Tyler's white teeth gleamed at his smile and he brushed a knuckle against her cheekbone. "You never have to be afraid of me, Courtney. If I ever ask you for something you don't want to give, or you don't think is fair, just tell me."
Her legs went mushy at his touch. She'd grown up with a father who had never learned the meaning of the word sorry, who demanded respect without earning it, and who always told everyone, especially her brother and herself, exactly what they should do--on the double. When she'd moved away from home, she'd picked men like her father to date. And rebelled against them too. She hoped that being attracted to a man who was different, who wanted her to be herself, showed that she was growing.
"Thanks, Tyler."
"You're welcome. Now, unless you really have a craving to cook, I suggest that we try out one of the restaurants around here. Philadelphia is one of the culinary centers of America, you know. We might as well take advantage of it.
At a small Italian restaurant off Lombard Street, the proprietor closed off a back room for the three of them. Tyler ordered wine and, after they'd eaten, insisted that Courtney try the tiramisu which, he claimed, was superior to any other he'd tried outside of Italy itself.
Courtney enjoyed the ambience, especially when a violinist came in and played something sweet and poignant. The musician didn't even seem to mind when Harvey joined in with a particularly high note.
She also enjoyed her food. She didn't eat out at places like this every year, let alone all the time the way Tyler seemed to.
Most of all, she enjoyed his company.
Tyler told her stories about his childhood, growing up with a father who was the exact opposite of her own. Tyler's father had let his wife and children make the decisions--and spend his money.
Of the three children, only Tyler had insisted on pursuing college, on making a place for himself in business. When the family business had gone bankrupt after his father's accident, only Tyler had been able to stand on his own, eventually recreating the steel business that had first rocketed his family into wealth a century and a half earlier.
She admired that about him--his quiet rebellion against the rules his family had set for him--because her own rebellion had been anything but quiet. Only now, after being estranged for a decade, had she begun to communicate with her father again.
Harvey watched every bite they took, but took Courtney's stern 'no' to heart when he'd started to beg. If Tyler kept feeding her like this, she'd have to learn to start saying 'no' as well.
A light snowfall was dusting the streets when they left the restaurant and headed back toward Tyler's mansion.
"Thank you for taking so much time with Harvey and me," she told Tyler. "I know Harvey understands that you're trying to help him fit into your world. When he sees your ducks on the pond, he'll know exactly what to do."
Which was more than she could say. Tyler hadn't mentioned their kiss since it had happened. She wasn't sure if he thought of her as a convenient fringe benefit or potential trouble. One thing she was certain, though, was that the kiss had rocked her, changed her.
It just might up to her to take the next step. Tyler might be waiting, concerned he'd stepped over a line that she'd drawn in asserting her professionalism? Was he leaving it up to her to decide which way to go from here?
If so, deciding was hard. Especially since she wasn't very good at dealing with rejection, and rejection was the one thing she knew would eventually come from any relationship with Tyler.
Still, she'd been attracted to him from the moment he'd walked into her office. The obvious love he felt for his dog and his family only strengthened the attraction. Although he had money, he wasn't caught up in his own self-importance.
She was twenty-seven years old, had had exactly two sexual relationships, and had never had an orgasm. According to Cosmo, she deserved more. She wasn't sure Cosmo always gave good advice, but she gritted her teeth and decided she'd follow it this time. If it led to sadness and distress, she'd deal with that when the time came. Right now, she wanted to experiment, to explore her desires and to see where they might lead.
"Anything else you want before we turn in for the night?" Tyler unsnapped Harvey's leash, then reached for her coat as they stepped into the broad entryway of his house.
"Just some follow-up on something we were working on earlier?"
"Hmm? What's that?"
"This." She stepped out of her coat leaving his hands conveniently occupied, twirled to face him, and wrapped her arms around him. "We never finished that kiss."
Chapter 5
Tyler had been certain he had let his imagination overshadow the reality of Courtney's kiss. He had been around. Before he'd had family responsibility thrust upon him, he'd cut a swath through the co-ed population of Harvard, Boston College, Boston University, Wellesley, and many of the other schools in the Boston area. He'd been certain a kiss was simply a kiss--pleasant, sure, but very much like any other.
He'd been wrong.
The instant Courtney's lips touched his again, he felt that electrical shock he'd been denying--a shock that connected directly to his groin.
It was possible that the goose bumps on Courtney's arms were the result of the chill walk in from his car. But when every hair on his own body stood at attention, he knew the sensation was something other than cold--it was pure burning desire.
He kissed her back, hard, savored the rich tastes of tiramisu and coffee that lingered on her tongue, the texture of her kiss, the soft yielding of her lips.
She shifted her body closer to him, her hips touching his, one of her legs brushing against the rigid hardness of his arousal.
He wanted nothing more than to lose himself in this kiss, to surround himself with this woman. But she'd opened up enough to make him feel protective of her. Courtney wasn't a woman who treated sex as a sport. And if he didn't stop now, he wasn't sure how he would manage.
Pulling away from her kiss that morning had seemed nearly impossible. Stopping the kiss now was a thousand times more difficult.
