by Mia Caldwell
It was a spectacular example of Victorian architecture, and Phae had always admired it, though she’d only been inside the fence a few times in her life. Tonight, there were lights on inside the house and spotlights along the exterior edges showing off the lovely, but faded and decaying woodwork.
“What do you think of it?” Kent asked.
“I’ve always liked this house. But why are we here? No one’s home, I can promise you. It’s been empty forever.”
“It’s my house now. I bought it,” Kent said, watching her closely.
“You bought the Belleterre Mansion? What for?”
“To live in.”
“But, you’ve got that job in Phoenix.”
He shook his head. “Nah. I turned them down. Told them I got a better offer. You, by the way, are the better offer.”
Phae didn’t know what to say. “You’re moving here? Permanently?”
“If you don’t mind.”
“Of course I don’t mind. I’m just … what about your company?”
“I sold it. Goodbye Phoenix. I am now, officially, a citizen of Zeke’s Bend.”
Phae’s heart beat a jerky rhythm and her brain struggled to figure out what all this meant for them as a couple. Should she make assumptions? They said they loved each other, and now there was a house, too? Damn.
“Come on inside,” he said. “I can’t wait to show it off.”
He took her hand and pulled her to the front door. She followed him in a daze, hardly listening to him talk about the renovation work he had planned and how he was going to semi-modernize the interior while keeping the exterior true to its age all the way down to the gingerbread trim.
The mansion was huge, though most of the rooms were small, as was the style of the times when it was built, with tall, narrow windows and high ceilings. Wallpaper was peeling from most of the walls and the wooden floors were scarred and in need of refinishing.
The kitchen hadn’t had its fixtures or appliances updated in the last fifty years, and the bathrooms were stained with age and the brass fittings tarnished and/or broken.
She couldn’t imagine the amount of work it would take to rebuild the place; it was staggering. But to hear Kent talk about what he was going to do with it, it seemed it would be the work of a moment. His enthusiasm was catching.
On the second floor, after a quick look into the rooms there, he led her to one with a pair of exquisitely carved wooden doors.
“The master suite,” he said, reaching for the knobs. He pushed the doors open.
Phae gasped. This was no rundown suite. Obviously, Kent had put some people to work recently. How had he kept this quiet? She was shocked she hadn’t heard about the house being bought and worked on.
The suite was a large room, and she wondered how many walls were taken out to get it that size. The creamy, textured walls were romantically lit by dimmed sconces and a large light fixture in the center of the room.
A fireplace drew the eye right away with its elegantly lined polished mantle. There were several antique bureaus and an exquisite wardrobe, too. The wood was rich and almost velvety looking. Several overstuffed chairs near the fireplace looked invitingly cozy.
The room was eclectic in style, and warm in all ways, from paint to paper to fabric to flooring. The massive four-poster bed sat like an emperor in the room, the bedding in shades of pale greens, plush and begging to be touched.
The air was redolent with a spicy, light floral blend. An air conditioner purred in one of the windows, keeping the room comfortable and relieving the humidity.
“I was able to get a little work done already, but central air will take some time,” Kent said. “The window unit works for now. What do you think of it?”
“It’s beautiful. So lovely.”
“Not half as lovely as you,” he said, moving in beside her and taking her hand. “Everything here was inspired by you.”
“It’s perfect.” She didn’t want to say how moved she was and how much at home she felt from the moment she entered the house. It would be awkward.
Their gazes fell on the four-poster bed at the same time. Phae’s face warmed up and she looked down when Kent turned back to her.
“You know what I want, Phae,” he said. “If you’re not ready for this, tell me now. I don’t want to pressure you.”
She ran her fingertips over his cropped black hair and down his manly jaw. “I’ve never done this before.”
He raised a brow. “I’ve been dreaming about you and me on that couch of yours for what seems like forever, so I have to ask, are you confused about never having done this before?”
She smiled. “No. I mean, I’ve never had sex with a man I’m in love with. You’ll be my first.”
“Really?”
“Really. I’ve never been in love, and I’ve never said ‘I love you’ either.”
“I’m honored,” he said. “I’ve never said it either.”
“Come on. ‘I love you’ is the first line guys learn as horny teenagers.”
“I learned it. I just never used it.”
They smiled.
Phae reached behind her head and unclipped her hair. She spread it over her shoulders and let it fall in ringlets, free and wild around her face.
Kent watched her every movement with a gleam in his eyes. She reached to stroke his face.
With a deep groan, Kent swept her into his arms. She held on tightly and kissed him fiercely as he carried her to the bed, letting go reluctantly when he lowered her onto the soft mattress.
Holding her breath, she lay still, every nerve in her body tingling while Kent pulled his shirt over his head. She wanted to touch the tanned smoothness of his skin glowing in the soft light, but he nudged her hand away.
He sat on the edge of the bed, hungrily studying the length of her body. He reached down and, one a time, removed her shoes and socks with aching tenderness, caressing her feet and running his hands up her ankles.
She sucked in a deep breath when he pulled her shirt over her head, gently lifting her in the process to pull it free.
