The Sculptor's Seduction (The Gentlemen's Guild Book 2)

by Dr. Rebecca Sharp

  “Jesus Christ,” he rasped against her as his fingers slid around her honeyed center. His forehead came to rest on her chest as he watched his fingers play between her legs. God, he could just imagine the feel of this against his arousal, coating him… easing him inside. He knew it would be his undoing, but he needed to feel her. Ever so slowly, he pushed two fingers inside of her heat. His eyes clenched shut, his teeth drawing blood from his cheek as he felt the pull from her passage on his fingers.

  It had been too long… no, that was a lie; it was just Cyn. He knew that he could have fucked a different woman every day for the past twenty years, and he would still be right where he was now.

  His mouth engulfed her breast to silence his groan, his fingers buried inside of her hot, wet center, and his cock exploded inside of his pants, covering himself with his release.

  Somehow, his fingers still managed to keep moving against her as his release swept over him. It took a few seconds for him to hear her panting… begging… his name. He looked up at her, her head tilted towards the ceiling.

  “That’s it, baby. Let me feel you come,” he said hoarsely as his thumb swirled over her sensitive bud.

  Cyn screamed his name as her orgasm erupted through her, her hips flexing as her passage pulsed around him, coating his hand with her release.

  With his head against her stomach, he rode out the waves of her release, her breaths finally starting to slow.

  “Sloane…” she whispered in awe.

  “I told you, gorgeous.” His voice dark with promise as his fingers slid out of her. “I’m going to be down here all night.” And then, with a growl, his mouth closed over her aching core as he began to devour her.

  With his hands wrapped around the backs of her thighs, Sloane held her steady as he pleasured her with his lips and tongue. Her hands cupped the back of his head holding him against her and holding him for support. After last weekend, he knew exactly how to bring her to the brink of her orgasm and then let her simmer. He teased her that way over and over again until she breathed his name, begging him to let her come. Her legs shook but kept her upright out of pure need to find her release.

  When he felt her body begin to sag against him as she began to truly lose her ability to stand, he sucked hard on her clit. Again, she screamed his name as her climax crushed her, her legs giving way against him as her hips continued to move against his mouth.

  Grasping her hips, he lifted her pleasure-laden body up onto the couch.

  “Sloane,” she moaned, her head tipping to the side as her eyes opened.

  “You asked why I don’t drink,” he said hoarsely, resuming his position on his knees between her legs that hung off the edge of the couch. “Why would I bother when there is nothing that could be more intoxicating or more addictive than the sweetness between your thighs?” He licked over her swollen folds to emphasize his point. “And gorgeous, I plan on getting completely fucking wasted on you tonight.”

  Her sharp gasp was music to his ears as his mouth took her again. Sloane drank and drank and drank until the taste and sound of her orgasms made him come all over again.

  At some point, in what he would later regard as nothing other than a drunken stupor, he picked Cyn up and carried her back into the small apartment. Tucking her into the bed, he gave into his partially-sated exhaustion and crawled on the mattress beside her – on top of the covers – and fell peacefully asleep.

  Chapter 14

  Sloane grumbled feeling the incredible softness that he was draped over move underneath him. What the… his eyes blinked open to see his dark angel staring back up at him.

  Maybe he was in heaven…

  The way the small amount of sunlight glimmered into the room, reflecting off of her pale skin as her dark hair accentuated the contrast. He’d never woken up next to a woman before, but Lord, if this wasn’t heaven then he could only assume that what was beyond the pearly gates was a sham because this moment – this woman – was the only thing worth dying for.

  For a moment, he let his mind wonder what it would be like if this was his every morning; he would never get out of bed. The thought immediately brought his arousal to full-attention, pressing firmly against the pants that he’d left on last night and into the covers as it tried to break through every barrier to get to what was right in front of him.

  “Good morning.” Her soft, husky voice caressed him.

  His hand moved to brush a strand of hair off of her face. “Good morning,” he returned. His fingers didn’t leave her cheek even after he’d pushed all the hair away, gently tracing down the curve of her face; his eyes following its movements. “Your skin is so clear, it looks like it’s glowing.” His murmured observation brought a smile to her face – like the sun, it lit her every feature.

  She shifted slightly, pulling one arm out from underneath the covers. Her movement brushed her hips closer against his. Sloane sucked in a sharp breath at the shock of pleasure that sizzled through him. Cyn’s eyes immediately found his, the tenderness in them flooding over with desire.

  “My skin may be clear,” she began, taking her lower lip in between her teeth. Sloane growled – those lips were too fucking tempting. His mouth was on hers the next instant, sucking that lower lip into his own before his tongue tasted her. He pulled back, both of them panting even from such a slight touch. “My skin may be clear,” she began again. “But I can assure you, Mr. Sculptor, that my thoughts are quite dirty.”

  His clear-blue eyes clouded with desire, realizing a second too late that those thoughts of hers were translating into actions. That hand that she had moved from the covers that safely trapped her, suddenly closed over the hard length of his erection.

