Suddenly Sexy by Linda Francis Lee Page A

to be hurtful. Not at
all."

He tossed the belt aside, his eyes brooding like a storm. Sexual
awareness rippled through her. She hated how her breath rumbled low in
her chest, just as she hated the way she felt the same unsettling
tightness she had felt five years ago when she had walked in on him
while he was getting dressed for Suzanne and Derek's wedding.

Her mind drifted back to that day years earlier. Jesse had just gotten
out of the shower at his house. Her own home was filled to overflowing
with bridesmaids and wedding people putting on the ceremony in the
backyard.

Not realizing Jesse had returned, she walked into his bedroom to get
away, only to find him just out of
the shower. She must have made a
sound because he turned. He stood before her, naked and amazing, his
sex thick and large, hanging in a soft fullness between his thighs that
made her mouth go dry.

"Oh," she had whispered.

She had been twenty-two, just out of college, and settling into who she
wanted to be. There was that young Kate who had been adventuresome,
battling with the newer Kate who had spent too many years taking care
of her wildly passionate mother. Jesse made her forget them both.

"You're beautiful," she had added.

He watched her. And when she boldly looked at his soft fullness, he
grew hard. He muttered a curse,
and started to turn away. But good
sense fled. She took the steps that separated them in the tiny bedroom,
then she touched his back. She saw the way his body tensed, saw the
flexing muscles that
ran along his spine, disappearing into his slim
hips, so white against his tan.

"Kiss me," she had whispered.

She had never wanted anything so badly. Just when she thought he'd tell
her to get the hell out of there
so he could get dressed, he turned.

"Katie," he said with a mix of jaw-ticking restraint and incredible
kindness. "You're innocent—"

"I don't want to be." Conviction rushed through her in equal measures
to desire.

He almost reached out like he had so many times before, as a friend, as
the boy who kept her safe. But then his expression changed, his
nostrils flaring, and he dropped his hand. "You might not want to be,
but I want that for you. Some guy is going to come along and sweep you
off your feet. You deserve that."

"I want you, Jesse. You know that."

"You deserve better."

That was what she had never understood—why he thought she deserved
better than him. And why he never believed her when she told him how
great he was.

That night, when she stepped even closer and whispered, "I deserve you"
he groaned one last time before something inside him let loose and he
pulled her to him.

Their bodies came together, her palms flattening against his skin. His
lips came down on hers, teasing and tasting with an expertise that
should have given her pause. He showed her passion with his body, as if
he had been waiting for this moment.

The sensation was heaven. She ran her hands up his torso, then down
along his spine as he kissed her, feeling his groan shudder through his
body.

He clutched her to him like he sought something more from her than just
the kiss as he buried his face in her hair. "God, Katie," he choked.

She could feel his tight control slip a notch, felt the way he nearly
trembled when he kissed her again,
this time running his
tongue along her mouth. When she opened to him, he tasted her deeply,
suddenly savagely, as if his control had broken completely. He lined
her face with his strong hands, tilting her to him so that he could
kiss her temple and eyes, across her neck to the shell of her ear.

When she felt his palm slide underneath her shirt, drifting higher
until he grazed her breast, every nerve ending came alive. She wrapped
her arms around his neck, holding on as he coaxed her, she meeting his
demands as he brought her body to life, making her want more.

"Katie," he breathed. Then he swore an oath and tugged her T-shirt over
her head.

She felt air hit her skin at the same moment he dipped his