One more time, she reached for him.
“Please, Phae, don’t touch me,” he said, pushing her back down onto the mattress. “I won’t be able to hold back if you do, and I don’t want to rush. You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to see you like this. I’m taking my sweet time.”
With a delicate touch that belied his great strength, he smoothed his hands over her neck, shoulders and arms. He skimmed fingertips over the tops of her lacy bra cups, a feathery touch across the upper curve of her breasts that made her shiver.
“Your skin glows in the light,” he said, almost in wonder. “So smooth. Like silk.”
Phae gave herself over to his gaze and his touch. She dug her fingers into the soft bedding to keep from touching him.
He tugged gently on her pants, unbuttoning and unzipping, then slowly pulled them down over her hips and off her legs. He dropped them aside, his gaze centered on the tiny strip of fabric covering her mound.
“Damn,” he muttered, and traced a tingling line around the edges of her panties.
Like before, she’d never been so certain of the depths of a man’s passion as she was of Kent’s.
Tears pooled in her eyes as she witnessed his desire. He made her feel perfect, new, untouched and undamaged. He stroked the length of her inner thighs, making her moan.
She had to touch him. She couldn’t hold back.
When he dipped a finger under the elastic at the top of her panties, she reached down and clasped her hands over his.
“I want you so bad,” she said. And she pushed his hand the rest of the way under her panties, pressing her hips upward, leading his fingers down to her dripping folds. “Feel that. It’s for you.”
Kent’s expression went from tender to animal in a split second. He groaned and his eyes flashed.
“Hell,” he said in that wonderfully deep voice that made her stomach flutter. “I should have known I wouldn�
�t be able to wait.”
Chapter 26
PHAE SAT UP AND CLUNG to his shoulders, kissing him across his neck and jawline. He smelled and tasted so good, salty and spicy, like a man should. Like her man should.
He unclasped her bra and the lacy lingerie went sailing away. He fell on her breasts with lips and tongue, teeth and fingertips, squeezing, pulling and nipping.
Phae threw her head back and pulled him closer, ever closer. She savored the growls she got as a reward for raking her nails across his strong back.
Her skin was on fire, and her insides purred, demanding she let him in. She reached for the hard bulge straining against his jeans.
Kent grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. “No.”
She tried again but he jumped off the bed and held out his hand to stop her.
“Don’t move, Phae,” he said. “I want to see your breasts while I get these damned pants off. Hold them up for me. Arch your back. God, you’ve got beautiful breasts. Show them to me.”
Marveling at how free she felt, she cupped her breasts and ran her thumbs over pebbled nipples which were still damp from his kisses.
“Spread your knees,” he demanded, unzipping his pants slowly, his gaze moving rapidly over her. “I want to see those wet panties. All for me, you said. All that sweet goodness is just for me.”
“Only you,” she repeated, her own gaze on his package, waiting with bated breath while he shoved down his jeans and boxers at the same time.
She licked her lips and her heart thudded when his cock sprung free. So big. She’d thought often about how big and beautiful he was, late at night, alone in her cold bed.
Now here he was, larger than she remembered. And like the last time they were together, she had a moment’s pause, a split-second’s worry that she might not be able to take it all.
He held his cock and stroked up and down the mighty length. “This is all for you, beautiful,” he said. “Tell me that you want it.”
“You know I do.” She swallowed hard as he stroked himself again. “I want to do that.”
A feral grin turned up one corner of his sexy lips. “No, this is how it’s going to work. I’m going to spread those sweet thighs and take you until you scream and then I’m going to turn you over and take you from behind until you scream again. Hard. It’s going to be hard. Because that’s how you like it. Tell me. Tell me that’s how you like it.”
“I do,” she said, her voice trembling with need. “I do like it that way. Tonight.”
“And so do I. And when you think you can’t take anymore, I’ll give you more.”
Something lodged itself high in her throat. She wanted him so badly she couldn’t breathe.
“You think you can handle that?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes. Do it now.”
“Take off those panties then, and spread those sweet thighs.”
She slipped her panties over her hips, wriggling slowly from side to side, willfully enticing a man who needed no further enticements. She did it anyway, because she couldn’t resist the power of turning his blue sky eyes dark and stormy. Out of lust. For her.
“Damn, Phae,” he said, watching the slow slide of the panties down her thighs.
And then he pounced. One moment she was in command of herself and him, and the next moment he was on her. Her panties were gone in an instant, yanked off by an alpha male who’d taken charge of her and of the moment.
He pushed her down on her back and pulled her to the edge of the bed where he stood, a Viking raider, muscles bulging, flexing, black hair catching the light in flashes.
He grabbed her legs and lifted until her ankles rested on his broad shoulders and her butt was against the edge of the mattress. He captured her gaze with his own and grabbed the tops of her thighs.
Then he drove into her, one swift and rough push. He buried himself inside her and she cried out, “Yes! Ahh!”
