by Kris Pearson
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN — HOTEL BALCONY
“Something casual to eat then. And we can research while we walk—get a feel for the vibe of the place.”
It took only a few minutes to hang their clothes, stash underwear in the drawers, and personal items on the bathroom vanity.
They crossed the street to the oceanfront walkway and strolled along. Sammie hopped and skipped like an excited child, knowing Australia was the ideal place to start her travels. She’d been pleased to have Nick guide her through the check-in procedure and luggage retrieval, but in future she’d be fine on her own.
All around them, other people enjoyed the soft salty air and the beautiful night. Some headed for local bars and cafes, some for the sand. She smiled up at Nick, thinking how good he looked as the last tints of sunset faded from the horizon. His skin glowed bronze and his eyes and hair reflected glints of molten gold.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For making you work hard?”
“This doesn’t feel like work.”
“No, but tomorrow will. Rod’s a great salesman, but he’s slippery as an eel. I want you noting every little detail so I know exactly what I’m in for. And it won’t hurt him to see that happening. He’ll know I’m serious, and maybe pull a few rabbits out of hats for me.”
Sammie nodded, and glanced out to where the waves rolled in and slid up the sand.
“Can I go paddling?”
That surprised a grin out of him. “Yes, but don’t expect me to join you. Don’t want sand in my socks.”
They turned onto the grass and headed down to the ocean. There were plenty of people enjoying a stroll along the shore. Sammie kicked off her shoes and swung them from one hand as she waded into the foamy edge of the waves.
The water rushed fresh and cool around her ankles, reviving and awakening her.
Make the most of him. Enjoy him while you can. He won’t be interested in you forever. Not a man as beautiful and desirable as Nick.
After a seafood meal in one of the side-street cafes, he turned her toward the main road again.
“The area feels good. Busy and prosperous. Properties well maintained. Yes?”
“It’s too dark to see much.” She squeezed his hand. “But there are no empty shops, and I haven’t noticed graffiti.”
“What Rod’s come up with looks good on paper, but—”
“Nick!”
A multitude of gelato treats beckoned from a brightly lit counter fronting the street.
“Can we?” she begged. “It would be so nice walking along with one.”
He glanced at the colorful tubs and handed her a ten-dollar bill. “Chocolate for me.”
“Mister Predictable,” she teased. She bit her bottom lip as she peered at the selection. “I’m going to have...the bright green one. Lime and lemon.”
She tucked her arm into his and cuddled against him as they ambled back towards the hotel, licking and laughing until he caught her stifling a yawn.
“Tired?” he asked, glancing at his watch.
She turned her gaze up to his. “Yes I am, a bit. Sorry.”
“You have the first shower.”
“You weren’t planning on misbehaving in there?”
His mouth curved in a slow grin. “Not with a bed that size.”
“True.” She crunched up the last of her gelato cone and slid her arm around his waist.
But when Nick emerged from the bathroom a little later, he found Sammie sprawled on her back, apparently dead asleep. One arm lay on the pillow behind her head, perhaps to shield her eyes from the glare of the bedside lamp. Because it was a warm night, she’d pushed all the bedcovers off except for the white cotton sheet. A tender pink nipple peeked out at him, a tempting target for a kiss.
He lowered himself onto the bed, careful not to disturb her, and lay propped up on one elbow, gazing his fill. She looked about thirteen again with her guard down, her face scrubbed clean, her lively green eyes closed. Little Sammie, who’d fascinated him all those years ago, still held him spellbound.
Why was she so determined to leave him? He’d just had his supposed family wrenched away from him in the cruelest way. Watching Sammie, he knew with certainty he didn’t want to lose her as well. But how could he make her stay?
Cautiously he stroked her tumbled hair back from her brow and dropped the softest of kisses there. She murmured something he couldn’t distinguish.
“Sshhh…” he soothed. “Don’t wake up. Just let me….” He ran a finger tenderly across her cheekbone and down the side of her face. She stirred a little and sighed. He pulled his hand back and let her settle again, growing helplessly hard as he lounged there beside her.
Now his eyes had accustomed themselves to the darker room, it seemed too bright. She needed that damn lamp off to be comfortable, but he wasn’t done watching her yet. He set one foot on the floor and rose, stepping across the room to the desk. He fumbled for the switch to the lamp there, and directed its beam back toward the wall. Then he returned to her and stood watching again. Unable to stop himself, he pushed the sheet aside with gentle fingers until her nipple was fully exposed. She was warm. Soft and relaxed. Nick swirled his tongue around his mouth to moisten it, bent down, and licked briefly over the little mound. Then he drew back an inch or two and breathed cool air across it. Like magic, her flesh puckered, and he smiled at the automatic reaction.
