by Fox, Sylvie
Ryan swore under his breath, his right hand fisting as he thought of smashing this pretty boy actor in the face. He relaxed his hand and grasped Sophie’s in his, removing her arm from her face.
It killed him that other men hadn’t loved her with the skill and care she so obviously needed and deserved. Sure, some women enjoyed a quick roll in the hay. But his experience was that most women needed time and patience. A lot of sensuous foreplay was just fine with him. He felt compelled to eliminate any doubts she may have about his desire for her.
Unceremoniously, he pulled off his shirt, pants, and underwear, until he was as naked as she.
Without fanfare, he swallowed her small hand in his and brought their hands to his throbbing penis. Sophie snatched her hand away as if she had come to close to a burning flame.
She opened one eye and snuck a look at him. “You’re turned on?” she asked incredulously.
“Of course,” he answered matter-of-factly.
Both eyes were open now, and staring directly at his fully erect penis, which twitched toward her, of its own volition. “By me?”
“God, yes,” he hissed.
He lay flat and she sat up, leaning over him. It was a beautiful sight. Her hair shone golden in the firelight. Her dusky tipped breasts bobbed achingly close to his lips. He pulled her hand back to his body, this time settling their hands over his rapidly beating heart. She didn’t pull away this time. Her gaze was questioning, though her lips remained silent.
“I’m nervous too, Sophie,” he admitted. He brought her hand to his lips, kissing the pads of her fingers one by one. “I want you to feel the same pleasure that I feel whenever I look at you, or touch you, or kiss you. Do you remember earlier when I asked you to do something for me?”
She nodded, enraptured.
“I want you to relax. You’re like an athlete tense with performance anxiety. Whenever you feel worked up, like you’re on the verge, I want you to breathe like we’re taught at yoga. It will make things better for you, I swear.”
A tiny fissure opened in the armor Sophie wore around her heart, hearing his words. She hadn’t known when she got in the car with him that morning that he would be this compassionate. She figured they were both there to enjoy a pleasurable weekend. Here he was, a hot guy—okay, really hot—who could help her reach…well…completion. She always knew he’d certainly reach pleasure in the process. Men always did.
The fact that he cared about her desire, her pleasure, was a pleasant surprise. It was as if something broke free in her chest at her realization. She moved her hand to his broad shoulder and leaned down, closing the gap between them, and kissed him with all of the pent up desire and emotions she had unconsciously held back. Snaking her free hand down, she cupped his balls. She jerked her hand away when he flinched.
She snatched her hand back, gazing at him full of guilt. “I’m sorry, did that hurt?”
“Hurt? No,” he said shaking his head ruefully. “Hell, Sophie, you could never hurt me. It just felt damned good. Really, really good. That’s all.”
“Can I touch you again?” she asked, eager now. “Show me how to please you.”
“You don’t have to do anything else to make me feel good. Just looking at you makes me rock hard.”
She kissed him again, her tongue dueling earnestly with his, her sneaky little hands tweaking his flat nipple one minute and lightly stroking his cock from base to tip the next minute. Ryan pointedly slowed his breathing, very glad he’d relieved a little of this pressure earlier. With the little siren touching him like this, holding back his pleasure was teeth-grittingly difficult. But he could do it.
Something in the way he and Sophie were touching and relating had changed. He grasped the ripe peach of her buttocks, slid her up his body and pulled one hard nipple into his mouth. Ryan was rewarded when an unexpected moan escaped from Sophie’s lips. Her knees were straddling his hips now, as she braced herself on his shoulders and ground herself against his erection. Her breath came in gasps and husky little moans now. She was so close. A little push and she’d be over that cliff.
He cupped one breast in his palm, using his thumb to delicately stroke the hard nubbin at the center. He slid the other hand between them and gently stroked her clitoris, slick with her arousal. Her moans stopped as she held her breath in anticipation.
“Breathe,” he whispered fiercely.
