She felt so naughty and wicked and almost immoral. She tried not to think about Pastor Willis and his sermons. She was about to do everything her grandmother and Pastor Willis had warned her was bad.
“Come on, Nell,” Riley said softly, “you can do better than this.”
She licked her dry bottom lip, but didn’t proceed any further. She was too afraid to do the wrong thing. “I don’t know how.”
Riley gripped her wrist. “Let me show you.” He forced her hand flat against the wall of his chest and covered her hand with his.
His strong, callused fingers were rough on her hot skin. The longer he held on the more she wanted. She placed the other hand on his chest, right over his heart. Under her hand, his heart raced.
He took a sharp breath.
Feeling a sense of freedom, she let herself explore him. “I’ve never seen a naked man before.” Did those words really come out of her mouth? Her voice sounded strange.
“Don’t you have Internet?” he asked.
She did now. She’d had DSL put in the week after her grandmother had passed. “Well yes, but, you know, the FBI can track where you’ve been on those sites and I don’t want that on my record.” Somehow her grandmother would have found out.
He chuckled. “We’ll have to change that, won’t we?”
His low seductive laugh rolled over her, curling her toes. Nell clenched her knees together to stop their shaking. She didn’t think he was asking a question. Nor did she care. “Yes. Please.”
He lowered her hands to her side. Then he started to unbutton his shirt.
This wasn’t how she wanted to do this. She wanted to undress him herself and discover his body in her own way. Nell grabbed his wrists. His muscles flexed under her hand. “No, I want to undress you.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she was shocked that she’d said them.
Riley raised an eyebrow. “I’d like that.”
She couldn’t help herself, she giggled. “Do most men like a woman undressing them?”
“I like a woman who lets me know what she wants.”
“Why?”
“Because that means they’re as excited about going to bed with you as you are about them.”
Okay, she thought, I can do that. Nell let go of his wrists. His hands dropped to his sides. Her stomach fluttered with excitement and anticipation. There was a languid achy feeling between her thighs. She was a bit disconcerted about her body’s reactions. To go from zero to red-hot inferno had to be bad. But she didn’t care. One part of her felt as if she was abandoning everything her grandmother had taught her about what was proper. She’d heard the stories of her mother’s too-easy reputation and tried all her life to be different from that. Deep down inside, maybe she was more like her mother than she believed she was. The thought didn’t make her feel naughty as she suspected it would. “You’re shaking.”
“I’m excited.”
“Me, too.” Nell freed the top button of his shirt. His skin was a smooth earthy bronze color. He was warm and alive. The aching in her body became more fierce as she unfastened the next button.
“Nell, before we go any further, I want to make one thing perfectly clear to you.”
That this was real. She already knew that. “What?”
“If at any time you want to stop, we stop.”
He didn’t have to say that. She knew she could trust him with her body. “I know.”
“Not just with me, but with any man. Promise me you won’t waste your time on a man you can’t trust.” He reached up and touched her cheek.
Nell rubbed her face against his palm. She drew from his strength. He knew how to comfort a woman and make her feel safe. “I promise.”
Nell undid another button and pulled the hem of his shirt out of his jeans. She pushed the fabric aside to reveal his wide shoulders. He shrugged out of the shirt and she leaned back to look at the smooth expanse of his chest. He was beautiful. The shirt dropped from her cold fingers to the rug, landing near his feet.
She raised her eyes to him again, and saw that his entire body was sculpted like a Greek statue, all corded muscles and six-pack abs. His skin was smooth and a rich cinnamon-brown that made her gasp. No statue, he was alive and hot, not cold marble. His chest rose and fell with every breath. His nipples, small and brown, were like hard pebbles. Carefully she reached up and touched one nipple with the tip of her finger.
Riley sucked in a quick breath and Nell felt a surge of power. This was better than unwrapping her presents on Christmas morning. Nell glanced down at the telltale bulge in his jeans. Pride swelled inside her. She, plain old Nell, could make a man feel desire.
Riley leaned forward until his mouth was less than an inch from her ear. “That’s what you do to me, Nell. What you’ve always done to me.”
She met his smoldering gaze, silently thanking him, but not sure if she completely believed him. “I want to see you naked.”
His mouth curved into a smile. “You say the sweetest things.”
She’d never felt so bold in all her life. Something about the twinkle in his eyes, the wicked smile that just made her feel so darn comfortable and more importantly…confident. “You make me feel very naughty.” Naughty and wicked and any number of things. She hoped her grandmother wasn’t sitting on a cloud looking down and watching her.
“Good for me.” He ran a hand up her arm to her neck and the line of her jaw.
She wanted to purr. The feel of his fingers on her skin sent a shiver through her that made her want to curl her toes and fall back on the sofa. Her hands went to the waistband of his jeans. “I didn’t think I’d ever be so bold.” Not with any man. So few men had ever been in her life.
He started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” she asked impatiently.
He looked down at his feet. “I’m just really glad I took off my socks and shoes.”
She opened her mouth to ask why.
Riley winked at her. “It will make it easier for you to get my pants off.”
She covered her smiling mouth with her fingers, refusing to be shocked. Refusing to let all her grandmother’s rules about dates and men rush through her head. Flinging caution to the wind, she ran a questing finger across the round bulge of his jeans. “I see what you mean.”
“Come on, Nell. Take off my pants. See what you do to me.”
The metal button on his jeans gave her a little resistance, but she finally managed to unbutton it. The jeans fell open and she slipped her hands inside the waistband to caress the smooth skin of his hips. He wasn’t wearing any underwear. How very improper—and so very sexy.
She thought of her own little-old-lady underwear—cotton
