She didn’t believe him. Perhaps she hadn’t done this before, but she’d listened to her girlfriends discuss it at length, and she’d spent some time researching it on certain Web sites, just in case. It was enjoyable for the man, which was why she wanted to do it. Except for the satisfaction of proving to him that she was up to this new challenge, she didn’t expect to enjoy it herself.
“Are you going to sit there and tell me that you had fun when you went down on me?” It amazed her that she was able to be so blunt. With anybody else, she would have been tongue-tied. Well, she wouldn’t have found herself in this situation at all because she wouldn’t have been begging, bargaining, and bullying for sex.
That was also another anomaly for her. Men had begged and bargained for sex with her, but she hadn’t caved. She was a little ashamed to have resorted to bullying, but not enough to apologize.
In the past when she’d argued with anyone using those tactics, she’d won. Ever hadn’t caved, and he hadn’t come close to looking like he was going to lose his temper. He’d seemed more upset when she had misbehaved while he’d been fingering her.
His grin only widened. “Oh yes. I could spend hours with you tied to my bed, licking and sucking on you, making you moan and beg and scream. That’s definitely fun. For both of us.”
“Fine.” She conceded the point because it wasn’t worth arguing about. “Are we doing this out here or in the bedroom?”
The smile vanished from his face. She wondered what she’d said to make it go away. She didn’t have to wonder for long.
“Mina, you don’t have to do this. You shouldn’t do this unless it’s what you want to do. I want it to be a positive experience, something that brings us closer together. Maybe it’s not intercourse, but it’s sex. I don’t have sex with just anybody.”
Despite what she’d heard, she had assumed he was like most men, not picky about his bed partners. Now she felt real shame. She should have known better. Even in high school he hadn’t had a reputation for playing the field. “I’m sorry. I do want to do this. I want to give you back some of what you’ve given me. I don’t expect to enjoy the act, just the feeling of having made you happy.”
His breath caught, and a sudden hunger blazed like blue-green fire in his eyes. Then it was gone. “While it makes me happy that pleasing me is enough motivation for you to consider doing something, for this, I’m going to have to insist you do this because it’s what you want. When I give you an orgasm, it’s because I want you to have one. It’s not to make you happy or to appease you. It’s a selfish act on my part; one that benefits you. It’s also a gift, and while reciprocation is a good intention, it’s not enough.”
She truly didn’t understand why he insisted on dissecting her motivation like this. What did it matter why she wanted to suck his cock? It should be enough that she did.
She tried to reach for a middle ground. She couldn’t promise to enjoy doing something she’d never done. “Okay, well, I don’t have anything on which to base wanting to do this except for the fact that I want to give you an orgasm.”
He nodded. “That’ll do for now. Come sit on my lap.”
She slid over, and he dropped his arm from the spine of the sofa to wrap it around her waist. He scooted her bottom until it was directly over his cock.
“Always start with a kiss.” With that, he kissed her, stealing her breath and her will. As he broke away, he stood, lifting her in his arms. “Always remember that I’m in charge when it comes to sex. That’ll never change.”
He deftly maneuvered her down the short hall and kicked his door open. He deposited her on the bed, disturbing the sleeping cat, who stretched lazily.
“Come on, Jolo.” He scooped her up and took her out of the room. When he returned, he closed the door. “Nothing kills the mood like looking up and seeing your cat watching.”
Mina considered this. “You know she’s judging your performance.”
His smile said he wasn’t concerned about not measuring up. Without another word, he shed his shirt and shorts. He stood before her wearing only light blue boxer briefs. She forgot how to breathe.
He’d removed his shirt the night before, but she’d been wearing a sleeping mask, so she hadn’t been allowed the chance to study him the way she’d like. Even this morning when he’d emerged from the bathroom wearing only a towel, he hadn’t lingered long enough for her to look her fill.
