She looked everywhere but at him. “What about us? Where does that leave you and me?”
“Scrambling.”
Confused, she frowned back at him. “What?”
“We’re searching for a way to be together, to not let this situation destroy us. Believe me, this is not how I wanted to do things, chérie. We agreed to take our relationship slow and easy, to get to know each other before taking things to the serious level. Malheureusement, the world of business and Gautier International Motors has no interest in our plans. So, I’ve had to make adjustments for our future.”
Tia didn’t like the sound of his conversation. It almost sounded as if he’d already made a decision for the both of them and merely came here to tell her of his intentions. She braced for the worst.
“Look at me, Tia.”
Doing as he asked, she studied the man she’d opened her heart to and learned to love. “Yes.”
“I love you. Je t’aime,” he whispered in his native tongue.
That got Tia’s attention. Those were the words she longed to hear from him, but she didn’t expect to hear them, at least not so soon. Should she respond in kind? The feelings were there. After all, Chris planned to leave her. Was it the right thing to do, to expose her feelings this way?
He drew in a shaky breath and forged ahead, “This is where you say something appropriately similar. Even in English, I’d understand.”
Tia opened her mouth, but words failed her. Doubt filled her. Should she admit the truth and accept the consequences, or should she guard her heart and shield her feelings? Her first instinct was to protect herself, but nothing good ever happened when she hid from life. One thing she knew for certain: If she didn’t try, she’d end up alone, regretting her decision. Ending up alone was still a possibility, but at least she would have given the relationship her best.
She’d spent years with Darnell, and it had gotten her nothing but a lot of wasted time. Since Chris entered her life, she felt loved, cared for, and treated like something precious. He sought her opinion and listened to her questions on many topics.
Tia drew air into her lungs and took the plunge. A lump the size of a football made it difficult to speak. She pushed past it and said, “I love you, too.” There, the words were out, lingering in the tense air.
A smile of pure joy spread across Chris’s face. He dropped her hand and took her face between his large hands. He gazed into her eyes. “Tia, je t’aime,” he announced a second time. Chris switched to English and repeated, “I love you. I have from the moment I met you in Adam’s office.”
A light brush against her lips reminded her of Chris’s first kiss. It left Tia quivering and craving more. His warm, moist lips moved over hers in an intimate caress. Eager, Tia parted her lips. Instantly, Chris tenderly sucked her lower lip into his mouth, nibbling gently.
His scent filled her nostrils, making her head swim. Tia wrapped her arms around him. Her hands crept up his arms and slid around his neck, tugging him closer. Moaning softly, Chris dropped his arms to her waist and pulled her hard against him.
Chris’s tongue stroked hers, seeking, tasting, and teasing. Her hands ran through his blond hair, enjoying the feel of the fine tresses between her fingers.
He ended the kiss and stood. He took Tia’s hand and led her from the room. They strolled down the hallway, up the stairs, and into her bedroom. Stopping next to the bed, Tia sank onto the mattress. Chris sat next to her. He leaned down and kissed her. Anticipation made her heart pump faster and harder as she returned the kiss. She grew warm with excitement as the taste of him flowed through her, and the idea of making love with Chris for the second time was becoming a reality. Everything she remembered about that ultimate act had been wonderful and satisfying. She really wanted to share it with him again.
As the kiss deepened and lingered, Chris’s fingers lightly glided across the curve of her neck, gently settling on her shoulder. His nearness made her senses spin out of control, creating a sense of wonder and longing.
While he kissed her, she slipped her hand under his sweater and caressed the hot skin and tight muscles. Her hands stroked his nipples. She rolled the hard buds between her fingers and tweaked them. Chris moaned tenderly into her mouth.
He worked her top from her shoulders before ending the kiss. He removed the rest of her clothes and then turned his attention to his own. Once they were both completely naked, his appreciative gaze slid over her body. “You are magnificent.”
