In no time, he had the wine open and the food on the table. There was a comfortable silence as they served themselves, but he wasn’t satisfied with that.
“How was your day?”
“Pretty typical. Books were returned to the library, books were checked out. Nothing all too exciting.”
“What made you choose to be a librarian?”
Ottavia chuckled. “Let my parents tell it, my nose has always been buried in a book. To some extent I guess it’s true. I’ve always had a love for all things literary. But to be truthful, I had no idea what I wanted to be when I first thought about going off to college. Then I attended freshman orientation and I saw the program for library and information science. My interest was instantly captured so I went for it. I don’t regret it all.”
She paused to take a sip of wine. “Fortunately, Mrs. Larter just happened to be willing to hire me since the previous assistant librarian had retired. Then when she retired a few years later the job was mine.”
“What made you come back to Wayne after college?”
“I suspect the same thing that made you do the same. This is home. No matter how bad I wanted to leave and never come back when I was a teenager, once I left, I realized there is no place like Wayne. My family is here. My friends are here. This is where I wanted to be when it was all said and done.”
“You’re right. We did come back for the same reasons.”
“Do you regret it?” she asked.
“Not in the least. I have no reason to.”
“I’m sure there’s a better selection of women outside of Wayne.”
He stiffened at her words. “So, we’re back to my past I see. I’d hope by now you’d realize people do mature and get a little wiser.”
She set her fork down. “No offense, Julian, but not even a month ago I saw two women get into a knockdown, drag out fight at a bar.”
“Was I present?”
“No.”
“Did I do anything you know of to encourage those two women?”
“No, but—”
“Have I been involved in any shape form or fashion with either of those women?”
Ottavia remained silent. He already knew the answer. News about the incident had gotten back to him much to his mortification.
Finally, she exhaled heavily. “Look, Julian. My point is two grown women were out in the street fighting over you. What’s even worse is neither of them have any claim to you. I can’t put up with that sort of foolishness. More importantly, I won’t. I’ve lived in Wayne just about all of my life and I’ve managed to avoid the rumor mill—”
“And you can’t continue to do that if you become seriously involved with me, right?”
“Julian, I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m just—”
“Scared,” he interrupted.
“What?”
“You’re afraid of what it’d mean to be with me. While I’ve done quite a bit to improve my image in Wayne, there are a lot people in town who will always see me as the local bad boy who goes around breaking the hearts of all the women he ever comes into contact with. That’s the reason why you felt so comfortable approaching me. It’s too bad you can’t admit you want me for more than one night, but you’re afraid of what will come with that if you take a chance.”
“You’re right, Julian. I’m not a risk taker. The fact I put myself on the line to ask you for one night was crazy enough.”
“What’s so insane about it?”
Ottavia opened her mouth to respond then snapped it shut. Her shoulder rose as she inhaled deeply before she let the breath back out slowly. “I don’t want to argue, Julian. When I think about it, it was selfish of me to proposition you the way I did. I think it’s just best we forget what I said and move on.”
Julian pushed his plate away. “Do you think that’s even possible?”
“Yes. We’re both adults.”
“Being an adult has nothing to do with this. I’ve tasted the sweetness of your lips, felt you orgasm at my touch and heard your muted, but lusty cries of pleasure in my ears. Do you really think that’s something I can easily forget?”
She swallowed deeply and he saw the pulse in the base of her throat flutter. To him it was proof she wasn’t as unaffected as she’d have him believe.
“I assure you I can’t. I’m pretty positive it’s the same for you. The question is when are you going to stop denying it?”
She downed the rest of her wine in one swallow, making him grin. He couldn’t recall a time when he’d seen her so rattled. It also made him realize he might have been going about things the wrong way. Instead of trying to prove to her how compatible they were outside of the bedroom, he should show her how well-suited they were in it.
Starting now.
Chapter Seven
“Your time is up, Ottavia.”
She froze. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve always heard actions speak louder than words. I guess it’s time to prove that. If you don’t want this, you need to tell me now. After tonight, there’ll be no going back.”
It took all of the restraint he had not to move. He wouldn’t proceed until she gave complete consent. She had to be willing. Her eyes fluttered closed. Several heartbeats later they reopened and he saw the assent in her eyes. She was all his. The words she uttered next confirmed it.
“Yes, Julian. I want you to show me.”
He rose to his feet without another word and moved around the table to draw her into his arms. She went willingly and when he lowered his mouth to hers, she returned his kiss enthusiastically. Heated desire instantly coursed through him. The kiss was searing and all rational thought disappeared.
The embers of desire from the prior times they’d touched were fanned into consuming flames that burned hotter than the night before. He was on fire, consumed with passion that demanded to be satisfied. He ended the kiss to draw in a ragged breath.
“I want you, Ottavia. I want to make love to you.”
The instant the words left his mouth, Julian stiffened and pulled back. Ottavia’s eyes were wide, telling him he’d definitely made a mistake revealing such an impassioned truth. Guilt assailed him. It still felt like he was forcing her to accept what was between them. He didn’t want that. His deepest desire was for her to come to him willingly.
