by Jess Dee
He ran his hands over the length of her back, from her shoulders to her ass.
“Tor?”
“Mmmm?”
“Come back to my room with me.”
“I…probably shouldn’t.” But her voice held no conviction.
“Stay only as long as you’re comfortable. Soon as it doesn’t feel right, you can leave.”
She sighed then. “I can’t, Andrew. I shouldn’t even have come here tonight. It feels odd, you know? Too soon. But I wanted to see you again.” She placed the lightest kiss on his shoulder and pushed herself off him. “I should go now.”
The last thing he’d meant to do was scare her away. But she was on her feet and Andrew knew the moment had passed. Tori wouldn’t be coming back to his room.
He rose reluctantly and pulled up his jeans, taking a minute to properly dispose of the condom in the bin at the entrance of the gazebo. “I’ll walk you back.” He picked up the wine and glasses in one hand. They hadn’t had a chance to drink it.
“You sound disappointed.”
“I am.” No point pretending any differently. “I’d kinda looked forward to making love to you on a real bed. Without stones and splinters sticking into our backs and knees, the possibilities between us seem endless.” He’d anticipated the idea of stripping her slowly, exposing every inch of her stunning body to his view.
“Hey, I hardly noticed the stones and splinters. You had my complete and absolute attention.”
“And yet I seem to have lost it now.” Tori was distracted, looking around the gazebo, kneeling down to peek under the bench.
“I can’t find my panties.”
Andrew shoved his free hand in his pocket. “That’s because they’re not there.”
“You helped get them off. What did you do with them?”
He fingered the lacy material. “Kept them.”
She stood and looked at him. “You kept them?”
He nodded. “I did.”
“Can I have them back?”
“Finders keepers, sweetheart. They’re mine now.”
“Ah. Ah-ha! Um…you wouldn’t happen to have my other pair, would you? From last night?”
“Matter of fact…”
“You took them too?”
“I did.”
“I came looking for them this morning. Couldn’t find them.”
“Now you know why.”
“You have two pairs of my panties?” She sounded intrigued.
Andrew shrugged. “Yeah, I do.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“Andrew, they’re…dirty.”
“I know.” He withdrew the knickers from his pocket, ran them over his face. “And they smell fucking amazing. Just like you.”
“Oh.”
“You’re shocked?”
“A little.” She pressed her hand to her chest. “I’m also a little turned on.”
He held the knickers to his nose, breathing deeply, and his cock twitched and shifted. “Yeah.” He knew his voice had deepened. “Me too.”
“Uh, I have a problem now.”
“What is it?”
“I’m excited, and I don’t have any panties.” She danced from one foot to the other.
And…there it was. Another raging erection. Andrew shoved the panties back in his pocket, dropped his arm over Tori’s shoulder and steered her out of the gazebo and down the stairs.
“You’ve just given me an erection from hell,” he chided
“Good,” she chided back. “Then both of us are in trouble.”
“You realize the second I get back to my room, I’m going to be jerking off to thoughts of you turned on and not wearing underwear?”
She whimpered.
“Too much information?”
“Not enough information,” she snapped.
He steered her through the rose garden. “Seriously, Tor. I don’t think I’ll have time to lock the door before I have my dick in my hand. Three pulls, maybe four, and I’ll be coming all over again. Coming to images of your wet, swollen cunt.”
Her cry was strangled, and they walked for long moments in silence. The rasp of their breaths, heavy and strained, was the only sound besides their soft footsteps.
“Would you…”
“Would I?” he prompted.
“Masturbate to thoughts of me? For real, I mean.”
He pulled her close, whispered in her ear. “Like I did in the shower this morning? When I wrapped my soapy hand around my dick and brought myself off, remembering the feel of your hot mouth wrapped around me? Is that what you mean?”
“That’s, um, exactly what I mean.”
“Well then, I guess my answer would have to be yes.” He nipped her lobe. “Does it make you wetter? Knowing you’ve become my jerk-off fantasy?”
“Just knowing you breathe makes me wet. Knowing you’ve masturbated to thoughts of me?” She shivered violently. “I think I might have just had a mini orgasm.”
A deep laugh rumbled through him. “Touch yourself in your room, Tor. Think of me as you stroke your clit.” Christ, he wanted his face to be the only one she imagined the next time she came. The next five hundred times she came.
“You need to quit talking now, Andrew.”
“Am I making you uncomfortable?”
“No,” she snapped. “You’re making me horny. And if you don’t stop, I’m going to jump you here, in the garden, where anyone might see us.”
“I wouldn’t stop you.”
“Shut up.”
“You can still come back to my room. It’s not too late to say yes.”
“Yes it is. I need to be alone so I can think. Try and figure out what to do with my life.”
“Talk to me about it. I’ll help you figure it out.”
“You’d help me get naked, and then you’d help me come, like you did in the gazebo. Somehow I don’t think my future will be brought up.”
“And that’s a problem?”
“At any other time, it wouldn’t be. But right now?” She sighed. “Yeah, it is.”