A few deep breaths later, Sophie came with a keening cry. He had a screamer on his hands. If Ryan hadn’t been aroused to the point of pain, he would have pumped his fist in the air and whooped with satisfaction. He felt that triumphant.
Before Sophie’s ardor cooled, Ryan changed their positions so that she was beneath him. He quickly sheathed himself and at her nod, entered her. He almost came apart when he felt her inner muscles squeeze him, still quaking with the aftershocks of her orgasm. With her lips swollen from their kisses and her hair askew, she looked so thoroughly satisfied, and he felt himself grow even harder.
Ryan kept his strokes slow, rekindling the fire of her desire. He kissed her again until her eyes glazed over, and stroked each nipple until she tossed her head from side to side. Reaching between them again, he stroked her hard, desire-slick clitoris until she screamed a second time, and only then did he allow himself to pump furiously, roaring as his own orgasm pulsed through him.
He withdrew from her achingly slowly, both of them reluctant to break their bond, and took care cleaning up. When he came back, she was laying on the rug nude, robe abandoned, with a smug, self-satisfied smile.
“That was great. Can we do it again?” Sophie asked cheekily.
“Oh, honey, I’m not eighteen anymore,” he said, making himself comfortable in front of the fire.
He grabbed her hand, intertwining their fingers. His hands swallowed hers, but it didn’t stop him from noticing that one of her perfectly manicured fingernails was chipped. It was an endearing imperfection. The sex between them had been good, especially for her this time. But this, lying here quietly just holding her hand, was pretty special too. The feeling of warmth and contentment arrowed straight to his groin.
Sophie didn’t miss a thing. She looked at his cock, which was coming back to life in spite of his words. “I think your body disagrees.”
Sophie woke up to the smell of bacon. For a few disoriented moments she didn’t remember falling asleep or where she was. The crackling fire and half-naked man in the kitchen swiftly brought her back to reality. Clad only in well-fitting boxers and an apron, Ryan was clanging pots and pans, ostensibly preparing a late night meal for them. After she scouted her kimono, she pulled on the silk robe and belted it tightly. She grabbed the wineglasses and made her way to the kitchen counter. She sat and watched Ryan’s lithe movements as he moved through the kitchen, seemingly at home. The dog sat on the braided kitchen rug, ears erect, watching Ryan’s every movement.
“What’s for dinner?” Sophie asked.
“Spaghetti carbonara,” he said, working quickly to add pasta, eggs, and cheese to bacon he had sautéed, and before she knew it, plates of steaming food appeared on the counter. Ryan handed her a napkin and utensils, before doffing the apron. He leaned toward her, and she pulled back reflexively, looking down at the smooth front of her silk kimono.
“Did I drop something?” she asked, her eyes roaming her lap.
Ryan colored. “I was going to kiss you. That’s all.”
Sophie sat mute. “Oh,” was all she finally said, feeling uneasy with him again. They were sitting here like civilized people when they’d just done the naked mambo hours before. He’d seen her exposed. He’d heard her come. She wanted him to kiss her, but she also wished to disappear into the floor. Would these feelings ever go away?
He came around and sat next to her. Awkwardness aside, Sophie didn’t realize how hungry she’d become. Rather than look at Ryan, and risk him seeing her embarrassment, she dug into the meal with gusto.
“This is good,” she complimented. “What else do you
make?”
Ryan shrugged. “Mostly pasta dishes. My mother didn’t cook much and my brother and I taught ourselves to make quick, filling meals.”
Sophie looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. They were getting into the forbidden “relationship” territory. Part of her wanted to know more about his family, but it invited intimacies she didn’t necessarily want to return. Unfortunately, her brain didn’t have quick enough control over her mouth and she blurted out her question before she could censor her thoughts.
“Did your mom volunteer a lot or work at a job or something?”
Ryan’s eyes grew flat. “My mom cleaned other people’s houses.”
Trying to overcome the uneasiness she felt, Sophie immediately filled the silence with another question. “What about your dad?”
