ceiling fan cooling them. Key’s arm lay across her chest while one knee was drawn up over her hip. She tried not to even breathe, afraid of waking Key. But his breathing continued in a regular gentle rattle and his body was completely limp—except for that part. Could he sleep like that? She suppressed a hysterical urge to giggle.
She struggled to contain it, but the giggle shook her body. She made a furtive move to ease away from Key. He growled sleepily and held her tighter.
What was she supposed to do now? She squeezed her eyes shut in panic. This isn’t happening! No way, not to bland, predictable Crystal Taylor. This had to be some kind of wild dream. This was insane.
She eased her eyes open again. Maybe she was dreaming. Hesitantly, she wiggled her toes against his leg. He drew it back with a little grunt. She froze, terrified he would wake up and ask her what she was doing here. And hell if she knew the answer to that. Key was her friend, not her lover. How had they ended up in bed together after all these years? There had been nothing remotely sexual in their relationship since high school.
She was still contemplating that when he sighed. Her heart almost leapt out of her chest when he moved, half covering her with his long, powerful body, his mouth nuzzling into her neck. Crystal melted in near mindless delight, biting her lip to keep from crying out. But when his hand cupped her breast and gave the nipple a gentle caress between thumb and forefinger, she was incapable of speech anyway. His tongue flicked her ear.
Crystal moaned softly. She turned toward him and used her free arm to clasp his body to hers. This was too good a fantasy to pass up.
She spread her knees wide in wordless invitation. Their bodies merged together like wax melting under a flame. The world and time ceased to exist. They were two mindless forces of nature pounding and grinding into one another in a wild rhythm of passion. Over and over again, she came to the peak of ecstasy, felt herself fall, only to be carried higher by his slow, rhythmic driving. She struggled to keep quiet in some crazy compulsion not to interrupt whatever sleep-induced fantasy he pursued.
She urged with gasps and stroking hands. At last he tottered on the brink of his own climax, and then shuddered into a frenzy of release. She held on to him tightly, her ankles crossed behind his hips. His explosion brought on her own final release. She floated back to earth, spent and dazed by the experience.
They lay still in one another’s arms, letting their breathing return to normal, their sweat-soaked bodies cool under the gentle whishing of the overhead fan.
“Oh, yeah, oh yeah,” he whispered and rolled off her onto his back.
Crystal, though awake now, remained immobile until she heard a gentle snore. After a pause, she lifted up to peer at him, helped by the dim light coming through the half-open bedroom door. Key was in complete repose with a wide smile on his half-open mouth and his eyes closed.
Oh my God! That was incredible . For a moment Crystal tried to convince herself she had imagined it all. But no, the soreness of her arms and legs, along with the tenderness of her sex, were too real. Her memories of the past night weren’t clear, but there was enough to make her feel simultaneously mortified and titillated.
A thousand questions swirled through her head. What had happened? Had they both lost their minds? Had she somehow given away to him how much she cared about him? Men could sense when a woman was available. They sniffed it in the air or something, like the predatory animals they were.
And what would he expect from her now? For that matter, what did she expect from him? What would they talk about if they were lovers? Would they start to make demands on each other? Take each other for granted? The thought panicked her.
Losing Key would be like stepping into a roaring void. Panic set her muscles quivering, jumping to pull her up from the bed. She
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