by A. C. Arthur
She walked farther into the space. “These are amazing. Whose are they?”
The place was set up almost like a runway with vehicles parked along the two sides of the structure, leaving a wide walkway in the center to be used for perusal.
“My Dad and RJ have always been into vintage cars. Another thing they have in common.”
“But you don’t like them?”
“I didn’t say that. They’re nice, but just not my thing. I’m more impressed by the room of control boards and digital infrastructure at my place.”
“I’m sure that’s impressive, but since I haven’t been invited to your place yet, I’ll just have to enjoy these cars.” She walked toward a sage-green Jaguar, running her hand over the shining hood. “My dad would get such a kick out of this. He loves cars.”
“I do, too. They get you from place to place.”
She looked over her shoulder at him. “Ha.”
He chuckled.
It was so easy being with her, much easier than he’d ever thought it would be with another woman. Stacia was the only other woman he’d ever brought to his parents’ home and the whole time she’d been there that night, all she’d wanted to do was talk about the fashion house. Major’s technology ideas or anything about their future together had seemed to be off-limits.
“This one reminds me of Grease. You know, the movie with Danny Zuko and the T-Birds? Every time I see an old Thunderbird, I think about it.”
He was grateful for her question, disliking the turn his thoughts had taken. “No, I don’t know the movie, but I do know this car. It’s probably from the fifties or sixties as my Dad is fixated with that time frame. This one used to be my grandfather’s, I believe.”
They’d stopped by the red convertible and she walked down to the driver’s side, leaning over to look at the steering wheel and the white-leather interior.
“Ever made out in one of these?”
The question was so off topic from what they’d been discussing. It was also more than a little arousing.
“If you mean any car, uh, yeah. A couple weeks ago with this really hot chick who came to one of our shows and took over the press conference.” The memory of that day would forever be etched in his mind. How beautiful and amazing she’d looked while taking Morgana down a notch and then how sweet she’d tasted as he’d feasted on her in the back of the limo.
She blushed, heat fussing her high cheekbones to add a sexy flash of color to her face. A more enticing sight he’d never seen.
“I meant a T-Bird,” she told him as she shook her head and looked away. “In the movie they go to this drive-in and all these cars are lined up. Only a handful of people are watching the screen, the rest are necking in the back of the car.”
Her hand caressed the soft leather of the seat and then moved to the side of the door. Major watched that hand, growing hard at the thought of it running over him that way.
“Let’s do it,” he said.
Her head popped up from where she’d been looking at the sideview mirror. “Do what?”
“Do it.” He nodded toward the backseat of the T-Bird. “In here.”
She followed his gaze, a smile spreading across her face. “It? Now? Here?”
His dick was hard and the hint of intrigue in her tone was encouraging.
“Hell yeah. Right now. Right here.”
He stood at the passenger side of the car and, for a few seconds, their gazes held, his heart beating just a little faster as he waited for her response.
She pursed her lips—sweet, suckable lips—and shrugged. “Let’s do it!”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“SO ARE WE going for seduction here, or just hard-core reach-for-the-orgasm as quickly as possible?”
Her question only made him harder—if that was even possible. Major already felt as if he were going to explode from the force of the arousal or go into some type of coma from the most painful erection ever. They’d both opened the doors of the car and climbed inside. He dug out his wallet and found a condom, dropping it onto the seat between them as she watched. Then he reached for her, clasping his hand at the back of her head and pulling her close. She licked her lips and he parted his, moving in closer, prepared to answer her question.
“I need to be inside you right now,” he whispered, the words rough.
“Say no more.” She pushed him back on the seat and undid his belt and the snap of his jeans.
He reached for the jacket, pushing it off her shoulders and down her arms. She paused so that he could pull it off and it fell to the floor. The zipper to his jeans made a loud sound as she eased it down, her fingers brushing over his thick erection just like the first day they’d met. Without wasting a second, she reached through the slit of his boxers and wrapped her hands around his dick, pulling his full length out.
The groan that rumbled in his chest and ripped through his throat was savage. Her hands were too warm around him, rubbing along his skin and sending rivulets of pleasure throughout his body.
“You said you want to be inside me.” Her voice was a throaty whisper as she lowered her body to fit between his spread legs.
She wasn’t going to... He would never make it if she did. When her head was bent over his groin, Major let his head fall back, his eyes closing slowly. She was going to and he was definitely going to explode.
The moment her mouth closed over the head of his dick, his hips jutted forward, his hands falling first to the seat where his fingers dug into the upholstery. As her tongue circled his tip, he moved his hands, burying them in her hair.
“I’m gonna take you all the way inside,” she whispered, her breath warm and teasing over him.
