Private Paradise

by Jami Alden

  Chapter 9

  The words tasted bitter coming out of Carla's mouth and she saw the bitterness reflected on Sam's face. “In any case I wouldn't have ended up here, living in paradise, doing something I love that keeps me way too busy to worry about marriage and all that nonsense.”

  She waited a beat, but Sam didn't respond. He just sat back in his chair, his muscular torso gilded by the flickering lamplight, his pensive stare never wavering from her face. Like he could see straight through her bluster to the dream of a family and children she still held secreted away in her heart.

  “I'm going to get some of that ice cream,” she said, desperate to break the tension. “You want some?” she called over her shoulder as she hurried to the mini fridge.

  “Why not?” Sam asked, though his tone sounded like she'd just offered him rat poison.

  She took the tub out of the refrigerator and scooped two portions into coffee cups since she couldn't find any bowls. She spent unnecessary time making sure the amounts were equal, perfectly shaped little balls, stalling as she tried to get control over the twist of emotions Sam had stirred up inside her.

  She couldn't let herself get carried away. Whatever she'd felt for him―and assuming he wasn't full of shit, what he'd felt for her―was firmly in the past. She couldn't let herself fall for Sam's game just because they still shared an undeniable and explosive attraction to each other.

  She gave one cup to Sam, felt the frisson of heat pulse up her arm and straight to her core as her fingers brushed his. She curled up on the couch and brought the spoon to her lips, not so much because she was hungry as to give herself something to do.

  Nevertheless, the instant the creamy, fruity ice cream hit her tongue, Carla closed her eyes and moaned. The cold, the sweetness, saturated her senses and sent a rush of pure joy through her.

  Some people had booze, some people had heroin. Carla DeLuca had ice cream.

  She took another bite, moaning again as she bit down into a chunk of frozen mango, its tart flavor the perfect balance to the rich vanilla of the ice cream.

  A choking sound jerked her from her blissful haze. Her eyes snapped open to see Sam, still staring at her, his own ice cream forgotten in his hand. But the pensive tumult was gone from his eyes, replaced by a heat so intense she could feel it sizzle across the skin.

  An answering heat rushed through her, coupled with a sense of relief. This she could do. Focus on the sex and keep the emotions out of it. Keep them busy pleasuring each other so there would be no more opportunity to bring up the past, how he may or may not have felt about her then or feel about her now.

  No opportunity for her to wallow in stupid fantasies about what might have been or could still be when they both knew damn well there was nothing for them beyond the walls of this villa.

  Keeping her gaze locked with his, she withdrew the spoon slowly, deliberately from her mouth and licked the bowl clean with a flick of her tongue.

  His tongue came out to lick his own lips.

  “What are you staring at?” Carla asked, her voice already husky with her growing need.

  Sam's mouth pulled into that sexy, knowing smile that had never failed to make her feel tight and achy inside. “I think you know.”

  Carla took another bite, sucking her spoon with exaggerated relish, hiding her smile at the dark slashes of color that appeared on Sam's cheekbones. She stole a glance down the front of his body, her breath catching in her chest when she saw the way his cock was already tenting out the front of his shorts.

  And they hadn't even touched each other yet.

  Despite his obvious arousal, Sam seemed content to watch her. Like a big cat eyeing a gazelle, watching, waiting for the right moment to pounce.

  Every cell in her body tingled with awareness and she felt her nipples pull tight under the robe. Between her legs she was already damp, the pulse beat growing stronger with every second he held her gaze.

  Never breaking her stare, she put the cup of ice cream down on the table and took another spoonful. As she sat back, she gave a little shrug, enough to make one sleeve of her robe slide down her shoulder, baring most of her breast to his gaze.

  She'd never teased a lover like this, flirted and provoked, the aroused tension in the air growing thicker as she waited for him to make his move. She'd never wanted to before.