“Okay then, whatever you need. I’ll stop pushing.” And he did. Much as he wanted her to come back to his room, he’d never talk her into it. If Victoria came to him, it had to be of her own free will. Any decision she made now had to be her own. Declan had taken that power away from her when he’d made the decision to end their relationship.
Andrew refused to put her in that kind of helpless position again.
But he did keep his arm around her the rest of the way back to the hotel, releasing her only when lights illuminated the path to reception. He’d be happy for the entire world to see them together, but instinct told him Tori wouldn’t. Not a short day after the sudden death of her engagement.
They entered the deserted lobby in silence and said nothing until they reached her room. The passageways were empty.
This time it was Tori who touched his nose. “Will you be there again? At the gazebo at midnight?”
“Would you like me to be there?”
She nodded. “I would.”
“Then I’ll be there.” An army couldn’t keep him away. “Good night, Victoria.”
“Ando?”
“Yeah.”
She dropped her voice to a whisper so soft he had to strain to hear her. “Tell me one more time what you’re going to do when you get back to your room.”
Oh, fuck. As if his balls weren’t already twisted in knots. He dropped his head against the wall and banged it twice. Carefully, so he didn’t wake anyone. He had to clear his throat before he could answer in a whisper as soft as hers. “I’m going to haul my dick out of my pants and jerk off to thoughts of your dripping pussy.”
There was the whimper again. The one that played havoc with his self-restraint. “Ando?”
“Uh-uh. Sorry, Tor.” He pushed off from the wall. “No more questions. Got…got to move it, or I swear I won’t make it back to my room.”
And with that he limped down the passagew
ay, crossed the corridor that led back to the lobby and headed straight to Blake’s suite. His hand shook so badly, he had trouble inserting the key in the slot. He almost howled in relief when the door clicked open.
What he didn’t expect were the hands on his back, nudging him inside, or the soft, feminine voice that whispered in his ear as the door was pushed shut behind him.
“Show me.”
Andrew didn’t question her presence. He didn’t look like he had the ability to question anything. He just watched her walk past him with heavy-lidded eyes.
Tori had barely sat on his bed before he’d set the wine and glasses on the couch closest to him and freed his erection. It was long and hard and impressive, and a vein pulsed along its length.
Her mouth watered. God, he was gorgeous. In the darkness of night, she hadn’t been able to see his face, had relied only on her memories. But with the light shining down, Tori could do nothing but drink in the sight of him. His bewitching brown eyes were almost black with desire, his lips, so soft and sensual, pursed in a fierce scowl of need. And his hair, wavy and brown, was sexily mussed—by her hands.
Andrew palmed his erection, and by the looks of it, squeezed tight, his fingers turning white. “Show me,” he growled, gesturing with his free hand.
Tori, entranced by how fiercely he held himself, failed to react.
“Only fair, sweetheart. It’s your aroused pussy that got me into this condition…” He let out a hoarse moan and tugged at his cock, pulling his hand roughly along its length.
A fresh wave of desire rolled through her.
“Show. Me.” His teeth were gritted together, the muscles in his neck straining against his skin.
Tori didn’t hesitate. She shuffled backwards on the bed, drew one leg up and pulled the skirt of her dress over her hips, exposing herself to Andrew.
His appreciative moan echoed through the room, and he tugged hard on his cock again.
Tori brushed her hand over her inner thigh until she reached her pussy. She ran her finger upward and dipped it shallowly between her lips before holding it up, showing Andrew.
Moisture glistened on her finger.
Andrew groaned and collapsed onto the arm of the couch. “Pleasure yourself.”
It wasn’t a request, and a thrill of delight skittered up her spine. She ran her finger through her engorged, slick folds, sliding it from her pussy to her clit.
Andrew swallowed. “That is the…sexiest…fucking thing I’ve ever seen.” His face was red, his knuckles white.
“Your turn,” she whispered, incapable of projecting her voice any louder.
He gave a vicious shake of his head. “Gonna last all of ten seconds if I let go now.” Precome beaded on his tip.
“So you’re leaving it up to me?”
He opened his mouth to speak, then shook his head and shrugged, as if the very act was too taxing.
Tori’s core temperature shot up. Perspiration beaded on her forehead. God, she was hot. Overheating. The dress bunched around her waist annoyed her, the cotton more like thick, scratchy wool.
She drew her hand away from her pussy only long enough to pull the dress over her shoulders and tug it off, and then her hand was back and she was touching herself, almost naked before Andrew. The only item of clothing she wore was her bra.
Andrew’s expression was her undoing: the raw hunger in his gaze, the undisguised admiration in his eyes and the way his jaw dropped in appreciation.
Her inner muscles clenched, her pussy throbbed, and Tori let the sensuality of the moment take her. She ran her finger through her folds, caressing her slit, stroking her clit, sliding a digit inside her channel before stroking herself all over again.
“God… Jesus.” Andrew’s gaze was plastered to her hand, his breath coming in loud gasps.
She opened her legs wider and played to her heart’s content. She would have continued playing, teasing herself and him, had Andrew not sworn loudly.
And then his hand was moving, tugging at his erection, pumping with an urgency that made her heart race. His actions were animalistic, basic. And so carnal they roused her own hunger until playing was not enough.