He simply nodded in agreement, rubbing his fingers along her scalp before wrapping her hair around his hand in preparation. There was an explosion—not the one he’d been predicting—but another one, as sparks burst behind his closed lids. She had one hand on his balls, massaging them until they tingled. The other hand was wrapped around the base of his dick as she held him upright and lowered her mouth down his length.
Gasping for air—that’s the sensation he first felt. It was immediately followed by an insatiable thirst for more. He applied light pressure to the back of her head, his body aching to be fully ensconced in her. The tip of his dick touched the back of her throat and air burst from his lungs, coming through his mouth in a ragged moan.
He cursed and his fingers tightened in her hair, somewhere in the back of his mind, cautioning against hurting her. She lifted her head, dragging her tongue along the underside of his erection, causing it to jerk and release pre-cum that she immediately licked away.
“I didn’t imagine.” The words were rough and tumbled free of his thoughts. He hadn’t imagined being inside her this way. Thrusting in and out of her pussy was one level; it was erotic and good as hell. But this, being drenched in the heat of her mouth, touched by the stroke of her tongue, it was more and it was intense, pulling him in a direction he’d never thought he’d go.
She eased her head down again, until she was actively sucking him, applying pressure so that he felt as if she might actually drain his release from him the second he came. But before she could do that, she pulled her mouth away.
“I need more,” she said through panting breaths. “Now.”
Without wasting another second, Major reached for the condom. She took it from him, ripped the packet open and sheathed him. Major pushed her skirt up around her waist, feeling those colorful beads moments before he ripped the flimsy strings of the thong she wore straight from her hips.
“You keep destroying my underwear,” she said as she climbed on top to straddle him.
He cupped her ass cheeks, kneading them as she positioned herself over him and then, when she’d aimed his tip at her center, he pressed her down until she was completely impaled. “I’ll buy you more,”
he groaned, and she moaned as she settled over him.
The only other sound throughout the garage was that of their skin slapping together. He groaned as he dropped his face into her cleavage and she screamed as she cupped the back of his head and bounced on top of him. Minutes later her thighs tightened around his waist and his fingers gripped her ass harder.
“Yessssss,” she moaned.
“Yes!” He followed her lead, gasping as his release pulsated and poured into the condom.
For endless moments they just sat there, both struggling to catch a breath. She leaned forward with her hands on his chest, her head resting on his shoulder. Major turned his face to hers, letting his chin rest against her forehead as thoughts flailed around in his mind.
What was he doing? Why was this happening? And when had it happened—when had this arrangement started to feel like so much more?
He’d opened up to her about his business, something he hadn’t done with anyone else besides his twin, and he wanted her to feel free to do the same with him. To tell her his secrets and know that they were safe with him, to come to him when she was feeling conflicted, worried, even happy. This was a new feeling, an eerie and confusing one, and he didn’t know what to do with it.
His hand slid from where he’d been rubbing it up and down her back, until he could reach his pants and fumble to get his hand into the front pocket. The black-velvet bag almost slipped from his fingers to fall on the leather-covered seat, but he held on to it, bringing it up to his other hand. Her eyes were still closed, lips slightly parted as her panting began to slow.
With the fingers of one hand, Major pulled the strings of the pouch apart and reached inside to pull out the ring. He dropped the bag to the seat and grasped for her left hand.
“What...not yet—” she started to say and then stopped as she pulled back to look at what he was doing.
Major slid the ring slowly onto her third finger and frowned as he watched her hand shake. When the ring was on and she didn’t speak, just stared down at it, he did the same, watching the sparkle of the four-carat, emerald-cut diamond set in platinum with tapered baguette side stones. That was the complete description the jeweler had given him, but all Major saw as he looked down at her slender fingers and manicured nails was a memory.
His gaze moved up to her face. When he saw that she was still staring down at the ring, he lifted a hand to touch his finger to her chin and tilted her head up. There was a bit of confusion in her eyes, but a lot of light, like a shield had been raised. Warmth spread in the center of his chest and one side of his mouth lifted in a smile.
“You can’t be engaged without a ring,” he said while his throat felt tight and his hand still shook a little while holding hers.
She smiled, a slow and dazzling smile that reached into his chest and squeezed so tight he struggled to breathe.
“And this is one beautiful ring,” she said, her voice hitching on the last words.
“I would say for a beautiful woman, but that seems so cliché and there’s nothing cliché about you, Nina. Not one single thing.” This was the part where he should kiss her. And damn he wanted to. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and drown in her kiss, feel the warmth of her surrounding him until all his cares and worries disappeared and there was just her.
She looked like she wanted to say something or to do something. Their gazes held but hesitancy hung between them like a blockade.
“I think I like doing it in the backseat of a T-Bird,” she said playfully, then eased her left hand away from his and lifted it into the air to wiggle her fingers. “You get great gifts!”
