“Probably not.”
“So indulge me. I don’t think there has ever been a husband in the history of husbands who knew so little about his wife.”
She stared at him over the rim of her wineglass, shaking her head at him and trying to hide a smile. “Okay, fine. Top three favorite foods...a rare steak, cotton candy and MRE beef Stroganoff.”
He cocked his head at her. “MRE? Like a military meal that you shake and heat up?”
“Yep. Most of them were awful but I really loved that one.” Sarina pointed to him. “Your turn.”
“So, easy. Nana Orla’s corned beef, my father’s youtiao and shrimp scampi.”
“What’s youtiao?”
“It’s like a fried breakfast doughnut except that it’s a stick, two sticks connected, not a ring. He made them on our birthday and holidays.” He chuckled. “I think it was one of the only times that fried foods were allowed in the house.”
“You need to make that for me.”
“Only for your birthday. When is your birthday?” He sat up, realizing that he had no idea.
“September second.” Sarina raised an eyebrow in question. “Yours?”
“March twenty-first.” He stood, holding his hand out to her. “Do you want to dance?”
She shook her head, taking his hand and standing, looking him right in the eye. “No.”
“No?”
“Let’s go to bed,” she said, leaning forward to kiss him. Her lips were soft, tasting of the wine and the intoxicating flavor of Sarina. “I think I know everything I need to know.”
Justin knew only one thing: that he needed Sarina Redhawk like he needed his next breath. He pulled her close, taking her mouth in a kiss that was full of everything he was feeling, everything she made him want and need. He didn’t want it from just anyone, he wanted it from her and only her.
She tasted like secrets and risk and the forbidden, but she felt like home and the future in his arms. She was perfect for him and she was his. Now he just needed to figure out how to keep her.
Justin ran his hand over the bare skin of her shoulder, catching the thin little strap of her sundress and lowering it slowly, only stopping when her breast was bare to him. He leaned down, taking her nipple in his mouth, sucking on it with a moan, circling the puckered tip with his tongue. Sarina’s hands wove into his hair, gasping as she kept his mouth exactly where they both wanted it to be.
“Take me upstairs, Justin. I want you naked, now. I need you. Please.”
She would never have to ask him twice.
Justin leaned over, picking Sarina up and carrying her over his shoulder. She gasped, laughing out loud as the snagged the bottle of wine on their way to the stairs.
“You’re going to drop me,” Sarina protested, her fingers squeezing his ass cheeks as he mounted the stairs.
“If you keep playing with my ass I can guarantee that I’m going to drop you on yours,” he half joked as he arrived on the second floor, entered the bedroom and placed her on the floor.
Sarina took the wine from his hand and put it on the side table, turning to give him a sexy, lingering once-over. When she straightened, she took one finger and hooked it under a sundress strap and lowered it, then did the same on the other side.
The tiny little sundress slithered down her body and pooled on the floor at her feet. She was naked, skin glowing in the low lights of the room, her body long and lean and mouthwateringly beautiful.
Justin let out a wolf whistle. “You are the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.”
Sarina moved forward, stopping right in front of him, and began unfastening his shorts. Her eyes were dark with her desire, her smile full of challenge. “Prove it.”
Thirteen
Issuing Justin Ling a challenge was the best idea she’d ever had.
Her husband was kind, mischievous, challenging, outspoken, dedicated, romantic and sexy. She still couldn’t believe that he was still available, that a woman hadn’t snatched him up and put a ring on it before now.
But she wasn’t any different from any of the women who’d cycled in and out of his bed before. She hadn’t put a ring on it—at least she hadn’t put one on again after ditching him the morning after their wedding.
And now she needed to decide if she wanted to see that ring back on her finger for good.
She’d worry about that later. After about a dozen orgasms.
Because what crazy woman would get bogged down thinking deep thoughts when Justin was standing in front of her completely naked?
“I love your body,” she said, taking her time checking him out. He was so fit, his muscles under skin so smooth and tan from days spent in the California sun that all she wanted to do was taste him all over.
So she did.
Sarina slowly dropped to her knees, tracing a path down his body with her lips, pressing openmouthed kisses across his collarbone, just under his heart, on his stomach, and landing at the top of his dark treasure trail. She looked up at him, placing her hands on his thighs and offering herself to him.
“You’re going to kill me,” Justin murmured, taking his cock in his hand and offering it to her.
Sarina took him in her mouth, tongue caressing the long length of him, closing her eyes and savoring the pleasure it brought her to draw out his moans of desire and gasps of surrender. She opened her eyes and found him gazing down at her, his eyes dark with his passion but lit with the feelings she knew he had for her. Unspoken but there nonetheless.
She recognized it because she also felt it, knew it to be true in her heart, deeper in her soul.
It was something she’d never had before. It was precious, fragile, but also stronger than she would have thought possible with her brokenness.
He groaned above her, his thighs trembling under her hands as he struggled for control, and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to be under his control, under his body.
