Sinfully Sweet

by Janelle Denison

  She stared up at him, surprise rendering her speechless.

  “It’s my turn to play,” he said with a grin, and picked up the jar of chocolate sauce.

  Instead of using one of the brushes, he drenched his fingers with the gooey substance and finger-painted her body. He covered her breasts with his coated hands and rubbed his thumbs over her aching nipples. Continuing downward, he playfully drew a heart on her stomach and added the initials “C” and “R”, and when he reached her panties, he quickly and efficiently removed them so she was as naked as he was.

  He knelt between her parted legs and looked his fill of her, his expression a combination of adoration and lust. “I can’t wait to eat you up,” he murmured, and gave her a wolfish smile that made her feel like Little Red Riding Hood.

  But first, he painted his wet, sticky fingers up the insides of her thighs, and found a sensitive, ticklish spot along the way that he exploited mercilessly, until she was laughing and writhing and begging him to stop the sensual torment.

  Eventually, he did, but then replaced one kind of seduction with another equally provocative pleasure. Starting at her knees, he slowly licked away the chocolate he’d smeared on her skin. He took his own sweet time, making sure that he lapped up every last drop. He grazed her flesh with his teeth and used his warm, soft tongue to clean up the chocolate mess he’d made on the inside of her thighs, until he finally reached that ultra-feminine place he’d yet to taste.

  He did so now. Settling more comfortably between her thighs, he draped her legs over his shoulders, lowered his head, and made good on his promise to eat her up. He took his time, building her need to excruciating heights, and she gripped the covers in her hands, her hips arching, her body silently pleading for the release he kept just beyond her reach.

  Finally, with a deep, intimate stroke of his tongue, and a deep thrust of his fingers, he gave her the orgasm she was desperate for. She tumbled over the edge, her entire body shuddering from the incredible force of her climax.

  It took her a minute to come back to her senses, and when she did she found Connor kneeling between her thighs, sheathing himself with one of the condoms from the nightstand. She fully expected him to thrust into her and take his own release, but instead he lowered his head and began licking away the chocolate on her quivering belly. His tongue traced the outline of the heart he’d drawn, and lapped away the initials until there was nothing left except a smear of chocolate.

  He moved upward, where he feasted on her breasts and sucked on her nipples as if she were a dessert for him to devour and enjoy. By the time he was done removing every last bit of chocolate that he could, she was trembling all over again, and more than ready for him to be inside her.

  He stretched more fully over her, so that they were chest to breast, and his erection nestled in the vee of her thighs. His eyes blazed with need, and a deeper emotion that made her heart beat hard and fast in her chest.

  He didn’t give her time to dwell on what she’d seen in his gaze. In the next instant he threaded his fingers through her hair and crushed his mouth to hers in a demanding, rapacious kiss. At the same time he drove deep, deep inside her, making her think of nothing but the way he filled her so completely. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs high around his waist as his hips pumped against hers in a hard, rocking rhythm that sent them both spiraling out of control.

  Another stunning orgasm rippled through her, causing her inner muscles to clench around Connor’s shaft. Groaning against her lips, he thrust against her, harder, faster, and gave himself over to his own scorching release.

  He buried his face in the curve of her neck, his breath hot and damp against her skin. It took him longer than her to recover, and in time he lifted up onto his forearms and stared down at her, his slumberous gaze filled with a warmth and tenderness that made her ache for this kind of intimacy on a regular basis.

  A slow, lazy smile curved his lips. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

  She’d never had such great, mind-numbing sex before, so she knew she couldn’t take the credit he was offering. “I appreciate the compliment, but I think that honor is all yours.”

  He nuzzled his cheek against hers and whispered in her ear, “How about we’re both amazing together?”

  She liked the way that sounded. Too much. Not only was Connor an outstanding lover, but he definitely brought out the best in her, in ways she’d never thought possible. He was a great listener, as he’d proved earlier that night by the lake, and he made her laugh more than any man ever had before. And yes, they were amazing together.

