by London Casey
“Ry’s crew is terrific. You’ll see more of the Rodriguezes. They’ve already issued invitations for three barbeques this year. If you stick around, Sarah will recruit you to join the long line of godfathers for her first baby.”
“The honored nineteenth position?” He asked.
Eden laughed. “The biggest number has the least obligation. You might be able to push a rookie ahead of you in order to move a little further down the line.”
“I’ll remember your willingness to throw the rookies under the bus,” he said, amusement lightening his tone.
Happy to have distracted him from the past, Eden shrugged helplessly and smiled. “I am what I am.”
With gentle pressure, Seth guided her to a set of steps leading back up to street level. She began to ascend the steps ahead of him. She got no more than three steps before she felt his hands grip her waist, stopping her with her right foot poised on the next step.
“Don’t move,” he commanded. His voice was tight, back to the quiet, tense timbre. But this was different from his strained responses to her questions. This was…male. Immediately, she slipped back in time to the morning, when his voice had been low first from sleep, then from teasing. Her focus shifted of its own volition, narrowing from awareness to the world around them until it pinpointed on the sudden heaviness in her abdomen.
Eden froze in the process of turning her head to look at him.
His big hands left her waist and resettled on her ankles. Eden sucked in a surprised breath as his fingertips skimmed over her calves to the backs of her knees. Her legs nearly buckled and heat shot through her body, tightening her nipples into hard points against the lace of her teddy. She stifled a moan as his fingers feathered under the hem of her dress.
“You wore a skirt for me.”
“Yes.”
“I like it. And I appreciate that you did it for me. I like to show my appreciation.”
Eden’s eyes popped wide as her brain stuttered over the possibilities inherent in that statement. The crotch of her teddy dampened.
His fingers moved inexorably upward in slow, torturous increments, brushed up the backs of her legs to the curve of her ass. He teased his fingers along the edge of her cheeks, from the outer curve of her hip around to just the edge of the teddy between her legs.
Eden let out a strangled moan as the sensation stabbed through her. Could he feel how wet she was getting?
He moved his hands up to cup her rear end. He kneaded the firm flesh there.
“Seth,” she whispered, pushing back into his touch.
“I said don’t move, Eden.”
Oh, God. His voice was raspy and dark. Just hearing it sent another flood of moisture to her sex.
One hand suddenly left her to push her hem to her waist, leaving her barely-covered bottom and dampening crotch exposed. She dragged a thick, humid gulp of air into her lungs and tightened her hand around the stair rail. Who would have thought this would turn her on so much?
His fingertips skimmed between her thighs from behind, skating back to front along the strip of moist silk. They paused to explore the fastenings. “Oh, now, isn’t that nice? Three little snaps between me and that wet pussy.”
Eden squeezed her eyes shut. A tiny sound escaped her throat as her inner muscles contracted in response to him: rough voice, deliberate touch, dirty words.
He hooked a finger under the snaps at her crotch, pressing his knuckle to her swollen, slick folds. Eden rocked her hips and moaned. He felt so good. His knuckle was bony and hard. She wanted to press down until his finger sank inside her hungry body.
Seth dragged his finger back and forth along her slit, setting her nerve endings on fire with pleasure. Eden bit her lip. A shudder worked through her body. “Please don’t stop doing that.”
“You smell good, baby,” he murmured against her shoulder. His next words were a whisper at her ear. “Makes me want to taste that juicy pussy.”
Eden jolted and parted her lips, unable to breathe deep enough through her nose. She wanted him to taste her. She wanted him to use his mouth to send her over the edge. She wanted him to step up behind her and push his cock between her legs to ease the burning ache that grew inside her. It didn’t matter that she was a virgin and had never had her pussy eaten. She wanted him to skip past preliminaries and go straight to sucking and fucking her. And she didn’t care if it was right there, on the steps to the canal where anyone could see.
