by Ellen Lane
Alice drowned on him, taking no notice when her hair tumbled down into the bathwater. In fact, she might not have noticed if the hotel started crumbling around them. She was completely absorbed in the man that held her. In fact, she only relinquished his mouth when he moved downward to begin kissing and sucking intoxicatingly over her throat. Alice whimpered softly, her hands wetting his shirt clean through until the man did something utterly crazy.
He climbed into the tub, shirt, slacks, socks and all. Alice found herself laughing breathlessly as water splashed messily over the edges of the tub to coat the floor. “Russell! You’ll ruin your clothes!”
“I don’t give a damn.” He murmured huskily against her collarbone before his tongue dipped into the hollow of her throat to stroke there torturously. Alice gasped, and her bare legs seemed to wrap around the man’s waist of their own accord. Russell’s hands slid slickly over her sides until they curled into the ample curve of her behind, and when he pressed her against him, Alice felt the unmistakable ridge of his arousal. Alice all but writhed, wanting nothing between them but skin as quickly as humanly possible.
When Russell kissed her again, however, she tasted soap and realized – not for the first time – that the man was still entirely clothed. And covered with bubbles to boot.
“Russell, we’re making a mess!”
In reply, Russell merely lowered his mouth to one of her breasts, his eyes never leaving hers as he took its peak into his mouth to tug at deliciously with his teeth,
She arched into the heat of his lips reflexively, shuddering as pleasure coursed through her, it had been an eternity since a man touched her – since she had even touched herself. If they made a mess, then they made a fucking mess, the young woman suddenly cared little. Russell, however, simply toyed with her nipple for a few minutes before releasing it to straighten. “I suppose we should take this where there’s more space.” With little ceremony, he lifted her into his arms before stepping from the tub.
Naturally, water dripped everywhere, but Russell took no heed, merely carrying her back to the next room to toss on the bed. Alice supposed she would have to worry about ruining the sheets later. At that particular moment, she was too absorbed in the way Russell was shedding his clothing. If she thought his naked form was glorious the first time she’d seen it, being sluiced with water only improved his allure.
First, he took off his shirt, unbuttoning it before dropping it to the floor with a wet smack. His t-shirt came next, exposing the glorious network of muscles that made up his chest. By the time he finally dropped his trousers, Alice was almost salivating.
The man was perfect – a work of art. Well-proportioned from the trim waist and broad shoulders to muscular thighs and one of the most decadent looking erections she’d ever seen. If she’d felt self-conscious before, it was impossible now. Russell was looking at her as if she were the only thing in the world that he could see.
Alice didn’t think any man had ever looked at her like that before.
In a trice, Russell had taken firm hold of her thighs to drag her to the edge of the bed. Then, he was spreading her legs to settle in between, and at the feel of his rock-hard cock pressing against her bare belly, Alice moaned into the kiss he gave her. Her arms slid around his neck and she arched against him, her nipples drawn into almost painfully hard peaks. The dark-haired young woman rubbed herself against him unabashedly, uncaring that the sheets were already soaked through. She wasn’t cold. It wasn’t possible to be cold with Russell’s body pressed against hers.
His hands slid around the back of her thighs, cupping her just beneath her behind, and Russell groaned as his mouth dropped from hers to her aching breasts. He hitched her higher in his arms until her nipples were at eye level before sucking one hungrily.
“Dear God, Russell…” Her hands tunneled through his hair, mussing it beyond repair. “Yes…”
“I’ve wanted this from the first moment I saw you.” He groaned, his words reverberating through her so she trembled. “I fucking dream of being inside you, Alice.”
She was more than ready to oblige him at that very second. The only thing that stopped her was the fact that Russell had a very firm hold on her- and she was enjoying the slide of his cock against her skin too much to make a terrible fuss.
Russell switched from one breast to the other and then back again, obviously ravenous for her. Alice felt her orgasm building low in her stomach – the man had hardly touched her and she was about to fall apart. She rubbed against him needily, trying to nudge his erection into the place she needed it most.
Russell, of course, noticed her squirming almost immediately, and lifted his mouth from her chest with only extreme reluctance. “So impatient.”
Of course, she was impatient. Alice had been fantasizing about the man for nigh on half a year by this point. “Russell, please…. just do it.”
“What is it that you want me to do?” The man returned huskily. “This?” He lowered his head to her breasts once more, nipping sharply at her nipple so she jerked.
“N-no.”
“This, then, perhaps?” He began kissing her neck with agonizing slowness as his fingers trekked down her belly to draw slow circles just above the aching bud of her clit.
“No…” Alice groaned – though she was tempted to let him linger there for a while.
“This?” Russell suddenly shifted her in his arms so the rounded tip of his erection was pressed against her slick lower folds. When he began to rub back and forth, Alice whimpered, rotating her hips in an attempt to have him inside her. When he didn’t assuage her, she all but growled in frustration.
“Just fuck me already.”
To her shock, Russell actually released her onto the bed so he was looming over her like a predator. That done, he leaned down to kiss her forehead, her nose, and then her lips in a surprisingly intimate gesture. “That’s quite the mouth you have.”
