Summer Heat (The Storm Inside #5)

by Alexis Anne

  I stroked the muscles of his back. “We’re still good at this.”

  I felt him smile. “This is quite possibly the part I missed most.”

  “Lying on top of me is what you missed?”

  He roughed my skin with his stubble. “I missed a lot, but this,” he picked up his head and looked up at me, “I missed this the most.”

  “Why?”

  “The quiet. You are the only person I can just be with. You let me lie here and feel you and breathe you in and sometimes we talk, but mostly we just reset.” He shifted to the side so his weight was on the bed instead of me. “Plus it usually led to other things.” He trailed his index finger over the edge of my dress.

  The delicate touch sent my mind into a spin as my body lit up from the inside with a warmth and a need for more. “Yes.”

  “I can’t believe we wasted five perfectly good years when we could have been doing this the whole time.” His finger hooked into the bodice and slipped it down to expose more of my skin but not enough to reveal me.

  “I don’t want to talk about the past or the future.”

  “I won’t talk about the future,” he kissed the top of my breast lovingly. “But I damn well will tell you how much I regret missing the chance to be with you.”

  So of course I melted a little bit and let some of my resolve to keep this “in the moment” slip away. “I missed you, too.”

  Only his eyes moved to find mine. “I’m sorry I pushed you away.” Without looking away he made infinity loops on my skin, keeping me just turned on enough to stay under his spell as he told me things I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear. “I know now that was what I was doing. I couldn’t handle the pressure and I didn’t know how to manage the pressure being put on me by people I loved. I needed to figure it out and I didn’t want you around me when I did.”

  He slid that same hand over my aching breasts, down my belly, and to my bare thighs, where he started the same pattern up again.

  “Why?” I croaked. He was making me wet and needy with only his touch.

  “At the time? I was angry at everyone and I wanted to be alone. But looking back? You were the one person I could count on. You were my safety net.” He stopped the circles and squeezed my thigh with his whole hand. “I lashed out at you because I could . . . and that was the exact wrong thing to do.”

  Deep down inside I’d always hoped that was what had happened but hearing it from his lips, seeing the sincerity, it finally made it all real. “And now?”

  His jaw flexed. “Now,” his voice had dropped an octave, “I know better. You don’t use the people who love you most because if you do, you lose them. And then you lose everything.” The last few words came out as a whisper.

  “You never lost me.” I was angry and hurt, but also confused because none of it added up.

  “And that makes all this time we lost that much worse.”

  We could debate the merits and faults of the last five years all night if that was really what he wanted, but it would never change the fact that they happened. “Do you feel better now that we’ve talked about it?”

  “Not really.” His hand was still holding my thigh in a firm grip.

  “Would it help if I told you I forgive you?”

  “Only if you meant it.” There was a threatening edge to his words.

  Oh Roman. Did he really think I’d accept his apology just to get in his pants? I put my hands on his face and turned him to look at me. “We shouldn’t work. On paper everything about this is wrong. The jerky baseball player from the asshole St. James family should never be nice to the self-absorbed princess from the uppity Daniels family. And yet,” I couldn’t help smiling when I thought about us. “We both know the papers are wrong.”

  “Dead wrong.” He looked angry but it wasn’t at me. It was at everyone who put us in those boxes.

  “I know you, Roman. And the man I fell for was in direct contradiction to the man I saw breaking that night. The things you said hurt,” I admitted, blinking back tears. “It really fucking hurt, but I also didn’t understand because you would never speak to me that way. I was so confused.”

  He dropped his forehead to mine, eyes screwed shut. “I am so fucking sorry.”

  “I know.”

  “It’s not enough,” he opened his eyes and pulled back just enough to see me clearly. “What I said was unforgivable.”

  “You’re a cleat chasing slut, aren’t you?”

  I pushed back the memories. “You’re right. And yet, here I am, forgiving you.”

  “Why?”

  It was an excellent question, actually. Why was I forgiving him? “Tell me this: have you ever genuinely thought I was with you for your name, your money, or the sex?”

  He didn’t answer right away which I appreciated. I wanted him to really think about my question and answer me honestly. If we had any chance of working through this pain then we needed to real.

  “Before we,” a huge smile lit up his face, “before my lessons . . . I had my doubts. I was worried you thought I was a fun way to piss off your parents.”

  I couldn’t help smiling, too. “Same.”

  His eyebrows rose. “Really?”

  I nodded. “You had a line of very nice, very beautiful women ready and willing to fuck you, or fall in love with you. Why on earth were you chasing me? It was an honest thing to worry about.”

  “Exactly.”

  “And as for the money? No. I never thought you were in it for the money.”

  “Then why did you say it?” I needed to hear that my suspicions were accurate.

  He paused again and very deliberately waited until we were quietly connected again. “My dad said it. And I repeated it out of fear.”

  “You wanted to hear me say it wasn’t true.”

  He nodded. “I asked too much of you.”

  He did. “And the sex?”

  His cheeks turned bright red. “June . . . ”

  “We need to say this.”

  “I won’t repeat what I said. I didn’t believe it then and I sure as hell don’t think it now.”

