“Madre de dios,” she whispered.
The instinctive reaction this man inspired rocked her to her core. One look from him, and she turned into a woman she did not know. Until she laid eyes on him, she’d never played games to get what she wanted from life. She never had to. But there was something about him that made her tread cautiously even when her every instinct was to throw that caution to the wind. She wasn’t an impulsive woman. Until he looked at her, she hadn’t considered herself particularly passionate. But the very first time his eyes met hers she almost combusted. The want he invoked was every bit as terrifying as it was thrilling. She didn’t know what to do but to hand it over to him and hope he knew how to handle it.
“I want you. I don’t know you, but I want you so much.” Staring up at the ceiling, she confessed. “I don’t know how to handle this.”
Alec hummed against her, sending pulses of desire through her like a shower of sparks. He swirled her clit with his tongue. She cried out, welcoming the slick glide of his finger as he pushed deeper, harder, faster. He treated her to another chorus of hot, hungry grunts and groans as he consumed her with a single-minded fervor no woman could resist.
Desperate to hold on as she spiraled out of control, Sofia bent her knees and pressed the soles of her feet to his ribcage. The shirt he wore clung to his skin. Heat saturated the finely woven cotton. She could feel the coil and release of long, flat muscle beneath the fabric and allowed herself to anticipate the pleasure of the lean power on top of her, pressing her deep into the mattress as he drove himself into her. Holding her down. Taking what he wanted. Giving her what she needed most.
Alec added a second finger. She rewarded him by gasping his name when he suckled greedily. She moaned it when he curled his fingers ever-so-slightly. The shift in pressure set her senses reeling. Each thrust of his fingers nudged her higher, but the exquisite sensations he provoked never quite pushed her over the edge. The climax stretched on and on. She tried to race across it like she was walking a tightrope. Desperate to reach the other side. Afraid to fall.
“Sofia.”
The way he savored the syllables even as he spoke them into her pulsing cunt tripped her up. A sharp cry escaped her. She thrust herself at him, riding his eager lips, teeth, and tongue as she spiraled out of control. But instead of tumbling down into the abyss, he raised her up, slipping his hand under her ass to support her as she surrendered to each burst of pure sensation.
Her mind blank, her body spent, she barely noticed the sweet, tender kisses he used to gentle her. Muscles lax, she focused on reclaiming her breath as he carefully lowered her to the countertop. There, she melted into a pool of boneless woman.
Satiated to the point of feeling drunk, she turned her head and offered up a bleary smile. “Take your clothes off and take me to bed.”
Her eyes widened when she felt a tug at her scalp. She looked down to find her hair wrapped thick and tight around his fist. Alec opened his fingers and it began to uncoil. He turned his wrist and it slipped from his grasp in a heavy spiral. His slow, crooked smile made her heart flip-flop. She held her breath as he lowered his head to kiss her. At last.
But instead of covering her mouth, those lips branded the skin at the hollow of her throat. A strangled cry of frustration formed a knot just below the heated spot as he pulled away, slowly shaking his head. “I don’t sleep with women I don’t know.”
Thanks to the knot in her throat, her sharp intake of breath was wholly inadequate when it came to fueling the outrage bubbling in her blood or the shame roiling in her gut. Before she could release more than that measly puff of breath, he continued.
“I have no surgeries scheduled, so I’ll be in the cafeteria tomorrow at noon.” He tucked her hair behind her ear as he stepped back. Bright blue eyes locked on her, holding her captive in their beam. “If you happen to be there too, maybe we can get to know each other a little better.”
Then the bastard turned on his heel and left before she could gather herself enough to scramble down off the counter.
*
Haze hung heavy over the city the following morning. Alec clung to the smooth metal bar above his head as fire escapes and decks festooned with flower boxes, Cubs flags and drying laundry blurred beyond the windows. The train slowed as it approached the next stop. He braced his feet for the change in momentum but kept his gaze locked on Sofia.