So he did it again. And again. Filling her to overflowing, making her toss her head from side to side. Her world was only him, only the way he made her feel, only the pounding of his cock and the grunts of his exhalations and he took her where she wanted to go, her ears filled with the sex sounds of wet on wet.
It didn’t take long before her first release exploded inside her. She cried his name and dug her heels into his shoulders, rising up to give as good as she got. Every time she reached for him he pushed her back down, so she stretched her arms over her head and grasped at the bedding.
“Scream for me. That’s it, baby. Scream for me,” he told her between quick breaths as he pumped inside her.
She cried out and barely crested the peak of her climax when Kent grabbed her ankles and pushed her up farther on the bed.
“Turn over,” he demanded. “On your knees.”
He helped her turn over. “God, that ass.” He ran his hands over her cheeks and kneaded her softness. He groaned.
Phae hung her head, half worn out from the intense orgasm that continued to pulse inside her. She ached to be filled again.
She didn’t have to wait. Kent grabbed her hips, nestled at her opening then pushed inside. Deep, so deep. Phae’s head jerked up and she welcomed him into her with a moan.
He took her hard and steady, sometimes bending down over her and giving her sharp love bites on her shoulders and neck. A few times he swatted her rear and laughed long and low when she asked for more.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he told her, grinding up against her soft backside. “You’re so hot and wet. So slick. Mmm, Phae. My love.”
And with those words, she exploded again, her front half collapsing onto the mattress, sending her rear even higher into the air in unconscious surrender. Were those her cries or his? Was his agony of pleasure as sweet as hers?
Her breasts shook against the bedding and sweat dripped down the sides of her face. He pumped inside her with a ferocity that might have been frightening had it not been Kent—had it not been the man she loved and trusted.
Then he climaxed, too, his release blasting inside her and driving her even higher. Her body was ablaze with sensation, every nerve ending screaming release. Kent seemed to be everywhere at once, in and around her, holding her, telling her he loved her.
They collapsed together, both of them gulping air. Phae thought her heart might pound out of her body. Aftershocks throbbed inside her.
How long did they lay there? She’d never be able to recall. She’d only remember that when he rolled off her he took her in his arms and they lay wrapped in one another. He smoothed her hair and kissed her temples and she palmed the contours of his muscular form.
Before long, he was ready for her again. But this time, in contrast to before, the ferocity was replaced with tenderness, the greedy need with slow and sultry desire.
She rode him, taking him deeply with tantalizing, prolonged strokes. He held her there, buried inside her, pulling her down to kiss her, sweetly exploring.
He touched her with reverence, devotion, with such care she thought she might float away on the exquisite lightness of his caresses.
Slow, deep, ardent and passionate. They concluded with a mutual release so intimate and trusting, she whispered his name while tears trickled down her cheeks. He kissed them away.
So this was what it meant to be with a man she loved. A man who loved her.
He’d been worth the wait.
KENT PULLED PHAE BACK AGAINST his chest as he relaxed into the sloping back of the deep, claw-footed bath tub. The warm water soothed his muscles, muscles worn out in the very best of causes.
He softly kissed Phae’s hair. She’d insisted on pinning it up, and though he liked it best down, he didn’t much mind. He nuzzled her and inhaled her sweet scent, like sunshine and spring.
She snuggled in his arms, melting into him perfectly. “I think we forgot something.”
A condom, he realized with a start. They’d forgotten their first time, too, though they hadn’t talked about it, everything had gone wrong so quickl
y afterward that there had been no time to discuss it.
“Do you mind?” he asked, realizing the idea of a pregnant Phae filled him with a sense of euphoria.
She turned her head and smiled up at him. “No.”
“Me either.” He hugged her tightly. “We could have made a baby just now.”
She lay her head back against his chest. “It’s not likely. I don’t think we should worry about it.”
She looked so trusting and beautiful as she reclined against him, so peaceful. His insides turned over. She was his now. Now and hopefully forever.
“You know why I sold Kenrik and bought this house, don’t you?” he asked.
“I don’t want to presume anything,” she answered evenly, but he could detect a hint of what she wanted to hear.
And he was happy to give it to her. “I did it because you said you’ll never leave Zeke’s Bend.”
“I hoped that was what you would say.”
“There was no help for it.”
She pushed an escaped, damp lock of hair behind her adorable ear. “Are you sure this is what you want to do? For yourself, and not only for me?”
“Of course I’m sure,” he said.
Some water splashed over the edge of the tub as she sat up and twisted to look at him. “It’s just that you can be impulsive sometimes and I want to make sure you’ve thought this out.”
He tried not to stare at her generous breasts that were glistening wetly in front of him, her nipples perky and hard, begging to be licked. “Of course I’m sure,” he managed to say.
“Small towns aren’t for everyone, Kent. I know that.” Her breasts bobbed slightly as she breathed.
Kent grunted as he took her by the shoulders and turned her back around, sending more water onto the tile floor. He wrapped his arms around her, resuming their former position.
“If we’re going to have a discussion, I think it’s best if we stay like this,” he said to the slippery woman struggling against him. “And you’d better quit sliding against me like that, too.”