“I’m not going to,” he said, reassuring her that one of them retained some sense. “But I am going to have a look. Just a quick peek at that hot little hole of yours.”
Her muscles spasmed. “Seth—”
“Shhh. In a minute.” Instead of unsnapping the crotch of the teddy, he pulled it over to one side, baring the hot, wet folds for his pleasure. The sudden rush of air over her heated flesh sent a shudder through her. She was shaking with the need to orgasm.
“Pretty. I want more light for this. I’ll open you up and have a nice, long look before I fuck you.”
She had never felt so achy, so needy in her life. The contrast between his harsh, crude words and his gentle touch was driving her wild. “God. Seth, please.”
“Please what, baby?” He asked, sliding his now-wet finger up to press her clit into her pubic bone. The sharp pleasure made her knees wobble. His free hand steadied her hip.
“Touch me.”
“I am touching you. I have my finger right on your little clit.”
“Oh, God.”
“Tell me what you want, baby. Do you want to come?”
“Yes, please, yes.”
“Tell me.”
Eden swallowed convulsively, her womb clenching and her hips trembling. The pleasure ran like an electrical current through her body. “Make me come.”
“My pleasure.” His finger softened on her clit and began to move in fast rotation.
The sensation was too much. Her back arched and her body stiffened. As his finger continued its circular motion, her thighs began to shake. The pressure built and built until there was nowhere for it to go, and her body exploded in a rush of sensation, a startled cry erupting from her mouth.
Seth caught her as she sagged against his body. She rested there for a moment with his left arm banding her to him and his right hand still gently petting her sensitive flesh.
Too soon, he replaced the crotch of her teddy and pulled his hand from between her thighs. She slowly regained control of her limbs and stood on her own shaky legs. As her breathing steadied, she became aware of the fact that his breathing was still harsh and fast. She turned slowly to face him.
His face was set in rigid lines of arousal. In the dim light she couldn’t see his eyes, but she knew his pupils would be dilated.
“Are you going to lick your fingers?” She whispered, shocked at her own words, amazed at the wickedness he inspired.
His nostrils flared widely. She watched him lift his hand to his mouth and suck her wetness from his knuckles. She had never in her life witnessed anything as erotic. It rekindled the flame between her legs. She licked her lips, her eyes glued to his mouth.
“Sweet. You taste like raw sugar and sea water.”
Leaning forward, she rested her hands on his broad shoulders. For the first time, she felt the hard muscles under her hands. She pressed her lips to his, breathing in the scent of his skin and her sex. She slid her tongue out to lap at the corners of his mouth. His hands came up to cup her jaw. He gently pulled her head back from his, breaking the kiss.
“Stop,” he muttered. “Stop or I’ll fuck you right here.”
She bit her lip. She was tempted, sorely tempted, to push him. She wet her lips with her tongue again. “I could, ah…help you.”
“And do what? Suck my cock right here, right now? You ever sucked cock, baby?”
Eden’s eyes flared wide. “No.”
His hands hardened on her face, his fingers digging into the sides of her head. “Ryan says you’ve never fucked either. Is t
hat true? Are you a virgin?”
Eden swallowed. “Yes,” she said hoarsely.
He crowded her on the step, pressed against her until the rail lodged against her lower back. Grasping her waist, he pulled her forward and tilted her hips until her still-throbbing mound pressed into his rock-hard erection. He ground his hips into her, thrusting over her sensitized flesh through their clothing.
“Do you know what we are going to do now, Eden?”
She shook her head, her eyes glued to his. He looked so fierce.
“We are going back to the car. And then we are going to your place.”
“Okay.”
He turned her around and practically frog-marched her up the stairs. During the hurried, silent walk back to the car, the heat of what they had done on the steps began to dissipate, leaving Eden shaky and a little afraid of the brutal control Seth displayed. She knew he was holding himself in check only as far as the door of her townhouse. The drive was tense, and Eden’s nerves stretched tighter and tighter the closer they got to her home. She knew, intellectually, what was involved, and she knew what she wanted. But intellect couldn’t compete with the instinctive trepidation any woman experienced making herself completely vulnerable to a man. Especially a man like Seth.
