by L. A. Fiore
As soon as he saw me, he didn’t hide the inspection he gave me, one that started at the tip of my head and moved slowly down my body to my toes. I was dressed in black: pants, cropped sweater and boots. My hair was down since I knew how much he liked that.
“You’re beautiful.”
His compliment settled very comfortably in the center of my chest.
“Let me get Loki settled and we’ll go.”
Joining him, he reached for my hand as we walked to his house. “What would you think about a vegetable garden here?”
If he was surprised by the question, considering that really wasn’t where my thoughts were, I couldn’t tell. “Does it get enough sun?”
“Plenty.”
“Sounds good. I guess that’s phase five?” he asked in humor.
“It is. Giovanni will be so happy.”
Rafe stopped walking, his expression indiscernible. “Who’s Giovanni?”
“The owner of the garden center.”
“When did you get his name?”
“As soon as we arrived. That’s the first and most important step in haggling, familiarity with the one you’re haggling with.”
He chuckled as we resumed our walk to the back door. “Good to know.”
Once we entered, Rafe walked to the pantry to get Loki’s dinner. I moved into the living room, loved the feel of the room. As I stood studying one of the pictures he had on the wall, I felt Rafe behind me seconds before his hands settled on my hips. Chills danced down my arms, his warm breath bringing goosebumps, right before he touched his lips to the spot at the curve of my neck. Tingles swept through me and as his lips moved over my shoulder, the tingles followed. My body burned and yet felt chilled all at once.
His hold on me tightened as he pulled me back against him. I felt him, hard and thick, against the small of my back, which elicited a whimper from deep in my throat.
“I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to taste you right here.” He whispered as he kissed me in the same spot, his tongue darting out for a taste.
Tilting my head to offer him more, I leaned back into him. His fingers caressed the bare skin at my hip. “Please don’t stop.” I was going to come again just from his mouth on my neck.
His hands roamed under my sweater, up my sides, to my breasts where he brushed his thumb over the hard nipple.
“Fuck.” That one word from his mouth was the sexiest sound I’d ever heard. “I can’t wait. Dessert first,” he said, right as he grabbed my sweater and lifted it up over my head. Even though there was a chill in the air, I was burning up. His hands over my skin felt so incredible. He flicked the clasp on my bra at the same time he turned me to him, his eyes on my breasts that spilled out into his hands.
“So fucking beautiful.” And to emphasize that point, he touched his tongue to me. I was aching, a throbbing ache that begged to be soothed. Pressing me back against the wall, he sucked me deep into his mouth as he worked the snap on my pants. Moving to the neglected breast, his fingers traced the skin where my panties met my hips. Dropping to his knees, my heart galloped in my chest because I wanted his mouth on me, could think of nothing else. He pulled my pants down and I moaned, and just as I stepped out of them, he buried his face between my legs.
“Oh God, yes.” Opening my legs wider for him, his hands splayed on my ass as he pulled me closer. His hot mouth settled over my clit through the silk of my panties. Lacing my fingers though his hair, my head fell back against the wall and my legs shook as my stomach knotted with lust.
“So fucking sweet.” His warm breath across the part of me that throbbed caused a surge of moisture.
He inhaled and moaned before he growled, “Sorry.” In the next second, he ripped my panties from me and drove his tongue in deep.
My eyes rolled into the back of my head and my legs were now useless. I was being held up by Rafe’s hands on my ass and his mouth. My hips worked though, as I moved into his mouth, grinding myself against him as my body crested on the cusp of an orgasm that I knew would blow every other orgasm I’d ever had right out of the water. Just seconds before glorious release, Rafe’s mouth was gone.
He stood, hooked his arm around my waist and lifted me into his arms. “Not yet.”
It was while he walked us to his room that I realized I was completely naked and he was fully clothed.
“You’re wearing too many clothes.”
“Agreed.”
He dropped me to my feet at the foot of his bed. “Can you help me with that?”
Ahh…yeah.
My fingers were shaking when I started unbuttoning his shirt. When I spread it open and pulled it down his arms, flawless tan skin pulled tight over hard muscle met my gaze. I ran my fingertips down his chest and his muscles flexed in response. His abs, my fingers traced those muscles and then I traced them again with my tongue.
Looking at him, his eyes were hot and I could feel his cock, hard in his jeans, pressing against my tummy. Slowly I worked the snap, lowered the zipper, and pulled his jeans down enough to free him. Seeing him, little trembles went off in my body, so perfectly formed, hard and ready. Touching the tip with my tongue, we both moaned. Kneeling in front of him, I gripped the base and slid my hand up his shaft as I worked the tip with my tongue. The sound coming from him was like an aphrodisiac, encouraging me to be bolder. Fondling the heavy sac between his legs, I closed my lips around the tip, before I slowly pulled him deeper until I could practically feel him at the back of my throat. God he tasted good.
His hips moved, his fingers in my hair tightened and mine on his ass dug into his flesh leaving crescent shapes I was sure. I wanted him to come in my mouth, wanted to taste him, but he moved, grabbing me under the arms and tossing me on the bed before he pounced. His mouth slammed down on mine as his fingers curled around my thighs, spreading me wide. He rubbed himself over me, but I wanted him inside me.