He took his empty plate from the counter and made a noisy production of loading the dishwasher and scrubbing pots and pans. “My dad worked on the line at The Brewery until he was killed in an accident there.” Sophie barely heard him above the clang of the water hitting metal. His face was turned away. She could only guess at what he was feeling.
“I’m sorry,” Sophie said so softly she wasn’t sure he heard. His family was as different from hers as night was from day. Her family had always had one housekeeper or another who came twice a week to “do the heavy work” as her mother called it. She’d never cleaned a toilet or mopped a floor until she was in her twenties, out on her own.
When the water shut off, Ryan spoke. “It’s not the answer you expected, was it?”
“It’s rare that parents of people our age have died. I’m sorry to hear it,” she said, dodging the other issue. She knew that she’d grown up with more advantages than most in the affluent Los Angeles suburb of San Marino. She generally avoided the topic since she had left the privileged social circles her parents and sister still circulated in. Her coworkers were generally hourly union workers like herself, but they lived paycheck to paycheck. She knew she’d started out ahead of the game and had some savings to buffer her through hard times and emergencies. Despite the difficult relationship with her parents, she always knew in the back of her mind she could count on them if things ever got really difficult for her.
Sophie picked up her empty plate and joined him at the sink. She didn’t want to care about him like this, but something deep within her wanted to reach out and soothe away Ryan’s lingering pain of growing up without money or both parents. She lowered her husky voice a full octave. “Why don’t we bank the fire and go to bed?” There was no question of them taking up separate bedrooms at this point.
He looked down at her, his eyes at half-mast, full of renewed sensual hunger. “Now that’s a good idea.”
Chapter Nine
Sophie woke with Ryan’s broad muscular back dominating her vision. The bedcovers had slipped to his waist, and she was rewarded with inches of touchable flawless skin. She resisted the urge to trace its well-muscled contours. Her hand firmly at her side, she roamed him with her eyes from the too-long hair, the silky blond curls resting at the strong column of his neck, to the indentation of his spine that arrowed straight to the firm muscular butt, which she could only imagine under the covers. Her stomach dipped when she thought of last night. It had been incredible. She could finally see how fulfilling sex could be addictive. Already she craved more of him to satisfy a growing itch she’d studiously ignored all these years.
She was so deep in thought, she was startled to hear Ryan speak. He’d turned in her direction without her notice.
“Good morning, Sunflower,” he said, his voice roughened by sleep. He smiled lazily and hooked a finger on the blanket and sheet pulling the covers down to her waist, so she too was laid bare from the waist up. She felt naked and exposed to his gaze. There had been no thought of foraging for her pajamas among her luggage when they’d finally gone to bed last night. Putting on more clothes had been the last thing on her mind. She tried not to be self-conscious as he gazed at her in the bright morning light, filtered only by gauzy curtains covering the floor to ceiling windows. Neither of them had thought to pull the heavy drapes the night before.
Sophie couldn’t figure out where to put her shaky hands before Ryan noticed. He didn’t miss a beat, though.
“You nervous?” he asked. When she nodded gravely, he continued. “Why?”
She gestured toward the windows. “It’s kind of bright in here.”
He glanced at her breasts, causing her nipples to peak. He smiled devilishly. “I like it that way.”
Sophie glanced at the bedroom door. “Should we check on the dog, let her out, feed her?”
“Shhh. She’ll be fine for a little bit,” he said laying a single square-tipped finger across her lips. “It’s early yet.” He traced that same finger down the side of her neck, across her shoulders, and circled her protruding areola.
“I can’t believe you don’t know how sexy you are. Every time I see you going commando under one of those skimpy tanks you wear, I can see the outline of your pouty nipples and I want to lift your shirt and take you in my mouth.”
