by Caro LaFever
Jiggs barked as he strode into the tree house’s kitchen. Relief swept through him, as well as a regret. He’d wanted to see her naked again, and take her with more finesse than he had previously. He still had something to prove to her—that he could give her as much pleasure as she had given him.
But the beach scene was ruined, and he didn’t want to get close enough to her that she’d start pegging his problems once more.
“Hey, boy.” He placed the dishes on the granite counter before kneeling to pat his buddy’s head. “Miss me?”
“He always misses you.” Her voice came from the entryway, startling him into a stand. “It’s one of the first things I liked about you.”
A strum of joy went through him at her compliment, far out of proportion to what she’d said. Yet, he couldn’t contain it. “Only the first, huh?”
Surprise flickered in her eyes at his obvious tease. He supposed she had a right to the surprise. After all, he’d been all over the map in his responses to her tonight. First his attempt at friendly seduction, then his body’s clear response to her nearness, then his surly withdrawal.
Her hold on one of the cushions slipped, letting it plop to the floor.
With a yip, Jiggs clambered onto the pillow, nestling in.
Chuckling, she glanced at the dog before looking back at him. “You love him, and when I thought you were the worst human being on earth, I couldn’t dismiss that love.”
There was that damn word again.
Love.
Refusing to think about it, he flipped on the sink’s water and doused the dishes with it.
“I did blow out the candles. Should I go down to the beach again and bring another cushion up?”
Her calm tone only aggravated the tumult inside him. “Leave it for tomorrow.”
“But you said there was going to be a storm.” Humor now mixed with her calm, making him…
Surly.
What else was new?
How had this night gone so wrong? He’d been intent on seduction and instead, found himself feeling like the young punk he’d been at eighteen, unable to attract or keep a woman.
“I said, leave it,” he grumbled.
There was a short, sharp silence filled with only the snuffle of an obliviously happy dog.
The touch of her hand on the small of his back made him jump.
“I’m sorry I ask too many questions,” she said, with a soft sigh at the end. “I tend to be curious, and I’m interested in getting to know you.”
Guilt layered onto his frustration. Tapping off the water, he stared into the sink. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
She surprised him by drawing closer, ignoring his testy attitude and words. Her breasts brushed on the cotton of his shirt, giving him a hint of her warmth and making his cock pulse. An arm encircled his waist, and she went on tiptoe to place a gentle kiss on the back of his neck. “Riq.”
If anything, her tenderness made him feel even guiltier. “What?”
Another female sigh slipped across his skin. “Mmm.”
The sound confused him. Until she sniffed, her nose rubbing into the space between his shoulder blades. A bubble of reluctant amusement escaped him in a grunt. “You’re smelling me again.”
“Yes.” The muffled word ran through him like a hot breeze. “So what? You smell good.”
It was such an odd compliment, such a crazy thing for a woman to say to a man. Even a woman whose family owned a perfume business. Yet, it struck him right in his gut, like a well-timed punch. Because it was so real, so completely artless.
His cock hardened.
His heart melted.
Riq supposed if he were sensible, he’d escape to his bedroom and give up on the seduction of this woman. He knew it wasn’t seduction, not at all. He knew it was something more. And the fact scared him. If he were sensible, he’d hide. Just like he’d been hiding from life for the last several years. Since he fell out of the helicopter and ruined everything.
The realization thundered through him like a savage storm.
“Don’t go all stiff in my arms,” she murmured. “Except for here.”
Her hand dropped from his waist to his welcoming cock. She hummed her approval.
His brain went blank, flooded with lust.
Clever female fingers slid across his aching need, causing him to catch his breath. Her nose snuffled into his back once more. Amusement stole into his lust, a mixture he’d never had to deal with when he’d been with other women. A strange blend of affection, gruff peevishness, and desire made him feel dizzy with confusion.
“Hey, caveman.” She drew away to say the words, but her fingers stayed busy.
“Yeah,” he croaked.
“Your bedroom or mine?”
What he should do, if he were smart, is step away from this entire situation involving this princesa. Stop lusting, stop advising, stop getting closer and closer to the flame of her that drew him. He’d been in the cold for so long, so isolated and alone, he felt safe.
He wasn’t safe with Risa.
Her fingers stilled at his continued silence. Then, when he took a relieved breath, thinking he wouldn’t have to make a decision, her tormenting touch slid under his pants and boxers. She took the heat of his cock directly with a strong grip.
A soft groan escaped him before he could catch it and stuff it down.
“You can’t hide from me,” she crooned. “Not when you’re like this.”
Grabbing her provoking hand, he pulled it off him and turned.
Her blonde brows rose in a clear challenge. “Got something to say?”
“No.” His brain stopped functioning, and his body took control. To hell with trying to figure out if he were hiding or running or falling. The only thing he could focus on was her pretty face, her sweet smile, her excellent body.
And the look of lust in her eyes. And something more.
He was almost sure there was something more.
Tightening his hold on her hand, he tugged her toward the stairs. A chuckle, rich with female satisfaction, came from behind him and Jiggs skittered to a stand to run after them.