He had the look of an athlete, with lithe, defined muscles and broad shoulders. She let her gaze roam all over his chest and follow the band of his underwear from one hip bone to the other. It didn’t flow smoothly, because his hard cock made it bow out.
He stood with his hands perched loosely on his hips, watching her look at him and openly enjoying her awestruck perusal. There was a definite difference in his bearing from earlier, when he’d caught her looking and asked her if she’d seen anything she liked.
She forced her gaze lower, taking in the powerful thighs that had been hidden by his long, baggy shorts. He was magnificent on so many levels. “Will you turn around?”
He granted her request without question or comment, and she realized he knew this was the first time she’d been this close to a soon-to-be-naked man. Since he was in the mood to humor her, she decided to go for broke.
“Will you take off your boxers?”
One shove, and they fluttered down to his ankles. He stepped out of them and kicked them toward his hamper. They landed in a pile of clothes that had been there yesterday as well.
She knew she was stalling. Tearing her gaze away from his dirty laundry, she feasted her eyes on his naked ass. It was sculpted perfection, tight and curved enough for her to grab a handful.
Then he turned back around, and she nearly died. The narrow trail of hair that ran down from his belly button widened, and his thick cock curved from that nest. It was paler than the rest of him, and the head was almost purple.
She gathered her courage, stood up, and closed the three steps between them. She remembered that he’d told her to begin with a kiss. Even on her tiptoes, she couldn’t hope to reach his mouth, so she dropped to her knees and kissed the crown of his cock.
A shudder ran through him, and he put a warning hand on her head. “Honey, go slow. Take your time. It’s okay to explore.”
Like he’d done, taking the time to find out which pressures she liked and which spots made her cry out. She understood now. This was about learning his body and his tells. This was about making him hers.
She used her hands first, running her fingertips along his soft shaft and over the coarse hairs dotting his sac. She explored the ridge surrounding the head of his cock and the way the indent led directly to the tip. There was much more character present than the photos of the waxed and airbrushed models that seemed to be on every blog dedicated to romance. Every vein and ridge made him that much sexier.
In the periphery of her vision, she saw Everett’s hands clench and unclench. He hissed and tried to control his breathing.
“Can you lie on the bed? I think this is going to take a while.”
He laughed, but it was different from before. It held a hint of desperation. “I can assure you that it won’t.”
She looked up to find his eyes half-closed. The veins on his neck stood out, and he wore an expression of utter ecstasy. “Do you want me to stop?”
His eyes flew open, and he looked down at her. “I like your sense of humor, but I’d like it better if you said that with my dick in your mouth.”
Her confidence in what she was doing grew immeasurably. She licked the underside of his cock like it was an ice-cream cone. His lids fluttered downward, and his breathing grew uneven. The smooth skin felt like velvet, so she decided to explore him with her tongue the same way she’d explored him with her fingers. He’d said to take her time.
He seemed to be holding it together until she got to his balls. She lapped at the thin line between his testicles, and he moaned loudly. Then she sucked one ball into her mou
th, and he swore. She took that as a good sign. She couldn’t stop the slight smile of pride from stretching her lips or the hum of satisfaction.
He tangled his fingers in her hair and grasped his cock with his other hand. “Playtime is over, honey. Open your mouth.”
This change in dynamic shocked her a bit, but his commanding tone also made her wet. She opened her mouth, and he eased his cock inside. She had been nervous that she wouldn’t be able to establish a rhythm he liked, but that ceased to be a concern. He took over, thrusting with his hips and dictating the rhythm. In essence, he fucked her mouth, and it was one of the hottest things she’d never imagined.
He took one of her hands from where she gripped his hips and wrapped it around the base of his cock. She was thankful he didn’t expect her to take the whole thing. She’d choke on it, and that was not sexy.
“Touch my balls, honey. Cup them with your other hand.”
It did not annoy her that he had taken over. She was vastly relieved that he was telling her what he wanted. She realized he’d asked her to do this for him the night before, and she hadn’t really said anything. There had been no need. He’d been wonderful.