Alice flushed dark red. She was hardly the one who needed to be embarrassed, considering how much he had teased her in the last twenty-four hours. “I’ll oblige you – but only for a moment. I intend to take my time with you. Fucking is only part of it.”
That word sounded so delicious coming from his usually refined mouth. Alice thought she would have to drive him to expletives more often. With his proclamation, Russell parted her thighs once more, settling between as he stroked himself almost leisurely. It was a gorgeous sight. Alice watched with bated breath as he rubbed himself against her, arching her hips in an attempt to try and take him inside her. She needn’t have bothered, however. In a trice, Russell lifted one of her legs over his thigh and slid into her in one swift stroke.
Alice cried out at the sudden fullness, grasping at the coverlet beneath her head. He was big – far larger than any man she’d had before – and he filled her perfectly. Gasping, she writhed against him until he groaned lowly, his grip tightening. “You feel divine, Alice.” He withdrew only slightly before thrusting into her again, and the young woman moaned almost deliriously. The rhythm Russell set was quick enough to leave her breathless. Indeed, what he was doing to her could be called nothing other than fucking and she reveled in it. Each thrust filled her completely, so she clung to his hips and begged him wordlessly for more.
But as quickly as it had started, it was over. When Russell pulled out of her, Alice actually whined in disappointment. She reached for him almost desperately only to have him take her hands and kiss each of her palms lingeringly. Alice noticed that she wasn’t the only one breathing heavily, and was pleased to see she had affected Russell at least as much as he affected her.
“Only a little, darling.” Dropping her hands, Russell moved to her flat stomach, lavishing it with kisses and caresses “You must be patient.” Of course, that was the last thing Alice wanted to be, especially considering that she was still trembling at the memory of what he felt like inside her.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have long to dwell on the matter. Before she knew it, Russell’
s head was between her legs, his breath tantalizing her slick lower folds. Alice made to move away from him – she didn’t think she could stand the stimulation of his mouth just now – but Russell merely dragged her back by her calf before his lips closed over her and she shrieked in pleasure.
Alice was already so worked up that it took her only a little under two minutes to come undone beneath Russell’s eager tongue. The man held absolutely nothing back, kissing and licking at the most delicate parts of her until her thighs were quivering powerfully. When he slid two long, dexterous fingers inside her and sucked gently at her clit, Alice came so hard stars burst to life before her vision. The pleasure rolled over her in endless waves as she arched like a bowstring, clutching at the root of Russell’s hair in vain.
It seemed to go on and on until Alice could finally breathe once more, and she went limp against the damp bedspread, her heartbeat pounding in her ears.
Bloody hell.
Bloody hell.
She was faintly aware of Russell kissing gently at her inner thighs, and then in a slow, sensuous circle around her belly button. The sight of his disheveled hair and gleaming lips made her bite her lip as new fire flared to life inside her. She hadn’t even known that it was possible to be aroused so soon after a single orgasm. She could only let Russell toy with her for another moment or two before she was wriggling beneath him, urging him upward with a firm grip on his shoulders. Russell’s body slid deliciously up the length of hers, and when their mouths connected, Alice could taste herself.
It was divine.
When Russell broke the kiss to slip her onto her stomach, she groaned. “You can’t possibly torture me all night.”
His hands slid possessively over her back down to the twin globes of her behind to squeeze reverently. “Can’t I?”
His teeth scraped over one of her buttocks and Alice jerked at the familiar sensation. “Considering how long I’ve had to plan what I’m going to do to you, I’d say I’m completely within my rights to take several nights re-enacting my fantasies.’
Alice shuddered violently in anticipation at the prospect. If that was the way things were, Russell might very well kill her.
“But I need you,” she groaned, wiggling her hips alluringly in invitation. “Right now. You can take all the time you want later but I need you inside me.”
“Later?” Russell murmured hotly against the back of her neck. “Is that your way of inviting me to stay the night, Alice?”
The young woman burst into breathless laughter. “I suppose so. Tonight and any other night you’d like, only please-”
Before she had even finished speaking, Russell had straddled her thighs and slid deeply into her from behind. Alice moaned his name, pressing her behind back against him to take him even deeper. Russell bit at the back of her neck hungrily. “You owe me, Miss Tate.”
With that, he withdrew almost completely before snapping his hips forward so Alice cried out, burying her face in the coverlet. Her lover kept a firm hold of her hips, penetrating her again and again until her toes were curled and Alice was begging for succor. Somehow, Russell knew how to hit that spot inside her that made her breathless with every single motion. He was intensely concentrated on her pleasure as well as his own, and Alice found herself wishing she could feel him like this for the rest of eternity.
Her body, however, had other plans.
She was already over-sensitized from the man’s previous ministrations, and now every thrust made her hips waved as she felt herself hurtling towards another climax. She reached back to take hold of Russell’s hip, urging him onward, drugged by his low moans and grunts of unadulterated pleasure.
