“Too much?” he asked silkily, his voice a deep rumble at her back.
“N-no…perfect…”
He left his hand there on the inside of her thigh, stroking and soothing, while the other hand cupped her breast. His fingertips played over her peaked nipple. She wanted to jump up and run away, to flee from this power that threatened to swamp her, but she needed to have this, would suffer any humiliation for it. She could feel something incredible building from the relentless vibrating pressure of the water but she craved his fingers inside her, wanted him inside her……
Her need finally drove the words out. “Evan, please, touch me…”
He uttered a low growl, and his fingers slid between her inner thigh and the edge of her panties. She almost came on the spot. Not yet, oh, not yet, not until…
He moaned her name when his roaming hand discovered she was smooth and bare there, and he slid his feverish mouth along her neck. He shifted behind her so that the ridge of his erection nudged the crease of her bottom. She bit down on her lip as he parted her folds and pushed one finger deep inside her, then a second, stretching her until she ached to cry out.
And two things happened. A door opened across the walkway—not really near them, but not at a safe distance by any means. And her orgasm slammed into her and she arched back against him, desperately holding in her cries, raising her hands to clutch his arms.
His fingers and the water worked her into a frenzy, and his other hand moved from her breast to her mouth, covering it gently, his finger slipping horizontally between her lips. She sank her teeth into his flesh, riding the pleasure in utter silence when she wanted to scream it at the moon. It wasn’t the shivery pulses she was accustomed to—she’d been driven head-on into a brick wall of ecstasy, and it was crashing down over her. One whimper escaped her, and his lips grazed her left ear.
“Shhhh.” The sound was so soft and erotic her pussy clenched on his fingers buried inside her. He pushed them deeper in response.
Someone emerged from the door and headed away from them as she fell limp and safe against him, panting, her heart beating like a hummingbird’s wing. He was rock hard against the soft flesh of her ass and, oh, he felt enormous. She reached behind her to investigate him, and her breath caught on a groan. “Oh my God.”
He chuckled, moving his hand from her lips over her chin and down her throat, caressing her breast again. “That’s music to a man’s ears.” Gently he withdrew his fingers from between her legs, and she felt him lift his head and throw a quick glance around. “Now I think we’d better take this into the suite,” he whispered.
“I…don’t think I can walk just yet.”
“Then I’ll carry you.”
How, how, how had that stupid woman let this man go?
For Todd?
They lingered a few moments more, Evan stroking and petting her, running his lips along her neck, her shoulder. She was horrified when she felt tears well up, but thankfully she was wet all over, so he didn’t have to know when she lost the battle and they slipped over her cheeks.
He helped her from the hot tub and they struggled back into their clothes, a difficult task on their wet flesh. They simply carried their shoes. Hot tears kept dripping off her chin, and she knew she’d better get a grip. God knew this was too perfect to ruin, and they still had all night ahead.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “My offer to carry you still stands.” He winked at her.
“I’m fine.” She was horrified at the strangle in the words. She wasn’t fine, and she knew it. This hadn’t happened in months…this knot of emotion swelling in her chest until she thought it would tear out of her body and destroy everything in its path.
Only it wasn’t anger this time…not anger, but…it was the hurt. The carelessness with which her heart had been stomped underfoot. Sometimes it surged up and she couldn’t contain it. But why now? Must be the tequila, she thought, coupled with the mind-shattering orgasm jarring all this loose. And the fact that she wanted so much more of him.
Evan held her hand all the way to their suite, absorbing quivers she tried to pretend were from the chill of the air conditioning. She stood dripping and shuddering and silently weeping in the hallway while he unlocked their door and pushed it open for her. Head ducked, she rushed past him into the room, hoping he wasn’t watching her too closely.
She should have known better. He dropped his shoes and shut the door, moving to stand behind her. A moment later one of his hands slid over her shoulder. The other reached around to pry her shoes from her death grip and toss them away. “Kelsey.”
The gentleness in his voice broke her. She whirled around, folding herself into the circle his arms made around her. He caught her, strong and solid, crushing her to him as she sobbed into his damp shirt. She heard his long sigh rush through his airways.
“Get rid of it, sweetheart,” he murmured, stroking her hair. “Give it to me. All of it.”
She couldn’t believe the words that were rising in her throat, demanding to be spoken, but there was no help for them. She was on the verge of having something that had been well beyond her reach for so many years, something she’d never thought she’d have. He couldn’t deny her now. She couldn’t deny herself. “I need you.”
“Tell me.”
She raised her burning, blurred gaze to his. The voice that sounded from her throat couldn’t have been her own. “I need you to fuck me, Evan, fuck me until I can’t walk anymore. I don’t care if you hurt me, just do it…”
“Goddammit,” he rasped, and she’d never heard him sound so savage. His hands seized her head, tilting her face upward, and his kiss chased the breath from her lungs. She made some wild animal snarl in her throat and grasped his hair, ready to climb him like a tree if it would get his cock inside her any faster.
His arm swept down under her ass and lifted her. She clung haphazardly as he carried her into the bedroom, not wanting to let go even when he tossed her back on the bed. She writhed, rubbing her thighs together, watching him stare down at her for what seemed an endless moment. He was completely silhouetted in the light from the living room, but she imagined he could see her well enough. It wasn’t fair.