She rolled his sac gently in her palm, trying to get a feel for what he liked best. Just as she lost herself in the rhythm of the motion and the slide of his silky skin against her lips, she felt his fist tighten in her hair, pulling it in a way that made her eyes water and her pussy weep. Hot jets of semen spurted in her mouth. He pumped twice more before pulling out.
He backed away from her, and she looked up at him to see why, but his sated expression told her nothing. He grabbed two tissues from a box on his dresser and handed them to her.
“Here. Spit it out.”
Mina felt heat climbing her neck. How had he known she hadn’t swallowed? Did he mind? She accepted the tissue and used it. “Thanks. I just didn’t want to—”
“That’s fine. In the future, you don’t have to hold it in your mouth. You can spit it into your hand until you get to a sink. I don’t require you to swallow.”
That was a relief. As much as she enjoyed the licking and sucking parts, she had no desire to swallow. His wording took her by surprise—how in the world could he “require” her to do anything?—but she chalked it up to postorgasmic bliss.
He took the wadded tissue from her and threw it in the small trash bin next to the dresser. Then he hefted her from the floor and tossed her onto the bed, which was only a few feet away. He followed her down, pinning her in place with his hips, and kissed her.
Mina felt engulfed, surrounded by Everett. His body pressed her into his messy bedding, and his scent cradled her from below. He touched her everywhere, caressing her and moving her clothes out of the way so that nothing separated them. She felt his lips move over her skin as he kissed his way down her neck to linger at her breasts.
Surrendering to urgency, she let her hands roam his body, exploring his textures and lines and finding the places that made him kiss her a little more frantically. His cock hardened against her leg. She worked her hand between their bodies until she could enclose it in her palm. She meant to see what it took to make him moan, but to her surprise, she found it only partially hard.
In her hand, his cock swelled to its full length. She tightened her grip and slid her palm up and down as she marveled at the transformation. “I can’t believe you’re ready again.”
He thrust his hips, fucking her hand. “You keep that up, and I’ll come in your hand.”
Perhaps he meant to gross her out, but the second he said that, an erotic image came to her of him kneeling over her, ejaculating on her stomach. He had that sultry, possessive look he wore so well. In her minifantasy, he smeared his semen over her breasts. If she didn’t want to swallow, that was fine. She had other uses for his semen.
“I want that.” She wanted more than that, but she wasn’t at the point where she felt comfortable asking for it. He wanted to wait until he thought she was ready to have sex. He probably wouldn’t think too highly of her if he knew she was having some lightly kinky thoughts.
She pumped her hand up and down his shaft. He regarded her with a mix of wonder and affection that had her completely willing to rethink her life plan. Really, what could she do in California that she couldn’t do here?
Ever rolled them both suddenly, shoving her shorts and panties down while she was on top of him. He shifted her to the side so that she had a better angle to access his cock, and then he eased what felt like two fingers inside her.
“We’ll come together. Then we’ll make dinner, and I’ll have you for dessert.” He lifted his head, darting with predatory accuracy to capture her mouth for one of his soul-searing kisses.
She followed his rhythm. When he sped up, so did she. When he slowed down, so did she. And she realized that doing so delayed orgasm and prolonged pleasure. Each time he led her up that cliff, it got higher, and the precipice grew more dangerous. She didn’t know how many times he changed directions; she only knew the coil tightening in her abdomen had become a fire that burned out of control.
Just when she thought she couldn’t stand it anymore, he pushed her a little harder, and she fell down that chasm, screaming at the intensity of the pleasure and clinging to her anchor. Dimly, she heard his shout. He came, and warmth splashed onto her stomach as he fulfilled part of her unspoken wish.
Chapter Five
Mina clicked Send and sighed. This marked her fifty-seventh job application, and not a single one of them had panned out. She was either overqualified or unwilling to relocate. In the three months since she’d come home, her life had changed completely, and it was all due to Everett Burke.