“Rafe, please.”
Reaching for his bedside table, he grabbed a condom, unwrapped it and rolled it on and then he was right there, exactly where I wanted him.
Locking eyes, he said nothing as he slowly pushed forward, stretching me wide as he sank himself deep in an excruciatingly slow pace. His gaze shifted, but I didn’t know where to look—his eyes that were hot and fixed on where we were connected, his chest and arms as he held himself over me, the muscles flexing as he moved or lower to where his cock filled me, claimed me with every shift of his hips. Arching my spine, I took him deeper, as my hips lifted to take even more. We moved, reaching together for climax, and when it crashed over me I cried out as my body splintered apart into tiny little pieces. His focus shifted to my face, seeming to derive pleasure from witnessing me come. He was holding back, knew he was when his movements became harder, deeper and then he lowered his head and kissed me: a deep, open mouth kiss just as he seated himself seconds before his body shuddered in release. Sucking my lower lip into his mouth, he caught it between his teeth, applying enough pressure to make it hurt so good.
Wrapping my legs around his waist, so he couldn’t move, I held his stare. “I’ve always believed in dessert first.”
He laughed, causing pleasant shivers since he was still inside me and, surprisingly, hard.
“I should feed you.” He brushed his lips down my neck before he added, “And then I’m eating you again.”
I so loved this plan.
It was late, hours after round two and three. We’d fallen asleep but Rafe wasn’t sleeping now. His body was tense, primed.
“Rafe?”
It was only then that I heard Loki growling from his spot at the foot of the bed. “The silent perimeter alarm has been tripped.”
Lifting my head, I saw the lights on the panel. He climbed from bed, grabbed his jeans and pulled them on. “Stay here. The cops will be here any minute, a call goes to dispatch when the alarm is tripped.”
“Shouldn’t you stay here too?” Fear was pushing back exhaustion. If people were in the house, Rafe shouldn’t be confr
onting the intruders, should he? What if they had guns?
He reached for a baseball bat he had next to his bed, his expression scary when he looked back at me. “Stay here.”
“Okay.”
He disappeared, my heart moved into my throat as I strained my ears to hear what was happening beyond the door. It felt like eternity before I heard the sound of sirens coming from down the street. A few minutes later, Rafe returned.
“Whoever it was, they’re gone now.”
Unease and irritation moved through me. “Do you think it was Melody?”
He did, by the dark look that swept his face. “Probably. Hopefully the camera caught something.”
“You have cameras outside?”
“Yeah on the gates, the entrances to the main house, the barn and the carriage house.”
He placed the bat against the wall before settling on the bed next to me. “The cops are going to be here any second, you might want to dress.”
I’d forgotten I was naked, too worried about him to care.
Running his finger along my jaw, his eyes tracking the motion before they lifted to mine. “One of these days I will actually get you to dinner.”
“What we did was so much better than dinner.”
The slight smile that curved his mouth nearly melted my heart. “Agreed.”
The doorbell had Rafe’s expression switching from tender to dangerous. “If you’d rather go back to sleep, I won’t be long.”
“I’d like to stay here.”
“Okay.” He kissed me again before he started from the room.
“Rafe.”
He stopped at the door and looked back at me. “Yeah.”
“Wake me when you come back.”
Hungry was how he looked now. “Absolutely.”
“Did the camera get anything?” Lucien asked the following day and though I heard him, my thoughts were on Avery and last night. God she was sweet, every inch of her. I couldn’t get enough. Craved her, a hunger I couldn’t seem to appease. She’d left earlier for work and the sight of her pulling down my drive had me feeling almost primitive. And as fantastic as the sex had been, it wasn’t the sex that had wrangled my heart like a cowboy roping in a steer. It was Avery—that guileless, witty and sweet woman who had absolutely no idea of her appeal.
“Earth to Rafe.”
Pulling a hand through my hair, I turned to Lucien who had that look; the bastard missed nothing.
“Sorry I missed Avery this morning.”
Fishing for info, I wasn’t about to make it easy for him. “The cameras didn’t get anything. Whoever it was knew where the cameras were positioned, even the angles, so clearly they’d been here before to case the place.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Lucien wasn’t teasing now.
“I think it was Melody.”
I hadn’t seen that dark expression on Lucien in a while. “Why do you say that?”
“She visited Avery at work the other day and asked her for the codes. And Avery mentioned she’d seen Melody at my gates a few weeks back, trying to get onto my property when I wasn’t home.”
“What the fuck for?”
I didn’t answer, knew Lucien wasn’t really asking since it was pretty obvious what Melody was after.
“You ended that.”
“Yeah, but Melody is apparently not on board.”
“You need to handle that shit.”
“I know; I’m working on it.”
“Does Avery know about the attempted break in?”
“Yeah.”
“It was close to three in the morning, right?”
Nosey bastard. “Yeah.”
