“How mature of you.” She pulled away from his touch, sat on the bed and tried to pull her head out of her ass. The way this was going, she was going to spend most of her time either acting like an asshole or apologizing. “I’m acting flaky. Please ignore me. I think I’m just suffering from jet lag.” Karessa mentally patted herself on the back for that one. It wasn’t quite true, but it could be. Right?
“You’re coming from Milan, so that would allow you a bit of lag. How about we lie down? The bed is big enough for us both to be on it and not touch at all, but if you want, I can sleep in True’s office.” He kept his gaze on her. She could feel it but that didn’t stop her from taking a quick peek over at him to make sure. Yep, he was watching her and the concern in his eyes was almost her undoing.
“No, that’s okay. I don’t want to be in here by myself.” That was the truth. This big place was great during the day, with people in it, but it was an echo-chamber at night, and she could use the company.
He walked over to the bed, and she moved quickly to get under the covers. The bed smelled fresh and clean, and she remembered listening to True tell her all about the thread count of the sheets. At the time, it had seemed odd that True would put so much money into a layout that probably wouldn’t use the sheets, but she was grateful for them now. Lavender and vanilla. She loved that fragrance so much she’d made it the signature scent of her company.
Long ago, Beau had gotten a bouquet of flowers for some reason—probably for another girl, but something fell through—and he’d given them to her because he’d thought she’d like them. It was the first time anyone had ever given her flowers, and he took the time to put one in her hair. She’d taken the flowers home, and her mother took them from her and threw them away. She said she had an allergy, but Karessa knew that wasn’t true. She still had the one in her hair, and she’d placed it under her pillow. Lavender and vanilla always made her think of Beau. Her stores, her office, and her house were all filled with the aroma, and she was always comforted by it. Even when the man she associated with the smell had let her down.
She followed him with her gaze as he walked around turning off all the flickering candles that weren’t connected to the main switch. He brought one of the candles to her side of the bed, right before he called out “Ten percent,” to the lights. He must have remembered how much she hated total darkness and for that she was grateful.
When he lay down next to her, she felt a sense of melancholy. This was what she expected to have in her life: Beau at her side every night, and waking up to him every morning. When she’d thought she didn’t get the internship in France, he’d talked to her about them being together permanently, but when she found out the internship had gone through, and she was the chosen one to study under the one and only Pierre Melancon, intimate apparel designer extraordinaire, he’d dumped her in half a flash.
She’d thought they could work through anything. Her life was finally blossoming into something she was going to actually be happy about. Karessa had been chosen to live her dream in France and she’d have a kick ass boyfriend waiting for her to return. Leaving his brothers wasn’t an option, she knew that and wasn’t thinking it would ever be an option for him to come with her. The Haught brothers were a tight group, and family meant the world to all of them, but somehow she thought she was included in the group and had no idea that she’d be discarded so easily. He wasn’t willing to even talk about working anything out and that was a surprise for her because Beau was the most understanding person she’d ever met. She knew he was happy for her, but it was as if now that he knew she wouldn’t be around, he was going to start looking for her replacement. She’d gone from talking to him several times a day to getting responses by text message that were one word answers, and it was almost impossible to see him face to face. She continued to try until she reminded herself of the woman who just hung around waiting for a sliver of attention from a man who used to give her his all. Karessa hadn’t ever wanted that to be that girl. Sometimes she wondered if she was just a responsibility to him, and when he saw the opportunity to get rid of her he ran hard and fast.
“Beau?”
“Yes?” He sounded awake, and she wondered what he was thinking about.
“How did you know I was coming from Milan?” She waited for the answer, but it took so long she thought he may have gone to sleep. That’s probably what she should do too, but it was just so difficult with him so close by.
“Because I almost always know where you are.” The deep voice didn’t waver and she knew that wasn’t something he would have typically shared so why did he.
“What? Are you asleep? Beau?” She sat up in bed and thought about turning up the lights because she wanted to see his face. All she had was the flickering battery operated candlelight, so she picked it up and brought it over to see his face better. It wasn’t that much light, but when she brought it close to his face, he squinted.
“I’m awake, Ressa. How could you think I would be able to just drift off with you lying next to me and the scent of your skin all around me?”
“How do you know where I am?” She longed to sound detached and uninterested but that wasn’t going to happen. This was something she would kick herself for not finding out the answer. She didn’t care if he knew how much it meant to her or not. Karessa wanted an answer.
“You are an international celebrity. It’s not hard to see what you’re up to. I’ve followed your career since the day you left, and when I said I was proud of you, I truly meant that. You’ve come a long way from that girl I used to ply with grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken strips, or the one who used to seek me out wherever I was to find comfort in holding my hand.”
Karessa could barely believe what he was saying to her as she put the candle back on the nightstand by the bed. She’d thought that he’d been happy she’d left, and when he tried to contact her a few years ago, she’d ignored him, just like he’d done to her. Ever since then she’d gone from regretting not finding out what he wanted and kicking herself for wanting to know. She reached across the bed and found his hand in the dark. The light squeeze he gave her hand reverberated through her body. He was definitely the spark, and she was the paper, because her body might go up in flames if she didn’t taste him. Right. Damn. Now. If only for this one night she could have what she’d grown up thinking would be hers, then maybe she could move on with her life and set up the offices halfway around the world with a clear conscious.
