by Eva Sloan
Suddenly he was kissing her. His mouth so wet, so gentle, so very delicious. Better than she had remembered. Better than she had even dreamed about late at night when she woke in a sweat with the sheets twisted around her legs. His hands slid up her rib cage and around her back, pulling her into him until her breasts pressed hard against his heaving pecs. She felt their bodies melding together as he picked her up in his arms to kiss her all the deeper, all the wetter, his tongue slipping into her mouth, flicking against her tongue, making her whimper with want.
Abruptly he pulled away, breaking their lip-lock, making her whimper all the louder, like a puppy begging for a treat.
He was holding her at arm’s length, looking hard into her eyes.
“I’ve got to know, before we go any further--” His voice quivered as he spoke, and he paused for a moment, his expression nervous. “I’ve got to know that you love me.”
Was he asking her a question? Susan’s mind was still bending and swirling around in her head, still drunk from the kiss. And hadn’t she already told him she loved him, that she was in love with him?
The look on Kevin’s face told her she hadn’t.
Oh, right, they’d started fighting instead.
Susan grabbed hold of the untied black bow-tie that hung around his neck and pulled him closer to her.
“Yes, Kevin Mathew Jacobs, I really do love you.” And she pulled him the rest of the way to her, until her lips crushed his, and he was whimpering this time.
She feasted on Kevin’s beautiful mouth.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, and his hands glided down the back of her dress, cupping her bottom as he pulled her further into him. Susan felt something burst into flame inside her, worse than any burning she’d ever had for him. This was hot enough to kill, it was going to incinerate her on the spot.
Kevin’s lips were no longer kissing her, and his arms were disentangling her from him. The sudden loss of contact made her both annoyed and confused. Did he want her or not? Or was this all just some joke to him? She could feel the heat of her want change, flickering back to the heat of being pissed at him.
Kevin stepped back and held her where she was standing, just for a moment, and he knelt on one knee. He reached up and grabbed absently at the thin air over his heart. Susan felt the skin between her eyes crinkle. Is he having a heart attack?
Kevin looked down to where his hand was still searching for something, and he made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a grunt. “Don’t move!” he said, springing to his feet and grabbing the tuxedo jacket Susan had taken off and thrown at him. He jogged back, skidding to a stop right where he’d been kneeling, and fell to one knee again, this time reaching into the pocket of the jacket and pulling out a small black velvet box, which he opened and held out to Susan.
His voice was rasping with exertion, but his words were crystal clear. “Marry me.”
Susan stood stone still for a few beats, not knowing whether she should answer or not. Had it been a question? Or had he just told her to? Either way, Susan was going to say yes, yet she couldn’t quite get enough air in her lungs to say the word.
“Not for any of the reasons I could think of, but because you really want to be my wife.”
Wife? The word seemed to glow and shimmer in the moonlight. The way Kevin seemed to be moving closer, even though he was still on one knee, made Susan’s heart flutter in her chest. That’s when she realized she was moving closer to him, and that she was now on her knees, looking up into his beautiful face, close enough to feel the warmth of his breath.
“Of course I want to be your wife.” She leaned in to kiss him.
Kevin leaned back, pressing his forefinger against her puckered-to-kiss lips. “That was a yes, right?”
Susan smiled against the press of his finger and nodded, springing up and kissing him deep and hard and wet, tasting him as if it were the first time, and he was the only thing she wanted in the world.
Somehow Kevin slipped the ring out of the box and onto Susan’s finger. Somehow he got her off the terrace and through the crush of the party and down to the lobby where Francesca’s car was waiting for them, the driver holding the door open as they wafted out on a stingingly cold gust of winter wind neither of them seemed to feel.
After the driver closed the door and jogged around to angle himself into the driver’s seat, he said, “Mrs. Costa said to take you two wherever you want to go…so, where to?”
Susan and Kevin were already lip to lip, arms wrapped about each other, her legs swung up into his lap. Kevin disengaged his lips from hers long enough to smile and tell the driver, “Four twenty-nine East Coulter Ave.”