  She could easily fall for Connor Bassett, if a part of her hadn’t already, and that realization terrified her.

  Unable to come up with a snappy reply, she shifted beneath him and winced when she realized that the chocolate sauce had nearly glued their skin together. “We sure did make a mess, didn’t we?”

  “Ummm, that we did.” He lifted his head, a satisfied smile on his lips. “What do you say we take a nice, long, hot shower together? I’ll scrub your back if you scrub mine.” He waggled his brows lasciviously at her.

  She laughed, unable to resist his flirtatious charm, or those boyish dimples. So, for now, she didn’t even try. “I’d love to take a shower with you.”

  THE SOUND OF soft footsteps prompted Connor to glance up from his laptop computer to find Rebecca walking out of the bedroom, looking sleep tousled, well loved, and incredibly sexy in the cotton T-shirt he’d worn earlier. There was something so intimate and seductive about seeing her in his clothes, particularly how the soft material emphasized her full breasts and the way the hem ended mid-thigh. He couldn’t tell if she was wearing panties or not, and the thought of her being completely naked beneath his shirt caused a surge of heat to spiral straight to his groin.

  He couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman as much as he wanted Rebecca-in his bed and in his life. They’d finally succumbed to the physical attraction between them, proving without a doubt just how compatible they were sexually. Emotionally, however, he knew he still had his work cut out for him, and he only had today and tomorrow to make her realize that what was between them was more than just a passing fling.

  Stifling a yawn, she approached where he was sitting on the couch. “It’s after three in the morning,” she said, her voice still husky with sleep. “What are you doing up at this ungodly hour?”

  “I couldn’t sleep.” For the most part, he tended to be a night owl, and that’s when he came up with some of his best computer game ideas. Tonight, he’d been working on a glitch in one of the newest games he’d created. “What are you doing up at this ungodly hour?”

  “I woke up and you were gone.” She sat down next to him, tucked her legs beneath her on the couch, then smoothed the T-shirt over her knees. “Since this is your hotel room, I figured you couldn’t have gone far.”

  He leaned toward her, nuzzled his lips against her throat, and felt her shiver from his light, playful kisses. Despite the shower they’d taken together, she still smelled like chocolate and great sex, a delicious combination that made him ravenous for her all over again.

  “Miss me?” he murmured against her ear.

  A soft sigh escaped her, and she tipped her head to the side to give his mouth better access to her neck. “Yeah, I did miss you.”

  He pulled back, unable to stop the satisfied grin from making an appearance. “Good.” He figured her admission was a small start, and could only hope that when Sunday rolled around she wouldn’t want their affair to end.

  Her brows furrowed as she stared at him, the slumber gradually clearing from her gaze. Then, an amused smile curved her lips. “I didn’t realize you wore glasses.”

  He raised his hand to touch the wire rims. He’d forgotten that he had them on until she’d mentioned it. “I only wear them when I’m working on the computer. With all the hours I spend looking at a computer screen, it keeps my eyes from straining too much.”

  She studied him intently for a few s
econds. “You look…”

  Whatever word Rebecca was searching for seemed to allude her, so he helped her out. “Like a computer geek?”

  She laughed. “An exceptionally sexy computer geek.”

  He rolled his eyes. “You’re taking me back to my high school days, when I was the epitome of a nerd.”

  “Really?” Her expression was genuinely incredulous. “That’s hard to imagine.”

  “It’s true.” Seeing an ideal opportunity to share something personal with her-a part of himself he’d never shared with another woman before because no other woman had ever mattered as much to him as Rebecca did-he set his open laptop on the coffee table, along with his glasses, then turned toward her on the couch.