She’d had sex in the eight years they’d been apart, but not that often. It was hard not to yell out Beau’s name because if she wanted to get off then she had to conjure up the fantasy that would get her there. Karessa was ashamed she had to do that and didn’t feel like it was fair to the partners who were giving her their all. That was the reason she’d not dated as much as she probably should have, although the paparazzi thought there were other reasons for that…namely her beautiful assistant Maryse Fresnel. The woman thought Karessa had rescued her from a life on the street, and maybe she had, but that woman had saved her limited-French-speaking ass more times than she could count. Her assistant had a beautifully generous body and a gorgeous face. In the beginning she’d been her mannequin, because her full hips and breasts were the epitome of the woman she wanted to make lingerie for, and she was almost always the model on the pages of magazines. They lived together and worked together, and for a lot of people that was enough to say they were a couple. As long as Maryse didn’t have a problem with all the chatter, she didn’t either.
Being in France, she’d learned a lot about taking what she wanted, be that in business or in bed, but she was having a problem doing that with Beau. She was a strong, powerful woman in her everyday life. That’s what she reminded herself every day when she looked in the mirror, before a big presentation, even before she exposed her body to a lover or a photographer, and it always made her feel like she was what she said and that she could do anything. Lying in a faux bedroom next to the man she had always w
anted, she felt like a woman, but the strong and powerful part was in question.
He released her hand and rolled toward her. Her eyes must have adjusted a little, because she could make out the outline of his face.
“It’s been a long time, Karessa,” he whispered into the darkness, and that was somehow the push she needed.
“It has been a long time for us. I’ll only be here until Sunday, because—”
“You have the big opening of the largest full-figured lingerie boutique in Paris.”
“Right,” she said as a giggle bubbled through the restraints she thought she’d put up. Clearing her throat, she tried to hold back that childish habit she thought she’d broken long ago. “There is a lot riding on this, and my backers really didn’t want me to go on this trip, but I had to be here to witness one of the Haught boys getting married. Who knows if something like this will ever happen again. Camden and his bride. Come hell or high water, I was going to meet the woman who wrangled one of you loners. I created the Haught Line so I could come over, have the shoot done, and stop all the squabble about why I’m here. When I presented it to Camden and Gemmi, they were thrilled to be a part of the new campaign.”
“Okay,” Beau said, sounding like he didn’t know why she was going on about this. She was babbling, and she knew it. With the giggling locked away, the babbling would be harder to control.
“I don’t get to come back to the States often, and we’ve been avoiding each other for the last few years, but it doesn’t seem like that’s stopping whatever is going on between us right now.” She could hear him breathing, but that was the only indication that he was still there, and the rate of the breaths didn’t seem like he was asleep. “Beau?”
“Yes?”
Well, at least he wasn’t asleep, but since she couldn’t see his face in the dim light, she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He was interested in her, of that she knew, but there was some hesitation in his demeanor. She was supposed to come into town, rock his world, and then leave his ass like he didn’t mean anything. Then he would see how it felt to be on the receiving end of rejection. That was the plan, but now she felt like she was a beggar waiting for scraps from his table, just like she’d been as a teen. He’d given her food, attention, and what she thought was love, but that was then. She made her own money and her own decisions now, without help from anyone. Karessa refused to feel like a beggar she would take control of this like she had her life…with her own hands.
She reached out and buried her hands in his thick, soft hair. There were so many times she had attempted to make something feel as luxurious as the way his hair felt when she ran her hands through it, but there was absolutely nothing like it. When she brought him to her, she just wanted to sample the full lips he’d licked all through dinner. She could taste a hint of the beer and sweet sauce. It made her hungrier for him than she wanted to be, and her hands tightened into fists in his hair as she licked and sucked at his mouth. She didn’t like to give directions but she would, even though she felt like she was going to spontaneously combust whether he sparked her hot spots or not.
He was always so good at taking the reins, in the past, even when it seemed like he was allowing her to have her own way, so she wasn’t shocked when he gathered her in his arms and rolled her to lie on her back. Beau’s hands were everywhere, and she wondered if he remembered what she liked in bed. The firm plucking of her nipples through the fabric made her hopeful she could actually finish with another person and not need to complete the task when she was by herself.
From what she’d heard, he had a lot of mileage on him, and just being with him tonight she could see why. He was charming, attentive, and gorgeous—the perfect man for negotiating prices for supplies, which is what she heard he did for the family-owned bar he ran with his brothers. Everyone in town seemed to come to the bar for something, drinks, fun or just to look at the Haught men.
Karessa was in heaven, finally in the bed with Beau, and it felt like she’d truly come home. Then it was all taken away, and she blinked quickly. Was she dreaming? She took inventory of herself, and didn’t remember when he’d undone all the buttons of her shirt, but he had, and she was ready for more. Why had he stopped?
