“Christ!” His fingers found her hair and twined themselves into it, tugging, and sensation flared from her scalp. “You’re killing me, Shelby.”

The ragged tone of his voice told her how close he was, his body tense, hips lifting off the bed. She wanted to play there forever, but she moved up and opened her mouth over him again, loving how he filled her mouth, thick and heavy on her tongue. She took him as deep as she could, sucking, swirling her tongue over it as she moved up and down. He jerked against her mouth and hands and she sucked him deep again, picking up the rhythm of his hips. He filled her mouth and throat. His fingers tightened in her hair. “Shelby. Honey. I’m gonna come.”

She kept going. If he was giving her a chance to move off him, to not have to swallow, that was sweet of him—lots of guys didn’t care, and in some cases she might have taken the chance to avoid that—but not now, not with him. She wanted all of him, wanted to do that most personal of acts.

She looked up at him again just as he opened his eyes, and the blaze of heat in them seared her to her core. She wanted to give him his ultimate pleasure and she paused in her movements, their eyes locked on each other. Something drew out between them, something warm and almost unbearably intimate.

“Love that,” he whispered, his hands pushing her hair back to hold it behind her head. “Do it. Suck me dry.”

Yes. She wanted to do that for him. He palmed the back of her head and drew her closer. Heat raced through her veins as she watched his face tighten, his eyelids growing heavy, his lips parted.

“Oh yeah.” His pelvis lifted, and he fucked her mouth, faster. She let him bump the back of her throat, and then felt the hot liquid there, so far back she couldn’t really even taste it, but she loved the feel of him filling her mouth, his seed sliding down her throat, and when she swallowed he let out a roar of pleasure.

His thrusts slowed and stopped, his cock pulsing against her tongue, and she slowly slid the tight ring of her lips over and off him, giving one last gentle lick to the head.

“Holy shit,” he gasped, releasing his grip on her hair so she could climb up his body. “Holy fucking shit.”

Hopefully that meant it had been good. With a secret smile, she snuggled into him, his arms coming loosely around her, as if he could barely move them.

Their bodies both slick with sweat, they lay together, hearts thudding, his cock softening beneath her. Wow. She’d loved that. Her body soft and her mind softer, she drifted back to sleep in his arms.

A thudding knock on Shelby’s apartment door had them both jumping and blinking heavy eyes. At first Shelby didn’t even know what the noise was. She searched her mind for who it could be, and then she remembered—it was Sunday and she’d offered to help her twelve-year-old next-door neighbor bake cookies for school. She shot a glance at her alarm clock—holy crap, it was eleven o’clock!

“Oh, dear lord,” she muttered, sliding out of Jake’s warm embrace and then naked out of bed.

“Who is it?” Jake sat up, the covers falling to his waist, his impressive chest and ripped abs on display. He’d said he was a triathlete and his body was clearly in fabulous shape.

“I think it’s my neighbor.”

“Can’t you just ignore her? Him? Whoever?”

She paused. Actually thought about that. For about half a second. Tempting, but she couldn’t do that to Taylor. She looked over her shoulder as she reached into her closet for a robe. “I can’t. She’s only twelve and I promised her. Her mother’s not around much, so I…well, it’s a long story. I’m so sorry.”

“That’s okay.” He shoved a hand through his hair, still looking lethargic and satisfied though he wore a faint frown. She took a breath as she yanked on the robe then scurried out to let Taylor in.

“Hey,” Taylor said. Then she frowned as she took in Shelby’s robe and mussed hair. “Whoa. You’re not even dressed. Did you sleep in?”

“Um…sort of.” Shelby forced a smile. “Come on in, hon. Want something to eat? Juice?”

“I had some toast at home,” Taylor said. “But I’ll have some juice.”

Shelby poured her a glass of orange juice while Taylor perched on a stool at the counter. “Here you go. Hang on while I go get dressed.”

She needed a shower, probably smelled like Jake’s citrusy-spicy aftershave, not to mention sex.

She turned and saw Jake leaning against the door into her small foyer, dressed in his jeans and loose shirt half buttoned, stubble darkening his square jaw, his hair attractively tousled, eyes gleaming. Lord, he was gorgeous.

Shelby glanced at Taylor, whose eyes had widened. “Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” he said, ambling into the kitchen. “I’m Jake. A friend of Shelby’s.”

“I’m Taylor.”

“Nice to meet you.” He lifted a brow at Shelby. “How about I make coffee while you get dressed?”

“Um, sure. Great. Thanks.”

She needed a shower, but she’d have to forego that for now, making do with a quick wash, then dressing in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She gazed at her reflection in the bathroom mirror—pink beard burns on her cheeks and chin, and a satisfied gleam in her eyes. She swiped on a couple of strokes of mascara because she looked like an Albino rabbit without it, then returned to the kitchen where Jake and Taylor were chatting about school.

“So it’s my turn to bring the treats next week,” Taylor said. “But Mom always just buys something at a bakery, and everyone else brings homemade stuff, so Shelby said she’d help me make cookies.”

“That’s nice of her.” Jake met her eyes and her cheeks warmed.

“She does lots of stuff like that,” Taylor continued. “’Cause my mom’s really busy.”

“I see.” He turned and poured the coffee into two mugs he’d apparently found in her kitchen. Both he and Taylor seemed very comfortable there, which was kind of freaky, but whatever. Shelby accepted a cup from him and added some milk from the fridge. She held the milk carton up to him, but he shook his head. “Black,” he said, lifting the cup.

She nodded. She knew that. She gave him her back to replace the milk in the fridge, feeling a little flustered, hoping the cold air from the refrigerator might cool her hot face.

“So what kind of cookies are you going to make?” Jake asked.

“I don’t know. Shelby?”

“I have the ingredients for chocolate chip. But I also got some pecans to make those sandies you like. Or we could make sugar cookies and cut them into shapes and ice them.”

“Oh.” Taylor sucked briefly on her bottom lip, her legs swinging on the stool. “With colored icing?”

“Sure.”

“Do you have any sprinkles?”

“I do.”

Taylor’s eyes lit up. “Okay. Let’s make sugar cookies. If that’s not too much trouble,” she tacked on politely.

Shelby smiled. Taylor’s mom didn’t spend much time with her, but had raised a good kid, always polite and appreciative of whatever Shelby did.

“I should go,” Jake said. “I’m not so good at baking cookies.”

“Shelby bakes the best cookies!” Taylor said. “She bakes cookies all the time and gives them to people.”

Once more Shelby met Jake’s eyes and gave a tiny lift of her shoulder and huffed-out laugh. He smiled at her, their gazes connected. She didn’t want it to end like this. They hadn’t talked about what had happened last night or…anything. She gazed back at him, a small knot forming in her stomach.

“Okay,” she finally said. “Thank you. For…you know…helping.”

He nodded then brushed a kiss over her mouth. “You’re welcome. And thank you for…you know.”

That was it. They’d had screaming hot sex, several times, and now he was leaving, his obligation fulfilled, and she’d probably never see him again. Until possibly next week when they met up in Java the Hut again. Was that going to be awkward? “You’re welcome too,” she murmured. Then he lifted a hand to Taylor in goodbye and let himself out of her apartment.