Tia examined the differences between their skin tones, running her hand against his chest. It amazed her to think that although they come from such different cultures, it didn’t matter. They belonged together.
Chris took Tia’s erect nipple between his lips and sucked. She arched her back, encouraging him to continue with a hand to the back of his head. He trailed a single finger down the middle of her throat, where he lingered against her Adam’s apple before continuing its path to her breast. Her skin quivered every place that he touched. His thumb halted at her breast, stroking back and forth across the sensitive nipple. Not satisfied, he took her breast into his mouth and sucked on the bud, sending heat flowing through her and settling between her legs.
Tia cradled his head, pushing her breast farther into his mouth. “That feels so good,” she encouraged.
Releasing her, Chris answered, “It tastes good, too.”
She planted her feet on the mattress and scooted up until she reached the center of the bed. She lay back and opened her arms, beckoning Chris to her. He followed her down and spread himself over her, taking her lips in a series of loving kisses.
As Chris kissed her, his hand made a journey lower, finding her hot female core with his fingers. He combed through the curls shielding her slit, moving between the folds and stroking her most sensitive parts. He stroked back and forth, establishing a rhythm that she found herself moving to. They danced. With each pass of his thumb, Tia’s insides grew warmer as the first involuntary tremor hit her and continued in waves until she could no longer control herself. She flew into orbit. Her hips flew up off the bed as she called out his name. “Chris!” Wave after wave of pleasure made her blood surge through her as she slowly returned to earth.
“Yes?” he rose from the bed, left the room, and returned minutes later with a foil-wrapped item. He tore open the packet and quickly rolled the latex over his thick flesh. Chris settled next to her and took her into his arms. Wanting to give him a measure of the ecstasy she’d just felt, Tia moved her hand between their bodies, searching for his rigid length. She found the engorged shaft and toyed with it, stroking up and down, learning its size, shape, and texture. Chris caught his breath and placed his hand over hers, demonstrating how he liked to be touched.
He removed her hand and in one quick thrust joined their bodies. Panting, he slowly began to move inside her, sliding deep within her canal and then almost withdrawing, learning how she enjoyed being loved. He buried his face against the soft column of her neck. Again and again, Chris’s thrusts pumped inside of her, stroking her female walls with his shaft. Tia clenched her interior muscles and wrapped her legs around his waist. She met each downward thrust of his body with an upward lift of her hips, holding him tightly within her hot, liquid walls.
He moaned, “You feel perfect, chérie.”
Smiling, Tia had to admit that he did, too.
They climbed the stairs to heaven together, giving and taking love, moving together, soaring together as one until Tia couldn’t hold back any longer. Her legs began to tremble and her heart sped up. She held on to her composure until he reached between their bodies and stroked his finger along her slit. She exploded, crying out his name a second time.
He followed her lead, climbing a step or two higher and then crashing. They floated to earth together. Chris took her face between his hands and kissed her deeply. “I love you, chérie. Thank you for letting me love you.”
Caressing his cheek with her fingertips, Tia answered, “You’re welcome. I
t was everything I expected and more.”
Chris settled down next to her, pulling her into his arms. She felt the warmth of perspiration on his chest against her breasts. “Je t’aime.”
Tia threw an arm around his middle and snuggled close to his side. She inhaled the aroma of pure male and sex. “I’m going to take a nap, and then I want to do that again,” she told him.
Chuckling, he hugged her against his side. “We will, chérie. We will,” he promised.
Sighing, Tia shut her eyes and relaxed. “Good.”
21
The insistent ringing of the telephone pulled Tia from her wonderful cocoon of sleep. Partially awake, she fumbled for the receiver. What she encountered was warm, male flesh.
Tia opened her eyes in time to see Chris roll away and reach for the phone. She moaned in protest at losing the connection of warm, naked flesh against naked flesh.
“Bonjour? Bonjour?” His brows bunched together as he waited for a response and then returned the phone to its cradle.
“Wrong number?” she asked.
Chris shook his head. “No. They hung up. They didn’t like the accent.”