Courtney moaned when he pressed on her shoulders and moved his lips away from hers.
"I want you," he promised. "But I won't be able to stop if we don't stop now." Being this honest was killing him.
"Why would we stop?" She sounded… bewildered.
That was answer enough. He tossed her coat over a coat rack, drew her up into his arms, and carried him down the hallway, up the stairs, and into his bedroom.
He set her on his bed, then, not bothering with the covers, climbed in next to her.
Her lips reached for his and, as he fumbled with Courtney's jeans, Tyler and was surprised to feel her hands running along the center seam of his slacks, finding the zipper, then pulling it down.
He knew most women needed to take things more slowly than men do, but Courtney seemed filled with as much urgency and need to connect as he.
Her top, something silky that clung to her figure and was highlighted with oversized buttons that had teased him all night, melted off of her as he ran his fingers down the seam.
He'd fantasized about Courtney's body from the moment he and Harvey had walked into her office. Her long dark hair, always pinned up, fascinated him as much as the slender curve of her neck and the gentle swell of her breasts.
He had spent too long around women who were perfect, just the way their plastic surgeons wanted them. Courtney had a perfect body and a beautiful face, but it was natural, the way she was.
Her breasts were larger than he had guessed, constricted rather than enhanced by her bra. Which made sense given her concerns about being taken seriously as a therapist. She wouldn't want to trade on her beauty, just her competence. That realization increased the feeling of connection because he too had wanted to be respected for himself rather than for his family or money. It also made him want to remove that constricting garment and touch her all over.
* * * *
Tyler's hands were heaven.
Despite his billions, they
were hands that worked, strong hands with a hint of callus where they brushed against her.
He'd unfastened her top and then her bra with a practiced efficiency that should have worried her but instead simply added to his appeal.
"Glorious," he murmured when he pulled the pins out of her hair and sent it, wild and uncontrolled, across his bed.
It was all she could do not to echo him. She'd yanked his shirt out and destroyed half his buttons, but it had been worth it. His chest was muscled, a dusting of hair arrowing down to the buckle in his belt--and lower. Even through his slacks, the evidence of his arousal was unmistakable.
He kissed her again, slowly, as he brought his hands to her breasts, cupping their fullness while his lips covered hers, finally completing the kiss they had begun that morning and that had burned, incomplete, ever since.
He trailed kisses from her lips, down to her jaw, nibbling on an ear before brushing his tongue against the hollow of her throat.
Her father would have told her that a purr was unladylike. She couldn't help it.
Tyler seemed to enjoy her reaction rather than condemning it, though. "You're incredible."
She started to answer but the words caught in her throat when he dipped his head lower still. His mouth seized one of her breasts, his teeth gently grasped the nub while his tongue flicked it.
Her body had been smoldering for hours but now it caught fire. Currents of energy, released by his caress, careened through her body like echoing thunderbolts and gathering, finally, in her core in an ever-tightening knot of sensation.
Then she couldn't stand it any longer. She didn't want to be a passive recipient of Tyler's favors, no matter how talented a lover he might be.
She tugged on his shirt again and then, as he shrugged it off, she turned to his slacks.
Tyler helped by kicking off his shoes.
Then he was naked.
He was glorious. Long hard muscles lined his arms, his chest, his legs. The broad depth of his chest tapered down to a trim waist with enough muscle definition to be purely sexy. His erection fascinated her.
Without conscious thought, she grasped it in her hands, its rigid length feeling like suede-lined steel. She squeezed down on it and laughed with pleasure when it grew harder still.
Tyler jerked at her touch as if her hands were fire and he afraid of the heat.
"You're a beautiful man," she murmured. She'd never really considered male beauty before, never thought it mattered. But if Tyler ever got bored of running the most successful steel company in the world, he could get a job as a fashion model. Courtney would buy any magazine he was on the cover of.
"I'm ahead of you now," he reminded her. He reached for the button of her jeans, then stopped.
"What?"
"Call me old fashioned but I've never been into voyeurism."
"Huh? Oh." In the face of Tyler's overwhelming presence, she'd completely tuned out the dog.
"Go back to my room," she told him. "Your crate is open."
Harvey gave her a mournful look, but turned and slunk out.
"Should we shut the door?"
She shrugged. "Harvey won't bother us until tomorrow morning. Is anyone else likely to break in during the night?"
"No."
"Then forget about getting out of bed. I've got plans for you."
"Oh, no. I definitely think it's my turn." Before her hands could reclaim his erection, he flipped her over on her back and continued the exploration he had begun with his lips and tongue.
He kissed the softness of her belly, and then nibbled on her thighs. Slowly, deliberately, he teased around her core, coming ever closer before pulling back. Each touch, each kiss, each love-bite enhanced the next, added to the hardening knot of pleasure deep within her center. It was almost as if she were a pool of water being gently rocked. With each touch, the wave grew higher, more powerful, as sensation piled on sensation, burning heat upon burning heat.
Until, finally, suddenly, when she thought she couldn't stand it any longer, Tyler pressed his lips to her folds and licked.
