He nipped the side of her neck and she shuddered, her head falling to the side to grant him better access. She wanted to tell him she wanted more of that, that she liked having her neck kissed, but words entirely failed her.
In fact, her whole focus was on how her body tingled with sharp arousal. Words were useless when actions spoke far louder. Her fingers itched to touch him; her nipples, already hard, ached for his caress.
But then he was speaking again and she tried, Laura really did try, to pay attention.
“I’ve been drawn to you for a long time.” he said as he tugged on her coat and blouse, and his tongue trailed along her skin and she felt each stroke straight through her.
“I’ve been drawn to you, too,” Laura admitted as his teeth nipped the juncture of shoulder and neck.
Tyler pulled back and when Laura blinked, she realized they were against her door. How long had they been there? And why weren’t they inside? She’d never had wall sex, though the idea of such desperation to have each other sent another bolt of lust through her.
Still, there was a perfectly good bed inside. And she wanted to take her time. Wanted to explore every inch of this man.
His eyes were serious as he looked down at her, and Laura’s breath hitched. Her fingers tightened on the keycard until it dug into her palm. “I’m glad you finally said yes.”
Keycard forgotten, Laura grabbed him by his coat and pulled him back to her. “Me too.”
Then the door opened and they were stumbling through. Laura didn’t quite know how that happened. It didn’t matter because she pushed his coat off his shoulders, quickly followed by his suit jacket.
They left a trail of clothes from the doorway through the suite to her bedroom, touching and kissing the entire way, and Laura had never felt so desired, so wanted. It burned through her like a flame, throbbing deep in her core and completely blanking her mind from anything but the touch of his hands and the feel of his mouth.
Finally, finally the back of her legs hit the bed and she pulled him with her. Was there something she was forgetting? There was, but for the life of her, Laura couldn’t remember what that something was. Important? Seemed like it should be, but it wasn’t clicking.
Tyler kissed down her neck, cupped her breast, and kissed her nipple. Laura wanted to encourage him, but her throat closed up. He swiped his tongue over the bud, once, twice, before his teeth closed over it.
Moaning, she struggled to make her fingers work on his trousers. Stupid, complicated buttons. He switched his attention to her other breast and all the air whooshed out of her lungs. Oh, wow, was this how it was supposed to feel?
All out of control and wild and like her very skin was on fire?
Laura wanted to roll him over and straddle him; she always felt more confident on top, but then Tyler’s hands were tugging her panties down and his fingers teased her core. For a heart-stopping second she wanted to stop him, but he easily slipped into her, his mouth now kissing over her belly.
Laura arched into his touch, and nothing else mattered. He nipped at the inside of her thigh and she whimpered.
Arousal wound tighter and tighter within her, building her higher. Every swipe of his tongue made her breath catch; every thrust of his fingers had her gasping his name.
Then he pulled back.
Hovering on the edge, her heart racing and blood a loud roar of frustrated arousal in her ears, Laura struggled onto her elbows.
“What are you doing?” she managed, though words seemed inadequate given the way he’d made her feel.
Tyler looked up from his trousers with such a tender, heated look, Laura paused. No one had ever looked at her like that before. Ever.
Her heart flipped in her chest only to settle in a heavier, somehow more frantic beat. Warmth spread over her, and she vaguely realized it wasn’t from arousal or need or his very talented tongue.
“Protection,” he said and broke the spell.
Maybe not completely broke, but fractured it enough to bring her back to the matter at hand.
Oh, condoms. Was that what she’d forgotten? Had to be.
“A man can always hope,” he said and lay back on the bed beside her. “But a gentleman should always be prepared.”
Laura chuckled at the cheesy line and took the moment to really look at him. She’d been so caught up in his touches that she hadn’t the opportunity to do what she’d wanted to since the first moment they met. Look at him. Touch him.
She trailed her fingers over his chest, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted to taste him and without further thought, pressed her mouth to his belly. She felt more than heard him suck in a breath.
