A Kiss in the Dark

by Karen Foley

  “Okay, listen,” soothed Ana, “this is what you do. Trust me in this, sweetie. There isn’t a guy out there who won’t roll over and beg at the sight of a beautiful woman, naked and primed, in his bed.”

  “I am not beautiful,” Sedona protested with a self-conscious laugh. “You got the looks and I got the brains, remember?”

  Ana snorted. “All I remember is you wanting to do everything in your power to make Dad happy, including being the son he never had.”

  Sedona frowned. “Is that really what you think?”

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s water long under the bridge, and Dad’s probably beaming down at you for fulfilling every dream he ever had.”

  “But not you,” Sedona mused aloud, turning in to the parking lot of the hotel. “You thumbed your nose at him and took off for the West Coast.”

  Ana laughed. “If you say so, sis. I think you missed a lot of what really happened. You were in college by then, remember.”

  Sedona sighed as she parked the car and turned off the ignition. She didn’t really want to remember. Too many of those memories were colored by resentment and unhappiness. What Ana said was true; it was water under the bridge.

  “You’re right. So tell me what I should do now. I mean, there’s always the possibility Angel is avoiding me. I don’t want to set myself up for a big fat rejection.”

  “Honey,” Ana drawled, “what I have in mind is absolutely, one hundred percent rejection-proof.”

  And as she outlined her simple plan for seduction, Sedona had to agree; it sounded pretty foolproof. Daring? Yes. Audacious? Definitely. Designed to bring a guy to his knees? She certainly hoped so.

  Fifteen minutes later, she let herself into her room. Unzipping her navy-issue jumpsuit, she crossed to the connecting doors. With one ear pressed against the panels, she hopped first on one foot and then the other as she pulled her shoes off.

  Nothing but silence.

  Quickly, without turning on any interior lights, Sedona crept out onto her balcony and peered over the railing at the room next to hers. It was completely dark. Angel had not yet returned to the hotel. Or if he had, he’d left again.

  Slipping back into the room, she sprinted to the bathroom for the fastest shower of her life. He could come back at any moment. She had to be ready. She stood under the shower and let the hard spray of water loosen the knots of uncertainty in her neck and shoulders. This would work. She refused to be a victim of her own self-doubts. She was desirable. She was feminine.

  Or she could be.

  She just had to let herself go. At least, that’s what Ana had said. She only hoped she had the courage to do what Ana recommended.

  Stepping out of the shower, she wrapped her hair in a towel and scrubbed herself dry before wrapping a second towel around her body. She rubbed her hand over the condensation on the bathroom mirror and leaned forward to examine her face.

  Her pupils were huge, drowning out the green irises. She bit some color into her lips and pinched her cheeks, wishing she owned some cosmetics to even out her complexion. She yanked the towel from her hair and scrubbed it vigorously. She rarely used a blow-dryer as it only made her hair frizzy. Better to let it dry naturally into the thick waves that defied styling.

  With the towel still wrapped around her body, she crept back to the connecting doors and pressed her ear once more against the panels. Still nothing.

  Biting her lip, she tried the knob and her heart leaped when it turned effortlessly beneath her fingers. That had been the one unknown variable in the equation. According to Ana, if the door was unlocked then Angel definitely wanted more action, even if he didn’t realize it.

  The adjoining room was dark and quiet. As she stepped inside, she caught a subtle whiff of Angel’s aftershave and froze, half expecting him to materialize from the shadows. When all remained quiet, she drew a fortifying breath and switched on the bedside lamp. She yanked the brightly flowered bedspread down to the foot of the bed and plumped the pillows invitingly. She tuned the bedside radio to an easy-listening station.

  Then she dropped the towel, stretched herself out on Angel’s bed and waited.

  * * *

  GOD, HE WAS TIRED. Angel scrubbed a hand over his eyes as he rode the elevator to the third floor of the hotel. He’d conducted two flight tests that day, pushing the aircraft through their paces in a punishing routine guaranteed to root out any performance issues.