She, of course, looked anywhere but at him.
He wasn’t surprised by this morning’s cool distance even if the taste of her coming apart still burned hot on his tongue. Her blinds had been shut tight by the time he reached his apartment. Her expression as she stood on the platform was equally shuttered. Still, despite having absolutely no claim on her, the thought of letting any man stand too close to the woman he’d primed made his hair rise on his neck. For that reason alone, he’d purposefully crowded her, standing over her like a sentry as she huddled into her seat.
But Sofia didn’t speak to him. The single dark glare she shot him said all she needed to say. She was pissed. Alec didn’t blame her, really. He was a little ticked off himself. Not because he hadn’t fucked her when he had the chance, but rather that she thought so little of him that he should settle for nothing more.
As the train pulled into the station, he prayed that she’d simmer down a bit before lunch. He’d spoken the truth the night before. Never in his life had he made love to a stranger and he wasn’t about to start now.
He stepped back, gallantly offering a hand to help her from her seat when the train came to a complete stop. He couldn’t help but chuckle when she batted it aside, using the pole that anchored the seat as a catapult to lurch past him. He followed her, of course, his longer strides eating up the yardage she’d tried to put between them.
“God, you have a lovely arse,” he said, knowing he was close enough for her to hear him.
Her spine stiffened and her steps slowed. She placed one foot in front of the other, obviously trying to manage the show he enjoyed from behind. Her efforts failed. The poker she pretended to have up that posterior stifled the sway of her hips momentarily, but it proved no match for the beauty nature had created. He saw the exact moment she decided to fight fire with fire. Within a few steps, the sway was back with a vengeance. As a matter of fact, the woman swung her rounded hips so wide he feared she might distract the drivers passing them on the street. God help him, he fell a little in love with her for it.
“That’s right. I love watching you walk, Sofia. I can’t wait to hold that gorgeous ass in my hands again.”
She whirled on him, dark eyes and white teeth flashing. “You’ll never—”
He cut her off by pressing a finger to her lips. “Don’t say things you don’t mean,” he admonished.
She opened her mouth and took his finger between her teeth, glaring at him as she worried one of his second-best assets between the sharp edges. Heat flared inside him. The tips of his ears burned with suppressed desire. Her nostrils flared when their gazes clashed, and it was all he could do to keep from pressing her up against the near building.
“We will meet for lunch and converse like reasonable human beings. I’ll tell you things like how I was born in Ireland or whatever you want to know, and you’ll tell me bits about you.”
He eased his finger from between her teeth, then used the damp wetness to moisten her lush lips. The lips he hadn’t allowed himself to kiss.
Yet.
He liked to enjoy all pleasures in their own time. Sofia was obviously a woman who wanted what she wanted when she wanted it. She didn’t see things the way he did, and if the two of them were to be anything at all to each other, they would need to find some common ground. Something aside from unbridled want.
“But make no mistake. I will touch you again.” He heaved a sigh and lowered his hand. The wind whipped a stray tendril of her hair. It cut across her cheek and clung to her newly dampened lips. “This evening, I will sit in my apartment and think about you. I’ll watch you
r windows for a signal. You can rest assured that my cell will be permanently affixed to my hand.”
“But—”
He cut her off with a brisk shake of his head. “Just meet me at lunchtime. What can it hurt?”
*
What could it hurt? Sofia gave an indelicate snort as she unlocked her apartment door. Never in her life had she endured a more excruciating meal.
Alec had been fine. He’d been friendly and encouraging, disconcertingly charming and terrifyingly open as he talked. Through stories told with self-deprecating humor and a twinkle in his gorgeous eyes, he introduced her to the main players in a massive family as different from hers as day from night. He had a brother running for a state senate seat. She had one who was a notorious gangbanger. His parents sounded funny and loving, like one of those couples out of a Sunday night made-for-TV movie.
