Although she felt completely wiped out, she knew that she needed to get up and take a shower. She saw Mike had placed his t-shirts and a pair of his boxers across a chair. Sliding out of bed, she chuckled, thinking he figured on her the boxers would fit like a pair of shorts.
Grabbing the clothes off the chair, she headed for the bathroom for a shower. She had been dead serious when she’d told Mike that she needed last night and today. Then that should do it. In the overall scheme of things, she figured he would be worked out of her system pretty darn good by then.
Her eyes lit up when she walked into his bathroom and saw the huge marble Jacuzzi tub. She much preferred a bubble bath to a shower. A good hot soak would do wonders for the soreness she felt in some of her muscles; they were muscles she hadn’t used in a while, and never to the extreme that Mike had enticed her to do last night.
A short while later after her bath she felt totally refreshed. She glanced down at the t-shirt and boxers she had put on and thought they fit fine. Taking a deep breath, she turned the knob to the bedroom door to join Mike in the kitchen. She had thought of making up the bed but decided why bother since they would be getting back into it in a little while.
You would think that after last night she would have gotten enough, but the thought of making love to him again made her heart begin to race and her pulse rate increase. He had been everything she craved, and she looked forward to indulging herself in some Mike Kelly once again.
• • •
Mike knew the moment Sonya walked into the kitchen. He turned around and leaned back against the kitchen counter, watching her approach him with a walk that was utterly sexy and downright arousing. And his t-shirt and boxers looked pretty damn good on her.
He wondered how she would handle the morning-after and from the look of things, she was handling it pretty well. His gaze zeroed in on her slightly swollen lips and it was evident where he had left his mark. But his mark was probably stamped all over her, especially between her legs.
She walked straight up to him and pressed her body seductively against his and looped her arms around his neck. “Good morning, Mike.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist, drew her against him while shifting his stance so they could fit, hip to hip and thigh to thigh. Cradling his aroused body part in the apex of her thighs, he thought how good it felt there, like that’s where it belonged. After last night he was totally convinced that it did. “Good morning to you, too, sweetheart.”
Mike saw the surprise that lit her eyes with his term of endearment. Deciding that he really preferred that she not do a whole lot of thinking about it now, he lowered his head and kissed whatever she was about to say off her lips. He tried to be gentle, yet at the same time he tasted her with a hunger that he was beginning to get used to, one he doubted he would ever totally get full from. She responded, sinking further into his embrace and tightening her arms around his neck.
The thought that suddenly popped into his mind was that it wouldn’t take much for him to be driven to take her, here and now. The only saving grace was that he would have her again most of the day, but he really needed to feed her. She needed all her strength for all the bedroom activities he had planned for them later.
He reluctantly pulled his mouth back, studied her moist lips and said, “There will be plenty more where that came from later.”
She smiled and rubbed a hand against his cheek. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Go ahead and take a chair at the table so I can feed you,” he said, deciding to shift his arms from around her waist to cup her backside.
“You don’t have to wait on me, Mike. I can fix my own plate.”
“I know you can, but I want to spoil you today since you spoiled me last night.”
She chuckled. “I think we spoiled each other.”
Mike knew that to be true. They had been so attuned to each other. It was as if they had intuitively fed off each other’s needs, wants and desires. And those needs, wants and desires had been overwhelming. He hadn’t known how much until they had been unleashed. They had taken each other with a passion that had built up since their first meeting, over and over as if they had needed to drive the point home that their tastes had changed. She now enjoyed vanilla and he chocolate. There could be no doubt of that anymore.
He couldn’t help remembering just how many times he had taken her, just how many orgasms they had shared during the night. He had never experienced such an outpouring of passion before in his entire life. Multiple orgasms weren’t anything he’d done a lot to brag about, and according to Sonya, for her they had been virtually non-existent. At least they had been before last night. He had stayed inside Sonya’s body so much he was beginning to think of it as a second home.
And they still had today. But he knew today wasn’t all they had, although he had a feeling that she assumed otherwise. There were several significant facts regarding their relationship that he planned to discuss with her later. He had a feeling to bring them up now would not be wise. She had this tough persona she was determined to uphold. This, I-don’t-need-a-man-for-anything-other-than-sex attitude. He had to believe she was wrong on that account and was willing to take the risk to prove that she was.
Since she simply refused to let him serve her, he took her up on her offer to help. After placing several dishes on the table, they sat down to eat. Over breakfast she once again covered the last minute details for the party. They even devised a plan to get Jesse and Carla over to his place without them suspecting a thing.
“What about a babysitter for the kids that night?” he asked while buttering his toast.
“That’s been taken care of. I’ve asked my cousin Courtney and she has agreed. Carla knows her and won’t be worried that Craig and Jessica aren’t in good hands. She’s kept the kids a couple of times before.”
He nodded. “Your cousin? The one who’s a pharmaceutical rep?”