  But from the beginning Sam had tapped into the naughty girl she'd never known existed inside her. Making her want to experience the wicked pleasures his all too knowing eyes promised. Making her wait in breathless anticipation as she wondered what he'd do next.

  The spoon in her hand tilted, and a dollop of rapidly melting ice cream landed on the swell of her breast.

  “Oops,” she said, her left eyebrow cocked, daring him.

  Sam pushed himself up from his seat, his wicked smile sending a shiver of anticipation through her. He bent over her, the dark silk of his hair tickled her neck as he leaned down and swirled his tongue against her skin, capturing every last trace of ice cream.

  He lifted his head. “Delicious.” His mouth came down over hers, hot, hungry. His tongue thrust between her lips, and she sucked him in as she felt the knot of desire between her legs pull even tighter. She kept her mouth glued to his and helped Sam push her robe the rest of the way off and toss it to the floor.

  She heard a faint clinking sound and then gasped as cold liquid drizzled over her breasts. Carla arched her back and squirmed as Sam bent his head to her, licking her clean as he followed the rivulets of ice cream down the slopes of her breasts, circling back to her nipples in a series of teasing licks that pulled breathless, pleading sounds from her throat.

  Finally, his lips closed tightly over one nipple, pulling hard as his fingers gave the other a firm pinch. “God I love your tits,” he murmured, his tone almost worshipful as he alternated firm sucking with soft flicks of his tongue. He reached for the spoon, painted each dark peak, pleasured her with deep, hard pulls of his lips.

  She cried out at the answering throb of her sex. Clutching his shoulders, she parted her legs wide, arching until she could rub herself against the hard ridge of his abs. The delicious pressure wasn't enough, and as he continued to lick and suck her nipples, her body tightened in a need so intense it bordered on pain.

  Her cries grew more frantic, her movements jerky as she shifted under him, trying to find the right angle, the right pressure, that would push her over the edge.

  “What's the matter, baby?” Sam's low voice rumbled through her. “Your pussy feeling neglected?” he asked with a soft chuckle and slid his hand down her stomach, his fingers stopping just inches from the little patch of curls at the top of her slit.

  Carla moaned and arched her back, trying to get those fingers to slide just another inch lower, knowing that all it would take was one brush of her clit to send her flying over the edge.

  But Sam kept his hand there and reached for cup of ice cream with the other. Carla cried out as cold liquid poured over her mound, half expecting to hear a sizzle as it hit her heated flesh. The soft drizzle of it on her clit was enough to send the first throbbing pulse of orgasm through her core.

  She watched, breathless as Sam bent his dark head to her, his eyes glittering in the lamplight as they locked on her face. He ran the flat of his tongue along the outside of her lips, licking her clean, driving her insane as he stayed along the edges of her sex, tonguing and sucking her swollen, sensitive flesh but never hitting the exact spot where she so desperately needed him.

  Her body soaked with sweat, her sex drenched with her need, Carla was about to beg when Sam finally gave her what she needed. Two thick fingers slid inside her at the exact moment his lips closed over her clit and gave it a hard pull.

  Carla's fingers tangled in his hair as she shot straight to the stratosphere, coming so hard she saw stars. When she came back to herself, Sam's head was still between her splayed legs, his mouth resting against the moist skin of her inner thigh.

  She shifted as though to
sit up.

  “Where do you think you're going?” He asked, his big hand clamping down against her inner thigh.

  “Well, I came...” she said, her voice trailing off in a rush of self-consciousness. She was as rusty with naughty banter as she was with sexual teasing.

  “That doesn't mean I'm finished down here, not by a long shot.”

  There was no way she could come again any time soon, not after the tremor that had just rocked her. “Sam, I can't...” She tried again to shift away. His hand clamped tighter on her leg and his mouth moved over the tendon where her inner thigh connected to her pelvis.

  She felt a slight pinch, barely got over the shock of realization that he had just bitten her when pleasure jolted through her, pulsing in her sex, traveling up to tingle in the tips of her breasts.