Major chuckled, part of him appreciating the way she’d broken that uncomfortable tension between them, another part wishing the moment would have ended differently.
“I like doing it in the backseat of a T-Bird with you.”
* * *
Two hours later Nina was at Major’s penthouse, stepping out of his shower. If her legs weren’t so sore from their second backseat sexcapade and her mind wasn’t filled with new questions about the huge diamond on her finger and the foreign emotions sifting through her soul, she might have been overwhelmed by being here in Major’s private space.
“Here, let me help,” he said when he stepped out behind her.
She’d already grabbed a towel from the shelf near the dual vanity but had been holding it in her hands while she struggled to get a hold on what was happening. And letting the water drip from her naked body pool onto the heated gray-slate floor.
Major reached for another towel and wrapped it around her, turning her to face him when he was done.
“I suppose you’ll want me to dry you off in return.” It was easier to joke than to put words to what she was really feeling.
“Of course. That’s how this works,” he said and proceeded to move the towel over her body. He eased the soft, fluffy material along her arms, over and under her breasts and down her stomach.
“These beads are going to be the death of me,” he said while rubbing the towel past her hips, down and between her thighs.
“I’ve got some aunts back in Sierra Leone who could probably use their skills to add death as a result of looking at the beads. Or, most likely, loss of a limb, impotence or something along those lines.”
He hissed and pulled back, looking up at her from where he’d knelt down with a horrified expression. “That’s not funny.”
She chuckled. She couldn’t help it. He was adorable when he was scared. “Yeah, it is.”
He shook his head and eased the towel between her legs, lifting one off the floor to rub down to her feet, then up again. He did the same with the other and before he stood, eased the towel between her legs taking special care to dry her there.
“Your turn,” she said when those stirrings of desire started to buzz.
How could she be so turned on by him, so frequently and so soon? The tryst in his father’s vintage car was different from the limo on so many levels she didn’t know where to begin. Perhaps at the part where she was certain his family would despise her if they knew she’d just disrespected their dinner invitation in such a way.
The moment he stood to his full six-two-and-a-half inches stark naked in front of her, she knew that what she was feeling had nothing to do with what his family thought of her and everything to do with him. Drops of water still rolled over his tawny-hued skin and he stared down at her with dark brown eyes that held more warmth than any she’d ever seen.
She raised the towel and rubbed his chest then moved down each of his arms before returning to his torso, all while that diamond on her left hand sparkled like a bright reminder of what this could never be.
“I don’t think this was in either of our job descriptions,” she said, her voice hollow to her own ears. They weren’t supposed to be doing any of this and yet they were doing it, and she suspected they were doing it as well as any real couple.
He caught her hands just as she was about to drag the towel past his waist. “That’s because there’s really no accurate way to describe you.”
And what exactly was that supposed to mean?
Maybe he was just as confused as she was about what was happening between them, or what she thought might be happening. She’d never felt this way before and wasn’t sure if she was ready to take it from lust to love, but knew for certain it was more than what their fake scenario called for.
“Yes, that’s me.” She dabbed the towel over his hips. “The indescribable fake fiancée.” Reminding herself that keeping things light between them was for the best, she bent down to dry his thighs—strong and fit—then his calves and his feet, which were a lot prettier than she’d imagined. Coming up again, she rubbed the towel over what could arguably be one of the best parts of him. To say this part of Major felt the same way about her might have been an understatement if it hadn’t begun to stiffen at her minist
rations.
He took her by the shoulders and pulled her up to stand in front of him. “Come on, Fake Fiancée. Let’s get ready for bed.”
She hadn’t realized she’d frowned until he asked, “Whoa, what’s that look for? You don’t want to sleep with me in my bed? Should we have gone back to your apartment instead?”
“Oh no, that’s not it.” In fact, she’d been flattered when he’d announced during the drive from his parents’ house that they would be coming to his place. She’d refused to ask why he hadn’t brought her here before, chalking it up to their little charade instead of any other personal reason he might not want her there.
He looked at her strangely, a brow lifting in question. “Then what is it?”
“I’m hungry,” she said, because it was true and because she wasn’t sure what she was feeling for him at this moment. Or what he was really feeling for her.
“I mean no offense to your mother’s dinner. It was a wonderful spread, but I’m used to a little more than soup, salad and the smallest portions of beef rib tips and asparagus that I’ve ever seen.”
That’s right, insult his mother instead of telling him she was afraid she was really falling for him.
When he threw back his head and laughed, Nina relaxed. Laughter was definitely better than his ordering her to get dressed and get out.
“I planned to wait until you were asleep before sneaking into the kitchen to grab something else to eat.”
It was her turn to laugh. “Why didn’t you say something? I thought that’s the way your family was used to eating, so I didn’t want to comment.”