“Hey, boy.” Riq came to a stop so fast, she bumped into him, her breasts bouncing on his back making him even hornier. “Stay here.”
“He has a bed in your room, doesn’t he?” she piped in.
“Yeah.” He glanced over his shoulder to meet her determined gaze. “He does, but he’ll get in the way—”
“No, he won’t.” A smile lit her face. “He can come with us.”
His boy woofed in agreement at their feet.
“He makes weird noises when he sleeps.” The other women he’d dated had either dismissed Jiggs as an irritant, or patted him on the head with pretend interest. None of them had been agreeable to having him follow them into the bedroom.
Risa tilted her head, her expression turning amused. “I suppose we make weird noises when we sleep, too.”
He remembered the soft snoring she made last night, and an answering amusement made him chuckle.
“I knew you’d agree when you thought about it,” she said. “Jiggs.”
Another woof.
“You’re welcome to follow us.” With that firm announcement, she took off, dragging his painfully delighted heart and his adoring dog behind.
“I have condoms.” He issued the words like he was barking an order to fellow soldiers.
Risa stopped mid-jerk from pulling the cotton shirt over her head. “You do?”
“Yeah.” Pacing to one of two bedside tables, he yanked a drawer open. “Here.”
The box was large. And unopened.
Interesting.
She wondered, not for the first time, how many other women he’d brought here. But she knew if she asked just one more question, Riq would jump out of the terrace doors, run across the small porch lying off the bedroom, and climb into the jungle, leaving her behind.
Pressing her lips together, she nodded her head.
A bewildered look crossed his face, telling her he was still as skittish as he had been on the beach and in the kitchen. Jiggs’ toenails clicked on the wooden floor, and the dog groaned when he sank into his bed lying at the foot of his master’s. The sounds softened her lover’s expression, and she took the opening.
Striding to his side, she wrapped her arms around his waist again. “Kiss me.”
He frowned, but dived in with a willing mouth. There’d been so many different kisses with this man—taking kisses, tender kisses, testing kisses, too. This one bordered on the tentative, as if he couldn’t help himself, though he wished he could.
Leaning back, she looked at him. The dim light from the hallway scattered a golden glow on his olive skin and dark hair. Yet his eyes were hidden in shadows, telling her so little of what he was thinking. No questions, she reminded herself. Maybe words themselves were an impediment right now.
Going with that thought, she brushed her palms along his chest, noting the damp heat coming from below the cotton. “Mmm.”
He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Feeling as if she were slowly charming a male animal who feared her, she kept touching. Rubbing softly on his arms, stroking down to his fisted hands that opened when she came to them. His small action gave her confidence.
Stepping closer once more, she bumped her hips against his hard erection.
He grunted in encouragement, but didn’t open his eyes.
Taking his cue as an encouraging one, she slid her fingers under his shirt and smoothed her palms across his abdomen and pectorals. The softness of his chest hair and the tight tautness of his nipples made her flush with need for this male.
“Feels good,” he muttered.
“It would be nice if you touched me, too.”
At her words, his eyes shot open and the furrow returned to his thick brows.
She cursed herself for upsetting him again. For some reason, she felt as if this big, powerful man was fragile right now, in a way she couldn’t define. “Never mind—”
“No, you’re right.” With a swift yank, he pulled his shirt over his head and then planted both of his hands on the edge of hers. “Lift your arms.”
Eager to oblige, she did as told.
He hummed his own low sound of approval when he threw her borrowed silk shirt onto the floor. Staring at her breasts, his eyelids drifted half-shut in a sultry perusal. “Pretty.”
Another flush, this time of pride, swept through her. “And you’re gorgeous.”
“Am I?” His mouth quirked. “Well, I guess that means we’re a good match, then.”
The words hung around them, like a magic cloud neither of them could quite believe had happened to them. To each other. Not wanting to let him lapse into another bewildered funk, Risa leaned in and placed a gentle kiss in the center of his chest, right on top of his beating heart.
“Ven aquí,” he husked, his accent growing. “Princesa encantadora.”
She only understood one of the foreign words, but she didn’t require a translator to recognize the underlying message of need.
Lifting her lips, she sipped on his, letting his tongue lap at her mouth and then, twine around her own tongue in a lazy dance of desire. The kiss went on and on, drawing her further into his sphere, closer to his essential male magnetism. His hands drifted to her harem pants, pushing them past her hips to land on the floor.
She did the same to him without breaking the kiss.
The soft swish of his hard cock brushed across her belly, causing the wet need between her thighs to increase. With an unconscious womanly motion, she twisted closer, pressing his erection between their bodies.
“Bed,” he gasped, and before she could cry an eager yes, he fell backward, bringing her with him.
His legs splayed wide, and she landed inside them with a gasp. “Riq—”
Drawing her up to him, he dived in once more, stroking her inner mouth with his greedy tongue while his hands roamed her butt with a hungry touch. Time slipped from her grasp, replaced by only this man. His seductive lips, his misty gaze, his muscular body. For a second, she came to, finding him rolling her over to lie on her back. “What are—”
“Time to prove myself,” he said, an intense look crossing his face.