Too soon, they stood together in front of her door. She fumbled her keys, painfully aware that the door was the last stop, the last place she could change her mind. Seth would rightfully expect her to know her limits. She didn’t doubt he would honor a call to halt, but she also didn’t doubt his estimation of her would drop if she told him to stop after saying “go” as many times as she already had. A man like Seth made statements with conviction, with full confidence that he meant to end as he began. In turn, he expected the same from people he dealt with, lovers especially. She wanted a relationship like that with a man, a relationship that operated on straightforward intentions and actions.
The heavy weight of his hand on her shoulder startled her into dropping her keys. “You’re nervous.”
He turned her toward him, his face shadowed. His body only brushed hers, but she could feel the tension in him. “You can change your mind. This is a big step for you.”
She knew her decision, but his unexpected offer of reprieve eased her mind, removing a fear she hadn’t known she had. “I’m not changing my mind. I just don’t know what I’m doing, and that makes me nervous. I’ve never done this, and I hate making mistakes. I don’t want to make mistakes with you.”
He bent down to scoop up the keys. “Keep telling me the truth like that and you won’t make any mistakes.”
Eden shifted to the side, letting him reach past her to unlock the door. His words were spoken lightly but she felt the weight of them on the back of her neck, heavy as his hand had been on her shoulder. Questions slipped past the edges of her desire and uncertainty but she pushed them back. Questions could wait.
Seth nudged the door open. Eden crossed the threshold into blessed relief of air conditioning. He entered behind her, closed and locked the door. The sound of the chain bolt sliding triggered a flutter in her stomach. She rarely used that lock because it restricted Ryan, Kit and Michael’s access. She turned to say as much to him, but the stubborn set to his jaw quieted her protest. The thunder-cloud color of his eyes told her he already knew.
“The back door,” she offered, willing to concede this measure of privacy he demanded. “You’ll want to secure that chain, too.”
“I will.” He crossed the open floor plan to her kitchen and made short work of the lock.
Taking advantage of the brief distance between them, Eden exhaled and kneaded the back of her neck. Ryan had left a lamp glowing in the living room. She instinctively gravitated toward the light.
Seth’s touch at her elbow forestalled her. “Upstairs, Eden.”
Her cheeks flushed hot despite the climate control. Mutely, she changed course and ascended the stairs, her legs loose and unsteady as she recalled the outcome of her earlier venture along this path, ahead of him on a flight of stairs. This time, he refrained from touching her. When she reached the landing, she palmed the wall switch. Light illuminated the narrow stretch of carpet that ran between the stairs and her bedroom. Seth’s breath stirred her hair as he joined her, encouraging her to leave the stairs behind.
Outside, she hadn’t noticed the heat of his body. It had melded with the humid night. Now his presence behind her scorched the bare backs of her legs and upper arms.
“You’re too quiet.” He wrapped his hands around her biceps and squeezed firmly. “That’s going to stop. Once we’re in your bedroom, you need to tell me what’s going on in your head. Do you understand?”
She opened her mouth to protest but he put a finger across her lips. The feel of his slightly rough fingertip against the sensitive flesh caused her to shiver.
“Not yet.”
He flicked his finger over her lips before moving his head in a gesture urging her forward. The half dozen steps down the hall seemed like an eternity, but she finally stepped through the doorway to the bedroom.
Unerringly, his hand found the light switch, dispelling the darkness. He closed the door, the soft click of the latch loud in the room.
On unsteady legs, she crossed the room to the bed. She was in uncharted territory. Should she strip? Should she let him take her clothes off for her? What was she supposed to do?
“Stop.”