“Hold on a minute.” Beau’s voice was husky and decisive. Damn it if that didn’t turn her on more.
“Why? What are you doing?” She wondered what he was looking around for when she heard the wrapper ripping. She could hear the sound of cloth against skin as he took of his underwear. Was she glad that he was putting on protection? Abso-freakin-lutely, but somewhere in her contrary mind, she was a bit put off. Karessa wasn’t sure if she’d be able to tell if they were in the middle of a tornado and the roof caught fire. The call of his body to hers was so loud, and the moan that escaped her was pretty loud, too.
“Shh…” he said as he got back into the bed, “I’ve got you.”
She didn’t know how many times he’d said that to her when she was a teen, comforting her and stroking her hair. Long before they became lovers, they were friends. It had always been True, Beau, and herself, the three of them against the world. It’s how she thought it would always be, but it didn’t turn out like that.
He positioned himself so his thick, hard cock lay against her pussy, and she couldn’t stop herself from grinding up into him. Damn her and her needy sex. If she’d have been thinking, she would have used all the toys she’d brought with her last night before she saw him, but she thought she’d have tonight to get ready. True had taken the ability to prepare herself for a Beau sighting away from her and with it any chance to carry her plan out the way she had dreamed of. She’d feed her needy heart tonight, but it was back to plan ‘A’ tomorrow.
Questions flew through her mind rapidly while she attempted to settle herself down. Was he going to be gentle and fondle her softly? Why the hell didn’t she just get his cock into her mouth first? She’d always loved sucking him. In France they called it la pipe, and she’d never liked it more than when she was doing it for him.
The first question was answered when sat back on his knees and ran his hands over her body with grabby, kneading hands. When he reached her breasts, he rolled her nipples firmly between his fingers, making her arch up as she tried to get her clit some stimulation. Just a little…that’s all she’d need, but he made sure she couldn’t get what she wanted.
“I like you eager, Ressa.” He leaned over and sucked her hard nipple into his mouth, and she grabbed onto his hair again to keep him right there. The growl she’d grown to enjoy when he was a younger man still made an appearance when he was excited or frustrated. She knew if she could just get her hand to her pussy so she could get off first, then she could give him the sophisticated fuck she’d dreamed of giving him, instead of this needy, about-to-combust shit she was doing now. As he licked, nipped, and bit her, he removed her panties, leaving her totally exposed, while he had on what felt to her like her triple-silk boxers. She wanted so much to see if he was wearing the first piece of intimate wear she’d ever released for a man. She’d been sick with missing him when she came up with the idea, because she knew how much Beau liked the slippery feel of silk against his cock.
He released her nipple, and even the wet popping sound was sexy. She was a bigger woman, so she was surprised by his next move, but he grabbed her waist and brought her toward his body before flipping them both so that she was straddling him. His cock throbbed beneath her, and she thought of just rubbing up and down against it to get herself off instead of inserting him inside and bringing them both pleasure, but she didn’t have it in her to deny herself.
Reaching down between her legs, she found him hard and throbbing, but before she let him slip inside she wanted to play just a bit. He was much thicker than she remembered, and she wanted to take a better look at him, but now wasn’t the time, so she gave him a nice squeeze as she slid her hand to the base of his cock and slowly brought it back to the tip.
“Do you like that, Beau?”
“What do you want to do now?”
He actually laughed, and that made his cock jump with the contraction of his abdominal muscles, but the laughter died when she rolled her hips around the thick helmet head, putting just the tip inside her body.
“Seventy-five percent,” he called out to the room and light filled the space. He turned back to her. “I want to see you.”
Why in the world did she think she should be playing with a master like this? In France, one of the rules she’d been taught was to never walk naked in front of your lover. He was supposed to see you all wrapped up in your pretty underwear, and half of the enticement was the thrill of the chase, but she sat on top of him naked, and she wondered what he thought. Thirty-one looked a lot different than twenty-three no matter how hard you tried to keep yourself in shape. She wasn’t usually self-conscious about her body, and she wasn’t going to stop what was going on, but she rarely thought about how she looked to other people.
“You look beautiful,” he said as he cupped her Double-D breasts as if he were delighted. Now he was the one lifting his hips, trying to gain entrance to her castle. “Put me inside; I want to feel that hot pussy squeeze me tight.”
She could do nothing but gasp and comply. Play time was over, and she was so ready. Leading him to her opening, even she couldn’t believe how wet she was. That was going to be helpful. It had been quite a while since her last romp. He was holding his breath as she tried to ease down on his cock. It would have been an understatement to say she was enjoying the look of tortured bliss on his face. When she was almost seated, she wondered if this was going to be as comfortable as she’d thought it would be, but then the sound of a palm connecting to her ass and the resulting sweet sting of pain made her yelp. Her body shuddered as that sting filled her with pleasure, and she flooded him with enough lubricant to make this a wet and wild ride.
Too Haught Page 3