by Abby Green
He lifted a hand and cupped one breast. Her nipples were hard and stinging. Pushing against the lace of her bra. He brushed his thumb across one nipple, making Lexie gasp. Making her want more. His mouth.
Cesar sank back onto the bed and pulled her into him. Lexie nearly stumbled in her shoes and she kicked them off jerkily, steadying herself on his shoulders.
His hands closed around her waist again, and with her breasts at easy reaching distance for his mouth he explored her through the lace, his tongue laving the lace-covered tips, first one and then the other.
Lexie’s hands were like claws gripping his shoulders. It was torture. The stinging chafing of the lace against those throbbing moist peaks. She almost sobbed with relief when he reached around to undo her bra and then cupped one breast before he encircled that aching naked tip with his wicked, hot mouth. It was exquisite.
Her hands moved to Cesar’s head, fingers threading through silky strands of hair. When he tried to draw back she had to release him. She looked down, dazed, drunk. Instinctively she reached for his shirt, undoing his buttons, her breasts swaying with her movement.
He took over, emitting a soft growl of impatience when a button got caught, ripping it apart and off. Then his chest was bare. And gorgeous. Lexie had to sink down onto one thigh, unable to stand any more.
Cesar caught her to him with a strong arm, his other hand finding her chin and angling it so that he could plunder her mouth in a scorching hot kiss. He let that hand trail down to cup and massage her breast again, fingers pinching her stiff nipple.
Lexie squirmed. Between her legs she was stinging. Moist. Sensing her need even before she acknowledged it, Cesar moved his hand down over her waist. He pushed her legs open, his mouth still on hers, distracting her, until she felt those fingers exploring the delicate skin of her inner thigh. She held her breath as they trailed over her sex, hidden under the silk of her panties.
Lexie broke the kiss. Cesar’s eyes were half lidded, hot with need. She was clinging to him and his hand was there, right where she felt swollen and needy. He was pressing against her flesh, moving rhythmically.
In a fast-moving world that had been reduced to all things physical Lexie tried to cling onto reality and the feeling that she could trust Cesar.
She put her hand on his wrist, stopping his movements, and said threadily, ‘I don’t want you to hurt me.’
He could never know the wealth of history behind that plea.
He frowned and removed his hand, bringing it up to touch her jaw again.
‘I would never hurt you. We’ll take this slow, okay?’
Lexie nodded. Relief flooded her. In a smooth move, Cesar lifted her from his lap and onto the bed. She sank back and looked up, watching him undo his trousers and push them down.
Her eyes widened on the bulge in his boxers, and they widened even more when he’d dispensed with the rest of his clothes and put his hands to the edges of those boxers. He pushed them down and his erection was freed.
Lexie waited for rejection, revulsion, fear...but it didn’t come. She only felt intense excitement. And need. Euphoria bubbled up inside her. Lightness. When Cesar bent down and put his hands to her panties she lifted her hips to let him pull them down.
His body was awe-inspiring. He was a very masculine man in his prime. Broad through the chest and shoulders, slimming to lean hips, and down to powerful buttocks and thighs.
He came down on the bed beside her, on one arm, and looked at her. His gaze left scorching hot trails where it rested on her curves. ‘You’re more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen.’ He ran his hand up and down her body, barely skimming, teasing her.
Lexie touched his jaw reverently, feeling the tough line under her fingers, following the line of his cheek down to his mouth, tracing that sensual shape.
Her belly contracted when he caught her hand and sucked one finger deep. Then he took her finger out of his mouth and, not taking his eyes off her, trailed his hand down over her breasts to the curls protecting her sex.
Gently, he encouraged her to open her legs. Lexie held her breath. Keeping the heel of his hand against her, he explored her with his finger, seeking the seam of her body and parting it, releasing her desire to smooth his passage.
She was breathing again, but it was laboured as Cesar moved his fingers over her and pressed his palm against her. Without her even knowing it Lexie’s body was moving, hips twitching, circling, seeking more.
