by Anne, Melody
As Lia started to descend from the high of a spectacular orgasm, Shane made his way up her body, taking his time as he licked away the rain still washing across her. When his face came into view and blocked out the downpour, another flash lit the sky, and the look in his eyes took her breath away.
“I’m right where I need to be, Lia. Your beauty, strength and passion overwhelm me. You’re strong and brave, talented and kind. You mean everything to me. Yes, I love how my body feels as I sink deep within you, I love the taste of your release on my tongue, but more than that, I love everything about you — from the sweet taste of your skin to the fire that lights your eyes. I can’t ever let you leave me. There are those who say that if you love someone, you must set the person free, but they have never been with you, because to set you free would be to lose myself.”
He entered her body, slowly and sweetly — wondrously — and Lia flew again, but not away from him. She flew higher than she’d ever been, her body clutching him, holding him deep within her.
Safe.
Warm.
Loved.
Lia didn’t want to be set free. She wanted to be right there in Shane’s arms with the rain blanketing them, the thunder rumbling in the sky, and the lightning giving her flashes of the passion and love on Shane’s face.
“I don’t want to go,” she whispered when she could speak again.
Shane began moving, and all she could do was cry out as he brought her to the peak again and again, as he’d promised, while he surged deep within her body.
She loved him. She had for more than ten years, and no matter what had parted them, she had a feeling that nothing would separate them again.
Chapter Twenty
Adriane
Adriane was shocked at how much he was enjoying his time with Rachel. He still hadn’t learned anything about her, because she was much better than he was at this game of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He found himself wanting to lie in her arms and speak of the throne, of his brother, of his duty. He was barely able to hold himself back.
This was supposed to be nothing more than a fling, just something to ease his stress before he took on the responsibility of his position — a responsibility that he didn’t even want. But somehow this American girl had slipped past his defenses.
It wasn’t love.
Adriane wasn’t such a fool as to believe in love at first sight. He knew the fragile emotion existed, but he chose not to fall into its merciless grasp. Once love got its talons into a man, it would never let go, never let him think objectively again.
No. He would marry a proper woman when the time came, and his wife would produce heirs for his kingdom. That was what a king did. That was what was responsible, what he’d known he must do from the time he was seventeen and discovered he’d inherit the throne one day.
Still, though he didn’t want his affair with Rachel to end, duty called. He must return to his homeland and perform as king of Corythia.
“I can’t believe how virile you are. Do you ever get enough?”
Adrian turned to look into Rachel’s gleaming green eyes, and he almost gasped, as he always did, when confronted by her beauty. Instead, he reached upward and tweaked her hardened nipple.
“Look who’s talking, wildcat. You’re always just as eager,” he reminded her as he crushed her smooth body against him, allowing her scent to engulf him and inhaling it deeply. Desire, sure and strong, thrummed inside him as he lay over her, his arousal pulsing as he moved it against the hot folds of her core.
This was their last night, unless he made an excuse to keep them together longer. He wanted to…
“You are distracted, Ian. Don’t be. I want your full attention,” Rachel demanded as she grabbed his hair and brought his mouth down to hers, taking his lips and pushing her tongue forward as she entered his mouth.
He was torn between lust and confusion, and lust won out as Adriane’s tongue followed her retreat and he deepened the kiss, tightening his lips on hers as his hand smoothed down her side to slide beneath her derrière and pull her more tightly against him.
Her responses to him were always so deliciously open and honest. She groaned with pleasure as her hips rocked forward, encouraging him to press inside her. She demanded satisfaction, and that was one of the things he loved most about her.
Not proud of the many women he’d lain with, he could safely say none had made a place inside his head — none but Rachel.
She made him lose his mind — made him forget everything except for her.
Pulling back, he smiled when she growled at him, light flaring in her eyes as she reached for him. She was always so eager to have them join together, but Adriane loved to play with her lissome body, loved to make her cry out over and over again.
Grinning at her for only a brief moment before bending down and kissing her ear, his warm, wet tongue slipped along the outer edges, making her break out in goose bumps. Her nipples strained toward him, aching with a need to be touched.
As if reading her body’s yearning desire, he reached down, taking her peaked nipples between his fingers and pinching down, elongating the sensitive flesh, bringing such intense pleasure that she called out.
His hand moved down her quivering stomach; he circled the sensitive flesh between her legs, and then teased her swollen little bundle of nerves, not quite giving her what she wanted, but touching her just enough to keep her on edge.
When he slipped inside with two long, supple fingers, then rubbed her in just the right place with his thumb, she cried out her encouragement for him to continue.
Lowering his head, he sucked the puckered flesh on her breast into his mouth, gently clamping his teeth down, rubbing the hard skin lightly before releasing one pink bud and moving to the opposite side. Her hands tangled in his hair as she guided him, showing him exactly what she wanted.
He moved both hands upward, abandoning her principal pleasure point, and he cupped her twin peaks, squeezing the wet flesh and running his thumbs across it before his mouth descended again and teased her breasts even more.