“Yes.”
Later the two of them shared the task of cleaning up the kitchen. “Thanks for breakfast, Mike.”
“You’re welcome. You can prepare breakfast for me the next time I’m over to your place.”
The expression she gave him was one that all but said that she didn’t expect him to be over to her place for that to happen. Ignoring the look, he loaded the last plate into the dishwasher. He then reached for her hand and she pulled it back.
“I think we need to talk,” she said, clearly uptight about something.
He raised a brow. “About what?”
“What last night meant.”
He let out a sigh, not ready to have this conversation with her, although he knew they needed to. He was hoping they could have it later, after he’d worked on her some more, used his power of persuasion to convince her to think his way. He hadn’t anticipated her wanting to talk about things now. “Okay, you tell me what last night meant,” he said.
“Nothing.”
Talk about cutting deep. For him, her words had been razor sharp. “It actually meant nothing to you?” he asked for clarification, hoping he had heard wrong. A woman didn’t spend more than eighty percent of the night having back-to-back multiple orgasms with a man and thought it meant nothing.
“The sex was good, and I would even go so far to say it was off the charts. I have no doubt today’s activities won’t be even better. But that’s all it was about, Mike. Sex. Hot, gritty, enjoyable, pleasurable sex.”
Mike swallowed the words he wanted to say to her, they were too harsh to even think about and would be even worse to say, but he hadn’t liked her description of what they had shared. Making love with her had been an eye-opener for him. It hadn’t been same-oh, same-oh. And he refused to believe it hadn’t meant something more to her as well. He’d heard her moans, and he had heard her scream his name – his name – every time she’d come.
He had also discovered her to be the most giving person in the bedroom. No other woman had ever pleasured him the way she had. More than once
she had driven him to the brink of madness by satisfying a deep physical need in him that had been destined to go unfulfilled. That’s why even now when she stood before him, refusing to admit what he knew was the truth, he wanted to shake some sense into her.
A brief moment passed and then he said, “Do you know what I think?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “No, what do you think?”
“I think when it comes to a man, you’re afraid to get involved for anything other than sex.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not afraid of anything. I prefer not getting involved with anyone but for sex. It’s my choice. I don’t do long-term relationships. My parents did long-term and look where it got them.”
“Let’s keep your parents out of this,” he said, frowning.
“Fine, let’s keep them out of it. Let’s talk about you.”
“What about me?”
“You don’t do long-term either. You’ve said so on a number of occasions, so what’s your problem? How come you’re trying to go all serious on me now all of a sudden?”
He knew it was time to break things to her. He took a step closer and he could tell she sensed something about him, something that was going on that she wouldn’t like. He sensed it when her body automatically shifted in a defensive mode and she tilted her head to look at him. “The reason I’m probably coming across as a little bit serious right now, is because I am somewhat serious, Sonya. And the reason I’m being serious is because I’ve fallen in love with you.”
He watched her expression. He saw the exact minute an appalled look appeared in her features. “Love me?” she snarled like it was the nastiest of words.
“Yes. Love you.”
Her frown deepened. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. A man doesn’t make love to a woman for the first time and fall in love. My stuff isn’t that good.”
He huffed out an angry breath. “It has to do with more than ‘your stuff’, Sonya. I can honestly admit that I fell in love with you that day we met a couple of years ago. I’ve been fighting it.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Well, continue to fight it because I’m not interested. I know you don’t like for me to bring up my parents, but they are who I think about when I think what I thought love was supposed to represent. They were married for over thirty years, but that didn’t stop Dad from screwing around on Mom. So what kind of love was that?”
“You’re right. I prefer not bringing up your parents. Let’s just talk about us.”
She all but stomped her feet. “Why can’t you see there isn’t an us?”
“And why can’t you see that there is? I honestly think that I’m the man who was created to love you; someone to prove there’s more to life than casual relationships and that true love extends beyond color lines. There is such a thing as a firm and loving commitment between a man and a woman.”
“And you’re an expert?” she snapped.
“No, it’s a new experience for me.”
“Then experience it alone because I’m out of here,” she said turning and walking away.
“Where are you going?” he called out to her.
She stopped and turned around. “To get my things and leave.”
“Running away isn’t helping matters,” he said.
“I’m not running away. I’m just giving you time to get your head screwed back on straight. There’s really no need for us to communicate until right before the party and to be honest, I prefer that we don’t.”
Less than an hour later, Mike stood at the kitchen window and watched Sonya leave. She had refused to let him take her to get her car, preferring to call a cab instead. And she had refused to accept that he loved her. What she didn’t know and what she hadn’t allowed him time to tell her was that not only did he love her, but couldn’t imagine a future without her. He wanted her for his wife, the mother of his kids and his soul mate for life.
