They began walking. She led them straight down to the water's edge, stopping only when the tide surrounded their feet. He planted his toes in the warm sand and closed his eyes. Raising their joined hands to his lips, he kissed her knuckles. He paid homage to the lady at his side for making him so complete and satisfied, and all with nothing more than her presence. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman affected him more, if ever.
“I'm glad I came. I hope you are, too.” A presence of peace enveloped him, and he opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. Making no attempt to hide his feelings, he wanted her to see his sincerity and his yearning for whatever was happening between them. His willingness to accept it all, even the fact they had different skin tones. None of it mattered, only that they were together, as they were meant to be.
“I'm glad you came, too.” Her voice came out whisper-soft against the breeze. But it blew in his direction, and he heard the words.
The top of her head only reached his shoulder, but her height was perfect for him. She placed her palm on his chest and tilted her head back as he curved his down to meet her raised lips. Their first kiss had been a claiming, but this one became a promise. They had time to fulfill it. At least he'd try his best to give them time. But he wanted—needed her now—had needed her for the last six months. Hell, maybe for all of his life.
He pulled away. “Come on, show me your beach.”
They strolled aimlessly along the shore for hours, twice paused to just sit on the sand and talk, touch or kiss. Mostly talk.
“I feel like you're an old friend,” she said, brushing the hair out of her face.
“I know, it’s like we're an old comfortable couple, as opposed to having met for the first time only hours ago.”
His admission caused her breath to catch in her throat. “A couple. Is that what we are?”
“Yes.” And just like that, he had her. In truth, she was his the moment he stepped off the plane.
They reversed their path back to her place. The sun hadn't quite gone down when Jasmine opened her front door. At least this time she wasn't Ms. Butterfingers. She watched him look around her space again and wondered what he thought of her home. It didn't take him long to cross the room until he stopped in front of the sofa. He held his hand out to her. Like a marionette, whose string had been tugged, she went to him and grasped his outstretched hand. After sitting down, he rested her against his side.
“For now, I just want to hold you, okay?” he said.
The long, wide sofa could easily accommodate both of them stretched out full length. He lowered her with him, placing her snuggly in front of him and rested his leg over hers. She felt a wall at her back and solid muscle covering part of her body. Baron encircled his arm around her waist, she leaned into him, and he rubbed his nose against her hair.
“Mmm, soft. I love the smell of your hair. Reminds me of honeysuckle.”
She responded by entwining their fingers. The sigh near her ear came from one contented man. Embraced in his strength, she let herself go and drifted into slumber.
Jasmine had no idea how long they slept. The sun had been sinking past the horizon when they’d returned to her home, and glancing out the window now, she saw stars peppering a dark velvet sky. She didn’t move for a moment, absorbing the feel of the man behind her. Then she realized what had awoken her—the bone digging into her rear. She pressed back against it, and the owner’s hand rose from her waist to encase the lower part of one breast.
“I thought you just wanted to hold me,” she said.
“Mmm, I am. I want to hold all of you. I want you to hold me, too.”
She turned on the sofa to face him.
He leaned into her palm and she stroked the side of his face. He moved his cheek back and forth to deepen the caress.
“What’s happening here?” she asked. She wanted him there with her and she was never surer of anything in her life. She’d recognized him on sight as he had her. He belonged to her, and she to him. Yet it was all still hard to take in, and she was fully immersed in whatever it was.
“Whatever it is, we’re in it together,” he replied. “Never doubt that.”
The way they naturally drew toward each other didn’t seem to hold sway to reason of any sort. When he kissed her palm, his touch reached into her soul. He moved his mouth to the inside of her elbow, and his caress ignited every cell throughout the rest of her body. She momentarily seemed to forget how to inhale.
“I guess what you say is true,” Jasmine finally managed once she had breath to speak again. This time she cupped his elbow and sat up, pulling him up with her when she rose.
“Come with me.” But he surprised her. He turned her to him and held her face.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “Because, once we give ourselves to each other, there’s no going back.”
“I’m sure,” she replied as she leaned forward and kissed him.
Chapter Five
She tasted smooth and silky, like fine scotch. Taking her backwards a few steps, Baron managed to maintain contact until he had no choice but to release her lips. When she opened her eyes and started to protest, he picked her up and covered her mouth with his again. She tightened her arms around his neck and held him there. He passed the guestroom and headed straight for her bedroom. He placed her on her feet beside the bed, and she fell back onto the mattress. He followed her down, sinking into her intoxicating softness.
He lay perfectly nestled between her legs, their clothing not quite enough to mute the erotic sensation of his hardness pushing against her, but enough to create a hunger for more. She moved her arms from around his neck and tugged at his clothes.
It took him a moment to register what she wanted, but he ceased kissing her to help her remove his clothes. Once his shirt hit the floor, he pulled her T-shirt off and, sitting up, he straddled her to unbutton her pants. Scooting back, he tugged them free one leg at a time. While he worked to remove her clothes, he noticed her gaze drawn to his chest. He hoped his body fascinated and enticed her as much as hers did him. He’d never had complaints before, but other women hadn’t been really important to him. They didn’t matter. Jasmine did.