She released him, standing on knees liquid with her own desire. Justin took her face in his hands, the calluses on his palms abrasive against her skin, igniting sparks of need in her blood, making her wet and hot and heavy for him. He kissed her slowly, deeply, tenderly—in total contrast to the slide of their bodies, the sweat-slick friction of hard body against soft skin, smooth flesh against coarse hair.
“Lie down on the bed,” Justin ordered, his tone fierce with need.
Sarina walked backward, maintaining eye contact as she complied with the gentle command. The sheets were cool on her heated skin, silky against the back of her knees, her thighs.
Justin covered her with his body, kissing her mouth and then traveling lower to press kisses along her jaw, down her neck, into the shallow between her collarbones, lower still to the valley between her aching breasts. He layered them with kisses, the merest whisper of lips along the swell of each, until she writhed beneath him, her fingers clutching his back with long scrapes of her nails.
Justin finally claimed her nipples, licking, sucking, swirling them with his tongue until she was wet and needy between her thighs. He shifted on top of her, his fingertips trailing along the tender, sensitive skin of her thighs upward until he stroked her wet folds, finding her clit and rubbing it in small, firm circles.
“Oh, yes. Please.” Sarina opened her legs wider, arm thrown over her eyes, lower lip bitten as she fought the sensation he drew out of her, as she gave in to the sensations he created inside her.
“I can do better than that,” Justin murmured, releasing her breast and easing down her body with single-minded determination. “So much better.”
She watched as he lowered his head between her legs, his broad shoulders opening her even wider. Justin kissed her wet folds, his tongue swirling around her clit, inside her heat, his attention’s sole purpose to bring her pleasure. Justin was on his knees, but he was in control and she was completely subject t
o his power.
She writhed under him, thrusting herself against his face, riding his tongue, his mouth, straining for the orgasm teasing along the edges of her electrified nerve endings. Every time she got close, Justin changed his angle, pressure, intensity. He kept her on the edge, so close that when it hit, she cried out in surprise and relief. The pleasure hit her with its expected ferocity and she lurched forward, draping herself over the broad expanse of his back as she pulsed and shook with pleasure.
Sarina collapsed against the mattress, gasping for air and clutching at him when he moved over her, his body covering her as he took her mouth in a sex-flavored kiss. He stared down at her, his eyes dark and hot, molten pools of whiskey-colored lava that she could not ignore, could not break away from.
Justin broke contact only long enough to put on a condom, easing it down the length of him with sure strokes.
“Sarina, I want you so much.” His chest heaved with each of his labored breaths, body taut with desire. “I’m going to fuck you until you come again because I can’t get enough of it. I can’t get enough of you.”
“Please, Justin. I need you inside me. Please.” She knew she was begging and she didn’t care. She held so much of herself back from everyone but she couldn’t do that here, not in this bed. They might not know what the future held for them but when they were together like this, they were infinite. They were complete; just the two of them were perfection. She didn’t want to ruin that, didn’t want reality to intrude.
Justin groaned at her words, and his fingers dug painfully into her hips as he dragged her forward and positioned her over his hard cock. He trembled and she thrilled at the power that she had over this man. But his words shook her control.
“Sarina, I want you to come for me. Getting you off, feeling your body grip me so tight, hearing the whimpers and sounds you make for me, just for me, keeps me up at night. I can’t stop thinking about you. I want you all the time and I need to know that I’m not alone in this.” Justin reached down between them and grabbed his dick, pushing inside her and joining them in the best way possible. She moaned, bucking up with a flare of pleasure when he began a slow, deliberate circle of the pad of his thumb over her clit. “Don’t leave me alone in this, Sarina. Show me that you’re here with me. Show me that you feel what I feel.”
She couldn’t have denied him even if she wanted to. Justin was so open, so vulnerable in this moment, so raw and naked. Not just in the physical sense. They were both stripped bare and even if she wanted to deny him, she couldn’t. If she tried to hold it in she’d explode with the intensity, come apart in a way she was afraid would leave nothing of her remaining. So she opened herself to him; her body, her heart. She let him have all of her.
Justin drove into her, his cock moving in deep as she pushed back against him, struggling and straining to get even closer. She was playing with fire, she knew, and she wasn’t the risk-taker. Nothing was settled between them and the voice telling her to run was getting louder and louder in her head. She knew that if she left, Justin would move on and fill his life and his bed with someone who was better suited for him. She just wanted this for tonight.
“Sarina, I need you,” Justin moaned on a deep thrust, his body covering hers as he took her hands and lifted them over her head. Their fingers tangled together, bodies moving in the same rhythm, their heartbeats and the thrust and retreat of their bodies in perfect synchronicity.
Sarina looked up at him, letting him take over as her orgasm built tighter and hotter in her belly. Justin thrust deeper, harder, groaning his desire out between clenched teeth. Their skin was slick with sweat as they pressed against each other and his hardness rubbed against her clit with every stroke.
“Sarina, please.”
She tightened her legs around him. The orgasm was building inside her, up from the base of her spine, making her legs shake and grow weak with the effort. It was terrifying, this all-consuming need, and she fought the urge to disengage her body, her heart, to run from this man.
