Feel Like Making Love Read online

  The trouble was, all she could seem to think about was the way his fingers had linked with hers, that touch as erotic as if he'd thumbed a nipple or stroked between her legs. The way he'd moved with her, the way he'd stared into her eyes when he told her she looked beautiful.

  Audrey groaned aloud. How on earth was she going to face him again after seeing him that way? How was she going to go back to being his pal, when all she could think about was how his body had felt along hers?

  That's it. She was a pervert, plain and simple. This was Joel, the same man who'd gone mini-golfing with her and Lauren and lost graciously to the eight-year-old on every hole. The man who passed her notes in class that made her laugh. Joel...

  "The perfect guy," she said aloud. "Who happens to be either a secret agent or a gigolo."

  A rap-tap-tap on the kitchen door made her look up, and a moment later the reason for her inability to study appeared when she opened the door.

  "Joel!"

  "Hi ya, Audrey." He waited, expectantly, for her to move aside to let him in, and soon she did.

  "What are you doing here?" She closed the door behind him, glad for the action that gave her an excuse not to look at him right away.

  "Studying for finals, right?" He set down his backpack on one of the chairs, but paused in unzipping it. He turned to look at her, a brow raised. "Isn't that okay?"

  "Oh...oh, sure. I didn't think...sure, it's fine."

  She waved a hand and grabbed another mug for him. She busied herself with pouring coffee, rustling in the cupboard for sugar and creamer and pulling out a package of cookies that she arranged on a plate before setting it on the table.

  Joel watched her do all that, his expression bemused, and finally reached out to grab her wrist as she sidled by the table to fuss with the music.

  "Audrey, sit down. Why are you fussing so much?"

  She looked down to where his hand gripped her. Last night his fingers had linked with hers and their bodies had aligned. He'd told her she looked beautiful. Now, remembering, heat crept up her cheeks and words fled, leaving her with only a shrug to explain herself.

  Joel let go of her wrist. "It's about last night. Isn't it?"

  Audrey sat and gripped her mug. "Don't be silly."

  "Audrey."

  She looked up.

  "Are things going to be weird between us now?"

  "No, of course not." She couldn't lie to him. She sighed. "I feel stupid."

  Joel sat back in his seat. "For last night?"

  She nodded, toying with her highlighter. "That's not really my thing."

  "Didn't you have a good time?"

  She couldn't read his face, usually so open. Now his brow furrowed. The full mouth, so often tipped into a smile, now curved down.

  "Well...yes. I did."

  "Until I showed up?"

  Audrey wasn't sure what to say, so she shrugged. Nodded.

  "Never mind," he said. "Let's just get to studying. Okay?"

  Joel flipped open his book and grabbed a pen. He hunched over the table and scribbled a note or two on his notepad. This wasn't the way they'd studied in the past, silence a barrier between them, but Audrey wasn't quite sure what to do.

  "I was surprised," she said at last, not looking at him.

  He looked up, dark eyes not glinting with his usual glee. "How do you think I felt?"

  They stared at each other for another long moment.

  "You must see women there who you know," she said finally. "Lancaster's not that big a city."

  "Women," Joel said. "But not you."

  The line of ever-present and always ignored tension snapped taut between them. The pen dropped from her fingers and rolled off the table. Neither of them bent to retrieve it.

  "It's your job," she said at last, voice faint and a bit hoarse. "It's how you pay for school..."

  "Is that what you think?" he asked, voice gone as low as hers. "That it was just a job...with you?"

  Audrey got up from the table and took her mug to the breakfast bar to pour more coffee into her still-full mug. "Wasn't it?"

  She heard the scrape of the chair legs on the hardwood floor and in an instant felt him behind her. She put the mug down hard enough to slop hot liquid onto the breakfast bar and over her hand. She hissed at the sting.

  "Did you burn yourself?" Joel's hands turned her to face him, and he lifted her hand in his to inspect it.

  "It's fine," she tried to say, but he'd lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the pink spot, and her voice died.

  Joel looked up and moved closer in the same motion. The hand he'd kissed went to the front of his shirt, over his heart, which thump-thumped beneath her palm. His went to her hip, fingers splayed.

  "I meant what I said last night, Audrey. About you being beautiful. I've always thought so, from the first time I met you."

  She swallowed. The bar behind her back prevented her from moving away. This close, she had to tip her head back to look into his eyes.

  "I don't have any dollars with me," she whispered.

  Joel frowned. The hand on her hip gripped tighter. He moved closer. "I'm not working right now."

  His mouth stopped her from replying. Her arms went around his neck in automatic response to his taste and the way he pushed against her. Her lips parted beneath his, and when his tongue swept inside, she let out throaty gasp that disappeared into his kiss.

  The heat that had earlier stained her face spread like arcs of sparking electricity through her entire body. The fringes of his hair tickled the backs of her hands. He slid a thigh between hers, pressing upward as he pushed her back against the edge of the bar.

  Audrey murmured a small protest at the discomfort, and Joel lifted her without breaking their kiss. Her rear slid on the smooth Formica. He caught her startled gasp with another kiss and pushed her thighs apart to move between them, his hands on her hips sliding her forward until their bodies joined again. His belt buckle rubbed her, and Audrey wrapped her legs around his waist.

  Everything had become automatic, give and take, push and pull. She didn't think about it, because to think would be to realize this was insane.

  He murmured her name against her mouth and dipped his tongue inside again. He tasted liked mint, which was often the way he smelled, too, and the familiarity of it sent a shiver through her.

  Joel broke the kiss to pull away and look into her eyes. His mouth glistened and his cheeks had flushed. Somehow his hair had rumpled, and she wanted to smooth it off his forehead.

  "Bedroom?" His voice, hoarse with desire, fanned the flames already kindled from his kiss.

  "Upstairs," she breathed.

  He nodded and lifted her off the breakfast bar without hesitating. Audrey yelped and clung to his broad shoulders, her heart thudding as Joel scooped an arm under her legs and headed through the kitchen toward the stairs.

  "Joel, put me down. You'll drop me--"

  "I won't drop you."

  All at once she believed him, had no doubts he could carry her up the stairs as Rhett had done to Scarlett, kissing her all the while. Fortunately, the staircase in her house was far less grand than the one from Gone With The Wind because, by the time he got to the top, Joel had begun panting with something other than passion. He made it the half dozen steps to her bedroom, kicked open the door and took her to the bed, where he managed to lay her down without dropping her. His body followed hers, and the bed dipped and creaked.

  "You didn't drop me."

  Joel buried his face in her shoulder. "I didn't."

  He nuzzled her skin, and she shivered again. His hand slid up her side to cup her breast, then his mouth found hers again. He kissed like a dream come true, the right amount of nibbling pecks and soft, slow strokes of his tongue in the perfect combination to make her respond.

  "May I?" His fingers skated along the row of buttons on the front of her blouse, then tracked the line of her hem and the bare patch of belly.

  Audrey nodded. He moved without fumbling, slowly, e