“Uh oh. What if they don’t live up to your imagination?”
“Ain’t possible. Get that bra off before I rip it off with my teeth.”
Her lips parted and her breath sped up even faster. “Promises promises. I’m thinking you should come and get it.” She trailed a finger along the soft curves above her bra.
Sounded like an invitation to him.
In a swift move, he pounced on top of her and stretched his body over hers, his hands planted on either side of her head. Maybe four inches separated them, and that space sizzled with heat.
She gave a squeal of surprise and laughed up at him. “That was fast.”
“Let’s hope that’s the last time you say that.” He lowered his head to her bra and took the upper edge of one cup between his teeth. Her hands fluttered to his shoulders. She traced the muscles she found there with a lingering touch.
He hoped she liked what she felt. Because everything about her pleased him on a primal level of “Woman—good. Want. Touch. Taste. Good.”
Details swam through his senses. The warmth of her skin against his tongue. The scent rising from the dip between her breasts, that heady feminine dampness. The firm rise of flesh above the naughty peekaboo lace. The push of her nipples against the fabric.
With his teeth, he dragged the cloth down to expose her breast, inch by slow inch. He took his time so as not to miss a moment of the glorious show. One nipple revealed—a pop of Chianti red against her pale skin. He slid his tongue across her flesh and watched the skin around her nipple pucker in response.
She whimpered, and he felt her legs move beneath him with the same restless need that was driving him. He circled the aureola with his tongue, near enough to the nipple to feel it harden even more.
“Jesus, Darius. You’re such a tease,” she gasped.
“You asked for it.” His hot breath surrounded her nipple, giving it another shot of arousal. “You could have just showed me your boobs like a good girl. Instead you had to be naughty.”
Unable to wait another second, he took her nipple into his mouth and claimed it with a deep suckle.
She arched wildly and tightened her grip on his shoulders. “Holy fuck, Darius.”
Now that was what he liked to hear. Unbridled yelling and cursing. With his mouth and tongue and even a touch of teeth, he ravaged her nipple until it felt like rock candy against his lips.
Then he shifted to the other nipple, because balance was important. She groaned as he lavished attention on that one as well. “Hang on,” she gasped. “There’s too much…wait a second…this damn thing…”
He had to admit, he loved seeing her at a loss for words. It hardly ever happened.
She struggled to reach behind her for her bra clasp.
“I got it,” he told her. He rolled off of her, and she twisted her torso to give him easier access. Fuck if that wasn’t just as hot as everything else about her. Strong, sleek muscles lining her spine, along with a little tattoo at the base of her neck.
He couldn’t tell exactly what it was. Vaguely round, kind of ruffly, like a weird mushroom.
He unfastened her bra and traced the tattoo with his finger. “What’s your tattoo?”
She gave a laughing groan. “You really can’t tell?”
“Not at all. Hedgehog? Porcupine?”
“No! It’s a peony. I let my friend practice on me when she was learning to do tattoos. I thought a flower would be easy, but apparently not.” She twisted to look over her shoulder. “I tend to forget about it because I don’t see it. Is it ridiculous?”
“No.” He smoothed his thumb across it. The fact that she had a peony tattoo made him wonder if she was more attached to Lost Harbor than she let on. “It’s sweet. Does Emma know you have a peony tattoo?”
“Nah. I don’t want to get her hopes up. She’s always thinking I’ll move to Lost Harbor and take over the farm.”
Aaaaand, let that be a lesson. Kate was not planning to stay in Lost Harbor.
“Then why’d you choose a peony?”
She sighed and shifted position so she could work the bra straps off her body. “Interesting timing, big guy. You’re the man of few words and now you want to talk tattoos?”
She slipped off the bra and tossed it aside. He didn’t answer, because his attention had now shifted back to the front of her body, and the part of him that responded primitively to the sight of bare breasts had taken full charge.
Like a red cape at a bull fight.
He reached for those beautiful soft mounds and filled his hands with them. “Sorry, did you say something?” He brushed his thumbs against the tips of her nipples. Her head fell back and her hair went tumbling against the headboard.
“You wanted to hear about my tattoo.”
“Tattoo?” he said blankly. Those nipples. So proud and erect and deep, dark red. The tempting color of the first sip of a freshly poured glass of burgundy.
He flicked his thumbs against both nipples and felt them harden just a bit more. She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth with a moan. He felt her legs move and knew exactly what she needed.
Keeping his mouth busy with her nipples, he slid his hand down her belly, savoring the tautness of her muscles under her smooth skin. He lingered on the soft rise of flesh below her navel. And then came a nest of silky hair and damp flesh. Delicately, he searched the tender folds for the nugget lurking inside. That sweet, juicy, swollen nub of flesh that surged against his fingers when he found it.
Kate lifted her hips to meet his hand. Her urgent movement sent a bolt of heat to his cock. Then a hot hand surrounded him and held him lightly. Kate’s hand. Fuck. Her hand was on his cock and he didn’t know if he could handle that.
His erection swelled to bursting. He gritted his teeth and mentally reached for something that would take down his hard-on. Flat tires. Popping balloons. Burnt toast.