  The jets had performed flawlessly.

  Afterward, he and the other test pilots had completed the reams of paperwork required to document the tests, and had spent several long hours in the admiral’s conference room, bringing the senior brass up-to-date. He was completely fried.

  The elevator doors slid open and he drew his key card out of his wallet as he walked to his room. He paused briefly outside Sedona’s door and checked his watch. It was barely nine o’clock. Had she returned? Or was she still in the calibration room, poring over the test results? He raised his hand to knock, then hesitated. He doubted Sedona would thank him for showing up smelling of jet fuel and sweat. He could really use a shower.

  He let his hand fall back to his side.

  He’d hoped to hook up with her tonight, either for dinner or something a little more intimate, but had been roped into going to the officers’ club for a quick bite with the other pilots, instead. He’d tried to call Sedona on her cell phone, and was frustrated when he hadn’t been able to get through to her.

  But he’d been unable to stop thinking about her, and when his buddies said they were going to finish the evening at a local strip club, he’d declined and headed back to the hotel. If Sedona returned to her room before ten o’clock, he intended to keep her fully occupied for several hours, at least. But a shower was definitely in order. Reluctantly, he turned away from her door.

  Inserting the key card into his own door, he pushed it open and then stopped dead in his tracks, speechless. Lying on top of his bed, looking like every erotic fantasy he’d ever had, was Sedona.

  Naked.

  Smiling.

  Waiting for him.

  Every cell in his body snapped to attention.

  Her pale golden skin seemed to gleam in the soft light. Her hair tumbled in an enticing mass around her face, and the bedside lamp cast intriguing shadows across the curves and contours of her luscious body.

  She lay on her side with her head propped on one hand, and as he watched, she bent her top leg and slid it upward until her knee hid the enticing juncture of her thighs from view. He drank in the graceful dip of her waist, the rounded curve of hip and thigh, and the pale globes of her breasts, full and begging for his touch.

  She reached up and twirled a tendril of hair lazily around one finger as her smiled widened. “So, flyboy,” she murmured in a sultry voice, “you going to shut the door, or stand there until you draw a crowd?”

  With a start, Angel realized he was still standing with the door open, his hand on the knob. Shock, and then pure, unadulterated delight had rendered him momentarily incapable of movement. He stepped into the room, dropped his flight bag onto the floor and let the door close with a click behind him. He didn’t take his eyes off Sedona as he flipped the dead bolt and slid the security chain into place. No way would he allow anyone to interrupt this.

  “So, flyboy,” she crooned, sliding her legs sinuously against each other and allowing him a brief, alluring glimpse of the dark patch of curls between her legs, “how was your day?”

  He grinned as his body responded with wholehearted enthusiasm to the visual stimulation she provided. “Much better now,” he assured her, and stood at the edge of the bed and looked at her. He didn’t dare let himself touch her. He just looked, and as he did so, her body slowly flushed with color.

  Sedona released the tendril of hair and artfully ran a hand over the curve of hip and thigh. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” she said in a husky voice. “The more I thought about you, the hornier I got.”

  O-kay. This was une
xpected. His grin faltered for a moment as he tried to decide if she was teasing him. “Really.”

  “Mmm.” She sent him an inviting look from beneath her eyelashes. “I’ve been waiting for such a long time for you to…come.”

  Her words sent a bolt of liquid heat straight to his groin. He couldn’t help himself. He leaned over her to capture her lips. It had been too long since he’d tasted her. But before he could kiss her, she turned her face to the side and pushed him back with a surprisingly forceful hand against his chest.

  “Not so fast,” she purred.

  He straightened and frowned down at her, his body already pulsing with need. What game was she playing? “Christ, mina,” he said on a half laugh, “don’t torture me, okay?”

  In answer, she rolled fully onto her back and bent one arm gracefully over her head. The movement pulled her breasts higher and tautened the slender line of her waist. She skated the fingers of her free hand over her body, finally settling on her breast.