  “Even though I blatantly asked you for sex and only sex tonight?”

  “It’s never just sex with us.” His hand slid further up my thigh and under my skirt. “There’s always quiet and witty conversation. Even that first time,” his thumb brushed the inside of my thigh and I gasped. “When it was just supposed to be an orgasm?”

  I pulled him down for a kiss as his thumb started to do very intimate things to my thigh. “Roman,” I purred.

  “Mmmhmm. Exactly. It has never, ever been just sex and tonight will be no different.” Then his hand stopped and when I opened my eyes I found him waiting for me. “I’m sorry I used words like a weapon. I’m sorry I pushed you away. You are the last person who deserved my anger and I will never, ever hurt you again.”

  There as no arguing with the look in his eyes. Whether it was a practical promise to make or not, Roman meant it down to his soul.

  I returned his look with one of my own. “I forgive you.”

  He gave a short, curt nod, then kissed me until I saw stars. “When we’re kissing it’s like it was yesterday.”

  “And when we’re not, it’s like I haven’t seen you in a decade.”

  He moved south, sucking light kisses along my neck and over my breasts. “Exactly. Fuck, what are we doing? I didn’t plan for this.”

  “You should know better. We always wind up in bed.”

  He groaned. “You’re right.” And then he sat back. “Are we doing the right thing?”

  I had no clue. “This is where we started last time.”

  “No. We started as friends.”

  “We’re still friends.” Half-naked friends who wanted to rip our remaining clothes off. “And we couldn’t get our heads around anything until we were naked, if you remember. So let’s get these clothes off and find some sanity. It’s somewhere in this bed.”

  He sighed in exasperation. “Roll over.”
<
br />   I raised my eyebrows in question.

  He answered by swirling his index through the air. “You. On your stomach. Now.”

  Based on the hungry look on his face I’d say debate time was over.

  “I’ve been fantasizing all the ways to remove this dress all night long.” He took hold of my zipper and slowly moved it down a few inches. “How I’d enjoy seeing you again.”

  He pressed his entire hand to the newly exposed part of my back. The sudden contact took my breath away. His touch—it was magical and every bit as erotic as I remembered. He replaced his hand with his lips, lovingly trailing a line of kisses down my spine until he reached the zipper. Then, one inch at a time, he lowered it, pressing kiss after kiss against my skin until my entire back was bare to him.

  “Roll over,” he croaked.

  One glance at his pants told me exactly how much he enjoyed unzipping my dress. “Like this?”

  He reached up my dress for my panties, curling his fingers around them as he eased them south.

  “Careful of—”

  “I know,” he whispered, moving my left leg up toward my torso. “I remember your tricky hip.”

  His words were soft, but his touch was softer. Reverent. I expected this to be frantic. A passionate exchange of good old hard lust . . . but it wasn’t. And no matter how hard I tried to steer us back toward mindless fucking we both kept slipping down the long, dark slippery slope of all consuming love making.

  I dove head first into that abyss. Nothing had ever brought me the same escape as those weeks with Roman. Once we closed the door and slipped between the sheets the outside world ceased to exist.

  I remembered that now.

  How could I forget?

  “June,” he groaned as I cradled his hard body between my legs. “Fuck, you feel good.”

  “You’re still clothed. How good could it possibly feel?”

  He pulled back just enough to look into my eyes. “You are short circuiting my brain and I’m pretty sure my dick is three seconds from becoming as hard as granite. I’m afraid to take my clothes off.”

  I wanted to laugh it off and tell him to stop making such a big deal out of sex but the words got lost in my throat. My body was in overdrive and I swear I could feel every inch of Roman whether he was touching me or not. It was as if my skin’s sensitivity had been dialed up to a hundred. There was a very good chance I was going to come just from kissing the man.

  “We have all night,” I whispered. I cocked my hips and rubbed along his hard length. He hissed and closed his eyes so he missed when I shifted to reach for his belt.

  “Oh, whoa there. Hold on now.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “What?”

  He rolled to the side and let out a long breath. “Your hands feel too good.”

  “I was barely touching you.”

  He let out another breath mixed with a laugh. “I’m well aware.”

  Roman had always been very sexual, though he’d needed some instruction in the beginning, but he’d never been fast to the finish. I backed off to give him a second to compose himself.

  “How’s your arm?”

  Cold water on a hot situation. That was a dumb move. His whole body tensed up. Then he rotated his hurt shoulder in a circle as he reached down for the strap on my dress. “I’m healthy.” He hooked his finger through the strap and slowly pulled it down my arm. Then moved to the other side and repeated the action. Once my breasts were exposed he sat back. “I could have gone back to the minors, worked my way back up. It was on the table.”

  “So why didn’t you?”

  He gently cupped one breast and then the other. “I wanted something new. And I hoped it would put me on a better path.”

  “Better path?”

  “My future in baseball was pretty clear and it would never lead me back to you.”

  Back to you. “Roman. Don’t say things like that. Not tonight.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  And it was too much, too fast. Time to steer us back toward sex. “Take off my dress.”

  He slid the fabric down my legs and muttered. “I am so fucked.”