  Carla gave another surprised moan as he continued to nibble, never imagining that a cord of connective tissue she'd never given much thought to could be such an erogenous zone. By the time Sam spread the lips of her sex apart and bent to circle her clit with soft strokes of his tongue, Carla realized there was a lot she didn't know about her body.

  And a lot Sam did.

  “Your pussy tastes even sweeter without the ice cream,” Sam murmured as she laid back and gave herself over to the pleasure he was so determined to give her. “Sweet and juicy as a perfectly ripe peach. I've been going crazy, craving the taste of you. And now that I've had another taste, I'm never going to get enough of you.”

  His words made something pinch in her chest, made it hard to remember that this was about sex, about the pleasure he could give her, and wouldn't last a second past the aftermath of the storm. But when he said things like that, made her feel like he'd never wanted a woman more, when he licked and sucked her pussy like she was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted, she felt the hairline fractures in the wall around her heart crack open a little wider.

  Letting little pieces of herself seep out. Making room for him to seep in.

  His tongue slid down farther, thrusting inside, licking, tasting all of her like he was starving for her. Though she would have thought it impossible, she felt her body tighten in anticipation of another orgasm, throbbing and aching with such intensity it danced on the edge of pain.

  Her moans grew louder, more frantic as she strained for release.

  “That's it baby,” Sam murmured and moved his mouth higher so he could suck on her clit. She gasped, arching as he slid one, then two thick fingers inside her, thrusting and twisting in rhythm with his tongue. “Come for me,” he said. “I'll never get enough of you coming in my mouth.”

  She had no choice but to obey his command, her body shaking and jerking as she came. As another wave crashed over her he pushed himself up and kissed her, muffling her frantic whimpers.

  With his fingers buried deep and his thumb a firm pressure on her throbbing clit, the pleasure went on and on. Carla threaded shaky fingers through his hair and licked and sucked at his mouth, the taste of him mixed with that of her own desire calling to some primitive place inside her. Unbelievably, she felt another peak crashing over her, pulsing heavily out from her core, her body contracting with such force she couldn't even cry out, her head thrashing against the cushions as her mouth opened wide on a silent scream.

  She collapsed back, her body twitching as she felt Sam pull his hand away from her swollen, over-sensitized sex. He curled himself around her, rained soft, soothing kisses over her cheeks and lips as the currents of pleasure slowed enough for her to breathe again.

  As awareness crept in she realized that while she had all but melted in a puddle of satisfaction, Sam was tense against her, his muscled body radiating heat. She could smell his need on his skin, could hear it in the tightness of his breath. He still had his shorts on, but she could feel his cock, hard and insistent against her hip, hot as a brand even through the fabric.

  Carla licked inside his mouth, tasting his groan as she slid her hand from where it rested along his ribcage over to his stomach. He sucked in a breath, his abs contracting against her fingers as she moved them lower, tracing the line of silky hair until it found the button at the waistband of his shorts.

  Carla's mouth didn't leave his as she unfastened his shorts and tugged the zipper down. Her hand delved inside and she gasped in delight at the undeniably familiar feel of Sam filling her hand. Hot, silky skin stretched tight over the thick column of granite hard flesh. She stroked him root to tip, taking his measure, remembering the hot thrill that had shaken her the first time she'd touched him, marveling at the heat and size, so thick her fingers barely met when they closed around him.

  Back then, she'd been so nervous and inexperienced, had no idea how to touch him and give him pleasure. But she'd been an eager student, paid close attention the way he liked to be touched, and had learned quickly how to stroke and pet him, how to use her hands and later her mouth to push him over the edge until he exploded with the force of his need.

  To test her memory, she slid her fist down and squeezed him hard at the base, keeping firm pressure as she moved up the shaft, pausing at the top to swirl her thumb around the broad, swollen head. She was rewarded by Sam's groan and the way his hips thrust heavily into her hand, by the thick drop of precome that beaded on the tip.