  “Why not?” she asked, all innocence. “After all, you’ve tortured me for the past three days.”

  Angel swallowed, riveted by the delicate play of her fingers against her nipple. As he watched, it tightened into a small bud. He dragged his attention upward, to her face. She studied him from beneath her lashes, and her breath quickened.

  “Oh, yes,” she breathed. “Every time I thought of you, it was torture. I thought of you doing this.”

  Angel’s body tightened as she arched her back and cupped both breasts in her hands. She alternately squeezed and pinched them, and her hips shifted restlessly against the sheets.

  “Okay, mina,” he finally rasped. “I think I understand. You’re feeling neglected, but if you’ll just let me—”

  He unzipped his flight suit with lightning speed, and peeled it from his shoulders and arms until it hung around his waist. He yanked his T-shirt over his head and sent it sailing, but when he would have unzipped his flight suit farther, she put out a hand and restrained him.

  “Wait.”

  She twisted around and plumped the pillows up behind her. Then reclined back in a half-sitting position. Her knees fell slightly apart and Angel just about wept when he glimpsed her feminine folds. He wanted so badly to touch her. Taste her. Take her.

  “Mina,” he groaned, “have mercy.”

  “I want you to watch,” she said breathlessly. “I want you to watch what happens to my body when I think about you.”

  Slowly, then, with her eyes caressing him, she began to tease her breasts with both hands. Then, as a flush deepened on her neck and face, she slid the palm of one hand down over her abdomen until she cupped herself. “Oh,” she said. sighing, “I’m so hot. And wet. And that’s just from looking at you.”

  Angel groaned. Mesmerized, he reached over and hauled the hard-backed chair from the desk closer, until he could sit and watch. His heart thudded hard enough that he was sure she would hear it, and the instant her hand dropped low on her body, he broke out in a fine sweat.

  His breathing quickened as she used two fingers to open herself, and he swiftly adjusted his seat for an unobstructed view. She obliged by spreading her legs wider.

  “Oh, yes,” she breathed, and dipped a finger ever so slightly into herself. It came away glistening, and she touched the moisture to her clitoris. “Oh, that feels good.”

  Her folds were pale pink and smooth, and Angel longed to touch his tongue to them. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, helpless to look away. She swirled her finger over the spot where he knew she felt the most intense pleasure, drawing her clitoris from its secret fold until it began to blossom.

  Angel stared, transfixed by the changes he witnessed. Her gorgeous sex changed, grew flushed and engorged as her desire increased. The sight of Sedona pleasuring herself was the most erotic thing he’d ever seen. His balls ached, and his cock throbbed painfully within the confines of the jumpsuit. It took every ounce of self-restraint not to free himself and take over what she was doing.

  “Please,” he groaned, and moved to sit on the edge of the bed near her feet, “I need to touch you.”

  “No,” she gasped, her hips gyrating, “you just need to watch.”

  She inserted a second finger alongside the first, and her head fell back as she let out a soft moan. Then she slid her free hand down her body until both hands were seductively engaged between her thighs. As she pumped two fingers into herself, she used the other hand to caress and stroke her clitoris, sliding a finger down either side of it until it stood out, flushed and swollen, against her tender flesh.

  It took all of Angel’s hard-won discipline not to reach out and touch her. He pressed the palm of his hand hard against the base of his swollen cock and willed himself not to come. But when he realized Sedona watched him through half-closed eyes, her mouth moist and parted, he was done.

  With a subdued growl, he stood up and stripped the flight suit down his legs, pushing his briefs down with it until his erection sprang free. He reached over and grabbed a condom from the bedside table and, in one deft movement, covered himself.

  “I’m sorry, mina,” he said huskily, and with his flight suit still bunched around his ankles, he propped himself above her. “You make me crazy, you know that.”

  Poised at the entrance to her body, he braced himself with his hands on either side of her and stared down at her flushed face. She had stopped touching herself, mercifully, but she still writhed her hips in a manner that made him groan with lust.