“I want you inside of me now, Ian. Right now!” Little did Rachel know to whom she had issued that command.
Who was he to argue? Adriane offered a pained smile as he reached over to the nightstand and grabbed protection, slipping it on before moving over her body and positioning himself just outside of her heat.
He wanted to plunge in, but he loved making her wild, loved the thrust of her hips upward as she demanded completion. Yes, he was in agony, but the fire igniting in her eyes made the pleasure so much better.
“Now!”
“Yes, now,” he said as he surged forward and drove his full length inside her glorious body.
“Oh, Ian, what you do to me,” she cried as her hips lifted off the bed and her nails scraped down his back.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he groaned, thrusting deep inside, over and over, pressure building in his loins.
“You make my head....spin,” she said, almost unthinkingly, as her orgasm drew near. He felt her silken folds tighten on him, felt her body stiffen as she readied to fall over the edge.
“Now, Rachel. Come right now,” he demanded as he loved her hard and fast, his hips in sweet collision against her smooth, soft skin.
She exploded around him, screaming in her passion; her eyes closed and her head fell back, her body stiff as she shook beneath him.
“Yes, baby,” he groaned as he followed her into the abyss of pleasure. He also shook, trembling with the strength of his release.
When the final tremors faded, Adriane barely had the strength to free her of his weight. Quickly pulling off the latex protection, he tossed it aside before taking her into his arms, and sighing with pleasure as her head lay cradled against his neck.
He stroked her hair as his brain whirled in circles and his heart felt…lost? This was their last night.
“It’s OK, Ian.”
“What is?” he asked. Could she read his mind?
“Tonight is our last night. I’ve seen the turmoil in you all day. We both knew this was for a week. You really need to quit worrying that I am planning on taking it further than that,” she said with a laugh as she rubbed her fingers against his chest.
Exhaustion filled him, but unbelievably, he felt himself growing hard again. But he forced himself to repress those baser urges; he needed to speak to her.
“What if I don’t want tonight to be our last night?” Adriane was a little surprised by his words, but not enough to take them back.
“We aren’t going there,” she said.
“Why not?” He was thoroughly insulted that she wasn’t jumping at the opportunity to see more of him. He couldn’t remember that ever happening before.
“Because we know nothing about each other — and before you interrupt, I like it that way. I do know that we are both heading in different directions, moving forward with our lives, and I won’t change my plans over a weeklong affair that would burn out within a month if we decided to lengthen it. Just hold me tonight, and let me remember this week always,” she said, almost pleadingly.
Adriane didn’t like her idea of a compromise, but he said nothing as he listened to her breathing. Soon, she was asleep within the safety of his arms.
Extracting himself from her sweet grip, he rose and did something he’d never done before. Finding her purse, he called his assistant and had him copy her information.
It was just in case, he told himself, not looking at any of it. It was a matter of honor. He himself would invade her privacy only if absolutely compelled.
The next morning they returned to the hotel, and when he came out of the shower, he found Rachel gone. Confusion filled him when he looked around and didn’t find anything of hers. It was almost as if she’d never been there, as if this was all nothing more than a dream.
A very, very good dream — but only a dream, nonetheless.
When the shock wore off, fury overtook him. How could she have just walked away so easily?
The two of them had been careful, but he always kept an eye on the women he was with sexually. If something were to happen, he wanted to be the first to know about it.
Making himself calm down, he paged his assistant to the room. Amedeo was there within a minute.
“Amedeo, make sure two men are aware of Rachel’s whereabouts for the next three months,” he demanded.
His assistant didn’t blink and didn’t ask questions; he just followed orders.
After Adriane had given more orders for packing the things in his hotel room, he mentally prepared himself for what was to come. He tried to push Rachel and his impromptu visit to Florida to the back of his mind, but for once, it wasn’t easy. He took a final look around the room that he had spent so much time in for the last week, and then just shook his head before he firmly closed the door behind him.
Adriane made his way to his jet, focused on what was ahead of him. It was time to return home and fulfill his duty.
Chapter Twenty-One
Ari
Ari was feeling quite smug as she left the restaurant.
Yes, she would be aching all night, but at least she’d been strong. At least she’d been able to get the upper hand and walk away from Rafe’s invasion of her space with her head held high and a smile on her lips.
If the dismally dull doctor had stirred her in any way at all, she might have called him up to see whether his emergency was finished. Of course, in reality, he most likely hadn’t had an emergency. He’d probably arrived at the hospital only to find it had been a false alarm. Yep, Rafe and that page…
She was vaguely curious to find out whether Dr. Foot in Mouth would call her. She knew she wouldn’t take the call, as she wasn’t so desperate for attention that she would endure that man for even another thirty seconds, but it had been the first date she’d been on in months.
It didn’t please her that she had found much more pleasure sitting with Rafe for an hour than she’d found with any of the men she’d attempted to date. None of them stirred her; none of them piqued her interest. She was afraid that she was ruined for any other man after having Rafe in her life.