  “Growing up, I wasn’t one of those guys who was into sports, much to my father’s disappointment,” he said, having come to terms long ago with the fact that he’d never meet his dad’s expectations of what a son should be. “When I was eight, and my sister was five, my mother caught my father having an affair with a woman he worked with, and my mother immediately filed for a divorce. Being so young, it was a really tough time in my life, and the computer became my escape so I didn’t have to cope with the fact that my family was being torn apart by my father’s infidelity.”

  “So, we both had to deal with a loss in the family at a young age,” she said quietly, her gaze brimming with understanding. “You turned to computers, and I focused on raising my sister.”

  “Exactly.” He stretched his arm out along the top of the couch and grazed his fingers along her shoulder. “I spent most of my free time in front of the computer. If I wasn’t playing some kind of video game, I was pulling the hard drive apart to figure out how it all worked. Eventually, I started creating computer games just to amuse myself, but my friends wanted copies and started playing them, too.”

  Her pretty blue eyes widened in fascination. “How did you end up selling those games?”

  “Actually, it was Greg who encouraged me to send one of my games to a software company that produces all types of computer games, and within a few weeks of receiving the program, they made a very lucrative offer for exclusive rights to the program that is now called Edge of Reason.”

  He threaded his fingers through her hair, loving the feel of those silky strands sliding over his hand. “I was eighteen at the time, and when I realized that I could make a helluva lot of money creating and selling action-adventure computer games, I went for it.”

  “Sounds like any teenager’s dream job,” she said with a slight smile. “But now that you’re older, don’t you ever think about getting a real job?”

  “I have a real job.” he said, “I love what I do, and I get paid extremely well to do it.”

  “To play computer games,” she said, obviously not able to think of what he did for a living as a career.

  So, he tried to set her straight. “I create and program the computer games first, which is a lot of hard work and long hours. And, I like the perks that come with my job. I set my own hours, and I can work any time of the day or night. And the best part is that I’m my own boss. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

  She meet his gaze, while her fingers absently pleated the hem of the shirt she was wearing. “Well, there is that other perk of you being voted one of San Francisco’s wealthiest and most eligible bachelors.”

  He winced, hating the superficial title that had been bestowed upon him. “That’s more like a curse.”

  Surprise lit up her eyes. “Dating your choice of women is a curse?”

  He shook his head. “No, but discovering that a woman is dating you because she finds your bank account more attractive than your personality is a curse.”

  “Oh,” she said quietly. “I suppose that would be frustrating, but not all women are that way.”

  “I agree.” And she was proof. He wanted to point that out to Rebecca, but knew she wasn’t ready for that kind of serious conversation about the two of them just yet.

  Done talking about his money, and his job, Connor leaned closer to Rebecca and gave her something more pleasant to think about. He slipped his hand beneath her shirt, and he wasn’t the only one who shuddered when he discovered that she was completely naked underneath.

  “We should get some sleep,” she said, though not very convincingly, especially considering how she was letting him ease her back on the couch so he could settle between her soft, silky thighs. “We need to be up in a few hours.”

  “I’m already up.” Grinning wickedly, he grabbed her hand, pushed it into his cotton shorts, and wrapped her fingers tight around his erection. “In more ways than one.”

  She laughed, then moaned when he slid his own fingers through her soft, slick flesh and stroked her oh-so-slowly.

  After that, sleep was a long time in coming.

  FROM ACROSS the elegantly decorated ballroom at The Delaford Resort, Rebecca watched as the bride and groom said their goodbyes to family and friends. The beautiful outdoor wedding ceremony had gone off without a hitch that afternoon, complete with tears during the emotional service, and whoops of joy and congratulations once Celeste and Greg had been pronounced husband and wife. As for the reception, it had been a fun, lavish celebration Rebecca would never forget.

  Now, it was early evening, and the bride and groom were leaving to enjoy their honeymoon suite for the night.

  Rebecca had already hugged Celeste and Greg and wished them the best, but as she watched her radiant sister gaze up at her new husband with pure, unadulterated love, a huge lump formed in Rebecca’s throat, and an odd mix of happiness and sadness clashed inside of her.

