Cuffing Season

by Danielle Allen

  Still holding on to his shirt, I moaned loudly.

  “I’m thinking about how good you sound…how good you look… how good you feel…” Holding my gaze, he removed his fingers from my sensitive flesh and licked them. “How good you taste.”

  I shook with want. “Stop teasing me,” I begged, attempting to reach into his sweatpants.

  “I’m not teasing you, baby. I’m just making sure every cell in your body wakes up for this.”

  Putting his arm around my waist, he twisted me so that my back was on the couch and he was hovering over me. He kissed me and then sat back so he could remove my panties. Positioning my legs on either side of his body, he easily slid his finger over my clit before dipping his finger inside.

  “I’ll stop if you want me to stop.” His voice was low and rough as he moved his finger over my clit again. “What do you want, Serena?”

  I cried out in lust as he pulled his finger almost all the way out before plunging it back in. The sensation forced my eyes closed, my chest up, and my head pushed back into the cushion. Seizing the opportunity, Luca kissed and nibbled from my belly button to my chest.

  I sucked in a sharp intake of air when he got to my breast and his tongue swirled around my hardened nipple. He bit down lightly before making his way to the other. The familiar warmth curled in the pit of my stomach as his fingers continued to work in and out of my wetness.

  “Tell me what you want,” he murmured as he trailed kisses up my chest and along my collarbone before making a beeline to my lips. “You want me to stop?”

  “Don’t stop,” I answered breathily. “Please, don’t stop.”

  As soon as his tongue met mine, we moaned in unison.

  Luca ended the kiss way too soon, but when I saw him stand and remove his clothes, I didn’t mind anymore.

  Holy shit.

  I sat up immediately. He was sex personified. With well-defined muscles and a dick that made my mouth water, Luca Romano had full access to every inch of my body. My hands had a mind of their own as they reached out to touch him. I ran my fingers over his hardness, feeling the entire length and width of him. He was hot, heavy, and throbbing in my hand. I stroked it worshipfully, marveling at it.

  I looked up at him, my mouth inches from his dick. “You are sexy as hell.”

  He put his hands on the side of my face and exhaled. “You have no idea what you do to me.” He grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet. “Don’t look at me like that unless you’re ready for me to be inside you.”

  I pressed my body against his, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I’ve been ready,” I whispered against his lips

  The passion that emanated from the kiss set me ablaze. I stood on my tip toes to grind myself against his thigh. His hardness speared me above my bellybutton, and I had to physically restrain myself from climbing him.

  “Go get in my bed,” he growled, slapping my ass. “Now.”

  I made my way to his room and two minutes later, he entered. He placed two bottles of water on the nightstand and then clicked a couple of buttons and music started playing through hidden speakers.

  He looked at me and licked his lips. “Spread your legs.”

  “Yes, sir.” I propped myself up on my elbows and spread my legs slowly, deliberately.

  “This is the breakfast I wanted. I settled for the food earlier, but this was the only thing I wanted to eat,” he uttered as he kneeled on the bed, eyeing me hungrily.

  “You say the most perfect—”

  My sentence abruptly ended in a loud hiss as Luca’s lips grazed the inside of my thighs. My hips rotated as he blew against me, teasing me. He was so close that if I tilted my hips slightly, his mouth would be on the epicenter of my pleasure. Holding me in place, he made me wait for it. He palmed the back of my thighs and kissed the length of my pelvis, from hip bone to hip bone. But when his tongue finally licked me, I shuddered. And when his tongue burrowed inside me, desire coiled in my belly, ready to release the tension.

  “Oh my god, Luca,” I breathed hotly.

  Every time he did something that made me cry out, it seemed to only turn him on more. So, when I moaned, he moaned. And each time he did, it felt like a soft flick against my clit. I squirmed, pleasure dripping from me. He slid a finger inside me, and I gasped loudly. Before I could recover, he slid another one in.

  “Mmmm,” he growled, sending vibrations through my entire body.

