he already did, but that wasn’t what she meant, and all she wanted from him was this adventure, was what he could do to her in bed, so he tugged his shirt off over his head, lifted her up, and carried her back to her bedroom.

  Maggie expected Jacob to put her on the bed and then follow her down, but instead he sat on the mattress with her in his lap, his spine against the headboard.

  “So you don’t put your weight on your cuts,” he said, pulling her thighs on either side of his hips so that she straddled him, letting her feel exactly what her kisses and touches had done to him.

  There was something about being entirely naked while he still wore his jeans. It made her feel exposed, and yet so aroused she could hardly stand it. “I’m a little underdressed here.”

  “I know.” His eyes were lit with heat and desire as they took her naked body in. “I like it.” Then he covered her mouth with his, going in for a long, drugging kiss that did something shocking to her brain that she’d never managed before.

  It turned off.

  She wasn’t worried about what she looked like naked, or wondering if she’d turned off her cell phone, or if her front door was locked. She wasn’t doing anything but feeling—and oh, God, what a feeling she had with his hands skimming down her bare back, cupping her bottom, gently pulling her in closer, careful of her cuts and bruises, until she was as snug against him as she could be, making her intimately aware of his jeans. The denim rubbed her inner thighs, and between.

  He was hard. Big and hard and she pulled her mouth free to pop open his buttons, while his hands stroked her breasts, gliding over her nipples, leaving her to restlessly rock her hips. “Jacob—”

  “I know.” He took his hands on a tour down her ribs, her quivering belly, her thighs, which he urged even wider. His gaze dropped from hers, and he looked his fill, exhaling very heavily, very slowly, only to suck the air back in when she freed him from his jeans. Lifting his hips, he helped her shove them out of the way as his hands swept up her back, pulling her in close for another deep, soul-wrenching kiss, his hands making their way back down, over her bandages, between her legs. “God, you’re wet. So wet. I want to taste—”

  “Later—” She gasped out the word as he slid a finger into her. Needing him inside her, she lifted her hips.

  “Wait,” he rasped out. “Maggie, wait. I want to—”

  She sank onto him, and he gripped her hips to hold her still, his eyes trapping hers. Their twin sighs comingled in the air, and she knew right then, nothing about this was a one-time fluke.

  “Maggie,” he said, just that. She rocked her hips to meet his, staring with wide wonder into his eyes, her hands touching as much of his hard, damp, straining body as she could. Yeah, it’d been a while, a long while since she’d been with anyone else, and yet she could say with the utmost authority that it had never felt like this.

  And then he began to move. Her toes curled, her entire body tingled from the inside out as sheer, unadulterated pleasure hummed through her. It was perfect, it was heaven, and when he banded his arms tightly around her, pushing up, thrusting hard, his teeth scraping her throat, she felt herself start to come apart for him again.

  But this time, he was right there with her, just as far gone himself, and when she came on a cry of sheer surprise at the infusion of pleasure, she heard his own low, rough groan as he shuddered and followed her over.

  9

  J acob woke up to a knock, and opened his eyes. Plastered against his side was a soft, naked, sleeping woman with a smile on her face that said I’m in an orgasmic coma.

  He’d put her there, which gave him more than a little satisfaction. With a smile, he leaned over her with the intention of waking her up and starting all over again but then he heard another knock and realized someone was at the door. Maggie didn’t budge, so he slipped out of bed. At the loss of his body heat, she rolled to her belly and snuggled into her pillow—with two Band-Aids on her cute ass, and a bruise in the shape of a fork.

  Someone knocked for a third time and he pulled on his jeans, padded through the condo, and opened the front door.

  Scott stared at Jacob for a long beat, holding two Starbucks cups and a brown bag that smelled good. He took in Jacob’s lack of a shirt and shoes and socks, and clearly added two and two. “Uh…”

  “You’re looking for Maggie.”

  Scott nodded, looking very unhappy. “Yes.”

  “She’s still in bed—”

  “No, I’m here.” Maggie came around from behind him, wearing a robe and a wide-eyed, sexy, rumpled, I’ve-just-been-laid look in spite of how tightly she held her robe closed. “Scott?”

  He held out one of the coffees, and then on second thought, politely handed the other to Jacob. “I came by to check in on you, but I can see you’re…busy.”

  “Scott—”

  “No, it’s okay. See you at work.” With a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, he turned and walked off.

  “Scott.”

  He didn’t respond, and shutting the door, Maggie leaned back against it and sighed. “That’s probably not good.”

  “Actually, it is.” Jacob took a second sip. “For how over-priced it is, it’s very good.”

  Maggie didn’t smile. “You didn’t have to act so…”

  “So what?”

  “Territorial.”

  That stopped him cold. Territorial? He wasn’t territorial. Territorial was for committed guys, guys who had a thing for being with the same woman, guys who wanted stability and routine—not guys just being a woman’s Mr. Wrong. He was just…ah, hell. He was acting territorial. While he chewed on that shocking fact, she made a noise of disgust and brushed past him, heading into the shower. She’d just shut the curtain when he caught up with her and peeled back the shower curtain.

  With a squeak, she tried to cover herself up.

  “I’ve already seen it all.” He stepped out of his jeans and into the shower with her, crowding her back against the tile.

  “Jacob.”

  “Maggie.” He dropped his attitude and set his forehead to hers. “Truth. I guess I am feeling…territorial.”

  She was no longer covering herself up but looking at him with a rather complimentary wide-eyed wonder. “Are we going to—”

  “Oh, yeah. We’re going to.”

  When Maggie finally got to work, thanks to a ride from Janie, she’d had two more orgasms and had completely revised her opinion of the dreaded “morning after.” In fact, she grinned all the way into the building, was still grinning when she passed by Alice’s desk.

  A
lice took one look at her face and swore. “Are you kidding me? You got laid? I can’t get a freaking return phone call from my supposed boyfriend and you, of the Church of Chemistry, got laid?”

  Maggie looked around to make sure no one was listening. “How can you tell?”

  “I know Scott went by your place last night, and you look all loose and relaxed. Two scientist geeks doing the nasty.” Alice sighed. “Some people have all the luck.”

  “I didn’t sleep with Scott.”

  “No sleeping, huh? Sure. Rub it in.”

  “Alice,” Maggie said on a laugh. “I didn’t have sex with Scott.”

  “Hey, you don’t want to dish. I get it. You don’t know me all that well, and—”

  “No, it’s not that—” She broke off as Jacob walked down the hall. He looked…different. And it wasn’t just because she’d seen his big, bad body in the buff now, had in fact nibbled her way up and down every inch of that six-foot-two frame.

  He didn’t look like the Jacob she’d seen every day for two months. He wasn’t wearing his tool belt, or his jeans, but a pair of nice-fitting cargoes and a white button-down. If he put on a white lab coat, he’d look every bit as much the on-the-go professional as any of the guys in this building. In fact, suddenly he looked like…like her Mr. Right, which should have been thrilling, but oddly enough it didn’t matter. Because sexy and gorgeous as he was, it happened to be what was on the inside that attracted her. He made her smile, he made her think, he made her feel like so much more than the sum of her chemistry degrees—he made her feel like a warm, sexy woman.

  Somehow, in some way, her Mr. Wrong had become her Mr. Right.

  “Ohmigod,” Alice whispered, dividing a stare between Maggie and Jacob. “Him? You slept with him?”

  Maggie gave a guilty little start. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Alice laughed. “Oh, yes, you do.” She watched Jacob walk toward them. “So was he as hot as he looks?”

  Maggie bit her lip, and Alice shook her head. “You don’t have to say a word, your face is saying it all for you. So you two are what, dating now?”