She was the one who was a mess. Her mother was probably twenty years younger than his chronologically, but Sofia would be willing to bet she was a helluva lot more worn out than Mrs. McCarthy. And her brothers…they were a story she didn’t relish relating.
But Alec was damn near irresistible. She’d been drawn in from the get-go. Like a fool, she sat there poking at a salad she couldn’t swallow and listened to the mesmerizing cadence of his voice. Every once in a while she managed to catch a glimmer of the accent life in the good old U.S. of A. failed to stamp out. For some silly reason it gave her hope. The melodic inflections served as a reminder that they had each grown beyond their roots.
Each tidbit of information he fed her unveiled a little of Dr. McCarthy, but at the same time intrigued her more. She knew now that his nose had been broken in a bar fight in college, but the scar on his lip remained a mystery. The affection in his voice when he spoke of a beloved but elderly dog that still lived with his folks because he couldn’t bear to uproot her made her throat ache. The way her name rolled from his tongue made her wet. More than once, she squirmed in her seat, wondering if everyone in the overcrowded cafeteria knew how turned on she was just sitting across from him.
And when lunch was over, he gave her hand a squeeze, flashed a smile that would have made Satan shiver, and left with nothing more than a “See you later.”
A signal. He said that was all it would take. One little sign from her and he’d be at her door again. To torment her. Tease her. Give her an incredible orgasm and walk away as if he hadn’t just blown her mind.
The man was a puzzle. One moment he bumbled around tripping over his own feet in his haste to get to her, the next he was plucking her strings like a damn virtuoso. In the light of day, and judging by his direct manner, he seemed to be a straight shooter, but the mind fuck he’d given her the previous night left her reeling.
She stood inside her apartment door, her keys biting into her palm as she stared at the bank of windows. Her blinds were still closed tight. She’d shut him out as effectively as she could when the door closed behind him. Now, the temptation to take a peek was too strong to ignore. Her purse slid from her shoulder. She dropped her keys and bag on the sofa and crossed the room. Running her fingers over the dusty vinyl slats, she gnawed her bottom lip.
A muffled buzzing jerked her back from the edge. The urgent bleating of her cell beaconed. Thankful for the distraction, she whirled and dove for her bag. She swiped her thumb without checking the display and answered with a breathy, “Hello?”
“I know you’re home. I can see the light behind the blinds.”
She pulled the phone from her ear and blinked at the screen in dismay. She was about to ask the stupid question when it occurred to her that she’d been the one to give him her number when she called him the night before. Needing a moment to collect her thoughts, she tried on her most indifferent tone for size. “Who is this?”
His confident chuckle told her it didn’t fit. She steeled her resolve, determined to maintain control of the situation. Unlike the previous night, when everything went to hell and gone the second he stepped foot inside her apartment.
“The man who’s been half-hard all day thinking about you.”
Just like that, she realized there wasn’t enough steel in the world to reinforce her defenses. “Alec—”
“Ah, you remember me now,” he mocked. “Open your blinds.”
“I don’t think—”
“Open them up and look what you’ve done to me, Sofia.”
The hoarse command crushed her little rebellion. Moving to the center window, she turned the wand enough to peep through the blinds. She’d just homed in on his apartment when a train rushed past. A tiny mewl of frustration caught at the back of her throat. Alec must have heard it because he loosed that rumbling chuckle again.
“I know, love.”
She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, refusing to be drawn in by the sticky web of commiseration. Fat lot of good it did her. By the time she opened them, the train was gone and all she could see was him. Bare-chested. Jeans unbuttoned. She sucked in a sharp breath and spread the blinds wider, pressing her nose between the musty slats as she gaped at him.
How had she ever thought he was skinny? The man’s chest and arms were covered with one sinuous, knife-etched muscle after another. His stomach was flat but defined, a thin line of dark hair bisecting the ridges and disappearing into the open fly of his jeans. The long, graceful fingers of one hand covered his crotch, the other held the phone. Sofia almost swallowed her tongue.