She was too much to resist. He lowered his lips to her breast, shaped them around her nipple, and used the very tip of his tongue to tease it for a few seconds. He turned and switched off the bedside lamp. Sammie gave a sleepy snuffle, maybe of thanks.
In the almost-darkness, he could barely see her, but his eyes became accustomed to the dimness after a few seconds, and in the faint light, the little peak gleamed wetly. God—what was it with him and her breasts? He could look at them forever, play with them unceasingly, never get tired of their beautiful shape, their silky softness. He bent to her again, laving slowly over the beaded nipple as the slight breeze from the air conditioner wafted past his shoulders.
Sammie stirred, and he felt pressure on the back of his neck. Her fingers stroked his hair for a few seconds before her hand slid away and subsided onto the pillow again.
A huge surge of tenderness hit him, breathtaking in its strength. Even as she dreamed, she’d reached out for him, caressed him, wanted to touch him in return.
With infinite caution, he dragged the sheet down to her waist. She made no protest, still far enough asleep for him to continue his game. Now both her breasts were his to play with. He laid his lips on each in turn, dropping soft kisses, smoothing his cheek over her fragrant skin, licking and blowing on her other nipple until they both stood tight and glistening. Sammie moved toward him, snuggling slightly on her side, giving him even better access.
Nick’s heart thudded. There she lay, absolutely his. How much further could he push her? If he suckled, would she wake?
Only one way to find out; he clamped his fingers softly around one pink peak, shaped his lips around the other, and sucked and tweaked in a delicate duet. Sammie rewarded him with a long sigh of pleasure.
So even in her sleep she could feel that? Nick’s balls tightened. His cock pressed against the side of the bed, stiff and demanding.
Wanting more, he sat back on his heels and lifted the sheet completely away, letting it drop silently onto the carpet at the end of thebed. She was just conscious enough of something happening to stir slightly. She stretched her legs out, rolling a slow half turn until she was fully on her back again. Nick’s eyes travelled down her flank in a sensuous sweep. In to the dip of her waist, out over the swell of her hip, down one warm thigh. Her scent drifted across to him, fresh, female, so enticing. He bent lower over her. She was his drug of choice, his addiction. He wanted to taste her, pleasure her, bring her off while she slept. Was that even possible?
Moving slowly, he positioned himself over her, urging her thighs apart with gentle pressure. Sammie tensed, si
ghed, relaxed again. In the warm darkness, Nick’s pulse pounded harder. He felt it everywhere—in his chest, in his gut, right out to the end of his rock-hard cock.
He stroked her inner thighs, and she reacted by drawing them away from his tickling touch. Far enough apart for him to lower his face and lay his cheek softly against her groin. He stayed like that until he was sure she hadn’t woken. The air-conditioner hummed. The waves crashed every few seconds onto the nearby beach.
He licked her clit. Slowly, softly, over and over in time with the ocean. Sammie mumbled something, tilted her hips up to the pleasure, and subsided again.
Then her hand crept up to the back of his neck and her fingers clenched against him in the same slow rhythm, sifting through his hair, nails scraping his scalp. Twitches of anticipation shuddered up and down Nick’s spine.
She could feel the touch of his tongue. And she wanted to touch him in return.
He dragged in a deep breath and pushed a finger into her silken wetness.
Licked.
Felt her hand caress the back of his head. Waited for the next wave to break on the shore.
Licked.
Pushed his finger further in as her thighs trembled against his face. Waited for the next crashing wave.
Licked.
Heard her sharp intake of breath, felt her hips rise and her muscles tighten.
Licked.
And let his breath out in a rush as she reared up, gasping, incoherent, tight heat clenching around his finger again and again. She grabbed his hair, frantic, frenzied, demanding.
“Now,” she groaned. “Now, Nick.” And pulled with amazing strength until he slid, unsheathed, deep inside her still-pulsing body.
Ah, geez, the hot slide, the amazing smooth wetness, the incredible sensation… A dozen long desperate thrusts, with her quivering all around him, and he lost it too. The scalding heat that had gathered and concentrated deep inside him pumped out in intense bursts, flooding his consciousness with black-velvet pleasure.