  She was so grateful that her sister had found such a wonderful, devoted man to marry. A man who adored her and would undoubtedly take good care of her in every way that mattered. Yet, Rebecca couldn’t stop the flow of loneliness that was already settling like a cold, hard knot in her stomach. The apartment that she’d shared with Celeste for the past ten years wasn’t going to be the same without her bubbly, vibrant sister, and she dreaded heading back to the quiet, empty place.

  “The band is playing their last song,” a deep, masculine voice said from behind her. A familiar voice that had the uncanny ability to soothe and arouse her at the same time. “Since we’ve already said our goodbyes to the bride and groom, what do you say we enjoy one last dance before the evening comes to an end?”

  Grateful for the distraction, she turned and smiled at Connor, who looked dashing and gorgeous in a black tux with a red bow-tie and cummerbund that matched her formal gown. They’d been dance partners most of the night-mainly because of their best man and maid-of-honor roles, but at the moment none of that mattered. The band was playing a slow ballad, a love song to send the bride and groom on their way, and there were other couples on the dance floor enjoying the final song of the night.

  Since she wasn’t looking forward to going up to her hotel room by herself, she accepted Connor’s invitation. “Sure, I’d love to dance.”

  With a hand pressed lightly to the base of her spine, he led the way to the dance floor. Once they were there, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his embrace, aligning their bodies intimately from chest to thighs. They swayed in time to the slow tune, and as Connor stroked his thumb along her waist, she let herself relax and unwind. At the moment, she wanted, needed, the closeness he was offering to offset the deep, desolate feeling crowding her chest.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, those dark brown eyes of his searching her gaze, as if he was trying to see straight to her soul.

  She flashed him a quick smile that felt forced on her lips. “I’m fine.”

  “Liar.” Gentle amusement etched his expression. “I saw the way you were watching your sister when she and Greg were saying goodbye to everyone. You’re having a hard time letting her go, aren’t you?”

  Her first instinct was to deny his too perceptive claim, to be strong and not show the slightest bit of vulnerability. It had been her M.O. for longer t
han she cared to remember, but she was tired of keeping her emotions bottled up inside her. Tired of pretending to always be strong when she harbored worries and fears just like everyone else.

  “Okay, I’ll admit I’m suffering from a bit of separation anxiety,” she said, and glanced over his shoulder because she couldn’t bear to look him straight in the eyes while she confessed such a pathetic weakness. “She’s been such a huge part of my life for so long, and it’s hard to imagine what it’s going to be like not seeing and talking to her on a daily basis.”

  “It’s not as though she’s stepped completely out of your life,” he said gently.

  “No, but she has another family now, and she’s like a daughter to Greg’s mother and father.” Considering that Celeste had spent more than half her life without one parent or the other, Rebecca was certain her sister would readily embrace the normalcy of a real family.

  Connor swept the back of his fingers along her cheek as they continued to dance to the slow music. “Rebecca, you’ll always be her family.”

  She bit her lower lip, feeling another swell of emotion come over her. “It’s just…hard,” she said, unable to explain.

  “I don’t doubt that it is.” His voice was infused with more understanding and patience than she knew she deserved. “But you’re Celeste’s sister by blood, and that’s a bond that will never break or falter.”

  God, I hope so, she thought as the band finished playing. She waited for Connor to loosen his hold on her, but instead he put his mouth near her ear and spoke so only she could hear him. “Will you stay with me tonight?”

  Funny, but she could have sworn she heard the slightest bit of uncertainty in his voice, and realized that Connor wasn’t taking anything for granted. He was openly stating his desire for her, as well as issuing an invitation to share his bed, and other pleasures, with him tonight, without knowing if she wanted the same.

  Her answer came much too easily. Connor was quickly becoming another weakness, like the Sinfully Sweet chocolate they’d indulged in the past two nights. But there was no chocolate clouding her judgment or thoughts now.