“Can you help me now?” Her voice was soft...sweet. She looked so delicate in that moment, and for the tenth time since she’d begun opening up to him, he wanted to go back to the restaurant, find her mom and give her a piece of his mind.
“Sure. What do you need?”
Instead of responding, she walked over to where he stood in the room and placed her hand on the back of his head. With little force, she pushed his head down to hers and stood on tiptoe to place a soft kiss on his lips. For a few seconds, he let her maintain control of the kiss, figuring it was something she needed in that moment. However, her lips began awakening a side of him that had been dormant during their talk due to the seriousness of their conversation.
Both hands went around her waist as he pulled her closer to him. He slipped his tongue between her lips, heightening the kiss to another level. She met the movements of his tongue, surprising him with a few things he didn’t see coming. When she moaned into his mouth, he couldn’t stop his hands from cupping her cheeks. Just how I thought they’d feel. Round. Juicy. Spankable.
He wasn’t sure when her feet had left the ground, but before he knew it, he was pinning her against the wall, relishing in the way her legs wrapped perfectly around his waist. Through her moans and his growls, he felt himself slowly lose control, edging closer to the point of no return.
She arched her back, her dress rising higher on her thick maple thighs. Damn. He could feel the heat between her legs and he was so hard it was straining against his zipper, threatening to break free. Reluctantly, he stopped the kiss and let her legs drop back to the floor.
“If we don’t stop now, I won’t be able to control myself.”
Instead of the sadness he’d seen in her eyes moments before, he found lust and need. “We just talked about a lot and I would never take advantage of you when you’re this vulnerable.”
Instead of nodding her head in agreement as he’d expected, she let a sly smile cross her face. Uh-oh. What’s that look about? She dropped one hand from his neck and cupped him through his pants. “Taheim, although I really appreciate your concern, I’m a grown woman and you aren’t doing anything that I’m not 100 percent on board with. I kissed you first, remember?”
“Of course. But you need to reflect on tonight before we fly out to Hawaii tomorrow. I’m sure tonight has mentally exhausted you.”
She averted her eyes from his as the sly smile dropped from her face. “I’ll be honest—what happened earlier wasn’t exactly how I saw the night going.”
She brought both hands to his face. “But right now I don’t want to think about my mom or my past or earlier tonight. What I do want is not to be alone tonight. Maybe this will help.”
She walked across the room and closed the door leading to the balcony before closing the curtains and dimming the light.
“My mom popping up in Vegas was unexpected, but there is something else that I actually planned just in case.”
Her hand went behind her back and Taheim heard the sound of a zipper.
“I wanted to show you something,” she said seductively. Unable to stand anymore, Taheim sat in a chair not too far from where she was standing.
“I was inspired to create this the other day after you left my studio.” His eyes were glued to her as he watched her slide the straps of her dress off her shoulders, revealing midnight-blue lace. His heart began beating faster in anticipation.
“I call this piece Late-Night Temptation,” she said as her dress dropped to the floor.
Taheim let out a curse into the air as he ran his fingers down his face. He’d seen her in lingerie before, but he felt as if he were seeing her for the first time all over. And she’s wearing one of my favorite colors. Whether it be navy blue, light blue, royal blue, midnight blue...he liked them all.
She seemed to glide toward him, her eyes never leaving his. “Can you stay with me?” she asked when she reached him. She might look confident, but he saw the uncertainty in her eyes. “No more talking. No more reminiscing. Only you and me tonight.”
Chapter 13
Her heart was beating out of her chest, and even though she was trying to look confident and sexy, she was so nervous standing in front of him in her lingerie, asking him not to leave.
He stood from the chair and studied her eyes. She understood his concern and she’d probably have felt the same apprehension if the roles were reversed. But she was tired of talking. Fed up with letting her mom control how she lived her life. Tonight Taheim had been there for her in a way no one ever had before. It made her feel important. Understood. Uninhibited.
“I don’t open up to people easily,” she said, leaning into him. “And I want to thank you for listening to me tonight. I never knew how therapeutic it would be.”
He looked into her eyes again, only deeper this time. Goodness, he looked so sexy. She’d been squeezing her legs together all evening every time she looked at him sitting across the dinner table. As silly as it sounded, dining with her friends had made her feel as if they were a real couple. There were more than a few times she’d wanted to kiss him. Touch him. Just stare into his eyes. Be careful, her heart warned. He doesn’t do relationships. But then again, neither did she.
Suddenly, the look in his eyes changed from concern to desire as he dropped his mouth down to hers and kissed her passionately. His decision had been made. He would stay with her tonight. She felt it in his kiss. Felt it in the way his hands roamed her body. In the way he picked her up just as he had before.
When he placed her on the bed and broke their kiss to look at her again, she smiled and nodded for him to continue, when inwardly, she was doing a happy dance.
Instead of returning to her mouth, his lips brushed against her neck before moving to the swell of her breasts.
