Maybe avoiding her gaze wasn’t due to embarrassment. In his embrace, she felt care and tenderness along with concern. Perhaps he was remembering what had taken place in the mirror image of this room all those years ago. Her own memories of it making desire gather in the soles of her feet and spread along her limbs before shooting up her spine and exploding along her neck and face.
Nick didn’t miss the blush that moved across her body in a rush of heat he felt suffuse everywhere that their bodies touched. He knew what she was thinking, knew what she was remembering, and tried like the devil to stay focused on the present. He was humbled by what her response was telling him on a deeply primal level. But now was not the time, he kept chanting in his screaming brain as he locked his jaw even harder with iron-willed determination and moved quickly to place her half-undressed form on the raised bathing platform.
If anyone ever insinuated that he had anything less than ironclad control over himself, he would probably murder them. Where he found the presence of mind to not embarrass himself every ten seconds, he did not know. What he did know, however, was that he had a formidable erection that seemed to be ever-present and was steadily robbing him of his composure.
Acting quickly, he grabbed the robe draped across the fainting couch before picking up a stack of soft towels and placing these things within her reach as he turned to start the water rushing into the tub.
He began to say something but his voice failed, making him clear his throat and swallow deeply a few times.
Watching silently, Shannon realized he seemed, well… different. Nothing could alter his elemental life force—he still dominated whatever space he was in—but the face looking back at her was not one of someone who was king of all he surveyed. All his money and power didn’t matter in this room, in this moment, as they fell cautiously into each other’s gaze. What she had created here had somehow leveled the playing field until all that mattered was that they remembered how it was before life and responsibilities had gotten in the way.
He looked shaken, making her feel relieved to know she wasn’t the only one in the midst of a great struggle. Once more, as though she had been doing it every day of the last eight years, Shannon cautiously reached out and grabbed his large hand in her much, much smaller one. It was a reflex motion meant to comfort and one she couldn’t have stopped if she tried to, for to care deeply about this giant of a man was something her nature could not deny.
“Thank you again,” she said in a whisper just barely audible over the sound of water rushing from the rubbed-bronze faucet that more than slightly resembled the shape of a genie’s lamp.
She was enchanting in her discomfiture, sitting there surrounded by the vividly colored tiles, biting her lip again, squeezing his hand.
What could he say? She didn’t need to thank him, but now was not the time for specifics. “Call when you’re ready to move again.”
Without warning he bent forward and placed a sweet kiss on her forehead and then swiftly turned to leave, forcing her to finally release the hand she had grabbed and then held onto for long moments.
While the tub filled with warm water and mounds of glorious foamy bubbles, Shannon tried to enjoy the familiar scent of her all-time favorite bath indulgence, a line of organic almond-honey products she had stumbled upon at an outdoor community art festival right after her arrival in Southern California.
This was yet another thread, this visceral connection to something meant to stir the senses, for she’d discovered the benefits of milk, honey, and nut hull concoctions from the tribal women during her time on the other side of the world. The tub that they’d shared the first night they took a bath together had also been overflowing with mountains of scented foam that had wrapped them both in a seductive cloud.
Her attempted enjoyment in the moment stalled in the wake of the rushing memories that were coming at her now fast and furious. The floodgates had been opened and she didn’t know how to stop what was happening between them. The traitorous desire she felt for him was making it impossible to know whether she really wanted to stop what was happening. Somehow she suspected that she would gladly throw herself into the oncoming path of heartache once again. The moments of joy and happiness she knew, however brief, with him were worth a lifetime of loneliness if that was the price to be paid for knowing what perfection could be like.
Scooting her naked butt across the lightly heated tiles, Shannon lowered herself into the warmth and comfort of her cloud-filled tub and willed herself to relax while laying her head back against the sloped side of the bath and staring with unseeing eyes at the crystal-covered chandelier hanging overhead. She saw nothing because the moment the water enveloped her body she was swept back in time, across the years, to five special days and erotic nights, which had changed everything.
* * *
Their relationship had started off as a mutual flirtation that blossomed rather quickly into something much, much deeper. Working closely together as they did, each had seen the good, the bad, and the sometimes ugly in each other’s character. The nature of the work they were engaged in gave them the need and the opportunity to communicate openly and without evasiveness from the start. They’d earned a measure of the other’s respect from the outset and had simply fallen into line when their deepening friendship became an affair of the heart with a heavy dose of twenty-something hormones thrown in.
Shannon had been a helpless innocent, having been not much more than kissed when she landed her African fellowship, even though she was three years into her college experience. Being raised by older parents and surrounded her entire childhood and youth by the types of nerdy geeks and super-serious academics who made up her family’s circle of friends and associates, she was without sophistication when it came to guy-girl matters.
In fact, before meeting Nick and experiencing the sensation of being totally swept away by longing and urges that she couldn’t even name, Shannon’s only previous foray into sexual awareness occurred during one of those ghastly seven-minutes-in-heaven encounters, which she found repulsive and undignified. Being pawed at and slobbered over, even if it had been with a very cute, quite popular, and not-at-all-nerdy college jock had been a horrendous experience.
