In that moment, Cassandra knew she had been a fool. It had been in front of her all this time. She knew she could no longer ignore what her heart had known all along. She took a leap of faith. Squeezing his hand with hers, she looked him in the eye and said softly, “Yes.”
Chapter Twenty
Very High Expectations
Trevor’s heart pounded hard in his chest as he walked Cassandra from the bar. As they got off the elevator out onto their floor, he glanced at her and down at their clasped hands to reassure himself it wasn’t a dream. His pulse raged in his ears as they approached the door of her room, suddenly afraid she would have second thoughts and say something like, “I don’t think we should….”
He breathed a silent sigh of relief when she followed him past her door toward his without any hesitation. As soon as the door clicked closed behind them, they were transported to another world where nothing existed but the two of them. He cupped the nape of her neck and pulled her closer to him.
“Cassandra,” he whispered as their lips met. With a groan, he quickly captured her mouth with his in a deep, wet kiss. Holding her to him, his tongue thrust forward to swirl along hers, and she kissed him back just as deeply until they both needed more than the sweet taste of each other’s mouths.
Before he became completely lost in the whirlwind of desire, he gently broke the kiss. At her questioning look, he simply stated, “I don’t have any condoms with me. I never planned on… this…us.”
“I wouldn’t have been impressed if you did,” she commented bluntly. Standing on tiptoe, she gave him a small smile and kissed him hard on the lips, saying, “We’re okay.”
Her words sent a shiver of anticipation down his spine as he claimed her lips again in a burning kiss and gently eased her backward into the room.
Breathing hard, they parted and undressed, watching each other intently. His eyes were captured by the texture of her skin again, and he looked forward to finally proving to himself that it would feel as silky under his fingers as he so often imagined.
His breath hitched when Cassandra held his gaze while she unhooked her bra and let it fall to the floor before moving on to the button of her jeans. Trevor’s mouth went dry. Her breasts were perfect. No other word could describe them. His body, already awakened by the kissing and quick touching, twitched as if engaging into first gear.
The sound of her zipper being undone snapped him out of his daze. He quickly pulled his t-shirt off over his head and tossed it in the corner, and then proceeded to remove his jeans. His eyes were drawn to her again when she pushed hers off her hips and down her shapely legs. Finally, they stood before each other fully naked in the soft glow of the hotel room’s light. Trevor let his eyes caress her, just as they had when he had watched her sleep in his bed. A smile filled his eyes at the flush that crept up her neck and colored her cheeks.
Cassandra’s heart slammed against her chest when her eyes reached his after her initial perusal of his body had ended. She blushed on realizing he had been watching her take in her fill. From under lowered lids, she eyed his chest again; the memory she had of him semi-undressed did not give justice to the full display in front of her. Nicely formed muscles showed he wasn’t a body-building nut, but someone with a healthy, active lifestyle. His chest tapered down attractively to his hips, its ridges and valleys making her pulse accelerate a notch. Lowering her eyes further, she blushed even deeper at the evidence of his desire for her. The view and the anticipation of what was to come sucked the air from her lungs. A twinge of desire hit her hard, its heat flashing and spreading through her body until it pooled low between her thighs, making her instantly wet.
As if reading her mind, Trevor moved forward and took her in his arms again. “I’ve dreamed of this moment for a while now,” he whispered in her ear before sweeping her off her feet, into his arms, and carrying her to his bed.
He set her in the middle of it and stretched out beside her on his side, facing her. Slowly he began a sensual assault on her—kissing and caressing her softly until she thought her heart was going to seize in her chest. Her fingers flowed over his body, feather touches caressing across his shoulder, along his chest, and lower still to his stomach, leaving a trail goose bumps in their wake. His soft groan at her touch thrilled her and made her bolder with a need to give him pleasure in the same measure as he was already giving her. She slid her hand even further down and wrapped her fingers around his cock.
Trevor’s body jerked. “Damn it Cassie, hold on,” he breathed harshly, resting his forehead against hers and shifted his hips away to stop her from touching him. “If you continue to touch me like that I won’t be able to hold back much longer.”
Trevor must have seen the uncertainty in her eyes and the little frown that furrowed her brow at his comment. He leaned back far enough to capture her eyes with his and clarified, “If you touch me like that I won’t be able to hold on for as long as I want to. I want this to last, Cassie. I want this to last a long, long time.”
Trevor’s words soothed her and made her burn deep with the promise in them. Her breath caught when he rolled over her, spread her legs with his knees, adjusted himself between them, and looked straight into her eyes. “I want to taste you so bad it hurts…taste all of you.” He leaned down to kiss her softly on the neck, then at the hollow of her throat, and between her breasts before covering her left nipple with his mouth.
The effect of that act was devastating. Her heartbeat surged under his hot moist mouth and the breath she was holding spilled softly from her. A deep groan reached her ears and she wasn’t sure it was hers or Trevor’s. Her hips moved restlessly and she arched her spine, pressing her body tighter against his mouth, hoping he would keep doing what he was doing for a long time, as promised.