When his rhythm dissolved into ragged bucks of his hips, she knew he was close. Alice shuddered, expecting his body to stiffen in completion – but Russell wasn’t quite done yet. The man reached down, slipping a hand between her legs to rub in firm circular motions over her throbbing clit.
At his first touch, Alice felt herself falling. Her third orgasm of the night came with no less intensity than the first two, leaving her trembling and boneless in its wake. Russell murmured her name shakily against the nape of her neck before the convulsions of her lower muscles tipped him over the edge as well. Alice felt the warm gush of him within her and trembled, aftershocks zipping through her.
Holy hell.
She had never known that sex could be like that. That you could be so hot for another person that you became completely engrossed in them, and they in you. Before, she had considered sex as merely a means to an end. If she was lucky, she could maneuver herself in such a way that she eventually got off. With Russell, her orgasms were a given. She had never had three in one go, and now she found herself thoroughly exhausted. She barely managed to keep her eyes open as both she and her lover’s breathing evened out.
The bedspread would need to be thoroughly dried, but she didn’t know if she had the strength to get up and change the sheets. Instead, she merely sighed as Russell slipped from her, rolling onto her side to watch him pad into the bathroom on bare feet. His arse was truly magnificent. The next time she had him, she’d have to remember to grab it and hold on tightly.
Russell returned within a minute with a warm, wet washcloth. Alice was oddly touched when he used it to clean her gently between the legs before offering her the cranberry juice she hadn’t finished with a slow, sensual smile. “Thirsty?”
How the devil could he make her want him again when she was sure she could barely walk? The man was the absolute devil.
Alice merely eyed him. “How on earth can you move?”
His expression immediately turned concerned as he set the juice aside. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” Before she could answer him, he began to run his hands gently – firmly – over her bare body to check for bruises. Alice could only let out an embarrassed, low moan as his touch only further stimulated her. Weakly, she smacked his hand away.
“Give me a moment, Russell. I need to recover!”
At that, the dark-haired man merely grinned, sliding back into bed with her and tugging the coverlet – the only dry part of the bed – over them. Alice sighed, nestling against him as he drew her back against his chest. Already, he was half hard once more and Alice realized she would have to work on her stamina to keep up with him. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
At Russell’s low murmur between lingering kisses to her shoulder blade, Alice merely sighed contentedly. “I don’t think you could if you tried, Russell. That was delightful.”
Reaching up, she stroked his jaw fondly, reveling in the feel of the rough stubble there. “But I think I need a nap before we continue.” Even as she said it, she began do drift off. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so content. Russell’s strong arm around her waist was supportive and reassuring, his breath against her shoulder comforting.
Was it so wrong, she wondered, that this felt so right?
Chapter 6: Change
She was happy, that much was easy to see. And it was good to see her happy, considering that he didn’t like to take his eyes off her.
Russell knew that he was supposed to be working, but since he and Alice started sleeping together, he was plagued by thoughts of her more than ever.
And it wasn’t just the sex. Of course, the sex was phenomenal. Alice was endearingly versatile. Sometimes she demanded Russell to be rough with her and other times he brought her to tears with a slower, tenderer pace.
He was getting in over his head, he knew. As much as he liked Alice, the feelings he’d developed for her caused him more emotional turmoil than she could imagine. But, Russell told himself, what was between them had nothing to do with his past, and it wouldn’t do to go dragging the past into things. He needed to keep it as simple as possible.
Even if he’d already complicated things of his own volition.
Their first few days in Aruba were a flurry of activity. Though Russell would have liked to spend the morning lingering in bed with Alice, when he woke, s
he was already gone. He heard the shower running and waited for one last glimpse of her coming out of the shower before he rose himself. Even though Alice cited an emergency that demanded her immediate attention, Russell still managed to coax a hungry, lingering kiss from her before she left.
Every time he saw her thereafter, he couldn’t help but smile. Of course, Russell was a man who had always given up his smile freely – but there was never so much emotion behind it as there was with Alice. When he saw her, she didn’t even have to be looking at him. He couldn’t help but grin, and he was sure everyone who saw him thought he was a lovesick fool.
But this wasn’t love. It couldn’t be. To admit otherwise would mean coming to terms with issues he chose to bury rather than deal with, and Russell wasn’t ready for that. He didn’t know if he would ever be ready for that.
Simple had always been the name of the game for him. But he couldn’t deny that when he saw Alice, a large part of him longed for something more.
She was the kind of women who knew herself – who was successful in her own right and knew how valuable she was. She was an ethereal beauty and a kind soul – far too kind for him, really. But Russell couldn’t help but be drawn to her.
The problem was simply that he didn’t know if he was capable of opening up to a woman the way Alice deserved. He’d spent the last twelve years of his life telling himself that he would be everything women could want from him –charming, rich, suave, debonair. He would respect them and treat them well…but he would respect himself more by never allowing himself to fully commit.
Who the bloody hell would he be to only give a woman half of him? Or a quarter? No one in their right mind would accept that.
But Alice hadn’t pushed him. She never pushed him – and that was the beauty of the thing.
Perversely, it was that very fact that made Russell want her all the more.