"You...want to go back to the gardens?"
"I was thinking of someplace a bit more...private," I whispered to him, then bit my lip. "Your room's not wired with cameras, is it?"
His eyes widened, and then he shook his head. "God, I love you." He pressed another fierce kiss to my mouth, then looked over his shoulder. "Leona, we're leaving."
"You two kids have fun," she said, amused. "Use protection."
Bless Leona for being such a good friend.
12
Chapter Ten
"Fuck this show. Fuck all of it. I'm done. Do something with what you've got, because I'm fucking done." -- Heathcliff Forester, the Billionaire Bachelor, Episode 6 Interview
Heathcliff's room was a million miles away from mine. Or...at least it felt like that. We raced down the hall, hand in hand, and made it to the elevator before we started kissing again. "Juno," he murmured between kisses, his hand hot on my bare back. "Juno. My Juno."
I smiled and nuzzled my nose to his. "My H," I said softly, not caring that we were being sappy. "I'm so glad you're mine."
"I'm so glad you didn't run." He leaned in and kissed the tip of my nose. "Though this time, I think I would have come after you."
"I would have let you come after me," I said playfully. "After lots and lots of groveling."
He leaned back and arched one of those sinful eyebrows at me. "Even though I did nothing wrong?"
I ran a hand down the front of his shirt. "You let me get away the first time, didn't you?"
Heathcliff chuckled. "I suppose I did. I won't make the same mistake again." The look in his eyes was intense, promising all kinds of naughty things--
And the elevator dinged, and the doors swung open. Drat. We'd have to hold that thought.
With a wiggle of his eyebrows, Heathcliff took my hand in his again, and tugged me after him. "You'll be happy to know that I'm the only one currently on this floor."
I laughed. "Why would I be happy to know that?"
He looked back at me, a roguish expression on his face. "Because I can remember how loud you get when I touch you."
My breath caught in my throat. Desire pulsed through my body, and I squeezed his hand. "Then walk faster, so I can show you just how loud I can be."
Heathcliff gave me a challenging look, then grabbed me behind the knees and swung me into his arms, then charged down the hall. I squealed with laughter as he carried me, feeling light and fresh and so utterly happy. Tonight could have been a nightmare, and instead, it felt like a rebirth. It was like no one existed outside of myself and Heathcliff.
My H. Always my H.
My laughter died as Heathcliff paused in front of a large double door and he set me down gently. I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my cheek against his back as he dialed the code to his room, so full of love and lust for this man. How had we managed eight years apart? I didn't want to spend another eight minutes without him.
His hand covered mine, and he patted it. "The door's open, June-bug. You need to let go of me so we can go inside."
"Mmm," I said lazily, not moving. "I don't feel like letting go of you, ever."
"I'm going to hold you to that," he said, and tugged me forward, my arms still wrapped around his chest. We stumbled into his room and the door swung shut behind us. No sooner had it shut than he turned in my grip and tilted my face up to him, then leaned down and kissed my mouth with infinite tenderness. "I don't plan on letting you go ever, either."
I smiled up at him. "It's definitely going to make it challenging for them to film the rest of the show."
"Fuck the show," he said, grinning. "I've got what I wanted. All I ever wanted out of this rigmarole was you."
"You got me," I said, sliding a hand down to his ass and squeezing. "Now...what are you going to do with me?"
"Strip you naked and make you beg for orgasms?" He nipped my mouth, voice husky. "Bury my face between your legs and lick you until you quiver? Tease those gorgeous breasts of yours until you can't wait to feed them to my hungry mouth? Bend you over the couch and fuck you so hard we break the furniture?"
I trembled at his words. "Do I have to pick? Or can I just say I'd like one of all of the above?"
"You can have all of it, my love." His smile became lethal. "We have all night." His hand moved to my side, then slid down my bare back. "But first, I want to strip you naked. I feel like it's been forever since I've seen that lovely body of yours."
It had been, but I didn't want to spoil the mood by pointing that out. Instead, I tilted my head so he could undo the tie at the base of my neck. "I'm all yours."