He gained his reward as she sat up, raising her hand to touch him. The tips of her fingers barely brushed the area above his nipple, and a hiss passed between his lips. Moving backwards and off the bed, he quickly shed his pants.
He stood at the footboard, letting her look her fill of him. His chest rose and fell. His stomach was flat, his waist narrow, and damned if he didn’t have that V cut on his hips. He was all rippling, moving muscle. “One of us still has on one too many pieces of clothing,” he said.
She smiled in reply and moved slowly. She wanted him to get his fill, too. She took her time unsnapping the front of her bra, her breasts plump without being overly large. Judging by the light in his eyes and the way he licked his lips, he seemed appreciative. She dropped the bra at the side of the bed never taking her gaze off his rising sex. He must’ve shaved because only a smattering of hair surrounded his long, thick, and hard dick. The veins running along the side of his cock pumped with blood, and the head flushed with need. Her eyes widened at the size of him. She drew her lower lip into her mouth in anticipation.
“You still have one too many things covering you from my sight. I want to see all of you.” He growled the last, a demand, not a request.
She stripped herself of her underwear. Sitting back on the pillows, she spread her legs, raising her knees until her feet were flat on the comforter. “Come to me,” she said. Her voice rough with need.
Taking a moment, he knelt then stood with a gold packet in his hand. He tore it open and fitted the condom over his enlarged length. First one knee rested on the edge of the mattress, then the other and he crawled up on the bed, over her body, until skin lay against skin. Without pausing, and with unerring direction, he entered her. She arched from the fullness of him so deep in her body. Relaxing into the mattress, she accepted hi
s weight and bound her legs around his trim waist as he encircled her in his arms. The intense pleasure coursing through Jasmine soared her beyond the limits of mere flesh all because he pulsed inside her. He filled her and claimed her.
She opened her eyes to see his blue ones staring down at her. “One of us is going to have to move,” he said, in a voice heavy with his need.
She grinned. “I think that has to be you.”
He smiled in return. “That's not what I meant. And trust me, I will, but first I want to make sure you understand what this means. We're going to have to talk about us being together, and I think you'll have to travel now. Because I'm not letting you go.”
She grabbed his neck and brought his mouth down to cover hers. “Stop talking,” she whispered. “Now move!” She dug her heels into his buttocks and squeezed her inner muscles. He groaned and obeyed her command.
Baron sank into Jasmine's warmth and never wanted to come out. The feel of her surrounding him like nothing he'd ever experienced before. At the same time, it was what he'd been searching for all his life and had never really understood until now. None of the women from his past ever satisfied his need to belong, but he still kept searching. All the while he’d been looking for her. He was hers.
“I've found you,” Baron said, huskily. He covered her mouth again, unable to get enough of her. He wanted to sink far into her body and heart until they were no longer separate entities.
Gripping her legs, he moved them from around his waist and rearranged them over his shoulders, spreading her even wider. “Open your eyes. I want you to see me.” Her lashes fluttered and she did as he asked, he drank in her orbs dark with desire. “I want you to know who is inside you, loving you, a part of you, as you are now and forever going to be a part of me.”
“Baron…”
“Yes. That’s my name, Jasmine. Feel me. All of me.”
“Oh, God. Yes. I do. I do.”
He flexed into her even further. “That's good. Take all of me Jas, because I belong to you,. I’m yours. Are you mine? Say it. I need to hear it.”
“I…I am yours, all yours and you’re mine.”
He claimed her mouth and poured all of his emotions into her, holding nothing back as her inner muscles tightened around his dick. He withdrew once, twice, and lost all thought and power over his body. The eruption started from the root of his being and had been building in speed and strength until it needed release—release into the one woman he'd been waiting for all his life.
When he finally came, the explosion was such that every inch of his body clenched in relief. The pain and pleasure of it was so great he raised his head and cried out, while tightening his arms around her. But even in the depth of his bliss he felt her release and heard her cries of pleasure mingling with his. More satisfied than he'd ever been in his life, and with a smile on his face, he felt himself losing control of his muscles. He fell to the side of her, so as not to crush her, and blanked out.
Slender fingers combing through his hair returned him to the land of the living. He captured them and kissed her thumb before getting up and going to the bathroom to take care of the condom. Returning to bed, he lay on his back and gathered her to him until she lay draped across his chest. He pushed her hair back from her forehead so he could see her face.
“Are you all right?” he asked, fearing he may have been too rough.
“Yes. Are you?”
He grinned. “More than I've ever been in my life. You realize, of course, I meant what I said, I’m not giving you up.”
She returned his grin, but it quickly faded. “I was afraid of this.”
He kissed her gently and framed her face with his palms. “Don't be afraid. Never be afraid of our feelings for each other.”
“How can I not be?” she cried. Tears pooled in her beautiful eyes. “You're going to leave me in twenty-four hours.”