“Are you—”
He cut off her question with another laugh. “No, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it.” He paused for a beat. Enough to let the implication soak into her consciousness. “Tell me your middle name,” he ordered without segue.
“Anita.” She bit the tip of her tongue, shocked by how easily she gave up the information.
“Your favorite color?”
The obvious play behind his rapid-fire inquiry coaxed a laugh from her at last. Her tongue loosened as her skin heated and blood slowed. “Purple.”
“Do you like pizza?”
“Love it.”
“Me too. I think we have quite a bit in common, don’t you?” Before she could respond, he stepped closer to his windows. “Invite me over.”
“Alec, don’t—”
“Please. I’m not as good at playing it cool. I don’t want to be. I’ve been kicking my own ass all day. I need to taste you again. I have to get inside you.”
A tingle of power trickled down her spine, but this time she didn’t let it make her cocky. “Don’t forget your shoes and shirt,” she said, a smile coloring her tone. “That’s what I was going to say.”
“But just so you know, this is only the start. I want to know you, Sofia,” he warned. “More than anything, I want to know you, and not just in the biblical sense.”
“Hurry.”
Thankfully, she didn’t have to tell him twice. The low-grade fever humming inside her all day burst into a hot flash when she saw him grab his shirt and bolt for the door. She was mildly disappointed to see he had shoes on his feet. Anxious, she took a few seconds to straighten the cramped living room. A smile twitched her lips as she tugged the covers up over her bed. They’d never made it as far as her sofa, much less the five extra steps it took to get to the bed.
She jumped when he leaned on the buzzer. She rushed for the panel to unlock the door. Anticipation bubbled and boiled inside her as he bounded up the stairs. Poised in the doorway, she gripped the knob when he slowed on the last flight. His chest was still bare. The shirt clutched in his hand had been reduced to nothing more than a hopeless ball of wrinkles. She shook her head, taking him in with a bewildered laugh. “You didn’t put your shirt on.”
“You told me not to forget it. You never said I had to wear it,” he said with a lift of his brows.
Heartened by the fact that he’d at least buttoned his pants, she grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him into her apartment. “I’m beginning to wonder if you’re more an exhibitionist or a voyeur.”
> His answer came with a low, dangerous growl. “I’ll be whichever you want me to be.”
*
Alec liked the teasing light that fired her dark eyes. He wanted to kiss the smug smile off her lips. But not yet. Best to make her wait for it, ache for it, the way he’d been aching all damn day. “Let’s not forget which one of us did a striptease for everyone on the Howard Red Line to see.”
“No one could see me,” she scoffed.
“If I could see you, others could too.” The door swung shut behind him. “The really sick thing is that knowing that gets me hot. Hotter,” he amended.
He clamped a hand at her waist and propelled her back into the living area. His mouth hovered mere millimeters from hers as their tangled legs bounced off the arm of the couch, but still he refused to give in. She raised her chin and parted her lips. This time, the invitation came laced with a heavy dose of challenge. Alec couldn’t help but smile, which turned out to be the wrong response.
Sofia managed a half-pivot on her heel before he caught her up in his arms and held her tight. She squirmed against him, dark eyes flashing. “Why won’t you kiss me?”
“I will.”
She ceased her struggles and angled her head again, eyebrows arcing high and lips set in a determined line that tempted him more than it should.
“In good time,” he added, knowing full well the qualification would drive her mad.
Her mouth dropped open, but before she could utter her protest, he grasped her arms and spun her away from him. She threw her arms out for balance and caught the window frame. A southbound train rumbled a warning, the vibration growing more insistent as it approached. Alec took hold of the hem of her top as the first flash of silver streaked past. He yanked the straps of her bra down as the second car flew by, dragging satin and lace cups with it and treating a trainload of weary commuters to her bare breasts.
Love Letters Volume 5: Exposed Page 13