Calli took his hand again and led him down to the sandy beach. There was very little light—the moon was a thin slice and low in the sky. But the waves had a glowing luminescence that guided them to the water’s edge.
“If it doesn’t offend you,” Nick said, “I’ll take the gun.”
“I was hoping you’d offer,” Calli said, thankfully stripping the jacket off and slipping out of the shoulder harness. The beach was a private one, but there was absolutely nothing to stop Serrano from landing a flotilla of armed men if he wanted to. So Nick kept sentries there only to raise an early alarm and he rigidly insisted that no one else use it at all. It was too dangerous.
It made the white sandy bay one of the few very private locations on the whole estate.
She handed the gun over and Nick slipped the holster off the harness and clipped it over his belt instead.
“I have been practicing,” she told him.
“Which is a small reassurance, but you’ve never shot a live target,” Nick said, checking the gun for ammunition. He lifted his head. “I hope you never will have to. So for now, I’ll carry the gun. Besides, I like you better without that bulky jacket.”
She was wearing a T-shirt that was too short for her long torso, ending above her hips, and low-rise jeans—the same jeans that, four months ago, she had been wearing when she arrived in Vistaria. The night she had met Nick.
She put her hands on her hips. “You would.”
“Is that the silver buckle I gave you?”
“Yes.” She was pleased he remembered it.
“You brought that out of Vistaria? You were carrying nothing but a pouch on your hip.”
“All the essentials,” she assured him. “Passport, wallet, papers.”
“And the buckle.”
“And the buckle,” she agreed. “I couldn’t fit the shoes in it, but I tried.”
Nick gave a low chuckle. “I think some of Vistaria’s sentimentality is rubbing off on you.”
“Just you, Nicolás,” she said softly. “Just you.”
He reached for her and Calli danced nimbly out of his reach. He looked surprised and reached for her again. She dodged again and stood just out of his reach, her hands on her hips. She cocked her head at him. “Slow, Nicky. Slow,” she taunted. “So much for the vaunted Red Leopard.”
She could see his eyes narrow even in that low light, for the gleam in them was suddenly shaded. “You know, I’ve had a whole day of trying to get things done and having people slip out from under my grip.”
Calli kept her expression neutral, though she already knew from Josh and others in the household that Nick’s day had been more than usually frustrating. “Awwww, poor baby. Losing your grip, Escobedo?” It was a deliberate taunt.
He lunged again and almost had her. It was only because she was ready for his move that she managed to avoid him. As it was, the closeness made her gasp. Her heart pounded. Nick Escobedo, even tired and distracted, was very fast indeed.
She danced away again and teased him with a laugh. “Too slooow,” she crooned.
“¡Ahora le tendré!”
Calli couldn’t help the high, gasping shriek that escaped her as she turned and ran down the beach as if her life depended on it. She could hear Nick pounding after her, very close, and it gave her speed. She knew Nick would soon catch her, but for a few moments she kept ahead.
She sacrificed a fraction of her speed to yank up and pull off her T-shirt, which she flung behind her.
“¡Dios!” Nick exclaimed. The light-colored garment had startled him.
Calli could feel herself beginning to tire, but the sensation of cool sea breezes rushing over her bare breasts was delicious and wicked thoughts flickered through her mind.
That was when Nick finally caught her. He didn’t tackle her from behind or simply grab her arm. He scooped his arm around her waist and lifted her right off her feet. But at that pace, the movement was too much even for a man of Nick’s strength and speed. They toppled into the soft dry sand and rolled over.
Calli struggled to be free. She pushed at his shoulder, kicked and wriggled. She could hear his breath, heavy and broken, as he worked to overcome her struggles. As she writhed, her breasts brushed against him and the idea of falling back and surrendering occurred to her. But there was an odd sort of pleasure in the struggle too. Even while she knew that Nick was using very little of his full physical power against her, the idea of him using brute strength to overcome her....
She gave a small, breathless exhalation as he grabbed her arms and threw himself on top of her to keep her still. He was breathing deep and steadily while her chest heaved. “What is this, mi dama fuerte?”
“Bully. Want to get off me?” She heaved with her hips and almost dislodged him.
Nick swore under his breath and straddled her hips, clamping them with his knees, his hands still anchoring her wrists in the sand. He looked down at her and even in the little light available, she could see the sexual heat in his eyes. He had responded to her mood.
“Take off your shirt,” she said. Her voice was husky.
“And leave your hands free? Do I trust you?”
“Your choice.”
He brought her wrists together, clamped his hand around both and used the other to pull the short-sleeved shirt right over his head. He shrugged one arm out of it before moving her wrists to the other hand and dropping the shirt to the sand.
Calli stared at the rounded caps of his shoulders, the gleam and shadow play over his chest. Nick Escobedo was a very fine man indeed. Watching him, Calli felt a liquid heat spread through her. She couldn’t help the sinfully proud thought; And he wants me.
Nick returned her hands to the sand, holding them down easily. When she tested his grip, it tightened just enough to still her movements. “What is this, my long tall lady? What has inspired this...mood?”