  “That feels so good,” I managed to choke out as he sucked my clit and moved his fingers in and out of me. “Yes, Luca. Right there.”

  My body burst into the flames his touch and his moans ignited.

  “Yes, yes, yes,” I panted as my body started its quick descent into chaos.

  “Yeah, that’s it. Give me all of that,” he grunted as I clamped down around his fingers.

  My heart was pounding in my chest as my entire body shot off fireworks. “Oh. My. God.”

  I rode the entire wave and he never let up, he never stopped tasting me. I came so hard that I felt completely depleted. Then my mind went blank and temporarily, I was immobilized.

  Luca climbed off the bed and then returned a minute later. Even though my eyes were closed, I could feel his eyes on me.

  Kissing my smooth skin, Luca made a trail from my ankles to my neck. His hands skillfully moved from lightly tugging at my nipples to massaging my body all over. His hands felt like they were everywhere, and I’d never felt so worshipped in my life. When he finally brushed his lips with mine, the throbbing ache between my thighs was back.

  “I need you inside me,” I told him wantonly.

  He closed his eyes and groaned. “Tell me again what you need, baby.”

  Spurred on by his reaction, I gently pushed him onto his back. “You took such good care of me, I want to return the favor.” Reaching for his dick, I wrapped my hand around him. He sucked in sharply as I started stroking him.

  “I need to feel you deep inside me,” I repeated, my voice needy.

  Covering his mouth with mine, I kissed him hard and deep. His hands caressed my body as I played with his. I pulled out of the kiss, so I could marvel at how hard he was. Shifting my gaze to his face, I was caught off guard by the unbridled lust in his expression as he looked at me.

  I licked my lips. “Where are your condoms?”

  “I put them beside the water.”

  We both moved toward that side of the bed, but he was closer. He sat on the edge and put a condom on. When he started to get up, I stopped him.

  I put my hand on his chest and gave him a slow, sensual kiss. “Do you know what I was thinking about when we were on the couch?”

  Pulling me close, he started kissing my neck. “This?”

  I giggled when he nibbled on a spot behind my ear. “This.”

  I put my knees on the bed, one on either side of his thighs, and I gradually sank down onto him. With each inch, he filled me, and the sheer pleasure that erupted from my core weakened me. Groaning loudly, I struggled to keep my eyes open as he stretched me out.

  “Shit…” he growled as his fingers dug into my ass. “Oh, fuck.”

  Using his shoulders and the placement of my feet, I lifted myself up and down in his lap. With one hand on my ass and the other palming my breast, he guided my movements as I rode him. Taking my time, I savored the experience. Letting the tempo build, he watched me grind down on him, panting his name repeatedly. Each time I moaned, so did he. His pleasure was so connected to mine that everything he did set me off and vice versa.

  “Luca,” I panted. “Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yessssssssss.”

  “Yes, baby. Ride this dick for me, baby.” His breathing was ragged as he alternated between nipples, sucking and biting. “Serena, shit, shit!”

  I bounced breathlessly on him as my orgasm built. He placed both hands on my ass and slammed me down onto him harder. His labored breathing matched mine as the pressure built for the both of us. With all the teasing he had done, it didn’t take long before I reac
hed my orgasm. I clenched, quivering around him as my carnal desire spread from my core to my weakening limbs.

  “You are so wet,” he grunted as he moved his hips upward, meeting me thrust for thrust. “Shit, Serena…”

  “Luca,” I screamed silently, my breath coming out in huffs.

  My mouth fell open, and my toes curled as a second wave hit me. My head lolled back in ecstasy as pleasure took over. I had no control of my pulsating body. I barely heard him murmuring about how good I felt as I tightened and convulsed around him. Every cell in my body was affected by his touch. My orgasm spread throughout every inch of me and when his mouth covered my nipple, I buckled.

  A deep guttural groan escaped from deep in his chest, and I knew he wasn’t going to last much longer. Hearing that primal sound come out of him as he climaxed sent an aftershock through me.