"And God, I love that," he said fiercely. He moved in and captured my mouth in another hot, possessive kiss as he undid the knot of the elegant white dress I'd worn that night. The fabric fell away from my neck, and down went the front of the dress, landing in a loose pool at my waist. Just like that, I was bare from the hips up.
He groaned at the sight, tearing his mouth from mine to admire my body. "You're so fucking beautiful, Juno. I'd forgotten how beautiful." The back of his hand skimmed along my shoulder, then he trailed his knuckles down my front, down my breastbone, down the flat of my belly, and then to the curve of my hips, where I was ticklish.
I sucked in and held my breath, wanting to pull away from him and wanting the sensation to continue. Arousal was blooming through me, and I pressed my thighs together, feeling the heat and slickness between my legs. My pulse pounded, and my breasts felt tight and aching. I needed to be touched by him. Wanted his hands cupping my breasts, his fingers teasing my nipples, his caresses as he explored my pussy. Panting, I waited for him to touch me again, my lips parted and my body tingling with arousal.
But all he did was study me further, that crooked, delicious little smile on his mouth. "I can see your skin reacting to my nearness," Heathcliff murmured, leaning in. His mouth skimmed along mine, then moved to my jaw, tracing it with his lips. "You're covered with the most delicious little chill bumps, like you're cold. Are you cold?"
"No," I breathed.
"Just aroused, then, love?"
I nodded, my throat thick with need.
"So...what will happen if I keep arousing you further?" he murmured, leaning down and kissing my bare shoulder. His hand moved over my skin, caressing.
"Spontaneous human combustion?" I tried to joke, but the words came out breathless and lost their edge. I did feel as if I was on fire, though. I hadn't felt so alive in years, and in this last week, I'd felt more than I had in god only knew how long. And I wanted to keep feeling. To keep dreaming. To keep loving.
So I gave the fabric pooled at my waist a tug, and my dress fell to the floor. Then, I was in nothing but my tiny white thong panties that matched my dress.
"Damn," Heathcliff said in a hoarse voice and took a step back so he could look me up and down. "I cannot believe I ever let you get away."
I looped one arm around his neck and leaned against him, pressing my breasts against his chest. "It wasn't that you let me get away, H. We just both had impossible situations that couldn't be resolved by staying together. But..." I ran a hand down his chest and began to undo his buttons. "That doesn't mean we aren't perfect together now."
"No more dwelling on the past?"
I nodded and undid another button. "Only the future for us."
"I'm down with that." His hand caressed my breast, cupping the weight of it and then thumbing the nipple until it was taut. "Can't wait to put my mouth on these again."
"I'm down with that," I teased, "But I want you just as naked as me first."
He grinned and leaned in, giving me another quick, fierce kiss that he punctuated with a squeeze to my breast. Then he let go of me and shrugged off his jacket.
I watched his movements with appreciation. Even in his haste to undress, Heathcliff was graceful and sexy. His long limbs moved with a confidence that I remembered and made me flush with pleasure to see once more. The buttons flew apart under his quick fingers and then he s
hrugged his shirt to the floor. And oh, he was pretty to look at -- all hard muscles and warm skin. When his hands went to the waistband of his pants and began to undo his belt, I stopped him. "Let me."
He gave me a surprised look and then pulled me against him to kiss me once more, mouth hungry on mine. "Do what you like with me, then, love."
As we kissed, I undid his belt, then tugged it free of the loops. It fell to the carpet and I kicked it aside, then grazed the back of my hand down the front of his trousers. He was erect, straining against the fabric, and as I brushed against him, I felt Heathcliff groan against my mouth. The desire to touch him, to hold that aching length in my hand, hit me with almost palpable force, and I fumbled in my haste to undo his zipper. Then, his pants were sliding down his legs and there was nothing separating him from my grasp but his boxers. I shoved them down hastily and palmed his cock, moaning at the incredible heat of him. "I love that all this is for me."