“What?” she demanded.
“Nothing.”
She’d never wanted to be naked more in her entire life, and she couldn’t wait on him to get her that way. When she sat up to strip her slinky blouse off over her head, he grabbed it first and gave it a fling across the room. It was a struggle to kick off her clinging pants, and he had to help her with that, too, freeing her bare legs from the damp material.
All strength fled then in the aching rush that flooded her and she collapsed on the mattress, trying to wrestle back control of her breathing. He crawled over her and hooked his fingers in her panties. His eyes caught a glint of the dim light as he stripped the delicate fabric down her bare legs, nearly ripping it.
Oh, Jesus, was this happening? She’d had this dream so many times in the past month, sometimes so vivid she could swear it was real until she woke in her bed sweating and aching and alone. But this Evan wasn’t going to disappear into the darkness of her bedroom. This was real.
“My God,” he murmured, and she covered her face with her hands and sobbed in pleasure and mortification as he caught the back of her knee in one hand and pushed her legs open so wide her muscles trembled. “I just have to…” he whispered, then he dipped his dark head, and the soft, damp warmth of his mouth covered her. His tongue lined her, licked deeper at her moisture, flickered over her clit.
Panic ripped through her and the room spun. She pulled her hands away to make a grab for his hair, but on direct orders from her heart, twisted the bed’s comforter in her fists instead. Let him! Oh, God, let him…
She thought she would die from the warmth of his breath on her burning flesh. It was almost a relief when he kissed and licked a trail up her belly, keeping her legs held open wide. He paused to circle her belly ring with his tongue then to nuzzle the si
lk of her bra and lock his lips around each nipple in turn through the fabric on his pathway up to her mouth.
She absorbed his weight greedily and feasted on his lips. He tasted of tangy margaritas and her, so slick and delicious. He tugged her upward long enough to relieve her of her soggy bra, which hit the wall with a wet slap. She fumbled with the button on his pants, but her hands were shaking violently against his taut stomach muscles and her fingers felt thick, much like the rest of her body. Evan’s hands joined hers, steady and sure and urgent, tugging and pushing until a moment later his rigid length sprang into her hand.
Kelsey stroked the steely silken smoothness of him, and he uttered a gruff sound that evoked a purely feminine response from her own lips. He was big. She’d known that from touching him before. Her eyes had adjusted and the little light there was showed her he was beautiful, as she’d also known he would be. She looked down to watch her hand smooth over his cock, her thumb rubbing the slit in the head, collecting the pearl of liquid that had formed there. He let her play, his breathing labored, until she felt his fingers thrust inside her. She arched back on the bed, releasing him to clutch his biceps as he dragged his fingers from her and spread her wetness over her clit.
“Are you ready for me, baby?”
The endearment curled warmly through her senses, intimate and unfamiliar coming from him. But they were three thousand miles away from familiar. “Yes.” Her hands skated feverishly over his shoulders as she imagined him riding her to an ecstasy she’d never before attained. If anyone could give that to her, it was him. “But are you ready for me?”
He chuckled as his fingers slid in and out again, thickly glazed with her need. “You like throwing down challenges, don’t you?”
Oh, damn him. She moaned and tossed her head on the mattress, raising one leg to brush against his side, to give him better access. “I just want you. Don’t make me wait anymore. Please, Evan, now…”
He released her only to seize her wrists in both his hands and slam them back on the bed, shifting above her to position himself and attacking her lips with his own. She sprawled wider for him, feeling ten pounds heavier in her lower belly, liquid with her want. The thick head of his cock teased her opening, and she squirmed, trying to force it deeper, trying to impale herself.
“Easy, sweetheart,” he whispered.
“I don’t want it easy. Inside me, I need you inside—”
He listened. He plunged directly into that molten center, and a shockwave pulsed through her body though she’d accepted only half his length.
“Evan!”
He groaned in her ear, retreating and reclaiming, going deeper until he lodged against her cervix. She struggled to accommodate him, wrapping her legs around his hips, needing all of him, the simultaneous pleasure and pain slaying her. It had been too long. Tears streamed from her eyes.
“God, Kelsey, you’re killing me here.”
“Don’t stop, don’t stop…ohhh…”
“No, sugar. I couldn’t if I wanted to.” So wet and slick and tight inside her. His long, slow slides in and out of her body set off sparks, like Fourth of July fireworks grazing her flesh.
She was nearly hyperventilating. “Faster.”
“Oh, yes,” he groaned, his voice shaking. His fingers twined through hers, still pinning her hands in place, and he set a merciless rhythm that drove her into the stratosphere. Her pussy adjusted to the overwhelming stretch and accepted him greedily. The silence of the bedroom was broken by the wet sounds of their joining and their rapid breathing, and she found herself drawing as much excitement from his pleasure as her own.
“I want to touch you—” she sobbed.
“Only after I make you come so hard you scream my name. And you will.” That purred oath alone nearly drove her over. It was the same voice that had made her spew coffee at her office two weeks ago, so deep and seductive, like dusky velvet. “You scream it as loud as you want this time.”
