by Kitty French
She turned her head on the pillow to look at him, and her fingers ached to reach out and stroke the proud slant of his cheekbone.
Sleep had robbed him of his trademark cocky smile and easy confidence, leaving him stripped bare and vulnerable as a child. There was a sweetness to the sweep of his lashes on his cheek, and an innocence to the cupid bow of his top lip. Studying him, Sophie could almost see the carefree, tearaway child he must have been. Who was he? How had he gone from child to man, from innocent boy to self-styled leader of a movement for sexual liberation?
His home offered no clues to his past, and the internet had proved equally unforthcoming when it came to revealing the boy behind the man.
He sighed in his sleep, and Sophie turned her body fully into the circle of his arms. He gathered her closer, and she breathed him in. Whoever he was, right now she was just glad to have him in her life.
She slept.
Lucien clicked off his mobile. All of the arrangements were in place, the work of minutes. It was one of the things he appreciated most about his wealth - it waved a magic wand and made anything possible.
He needed his private jet readied for take-off with three hours’ notice? No problem.
He wanted the lodge prepared by lunchtime? Consider it done.
Money talked, for sure. But right now the only conversation he was interested in using it to facilitate was the one where Sophie realised that she held all of the aces, not her husband.
As far as he could see, marriage was all about power. His own father had held all of the cards in his parents’ marriage, his mother perpetually playing a losing hand.
When Sophie had walked into his office last Monday evening, the defensive look in her eyes at the mention of her marriage had stirred deep-seated memories, decades-old echoes of a similarly haunted look in his mother’s eyes.
But then, last night, that look had been nowhere to be seen on Sophie's face, especially not in the seconds before she'd come. By the end of the weekend the look would be banished forever.
A grim smile touched the corners of his mouth at the thought of Daniel Black returning home on Sunday. The man was in for one hell of a shock.
Sophie dashed around her suburban semi, throwing clothes and her passport into the overnight bag that lay flung open on the bed. Her home felt like a doll’s house after Lucien's mansion, and just a couple of days of standing empty had lent it a forlorn air that she was anxious to escape from. Lucien had given her exactly ten minutes, and then he was turning off the engine and coming in to get her. This she did not want. He had no place here, in her home.
She had no idea where they were headed or what to pack, but instinct had her throwing in her prettiest underwear and her favourite dress and heels. Lucien had suggested she also bring a coat, so she zipped her bag and laid her cherry red wool coat on top of it. She was ready.
In her haste to get into the car before Lucien got out of it, she never noticed the flashing light on the answering machine in the hallway.
Sophie had only ever flown in economy class, so climbing aboard a private jet an hour or so later was something of a culture shock. There had been no duty free shopping or check-in queues, just a uniformed driver to take Lucien's Aston away for him as they moved straight from the car to the steps of the pristine black aircraft emblazoned with the Knight Inc. logo. The captain greeted Lucien warmly; wherever the destination was, it seemed to be a journey Lucien made regularly.
Inside the cabin, the aircraft was the last word in aviation luxury.
And what else would she have expected? Deep leather recliners, gleaming wooden panels and expensive fittings surrounded her, and it came as no surprise that they were the only passengers.
Lucien dispensed with his black leather jacket as soon as the doors were closed.
"Is this your jet?" Sophie asked.
Lucien shrugged. "I fly a lot."
She glanced behind her.
"Are there any cabin crew?"
"Do you want there to be?"
Sophie's brows knitted together. Did she? Was she content to be alone in the skies with Lucien?
"I don't think I do," she said eventually.
Lucien nodded, and waved an arm towards the seating area.
"We're going to be in the air for around five hours. Make yourself comfortable."
Five hours? That was far more than Sophie had anticipated, and worry prickled over her skin. She was flying God knows where with a man she'd only known for a few days. What if she didn't make it home on time?
