by Sophia Ryan
“Then we have something in common.” She took a sip of her sweet-tart drink then let her gaze tangle with his.
“How so?”
“I’ve become obsessed with finding out more about you.”
He ran his thumb across her bottom lip, brushing away the liquid clinging there. “What do you want to know?”
“Let’s start with…why archaeology?”
His eyes brightened as if she had hit on his favorite topic. “I like having proof for things going on in my world. Excavations—holding an artifact or a bone in my hands—give me proof of what went on before, which can tell us about ourselves today.”
A smile twitched on her lips. “But archaeology studies human societies of the past. When it comes to people, especially people of the distant past, you can never be certain of their motives and desires for doing things. Applying modern-day reasoning to a culture that didn’t have the same frame of reference doesn’t really provide you with proof…it only provides more questions.”
“True enough. The proof for me is that we came from somewhere, from a group of people that had similar desires as we do—food, water, shelter, and love. It tells me I’ll be here in the future through my children, my children’s children, and so on. That connection is proof enough that what we do here matters.”
“I love the way you look at it,” she said. And she meant it. The fact that he wanted children, wanted to leave a part of himself behind, touched her…made her long to be the one he made children with, forgetting her vow to never have any.
“You sound less than convinced.” He took a sip of his beer.
“No, it’s not that.” She shrugged. “I guess I never thought of it in those terms. I’m in archaeology, too, but with a focus on forensics, where one can satisfy the need for proof easily. The skeleton shows evidence of disease or it doesn’t. It was a male or a female. He died young from a blow to the skull or old from the ravages of age. She was of this race, not that. And so on.”
He was quiet for a moment, studying her face, with a small smile on his face, and she started to wonder whether she had offended him.
She laughed. “I’m sorry. I’m sounding like one of those geeks feuding with a fellow scientist over whose area of expertise is better.”
“Can we agree that our chosen paths complement the other?”
“Yes.” She squeezed his hand.
“Will you do research or field work?” he asked.
“Research. I’m a lab rat. But maybe a little in the field just to get my hands dirty. See where it all comes from. You?”
“Field, definitely. I like being outside, working with my hands, getting them dirty, as you say.”
“You’re good at it.” At his confused look, she added, “Working with your hands. But go on.”
He kissed the hand he was holding. “You know, if you’re looking for an analyst position after graduation, there’s an excellent university in Dublin with a world renowned lab devoted to archaeology. There’s also the commercial archaeology company I work for now. They’re always looking for good lab rats who want to get their hands dirty.”
“That company—is that where you’ll be after leaving here?”
“Yes. I’ll go directly to a dig site with the team I’ve been working with since I started college.”
She found her breath then her voice. “Is there a woman waiting for you there? Someone I’m going to have to open a can of kickass on to get her out of your life? If I were to go to Dublin, that is.”
Even though he chuckled, his gaze dropped from hers to the table and his body tensed against the seatback. “No,” he said, and shook his head.
“There was someone, though, wasn’t there?” A flare of jealousy ran up her spine at the plume of silence that swirled up between them. His tone, his reaction, his hesitation before answering told her that the relationship had been important to him. And hurtful.
“There was. It ended a few months before I came here.”
“Why?”
He brought his beer to his lips and drank deeply. “That’s a conversation for another time.”
“Do you miss her?”
He caught her eyes, then leaned forward and reached out his hand to caress her face. “Not anymore. Someone else fills my mind these days.”
She breathed in. “Moi?” She kept her tone light and a smile on her face so he’d know she was teasing, but she meant the plea.
He nodded. “Tu.”
She kissed his smiling lips, releasing the tight hold she’d had on her breath, the beating of her heart.
She was tired of leaving this man, of going home alone and wanting. To hell with his schedule. To hell with his not-in-my-room policy. Tonight, she’d get into his bed.
The waitress arrived with the feast Kristin had carefully selected to arouse Sean’s appetite for sex, but she could barely taste it.
****
“I wasn’t sure about grilled figs, but they were good,” he said as they walked hand-in-hand toward her dorm from the parking lot. “I’ll let you order for me next time.”
Excitement bubbled through her that he was thinking beyond their payback schedule. “There’s going to be a next time?”
He stopped and linked his fingers behind her back. “You want there to be?”
It was a risk to tell him the truth. But she wanted to. Had to. She slid her arms around his neck, leaned into him. “Yes.”
His hands slid down her back and settled on her ass. He pulled her against him and kissed her slowly, softly, so fully that her bones felt like they were melting.
“Whatever makes you happy…” he said.
His hands on her ass, squeezing, pressing her into him, made her very happy. “Do you really mean that?”
He nodded. “I mean it.”
“Then, take me to bed, Sean. Now. Tonight. Not two days from now when it’s on the schedule. If it really is on the schedule…Honestly, I can’t even really tell.”
He stared at her in the dark, speechless. Had her bold request troubled him? Or was he just unwilling to go that far to make her happy?