He lay stunned for several minutes before levering himself away, still breathing hard, and fighting for rational thought. “How much of that were you awake for?” he croaked. He could barely get the words out—emotion clogged his throat.
Sammie’s fingers grazed over the big swirling tattoo on his shoulder, stroking and kneading in a sensuous dance. “Some,” she said dreamily. “Maybe not much. I was just suddenly coming really hard and wanted you inside me.”
“Good place to be,” he whispered, gliding his lips over hers until they sank into a long luxurious kiss.
The next day brought a frantic round of appointments. Rod arrived to show them buildings he’d earmarked as possibilities. Sammie, in a slim black skirt and demure white blouse, played her part, eyes down on her steno pad. But every now and then, she flicked Nick a naughty glance.
Nick kept his face inscrutable and his eyes invisible behind dark glasses when he spoke with Rod, but he sent her occasional lascivious smiles, and each time, butterflies fluttered deep inside her when she remembered their incandescent love-making, and his promises for the evening ahead.
She knew he was half sold on a recently vacated warehouse they viewed after lunch. “At least there are no noise constraints with this one,” he said to Rod. “Our music and dozens of thudding feet can make quite a din sometimes. Parking’s good. Easy access from both directions. No worries you can see for a business like mine?”
“All good, mate. She checks out every way I look at it.”
Sammie saw plenty of Sydney as Rod drove them from property to property. Every time the iconic coat-hanger bridge came into view, it reminded her she was on foreign ground. Rich and unfamiliar scents wafted from the restaurants. Closely packed old terraced houses with their fancy iron front fences and balcony railings enchanted her. And there were glimpses of the sparkling harbor from every angle.
Rod insisted dinner was his treat, and Nick suggested he brought his wife to the hotel because he and Sammie had another busy day to follow. They parted on the best of terms, far too late at night.
At last they were alone again.
“Bathroom’s yours,” Nick said, opening his laptop to catch up on emails. “I’ll let Rich know how we did today.”
Behind him, Sammie stripped to her lacy bra and tiny panties. She walked across to where he sat at the desk and looped her arms around his neck. “Thank you.” She bent to kiss the side of his face. “You work so hard.”
He turned toward her and raised a hand to pull her closer. “I do everything hard. I’m going to be doing you hard in a while. Don’t doze off tonight, okay?” He ran a hand over her barely covered butt. “Sneak preview,” he added, stretching up to capture her lips.
Sammie moved further around his chair to sink deep into the hot luxury of the kiss. She threw a leg over his and settled onto his lap, consumed by the sensations of his lips and tongue on hers. His fingers slid around her back and undid her bra, hands cradling her breasts, thumbs moving restlessly across her skin. Finally she drew away, and they sat face to face.
“Yeah, I do everything hard,” he repeated. “The plan is to work like a demon until I’m about thirty-eight and then ease back and enjoy what I’ve created.”
He leaned across the small gap between them and very deliberately bit each of her nipples. “Go.” He gave her a nudge upward with his erect cock to show he meant business. “Or I’ll give that damn bathroom the fright of its life.”
Sammie went. And returned showered, scented and ready to play. Not keen to give guests in the far hotel wing a thrill, she wrapped a towel around herself when she saw Nick had opened the sliding doors to the evening air.
She moved across to the curtains and pulled them almost closed. The waves sounded louder now, pounding and swooshing noisily on the sand. Maybe there was a bigger sea running tonight? She brushed through the layers of soft fabric and stepped outside, just able to make out the curving crash of white water under the thin new moon. The air smelled salty, and fragrance drifted up from flowers in the hotel gardens.
Lamps lit the main road, and occasional security lights shone in the hotel grounds. Brightness showed at the edges of a few windows in the rooms on the far side of the big swimming pool, but nobody had their balcony light on. She had the whole place to herself.
The bathroom door closed and her anticipation heightened. To judge by his earlier comments, Nick didn’t intend staying long in the shower. And he hadn’t yet seen the sexy little robe she’d bought.
She pushed back through the curtains and switched the room lights off, leaving only the lamp casting a small pool of light onto the desk. Then she shed her towel and slipped the robe on. The silky fabric caressed her skin, arousing and exciting. She decided to wait for him out on the balcony and listen to the surging ocean until he was ready.