Susan smiled. “My place?”
“I’ve been wanting to have you in your own bed ever since the first time in Cancun.”
She licked her lips and smiled.
God, he ’s something else. She was about to ask herself if she’d even made her bed, but as Kevin leaned in and kissed her, again and again and again, whether she made her bed or not, whether there were dirty clothes strewn all over the floor or not, it didn’t matter. Having Kevin in her bed--and tonight--that was all that mattered.
~*~
Kevin stood behind Susan as she tried to unlock her door. His hand on the back of her neck, his strong, warm fingers slowly caressing her flesh, caused ripples of delight to travel up and down her body. Needless to say, Susan wasn’t going to get the key in the lock anytime soon. Kevin took the key from her trembling hand and inserted it into the lock and turned. The door swung open and Susan just stood there, as if Kevin’s fingers had magically paralyzed her.
“Would you like to go inside?” Kevin finally whispered, his breath hot as it tickled her ear. “Or would you rather make love in the hall?”
Susan gasped as Kevin’s hand moved from her neck and trailed down her bare back. Susan nodded her head toward the door. Kevin gave her a faux look of disappointment. “And I was so looking forward to giving Red over there--” He motioned behind him, to the neighbor across the hall. “--a show.”
“You’ve met Mona?”
He took Susan’s hand and pulled her into the apartment, closing the door behind them, plunging them into near complete darkness. Susan reached for the lamp by the door, but Kevin took her hand and pulled it to his mouth, kissing her fingers as he spoke.
“Met her a couple weeks ago, when you blew me off.”
“I didn’t mean to--”
“She let me into the building, thought I was the Chinese delivery man.” He nibbled on her fingers, making Susan groan. “She really likes the delivery man.”
Susan was shaking all over, and her knees got weak and wobbly when he took her index finger into his mouth and sucked so very gently.
“How do you...know that?” Susan didn’t really care, she just knew that if she stopped talking she would start howling like a wolf in heat.
Kevin lingered for a moment, sucking on her finger, his tongue swirling around the flesh. Finally he let her finger fall from his mouth and pulled her near.
“You should’ve seen the outfit she was wearing. Victoria’s Secret gone wild.” And he kissed her, lightly at first, more of a teasing grazing of the lips. But then he pulled her so tightly against him that she could feel his hard want for her, and his heart beating wildly in his chest. His teasing lips locked onto hers, his mouth opening to devour hers.
And his hands, one cupping her ass, holding her to him, the other glancing over her bare back, fingers delicate and maddening as he caressed them up and down her back. She trembled, she shivered and quaked, and finally she had to pull away, not able to take it any longer.
Kevin watched as Susan slowly pulled the spaghetti straps of her dress off over each shoulder and let it fall in a shimmering puddle on the floor. She stood there, her eyes locked in his dark gaze, wearing only one of her sexy bras and a pair of French cut panties that left less to the imagination than she really cared to think about.
Yet the effect was exac
tly what she’d been going for. Kevin couldn’t take his eyes off her. She reached back and unhooked her bra, then let it slowly slide from her shoulders, leaving her naked, except for the panties. She smiled as she backed up and saw Kevin moving forward with her, looking for all the world like an absolute beast. For a shimmering hot instant she thought he was suddenly someone else. He’d never looked at her like he was looking at her now--like he owned her.
Susan suddenly backed up against a wall, missing the doorway to her bedroom completely. She jumped with surprise--the smooth, cool paint of the wall almost felt like someone grabbing her. She didn’t have a chance to turn around, for Kevin was upon her, his hands sliding up her sides and doing that teasing flesh play to the tingling mounds of her breasts. His weight suddenly pushing her against the wall, his mouth slowly kissing a trail from her bruised lips, down her jaw line, to the sensitive flesh around her ears. She latched her arms around his neck, and then started clawing frantically at his shirt, trying to get it off, but having no effect at all on his buttons.