  Carla spread it all over him, using it to smooth her way for the slow, steady pump of her fist.

  Sam's throat arched back, his face tight with pleasure as he shifted his position to give her better access. “Let me go get a condom,” he said, his voice so tight the words seemed ripped from his chest. “I'm not going to last.”

  Carla ignored him, her gaze locked on the way his cock looked, so long and thick gripped in her small hand. She could feel his pulse throb in the vein that traced along the side, and he seemed to swell even bigger as another drop of pearly fluid appeared on the tip.

  Her mouth watered with the need to taste him, and without thinking, she bent her head down and captured it with the tip of her tongue.

  They both jerked at once, he in pleasure, she in shock. She hadn't wanted to go down on a lover in years. Not since Sam had devastated her with his cruel assessment of her oral sex skills. From then on she'd made it clear to the men that followed that blow jobs were not in her repertoire. They could beg and plead and call her a prude, but she'd stood firm, claiming it was something she hated doing.

  But the truth was, she'd loved doing it to Sam. Loved the salty, musky taste of his skin, loved the way his cock stretched her lips and pressed against the back of her throat. Loved the way he swelled and throbbed against her tongue, the way his body went perfectly still the second before he came, shooting his come into her mouth as she sucked down every last drop.

  Loved knowing that even though he was older and so much more experienced than she was, she could still make him crazy with need, make him come so hard he would roar at the night sky as the pleasure shuddered through him.

  With one cruel blow, he'd taken that primal, wholly female satisfaction away.

  And, she realized now, as she lay next to him on the cramped couch, his cock throbbing in her hand as her mouth hovered just inches away, she'd never really gotten it back.

  Until now. As he arched and shifted helplessly against her, Carla knew that no matter what happened after, she would leave this villa knowing that she had the power to rock Sam's world.

  He could make her insane with need, tease and torment her until she was crazed and desperate, begging for release.

  Now Carla was going to do the same. She shifted, sliding to her knees in front of the couch as she urged him to sit back against the cushions. She caressed him in soft, lazy strokes, thrilling at the way his thigh muscles bunched under his hair-roughened skin as she urged them to part so she could kneel in between.

  From her position she could see everything, the seam that ran up the underside of his cock to the ridge of flesh that rimmed the head, the blue veins that bulged against his skin. His balls were pulled high and tight against his bo
dy as he struggled to keep control.

  Her mouth watered, craving his taste. But instead of taking the head of his cock between her lips, she needed to deliver a little payback. She bent and landed an open mouth kiss on the inside his of his knee. Never letting up on the light, almost teasing strokes of his cock, she licked and sucked her way up the inside of his thigh.

  She traced her way to the tendon where his leg and pelvis met and delivered her own bite, thrilling at the way he shuddered and cried out. “Baby, please, you're killing me.”

  Carla felt a surge of feminine power as she ignored him, moving her mouth instead to his other knee and making her slow, torturous way up the inside of his other thigh.

  By the time she made it he was panting hard, his cock throbbing insistently in her hand as his fingers dug into the couch cushion like he was holding on for dear life.

  She flicked her tongue against his sack, soft, kitten-like laps. His groan was harsh, almost pained. She rose higher on her knees and pulled his cock closer to her mouth, close enough that he could feel her puff of breath against the head.

  “Jesus, Carla, put me out of my fucking misery already.”

  She angled her gaze up at him, loving the way his eyes glittered with an unholy need, his face all sharp planes and angles, pulled tight with desire that bordered on desperation.

  A sly smile pulled at her lips as she leaned a hairsbreadth closer, but still not close for the swollen head to meet her lips. “Are you sure you want me to do this?” she said, though the way his cock strained, seeming to yearn toward her mouth of its own volition left her with little doubt. “Seeing as how I'm so lousy at it.” She licked her lips, barely suppressing an evil laugh.

  “Please.” His voice was tortured. “I told you I was lying, it was all bullshit. I loved every second of being with you, you were so damned good at making me come, still so good―”