Her skin was much more than what he had ever imagined. The fleeting thought crossed his mind when he took her breast in his mouth, sucked on it gently, and swirled his tongue around the erect nipple. His dreams of this moment paled in comparison to the reality and sweetness of her skin under his lips. He dragged his mouth to her right breast and repeated the same caress before continuing his journey, slowly tracing a path with his tongue down her stomach, over her mound, and finally to his target.
When he placed a gentle kiss on her sex, Cassandra moaned softly, arching her back off the bed while fisting the sheets beside her. He chuckled at the sight, proof that she enjoyed his touch. He upped his bid by spreading her folds and kissing her more intimately, extracting another deep, slow moan from her lips. Her taste was intoxicating and he knew, at the first sampling, he was totally and completely addicted to it. One taste was all it took to make him want her even more than he already did. She was blurring his mind and, for the first time in his life, he didn’t care, he embraced it.
The feel of his tongue burying inside her caused Cassandra to feel like she had splintered into a million pieces. His gentle licks and laps blinded her to everything but the feelings and emotions he generated with his mouth, his lips, his tongue. None of her previous sexual encounters had been this vivid, explosive, or fulfilling, and she sensed that this was only the beginning.
His touch grew into a crescendo and, when her body contracted, she reached for his head, combed her fingers through his hair, and held him tightly to her. If he stops I’ll die, she thought, and gasped when he gently slid a finger, then two, inside her. She was hurled toward release, coming loudly as he held her tight and continued to press his fingers inside her and suck her hard, riding it out with her.
Cassandra continued to surrender to the mind-numbing sensations pulsing through her. After a few moments, she finally opened her eyes and found Trevor hovering over her, his wicked smile playing on his lips. “Was that as good for you as it was for me?”
His little show of humor at her wantonness made her blush, but she replied without missing a beat, “Are all geeks as good as you?”
Trevor burst out laughing at her play on a quote from Revenge of the Nerds. Cassandra wa
s shocked at their comfortable banter. Without a second thought, she pulled Trevor down and kissed him. Tasting herself in his mouth for the first time sent another jolt of desire through her, and she undulated her body against his while at the same time spreading her legs to cradle him and accommodate his weight. She rocked her hips, urging him to give her more, and could feel the crown of his cock rubbing against her slick folds.
Trevor needed no words to understand what she wanted. He wanted the same. When her hands slid to his ass and her nails dug into his flesh, he could no longer contain himself. In one thrust, he buried himself deep inside her.
They both cried out at the joining of their bodies and held still for a few seconds, enjoying their coming together as one. Trevor raised himself on his hands just enough to lock his eyes with hers. Holding her gaze, he began moving slowly, in and out of her, with a gentle rocking of his hips, rubbing along her clit with each penetration. From inside her he could feel the little shivers running through her, igniting his flame all over again.
He stared deep into her eyes while increasing the speed of his thrusts, drawing moans from her with each deep push. Unable to resist the pull of her swollen lips, he leaned down and took her mouth in another mind-blowing kiss, nipping at her lower lip and licking her lips, mimicking how he had just licked her sex.
A fluid heat enveloped Cassandra and her hands gripped his back tightly, pulling her to him as she rolled her hips in circular motion, increasing the contact and pressure of his pubis against her clit.
Trevor threw his head back and groaned deeply, “You’re killing me, Cassie…”
The sweetness of her childhood nickname spilling from his lips in that moment warmed her, thrilled her. It fit perfectly. She wrapped and tightened her legs around his hips, forcing her own higher, allowing him a deeper thrust. When she clamped her inner muscles around him, he surged, increasing his speed, pumping harder and deeper.
“You feel so good, Cassie…I want to feel you squeezing me when you come.”
His words were sensual, clearly implying he wasn’t finished yet, which shot a twinge of electricity through her. She responded by grinding against him in same cadence of his thrusts, enhancing the contact for both. The first waves of her release washed over her and she knew it would soon consume her.
The telltale signs of her impending orgasm gave her away and Trevor nipped and whispered in her ear, “Come for me, Cassie.”
The simple order took her breath away and she cried out his name when her body followed his command, bursting in an explosive orgasm, rippling around his.
His groans of pleasure joined the echo of his name in the room as he reached his own release, pumping out of control until he no longer could. Spent, he collapsed on top of her. Exhausted and sated they held each other, waiting for their lungs to function again and their breathing to return to normal.
After a few minutes, Trevor rolled them both until he was on his back and she was settled on top of him with his arms wrapped tightly around her. Releasing a deep sigh, Cassandra laid her head on his chest and waited for her heart to slow down, listening to his accelerated heartbeat thrumming fast in his chest, a soothing sound to her ears.
Cassandra closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax, enjoying the skin-to-skin contact with Trevor in a comfortable naked silence. His caress on her back was so familiar, so right, she thought as he turned off the light and gathered her tighter in his arms.
They lay quietly, lost in their own thoughts. Lost in the new revelations their lovemaking had brought and questions they both were unsure they could answer there and then.
****
Trevor was jerked awake by a screeching ring coming from the side table. His hand automatically shot out and reached around for the loud device.
“Shite! I’m going to kill George,” he mumbled to himself, still not fully awake.