He shook his head. “I’ll be here until Sunday.”
She smiled a little in return and shook her head. “But then what?”
He pulled her even closer to him. “Come back to D.C. with me.”
She kissed his chest and laid her head on him. He wanted to jump up and give her the moon, but her next words had him tumbling back to earth. “I can’t. You know I can’t.” She spoke softly, as though afraid to break the magic between them.
He’d let nothing come between them, especially not her fears. “But I don't.” He ran his hand down her back to soothe her as much as himself. “How can I, if you don't tell me? I dropped everything to come to you, because you're worth everything. I took a chance. Take one with me. On us.”
She rubbed his waist. “Please, let’s not talk about this now. Let me think about it, okay?”
His heart clenched at her response. Didn't she feel the same way? Could he be so wrong? No! He refused to believe he would feel this strongly about her if she didn't feel the same way. He knew she did. And moments later, she proved it to him.
Pushing him until he lay flat on his back, she climbed on his thighs and cradled his rapidly growing hardness between hers legs. Hot and silky wet, she glided up and down his shaft coating him in her essence. Making him harder. Apparently his cock had forgotten it had just had release and ached for another one.
“Condom,” she rasped.
“Floor. Pants. Pocket.”
She quickly left him, retrieved the remaining three packets, and tossed all but one on the nightstand. Reclaiming her position, she took her time pulling the latex over his swollen length before impaling her body on his.
He held on to her waist, bearing her downward while lifting his hips, and his shaft rose higher within her in an attempt to kiss her womb. They moved in perfect sync. She lay on his chest, and he cradled her in his arms. Taking care not to dislodge their union, he rolled her underneath him and increased the rhythm.
“Jas,” he said. Her name came out on an exhale, but she would always be inside his heart.
Jasmine heard him say her name before she kissed him. She lost herself in his scent surrounding her, in his taste. The heat built again within her core, spreading slowly throughout the rest of her body, climbing in strength with each stroke until an orgasm ripped every nerve in her body apart. She burst into flame, but then when he erupted, it triggered one of the strongest back-to-back orgasms she'd ever experienced, and she continued to burn.
“Baron.” She dug her nails into his back, and she didn’t care if she left marks as she screamed his name. She never lost it like that during sex. Never.
Returning to reality, she wanted to weep. It was so perfect between them. How could it be real? But he had come all this way just to be with her. Could she take the chance?
His head rested on the pillow near hers, while his member lay semi-hard and still inside her. When he shifted his weight and withdrew from her, she shivered from the loss. A tear leaked from the corner of her eye; not wanting him to see it, she turned her head.
Chapter Six
Jasmine had no idea how to say goodbye to him. They'd spent most of Baron's time in San Diego in bed or on the beach. The routine didn't change much from the first. They'd start their morning making love, take walks on the beach, and make love some more. She didn't answer her phones, taking time off to be with him. As much as she wanted to hold off the future, night turned into day one too many times. Eventually that day melted into Sunday, and life found them back where they began. In the airport. Time to say goodbye.
She knew he didn't want their separation to be forever and had plans for her to come spend time with him in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, he wanted her to look into relocating to D.C. to be with him. After their first day together, when she tried to tell him moving was impossible, she let him make his plans, knowing they'd get nowhere. Besides, once he got back to his life, he'd forget about her. That’s what she kept telling herself to stay sane.
She’d be his San Diego good-time girl, a memory.
“What’s wrong? You’ve been quiet all morning.”
He rubbed his thumb along the side of her neck, sending her nerves into a frenzy of sensation.
She’d been watching the flight board and the clock, counting the remaining minutes before he’d have to go through security and board the plane. She forced a smile and looked into her lover's soulful eyes. No one had to tell her that she’d never be able to forget him. Life could be cruel at times.
“Can’t I be a little sorry to see you go?” She couldn't bring herself to say the things she wanted to say, like ‘please don't leave me.’
He pulled her out of her seat and onto his lap. Wrapping his hand around her head, he brought her down to his waiting lips. Fireworks. Every time she kissed him, sparkles went off around and inside her.
“I'm gonna miss you too, baby. But we’ll see each other in two weeks. Two.” He held up his fingers for emphasis.
The board showed his flight was departing in forty minutes, and he still didn’t release her.
“Time for you to go,” she murmured when he remained still.
“We have a few more minutes before I have to get to the gate and board. I want to spend them all holding you in my arms.”
She circled her arms around his neck, and he rested his head on her chest.
“Honey,” he said. “You smell like honey. My honey.”
God, the things he said to her. She wanted to weep. Instead, she inhaled his scent, a brand all his own, wanting to take it deep inside her and never let it go.
Finally, they could put it off no longer, and she got up feeling like lead weights hung around her neck as she accompanied him as far as the ticketed area. Kissing him quickly one last time, she turned and hurried away. She couldn’t bring herself to look back, to watch him stride away from her. Tears coursed down her face so heavily she ran into the closest ladies room and right into an empty stall.
Come To Me Page 3