His abrupt command jerked her to a halt like a puppet on strings. She turned to face him. He was still at the door, leaning back against it with his arms crossed. The pose made his biceps bulge and emphasized the lean lines of his waist and hips. It reminded her of the ball, when he’d taken a similar pose in the meeting room. Her mouth watered.
“Now. Tell me.”
She flushed. This was not how she imagined her first time. Somehow she’d thought it would all just… happen. She looked down at her sandals then back up at him. “I…don’t know what to do. I hate not knowing what to do. If you’d just kiss me or something, I would know what to do. But now? I don’t. What do you want?”
He pushed away from the door. “You, Eden. I want you. I want you spread out for me, I want you on your knees for me, I want you any way I can think of. I want inside you, in every way. You don’t know what to do? I can help you with that. I can tell you what I want, what I want to do. I like the way you react when I tell you what I want to do. On the steps, when I told you I wanted to open you up and look at you, I could feel how wet that made you.”
He was absolutely right. She found it incredibly arousing.
His fingertips skimmed over the straps of her sundress. “How does this fasten?”
“It doesn’t.”
“Take it off.”
She stepped out of her sandals and a sudden bout of shyness overwhelmed her. She wasn’t self-conscious about her body, she knew he would like what he saw, but she was still reluctant. A niggle of doubt crept into the back of her mind. She bit her lip.
“What are you thinking?”
Damn. His full-disclosure rule. Studying his shoulder, she said, “I was hoping you like a bare…um, a shaved…”
“Say it.”
“Because I can’t undo it now that it’s been done.”
“Eden.”
“Pussy.” The word felt strange on her lips. She blinked and glanced at his face, said it again experimentally. “I was hoping you like my shaved pussy.”
His lips quirked, the first break she’d seen in his carefully controlled expression. “Did you hear any objections when I was touching you earlier?”
She shook her head. “No, but touching and seeing are different.”
“Baby, I would take you any way you presented yourself. Let’s get that clear now.”
She inhaled and blew out the breath, trying to exhale her errant thoughts. “All right. I would’ve waxed if you’d given me more time.”
“I like catching you unprepared. Now. Take off your dress.”
Wishing she ha
d worn something with fastenings so she wouldn’t have to start from the bottom, Eden nodded and gathered the hem. Goosebumps dotted her legs as she bared her knees, then her thighs. She lost track of Seth’s expression when she peeled the skirt and bodice over her head. When she emerged from the folds of the dress, she found him close enough to touch. Her nipples peaked beneath the lace covering her breasts.
Seth took her dress from her hands and discarded it before she had a chance to use it as a shield. His fingertips traced the line of the teddy’s spaghetti straps down to the seam that joined them to the cups, then kept going, mapping the scalloped trim across the swell of her breasts. She tucked her chin against her chest, watching the contrast between their complexions with interest.
His fingers paused at the crest of her cleavage. “Tell me.”
She moistened her lips. “You’re very dark.”
“You’re not.”
“I don’t spend a lot of time in the sun. Night shifts. Skin cancer. You know.”
A quick grin lightened his expression, his teeth very white against his golden skin. “I spend a lot of time outside. Farmer’s tan.”
She smiled back. He was such an interesting mix of intensity and moments of unexpected humor. “I can’t wait.”
The smile disappeared. “Oh, but you’re going to.”
Eden blinked, unsure she’d heard him correctly. “What?”
“You’re going to wait.” His fingertips glided between her breasts, down the teddy’s center seam, and stopped above her navel. Her stomach hollowed. Being touched by him felt wonderful but strange and new, too. Wishing she had better reflex control, she concentrated on relaxing her tense muscles. “This is pretty,” he said. “Take it off.”
“You could sing for me,” she suggested, deliberately forcing her thoughts to the preposterous to distract herself from his scrutiny. “I’ve never stripped for a man before. Music might make it easier.”
“I have a terrible sense of tone.” He caught her wrists and pulled her hands forward, brushed her knuckles against his stomach. “Come on, Eden. I want to see you. You’re intelligent enough to know that.”