  Sharing sloppy kisses filled with need and want, our hands roamed freely over each other’s bodies. Our lips were feverish and lustful as we grinded against each other. Chest to chest, I wasn’t sure whose heart was beating the fastest, but the way we were still pawing at one another, it didn’t seem like it would stop anytime soon.

  “Wow.” I exhaled the word when I finally rolled off him.

  He reached over and placed his hand on my belly, dragging his fingertips across my skin. “Wow is right.”

  Both of us winded, we silently laid side-by-side for a full minute.

  “I completely understand why you have a one-night rule. If you take care of a woman like that more than once, there’s no way she’s not falling in love.”

  Even though I meant it jokingly, there was so much truth to it. Luca Romano rocked my entire world.

  When I opened my eyes, he was watching me. Heat spread over my skin, and my chest swelled. The way he looked at me made everything else fade away.

  Smirking, he stood up, removed the condom, and then rolled on another. Spreading my legs, he moved into position, caging my head with his arms. “Good to know,” he replied, just before lowering his lips to mine.

  The kiss wasn’t like the sloppy, lust-fueled ones we’d shared a few minutes earlier. He kissed me slowly and with reverence. His tongue parted my lips and met mine with a need that went well beyond sex. He told me secrets, he made me promises, and he confessed his fears in that kiss. It didn’t just turn on my body, it turned on my soul and imprinted on my heart. Even with my eyes closed, I saw him—in every kiss, in every touch, I saw him. Tears prick the back of my eyelids as I gave in to my feelings, giving myself to him. My heart thumped from the intimacy and vulnerability.

  He pulled out of the kiss as gradually as he entered it.

  My lashes fluttered open to find him staring at me. My breathing hitched.

  He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. Instead, he rubbed the head of his dick over my wetness. It felt so good that my eyes started to close.

  “Keep your eyes open.” The sexy grit in his voice sent a chill through me.

  “Mmm…” I nodded, losing myself in his gaze and his touch simultaneously.

  His chest rose and fell as I watched him hold back. His restraint was sexy as hell.

  Stretching me out, he eased each thick inch into me making sure I felt him every step of the way. I felt him throbbing inside me as I engulfed him. He grunted his approval as he ran his hands up and down my naked body. I couldn’t stop squirming and once he was all the way in, he stopped moving.

  “You feel so good,” he groaned as he filled me completely.

  Holding my hips, he lifted me slightly so that my ass was off the bed. I tried to rotate with him inside me, but he held me still.

  “Lucaaaaa…” Moaning his name, the anticipation and desire caused the tension to build.

  His eyes pinged over my nakedness before he met my gaze again. “Are you ready to fall?”

  I blinked up at him. “Are you?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “What?” I screeched aloud in the empty room.

  I reread the congratulatory letter stapled to the top of the confidentiality agreement and other contractual forms to be a contestant on The One. “This has got to be a joke. This has something to do with Koko.”

  Although I didn’t let my best friend forget that she was working for a television program that set women back decades, I was so proud of Koko for following her dreams and landing a big-time job on a network TV show.

  But what does that have to do with me?

  Putting my law degree to work, I carefully read each document addressed to me, starting with the one welcoming me to join the “most popular dating show on TV.” With each line I read, I became uncomfortable.

  This almost looks real.

  When I finished, I tossed the stack of papers on the wooden coffee table and picked up my cell phone. Standing in the center of the rustic living room of my parents’ Virginia home, I tapped my bare foot against the cold hardwood floor as I pushed the call button. With a hand propped on my hip, I waited for my call to be answered.

  I glanced at the clock hanging over the crackling fireplace, calculating the time difference between Virginia and California. It’s only four o’clock over there so she should be—

  “Zoe!” My best friend’s light airy voice chirped as she answered the phone. “Oh my God!”