Kevin pulled himself away, just enough to work the buttons of his sleeves, and then down his torso, pulling his shirt off over his broad shoulders and the golden skin that stretched so enticingly over the rest of his beautifully sculpted body. His hips still had Susan pressed hard against the wall, and the cool of the wall was making her break out in gooseflesh.
Susan couldn’t keep her hands off him. Her fingers danced over his skin, her hands stroking his flesh, the hard muscles beneath, the unbelievably sexy man at the core.
She needed him. Her hands went to his pants, pulling them open, reaching into his underwear to hold his hardening member. Kevin gasped and kissed her hard, his manhood pulsing, thick and long, in the palm of her hand.
He pulled away, his lips bruised, his manhood jutting out of the top of his underwear. He fell to his knees and took Susan by the hips, his fingers grasping the feather light silk of her panties and pulling them down around her ankles. He kissed the underside of her breasts, trailing down her ribs, tickling her as he slid down her abdomen, and even further until he was between her legs, pulling one up over his shoulder to spread her open, his mouth locking onto her shuddering sex, his tongue slippery and hot, as he licked inside her.
Susan’s hips undulated and bucked, her head thrown back against the cool wall, her hands knitted into Kevin’s short cropped hair, pulling him all the further into her. Susan lost track of time. She wouldn’t be able to say whether Kevin had had her against that wall for ten minutes or ten hours. All she knew was he would bring her so close to climax, and then he’d slow down until her blood stopped boiling, and her body was at a steady simmer, then he’d start licking with rougher, deeper licks.
Lost in this erotic reverie, Susan didn’t notice when Kevin picked her up and carried her to the bed. All she knew was they were suddenly in her bedroom and she was slung across her bed, now completely naked. The bed linens had been changed, pulled down halfway like a hotel’s turn down service, and the sheets were so soft it felt like heaven.
Liz works fast.
Susan looked up to find Kevin pulling down his pants. His body looked spectacular in the dim blue light cascading in through the bedroom window, making his skin glow in the darkness.
Susan felt her back arch as he moved onto the bed, holding himself above her, slowly easing down onto her, their legs entwining, his hips pressing against hers, and his chest and belly melding to hers, sending shivers of ecstasy and burning need rippling through Susan’s body like the beating of a drum.
Kevin lowered his face to Susan’s and kissed her, slow and deep.
She needed him inside her and now! But she couldn’t pull her lips from his to tell him, not even for a moment.
Kevin pulled her atop him as he rolled them over on the bed. Susan could feel his need pressing up hard against her. She wiggled and felt it slide along where she wanted him to be. Kevin’s mouth left her lips as she gasped, and his tongue licked down her neck and then his face plunged into her cleavage, licking and sucking and nibbling at the sensitive flesh. His hands slid down her back and cupped the orbs of her ass, pulling and lifting until his manhood slid up inside her, making her gasp and whimper and cry out his name.
Staring into her eyes Kevin rocked her back and forth against him, his hands pulling her up and down on him, her sex tight and convulsing as he rocked her through wave upon wave of bliss.
~*~
They were lying, tangled in a sheet, at the bottom of Susan’s bed. Both were exhausted, covered in sweat and the glow of sex, wearing the goofiest of smiles.
“That was--” he rasped.
“Yeah, it was...did you keep count?”
Kevin laughed and wriggled his eyebrows. “I was a math minor.”
Susan rolled over on her elbow and looked into his eyes. Unbelievably there was still lust in there. “So are you going to tell me?”
“Maybe on the honeymoon.” He leaned in and kissed her, his lips smooth and bruised and so utterly delicious.
Susan smiled wickedly. “Oh my God!” Her voice billowed with false excitement. “I’ve got a wedding to plan. First, I need to call Liz, then the Waldorf--setting the date is essential!--and then I’ve got to start shopping for the perfect dress--”
Kevin grabbed her and pulled her into another kiss, pushing her down into the soft sheets and even softer mattress. “You’re kidding, right?” Kevin said when he finally let her mouth free of his.