Cassandra groggily groaned and pressed tighter against him, tucking her face in the crook of his neck. Her soft breaths feathered his skin.
“What!?” Trevor answered in a raspy, sleepy voice.
After a long pause, a male voice came across the line, “Cass?”
Trevor instantly realized his mistake. He had answered Cassandra’s phone and the voice on the other side sounded a lot like Bruce Banner’s. “Hold on.”
Trevor nudged her shoulder gently, shaking her awake. “Cassie, wake up.”
Cassandra hazily opened her eyes and a soft smile formed her lips at his touch until she noticed the backlit screen with the incoming call on her cell. Her eyes widened when she recognized the number.
She took the phone from Trevor and in a resigned voice said, “Nate.”
Silence beat at her from the other end of the line. Then suddenly, Nathan’s voice exploded in her ear, “Tell me that wasn’t Bauer, Cass.”
She squeezed her eyes shut at the pain she heard in his voice and realized he had not taken her at her word when she had told him there was nothing between them.
Sensing Trevor was about to move from the bed, Cassandra reached out and gripped his arm to prevent him from leaving.
“Cass? It is Bauer, isn’t it?” Nathan snapped at her.
She had explained she couldn’t be more than his friend and, by his possessive tone, he had ignored her. She needed to put some distance between them.
“Nathan, it’s the middle of the night. Why have you called?”
“You never said he was there with you—or that the deal involved sharing a bed,” Nathan spit out in rage.
His jealous behavior raked across her nerves and she stiffened. Trevor squeezed her hand as if to let her know he’d heard it all.
Cassandra had had enough. “Nathan, we talked about this already. You and I are just friends. I told you. We never were. We’ll never be. Please don’t make this harder than it already is.”
“Cass…”
“Good night, Nathan.” She hung up before he could argue any further. Holding her cell to her chest, she tried to gather her thoughts.
Trevor turned to face her. “I’m sorry if I made things difficult for you by answering your phone. I never intended…”
“No. It’s okay. Maybe now he’ll accept that I meant what I said. I would rather he had found out a different way, but what’s done is done.” She sighed, turned away from him, and dropped the cell to the floor.
She needed to think clearly and couldn’t with Trevor so close to her. Shifting, she moved to get out of bed, but this time it was Trevor who pulled her back. Scooting closer, he spooned her, tucked his face in her hair, and wrapped his arm tightly around her.
“Where do you think you are going, lass? Hmm you smell good,” he whispered, inhaling deeply.
She was about to tell him to let her go when his words broke her resolve and put a smile on her lips.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked softly after a few minutes.
“Not really. Just hold me,” she said, snuggling back against him, enjoying the warmth of his body cradling her.
“I will, Cassie. Sleep. We have lots to talk about in the morning.”
“Yes. Morning. Lots to talk…” she mumbled, gripping his hand in hers and tucking it under her chin as she drifted to sleep in the comfort of his arms.
Chapter Twenty-One
The Morning After
As awareness seeped into Cassandra’s consciousness, she found herself wrapped in Trevor’s arms. Instantly, their night together played out in fast-forward in her head. Her body betrayed her, longing for more than memories, but apprehension swiftly overtook her. Slowly slipping from Trevor’s arms, she rolled to her side without waking him. The soft rhythm of his breathing as he slept soothed her while she tried to gather her scattered thoughts.
Trevor was different from the men she knew. He wasn’t fluff. He was dependable, steady, a fast thinker, and funny as hell. The surprise had been his tender side—caring, compassionate, thinking of her pleasure before indulging in his. He was a dream come true. Yet she needed
to know he was for real.
Needing space and air to breathe, Cassandra was trying to get the nerve to move from the bed and return quietly to her room when Trevor rolled into her, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled her back tight against his chest. Her breath caught in her throat at the intimate gesture and tears moistened her eyes. It scared her that Trevor’s simple gestures always breached the walls she had built around her heart.
****
Trevor’s eyes slowly opened in the early hours of the morning to find soft warm skin against the length of his body. Memories of the night before unfolded and a small smile spread across his lips as he buried his nose against the nape of Cassandra’s neck and breathed in deeply.
Making love to Cassandra had been amazing and unforgettable. If her reaction was any indication, he’d pleasured her as much as she had him. He tightened his arms, pulling her closer against him, and marveled at how perfectly their bodies fit together—like pieces of a puzzle. Trevor craved her. Now more than ever.
A soft groan slipped past his lips at the feel of his body awakening. His cock, tucked against the crack of her buttocks, twitched to life, and his balls grew tight and heavy. Images of what he wanted to do with her caused his heart to race and lungs to fight for air.
He had known deep down that she was the one. There had been plenty of signs hinting to him that he had met his match in life—her strength, humor, careful outlook in life, and tenacity all had led him to believe they were destined for something more than just workmates sharing a single adventure. He wanted them to be more. He listened to what his heart was telling him and he knew the connection was there, crystal clear. However, it had definitely been their night together that had sealed the deal for him—not only were their personalities complementary, but their physical attraction and compatibility was just as real. Very real.
Countermeasure (Countermeasure Series) Page 22