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“This.” His blunt fingers grasped her hips as he slid down and down to land between her legs, his mouth hovering above her mons.
Her conscience faded once more. Replaced by heated kisses and soft, succulent supping at the core of her. Just as he exhibited an economical grace in his movements, he was efficient and thorough in his lovemaking.
In his giving.
An orgasm ripped through her like a shot of lightning.
Riq didn’t stop his loving assault.
He twisted her, drove her, moved her to his will. His fingers dabbled on her nipples, then skated across her torso, lighting a fire of blessed need in the depths of her soul as well as her body. Risa moaned, rose and fell, another blast of pleasure roaring through her like a thunderstorm. She found herself swirling into a center of fevered desire she’d never experienced. Not even the first time with this man.
Because his touch was fundamentally different this time. Distinct in the message it sent to her heart. This time, he communicated his affection, his respect.
His love.
Though her brain was far from taking in much of anything, her soul knew and understood what he was saying to her with his body.
“Risa,” he whispered on her cheek, before giving her a quick kiss. “Risa.”
Opening her eyes, she stared at him, her heart lodged somewhere in the middle of her throat. “Riq.”
He smiled at her, a special smile she’d never seen on him before. His fingers gently moved through her hair in a soft caress. “I think it’s condom time, Princesa. Or else I’m likely to make a fool of myself like I did our first time together.”
Her brain clicked into gear. “Our first time was amazing.”
“Was it?” A flicker of chagrin flashed across his face. “I don’t think so.”
Grabbing onto his shoulders and wrapping her legs around his hips, she held him in place for the truth. “I never enjoyed myself having sex as much as I did in the backseat of your Jeep.”
“I’m not—”
“Except for now.”
Doubt clouded in his eyes. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” Smoothing her hands across his damp back to land on his fine ass, she gave him her own special smile. Then, she squeezed his butt and bumped her hips against his.
A growl erupted from him. “Condom.”
“I get to put it on you.”
He lifted himself off her body, reaching for the box on the bedstand. A huff of a chuckle came from him. “You sound like a little girl ready to open her first Christmas present.”
“Well, you are definitely a present.”
A glance of wary hope got shot her way.
There was that self-doubt again. How could this man possibly think he wasn’t a gift from the gods for any woman with any sense? Was it his damn money blocking the knowledge of how captivating he was?
“Definitely.” She nodded at him, trying to convey everything she felt for him with the simple action. Because she sensed if she asked just one question or started gushing out her emotions, he’d bolt.
With a grunt, he slid onto the edge of the bed and carefully opened the box. Slowly opened the box.
Which wasn’t what an eager, hungry lover would do.
Not wanting to chance losing him in this moment, Risa sat up and snuggled behind him. Her legs fell beside his, and her arms wound around his waist. She purposefully rubbed her breasts on his skin. “Let me know when you find a condom you like.”
Another huff of amusement told her she’d done the right thing by defusing his agitation with the use of her body and a tease.
“Here.” A silver packet flipped over one broad male shoulder. �
��It’s in your court.”
“I’m going to do it by touch.”
At her words, he groaned, a harsh, hoarse sound of need.
Ripping the packet open, she withdrew the plastic and slid along his heated body once more. A playfulness she’d never experienced during sex ran through her like a skipping, joyful girl. “Hold still.”
“ Jesús,” he muttered.
With one hand, she grasped his erection and let herself dally on the top for a bit.
A gasp escaped him.
She giggled against his back.
“You are going to pay for this.”
“I already did. You took your sweet time just a few minutes ago.” With her other hand, she slid only the tip of the condom over his cock head.
His whole body stiffened, including the hard erection.
“Mmm,” she purred on his skin. Her fingers smoothed down. “Open your legs.”
Another groan rolled out of him, but he did as she asked.
Cupping his balls in one palm, she squeezed them in a soft grip as her other hand slid the plastic across the length of him.
In a swift move, he swiveled, pushing her down on the bed. “Enough.”
She giggled again.
Climbing on top of her, he gave her a fake glower. She could tell it was fake by the merry light in his eyes. “Time to pay the piper, Princesa.”
“So many ps all in a row,” she teased. Then, the nickname hit her, and she frowned. “I told you. Don’t call me—”
“Hey.” He pressed his hands against the mattress and lifted himself halfway off her. His gaze snagged hers and she noticed the fake glower and real merriment had fled. “Listen to me.”
“I’m listening.”
“I will always call you Princesa at some point or another.”
Her frown turned to a scowl.
“Because there is something essentially royal about you, Risa. Something magnificently majestic.”
“Oh. Really?” Her heart swelled at his words and the look in his eyes. For her entire life, she’d been pampered and petted, treated like a perfect girl who could do no wrong. But this man had taught her she could do wrong and she also could do so many things, important things, right. The compliment he’d just given her told her he knew this as well. “Thanks, Riq.”