She abandoned her slick folds in favor of her clit—which was almost too engorged to touch. That didn’t stop her, couldn’t stop her. As Andrew pumped his dick with savage intensity, Tori stroked herself with ever-increasing pressure, rubbing her swollen bud in tiny circles.
“Fu-uck!” Andrew’s hand flew over his dick, faster, faster, faster. “Tori…”
And then it stopped. He jerked hard, and streams of come belted from his tip. Long white strands landed on his shirt. An agonized groan tore from his throat, and he shot again, once, twice, this time coating his hand.
Tori’s heart sat in her throat. Her lungs constricted. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.
Her pussy pulsed, her finger circled, and her own orgasm crested, bursting through her like lightning. She arched her back as she climaxed, pressing on her clit, drawing out the pleasure, and stared as Andrew came down from his release. He freed the death grip on his dick, ran his hand gently up his length, then down again, all the while watching her.
He hadn’t touched her, and she hadn’t touched him, yet the very intimacy of what they shared made the moment that much more erotic.
She came hard, the force of her third powerful orgasm in two hours leaving her utterly boneless. When the tingles and shudders passed she was capable of doing nothing more than collapse on the bed and lie there panting.
Her gaze tracked Andrew as he crossed the room, stripping as he walked. He disappeared through a door—the bathroom, she guessed, based on the sound of running water seconds later. A soft thump and splashing followed, and then he was back, headed in her direction, naked as the day he was born.
And beautiful. Oh, so very beautiful in his nudity.
Without a word, Andrew climbed onto the bed, lay down behind her and pulled her into his arms, his chest to her back. She melted into him, relishing the strength that bracketed her body. He pulled a sheet over them, then tightened his hold.
She felt safe here, secure. And sleepy, so damn sleepy. Her eyes closed, and she gave herself over to the lethargy that tugged at her.
Moments before she lost consciousness altogether, Andrew nuzzled his nose into her neck. “You slay me, Tor,” he whispered.
Chapter Nine
Tori awoke to the warm sensation of skin plastered against skin. She was snuggled up against a very hard, very male body.
Secure in the knowledge that all was right in the world, she burrowed in closer to drift back to sleep.
Only something kept the slumber at bay, a vague sense of worry nudging at her belly. She relaxed into Declan’s heat, wondering what might cause anxiety to press down on her.
Wait.
Declan didn’t snuggle. Didn’t like it. It made him too hot.
So why was he pressed against her like this, every inch of his chest molded to her back, the front of his thighs enveloping the back of hers? And why was his arm wrapped around her stomach, holding her so protectively?
Tori opened her eyes, staring in silence at the strange surroundings.
This wasn’t her room. It wasn’t Declan’s either. It was a nice room, luxurious, but foreign. She blinked, the harsh overhead light hurting her eyes.
And then she remembered.
Reality came hurtling back, hitting her in the chest, making her gasp. She bolted upright.
The warm body beside her bolted upright too. “What? What’s wrong?”
A man who wasn’t Declan stared at her, confused, then rubbed his eyes. “Sweetheart? You okay?”
“Yes. No.” She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“What happened?”
“I woke up, felt you behind me and assumed you were Declan. Then…then you weren’t.”
Andrew nodded slowly, telling her he understood. “Disappointed?”
“A little.” She dropped her head in he
r hands.
His response was a long time in coming. “I guess I can’t blame you.”
Her heart pounded unsteadily. “I— I’m sorry. I don’t mean that as an insult to you.”
“I know you don’t.”
“No, I don’t think you do. I’m not disappointed to find you here. I’m disappointed in myself. And in him.”
“Why the hell would you be disappointed in yourself?”
Because she was a failure? Because she couldn’t hold on to the man she was supposed to marry? Because that man had deeper desires than she could fathom, desires he wouldn’t share with her, the woman he’d chosen to live his life with? Because two days before her wedding she’d accidentally stumbled upon the fact her fiancé didn’t love her? Pick one. “You know that expression about not putting all your eggs in one basket?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I did that. Put all my eggs in Declan’s basket. And he cracked them. Every last one.” She dropped her hands, looked at Andrew in despair. “I’ve lost them, Andrew. All my eggs.”
“No, sweetheart. You haven’t lost them all.” He stroked her back, his touch incredibly comforting. “It’s just the ones at the top he cracked. The ones at the bottom? They’re holding strong. You just can’t see them right now. The broken ones have made too much mess.”
Despite her despair, a smile tugged at her lips. “You have a knack for metaphors.”
Andrew shrugged. “I’m being objective. Something you can’t do now. You’re caught in the middle of it all.”
“Could you show me the unbroken eggs? ’Cause right now I’m struggling to find any. I’ve lost my future and my fiancé. Everything feels very broken.”
“I can do that.”
She eyed him speculatively. “You’ve performed miracles with me up until now, but honestly? I think this one’s too big a stretch, even for you.”
He tugged her hair. “Have faith, woman.”
“Okay, man. Go ahead. Show me an unbroken egg.” She tried to smile but failed. “Please.”
“Let’s start from the top. With your sister.”