“I guess it was the sirens that woke her.”
“You’re sounding more like your wife, you know that, right?”
“Just curious how your tenant heard about the break in.”
“Well, you can remain curious.”
“All the answer I need. We’re all going to Allegro on Saturday to hear Kyle’s band.”
“We’ll be there.”
“We. I like hearing that, brother.” Not as much as I liked saying it. Lucien headed for the door after placing his mug in the sink. “I need to get to work. Call me if you need me.”
“Will do.”
I had work too, and as much as I wanted to spend the day in my workshop thinking about all the things I planned on doing to Avery when I got her back in my bed, first I had to handle Melody. “Fucking hell.”
This had been a mistake. Reasoning with someone who wasn’t reasonable made about as much sense as banging your fucking head into a wall. My brilliant plan, confront Melody in person and tell her to back off. Somehow I thought face-to-face would have more impact. Clearly banging my head against the wall might be in order to jar my brain into working. As soon as she opened the door, she threw herself at me. I swear to God, she turned into an octopus because there were way more than four limbs wrapped around me. Prying myself loose took time and all the while Melody was attempting to eat me whole. Christ.
“I knew you’d come around.”
Finally breaking free, I moved as far from her as possible. When she made a move toward me, I put my hand out and snarled. “Stay over there.”
“Why? We’ll have so much more fun close and naked.”
“We’re not getting naked.”
She pouted; had I ever thought that was sexy? I might need to have my head examined. Luckily for me I knew a brain surgeon. “Was it you last night who tried to break into my place?”
Her reaction didn’t seem feigned; she looked truly surprised which was followed quickly with disdain. “What? Break into your place? Like I have nothing better to do?”
Now she was pissing me off. “Seriously? You went to Avery, while she was working, and demanded the codes, but you think I’m stretching by making the assumption you tried to gain access another way?”
A direct hit, calling bullshit on her nonchalance; the woman could technically be brought up on charges of harassment, maybe even stalking. And still she tossed out attitude. “I didn’t come to your house last night.”
“We’re over. You know that. Why the hell did you go to Avery for the codes?”
Belligerent was the best way to describe her expression. “Because I thought if you found me in your bed, naked, and we fucked, you’d realize what a mistake you’d made.”
“Is that the same reason you tried to fill her head with bullshit?”
“She told you that, did she? You have her trained well.”
I could not believe I had ever found this woman attractive. “I’m going to be as clear on this as I can be. We’re over. There is nothing you have that I want. And if you ever again bother Avery at work, or attempt to spew your brand of bullshit, we’re going to have a serious fucking problem. A few words in the right ears and you’ll be denied access to all the hot spots in town.”
She paled even as temper sparked in her eyes. There was one thing she liked more than me and that was seeing and being seen. “Are you threatening me?”
“No, not a threat a warning.”
“For her? I cannot believe you tossed me aside for that fat bitch.”
I never had the urge to hurt a woman, but I had it now. Rage had my body going still, my hands fisting. “Be very careful Melody or I’ll forget you’re a woman.”
Fear flashed in her eyes, but she tried to save face when she said, “You had all this and you’re settling for her. Talk about trading down.”
“And that is all this is about. You don’t give a shit about me. You just can’t stand that I ended it.”
I had to leave because the urge to toss her over her balcony was becoming far too tempting. Reaching the door, I pulled it open. Looking over my shoulder, whatever I saw in her completely escaped me now.
“For the record, you’re just a pretty cunt who gives great head. I didn’t trade down. I hit the fucking jackpot.”
I tried and failed to get some work done, too pissed with Melo
dy to focus. She paid more attention to me now than she had when we were dating. The classic case of a spoiled child wanting what she couldn’t have. And if my relationship with her wasn’t case in point on how I’d been going through the motions. Hell, I hadn’t even worked up the effort to break it off with her, a woman I didn’t even really like. And I’d still be living like that had it not been for a feisty pastry chef riding into my life in her god-awful car. Speaking of which, she was home, her car had a distinct—in serious need of a tune-up—sound. I stepped outside to greet her. She looked tired, and it didn’t help that I had kept her awake for most of the night. Not that I didn’t intend to keep her awake tonight, but I was enough of a gentleman to feel badly about it. Watching her body move was like art in motion: graceful and alluring and completely unconsciously done.
As soon as she saw me, a smile spread over her face. “Hey.” She said as she swung her bag over her shoulder.
Walking right into her, I yanked her close and kissed her, sweeping her mouth with my tongue because honestly, I was jonesing for a fix. With the way she kissed me back, I wasn’t the only one. “How was your night?”
She didn’t immediately answer as her tongue ran over her lower lip, licking my taste off.
“Keep doing that and we’re missing dinner again.”
I could tell she didn’t have a problem with that. Her voice was husky when she finally answered. “I had an excellent evening, even more so after that kiss.” Her eyes twinkled knowing what she was doing to me. She continued, “We tried something different, a chocolate tray paired with dessert wine. It was a huge success and Tina, my one sous chef, has mastered the art of tempering chocolate.”