He bent his head and took her mouth, and she almost sobbed into it when she felt him thrust one finger inside her. Her hands had to hold onto something and she found his arms, fingers digging into hard muscles. Cesar shifted and she could feel his erection against her hip.
She was too shy to reach out and touch it, but she wanted to. Wanted to explore what all that power would feel like encased in silken skin.
But right now his finger was moving in and out of her body and causing sensations such as Lexie had never experienced before. There was a delicious tightening feeling, building and building. An urgency. A desire for more.
When one finger became two, and Cesar’s tongue thrust deep into her mouth, her hands tightened on him.
He broke away. ‘Dios...you’re so responsive...I don’t know how slow I can go...you’re killing me.’
Lexie blinked. Cesar looked like a dark golden lion in the dim light. She whispered throatily, ‘Don’t go slow.’
He gazed at her, his breath coming sharp and fast. He was on the edges of his control...she could sense it. Right then Lexie felt invincible. Strong. In control.
Cesar disappeared for a moment and Lexie heard a drawer open and shut, then the sound of foil ripping. He came back and she saw him smoothing protection onto his erection.
A spurt of jealousy that he was touching himself so intimately caught her unawares, making her want to giggle with the sheer joy of discovering her own body again. Of being here and feeling safe.
Cesar came over her, careful not to crush her, but the weight of his naked body over hers was something Lexie craved. She reached for his body, clasping him, urging him down.
He cursed. ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’
‘You won’t,’ she said, and meant it, feeling emotional.
Lexie felt him push her legs apart further with his hips, stretching her. Poised above her, he nearly undid her when he pushed some hair back off her hot cheek and pressed a kiss to her mouth. As if somehow...he knew.
And then she felt him—hard, forceful, pushing into her, seeking her acceptance. Her body resisted and Lexie sucked in a breath. She willed herself not to let the darkness of her past reach out to poison this moment. She willed her body to relax, to trust.
After several heart-stopping moments, punctuated only by their harsh breathing, she felt a shift and Cesar’s body slid in a little more. Filling her.
‘You’re so small...so tight.’
She moved her hips experimentally and earned herself a long, low growl from Cesar that sounded feral.
She could see the cost of his restraint showing on his face, in his tense shoulders. He reached down a hand and moved it under her thigh, encouraging her to lift her leg around his waist.
The movement brought him deeper into her body, and now Lexie groaned as excitement built, a restless, surging yearning for a deeper connection between their bodies.
She lifted her other leg and Cesar pulled out before sliding back in, his body huge and powerful. He angled his body so that he was thrusting as deep as possible. He put a hand between them and found the cluster of cells at the juncture of her thighs. Lexie gasped out loud as that building excitement shot right through her core.
Her whole body was alive with a deep mystical energy, coiling and binding her to this man with an invisible weave. Cesar’s chest touched hers, hair a delicious friction against her b
reasts. Lexie arched her back to ask mindlessly for more.
Cesar’s movements were becoming more urgent, stronger. Faster. Her heels were digging into his muscular buttocks, driving his body deeper into hers, holding him to her.
She could feel wave after wave of ecstasy washing through her until they gathered such force that she begged Cesar to release her from the torture and let her fly. But she wasn’t coherent.
He bent his head and kissed her. ‘It’s okay, querida, I’ll catch you.’
Those words unlocked the tension and Lexie soared on a blissful plateau of pleasure so intense that it was almost painful. And as she fell, feeling the powerful contractions of her body around Cesar’s, she bit his shoulder to stop herself from screaming out loud. His own body tensed powerfully before he let out a guttural shout, and he fell just behind her.
* * *
Cesar’s brain was in meltdown. Even now he could still feel the ripples of Lexie’s orgasm keeping his body hard, not letting him come down completely from the most intense climax he’d ever experienced.