She slid her hand down the front of his pants to cup his dick. “I don’t care who might be listening to us or what they might be thinking or doing. I want to go to your room. I want to make so much noise that we keep the neighbors awake. I want you to fuck my brains out.”
His cock hardened against her hand and she saw his pulse thumping at his throat, but still he said nothing. He remained motionless, letting her handle his rod, letting her go off at the mouth, and letting his eyes swallow her.
“And I’m a smart girl, with a lot of brains, so it’s probably going to take all night long.”
Suddenly, she realized he’d been silent for a long time, and that his gaze hadn’t budged from her face. Shit! Her audacious words suddenly felt like a huge mistake that she wished she could take back.
Her hand moved off his arousal. “But if you don’t want to, I—”
“Kristin….”
“Is it the whole ‘schedule’ thing?”
“Kristin…”
Her face hot, she held up her hand to stop him. “You know what, it’s okay,” she said, putting her hands to her stomach, trying to calm the embarrassment rolling there. “Forget I said anything.” She backed away from him. “Thanks for tonight. I had fun, but I’m going to go, now.”
Before she got three feet away, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back into his body. He cupped her face with his hands, gently, like she was a rare and delicate flower, and stared intently into her eyes as if that would ensure she was focused on every word he said or didn’t say.
“I want you.” He kissed her again, deeper, more passionately than any kiss she’d ever had. His heat closed around her, creating a raging embrace that made her squirm with desire. She felt his desire course through her body, too, and had to ask.
“Then why don’t you want to be with me?”
A little smile lifted the corner of his lips. “Darlin�
� I’ve wanted to fuck your brains out since the night you came to my door looking for condoms.”
She laughed. “It’s taken you this long to make your move? I never knew the Irish to be such a timid bunch.”
“Timid?” he repeated, and she shivered when his hand rounded over her breast. “It took all my control not to pull you into my room and make love to you all that night, the next day, and the day after that. A gentleman I was being that night.”
His palm slipped into her dress and kneaded her flesh, while his fingers tweaked her nipples, making her knees go weak and her eyes flutter closed.
“I wanted you to pull me into your room. But you didn’t even try.”
“You weren’t ready for me then.”
He leaned in and kissed her neck, sucked on it, drawing a low moan from her mouth.
“Look at me, love,” he whispered, and she opened her eyes.
“Are you ready for me now?” His voice was low and deep and dangerous, and she suddenly felt as if she’d opened the tiger’s cage. A shiver raced up her spine. Her eyes wanted to look away from his face, but he wouldn’t let her. His eyes chained her to him and demanded she answer.
She swallowed and even managed a little smile. “I asked you to fuck my brains out, O’Neill. I don’t think I could be any more ready.”
His laughter rang clear and rich, warming and lighting the cold, dark night.
“Let’s go make some noise, darlin’.” He wrapped his arm firmly around her shoulders, she wrapped her arms around his waist, and as one they headed toward his dorm.
Chapter Nine
As soon as the door was closed behind him, Kristin attacked, throwing her arms around Sean’s neck and kissing him with a fierceness that showed her need. He gently detached himself from her.
“We have all night, darlin’,” he said. “I want to make this something you’ll remember forever.”
His bold promise sent shivers raging up and down her body.
He walked over to his laptop and clicked through until he found the playlist he wanted and let it play. He moved across the room to the window, where he opened the blinds, letting silver moonlight spill onto the tile floor. Returning to Kristin, he took her hand and stepped into the spotlight. His hands at her back, hers at his chest, they swayed to the soft, soulful music, kissing softly, whispering words of desire.
As good as the tender and soft loving touches felt, Kristin was desperate for something bolder. So far, he hadn’t come near the places screaming loudest for his attention. She wanted to rip his clothes off and take him on the floor, but he held her passion in check, insisting they go slow.
“I know you’re hungry for it all now,” he said, as if he could read her mind and her body, “but I want to prepare you…prepare your body…to accept me inside you. I’ll get you there. I promise.”
“I trust you.”
He kissed her then extracted himself from her embrace. Slowly, he kissed her face then moved on to her neck and her shoulders. His lips were like a match to her already fiery body. He made her burn with want. There wasn’t enough air in her lungs, and it made her dizzy.
He slid his hands lightly up her arms, sending chills through her. Moving behind her, he lifted her hair and let it fall over one shoulder, exposing her back. He kissed and nipped the sensitive skin at her nape then lower to where the zipper of her dress began mid-back.
He slowly lowered the zipper, following its descent with soft kisses along the length of her spine and on a wave of her soft sighs. The zipper stopped at the top edge of her panties, but his kisses didn’t. They reversed and slowly climbed back up as he grasped each side of the open dress with his hands and slowly pushed it away over her shoulders.
Her skin tingled at the feel of the material parting and sliding away. She made no move to hold the dress in place over her bare breasts, but let it fall softly to her hips and then to the floor. She shivered, not from cold, but from the sparks dancing across her skin where Sean’s mouth and hands caressed. Every nerve in her body was standing at attention, screaming his name and begging for his expert touch. If he happened on the right nerve now, touched it or kissed it just right, she would explode. She was sure of it. She’d been standing on the edge of a climax since the first time he’d touched her.