“Why should I tell you?” She struggled again, but it was a pathetic movement, made helpless by the powerful arousal shooting through her. She wanted Nick to tear her jeans from her. She wanted to be plundered in the most archaic way. Portraying reluctance was becoming more difficult by the moment.
Nick rode out her struggles easily, watching her. “I see,” he said. His voice was low and thick with his own driving need. She recognized it and shivered in anticipation.
He leaned down to kiss her and she averted her face.
“Are you sure you want to play this game?” he asked, his voice soft. He sounded dangerous.
Calli did wonder if she was being wise. There were undercurrents in Nick’s voice that she didn’t understand. But before she could reconsider, Nick dipped his head and his mouth closed over her nipple. His teeth nipped the delicate flesh. Calli groaned, racked by a burst of pleasure so intense she thought she might climax with very little more encouragement.
Now Nick was playing by his own rules. His exquisite torture did not let up for a moment. His tongue and teeth and lips toyed with her nipples, each in turn, teasing them to hard, erect peaks. His tongue lapped the soft fleshy mounds of her breasts, bathing them before returning to her nipples. There was no mercy in his assault, he knew her every weakness and delight and he spared her nothing.
Calli lost track of everything except what Nick was doing to her. The soft pounding of the surf a few feet from them faded. The breeze did not register on her skin.
Her eyes had closed and her hips arched hard. Her fingers curled into fists, trying to grasp the sand, as her head rolled back. She was panting.
And still he did not spare her.
She became aware that he had let her wrists loose when soft, warm air touched her bare hips and then her thighs. She was being stripped while she lay helpless under his assault.
She tried to sit up, to reach for him, all games long since scattered from her mind. But Nick pushed her back onto the sand. “Oh, no, my lady. Not tonight.”
His hands once more came down upon her wrists, pinning her in place as his thighs thrust between h
er knees, separating them. He rested over her and she realized with a start that she could feel his engorged cock against her mons, flesh against flesh.
“Please, yes.” Her voice was husky, barely recognizable.
Instead, he dipped his head and once more teased her breasts by tugging at each nipple until she was writhing beneath him.
She felt his hands under her hips and her breath caught, for she thought he was preparing to slide his cock into her—oh, how she wanted that!
Instead, she was lifted from the sand and flipped over, so that she was on her hands and knees.
“Sand has interesting properties,” Nick said, and his voice was thick, husky with excitement. From the sound of it, he was behind her, and Calli shivered at the way she was exposed to him. She was completely at his mercy.
He moved around to her flank, and when she tried to rise, his hand on her back kept her still. “No, my lady. Not until I say you can.” He picked up a handful of the white, fine sand and held it out to her so that it trickled through his fingers. “There are areas of your body where you do not want this to reach, which is why you are on your knees,” he said. “But there are places where this innocent stuff can create the most interesting sensations.”
“Really?” Her own voice was altered, betraying her own arousal. Her mons was throbbing. “You’ve seduced women on beaches before. That is how you know this.”
“I have seduced women in many places, but you make all of them a first for me.” He poured the sand back onto the ground until his hand was empty, then he held it up so that she could see the coating of particles on it. “Let me show you,” he said, and reached for her breast. He did nothing but cup it and let his fingers slowly slide down to the tip. But the sand added a soft chafing that sent sparks along her nervous system and caught her breath.
“Oh!”
He moved so that he was in front of her, and the fingers of both hands caught each nipple and rubbed it lightly.
Her eyes snapped open and she gasped. “Oh God, Nick...” She was trembling.
He opened his hands so that the sandy palms were flat and gently rubbed them against the tips of her nipples. The pleasure that speared through her now was a fine, high-tension excitement she had never experienced before.
Nick knelt in the sand before her. His cock reared up against his stomach, thick and hard and throbbing as visibly as her own genitals must be. She didn’t reach for it with her hands, for they were as sandy as Nick’s now. Instead, she slid her fingers beneath his balls and reached for the sensitive skin behind them. Two could play at this game.
She caressed gently, warned by Nick’s own soft movements that normal stroking would be far too harsh with sand against the skin.
“¡Dios...!” he gasped and the rhythm of his hands against her breasts faltered.
She hid her smile and cupped his balls with her other hand and fondled them. They were hot and thick in her hand and echoing the throb of his cock. It prompted her to slide her mouth over the head of his cock and let her teeth and lips slip over the ridge of flesh while her tongue flicked at the seam. She was rewarded with Nick’s deep groan.
Encouraged, she grasped at his buttock, letting her fingers slip between the cheeks and tease the sensitive skin there with little movements, teasing strokes that appeared absentminded but were deliberately irregular and unpredictable.
Nick’s hand fell away from her breasts, all teasing forgotten. One rested on the back of her head, and she felt his pelvis jerk in response. “I will die this way, my lady,” he gasped in Spanish.
I truly hope so. Calli continued the assault with her lips, teeth and fingers, knowing she had gained the upper hand in this little game she had started.
Nick pulled away with a convulsive jerk and a gasp that warned her she had bought him to the very brink of an explosive orgasm. But he gave her no time to enjoy her little victory.