  “Fucking Christ,” he roared. Suddenly, he was looking at her from across the room, pressed up against the wall, and staring at Cyn like she had the plague. His heart was beating out of his chest, fire burned through every cell in his body, and Sloane felt like he could run fifty miles with the adrenaline pumping through his veins. His mind was a bright, white wall of desire as his sex punched out from his hips, instantly hard and pulsing from Cyn’s brief touch.

  No one had ever touched that part of him before.

  Except himself, when he was forced to accommodate the damn thing…

  He’d never let a woman touch that part of him with any part of her before; it was too dangerous.

  And holy hell, it was… a holy hell. His hands fisted at his sides as he forced his body to come back down from the edge of orgasm that the intense pleasure of her briefest touch had brought him to. It was the second miracle this morning; the first was when he managed to get himself to this side of the room in the blink of an eye, instead of pushing his demanding arousal further into her grasp.

  Meanwhile, Cyn had moved to sit up in the bed, clutching the sheet to her chest as she stared at him with an utterly distraught expression. “Are you ok? Did I hurt you?” Her hand came up to cover her mouth for a moment. “I didn’t mean to…”

  Hurt him? If she only knew…

  He’d never imagined that just a touch could do this to him. Maybe he had tried to deny himself for too long because he felt like he was going to have a stroke from the concentration that it took to restrain himself.

  Cyn stared worriedly at him, waiting for a response.

  Shit.

  “Yes. I… ahh… sorry. I’m fine.” It wasn’t bad enough that he was a virgin, but now he was starting to fucking sound like one.

  “You don’t look like you’re fine,” she murmured. Her observation sounded like a plea for understanding, but she would never understand because he would never let it come to that. By the time she fully understood why he continued to deny himself, it would be too late.

  “I… ahh… yeah. I’m fine.” It would probably be more believable if his voice would stop breaking. Get your shit together, Sloane. “Sorry, just not used to waking up next to someone is all; you startled me.”

  Her eyes widened at his confession and he saw the sl
ight tint of pink spread over her skin. Inwardly, he groaned, realizing that he’d just given away more information that gave her a clue as to just how special she was; he wanted her to know just how special she was, just not how special she was to him.

  “I’m sorry,” she apologized again. “Well, if you want to stop death-gripping the wall and come back to bed, I’ll show you just how sorry I am.” She bit her lower lip, knowing what it did to him – the vixen.

  No, Sloane. You cannot go near that bed. You have to get out of here.

  Red alarm signals were flaring in his head. Wall after wall, barrier after barrier, Cyn danced right through his defenses like light cut through darkness. He needed to think fast and give himself time to cool down.

  “No,” he said, a little too forcefully as he watched her sudden recoil. “I mean, I can’t. I have something to show you this afternoon, but I need to go get everything squared away this morning. I… ahh… wasn’t thinking that you’d be staying the night otherwise I would have done it sooner.”

  Her brow furrowed in confused disappointment. Sloane could see in her eyes that she thought she’d done something wrong – that she still thought she’d hurt him.

  “What do you have to show me?”

  “It’s a surprise, beautiful.” The thought of her face when she saw it brought a genuine smile across his entire face; maybe that was what convinced her that he was telling the truth. “Ok, I’m going to go do that.” He looked at his watch; it was almost ten in the morning. “I just need until like one o’clock. I’ll text you the address.”

  “Ok…” Her eyes followed him as he skirted around the bed, careful to not come within a foot of the thing as though touching the comforter would make his clothes disintegrate. With a quick smile, he let himself out of the room, closing the door behind him.

  He took the steps two at a time, heading straight to his apartment and an ice-cold shower. After which, he had a lease to go pick up.

  Cyn waited outside the address that Sloane had texted her; she was a few minutes early which gave her plenty of time to continue to wonder about what had happened this morning.

  Sloane had made absolutely no sense. She’d felt his arousal pressing against her. Heck, he’d just had his tongue inside her mouth. But when she’d touched him, he’d jumped off the bed faster than someone running from a burning building.

  And the look in his eyes…

  Before he realized that she was still there… waiting for an explanation… she’d seen his face; it had pure terror written over it like he’d just narrowly escaped death.

  She’d barely touched him; there was no way she had hurt him.

  Unless there was something wrong with him… But everything that she had (briefly) felt seemed in exceptional working order. His sex had felt as heavy as a rock in her grasp – a grasp that barely held him. She’d also felt in that brief moment the stiffness of the fabric of his pants.

  He’d orgasmed inside of them last night while he pleasured her.

  That knowledge made her unbelievably and incredibly turned on. Even more than that, she wanted to pleasure him – which was going to be difficult if he continued to treat her touch like it was poison.

  Cyn frowned. She’d told him everything about her past last night. Even though she’d told the story before, she’d never voiced the beliefs and fears that kept her up at night; the ones that told her she wasn’t good enough – that the only useful part about her was her body and using it was the only way she was ever going to get anywhere.

  The familiar shiver of self-doubt slithered over her. Maybe it had been a mistake taking off from the club this weekend. Maybe it was a mistake to think about quitting. Tash was probably right – maybe she was just in a funk because she needed some good loving and there was no reason to risk the career she’d built at the Paradise over that.