“Oh, well. I like the accent and everything else about you.” Tia shrugged, craving contact with his warm, solid frame and scooting closer to his side.
“Good morning, chérie. In case you’ve forgotten, I love you,” he whispered with a smile on his lips. Eyes twinkling, he leaned down to kiss her and caress her lips while stroking her face with the tips of his fingers.
Tia’s smile turned into a full grin as she felt her body leap to life from his innocent touch. “Good morning to you, too. And in case you’ve forgotten, I love you, too.”
“Never!” he promised with another mind-altering kiss.
Stroking the long, lean line of his back with her fingertips, Tia returned his kiss. Her body quivered as his hand slid up her inner thigh, stopping inches from her hair-covered mound.
As he leaned down for another kiss, the phone rang again. Chris picked up the receiver. This time he switched to English. “’Ello?” He paused, listening to the person on the other end. “Just a moment.” Chris handed the receiver to Tia. “It’s for you.”
Naturally, Tia thought, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling. After all, it is my town house. She put the phone to her ear and said, “Hello?”
“Well, I didn’t expect that.”
Tia’s heart almost stopped. Heat burned her cheeks and raced up the back of her neck. She reached for the sheet and draped it over her body, turning a little away from Chris. Great! Of all the people to call her…Tia fought the urge to duck under the sheet. “Hello, Momma.”
Oh, man! This is so embarrassing. No! Stop this! I have nothing to be ashamed of. I’m an adult. This is my house, she chastened. I pay the cost to be the boss. Yeah, but she’s still my mother. Momma knows I’m grown, and what I do in my bedroom isn’t her business.
Frowning with concern, Chris settled on his elbows, stroking her cheek with his finger. “Something wrong?”
Tia shook off his hand and placed a quieting hand to her lips.
“It sounds like you have company. Did I catch you at a bad time?” Mrs. Edwards stated with a touch of sarcasm in her voice.
“No. Chris came over for breakfast. But I’ve got the stove on. Let me call you back a little later,” Tia improvised, crossing her fingers in a childhood gesture she used whenever she spun a tale.
“No can do,” her mother stated. “This will only take a minute. I won’t be home for a good while. Your father and I are driving to Chicago for a couple of days, and we won’t be back until late Sunday evening. So I’m going to say what I have to say and let you get back to your breakfast.”
“Okay. Go ahead.” All Tia wanted was to get off the phone and end this embarrassing moment.
“Yours and Nia’s birthday is coming up. I’d like to have a birthday dinner for you at home with your brothers. Put it on your calendar.”
“Sure. When?”
Chris flipped onto his stomach next to her. He watched her with a sensual glimmer in his eyes. Suddenly, his expression changed from sated to mischievous. He grinned at her, lifted the sheet, and ducked under it.
Tia stared, lips pressed together. What is he up to? she silently wondered. His naked derriere sat exposed in the air. Suddenly, she understood what Chris had in mind. Tiny kisses began at her knees and moved closer and closer to her center. He palmed one of her breasts in one hand, toying with her nipple with his fingers. She gasped softly.
“You all right?” her mother asked.
“Yeah. The bacon grease popped on my hand,” Tia lied as an inferno caught fire in a different location. She grabbed Chris’s wrist with her free hand and tried to pry it away from her body. He refused to budge.
“Be careful,” Mrs. Edwards warned. “You’ve got delicate skin. I don’t want you hurting yourself.”
“I won’t.”
She rolled onto her side in an attempt to dislodge his hand. Chris compensated by rolling toward her. He moved up her body, returning his attention to her breast. He stroked the other nipple with his tongue, licking it as if it were a sucker, starting under the sensitive flesh and slowly moving up and over until he’d tasted the complete bud. He circled it with his tongue, causing Tia to move restlessly as a flicker of heat burst into a flame. After a moment, he took the brown button into his mouth and sucked strongly on it. Instantly, her body responded and rose off the bed. Moaning, Tia cupped her hand over the mouthpiece as she twisted back and forth on the bed. She was so involved with what Chris was doing to her that she almost missed her mother’s next comment.