“Do you have any idea what seeing you in blue does to me?” he said between kisses. Only when she felt her breasts bounce free did she notice that his hand had unclicked the front of her bra.
“You like the color blue?” she managed to ask breathlessly.
He lifted his head to hers, his eyes unblinking. “It’s my favorite color.” He sucked a nipple into his mouth. “So you know what you wearing this color means, right?”
His lips made their way down her body, leaving a trail of wet kisses along the way. “What does it mean?” she asked, although she had a pretty good idea.
He answered with his mouth but refrained from saying words. Instead he deepened his sucks, licks...small precise bites. The way his hands and lips touched her body felt amazing. When he made his way to her panties, she lifted her hips off the bed so he could drag the material off her body.
“Damn.” The word left his mouth in a huff of appreciation. Getting naked in front of a man was never something that really bothered her. But she couldn’t recall ever being looked at the way that Taheim was looking at her. The way his eyes soaked in every part of her body was actually making her slightly nervous. She lifted her arm to cover herself before Taheim’s words made her stop what she was about to do.
“Don’t you dare,” he said, still observing her body. “Don’t you dare cover yourself from me.” His eyes met hers and the intensity of his stare made her breath catch. He returned to observing her body, unapologetic in his gaze.
He moved down her body and kissed his way up her calves, but he didn’t stop there. His hot tongue scorched the insides of her thighs, causing her hips to buck off the bed. He didn’t need to kiss her there for her to feel the effects of his tongue. Just the idea of how close he was to her center almost made her orgasm on the spot.
Suddenly, he stood and began taking off his clothes. “That day I found you half-naked in my bedroom, it took all my energy not to rush over and take you right there...standing up.”
She sucked in a deep breath, her eyes fixated on the shirt that he was unbuttoning.<
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“I knew I couldn’t touch you, though. But it wasn’t because of the way we’d met or the blind date that neither of us had enjoyed.”
At the last button, he ripped off his shirt, displaying his scored abs and athletic arms. Her eyes didn’t leave his body as she watched him rid himself of his pants next.
“I knew I couldn’t touch you, because the thoughts I had racing through my mind that day weren’t gentlemanly at all. I wanted to take you...long. Hard. Completely. And the need wasn’t anything I’d felt before.” His fingers lingered at the rim of his black boxers before he pushed them down to the floor, revealing the masterful piece of equipment that she couldn’t take her eyes off. “What I felt that night was much more dangerous because consuming you was all I had on my mind.”
“I knew it,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“What did you know?” he asked as he kneeled to the floor.
“I knew you felt it, too, that day in your bedroom. And I knew that once I saw that—” she pointed to his erection “—I’d want you to consume me...all of me.”
At her words, his eyes grew even darker with desire, and in a move she hadn’t seen coming, he grabbed her by the ankles and slid her down the bed until she was positioned right in front of his mouth.
The minute she felt his tongue dive deep into her sweetness, she lost all ability to form a coherent thought. All she could concentrate on was the way his tongue twirled inside her, eliciting a heightened desire that she’d never felt before.
“I think I may become obsessed with your taste,” he said in between licks. Oh man, if he says anything else, I’m not sure I can hold back. She’d had oral sex before, and up until now, she’d thought the others had performed just fine. But Taheim was slowly proving that he could not be underestimated. There was a reason why the women in Chicago were fawning all over him. A reason why he’d become so cocky.
She’d gone to a toy party once and all the women had been sharing reasons why they loved being submissive in the bedroom. Winter had been an active participant in each of the conversations up until that point. Up until she realized that she often took control in the bedroom because she didn’t like giving any of her power away.
Now, sitting on the edge of the bed with Taheim’s tongue moving inside her as if her essence were his sole purpose for living, she knew why she hadn’t allowed other men to bring her to a passionate surrender. Why they hadn’t been enough.
As in tune to her body as she thought she was, she realized her control wasn’t shit against a man who knew how to work his tongue the way Taheim did.
When he cupped his hands behind her ass to pull her closer, her legs spread on their own accord to give him better access. When she felt his hands leave her butt, she met his eyes as he continued to suck her juices.
Watching him pleasure her was an awe-inspiring moment. But what was even more interesting was the look in his eyes as he began pushing her thighs down. It took her only seconds to figure out what he was doing. He was testing her flexibility. She smiled as she dropped her head back to the bed and allowed him to push her legs apart as far as they would go.
When her legs were almost in a split in the air, his tongue increased its movements and her orgasm was running down the court getting ready to land that perfect three-point shot.
“Taheim,” she warned when he added two fingers to the already satisfying experience. Within seconds, she exploded in a climax so hard it had her seeing stars, clouds, the sun, the moon and anything else in the sky.
Her stomach quivered at the aftershocks, and when she finally floated back down to earth, she looked up at him still stationed between her legs and stifled a laugh.
“Are you okay?” she asked. He didn’t respond but stared at her center.
“It’s like unrestrained access to the most intimate part of you.”