"Every last damn inch," he rasped, and his hands went to my breasts again. Which was only fair, I supposed, since I was caressing his cock.
"I want it all inside me," I told him, breathless. "Deep and hard and pumping me full of you."
Those molten silver eyes focused on me, and then he pulled me against him and began to drag me toward the king-sized bed in the center of the suite's bedroom. To my amusement, we hadn't made it further than a few steps into the room. It was hard to keep my hands off of Heathcliff after eight long years of wanting, though. Even as we walked, I kept touching him over and over again, anywhere and everywhere I could.
When we made it to the bed, Heathcliff ripped the blankets aside and then pulled me close for another deep, arousing kiss that left me breathless. Then, he gave me a wicked grin and sat me on the edge of the bed, then nudged me backward.
I fell back, and then winced as something hard stabbed me in the back of the head. "Ow!" I immediately sat up again, rubbing my head. The starfish had jabbed me.
Heathcliff tsked, pushing my fingers aside so he could check my wounded head for me. "You're all right," he said after a moment. "But how about we let your hair down? I love you best when you're just you." His fingers plucked the starfish out of my hair and tossed it aside, followed by a few pins. I remained still as he continued to work on my 'conch shell' braid, his hands brushing through strands of my hair and undoing Leona's artful work. After several minutes, there was a pile of bobby pins on one corner of the bed and my hair was falling about my shoulders in kinked, loose waves. He chuckled and ran his fingers through one particularly wavy section. "I find the braids you've been wearing endlessly fascinating, I have to admit."
"That's Leona's doing," I said proudly. "She's incredibly talented."
"She's not the only one," he told me, then trailed a finger down my jaw. "I've bought several of your works, you know. They're incredible."
"You have?" My heart gave a little squeeze of delight. "Did you see they had some of my vases here on display? Was that you?"
"It was," he said, that finger sliding down my neck and then gliding over the tip of one breast again. "Anything that could convince you to give me a second chance? I was all for it. I actually had assistants go through eBay and online sites looking for your works so I could buy them up. I have an entire case of them at home in my office."
I was touched. To think he'd gone to so much effort to get a few of my pieces. I slid a hand down his bare chest, filled with love for him. "Please tell me you have condoms with you?"
His mouth crooked up in a half smile. "The bathroom's full of them. I think the producers expected me to sleep with several of the girls."
I stiffened. "Did they, now?"
"Yes, they still can't seem to get through their heads that there's only one woman I'm interested in." His thumb brushed over my lower lip. "Which is why we're voting everyone else off tomorrow in an impromptu decision. I've already decided. There's no point in dragging things on."
"Are you sure?"
He gave me an incredulous look. "Of course I'm sure. I love you." He took my hand in his and kissed it. "I've never stopped loving you. Not for a single minute."
My eyes pricked with tears, but I gave him a smile.
"Then get the damn condoms already."
He grinned, kissed my hand again, and then hauled off the bed to the bathroom. As he searched for condoms, I moved the starfish and bobby pins to a bedside table, lest someone get stabbed in the ass in the heat of the moment. Then, bed cleared, I sat on the edge and glanced around his room, noting that the decor here was stark and minimalist compared to the room Leona and I shared, but I liked it. It reminded me of Heathcliff. No nonsense, just decisive.
And as if my thoughts summoned him, Heathcliff reappeared in the doorway, his long, taut silhouette making my mouth water, the jut of his cock calling for my hands and that aching empty place between my legs. On his face, though, his emotions were carefully masked, and I suspected he was feeling the same thing I was: worry that this was all going to disappear the moment we turned around, that we were imagining what the other person was feeling and the carpet would be pulled out from underneath our feet once more.
That this was fleeting. That the other person would wake up and realize they were making a mistake, and we'd go back to that endless limbo of misery once more.
I knew just how he felt. I smiled brilliantly at him and patted next to me, welcoming him back.
That small move brought the grin back to his face and he strode forward, tossing the condom packet down on the side of the bed and moving to pull me against him, sitting down on the edge of the mattress and wrapping his arms around me, and we fell backward into the sheets.