That worked enough so he could continue exploring the soft wetness between her legs. Her head was still tilted back, her eyes half-closed and hazy. As he scanned her features, watching every reaction to his fondling, their eyes met and an incredible sensation swept through him. It was a feeling he’d never experienced before, not in all the times he’d taken a woman to bed.
It was the sense of seeing someone perfectly. No illusions, no deceptions, no lies. And being seen in exactly the same way. No need to pretend or hide. Kate could handle him, every part of him.
And he intended to prove he could handle her. Anything she threw at him, from emails to fake names, he could handle.
Except maybe not the way she was lightly stroking his cock.
“Ah God, that feels good,” he groaned. “Too fucking good.”
“No such thing,” she whispered. She circled the top of his penis with soft fingers. “You’re shaking.”
“Trying to hold back,” he gritted through clenched teeth. “No condom.”
“You came all the way to a fancy hotel in California without any condoms?”
“No, I have some. But not on my dick. Got a box in my bag.”
“An entire box? So optimistic.” Then she did something that very nearly made him lose his mind. She touched her own pussy, nudging his hand aside to gather moisture. Then she brought it back to his erection and wrapped her newly slick hand back where it had been—except it felt even better now with her juices sliding across his hot skin.
Back to the teeth clenching and flat tire imagining.
Except this time he pictured tires stuck in the mud and a sassy brunette behind the wheel. The breasts he’d wondered about at the time were now bare naked before him, and he had to lick those nipples again, had to lash them with the flat of his tongue. And what about her clit? It pulsed against his fingers, wanting pressure and hot stroking, and so he gave it to her because he’d give her anything she wanted, especially when his cock was in her hand and his balls were going tight and heavy, and she needed a finger inside her, or two, down to his knuckle, so the heel of his hand could grind against
her hot little clit and fuck …
No flat tire in the world could stop that explosion. He erupted with a growl like a wounded bear. At nearly the same time, she arched against his hand and let out a long, low cry that rose and fell with the waves of her orgasm. His brain nearly split in two from the effort to keep the pressure on her clit while his climax ripped through his body. She was what mattered, not him.
But damn, every second of that release felt so fucking good, and it was such a long time coming.
Or so it felt. Maybe it had only been a few weeks, but in lust-years, it felt like forever. Didn’t matter how long, this woman had taken over his thoughts completely.
When they’d both completed the downhill slide of their orgasms, he gently drew his hand from her pulsing sex and lifted his body away from hers. Damn, he’d spilled all over her. Her belly was damp with his semen. “Let me take care of this,” he said gruffly.
“Hey.” She caught his shoulders to keep him where he was. He met her eyes, their dark brilliance drawing him in deep, so deep. “That was…really something.”
He waited, thinking she was going to say more. She appeared to be fumbling for words. When she didn’t continue, he pulled away again.
Again, she held him in place. “Wait. I’m trying to say something and it’s not working.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Kate Robinson at a loss for words? Mark it down.”
She laughed, and that seemed to return some of her usual focus and fire. “I’m good at some kinds of talking and I suck at other kinds. Like this.”
He wasn’t sure what kind she was referring to—post-sex? Emotion? Cleaning his goop off her tummy? “No rush, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere except to get a washcloth. I came all over you and I didn’t intend for—”
She shook her head, smiling slightly. “I was going to shower anyway. I nearly got into yours with you, but you’re so big I figured you’d hog all the water. Kind of like you do back home.”
He laughed down at her. “I never had a problem until my new landlady showed up.”
“Oh I know, she’s such a nightmare.” She rolled under his arm and stood up. She still wore her red panties, and they were just as much of a turn-on as ever. He rolled over onto his back and relaxed, arms spread wide, soaking in the afterglow. Now that he didn’t have to get up, he was happy to stretch out like a lump on a log.
She lifted one naughty eyebrow at him. “I’ll be right back, big guy. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Couldn’t if I wanted to,” he murmured.
Halfway across the room, she spun back around and faced him. “The thing I wanted to say was, you’re very different from the men I’ve known. And I—I appreciate you coming here with me.” Her expression of discomfort was adorable. She obviously didn’t like talking about things like this. Honestly, it was endearing to see this vulnerable side of her. He had a feeling that not many people got to see it.
“You’re welcome,” he said simply.
She gave him a bright smile, the kind he was more used to from her. “Also, what we did just now was even better than what I’ve been picturing in my head.”
He smiled a lazy grin. “I’d like to know more about what goes on in that head of yours. I bet there’s some naughty stuff in there.”
Her eyes flashed wickedly as she turned toward the adjoining door. Her ass twitched back and forth in those little red panties and he groaned loudly.
“You’re killing me, Kate in the red panties.”
With one last provocative hip check, she disappeared through the door to her suite.
Chapter Nineteen
Kate’s heart was still hammering when she stepped into her shower. She and Darius hadn’t even had sex and still that experience ranked in the top five sexual experiences of her entire life.
And the other four involved her vibrator.
Why was fooling around with Darius so different from the other times she’d had sex? She’d always enjoyed sex. It was a great release. That was why she appreciated her vibrator. All the release but none of the drama. You didn’t have to talk to someone afterwards, or worry about their feelings for you—or lack of feelings. It didn’t lead to hurt for herself or a partner.