  “Kumiko Liane Green,” I barked her full name, walking toward my childhood bedroom and closing the door behind me. I flipped on the light and the oceanic blue walls lit up. “This bullshit has your name written all over it.”

  The gasping sound of her laughter was infectious as my suspicions were confirmed.

  “You ass!” I exclaimed, my smile taking the bite out of my words.

  Koko laughed harder.

  “This is not funny,” I argued, stifling my own amusement. “I don’t even watch reality TV so as soon as I saw The One in the first line of the letter, I knew your ass had something to do with it!”

  My mass of curly hair flopped around my shoulders with each shake of my head.

  “Two months after you are attached to the show, I get this mysterious paperwork in the mail. Tsk tsk. Your pranks are usually a little more elaborate. You have to step your game up, my friend. You’re slipping,” I teased.

  She scoffed, her light voice cackled like an evil villain in a cartoon. “Remember when I first got the offer letter to work with Julia Jones on The One and you kept giving me shit?”

  I smiled even though my eyes narrowed suspiciously. Standing by my desk, I let my fingers slide across the old leather bound book of poems by Pablo Neruda that I took everywhere.

  “Yes,” I replied slowly, before making a beeline to the oversized reading chair in the corner of the room. I tucked my legs underneath me as I got comfortable in the chair. “When my best friend gets hired to work with the Makeup Guru, we celebrate. Even if she’ll be working with her on a show that highlights the death of the feminist movement.”

  We both chuckled.

  “Do you remember how wasted we were when we celebrated?” Koko asked.

  “We?” I laughed, shaking my head at the memory. “Do you remember that night at all? You were the one who got drunk.”

  “I was so drunk,” she giggled again. “But do you remember how I kept saying that I was going to get you back once I was sober again?”

  “Mm-hm. And the next day you told Ethan that I wanted to hook up with him.”

  “No…” She stretched the word out longer than necessary. “Well, yes, I did do that. But that wasn’t to get you back; that was a favor. You need to keep Ethan interested and on your radar. He’s a catch!”

  I closed my eyes and groaned. “When are you going to let that go? Ethan is my boss and we are just friends.”

  Ignoring my protests, she continued, “So anyway, that was a favor, not retaliation. You’re welcome.”

  “Ugh,” I grunted in exasperation, throwing my arm up and kicking my legs out. “When I get back to Los Angeles, I’m going to fight you.”

  “S
o as I was saying, I knew exactly how to get you back for saying that I would be painting the faces of—.”

  “Of women who possibly have Stockholm Syndrome,” I interrupted, finishing the statement with thinly veiled amusement. Unable to hold back, my head tilted upward and a deep belly laugh erupted out of me. “That was funny. I crack myself up.”

  “It’s still funny… which is why I had to come up with the perfect way to get you back.”

  I stared at my black tipped fingernails, focusing on a small chip I hadn’t seen earlier. “Faking this letter and this paperwork is pretty good,” I admitted begrudgingly.

  “Wait, I haven’t even told you the best part,” Koko insisted between giggles.

  “The best part? The best part was how good of a job you did with the legal jargon. Maybe you should’ve attended law school with me.”

  The line went silent as my words hung in the air.

  Shit. Here it comes.

  “Well…now that you brought it up, are you ready to talk about the bar yet?” Koko’s tone shifted abruptly from flighty to serious, catching me off guard.

  She wasn’t talking about Breakers Bar, the bar in which I worked. She was talking about the California State Bar Exam, the exam in which I skipped.

  I frowned, shaking my head even though she couldn’t see me. “Nope.”

  Koko made a grumbling noise from the back of her throat. But it wasn’t a judgmental noise. It was the noise she often made when she was struggling to hold her tongue.

  I exhaled nosily in defeat as I slumped deeper into the chair. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate her concern, because I did.

  “I just couldn’t do it. It’s—it’s hard to explain.” I lowered my voice so my mother couldn’t hear me if she was walking around. “My mom is here and I haven’t told my parents yet. But as soon as I get to the airport, I’ll spill.”