  “Come into me,” she breathed. Her green eyes were cloudy with desire as she gazed up at him. “Let’s see how my body reacts when I do more than just think about you, when I join myself with you…”

  Her words were like a catalyst, crumbling the last remaining fragments of his self-control. With a ragged sigh of surrender, he buried himself in her tightness. She came immediately, crying out with pleasure as her flesh contracted around his length.

  Angel watched her face, enthralled, as she climaxed. His chest tightened. It was incredible to watch. The combination of the visual and the physical stimulation was too much, and with a harsh cry, he exploded in a white-hot rush of pleasure that caused his eyes to roll back in his head and his back to arch.

  Long minutes later, when he could breathe again, he rolled to his side, pulling Sedona with him. “Damn,” he gasped. “Where did you learn to do that?”

  Sedona laughed softly and curled her body against his. “Years of practice. But,” she added almost shyly, “this is the first time I’ve had an audience.”

  He raised his head and looked down at her, stunned. “You’re kidding.”

  “What? You think I do this for a living?”

  “No, that’s not what I meant.” He blew out his breath and lay back against the pillows. He tightened his arm around her. “I’m just thinking what an incredible turn-on that was.” And how goddamn sorry he was for every guy who’d never get the chance to experience it firsthand. Just the thought of any other guy watching Sedona do that caused a surge of jealousy so intense it startled him.

  Sliding his arm out from beneath Sedona, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up. He discreetly disposed of the condom, surprised to see he still wore his flight boots. The mattress shifted behind him as Sedona came up on her knees and pressed herself against his back. She wound her arms around his neck and planted a moist kiss against his jaw.

  “Hey,” she murmured in his ear. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” He didn’t dare look at her, afraid she might see the conflicting emotions churning inside him. Jealousy. Need. And, unbelievably, desire. He bent over and unlaced his boots and kicked them to the floor, then pushed the rest of his clothing off. “I, uh, was going to knock on your door tonight,” he finally admitted.

  “Oh. I guess I sort of preempted you again, huh? Sorry.”

  She sounded anything but sorry as she caressed his chest. Could she feel his heart beating hard beneath her fingers? He shivered when she feathered a kiss alo
ng the nape of his neck.

  “Mmm,” she murmured, “you smell good.”

  Angel arched a brow in disbelief. “I smell like jet fuel. In fact, I was headed into the shower before I knocked on your door.”

  “Didn’t I tell you?” She caught his earlobe gently between her teeth and then swirled her tongue against the sensitive skin. “Jet fuel is my new favorite scent. But a shower sounds…interesting. I could wash your back. Or something.”

  Her voice was sweetly seductive and Angel almost groaned aloud as he recalled their last shower together. It gave a whole new meaning to the term oral hygiene. Just thinking about that intimate exchange, combined with the moist heat of her tongue in his ear, had him growing hard again.

  He laughed ruefully and disentangled himself from her arms before standing up to let her see the proof of his need.

  “Oh.” Her eyes widened when she saw he was ready for her again. She uncurled her legs from beneath her, scooted to the edge of the mattress and grasped his hips, drawing him into the V of her legs. “Oh, my.”

  But when she would have reached for him, he forestalled her, grabbing both her hands in his and tugging her to her feet. “Oh, no you don’t,” he growled down at her. “If you touch me, I’m toast, and since I plan on spending the next—” he glanced at his wristwatch “—six hours loving you, long and slow, let’s see if you can manage to keep your hands to yourself for a while.”

  Sedona laughed and fell back onto the bed, throwing her arms outward in a sign of surrender. “I’m all yours, flyboy.”

  She watched him through heavily lidded eyes, but the uneven rise and fall of her chest let Angel know she wasn’t nearly as unaffected as she let on. He eased himself down on one elbow beside her, letting his gaze travel over her.

  He traced a finger over her pale hip bone and admired the whorl of her navel. He pressed his palm against her rib cage, just beneath her breast. Her heart beat fast under his fingers. Leaning over her, he pressed a kiss to the spot.