Guilt swooped in and landed heavily on her chest. She was thinking like a deceitful lover. Did Dan feel this way every time he met with the woman he'd decided was more worthy of his attention that she was? Did he worry about covering his tracks? She thought about it, and much as she tried to retrospectively apply guilt and remorse to Dan's behaviour, she drew a blank. What did that tell her? Either her husband wasn't bothered if she uncovered his infidelity, or else he genuinely believed that she was too stupid to join the dots. Neither option gave her much comfort.
"Don't worry, Cinders. You'll be home by sun-up on Sunday."
Sophie nodded and sank down into the nearest recliner, grateful once again for Lucien's perceptiveness.
She needed to think like a man, to compartmentalise her life. She could do that. She could lock her marital problems away in a sealed file marked with Sunday's date. She visualised herself closing the file and setting the seal, and then storing it away in the recesses of her head. Dan no doubt had none of these problems, but then wasn't he so much more practised in the art of deceit?
"Where are we going?" she asked, as much to fill her head with something new as from genuine curiosity.
"We're flying north." Lucien settled into the seat next to hers.
That really wasn't much help. Geography wasn't Sophie's strongest point.
"North?"
"Stop asking questions and trust me."
Sophie leaned back and closed her eyes. Being with this man was so easy, he was a born leader and she found herself more than content to follow. It was a thrill to be around someone who always knew exactly what to do.
Someone who right now had just tipped her chair back to full recline and was undoing the buttons of her filmy black chiffon blouse.
She kept her eyes closed, even though her body was screamingly awake to his touch. It was barely breakfast time, yet it seemed that Lucien was hungry for something other than bacon and eggs.
"Flying makes me horny," Lucien said as he finished her buttons and pulled her blouse out of her waistband.
Sophie bit her lip but didn't open her eyes.
"Are you sure the pilot can't see us?"
Lucien slid down the side zip of her skirt.
"If he’s watching us instead of the skies, we'll know about it soon enough. There are mountains up ahead."
She lifted her hips a fraction to allow him to slide the skirt off.
Black underwear had been a necessity with her choice of blouse. The delicate, raw-edged lace of the balconette bra and high cut knickers made her feel feminine and voluptuous, and from Lucien's low, appreciative whistle, it seemed that he approved too.
Up to then she'd never had the remotest interest in joining the mile high club, but if she had, then being seduced in a private jet by a Norse love god certainly beat being ravaged in the cramped loo on Easyjet, hands down.
Sophie opened her eyes and looked into Lucien's piercing blue ones. She saw lazy lust, and could almost hear the cogs of his mind whirring as he debated what to do with her first.
So why did he have to make all the decisions, all the time?
Suddenly brave, Sophie flipped her seat back into an upright position. With satisfaction, she noted the flicker of surprise in Lucien's eyes, and then the shift from surprise to anticipation when she stood up and dropped to her knees in front of him. What next?
Sophie licked her lips. Lucien sat still and watched her, one eyebrow slightly raised. Nerves danced a tango in her bell
y.
Did she have what it took to be in control of this man at this moment, to make him feel the way he did her?
There was only one way to find out. She reached out a hand to the shirt button at the base of his throat and pushed it open. His eyebrow inched a little higher, while her fingers inched a little lower, opening the next button.
Pop, pop, pop, and suddenly he was bared to his washboard abs. Sophie sighed with satisfaction, struck all over again by how perfectly sculpted he was.
How could someone so gorgeous not be vain? Because he wasn't. He was cocksure and verging on arrogant, but he didn't use his beauty as a weapon in the way many would be tempted to. It was just there, ready to scorch the eyeballs off anyone whose gaze lingered on him for more than a few seconds. Right now, Sophie was on fire.
She grazed her nails down his hard chest, through the smattering of golden hairs all the way to the barrier of his belt buckle. It was in her way. She worked it open in a couple of seconds, and as soon as she released it she could feel his erection straining for release from his jeans. Knowing that she'd excited him excited her too, and she leaned in, wrapping herself around him to claim the kiss that waited for her on his lips. Slow and intensely sexual, the lingering caress of his mouth wiped out any doubts about her ability to take the lead for a while.