Justin leaned down, his lips brushing her, his tongue exploring her mouth. He ended the kiss, whispering, “Don’t run.”
Sarina gasped out loud, her arms breaking free from his grip to wrap around his neck and hold him against her as she came. Justin’s cock drove inside her one last time and his muscles shook with the impact of his orgasm. His fingers wove into her hair, clutching and releasing as his body came down.
Justin moved to shift off her, complaining quietly that he was hurting her, but she shook her head. She wrapped herself tighter around him, wanting to draw this moment out as long as she possibly could.
Justin wanted more, that message was coming through loud and clear. And she wanted it too. But she was afraid. Terrified.
She’d been wanted by people before and they’d rejected her in the end, sending her back into the system. She’d learned to not need anyone, to reject them before they pushed her to the side. She ran—it was what she did—and now she had to decide if she was willing to stay and see if the risk was worth the reward.
They were spooning again. This was quickly becoming one of her favorite ways to spend the hours of quiet between the busyness of the day and stillness of the night. The stars outside the open French doors of the bedroom were better than anything on TV and Justin was warm, strong and surrounding her as if he wanted to protect her from the world. She wanted to let him.
“Thank you for this, Justin.” The words weren’t enough but they were all she had.
“I wanted to do something for you.” He kissed her shoulder, spanning his hand across her body in a gesture that made her chest tighten and warm with emotion. “It was risky. I wasn’t sure if you would like it or not.”
She rushed in to reassure him; the vulnerability in his tone wasn’t something he allowed to come through very often. “I loved it. This has been the best day.” Sarina peeked over her shoulder at him, taking his hand and weaving their fingers together. “You’re good with risks. You take them. It’s better than not taking any at all.”
“Being cautious isn’t a character flaw,” he said, his breath stirring her hair, warming the back of her neck. “I know people wish I was more careful.”
“Sometimes being cautious feels a little like being the walking dead. It’s like standing on the edge of the game but never going in.”
“You’re braver than you realize.”
“If I were brave, I’d say that we need to talk about it...about us. My bike is fixed. The divorce papers have arrived.”
His fingers tightened on her hand and his heartbeat started a hammer against her back. “Are we going to talk about it?”
She rolled his question over in her mind, letting the sound of the waves as they eased in and out on the sand and the rocks below soothe her fear. They needed to talk, needed to get things settled between them. Now was the time.
But she didn’t want to lose this, lose this moment. She’d learned over the years to take each moment as it came. She didn’t give the bad ones the power to take more of her than the time she had to endure them, and the good ones were places she could be fully in the moment.
And this moment, this weekend, was the best of her life and she was too scared to end it too soon.
She didn’t want anything to spoil it.
She wasn’t so brave after all.
“Not tonight,” she murmured, drawing him closer. “Not tonight.”
Fourteen
The Mountain Winery was the perfect place to hold a celebration gala.
The historic location in the mountains of Saratoga, California, was part of the Paul Masson company. It hosted weddings, corporate events, concerts and wine tastings. Redhawk/Ling had rented the entire place for the party to celebrate signing the deal with Aerospace Link. Tonight, not only Redhawk/Ling employees but also the staffs of their new business partners would mix and mingle to live music and mult
iple open bars.
It was not a cheap evening but Adam and Justin weren’t guys who skimped on the good times when their employees busted their asses.
Sarina walked into the massive space with Nana Orla, Tess and Roan and realized that finding their hosts was going to be the great mission of the evening. Sarina was anxious to see Justin; the week since they had returned from Malibu had been hectic for him as he finalized this deal and he’d slid into bed late every night. She missed him. So much.
But it had given her a lot of time to think about them and tonight was the night she was going to tell him that she was ready to take a chance on them. She didn’t want to sign the divorce papers. Sarina was ready to stop running.
She was scared but he was worth the risk.
“This place is huge,” Sarina said, hanging on tight to Nana Orla. The crowd was bustling and although she was a tough lady, Sarina didn’t want her trampled on her watch. “I’m going to text Justin and see where the hell they are.”
“I just sent a text to Adam,” Tess replied, waving her phone in the air. “Nothing yet. I’m sure they’re both busy wining and dining their new best friends at Aerospace Link. We won’t see them until they are dancing on top of some wine barrels or something.”
“No way,” Roan said, looking the women over and punctuating his appraisal with a definite thumbs-up. “You girls are smokin’ and there is no way that Adam and Justin are going to let you just wander around a party with a bunch of drunk idiots hitting on you.”
“What about me?” Nana Orla asked, a hand placed on her hip while she made the what-am-I-chopped-liver gesture with her free hand. “I didn’t spend three hours at the salon today to get ignored by all the hot guys at this party.”
“Since you’re my date tonight,” Roan replied, looping her arm through his, “all these guys better just back off.”
“That’s fine but if I give you the signal to go away, do it. I don’t want you to ruin my game,” Nana Orla teased.
Seducing His Secret Wife (Mills & Boon Desire) (Redhawk Reunion, Book 2) Page 11