Laura ran her fingers over his hard cock, memorizing the texture of it, the feel. What she wanted to do was taste him. Lowering her mouth to him, she licked the underside. His breath caught and she felt a surge of heat race through her.
“Laura,” Tyler ground out.
She grabbed the condom and rolled it onto him, giving him a saucy smile as she did so. He made a low rumbling noise in the back of his throat, and Laura thought that was the most erotic sound she’d ever heard.
And then he was hovering over her and she wound her legs around him. One hand guided him into her and the other pulled him down for a kiss.
Tyler entered her slowly, tenderly, and her heart skipped another beat. Arching into him, Laura rolled her hips against his. He slowly withdrew only to thrust hard into her.
Her breath caught, and she closed her eyes and moved. She tasted the edge of that earlier desperation and embraced it, the feel of him inside her, his long fingers on her clit, the increasingly erratic thrusts.
He moved hard and she loved it, meeting his every thrust, her arousal pulled taut. Suddenly it snapped and she cried out, her mouth against his shoulder as her orgasm overcame her, and all she could feel was Tyler and all she knew was such exquisite pleasure nothing else mattered.
He continued to move, faster now. She felt every movement straight through her even as pleasure continued to spark along her skin. Her orgasm built once more and, amazed at her body’s response, Laura pressed her fingers into his back and held Tyler closer.
Tyler jerked hard against her, and another bolt of pleasure burst through her as he climaxed. Laura held him to her, loving the weight on him, just holding him. She didn’t want to move, didn’t want to pop this bubble.
When Tyler finally rolled off her to dispose of the condom, Laura remembered what she’d forgotten earlier. It wasn’t protection, though that was up there in importance. She’d forgotten to turn off the lights. Despite the languid feel of her limbs, and the aftermath of her orgasm still sparking along her skin, she quickly hid under the covers.
But Tyler didn’t immediately dress. In fact, he climbed into bed with her. “Cold?” he asked, curling his hard body around her softer, curvier one.
“No,” Laura answered honestly, too stunned at the move for anything else.
One hand absently cupped her breast, while his mouth trailed lazily over her shoulder. Speechless, she lay there. Laura didn’t know how long, until her eyes closed and she dozed in Tyler’s arms.
* * * *
Laura exited the bathroom in her short blue silk robe. She’d bought the robe because it made her feel sexy. Now, with Tyler’s gaze riveted on her as if he’d never seen another woman, she felt slightly awkward.
The morning after. Or in this case, the afternoon after. She’d never been any good with those, had preferred to use the excuse of leaving and getting ready for work than actually talking. Tyler’s gaze caressed her as if she wasn’t wearing her robe, as if his hands touched her as they had an hour or so ago.
Licking her lips, Laura watched his gaze follow the movement. Arousal sparked low in her belly and spread through her in a flash. She cleared her throat and pushed whatever awkwardness she felt away.
To her surprise, it wasn’t as overwhelming as she thought. Maybe a niggling distraction, but nothing more.
The mus
cular chest peeking out of the hotel sheet? Very distracting. His hands casually resting on the bed and the memory of them on her body? Definitely distracting.
“Are we still officially on our hooky day?” she asked and sat on the bed.
He took her hand and folded his fingers through hers. “Best hooky day ever.” He smiled, and that slow grin made her stomach swoop.
Laura laughed and somehow, though she wasn’t sure why, stopped herself from leaning over and kissing him. “I only ask, because I noticed the message light flashing on the phone.”
He tilted his head for a heartbeat then looked over at the bedside table. Oh, he was graceful even when he twisted like that, and Laura moved closer. She wanted to lick up his chest.
“When did you check that?” he asked.
She blinked. What? Oh. The phone. “When I was in the bathroom,” she admitted with a blush.
Laura didn’t know if she blushed because of her thoughts or being caught almost working. Either. Both. Not that it mattered.