  Suddenly, she felt strong arms wrap around her as Sloane’s mouth touched hers. Her eyes widened in surprise before she melted into his kiss. The touch of his tongue to hers wiped away her concerns.

  This is where she belonged.

  She stared up at Sloane as he pulled back, wondering what had flipped his switch.

  “Sorry,” he murmured. “You looked upset and that was the quickest thing I could think of to take away your sorrows.”

  Cyn bit her lip as her smile overwhelmed her and she felt tears welling in her eyes. Sometimes, he said things to her that made her feel like she was the most precious person in the world.

  “Well, don’t stop now,” she said softly.

  And then he stepped three feet back from her, like he regretted his immediate, natural response to his emotions.

  And sometimes, he made her feel like she was the sun – where every time he got too close, she burned off just a little bit more of his wings.

  “We should go. Your surprise is just a few blocks up.” He half-turned down the road, waiting for her to follow him.

  Cyn wasn’t sure what the surprise would entail so she’d put on a tight, jersey dress and paired it with some ballet flats just in case there was walking involved. Apparently, her thinking had been correct.

  She took a few steps that put her right beside him and they began to walk up the block.

  “Can you tell me where we are going?”

  He shook his head. “Not far.”

  “Hmm…” Cyn wondered what it could possibly be. They were just a block or two up from One57 and were walking along the edge of Central Park. Wherever they were going must be expensive – anything this close to the park was.

  “Do you stay in that apartment a lot?” Let him keep his surprise, she had other questions to ask.

  His eyes glanced down to hers. “It depends. During the months that I’m working on a piece, I will. It’s easier for me to work at night and then by the time I’m done, I don’t feel like coming all the way back up here; a bed is a bed. Honestly, I would probably just let them rent out my apartment at One57 if I didn’t need to shower and get to my closet every once in awhile.”

  Cyn laughed. “Well, showering is pretty important. And cooking. I mean, there’s no stove in your studio.”

  “I never cook.”

  She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and stared. “Never?” she asked in disbelief.

  He stared right back and shook his head before his gaze fell to the ground. “I used to – a long time ago. My mom taught me; I used to cook for her a lot. Well, we used to cook together a lot before—” He stopped abruptly. “I don’t have time to cook anymore. And if I did, cooking for one person would be a waste of it.”

  Cyn swallowed hard. Ellie had hinted that his demeanor towards her might have something to do with his mother, but all she knew was that she’d passed away. They walked in silence for a few moments; her mind trying to figure out a way to get past his barriers while his mind tried to build them higher.

  “I—”

  “We’re here.” They’d spoken at the same time, his words overpowering the beginning of her idea. “What were you going to say?” he asked.

  Cyn just looked up at the non-descript building they were standing in front of. It faced the park, with large windows covering the front of it. The first couple floors looked like they could be commercial space while the remainder looked like apartments.

  She ignored his question, instead asking one of her own. “What is this place?”

  “A building I own,” he replied, walking up to the door and swiping a keycard that let them inside.

  “Well, I could have guessed that,” she grumbled as she walked through the door he’d held open for her.

  “Patience,” he whispered as he walked in front of her again, leading the way.

  That was definitely not one of her virtues.

  She followed him closely as he walked past the small security desk, hitting the button for the elevator.

  “Can you please tell me now?” she asked again as the doors opened. Sloane just smirked in enjoyment at her. She bit her lip, anxiously await
ing what he had in store.

  After he hit the button for the third floor, he turned to her and said, “A few weeks ago, one of my long-term renters decided to close up shop and retire.” The elevator dinged and the door opened. “They were debating for a while so I didn’t list the space on the market because I wasn’t sure what they wanted to do and I didn’t want to force them into a choice.”

  “That was thoughtful of you. What did they do?” she asked, dying to know where this was going as they walked down the short hall towards a frosted glass door.

  “They were musicians; they taught music classes and held recitals.” Sloane grabbed the doorknob, opening it wide for her to enter first. “Stuff like that…”

  Cyn walked into the bright, sun-lit room. The space was enormous with gorgeous hardwood floors that shined from the sunlight streaming in through the wall of windows. She walked over to the glass, groaning softly at the beautiful view it gave over central park.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said, turning to face Sloane who was only standing slightly inside the doorway now with his hands crossed over his chest, one of them holding a piece of paper while he watched her intently. She lost herself in his stare, which was why it took her a full minute to process the next words that came out of his mouth.

  “It’s yours.”

  Wait. What?

  “It’s yours, Cyn.” She blinked at him. “For your dance studio.” Her mouth might have fallen open, she couldn’t be sure. Her feet carried her aimlessly down the length of the room; her mind immediately envisioning the space filled with children standing in front of the mirrors that would line the wall, practicing their positions. In that moment, her dream felt like a reality and it completely amazed her. She turned back to face him, looking down at herself – she couldn’t feel anything right now.

  Or maybe, she just felt everything.

  Was this what it felt like to pass out? Was she going to pass out?

  Suddenly, he was in front of her, his hands on her arms. “Are you ok?” His eyes were fraught with concern.