“I’ve got to check with your twin,” Mrs. Edwards explained. “Dinner will probably be next weekend after she closes her shop for the night. You know, there’s another way to do this. How does Sunday afternoon work for you? That way, we don’t have to worry about that damn shop, and your brothers are always available on Sunday. I like that idea much better. How about you?”
She panted softly. This man was driving her crazy. No matter how she turned, he followed. The pleasure was excruciating. She wanted it to stop, and yet she didn’t. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t. “That’ll work. Sounds good.”
“Good. We have a plan.”
Not sure if she could hold on any longer, she waited. Please, Momma, hang up, she begged silently. She couldn’t take much more of Chris’s taunting.
Without a word, Chris’s physical assault ended. With a swift kiss to her belly button, he scooted from under the sheet, hopped off the bed, and started for the door. At the entrance, he turned, winked, and then disappeared down the hall.
With a sigh of relief, Tia fell back on the pillows. Thankful, but unfulfilled, she lay there with the phone to her ear. He had stopped. She was happy, right? Or was she?
“I’ll get back with you once I’ve talked to your sister and brothers.”
“Okay.”
“And, young lady?”
Tia hated that tone. Throughout her childhood, nothing good ever followed that phrase. “Yes?”
“We’ll talk about Mr. Frenchman real soon. It’s time for a reality check,” Mrs. Edwards warned.
Dreading this conversation, Tia shut her eyes. “Yeah, we do need to talk. Give me a call when you get back. Have fun in Chicago. We haven’t done lunch or gone shopping in a while.”
“We used to do something every weekend. I wonder what happened. Oh, I remember. Mr. Frenchman came along.”
“Bye, Momma. You and Daddy have a safe and fun trip.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Tia disconnected the call and returned the phone to the cradle. She really didn’t want to talk with her mother about Chris. Life didn’t always present a person with choices. Chris was part of her life now, and Momma needed to accept him. Hopefully, her dislike of Chris would change and she would accept him into the family.
The object of her thoughts strolled into the bedroom and scooped Tia into his arms.
&nbs
p; “Hey!” she exclaimed. “Where are you taking me?”
“You’ll see.”
He headed out of the bedroom and down the hall to the bathroom. As he pushed open the door with his foot, steam from the shower met their naked bodies.
“Oh!” she exclaimed as Chris strolled into the room, pushed back the shower curtain, and deposited her in the bathtub. The warm water sprinkled over her. He followed her into the shower and pulled the curtain closed, cocooning them in their own private little world.
Without uttering a word, he reached for her, pulling her against his body. His head dipped and he took her lips in an overwhelming kiss. Their tongues dueled as the water cascaded over them.
Chris moved away and grabbed the shower puff. He squeezed out a generous portion of shower gel and rubbed the puff to a frothy head. He stretched out her arm and ran the soapy puff up and down her wet skin, repeating the gesture with her other arm. Before long, he’d washed her entire body, paying close attention to the curly hair at the junction between her legs. With an encouraging hand, he moved her forward as the sprays of water rinsed away the soap.
Chris smiled, running an admiring gaze over her body. Tia grew warm as his eyes stopped at her breasts and lingered. He moved close and took her face between his hands, and then he nibbled along her jawline until he reached her mouth. He parted her lips with his tongue and took another kiss. His tongue swept across hers, tasting and touching. Tia couldn’t get enough. She moved closer, rubbing her body against his. After a moment, Chris smiled and said, “You know what I really want to do?”
Panting, she answered, “No. What?”
“I want to taste you.”
Tia’s eyes grew large. All the air rushed out of her. This had never happened to her before. Worried, she studied Chris. Was he serious? she wondered. Tia had her doubts, but Chris had been such a wonderful, sensual lover that she couldn’t refuse him.
You're All I Need Page 17