She finally saw past his surprised look and understood what he was saying. “I do yoga once, sometimes twice a day,” she explained as she bit her bottom lip. He’s so cute. She’d always been flexible, but even she’d admit that she hadn’t known her legs could spread that far apart.
He looked from one leg to the other, running his fingers up and down her calves and thighs. When he finally brought his gaze back to hers, the force behind his eyes made her breath catch in her throat. She’d thought she’d seen his desire before, but it was nothing like what she was seeing now. Arousal stirred in her stomach.
“Taheim?” she asked when he remained silent.
He took one more thorough glance of her legs spread wide open before speaking. Lawd have mercy. What in the world could he possibly do that was more fulfilling than what he’d just done?
* * *
She’s going to be the one I can’t forget, he thought as he reached down to his pants to grab a condom before he began making his way up the bed. He recalled his dad once telling him and his brother, Ajay, that there would be a time in their lives when they would meet a woman they wouldn’t be able to forget. A woman unlike the others and a woman who forced them to reevaluate everything they thought they knew up until that point.
At the time, he’d blown off his father’s words. Mainly because he’d just gotten his heart broken by a woman he’d thought he would spend the rest of his life with. A woman who had taught him the true meaning of unfaithful.
Leaning over Winter and seeing the same passion reflected in her eyes that he was sure was in his, he had a feeling that he was about to understand exactly what his father had been trying to tell him.
He positioned himself right in front of her point of entry and brushed a soft kiss on her lips. Her legs spread as his tip began to enter her, welcoming him into her tight, wet heat. She scooted closer to him, the movement bringing him in even deeper.
His eyes rolled in the back of his head as he filled her inch by inch. Their moans mingled with one another and bounced off the walls, no doubt giving the neighbors something to talk about. Not only did Taheim not care that they were loud, he also didn’t think they could slow it down if they tried.
Without disconnecting their bodies, he knelt in the bed and brought her on top of him. He assumed that she would just wrap her legs around him. But he was realizing that with Winter, it was best not to assume anything.
She pushed against his chest, forcing him to get off his knees and lie on his back. When she got on top of him, he grabbed her hips, ready to steady her on his cock. In true Winter fashion, she had other plans.
She slid down on top of him so slowly he almost forgot to breathe as he anticipated what she was doing since she was in a squatting position. Then, one leg after the other, she stretched them both out and continued to slide on top of him in a gymnast-type move that he’d never seen before.
“Oh shit,” he said when he was buried deep inside her to the hilt. She moved her hips then, using his chest to lift herself off his shaft before bringing herself back down again. Taheim shook his head back and forth, the pleasure too much for him to handle. He briefly glanced at each leg spread out on the sides of his hips and immediately knew that had been the wrong thing to do.
Who the heck was this woman? And how in the world did he get lucky enough to get to know not just the Winter everyone else saw but the Winter she didn’t allow everyone to see?
“Winter, I don’t know how much longer I can hold on if you keep this move up.”
The sneaky smile that crossed her face proved he’d said the wrong thing. With all the strength he could muster, he flipped their positions so that he was on top. He had a feeling he knew her perfect spot and he wanted them both to come.
When she squealed, he knew he had found it. Which was really satisfying, because there was no doubt in his mind that he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer. He took a deep breath, increased his thrusts and continued to work both their bodies into a powerful
orgasm.
The glorious sound of Winter gasping into the air and turning to mush in his arms was like music to his ears. He quickly followed with his own release before he collapsed beside her, bringing her on top of him. He wasn’t sure why, but he still didn’t want to disconnect their bodies yet. And for the first time after sex in years, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. He wanted to embrace her...needed to embrace her.
Chapter 14
Taheim was exhausted, but he had to admit that he was really enjoying seeing Winter in her element. From fashion shows to photo shoots, this woman could do it all. He was impressed that she seemed to do it all with ease.
When they’d finally arrived in Kauai, Hawaii, the day before, they’d made love again and slept the day away in preparation for the photo shoot. When they’d reached the location of the shoot, they’d had to jump right into action. Taheim helped out where he could, but Winter had both hands on deck the minute they arrived.
The location of the shoot was gorgeous, and he’d never been to Kauai, so he appreciated the remoteness the island seemed to offer compared to the Big Island. The luscious green trees, beautiful waterfall and unique birds inhabiting the area were an extremely romantic scene. One that Taheim wished included only him and Winter instead of thirty or so other people involved with the shoot.
He was glad to see that she was really soaking in everything she could from one of the designers on deck who happened to be a close friend of hers, as well as others who’d been in the industry for a while. Although he knew Winter was part French, hearing her have an entire conversation in French with one of the models she’d met earlier had turned him on.
Now the shoot was finally wrapping up. Although models in bikinis and swimsuits still lingered in the area, the only woman who had his nose wide open was the one wearing a light blue sundress that he was sure she was wearing just to drive him crazy with desire.
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