“Sam left me a message.” And he’d sounded smug, too, as if he’d known what she’d gotten up to with Tyler, but Laura had no idea how he could possibly have known already. “The specs on the Napa Valley project are waiting on my desk.”
Oh, that was dumb. How stupid was she to tell this amazingly sexy man that despite the mind-blowing orgasm she’d just had, and the fact she wanted to do it again, she’d checked her phone messages like she needed an excuse?
The one time she didn’t…
He looked at her for another beat then grinned. Relief fluttered in her chest and now she did lean over to kiss him. Honestly, how could she resist?
“We really are a couple dorks excited about work.” But his voice held a distinct humorous note, and his smile was lopsided and slightly goofy.
Unable to help herself, she kissed him again, sliding closer and trailing her fingers up his chest. She hadn’t the time to properly taste him, to explore his body as he had hers. Laura planned to remedy that.
As soon as they looked at the Napa Valley specs.
They climbed from bed and slowly dressed. Never had she dressed another. Well, another adult. Friends’ kids most definitely didn’t count. But as her fingers buttoned up Tyler’s shirt, closing the material over too-tempting skin, she kissed her way up his chest to his mouth.
His hands tangled in her hair, but Laura didn’t care. She didn’t care if she looked rumpled and like she’d just had the best sex of her life.
She had.
Tugging on a pair of wide-legged pants and a thin wool sweater, she looked over her shoulder and grinned at him. He’d rolled up his shirtsleeves and eschewed his jacket, hands finding their way into his trouser pockets. It made him look unintentionally sexy, and she wondered if he knew how damn good he looked.
Laura had the feeling he didn’t. It just wasn’t fair that he was so effortlessly sexy, but on the other hand, it made her want to forget work and jump him.
Wow. That had never happened.
But she held out her hand and they made their way back to the elevators. Sam had gone for the day and Laura looked at her watch. It was later than she thought—was that what happened when one played hooky?
She’d have to do it more often. As long as it was with Tyler.
The Napa Valley specs were on her desk just as Sam’s message indicated. Taking them to the long conference table opposite the windows, Laura spread them out. Tyler didn’t stand next to her but rather behind her.
He pressed close against her, his body hard and warm on her back. Shivering, she pressed back and felt his hardness against the curve of her ass. Words escaped her; they were utterly irrelevant compared to the feel of her lover’s body against hers.
“This is going to be a lot of fun,” he said. Laura forced her attention back to the survey plans. “There’s a lot of room to play with.”
Rooms to play in? Oh, yes that sounded…oh. The hotel. Laura cleared her throat.
“Yes. And what you can’t see here,” she said, doing her damnedest to remember how to be a hotel developer, “is how gorgeous the view of the valley is from this location. It’s a good thing Sabrina and Gideon went to such lengths to buy this property.”
Tyler kissed the side of her neck, his breath warm and soft against her sensitive skin. “Not as beautiful as today. As you. It doesn’t get any better than this.” His lips moved along her skin, his fingers brushing her hair out of the way.
Oh. She’d meant to put her hair up, a little more professional rather than the mess of tangles the dark locks no doubt looked. But then his lips were brushing along the nape of her neck, and what did looking professional matter?
“Yes it does,” she said on a breathless laugh. “We can have hot chocolate.”
Tyler laughed and went to order it. Laura forced her gaze back to the plans, but every fiber of her being knew his every move as if she watched him. His voice washed over her, the low timber of it as he ordered hot chocolate and sandwiches sparking along her skin.
It was so easy to be with Tyler, to move from the bedroom to the office and still have that sexiness. Compatible, she decided. Maybe not completely and maybe she was letting the afterglow of really fantastic sex rosy her outlook, but she felt none of the awkwardness or uncomfortable need to fill the silence she normally did.
Laura turned and watched him walk back across the office. Tyler was right—they were two consenting adults, and if this was nothing more than a holiday fling, then so be it.