Obviously a vibrator didn’t offer the full sensory experience of sex with a man, which was why she still made room in her life for dating and even the occasional friends-with-benefits situation. She’d always gone for short-term relationships because her life didn’t have room for anything else.
At least that was what she’d always told herself.
But maybe the fact was that no one had really intrigued her enough to try. And no one had taken the time to get past all her layers of wariness and mistrust.
Until a big, gruff, stubborn bastard of a fire chief had come along. Slowly but surely, she’d come to trust him.
Also, he could do things with his hands that she hadn’t known a man could do. How were his hands so big and yet so sensitive? He knew exactly how to touch her, and how hard, and how long.
She lost herself in the blissful recollection of the last half hour or so of her life. By the time her shower ended, her system was back to the low hum of arousal that she’d been experiencing ever since…well, probably ever since that first glimpse of his hard stomach when he’d wiped sweat off his face after his jog.
Or no—when she’d seen him onstage at the Moose is Loose.
Or even when he’d stopped to help her. It was very possible that his good deed combined with his powerful physique and kind silver-gray eyes had delivered the first blow to her defenses.
The question was, what did he want now that he was behind the castle door?
What did she want?
She shook the question away as she dried her hair with a bath towel. None of that mattered yet. They had one more night in this hotel—really just a matter of hours at this point—and the only thing she really wanted was to make the most of it.
She barely heard the knock on the front door of her suite, but she did hear Darius’ deep voice ring out with a firm, “Be right there.”
It could be someone from the law firm, or maybe from the hotel itself. She was hurrying to finish drying off when she heard Darius call, “Stay where you are until I say the word, Kate!”
Holy hell. In a flash, the terror from those last few weeks in LA came rushing back. She hadn’t been careful enough—she’d gone to see her father—she’d eaten dinner at a restaurant—she’d gotten lax. Her worst fear had come true—one of Kramer’s goons had found her. Maybe his lawyers had tipped them off. Now they were threatening Darius and he was trying to protect her, probably risking his own life in the process.
Her heart jumped into her throat and adrenaline flooded through her. She couldn’t let Darius get hurt. Not on her account. She had to help him. Phone. Call for help. No, she’d left her phone in the room.
Bear spray. She had the canister Emma had given her. It was in her rolling suitcase, which she’d dragged into the bathroom with her rather than sorting through it for clothes. Yes! She pounced on it and rummaged through to the bottom, where she’d stashed the can. She’d declared it at the airport, and hadn’t pulled it out since. It was really just a crutch at this point.
Her hands were shaking so much it was hard to get a grip on it. She checked the button to make sure she was orienting it in the right direction. More fears multiplied like bunnies.
What if she missed and sprayed Darius instead? What if she blinded someone? She didn’t want to hurt anyone. She just wanted them to leave her alone!
I don’t even have to use it, she decided. This is about bluffing. And I learned bluffing from the master.
She straightened her shoulders, getting into character—badass with a weapon. At which point she realized that she wearing a fluffy white bath towel and nothing else. No time to change now. She cinched the knot tighter. She’d just have to hope it stayed on.
Gathering all her nerve, she swung the bathroom door open. As she leaped into the
room, the towel snagged on the doorknob and fell off her body.
What the hell, they’d just have to get an eyeful. Maybe it would be an effective distraction, who knew?
Without missing a beat, she kept going and aimed the canister at the door of the suite. “Don’t move or I’ll shoot!” she shouted at the top of her lungs.
Darius swung around to face her, his hands up in the air as if she was talking to him. His mouth fell open as he caught sight of her. He shook his head and mouthed something, but she was already glaring at the intruder behind him.
Intruders…plural.
A small group of people crowded in the doorway. One of them held a cake. Another had balloons. There was a bottle of champagne in there somewhere. And a lot of shocked faces that belonged to members of her old law firm. Danisse from accounting. Chad, the frat boy intern. Jamieson, her immediate supervisor.
Darius, bless him, took only a split second to step between her and her former colleagues. Never before had she been quite so happy about how damn big he was.
Bluff. She still needed to bluff her way out of this, even though it wasn’t quite the situation she’d thought she was facing.
“Hi everyone. Great to see you all. Ooh, is that cake?” she said cheerfully as she dropped the can of spray to her side and peered past Darius. “Aw, you guys shouldn’t have. This is just so sweet! The last thing I expected. Literally.”
Darius stepped toward her, filling her field of vision and shielding her from sight. “Why don’t you let me take this,” he murmured as he touched the hand holding the bear spray. “You’re making people nervous. Me, in particular.”
She let him claim the can. “I wasn’t going to use it unless I had to,” she whispered. “I’m not that reckless.”
“No, I’d say you’re the perfect amount of reckless.” The amusement in his voice brought a smile to her own lips. He shepherded her toward the bathroom, still blocking everyone’s view of her backside. “You thought I was in danger.”
“Obviously.”
“I’m deeply moved that you would try to save my life buck naked.”
Naughty All Night (Lost Harbor, Alaska Book 5) Page 14