Susan laughed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I think I’ve had my fill of big weddings. In fact, I was thinking we could just go down to the municipal building and have the Justice of the Peace do the honors.”
Kevin smiled at Susan and kissed her. “I can think of something a little better than that.”
Chapter 17
IT COULDN’T BE HAPPENING…
Susan had her eyes closed. The air gusted in soft, warm waves around her body, smelling too fresh and clean to be real--she had to be dreaming. The surf washed in over her feet, licking her toes, making her take a deep sibilant breath.
She opened her eyes.
Kevin stood in front of her, shirtless, in a pair of tropical printed swim trunks, his hair rumpled and tossed about by the wind. He was staring at her, his expression expectant.
Susan looked around at the group congregated on the pristine stretch of beach under the Virgin Drop. Liz, her assistant Lance, holding a digital video recorder, Susan’s parents, Kevin’s parents, and the surfer lady. Her name was Audrey, and she’d been recommended by the hotel--the hotel where Kevin bought the visually stunning swim shorts, and where Susan had bought a white sarong with tiny pink flowers, which she was wearing now.
Last minute had turned out pretty good.
Everyone was giving Susan the same expectant look. Liz rolled her eyes and glared.
Oh yeah, this is my line.
“I do,” Susan said as a wave of pleasure rippled through her body, and the goofiest, most beautiful smile eased across Kevin’s handsome face.
Everyone let out the breath they’d all been holding. Audrey gave a little sigh and then placed her hand over Kevin and Susan’s. Their hands had been bound together by a white leather cord.
“Then, by the power vested in me, I pronounce you man and wife.” Audrey’s eyes lit up. “You may kiss the bride.”
Kevin pulled Susan to him and leaned down to kiss her, picking her up in his strong arms as they fell into each other, forgetting momentarily about the gathered witnesses who were now applauding and cheering them on.
When they came up for air, Liz clapped her hands together and spoke in that voice she used at her art gallery when she wanted everyone’s attention--her tone sweet, yet steeped in authority. “Okay, everybody. We’re headed back to the hotel where I’ve reserved us a very large table in the best restaurant. No dawdling!”
The parents hugged and kissed the newlyweds, and Liz ushered them down the beach, asking them what kind of tropical drinks they would like to try f
irst, creating a distraction so Kevin and Susan could stay back and steal off onto the jungle path the led up to the Virgin Drop.
The way had been cleared much better than the last time they’d traversed it, and there were small pink lights placed every few feet to guide them.
As they stumbled out into the clearing, the clearing they’d first made love in, the sun was setting in the distance, turning the sky into foamy cotton candy colors: pink, blue, orange and a brilliant yellow. When Susan tilted her head further back she could see the first stars of the night, twinkling in the darkening sky.
Kevin hit his knees and pulled her to him, his face planted in the soft silkiness of her sarong, his arms wrapped around her hips, his hands gently cupping her bottom. He slowly lowered her to the ground, her body gliding down against his until their lips met and kissed for maybe the five thousandth time. By the time she lay on her back in the surprisingly well manicured grass, Kevin had freed her of her sarong, and himself of the god-awful swim trunks. Susan gripped Kevin in the palm of her hand, stroking him, making him moan softly against her neck, his breath hot as he licked up her neck to her earlobe. He pulled her thighs open with his own and entered her, hard and hungry, making her moan now. She gasped as he took her right breast into his mouth and sucked, and kissed her lips again, this time surging into her again and again, making her body heat up all over, causing her eyes to roll back in her head.
Later, after all the stars had come out, and they lay in the dark, wrapped and tangled in each other, Susan asked where Francesca was.
“Boss lady had to stay in Chicago for her granddaughter, Cloe’s, first grade recital.”
“That makes sense.”
“And she needed to put some finishing touches on our Lakewood design.”
Susan smiled and gave a small giggle.
Kevin leaned up on his elbow, peering down on her in the near pitch dark. His skin seemed to glow. “What?”
“Oh, nothing.” She smiled and ran her hand slowly down the side of his face.