He filled every moment of her life, even those he wasn’t present for. She thought about him when she woke in the morning, alone in her bed. Though she’d spent a few nights at his place, he hadn’t consented to more than oral sex.
She’d started taking birth control, going so far as to regularly take the little pill in front of him so he’d know she was ready and willing. She’d asked several times, but he’d merely reiterated that he wanted to make sure she wouldn’t regret anything, and then he’d changed the subject.
He took her out a lot, even on weekend trips to New York, Boston, and Detroit. Most of those were work related, but he’d managed to wrangle an extra day or two of vacation. They hiked together. They picnicked on his property. He consulted her on the design options for his house.
She’d invited him to dinner to meet her mother, and his parents had them over regularly. Everybody in both their families and probably in the entire town assumed they were sleeping together, but everybody was wrong. Frustratingly wrong.
She’d fallen in love with him. Totally, irrevocably in love with a man who was driven to protect her and take care of her. This was not the type of man she’d ever thought she would fall for.
Tonight she would tell him that she was in love with him, and then she would tell him that she couldn’t find a job in Vermont. It would test the strength of their relationship, but she felt like they were at a point where they needed to decide how they were going to move forward. Perhaps he knew she wasn’t being entirely forthcoming with him, and that was why he refused to take their relationship to the next level. She couldn’t stay in this limbo forever.
“Mina, should I wear the black shoes or the navy ones?”
She turned to face the door of her bedroom. Her mother held up two pairs of dress shoes, neither of them appropriate. Mina rose to her feet. “It’s a Labor Day cookout, Mom. They’re having hamburgers and playing ladder golf. Wear sandals.”
Macy and Russ Burke had invited her and her mother to their annual event. It was the first time both families would be together socially.
“I need to look my best, Mina. Macy Burke always looks amazing.” Jin Ae sat down on Mina’s ottoman and considered the shoes in her hands.
“It’s not a competition.” From what little Mina knew about Macy Burke, she had the impression Eve
r’s mother would be horrified if she found out how stressed Jin Ae was about the upcoming event. “Macy’s not like that. She’s actually a pleasant person. You said so yourself when you worked with her on the Fourth of July festival committee. Wear those red sandals I gave you for your birthday. They’re comfortable, and they look nice.”
Though her mother changed more times than Mina could count, they arrived at the party exactly on time. Jin Ae might be a stress ball, but she was never late.
They parked on the lawn at the end of a row of cars. Other people did the same thing, so Mina didn’t feel like she was doing something she shouldn’t. She followed the stream of people around to the backyard. The Burkes owned a huge spread of land near town, and they’d built a magnificent house in the middle of it.
The house Ever was planning wouldn’t be as large. He had shaken his head at the opulence of it and asked her if she wanted to be the one who had to clean all the rooms. Mina knew Macy employed domestic help, but she also knew that Ever didn’t want to deal with that kind of responsibility just yet. That was fine with her. She wasn’t sure how she would feel about paying somebody to clean up after her.
Wilder greeted her once she made it to the party area. He slung his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. Then he held his hand out to her mother. “You must be Mrs. Sung. I can see where Mina gets her good looks. I am Wilder Burke. Welcome to my parents’ barbecue.”
Color rose to her mother’s cheeks at Wilder’s compliment. “Thank you, young man. We are honored to be here.”
Wilder took her mother’s hands and kissed the backs of both of them, laying on the charm a bit thick. Then he straightened up and grinned at Mina. “Ever’s helping over at the grill.”
Mina returned his big smile. “They don’t let you near that thing, do they?”
“Not if you want edible food. Look, there’s Mom, the other culinarily deficient member of the family.”
A stunning blonde woman slipped her arm through Wilder’s and regarded Mina and Jin Ae with a welcoming smile. “Jin Ae, Mina, I’m so glad you could make it.” She squeezed Wilder’s arm affectionately, and then she enveloped Jin Ae in a hug.
Safe Word: Oasis 5: Mina's Heart Page 10