"I love you, Juno," he murmured, his hands moving down my back and over my sides, everywhere he could touch me. "Never leave me again."
I touched his beautiful mouth. "I can't promise that, Heathcliff. I can't promise that forces in life won't ever pull us apart again. But you and I, we're like magnets. Just because forces pull us apart once doesn't mean we're apart forever. It just means we'll charge back towards each other once more. But I love you, and I want to be a magnet with you, if that doesn't sound too silly."
He grinned, the smile moving against my fingers. "It actually makes a lot of sense. And my magnet won't ever stay apart from yours as long ever again. You have my promise with that."
"Same here," I told him softly.
Heathcliff kissed me again, then began to press small kisses down my throat and chest, each brush of his lips infinitely tender on my skin. "I want to worship every inch of your magnets with my..." he lifted his head and cocked it to the side, thinking. "Magnetic...bar?"
I patted his shoulder. "Maybe we just stop with the magnet comparisons at this point, H, and we go back to the kissing."
He grinned and kept eye contact with me as he slowly, deliberately licked one nipple. It sent a bolt of pleasure rippling through me, and I moaned, arching my back to raise my breasts for his mouth. He moved to the other one and began to lick it, teasing my nipples as he tongued them.
"Please, H," I moaned. "I need you inside me." It had been far too long, and I was so tired of feeling empty. I'd been empty forever, and I wanted Heathcliff to fill me once more.
"Yes, love," he said, voice soft as he rose over me. His body left mine for a brief moment, and I whimpered a protest that died in my throat as I watched him roll on a condom. It was like he was putting on a show for me, demonstrating his thick, hard length, his hand smoothing down it. I forgot all about the press of his skin against mine for a brief moment. Instead, my mouth watered as I imagined running my lips all over every inch of his skin. Maybe next time we had sex, I'd get some honey and paint his delicious abdomen and spend my sweet time licking it off.
Then I smiled to think of a next time. We had a future of next times awaiting us, didn't we? Love and happiness swelled in my heart, and I lifted my arms for Heathcliff, eager for him to return to me.
He covered me again, and our mouths locked, tongue
s tangling. Underneath him, I opened my legs, welcoming him as his hips settled between mine. I felt the press of his cock against my entrance, and my nails dug into his skin. "Yes," I breathed, just as he thrust into me.
I cried out as he stroked deep. The sensation was so startling, so incredible and so overwhelming that it made my entire body respond. Goosebumps crawled over my skin as my muscles began to tense, preparing for an orgasm. And he'd only stroked into me once. Oh, damn. "Make me come," I panted.
Heathcliff's breath hissed out between his teeth, and he braced his arms at my sides and then thrust deep again. I arched my hips and cried out with delight at the sensation again, as things continued to build. Oh God. He still knew just how to work me over. "Still...so...noisy," he said between thrusts, and I cried out my pleasure each time. Over and over, he pumped into me, and over and over, I felt my body driven closer to the precipice, almost but not quite there...
Until the orgasm hit, taking me by surprise with its ferocity. My mind shorted out even as my nerves exploded with sensation. My cries turned into a choked gasp and I clung to Heathcliff for dear life while he continued to thrust into me and whispered sweet, possessive words in my ear.
Then he was coming too, his movements growing fierce and wild, and he clung to me as his body strained against mine. Through starbursts and my own ongoing orgasm, I held tight to Heathcliff as we came down together.
I never wanted to let him go again.
It felt like an eternity later when he rolled off of me, sweaty, damp skin pulling away from my own. I immediately felt the loss of him and whimpered like a child.
"Give me a moment to clean off, June-bug," Heathcliff said, caressing my face as if knowing my panic as he got up. "I'm not going anywhere."
I nodded and felt a little silly. I was just being clingy, but at least H didn't seem to mind it. A moment later, he returned to bed, a drink in hand and condom disposed of. We both took a few sips of water, and then he crawled back into bed and immediately flung himself over me, all arms and sprawling, possessive limbs.