With a little regret, she braced her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back against his seat. He took it well. Rolling his shoulders and settling in, he lifted himself for her when she put her hands on the top of his jeans and dragged them down to his feet.
How come he was the one in the compromising position, yet she was the one who felt more exposed?
His cock rose between them, hard, proud and mouth-watering. Sophie closed her eyes for a second and swallowed, then looked into Lucien's eyes and ran her tongue over her top lip.
"Tell me what you want me to do, Lucien," she breathed. "I won't do it unless you tell me."
He reached out and tapped her nose lightly. "Touché, Ms. Black. Now stroke my cock."
A tiny smile flitted across her lips as she reached out and circled him with her fingers. He shifted in response to her hands on him and watched, mesmerised, as she brought her hands up to her lips and dampened her fingers with her own saliva. His cock was solid silk underneath the slick stroke of her hands, his balls warm and heavy as she cupped them. She flicked him one of his almost imperceptible trademark winks. She was enjoying this, the shift in power, using the skills he'd taught her to turn him on. Leaning in, she tongued his nipples then glanced down at her hands around his erection.
"Like this, Mr. Knight?" she asked, then leisurely licked her fingers again and interlocked her hands around him. Jesus, he was hard. She stroked his length, letting her thumbs slide over the throbbing head with every upward sweep. Lucien responded with a heavy groan and pushed his cock harder into her hands.
"Come on, Lucien," Sophie whispered, giddy with lust. "Spell it out for me."
His eyes were so dark that she could barely make out any blue, and his chest rose in tell-tale shallow rasps.
"Suck my cock, Sophie. Slide your gorgeous mouth all the way over it."
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Sophie moistened her lips and settled her bottom on her ankles between his knees, then leaned in close and ran the tip of her tongue around the head of his cock. Holding him firmly, she took him in her mouth and swirled her tongue around him until he moaned and one of his hands snaked into her hair. Lust blazed a trail through Sophie all the way down to her sex, ignited by the thrill of kneeling in front of him and being held down.
He was a feast, and she gorged on him. Every slide and swirl of her tongue, every bob of her head pushed him closer, made him harder, until he wasn't stroking her hair so much as grasping her head in both hands and thrusting into her mouth. Sophie stepped up the co-ordinated speed of her slippery hands and her sliding mouth, feeling him hot and hard and about to burst. She glanced up the contours of his body to find him watching her, and the intimacy of the eye contact was all it took to send him over the edge. His hips juddered and salty hot semen pumped into the back of her throat, evidence of what she'd done to him. What she'd done for him.
She swallowed it down, his cock still throbbing in her mouth, his hands gentle now on her hair and shoulders. Sophie closed her eyes and laid her cheek against the firmness of his thigh, her lips lazy over his balls as she listened to his breathing turn slowly from ragged to steady.
"I guess that's another one you can cross off that list of yours. Or two actually," she said, drawing herself up on her knees to face him.
"Two?" His arms slid around her and pulled her close against his naked body.
"Two." She nodded for emphasis, enjoying the heat of his chest against hers. "For one, I've joined the mile high club."
His mouth twisted. "It's a tacky reference, but I’ll accept it. And the second?"
"I've blown my boss." Sophie felt her cheeks flare pink as soon as the words left her mouth.
Lucien nodded. "But we still need to work on that blush."
He reached around her and unclipped her bra, then slid it off her body. "You're still blushing."
What did he expect? She was kneeling between his thighs wearing nothing but her underwear as his private jet bore her through the skies, destination unknown. This was not her average Friday morning.
"You're pink all the way from here..." - he touched his fingers to her warm cheeks - "To here." He swept his fingertips down her neck to hold her breasts in his palms like a fruit seller might cup oranges, his thumbs playing with her nipples. He ducked down to suck each one in turn, then licked her lips before sliding his tongue into her mouth.