Even then, Shannon was searching for something deeper, something more meaningful than what some 18-year-old footballer with clumsy hands and a slimy tongue could offer. She needed to feel things. Needed to immerse herself in the sensations that came with the opening of the senses. Wham bam was just never going to be her style.
In her seduction, Nick’s pirate persona took control. Setting a course, negotiating ever-changing conditions, altering tactics to meet every situation, relentlessly plundering whatever she was willing to give. He’d seemed as taken with her as she’d been charmed by him. By the time an opportunity arose that would find them traveling away from the project to escort some important diplomats and business leaders to one of the coastal cities after a tour of their locale, Nick and Shannon had been ardent lovers in all but deed.
To say they’d jumped at the chance to leave behind their primitive accommodations for a spell and enjoy some modern conveniences was an understatement. At least that’s how it looked to their envious project-mates—as if they couldn’t wait to get a soft bed, a television, and an iced drink, when in fact what was actually happening was a heart-pounding awareness that being away and in a metropolitan city would also mean they’d be alone. In private. Away from prying eyes, protocols, and judgments. A time-out when they could at long last feed the long-denied urges of frustrated lovers.
They’d had a jolly time with their travelling companions on the way to their destination, with Shannon providing the nuanced interpretation and translation needed with this diverse group of important people while Nick managed the logistics and details in that take-charge way he had that she found rather compelling. He was magnificent when he was calling the shots.
The chief diplomat on the fact-finding adventure had been charmed by Shannon’s im
peccable ladylike presence and the facile way she had of bringing them all together despite the language and cultural barriers present and said so quite frequently. As a special thank-you, he’d arranged for them to have the use of a guest home his family maintained in the hills above the port city where they ended their journey. Quite proud of the modernization of their family getaway, he told them enthusiastically of the beautiful scenery, the comfortable décor, the fabulous kitchen, and the magnificent bathhouse. She and Nick could barely contain their excitement at being given access to such a fabulous opportunity.
Expecting to have gotten stuck in one of the bland hotels catering to Westerners, but nonetheless grateful that they’d be able to enjoy a slice of normalcy in private, it was a thrilling moment when, after following some interesting verbal directions, Nick found their way to a whitewashed bungalow in the hills with a spectacular view of the ocean and an opportunity for complete privacy neither had anticipated.
Once inside the lovely home, they’d giggled and laughed excitedly over simple things such as the running water, electricity, air conditioning, and a real kitchen. But it was the wet room that impressed them both. Full of youthful zeal, Shannon had rocketed into action and playfully pushed him from the room, declaring that a shower and tons of unlimited hot water took precedent over everything else. It was a cute memory that brought a delicate smile to Shannon’s face.
Sometime later, Shannon had emerged dressed in a pale-colored sundress that seemed to make Nick’s usually fluent tongue desert him. Used to seeing her in jeans or khaki shorts and utilitarian T-shirts, he appeared mesmerized by her feminine dress. Until that moment she hadn’t fully appreciated her own femininity.
Deep in reverie, Shannon refreshed the warm water and some of the foamy suds as she continued allowing her mind to replay this moment from the past. Nick had found all sorts of food items and supplies graciously provided by their hosts from which he created an improvised tapas tray to feed both their bodies and their senses.
They sat there, side by side, cross-legged and relaxed on the beautiful terrace under a magnificent pergola that shaded them from the late-afternoon sun, enjoying being together as they talked, ate, and fed each other into the early evening. She’d thought that time magical. They’d connected on so many levels, and she knew that she would never find another to his equal. He was a man amongst men, and she yearned for his possession and all that meant.
He understood, as did she, that they would be lovers at last this evening and seemed to be doing everything he could to draw out the preliminaries, making every aspect of their time together special and meaningful.
“You smell delicious, little one,” he’d told her in a husky voice that had thrilled her to no end. “I want to taste every inch of you, lick the softness of your skin, and kiss you stupid. I have never wanted anything more than I want to make love to you now.”
CHAPTER NINE
She remembered in vivid detail every moment, every word and each exquisite sensation of that unforgettable evening. Nothing in her life would ever be the same after that. It was easy to sink into the memories and let her recollections of their first time together bloom in her mind.
After declaring his desire to make love to her, Nick had moved over Shannon where she reclined on her side, half supported by her forearm, and pressed her back amongst the mounds of pillows they’d gathered for their comfort.
Fixing her with a look that was so hot as to nearly burn the clothes right off her trembling body he spoke directly to her heart. “We are meant to be together like this, Shannon. You belong to me, and you’ll know the truth of that statement when I’m buried deep in your body. I’ve wanted you for months. You’ve haunted my dreams and shaken my waking life with your desire for me. You do want me, don’t you, Shannon? Want me to possess every part of you.” This last was said as his head finally descended and crushed her lips under his in a kiss that fanned the flames of their long-checked desire, unleashing her response in a superheated mating of mouths and dueling tongues as he took her on a breathtaking journey of heart-stopping eroticism while all they were doing was kissing.