He backed away from her slowly. “I’m sorry, Ottavia. I shouldn’t have said that, done that. I know you still want to believe this will just be physical mind-numbing sex.”
Soft, dry laughter escaped her. “Don’t you think that’s a decision I can make for myself? You’ve put it all on the table. At this point I don’t think I have a choice but to believe you. Unless you’ve changed your mind.”
Still feeling uneasy with what he just easily admitted to, he turned to the table and picked up her glass and plate, then his. “I’m trying to not to give you the wrong impression here, Ottavia.”
God, his excuse sounded weak to his own ears.
“What wrong impression, Julian?” Her voice was soft, but he could tell she’d stepped closer.
His grip tightened reflexively as he placed the dishes on the counter. He struggled to loosen his grip, but fear of what he would reach for next if he did kept him still. She boldly pressed her front against his back, forcing him to acknowledge her and the sizzling attraction between them. As if he could ignore it. That quick, he grew hard and stiff with wanting her, his erection pressing insistently against the fly of his jeans.
“Look at me, Julian.”
He dropped his head, knowing what would happen the second he did. Her light, unexpected touch caused him to jerk. He closed his eyes when her hands slid down his arms toward his hands. She coaxed him into releasing the dishes.
“Look at me, Julian.”
When he didn’t obey her command, she lifted his arm high enough for her to duck underneath and squeeze herself between him and the counter until they were aligned from chests to thighs, forcing him to acknowledge her and their und
eniable attraction.
Her fiery determination turned him on and he knew he had to do something fast or he’d succumb and take her passionately until neither of them could move. Just as he attempted to take a much-needed step away from her, she grabbed his shirt and held him in place.
She rose on her toes, placing her mouth inches below his. “I want you so badly, Julian, I ache with it.” She lowered her lashes and nipped lightly at his jaw, then used her soft tongue to soothe the love bite. “That’s why I came to you. I knew you’d be able to give me what I want in a way no one else can. Stop treating me like a fragile piece of glass. I won’t break. I’m a big girl. I know what I want.”
Bracing his hands on either side of her hips on the counter to keep from touching her, he shuddered and groaned, holding fast to his dwindling resolve. “Ottavia—”
“Don’t tell me no.” The plea was filled with a wealth of emotion as her lips traveled up to his ear. “I want the closeness and intimacy of having se—making love with you. My desire for you is so strong it consumes me. I think that’s plain to see. I assure you I haven’t allowed any other man to touch me in the ways you have in the places we’ve been. You bring out a side of me I never knew existed. I want to explore it to the fullest with you.”
He squeezed his eyes shut as he battled between right and wrong. The words she’d just spoken were so honest, saying so much about her feelings for him. No, she might not be saying she was one hundred percent ready for a relationship, but she wanted him and she was allowing her emotions and passions to run wild and free.
Seemingly taking his silence as agreement, she tugged his shirt from the waistband of his pants, shoved it up and over his head and tossed it to the floor at their feet. She flattened her palms on his bare chest and her breathing deepened as she stroked his taut, heated flesh and trailed her fingers down to his hard abdomen. Arousal surged through his bloodstream and arrowed straight to his groin. His erection pulsed against the fly of his jeans.
Bolder still, she dragged her tongue along the shell of his ear then dipped inside. “I’m wet with the thought of having you deep inside of me, Julian,” she whispered huskily.
Her thigh lifted high along his so she could rub herself against his erection.
“Touch me and you’ll see for yourself.”
His fingers curled into tight fists against the counter as he fought the temptation to obey her request. Frankly, he was still in shock over the woman that had transformed before his eyes. Gone was the quiet and reserved woman he usually dealt with. In her place was the vixen he’d seen less than a handful of times. But this was on an entirely different level.
She gave him no choice. He exhaled slowly as she undid the button to her jeans before easing the zipper down. A heartbeat later, she grabbed his wrist, slid his hand inside her jeans, then pressed his fingers against the damp panel of cotton covering her feminine heat.
“Oh, yes,” she whispered, a pleased, dreamy smile tipping one corner of her mouth.
He swallowed hard, which did nothing to calm the chaotic buzz of lust and need clamoring inside him. She was so damned brazen and sensual, her feminine confidence affecting him on a purely masculine level that made him want to drive into her, fast and deep. She trusted him to take her body to give her the physical intimacy she craved. He could see the certainty in her eyes, her expression beckoning him to fulfill every one of her sexual fantasies.
And he knew in that moment he wouldn’t be able to refuse her this time, wouldn’t be able to refuse himself, no matter how wrong it might be to make love to her. Her desire for him was very real. And that was all he needed to know to brush aside his own doubts and release his hunger.
Without warning, he lowered his head, crushed his lips to hers and swallowed her gasp of surprise. It took her only a few heartbeats to respond to his passionate kiss, to welcome the thrust of his tongue into the silky, heated depth of her mouth. As they both indulged in the rough, delicious embrace, he knew there would be nothing slow, romantic or easy about this first joining.
Without breaking the kiss, he reached behind her and swept aside the items on counter. Grasping her waist in his hands, he lifted her up onto the surface, heedless of the cramped space offered by the counter. They wouldn’t need much room for what he had in mind.