She would not have appreciated hearing any of that; however, there was no way he could make love to her again without her knowing it wasn’t just about sex as she wanted to believe. He would give her space and time to think and maybe she would wonder that if she didn’t care something for him, then why had she gone without being intimate with a man for more than a year? Why hadn’t she allowed another man to touch her since that kiss they had shared at her place that night? The answer to that would be something she would have to figure out on her own.
However, he had no intention of fading into the woodwork while she went about reaching the same conclusion that he had. He had never loved a woman before, but like anything else he considered as his, once his name was stamped on it, he didn’t give it up without a fight.
And Sonya Morrison would be no exception.
• • •
A few days later, Sonya stared at the flowers that had been delivered to her. They were a beautiful arrangement of mixed flowers in a gorgeous Waterford vase. Although today was Valentine’s Day, she’d been surprised to have received them since she’d never remained in a relationship long enough to warrant the sending of something so elegant from a man. But once she had opened the card that had accompanied them, she hadn’t been surprised to find they had come from Mike.
Mike.
Why was he persistent in trying to get on her last nerve? She had a mind to drop the flowers, vase and all, right in the garbage. But she couldn’t. They were too beautiful. She would keep them and work around the realization that they meant nothing.
But that didn’t stop her from glancing at them from time to time or from inhaling the flowery scent that had practically taken over her office. Nor did that stop her from thinking about Mike and all the lovemaking they had done Friday night. She hadn’t been aware of all the passion marks he had put on her body until the next day. There hadn’t been too many places he had missed, and the passion marks had been a stark reminder of the intensity of their lovemaking. Another thing she found herself up against was the fact that he was not out of her system. Far from it. Making love to him hadn’t gotten rid of anything.
Instead it had created a bigger need, an even greater craving and an ache out of this world. It wasn’t uncommon to wake up in the middle of the night gripping her legs together, after having a dream of Mike being between them. Whether he had used his mouth or his erection hadn’t mattered. Either way she had wanted in reality the pleasure she had merely dreamed about. But she knew that wouldn’t happen. He didn’t want to enjoy sex just for sex, he wanted to make more out it. He was determined to bring the L word into it. And that was something she refused to let happen.
She snapped back to the present when she heard the phone on her desk ring. She quickly picked it up. “Yes, La’Trell?”
“Mrs. Devereau is on the line for you.”
Sonya smiled. “Thanks and please put her through.”
A few moments later she heard Carla’s voice. “Sonya, what’s going on with you, girl? Let’s do lunch.”
Sonya smiled widened. “I’d love to. Do you want to meet around noon at Gabriel’s?”
“Sure. I’ll see you then.”
Sonya hung up the phone as she glanced over at the flowers again. She needed to talk to someone about Mike, and she couldn’t think of any person other than her best friend.
• • •
Carla’s eyes widened. “Mike actually sent you flowers?”
“Yes.”
“But . . .” Carla shook her head as if to clear it, and then said, “That’s unreal. I don’t think I’ve ever known him to send a woman flowers before. According to Jesse, Mike makes it a point not to give the woman the wrong idea about where their affair is going.”
Hearing that didn’t make Sonya’s next statement easy to make. “He also told me last weekend that he loved me.”
Carla actually dropped the fork from her hand and ignored the clink when it hit the floor. Her chin, Sonya noticed, had dropped as well. She actually looked shocked. “He did what?”
“Y
ou heard me right. It was after we’d spent the night together and before you ask me to confirm what I just said, the answer is yes. We finally got around to doing it. It was either that or to continue to drive each other batty.”
“And he told you he loved you?” Carla asked, as she gave an apologetic smile to the waiter who handed her another fork.
Sonya nodded. “Yes, the next morning after we’d eaten breakfast.” Knowing what would probably be Carla’s next question, she said, “And there was no misunderstanding in what he said.”
Carla didn’t say anything for a long moment; she just sat there and studied Sonya. After a brief length of time she said, “And what did you say?” in a voice like she was almost too afraid to ask.
Sonya took a sip of her tea. “What do you think I said? You know me, Carla, better than anyone. I don’t sleep with men for them to fall in love with me, nor I with them. It’s about the enjoyment. The pleasure. The sex.”
“And you told that to Mike?”
“Yes.”
“But you haven’t slept with anyone for over a year. Why do you think you held yourself back from others?”
Sonya sensed where Carla was trying to go with this and said, “I know why I held myself back. The kiss that Mike and I shared that time I had the kids over, not only blew my mind it also messed with it something awful. It actually had me convinced that I wouldn’t want anyone until I had him. However, being the stubborn person that I am, I wasn’t ready to concede that I wanted him. He was taboo, off limits, forbidden. But then last weekend I decided my peace of mind meant more to me than worrying about crossing color lines, so I slept with him. Now I’m okay. I can move on. He’s completely out of my system.”
Carla leaned back in her chair with concern in her eyes. “Are you sure of that?”
THE SWEETEST TABOO (BENNETT SERIES 2.5) Page 7