Using strength that always astonished her, he drew her closer to him and lifted her so that she straddled him. His hands were under her buttocks and thighs, ready to lift her, and a small thrill ran through her as she realized he was going to slide his cock into her. At last!
She clutched at his shoulders, bracing herself for the first thrust that always felt so delicious.
He paused, looking up at her face. “No,” he said softly. “Let’s follow the rules of your game instead.” He put her back on her knees. “Turn around,” he said.
Wondering what he had in mind, Calli turned around.
“Now...bend over.”
Another spear of excitement shot through her as she placed her hands back in the sand. He could take her this way if he chose. Either way she would get to feel him inside her.
But he didn’t push his cock inside her. Calli cried aloud and her elbows nearly collapsed as Nick’s tongue slid up against her clitoris and stroked it with firm, unforgiving strokes. It was a fast, targeted assault. His tongue and lips battered at her with soft intensity and her orgasm bloomed and locked her into a hard, shuddering reaction.
And still Nick’s assault did not halt. Even as she trembled with the aftereffects, his tongue flickered and probed against her throbbing clitoris, toying with it. Calli panted and thrust back against him, encouraging him. Her second climax seemed to steal her senses for a moment and take her breath away.
She was panting, her chest heaving, when she felt Nick’s hands on her hips. That was the only warning.
He slid his cock into her, hard and fast, and came to rest buried deep. Calli closed her eyes and welcomed the invasion.
“Now I have you,” Nick whispered.
She closed her eyes. She could not dispute him. Instead, she pressed back against him, welcoming him.
Nick hissed in a quick breath. “Wanton.” He withdrew a little and thrust into her, harder than before. His fingers reached beneath her and slipped between her nether lips. They rested up against her clitoris.
“Nick, please, I beg you,” she gasped.
“What, exactly, do you beg for?” he asked. His fingers stroked and toyed with her swollen, sensitive clit and her senses were stolen as she once more became enslaved to the beat and swell of pleasure within her. Nick’s cock enhanced the sensations, making her feel filled and completed.
As one, they moved together until Nick’s breath hitched and hitched again. Calli smiled. There was nothing as erotic as the little helpless catch of breath as Nick’s climax approached. She wished she could see his face as he came.
This climax was powerful, more so than usual, for every tendon in his body seemed to tighten as it ripped through him.
Afterwards, he almost collapsed upon her. He held himself up with one arm and she could feel him trembling with the aftermath. Then he drew a deep lungful of air, slid his arm beneath her and rolled over onto his back, turning her and bringing her with him so that she lay across his chest.
He caught her face in his hands and brought it down so he could kiss her, slow and deep. Then he let his arms fall back to the sand.
She smoothed his brow. “So...no more tension?”
He was silent for a moment. “Someone’s been telling tales.” There was a tiny note of irritation in his tone.
“They didn’t have to,” she assured him. “I just have to watch you move through your day to see it. You’re driving yourself too hard, Nick.”
He patted her hip. “I need access to the gun,” he said gently.
She sat up again and moved off him. As he sat up, she reached for her jeans and slid them on once more.
“I’m not angry with you,” Nick said at last.
“I know.”
“It’s just that you’re the second person today to tell me to take it easy.”
“I didn’t say to take it easy,” she told him gently. “I just said I can see how hard you’re working. That’s all. I’m not stupid, Nick. If you don’t do it, there is no one else.”
He stiffened.
“What?” she asked, sitting next to him. She could
feel the heat radiating from him, this close.
“That’s not the way I planned it.”
“Planned what?”
“It’s not supposed to be me at all,” he said softly. “It can’t be.”
“What’s not supposed to be you?” she asked gently.
He was silent a long time. It was so unlike Nick to not have the answer at hand that she could feel her heart starting to thud with the tension of wondering what had disconcerted him so much.
Finally, he picked up her hand and placed it on his thigh. He stroked the fingers, sending shivers up her arm, but he did it absently. The physical man’s equivalent of doodling. “The Mexican government has asked us to reopen diplomatic relations with them,” he said at last.
Calli nodded. “That makes the people in this house the official representatives of Vistaria...” Then it fell into place for her. “Nick, are you saying you don’t think you’re fit to lead them?”
“I’m not a leader,” he said.
“Yes, you are,” Calli said quickly. “You’re a natural leader. I’ve seen you. It’s second nature to you.”
He shook his head. “I’m not supposed to be the leader. That’s not my place. General Blanco is destined for that role, not me.” He sighed. “But he will not step into it.”
“Will not, or cannot?” she asked gently. “There is a difference, Nick. For you, leadership comes easily. Blanco can direct military affairs, but in that role he has systems, predictable actions.”
Nick shook his head. “I am not the one to be their leader. That was not what I was supposed to be. I’m not even a proper—”
“No!” she protested. “Don’t tell me you’re not a proper Vistarian.”
“It is a truth we cannot ignore,” he said gently.
“Do you have a coin in your pocket?”
She could feel his puzzlement. But he delved into his pocket and pulled out one of the big Vistarian coins and held it out to her.
Black Heart Page 5