"Stand up."
She heard his quiet command, but faltered with a fresh attack of nerves.
"Sophie..." his tone was quiet but brooked no argument. Still hot-cheeked, she got to her feet. She felt intensely exposed, standing in the cabin of the jet in just her knickers. And then she felt even more exposed when Lucien peeled them down her legs.
"Step out of them."
She lifted one foot and then the other for him to remove them over her high heels.
"And stop blushing."
"I can't," she said, and clamped her hands to her cheeks. She was completely nude and Lucien's head was level with her crotch. "You're certain the pilot won't come in?"
Lucien looked up from between her legs and ran one fingertip all the way from her perineum to the front of her sex.
"I'm certain." His finger swept back along the same path. "I couldn't swear for the co-pilot though."
Sophie gasped. "There's more than one of them through there?" She glanced towards the cockpit doorway and tried to step back, but Lucien's hands landed on her hips and held her captive.
"Lucien, I..." Sophie's protest died on her lips at the first touch of his insistent tongue. However much she feared being caught naked by the co-pilot, the wicked anticipation of what Lucien was about to do was more compelling. He scooted forward to sit on the edge of his seat, his beautiful face upturned between her spread legs. Sophie couldn't recall ever feeling more sexual than at that moment, standing in stiletto heels, naked, with her incredible lover gazing right up into her sex. And then she felt more raunchy still, as he spread her open with his fingers and stroked the tip of his tongue over her clitoris.
He looked up her body and locked eyes with her. Sophie sucked in a deep breath, beyond turned on at the sight of him buried nose deep in her sex. She jittered deliciously, not knowing where to put her hands. She'd tried them on her hips but the stance felt too contrived, flaunting herself overtly.
Flaunting overtly was about right, there was no getting away from it.
"Play with your tits," he said, close against her clitoris, and the vibrations of his voice on her flesh made her quiver. She cupped her breasts as he watched, and he rewarded her by pushing two fingers inside her and pumping them slowly.
Sophie lost any lingering inhibitions and threw h
er head back in abandonment as Lucien made a thorough exploration of her sex with his tongue. He fucked her with his fingers and her orgasm came inevitably hard and fast. She reached down and clutched his head to her as he relentlessly swirled his tongue over her clitoris.
His mouth stilled slowly as her fingers loosened in his hair. He looked up and inclined his head towards a door at one end of the cabin.
"Just for future reference, Princess... there's a bedroom through there."
Sophie looked at him incredulously, but he just lifted a nonchalant shoulder.
He'd deliberately placed her in a position where they might be seen rather than retire to the privacy of the bedroom.
"You could have said."
"Why? So you could hide? Be honest, Sophie. Knowing someone might walk in on us made it even hotter, didn't it?" Challenge lit his blue eyes.
Sophie bent to step into her knickers and thought about his question. 'Be honest', he'd said. Honesty was the one thing her marriage was woefully short on, so Lucien's demand of it in every aspect of his life was something she was coming to admire greatly. He was the Svengali of his own sexual honesty cult, and she was a willing handmaiden.
"Honestly?" She snapped her bra back in place as he fastened his belt. "Yes. It added something to think someone… someone in uniform… might come through and discover us." There was a thrill in just admitting it. She paused, trying to find the words to express herself. "It felt... naughtier."
He raised his eyebrows at her.
"You have a thing for uniforms then, Ms. Black?"
"What? No!" Sophie buttoned her blouse out of sequence and had to unbutton it and start again. "I just mean that I see what you mean. The possibility of being caught was... umm... sexy."
Lucien nodded. "I think you've just added a new item to the list for us to work on."
She looked up quizzically as she zipped her skirt.
Lucien shrugged his shirt back on.
"Voyeurism."
Fully dressed again, Sophie shook her head firmly.
"Wherever we're going, Lucien, I'm not having outdoor sex while people watch."