Nick pulled the bathroom door open. His eyes searched the dim room, and he dropped his handful of clothes onto the floor the instant he saw the gap in the curtains and glimpsed the ghostlike creature outside. The sight of Sammie leaning on the balcony railing, curvy bottom almost visible under a barely there wisp of nothing much had him hardening instantly. He crossed the carpet on bare feet and lifted a condom off the bedside cabinet, remembering the previous night’s intense pleasure when he’d taken her skin to skin. He blew out a frustrated breath. Even though he knew she was on the pill, a man could never be too careful.
He peeled it quietly out of its packet, sheathed himself, and made his way outside, pulling the curtain across behind him to ensure darkness.
Sammie started to turn but he stepped behind her and clamped his hands onto her shoulders, holding her in place so he could bend and nip her neck. “I thought you said you didn’t bring anything to wear to bed,” he murmured, letting one hand go wandering to feel the texture of the fabric and to investigate the body it covered.
“It comes off before bedtime.” She relaxed down against the railing again as he investigated.
H
is hands cupped her bottom, and his fingers dipped under the hem and up onto bare skin. Sammie caught her breath but made no other sound. Nick thought his own hammering heart was probably louder than the crashing waves.
He slipped a hand between her thighs until he found her clit, and began to stroke and circle with the tip of his forefinger. She gave a soft moan and edged her thighs apart. Nick wondered if she had any idea yet that he was naked. He’d avoided touching her with anything but his hands and lips, and he continued to play with her and kiss the side of her neck until he felt the slickness of her invitation.
“Nick,” she whispered, trying to twist towards him.
“No. Just like this.” He pushed forward until his cock slid partly inside her.
Sammie jolted upright with an indrawn gasp.
And then they both heard the unmistakable sound of a cigarette being lit on the next balcony.
They froze for long seconds. The smoke drifted past them on the light breeze. No mistake—someone really was just a few feet away.
“Let me in,” Nick muttered, right by her ear.
“I can’t—not now.”
He pushed, and gained a little ground. “Yes you can.”
“Nick...” A low desperate plea.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and smoothed his fingers down her belly until he found her wetness again. Despite her breathy objections, it took only a few moments of his expert caresses before he was able to slide further home.
“I thought that second warehouse was the best of the properties we saw today,” he said in a conversational tone.
He felt her laugh—delicious small tugging ripples around his half-buried cock.
“That would have been my choice too,” she managed eventually, parting her legs a little further and wriggling her butt back against him.
A curtain swished along a track and a flare of light blazed from next door. They tensed again.
“Are you coming in, Eddie?” a woman’s voice asked.
“Just a couple more puffs.”
Sammie clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her amusement before the curtain obscured the light again.
“Are you coming in, Nick?” she whispered a few seconds later, so quietly he nearly missed it.
“I’ll have to push them on the price,” he suggested, pushing something else altogether.
“You’ll have to push them pretty hard I expect.”
He pulled out a fraction and did as she suggested until he stood buried deep.
“Slippery customers,” he muttered, biting the back of her neck.
“Very slippery.” She braced herself on the railing so he could thrust with more vigor.
Nick glanced sideways. There were solid privacy fences between the balconies. The trellis he’d noticed earlier was only at the front edge. Someone would have to get very suspicious and lean well forward before they’d be able to see. And the angle of the moon lit enough of the balconies on the far wing to assure him no-one lurked there.
He pulled almost entirely out before he eased all the way into her again. God, she was like silk inside. Soft, hotly clinging, and infinitely inviting.
“So when do you think the big event will be?” Her query sounded shaky. “Far off?”
“Not far off if things keep progressing like this.” He thrust harder, feeling her muscles starting their now familiar fluttering.
She gave a most gratifying gasp. “Will you be able to keep things quiet when that happens?”
“Have to, given the circumstances.”
“I can’t imagine that being possible.”
“Try,” he panted, pounding into her. The angle felt amazing, the possibility of an audience heightened every sensation, and he was going to lose it in seconds. He promised himself he’d make it up to her later if he couldn’t hang on, but at that moment Sammie sucked in a huge breath, gave a short sharp exclamation and turned to pulsing liquid around him. His balls convulsed and he came as hard as he ever had, eyes squeezed closed, teeth clamped together, air whistling through them like a jet winding up for take-off.
She collapsed in a fit of giggles, putting him through further torture, and then said softly, “We have lift-off, Commander. Stand by for re-entry.”