Chapter Eight
Laura blinked awake and stretched, careful not to wake Tyler. Groggy, she lifted her head and glanced at the alarm clock. She quickly turned it off and snuggled back beneath the covers and deeper into his embrace.
It had been two weeks since their day playing hooky, and they’d spent every night since together. She’d tasted every inch of him, explored his body so thoroughly and still wanted him with a burning need that not only surprised her, but made her feel completely wanton. Tyler made her laugh and he made her feel things she’d only ever dreamed of.
In the past two weeks, Laura had given up all pretense of not wanting Tyler Kamari or trying to keep him at arm’s length. Separate rooms? It was a waste he even still had his hotel room when they spent every night, and a good portion of the day, in hers. Specifically her bed.
It was a different sensation, actually sleeping with someone, but Laura loved it. She embraced the wild sex, the softer, more exploratory sex, the way he growled her name just before he climaxed. And the way he held her after.
Humming, she carefully slipped from bed and grabbed her robe from the bench at the foot of it. The Christmas tree they’d bought last week winked merrily from the corner of the room and she grinned. Slipping the robe over her naked body, Laura didn’t bother to tie it.
“So much for modesty.”
She grinned and padded into the bathroom. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her reflection and stopped cold. Her hair was mussed from sleep and Tyler’s fingers, and her lips swollen. The skin between shoulder and neck was marked, a darkening bruise that reminded her of the way Tyler had lost control last night.
Shivering, she quickly turned on the shower.
“Wanton woman, indeed,” she muttered and hung up the robe.
But she wasn’t upset about it; in fact, it made her feel freer than she ever had before. Free? Hmm, interesting choice of words, Laura decided as she wet her hair. What made her choose that word?
Because she felt freer letting Tyler see her naked? Yes, but as she lathered her hair, Laura knew it was more.
Wild. Yes, she felt wild and wanton and wicked and probably a few other “W” words. Grinning as she rinsed her hair, Laura embraced it. She’d already jumped—why not hit the ground running? Better than stumbling along.
“Why not?” she wondered as she washed the rest of her body.
And these last weeks with Tyler were so much better than any fantasy she’d ever managed to conjure. Because it was r
eal. They worked together, planning the additions to the skating rink and carefully going over the punch list Sabrina had sent. Laura loved that they talked shop and so easily, too, not in the stilted way she often had to explain her work to others. They also talked about other things. Family and friends and Christmas.
Christmas.
Laura stepped from the shower and wrapped her hair in a towel. Tyler’s Christmas present should arrive today. Chewing her lip, she hoped it was all right. After all, they’d only been lovers for two weeks.
Her stomach flipped, and a flush she knew wasn’t from the hot shower spread over her. Two weeks, maybe, but it felt right.
All right, so they hadn’t spent every second of their days together, but it felt like it. And in the absolute best of ways. Because she missed him when they needed to actually work—when she needed to return calls or when Tyler wandered around the skating rink, taking measurements and drafting designs.
Every time, each and every time that happened, though, when he returned and smiled at her, her toes curled and her stomach swooped in anticipation. And every time he smiled and held her, he told her he’d missed her.
His words warmed a place inside her Laura hadn’t realized was cold. They made her feel cherished, she supposed was the word.
Christmas was in only two days, and the anticipation of it shot through Laura. The bathroom door opened, and an entirely different anticipation moved through her. Still as sharp as that first day, her arousal pooled low and slick.
Watching him out of the corner of her eye, Laura ran a wide-toothed comb through her hair and went about her morning routine. She loved teasing him; it was a side of herself she’d never indulged in, had never really been bold enough to.
“Enjoy your shower?” he asked, leaning one naked hip on the counter.
Laura tried not to let her gaze wander. Really she did. But he was absolutely perfect to her, and she loved just watching him.
“Yup,” she said and squeezed face moisturizer onto her hands.
Christmas Curvy: A Curvy Girl's Holiday Fling Page 6