It was the most difficult thing in the world to break the connection between their bodies, but Cesar gritted his jaw and moved, releasing them both. Lexie winced minutely. Her eyes were wide, cheeks flushed, hair in disarray around her head.
He moved so that he didn’t crush her and came onto his side, pulling her into him so that they were face to face. Normally when Cesar made love to a woman he felt the overwhelming need to get away. Right now it was the last thing on his mind. She fitted him. One leg was still looped over his thigh. The centre of her body was still flush with his, doing little to help his arousal subside.
He could only look at her. The expression on her face was as stunned as he felt. A lock of hair was across one hot cheek, damp with her sweat. He raised a hand, noted vaguely that it was trembling, and tucked her hair behind her ear.
As his normal faculties returned Cesar was aware of feeling more and more vulnerable. But still he couldn’t seem to move, to be able to unweld his arms from around her.
Then he saw a brightness in her gaze in the dim light. Her mouth wobbling even as she bit into her lower lip to disguise it. Cesar’s belly dropped as if from a great height as something very cold lanced him. He’d just assumed...been so focused on how intense it had been for him... Even though he’d believed it had been the same for her, but she was so small...
He could feel tremors in Lexie’s body now—as if she was experiencing a delayed reaction. Cesar moved and came up on one arm, cold terror trickling through him. ‘Did I hurt you?’
Rapidly she shook her head and Cesar saw her eyes fill in earnest now, felt the tremors in her body getting stronger. Her cheeks paled. Was she going into some kind of shock?
Her body, which had felt so warm and languorous seconds before, now felt cold. Galvanised by increasing panic, Cesar gathered Lexie into his arms and stood up from the bed, taking her with him. She curled up against his chest, making something like bile fill him at the thought that he’d hurt her. She said nothing.
He walked into the bathroom and straight into the shower, where he turned on the powerful spray of hot water and stood them both under it. He felt Lexie gasp, her body curl even tighter into him, and he also felt those tremors increase as she started crying in earnest.
Her face was buried in his chest and her slim back was heaving with the force of her sobs as her hands pressed against him.
Cesar felt as if his chest was being ripped apart by bare hands. ‘Lexie...Dios...please tell me...did I hurt you?’
She shook her head against him. The slimmest sliver of relief went through him. Cesar rested his back against the wall and wasn’t even sure how long he stayed like that, under the powerful spray, while Lexie sobbed in his arms. He could still feel the power of the emotion running through her slim body.
Eventually the storm passed and she became still. They were surrounded in hot steam. She started to move, and then he heard a husky, rough-sounding, ‘You can put me down. I’m okay.’
Reluctantly, even though his arms were stiff, Cesar let her down until she stood. She wouldn’t look at him and he had to tip her chin up. When he saw those huge bruised eyes and her swollen mouth he had to curb his almost instantaneous reaction. Again. Already...
‘Lexie...what...?’
She shook her head, came close, put her hands on his chest. ‘You didn’t hurt me...’ Her voice sounded raw. ‘The opposite. I promise.’
Cesar frowned as water ran in rivulets down their bodies, plastering their hair to their skulls. ‘But...why?’
Lexie ducked her head, resting her forehead against him for a moment and making something incredibly alien flood through Cesar. Then she looked up again, ‘I just... It’s never been like that. That’s all.’
Cesar had the distinct feeling that that wasn’t all, but something held him back from forcing her to explain. He hadn’t hurt her. The relief was almost overwhelming.
‘Come on,’ he said gruffly. ‘Let’s get out.’
He turned off the water and stepped out, reaching back for Lexie. She emerged from the steam, taking his hand, and he couldn’t stop his gaze from devouring those naked curves greedily. She was looking at him too, and Cesar had to stop himself from pressing her up against the shower wall and taking her there and then.
Instead he wrapped a towel around her and her hair. She stood as mute as a child and let him dry her off, and after he’d dried himself roughly he took her back into the bedroom.