Nothing that had ever come before had prepared Shannon for the aching emptiness in her core and desperate response to his touch as he continued to drive her to the point of no return with his hungry mouth. His hands began a slow-motion exploration with fingers running down her face, drawing them with infinite tenderness across her neck to linger at her collarbone in that spot that he knew cried out for his attention. If he left her mouth long enough to place his lips in that spot, nipping, licking, sucking, and at times biting the soft pliant skin he found there, she’d go up in flames.
Knowing that wherever their sensual journey took them on this special night, they would at long last be lovers, made Shannon shiver in anticipation as there would be no interruptions, no pulling away when things got too heated. They were free to fully explore the passion exploding around them.
His firm, warm touch slowly moved in a straight line down her chest, making her moan in disappointment when his fingers left skin and encountered the fabric of her dress. That sound of disappointment and need that rose from somewhere deep inside her acted like a match held to dry timber, for in the next second, his usual control seemed to vanish. He suddenly stopped kissing her and drew back, fixing her stare with his, letting her know in no uncertain terms what was going to happen between them. His eyes glittered with sharp need and a twinkle of satisfaction at the way his simple caress had her writhing and quaking.
With slightly trembling hands, he had yanked down the top of her strapless sundress, going silent and still as he took in the sight of her naked, voluptuous breasts tipped with beading pink nipples that stated loud and clear the level of her excitement. Her restless hands were stroking up and down his rock-hard arms, tracing his biceps with a caress that sent fireworks of need shooting into her senses.
With a reverent fondle, he cupped first one plump orb and then the other, shaping them to his greedy touch seeming to memorizing her curves. Leaning down he snaked a wet and lascivious stroke with his tongue against first one nipple and then the other before pulling that second tiny nub into his mouth, suckling deeply at her breast, making sensual snuffling sounds as his mouth greedily devoured her flesh.
He must have suddenly remembered they were outside as he’d had the good sense to quickly gather her in his more-than-capable arms and stride with determination toward the beautiful master suite with its massive wooden bed hung with a soft gauze fabric shot with golden threads that shimmered in the deepening twilight.
As he released her she slid down his body and gasped in heated awareness when she felt the unmistakable bulge of his erection straining against his jeans as her body slithered to a halt once her feet hit the floor. Without hesitating for a second, he reached for the zipper on the back of her dress and had it pooled at her feet in mere seconds with just the flick of his capable fingers.
Bright slashes of color highlighted his prominent cheekbones, making his usually scraggly half-beard even more appealing. His long blond hair fell to his wide shoulders, though the dimples she loved to see were hiding under a mouth made taut by desire.
One of Shannon’s few female indulgences was an appreciation for ultra-feminine lingerie. Though she normally existed in utilitarian underwear suitable for the type of work they did, she had been sure to bring several sets of silk, satin, and lace, which while not particularly racy had seemed decadently sexy when she’d put them on earlier.
She stood there clad only in a tiny pair of pink silk panties that were so delicate as to be almost see-through, watching in fascination as his eyes took in the alluring vision she hoped she was creating. She wanted to please him, wanted to be the confident, sexy woman she thought he deserved.
She also wanted him to touch her. Wanted him to put his hands on her, everywhere, and never stop touching her, but for these few seconds she stood immobile under his gaze, reveling in his intoxicating male response to t
he sight of her near nakedness. She knew flutters of satisfaction at his obvious pleasure in her, remembered feeling drunk with female power, sure in the knowledge that this beautiful man to whom she was entrusting her body, heart, and soul was overcome with passion for her and her alone.
Surprising herself, she reached out with sure hands, her eyes never leaving his, and rather nimbly undid the buttons on his shirt, revealing his upper body, tanned and incredibly muscled, making her mouth water with a newfound desire to taste him. With his chest fully exposed to her gaze, she used slightly trembling fingers to lightly trace all that she had uncovered, laying her palms flat against his heated skin where she picked up the thump, thump, thump of his heart. She slid her hands up to his broad shoulders and removed the open shirt from him in one easy swoop. He was magnificent, tall, wide, pumped up.
They stood there in a silence of desire, eyes devouring the other in the deepening shadows of their exotic love nest lit only by two soft low lamps on either side of the enormous bed. She could have looked at him like that forever, bare chested, the top button of his jeans undone, a furrow of light hair forming a perfect complement to his broad, powerful torso as it narrowed on the downward slide of her gaze before disappearing into the gaping waistband below his navel on the most perfectly sculpted physique she could ever have dreamed of. He was, simply put, magnificent.
The growing bulge under a straining zipper added a roguish charm, along with his long sandy-blond hair, three-day beard, and sexy, glittering eyes blazing with desire for her. The mouth-watering picture she created in her mind’s eye was complete and devastatingly accurate even many years later. In that moment, she wanted him with a certainty that made her fearless and more confident than she had ever been before.
Love Redone Page 12