Sean moved around to her front, trailing his fingers across her skin as he did, and her breath shuddered in her chest. When he faced her again, he kissed her heavy eyelids, her open mouth, her heaving breasts, then dipped his head lower.
The simple touch of his hot mouth on her swollen nipple made her cry out, and she said his name like a prayer, softly and passionately. His clever tongue swirled around the wet tip then sucked it deep into his mouth.
His tongue trailed down to the plump underside of her breast, tasted it, sucked it. The light touch tickled and she squirmed, releasing a giggle. He increased the pressure in that area and she could handle it again.
He moved across to her other breast and licked all around her nipple, but did not touch it. It was tight and hard and begging for him to suck it. She moaned again and, to her ears, it sounded more like a plea.
As if sensing she could take no more sweet torture, he captured the point and sucked hard, drawing part of her essence out in the process. She lifted her hands to his head and held his mouth to her breast. Little mewing sounds slid from her throat. The power of her climax would destroy them both.
He slid his mouth between her breasts, moved it lower across her stomach, and down her sensitive sides. Her muscles clenched in joy when his tongue paused to dip into the well of her belly button.
“You taste so good,” he said, his voice low and thick.
Lower, Sean, lower, her mind screamed. Kiss my pussy. Lick it. Suck it. Bite it. Please. The building tidal wave of need swirled, churned, and rose, higher and higher the lower he went, heating her up from the inside. She wanted to come. She needed to come. His mouth was headed in the right direction, but not nearly fast enough.
Sean knelt before her and massaged her breasts as his mouth moved lower. He was at the band of her panties. Then he was there. At her pussy. She trembled. She couldn’t catch her breath…wasn’t sure there was another breath on the other side of the one she had barely tasted in her mouth. Heated desire rose from her like fragrant steam, and he was like a starving man wanting to taste it all.
Her eyes opened and she looked down at him just as his mouth captured her mound like he was taking a bite out of a juicy peach. His teeth bit her though the thin material of her panties, grazing her engorged clit. His tongue snaked inside her panties and pressed against that nib of nerves.
As if he could feel her last shred of control going, he grabbed her hips and raised her knee to his shoulder and pulled her closer. With a finger, he pulled aside the material. His mouth and tongue on her throbbing center filled her body with a swirling mass of light, heat, and color. The wave hit, crashing through her so hard it buckled her knees and had her leaning on him to keep from falling.
He caught her, held her, and pressed his hard tongue against her trembling clit until her orgasm subsided.
The whole body release was overwhelming emotionally, and she was helpless to stop the tears spilling from her eyes.
Sean rose from his knees and held her.
“I don’t know why I’m crying. I’m not a crier. It’s just…”
He kissed away the tears from her eyes, from her cheeks, and when he moved to her lips, she clung to his mouth with hers, giving him her thanks. She had never felt so close to another person as she did at that moment. She had never given herself so completely to another person before.
****
He had pleased her. And that pleased him. “You needed that, darlin’,” he whispered against her mouth, ready to give her more. And he would make sure she had hers before he had his.
His kisses became more purposeful, more erotic. He rolled his tongue in her mouth, mating with her tongue and sucking it. He pressed his lips to hers, all the
while touching only her hands, where their fingers were linked at their sides.
She tried to unlink her hand and shift it between them so she could touch him.
He captured her hand again. “Still your turn. I’ll get mine later.” He loved that she wanted so badly to bring him pleasure. And he’d let her.
But he wanted to give her one more with his mouth, tongue, and fingers before they tried it with his dick. If he was too big for her…it would be over. At least he could say he had pleased her. He kissed her face, her neck, her shoulders and moved around to her back.
“You make me feel so good,” she said.
“Was it worth the wait?”
Keeping his hands on her skin, he slid them down her ass, exploring with his tongue and mouth.
“So worth it.”
“Good.”
At the band to her panties, he hooked his fingers, one on each side, and peeled them from her body, across her hips, over her thighs, and down her legs until they joined her dress on the floor.
She was a feast for the eyes, and his heart tripled in pace as he gorged on her. Her naked body glowed in the moonlight, a silky sheen of passion on her smooth, skin that smelled like flowers in the rain. Her body was fit and curvy and soft, with long shapely legs, firm arms, ripe breasts, a deep, almond-shaped navel set in defined abs. Her ass resembled a peach, round, firm, soft to the touch and ready to devour.
His hands skimmed over that ass, massaging her cheeks before moving down her legs, positioning his thumbs to slide down the inside of her thighs, his thumbs itching to slide into her juicy slit.
“Open your legs for me. I want to touch all of you.” He felt her shiver.
“I want that, too.” She then spread them, giving him the access he craved.
The smell of her desire drove a spear of lust through his body, where it lodged between his legs, making his cock throb against his zipper. The need to be inside her, making her come, coming inside her, rose up hard in him. He fought to reign in his hunger.