As she approached the curb to hail a cab, she felt a hand on her arm. Alarm zipped through her until she realized that it was Rafe, then excitement rose unwanted in her stomach. She should have known that getting away from Rafe wouldn’t be that easy. Turning to give him a snarky comment to cover up the pleasure she felt, she never got the chance — she was suddenly being pulled forward. A squeak escaped her tight throat as she was thrust into the backseat of a limo.
Getting her voice back quickly, she turned to him in a rage. “What the hell do you think you are doing?” she demanded as the vehicle pulled away from the curb and she punched Rafe in the arm.
“You know that I always escort my date home,” he replied, not even flinching from her hit.
“This wasn’t a date — at least not with you, Rafe!” she said between her teeth as she glared at him. She retracted her hand; she had hurt it far more than she had him by her punch.
“I had a good time, bought you dinner, and watched the sexy sway of your beautiful derrière as you walked from the table. It was a date,” he said with a satisfied smile.
“I guess you haven’t changed, have you Rafe? You still must get your way,” she snapped as she leaned back in irritation, both from his words and the perverse pleasure they brought her.
“I’ve changed, Ari. I have just discovered in the last week that you have, as well. I’m not going anywhere, so a little…persuasion is needed.”
“Persuasion? This is downright force, Rafe.”
“No, Ari. You would know if it were force,” he said as he slid closer.
She moved away, squeezing against the door on the opposite side of the car.
Rafe followed.
“I have papers to grade,” she said as his leg brushed against hers.
Please don’t betray me now, she begged her body.
“It’s Thursday night, Ari. You don’t have class again until Monday. I think the papers can wait.”
“You aren’t the one who gets to decide that.”
“Of course not, but I thought you would like to see more of the journal.”
He was dangling the carrot before her, and she really wanted to take a bite.
“I don’t think I should. Your behavior has been reprehensible,” she said.
“It’s your choice, of course.” He knew how badly she wanted to lose herself in that journal again. He knew it was his ace in the hole, so to speak.
“Can you keep your hands to yourself?” she asked.
“Nope. That was a one-time deal.”
Oooh, the man was a rogue. He’d given her a taste and now all bets were off.
“Fine. Then, I want to go to the library to read it. That’s a nice and safe place where it won’t get hurt.”
Rafe looked at her with a new light in his eyes that had her worried.
“Do you really think that you would be safe just because we’d be at a library, Ari? With a connection like ours, it doesn’t matter where we are.”
“I can control myself, Rafe. I will admit that I still feel some attraction toward you, but that doesn’t mean I want to jump your bones. I can control myself, and I would expect a man of your age to be able to do so as well,” she said primly.
Rafe laughed as he looked into her eyes. “Did you just call me old, Ari? I’m barely over thirty. I don’t think I have a foot in the grave quite yet.”
“Well, you act like a teenager, so you may be safe. I would think a respectable businessman would act with more…decorum,” she said, taking a moment to think of the right word.
“I don’t care what anyone thinks. I want you, and I refuse to hide that fact. You’re a stunning woman who makes my head spin and my body hard. I will give you the moon and stars if you just let me.”
She wanted to snort at his language, but he was serious. She could see it in his e
xpression. And yet she was afraid. He’d hurt her in ways she didn’t know a person could be hurt. If she surrendered to him again, he would take her soul, and she might never get it back.
Wasn’t it all about the chase with Rafe? Once he had her, wouldn’t he lose interest and want to move on to his next conquest? She was sure that she was the only woman ever to have walked away. Offering him her heart hadn’t been enough for him — he’d wanted only her body — her submission. Well, that wasn’t good enough for her. It wasn’t then, and it certainly wasn’t now.
“We aren’t going to agree on this, Rafe. I’ve moved on, and you need to accept that. I would, however, like to see more of the journal,” she said, hating that he had something she wanted so badly.
He sat back, not looking the least bit affected by her words. Was he hearing only what he wanted to hear?
“I will meet you at the public library tomorrow.”
She was so surprised, she didn’t realize at first that her mouth was hanging open. Rafe didn’t compromise — not often, anyway — so his agreeing to meet her with his treasured item in public left her reeling.
That was obviously the good news; what was the bad news? She knew the other shoe had yet to drop, but she couldn’t figure out the negative to the situation.
“Good. I’m glad you are giving in a little,” she said slowly.
The car stopped and she reached for the door.
“Here’s something to think about while you’re lying alone…naked…in bed,” he whispered. His arms snaked around her and she found herself crushed against his chest.
Before she had a chance to utter a protest, Rafe’s head descended and his mouth captured hers. She remained stiff in his arms for all of two seconds before her traitorous body began pressing into his, unable to get close enough.
Ari tried to stiffen against him again, but it was of no use. As his tongue slid across the seam of her lips, her stomach turned to liquid, and fire ignited on a traveling journey through her veins. Though she fought her attraction to Rafe, her body knew it was where it wanted to be.