She squirmed, feeling her juices flow. She was getting aroused just hearing his words. He hadn’t even really touched her yet. The anticipation of more words or more actions was setting her teeth on edge. She waited to see what would come next. His eyes were heavy lidded and knowing. He leaned toward her, circling her areola with his finger again, then darted his quicksilver tongue against her pearled nipple, following the path his finger had blazed. The fine hairs along her arm stood on end. Ryan took her breast almost entirely into his mouth, using his tongue to play against the tip.
Sophie’s breathing quickened, and she fisted a hand in his hair, bringing his face up to hers. She kissed him, desire spilling from her every pore. He pushed against her palm, and she answered his silent entreaty, holding his pulsing erection firmly in her small grip. Even after doing it a few times, she was amazed that she could make him this hard this fast. In silent appreciation, she swabbed at the small bead of fluid along the tip and looked him in the eye as she took her thumb into her mouth, taking in the essence of him.
He watched her intently, closing his eyes when her lips surrounded her finger. He was still for such a long moment.
She leaned in to kiss his forehead. “You okay?”
When he opened his blue eyes the color of a summer sky, it took everything she had not to look away. “Yeah, you almost sent me over the edge,” he said, fighting to control his breathing. “I’ve never seen anything so hot.”
“Do you want to…” she faltered. “Can we…”
“God, yes.” He paused. “If you’re ready.”
She only had to nod slightly before Ryan surged up, jerking open the bedside table and sheathing himself. He spread her legs wide, opening her to him, and hooked her left leg over his shoulder, their bodies lying perpendicular. From this angle, she was completely exposed to him. She knew he could see everything from her pink nether lips to the bobble of her dusky nipples as she gasped.
“Grab the headboard,” he instructed. Sophie obliged, grabbing the metal rails on the wrought iron bed, and he entered her with a rush. It felt incredible to have Ryan take her this way, wonderfully overwhelming. She held on for dear life as he pulled out part way and slammed into her repeatedly. Instinctively she hooked her right leg around his buttocks, trying to pull him deeper. Just when she thought she couldn’t stand it anymore, he slicked his thumb across her swollen clit, first hard, then soft, then fast, then slow. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing. The orgasm, when it came, took her by surprise, and literally stole her breath. Just as she was coming down from her peak, Ryan climaxed, and his orgasm brought on an unexpected aftershock and a second one for Sophie. She wasn’t sure if she blacked out, but it took a few minutes after Ryan withdrew for her to get her bearings. Damn. The man was better than good. She shook her head when he joined her under the blanket.
“What?” he asked, grinning wolfis
hly.
“I think…” She paused, feeling a little befuddled. “Damn, I think I could get used to this.”
He yawned deeply and pulled her against him, her back to his front. He traced her tattoo along its calligraphic lines. Stretching, then yawning again, he whispered, “What’s so bad about that?”
After a quick breakfast of cold cereal, Ryan appeared to be hopping with energy despite the fact that he eschewed caffeine. Sophie was about to suggest they spend the rest of the day in bed, working off that excess energy, but he had on his jacket before she could open her mouth.
“Let’s take Sasha for a hike.”
Thoughts of a repeat of this morning’s performance were already fading from her mind when she reluctantly pulled on her own jacket and thick socks to ward off the morning chill.
Ryan had Sasha leashed and was ready to go by the time Sophie made it to the front door.
“So, nature guy, where are we going today?” she asked, trying to muster up enthusiasm.
“You’ll see,” he said cryptically.
She was surprised when he unlocked the car doors and harnessed Sasha in the back seat. Only in L.A. did she equate hiking with driving. Out here in the woods, she thought they’d start the hike right from the house. Just another thing she’d been naïve about.
Sophie got into the Acura without comment. Things had gone much better than she’d ever anticipated, so she was happy to go along for the ride. They drove along Route 18. As they snaked in and out of the trees on the winding road, she caught repeated glimpses of the sparkling lake. They turned on Rim of the World and pulled into a deserted parking lot. Ryan popped the trunk and pulled out a fairly large nylon cooler.
“What’s in there?” she asked, wondering when he’d had time to do anything like make a picnic.