His exploring fingers added to the sensual overload and the knot, which had grown into an all-consuming sensation, unraveled in an explosion of sensation and pleasure.
He slowed when he felt the climax sweep over her but didn't stop, caressing her to extend the sensation, to let her milk every last drop of pleasure from it.
"Wow." She hadn't meant to speak. Tyler could be cocky enough as it was. But she couldn't hold back. No wonder Cosmo told women that they had to search for the 'big O.'
Tyler's chuckle told her she hadn't been quiet enough. Well, the man was an artist of love. He deserved to be appreciated.
"Your turn," she told him.
"I'm not done." His mouth was still touching her intimately and the vibration of his deep voice accentuated the flutter that came from his lips moving against her.
A small part of her wanted to wallow in the sensation, doubly so because Tyler seemed to be enjoying it. But she didn't want to be the passive recipient of any man's guidance--no matter how pleasant that guidance might be.
"You're done for now." She surprised him by rolling abruptly, ending up on top, her folds pressing against his impressive hardness.
She slid down his body and shivered at the warm touch of his legs against her womanhood, then seized her prize with her hands and tongue.
Tyler arched his back as Courtney took him deeply into her mouth. He tasted of desire.
Until he grasped her chin and pulled it away, back toward his face, into the kiss that she had thought they had completed so many minutes before but that she now realized was not just a kiss but an integral part to their lovemaking.
"Hang on a second." He reached for his nightstand, opened a box of condoms, and sheathed himself.
He tried to roll over on her but she shook her head. "I want to be on top."
She halfway expected him to refuse. She didn't have any experience with men who cared about their woman's pleasure. But Tyler smiled. "All right. So, what are we waiting for?"
She took him, directed him, with her hands and knew a brief flirtation of fear. He was bigger than either of the men she'd had before--much bigger. Would he hurt her? Had she been crazy to do this?
But crazy or not, she couldn't stop herself now. She straddled him, used her knees to lower herself onto him.
Tyler closed his eyes momentarily, savoring the sensation of her muscles relaxing to let him inside of her, then tightening again around his engorged manhood.
A bead of sweat gathered on his forehead and she leaned down to capture it with his tongue.
His body shifted to stay with her, then pulled back slightly and pushed yet again.
Pushed and filled her completely, washing away memories of the glorious crescendo she'd experienced only minutes before in a tingle of pleasure that knotted more deeply still.
She eased back on her knees and Tyler reached a hand for one of her breasts and the other for the sensitive nub in her folds.
The combination of his manhood inside of Courtney and his thumb exquisitely brushing against the center of her pleasure almost pushed her to a second orgasm. She bit her tongue to keep herself focused, squeezed her inner muscles against Tyler. Courtney forced herself to endure the pressure, let it mount further because some part of her knew that each moment she delayed her release would make the final climax more powerful.
Tyler found her rhythm and pressed up against her. His muscles, strong as they were in repose, deepened as he thrust himself into her.
Moment by moment, thrust by thrust, the universe seemed to collapse around her, narrowing itself down to a single point where time, space, heat all consolidated into sensation.
Then, without warning, the pressure became too intense, an explosion swept through her like a pent-up hurricane exploding from the ocean over land.
Courtney screamed, uncertain, for the moment, whether she was dying, or even who she was.
Tyler's shout
answered her scream as he relaxed his iron-hard discipline and let himself release.
All strength deserted her muscles and she collapsed bonelessly onto his broad chest. Moments before, she had felt as if she had all of the energy in the universe inside of her. Now, though, she was drained, emptied of anything beyond the lingering echoes of satisfaction and pleasure that rippled through her like earthquake aftershocks.
His naked body burned hers where they touched.
"Wow," he murmured into her ear. The nibble he followed with simply added to the echoes of bliss that continued to reverberate inside of her.
"Yeah. We'll have to do this again."
"Now?" He was still hard inside of her--another new experience for her--but his manhood seemed to give a little jump of pleasure at the thought.
"Don't be ridiculous. You couldn't so soon." She breathed, then felt the surge of him growing again. "Could you?" She knew men weren't like women. They needed time to recover. Hours. Days sometimes if her long-ago relationship with Bryan was any guide.
It wasn't.
* * * *
Something moved in his bed. Tyler awakened instantly. For just a moment, he was back in college. Panic--did he remember the girl's name? Then, like a dam breaking, memory flooded back to him. He and Courtney had set the world on fire. He couldn't remember even fantasizing about some of the things that he and Courtney had done naturally, endlessly attaining more joy.
Incredibly, the hour or so of actual sleep he'd enjoyed filled him with more energy than his normal six hours. And he was rampant.
He opened his eyes, saw Courtney about to step off the bed, and pulled her to him. It was Saturday and, for once, he wasn't expected at the plant. He could take his time, savor the incredible sensual delight that Courtney seemed to have opened inside of him, and then maybe make her breakfast in bed.
She kissed him, but pulled away when he sought to prolong the embrace. "You're forgetting someone."
"Are you all right?" Maybe she was sore after their extended activities.
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