With his mouth, lips and tongue consuming hers, he lifted her, shoving the jeans down her hips and out of the way, pausing only to remove her socks. With the restrictive clothing out of the way, he pushed her knees apart, spreading her legs so he fit in between. His throbbing erection nestled at the heart of her femininity. She locked her feet against the back of his hardened thighs to hold him in place and gyrated her hips in a slow, circular motion. He felt the heat and dewy moisture from her panties saturating the material of his jeans and he growled at the new untamed sensation that race through him.
Abruptly, she ended the kiss and leaned back, bracing her hands on the counter behind her. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she panted for breath and her eyes were heavy lidded with arousal, the irises a sultry shade of black. “Undress me, Julian,” she whispered invitingly. “I want your mouth on the rest of me.”
He didn’t hesitate. He immediately lifted the sweater that kept her so modestly covered. Once the top was off, he leaned forward, lavishing kisses over the soft swells of her breasts overflowing her bra and dipped his tongue along the deep cleavage in between.
She shivered and reverently whispered his name. Wanting her upper body naked, he tugged the straps of her bra off her shoulders and down her arms until her breasts were bared and the bunched material tightened at the crease of her elbow. She shifted, trying to lift her hands from the counter so she could slip out of the straps, but he stopped her before she could follow through on her intent.
“Don’t move,” he ordered, liking the way her current position kept him in total control. “I want you to keep your hands right where they are.”
Excitement glowed in her gaze.
Burying a hand into her thick hair, he tangled his fingers through the soft strands and tugged her head back so her slender throat was completely exposed to him. Driven by something primitive and possessive that overruled his common sense, he placed his open mouth on her arched neck and grazed his tongue across her delicate skin. He found a particular sensitive spot that made her shiver and drew that tender flesh between his teeth. He nipped and suckled, and did something he had never, ever, done to any other woman. He marked Ottavia as his.
She gasped and arched into him as he bit her neck and he felt her tight nipples stab against his chest, demanding their own fair share of attention. His free hand molded to one full, straining breast and his thumb and forefinger closed over the pearled tip and tugged, hard enough to make her suck in a swift, startled breath of air.
He continued to nuzzle her throat, then trailed hot, damp kisses lower. Finding her breasts, he curled his tongue around her awaiting nipple, licked at her slowly. He then drew her deep into his mouth with a soft, wet pulling suction that made her thighs clench around his waist and her hips rock rhythmically against his thickening erection.
“Julian, please,” she urged on a long, drawn-out moan. With the urgent plea in her sultry voice and the sexy, provocative gyration of her hips, she brought him to the brink of climax. Without preamble, he reached up and dragged her panties down and off her legs. One touch of his fingers against the slick folds of her sex told him she was beyond ready for him and any other foreplay was unnecessary.
He reached for his belt, his movements frenzied as he jerked at the buckle and pulled the strap free. The metal button and zipper followed, and he shoved his pants over his hips, pausing long enough to pull his wallet out of his back pocket. The day after Ottavia propositioned him to be her Christmas gift, he’d stopped to purchase the condoms he hadn’t needed in a while. His social life had been nonexistent for a while now. All of that was about to change.
He slipped a packet out of his wallet. A low curse slipped from
his lips as he fumbled slightly. When he had the latex on, he glanced back up at Ottavia and found her watching him, taking his size and length with an appreciative lick of her lips.
Her arms and hands were still propped behind her as he’d ordered and she looked completely wanton with her top open and her naked breasts quivering. He had an unobstructed view of the pouty lips between her legs, glistening with her dewy essence; all his for the taking.
Cupping her luscious bottom in his hands, he pulled her hips to the very edge of the counter, positioning her for his possession and forcing her to press her knees against his waist for better leverage. He rubbed the taut, swollen head of his burgeoning erection through her petal-soft folds of flesh, bathing the tip in slick moisture before ending the torment and pushing into her with one long, hard stroke.
She sucked in a swift breath, a raw sound of pleasure rumbled from deep inside his chest as he watched her body envelop him, surrounding him in wet heat, and felt the exquisite squeeze of her inner muscles.
The sheer bliss of finally being inside of her was so intense, so startling, he had to take a moment to savor the feeling because he knew it was only a matter of a few strokes before he’d come. His skin burned, his muscles ached and his stomach constricted with the need to thrust.
Holding back, he lifted his gaze to her face, finding her lips parted and her pupils dilated with heat and arousal. Wanting her on the edge, too, he pressed his thumb against the hard knot of nerves between her legs, just above where they were joined, teasing her with feather-light caresses that gradually deepened to long, rhythmic strokes. Her body trembled and he could feel her fighting the orgasm building within her.
“Julian…move.”
He shook his head, denying her for the moment, not until he extracted what he wanted from her. “I want to watch you when you come.” And he wouldn’t be far behind, he knew.
She moaned, closed her eyes and gave herself up to the ministrations of his fingers. She clenched her legs around his hips, her breathing escaping in short pants. When he felt her body draw tight and contract around his hot, rigid flesh, he finally did move, and took her where they both were desperate to go.
Whispers of Winter: A Limited Edition Collection of Winter Romances Page 8