Her tears were still flowing in earnest. He smeared the trail with his lips, his breath warm and panting against her cheek. She had asked for this, and he was giving it to her, but terror churned through her middle. The sparks were igniting. She didn’t know what would be left of her heart once the explosion was over.
Every inch of her was alive in a way she couldn’t recall ever having experienced. She’d never been so enflamed, so wet. She loved how he felt inside her, thick and overpowering…… The swaying of her breasts as he pushed into her again and again was almost like a physical caress to their aching weight. She arched upward so her nipples would graze his dark smattering of chest hair. But when he raised his head to look at her, she had to turn away—his regard for her was too intense, too powerful.
“Kelsey.” He whispered her name so sweetly she whimpered. “You’re perfect. Don’t close up on me now, sweetheart, let me see you.”
She turned her head back to find him staring down into her eyes. The expression she saw there made her heart trip over itself. He looked at her as if he were trying to get inside her soul as surely as he was inside her body. She knew her own gaze was simply desperate, pleading.
Like building thunderheads in the distance, she could feel it gathering, the towering pressure tightening deep inside her womb until she could hardly stand it… please please please…
“Evan…oh God…”
“Just let it go,” he murmured, watching the fragmented emotions she knew were crossing her face. “It’s going to be so good……”
Oh, it was. His lips grazed hers as all hell broke loose in her body and she surrendered to it—that’s all she could do. One small part of her pulled her entire body taut as ecstasy burst outward from the heavy thrust and drag where he claimed her. She clenched down on him, crying out his name. True to his promise.
“There you go, baby. Christ…”
He buried himself more fully inside her and sharpened his movements, driving her through it, and the sobs lodged in her throat broke out in staccato bursts when she couldn’t draw enough breath to scream. Her hands gripped his hard enough to snap bones. She tossed her head back and forth, the only part of her she still maintained control of. She was his, every inch, held open and immobile, captive to her passion for him. Like wind gusts during a hot summer storm, it swept her away.
“Fuck, honey, do I need to pull out? You feel too good…”
“No, no, don’t leave me, it’s okay.” She locked her legs tighter around him and held on as her final contractions milked him of all restraint. His hips slammed forward and he surged inside her, pulsing with his release. He said her name, growled it, as she drank in the sight of him, the sensation of him spilling himself inside her. So thick and warm. His hair fell forward around his face and the veins stood out in his neck. God, he was exquisite.
One final thrust and he eased himself down over her, his chest heaving. His hand smoothed up her arm and he palmed her breast, turning his face into her neck. With her hands finally free, she wrapped her arms around him and held on as if he were a life preserver. He felt different from her ex, leaner, all sinewy strength and coiled power. He took better care of himself. Did everything better.
She was shaking like a palm frond in a hurricane, unable to stop the helpless little sounds that kept slipping through her lips. With complete concentration she managed one deep, cleansing breath to coax down her ragged pulse. The scent of their sex bloomed throughout the room, filling her nostrils. Now that the heat they’d generated had rushed out of her, she could feel the blush roaring high and hot in her cheeks.
No, no, don’t leave me…
She cringed, digging her fingertips into his flesh as an anchor against the surge of embarrassment that heated her blood, so different from the intoxicating fires of moments ago. Jesus, what had she done? “Oh, God…” she whispered, covering her face with one hand.
“It’s okay, Kelsey.”
“No, it…” She couldn’t speak. He pulled himself from her, then snuggled close and brought her into h
is embrace.
“Sweetie. Look at me.”
She did, but it was difficult now, when she could never remember a time she hadn’t wanted to look at his beloved face. She blinked, trying to force the fresh torrent of tears back where they belonged. It just wasn’t possible.
No, there was no emptiness now. She was bursting at the seams, overflowing.
“Don’t cry,” he said gently, swiping her cheeks with his thumbs. “You cry and I want to break something. Or someone. What is it?”
“I can’t. I’m sorry. Not…right now.”
All this time…all these years. All her restless longing had converged on her at once.
“Okay, okay.” His eyes were troubled as he stroked her hair. “Just answer me this. Do you regret it?”
She hated that she was making him look like that, but there was nothing she could do except reply to that question truthfully, and without hesitation. “No. Don’t ever think that. And I’m okay, really.” She drew a deep breath and felt the panic start to pass. They were both adults, they would be all right. It was rather late for the protection discussion, but she felt the need to ease his mind. “I’m on the Pill, so you don’t have to worry.”
He chuckled, his warm breath tickling her cheek. “I’m really not worried, honey.”
Okay. She stroked her fingertips up and down his spine as long minutes passed and she puzzled over that. The image that flashed through her mind then was unavoidable: a dark-haired toddler smiling up at her with Evan’s green eyes. What unsettled her most was that it only made her want to maul him again.
You only had sex with the guy. Stop thinking about white picket fences, dammit. It was almost as if she could hear Lisa’s voice in her mind, chiding her.
So she did what it commanded. Amazing, to just let go and drift on this euphoria. To finally hold him in the carnal embrace she’d fantasized about for so long.