He dropped his towel and gently took hers off and led her back to the bed. Her hair was damp but she didn’t look inclined to dry it. He could see her eyes heavy with the need to sleep. Heavy after the outpouring of emotion that had left tentacles of panic inside him at the thought that he’d hurt her.
She crawled into the bed and lay down, and Cesar looked at her before getting in beside her. This was anathema to him—sharing a bed after lovemaking. But it was something he wasn’t in a position to question right now.
Lexie burrowed straight into his arms, wrapping her legs around him, resting her head on his chest. Those soft abundant curves melted into him. His heart thudding unevenly, it was only when he could feel her body relax into sleep and her hold on him loosen that he was able to relax himself.
* * *
When Lexie woke up she opened her eyes and blinked at the dawn light coming in through long grand windows. She felt completely disorientated. Her body felt...different. Heavy. Lethargic. Sated. Hers...
She became aware of something moving steadily under her cheek. Cesar’s chest. She lifted her head and looked up to see him asleep. Dark stubble lined his jaw. And then her eye caught something else and she let out a small gasp of dismay.
A neat row of small teeth marks scored the flesh of his shoulder. And suddenly Lexie was back in that moment of such extreme pleasure that she’d had to bite him to keep from screaming.
She ducked her head again quickly, face burning. It all came back...every scorching moment. Taking him into her body had been far more momentous and emotional than she would ever have imagined it might be.
She’d cried like a baby.
Lexie cringed to think of how she’d curled up into his chest and sobbed. How he’d asked if he’d hurt her. Far from it. She felt almost guilty—as if she’d misled him by not telling him about herself. As if she’d taken something she only had half a right to. This man would never know the precious gift he’d unwittingly given her.
A sense of liberation from the dark past rushed up in a giddying sweep of emotion so physically acute that Lexie had to move or risk waking him. And she wasn’t ready for that assessing gaze to land on her just yet.
Moving stealthily, she managed to extricate herself and climb out of the bed without disturbing Cesar, who lay in a louche, sexy sprawl. She couldn’t help stopping for a momen
t and looking at him covetously. He was so beautiful...his skin a deep olive, his chest broad and powerful, and lower... Her face burned even hotter at the thought of how he’d felt moving inside her. So gentle but so powerful.
Emotion tightened like a fist around her heart. On first acquaintance with this man, she never could have imagined he’d have so many hidden depths, or have the capacity to be so...considerate.
Lexie immediately dismissed the direction of her thoughts when a kind of panic seized her guts. She had to lock off her emotions. This was purely physical. She’d gone into this with eyes wide open. It was an affair. And when the time came she would walk away with her head held high.
Lexie grabbed up her things and crept out of the room. Once she was in her own room she had a shower, before donning faded comfy jeans and a V-necked cashmere top. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and went to find the kitchen.
* * *
Lexie had found a radio station playing classical Spanish music and was blissfully unaware of the tall man resting his shoulder against the door, arms crossed, as she made breakfast.
It was only when she turned around to find some salt and pepper that she saw him and nearly jumped out of her skin.
He straightened. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.’
Lexie flushed, still not ready to see him. Already a hum was starting in her blood. ‘You didn’t...’ She flushed some more. ‘I mean, you did—but it’s okay.’
He was bare-chested and wearing jeans with the top button open. Lexie nearly melted. Her body was unaccustomed to this overload of sensations and desires.
He came into the kitchen, right up to her, and growled softly, ‘I woke up alone.’
‘I just...I woke up and you were asleep,’ Lexie stammered. ‘I didn’t want to disturb you.’
A look she couldn’t identify came into his eyes and he said, ‘You didn’t.’
He bent then, and pressed his mouth to hers. In an instant she was on fire, her mouth opening under his, seeking more. When he pulled back she was breathing fast. She was out of her depth. This whole morning-after thing was totally alien to her.