  “You mean that in the fun way, right?” I laughed but he didn’t look happy.

  His eyes traveled over my very naked body with hunger. “I just . . . I had a plan.”

  A plan? Oh Roman . . . there was no planning us. There never was, and I was absolutely positive no matter what happened between the two of us, there never would be.

  “And now?”

  He yanked the buckle on his belt and shoved his zipper down. “And now I have nothing except an insane urge to do whatever you want.”

  Well, there was nothing wrong with that . . . was there? “I’m sure the plan will still be there tomorrow.”

  He dropped his pants. “Doubt it.” Then he was on top of me, gloriously naked. His soft skin moved against mine, his cock trapped against my belly. “Will you at least let me take the lead?”

  He could have it all as long as stayed focused on sex. I ran my fingers through his hair. “I’m all yours.”

  He muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like, “For now.” But I forgot about everything a second later when his lips touched my nipple.

  “Kiss me.”

  “On your nipple?” He was so clueless.

  “Yes on my nipple. They’re sensitive. It feels really good.”

  I smiled at the memory. He was so different now. “Oh…” I gasped as he sucked my nipple between his lips and teased with his tongue.

  “I had no idea,” he croaked as I writhed beneath him. “You really like this?”

  I took his hand and placed it between my legs, dipping his finger into my wetness. “What do you think?”

  His eyes flew to mine, watching as he moved his fingers in and out of me, testing the motion. “You’re so wet. So warm.”

  “That’s my version of a rock hard cock.”

  He dipped his head and teased my other nipple in exactly the same way. “And this does that?” He moved his fingers again and I moaned.

  “Yes, Roman. It does. When you do it right.”

  And oh . . . my . . . God . . . how he was doing it right now. He’d been a quick study, or maybe we were just that compatible. That was certainly a possibility. No other man had ever turned me on or made me come the ways Roman had.

  He nuzzled between my breasts as he moved slowly south, over my belly and between my legs. He always seemed to touch me—as if the act itself were an experience—and that feeling translated to me.

  He teased one fold, then the other, opening and widening me until he kissed the tip of my clit. I sank my fingers into his soft, dark hair and closed my eyes, getting lost in the gift he was giving me. Feathery strokes graduated to firm thrusts and sucks until my hips started bucking and gyrating on their own.

  “Shhhh.” He blew softly on me. “Stop taking over. Let me make you feel good.”

  So I stopped moving and sank into the moment—Roman’s tongue on my clit and his lips along my skin. I forgot about the past, and the future dissolved into thin air. All that existed was this. A man who adored me was giving me pleasure. His name didn’t matter. I was happy.

  So incredibly happy.

  “More,” I moaned. Roman took it to mean I wanted his fingers and he teased me with a caress around my entrance. But really? My heart was crying out for something else entirely. This wouldn’t be enough. One night wouldn’t be nearly enough.

  I screwed my eyes shut and forced myself to stay focused on now. On the feel of his large finger gliding inside as his tongue did incredible things to my clit and folds.

  “Do you want to come first?”

  “No. I want you inside me.” I was absolutely certain that if I came before we were locked together that I’d fall apart.

  He rolled away and disappeared into the bathroom. He came back a moment later with a condom. He prowled across the room, his gaze locked on me with a heat so hot I was surprised I didn’t
burst into flames. “You taste sweeter than I remembered. It’s addictive.” Then he hovered above me, the condom firmly in place and his cock pressing at my entrance. “Put your arms around me.”

  I did as he asked.

  “Are you ready for me?” he whispered, dropping his lips to my throat and nuzzling up to my ear.

  He loved this part—drawing out the beginning. Those first sensations are the most powerful and Roman made an art out of enjoying every single one.

  “Oh yes.”

  He shuddered as he drew in a long, hard breath, lowering down onto his right forearm to steady his body over mine. Then, slowly and carefully, he moved his left arm down my body, stopping to cup my breast and run his finger over my nipple. Back and forth, back and forth until I could barely hold still.

  He kept moving down to my thigh. He lifted it up so that it was higher around his hip and began to ever so slowly rock into me, pausing to enjoy every single moment of our bodies becoming one.

  “Faster, Roman,” I begged, but he refused. I swear he moved slower.

  “Oh no. I’m not missing a moment of this. We’ll never have this ever again.”

  I ached, deep down inside where I needed his cock. He moved out and in. Out to hover until I whimpered, then slowly, so slowly, back inside until finally, I was full.

  With his cock buried deep and my body pulsing around him, he released my leg and pulled back to look at our bodies. “Fuck, what a sight.”

  I had to agree. His hard, athletic body against my softer skin was erotic. But even more erotic was watching Roman bend down to capture my nipple between his lips.

  This time he was rougher and held my tip between his teeth like a clamp. With his eyes watching me carefully he played, going lighter when I tensed, harder when I moaned. Then he sucked one last, mind-altering time and blew a steady stream of air against the wet peak. “So beautiful.”

  He switched sides. He ran his tongue in a slow circle, teasing me until I thrust my breast up for more. He flicked and nibbled this time, increasing the pressure before he took me into his mouth and sucked lightly—a beautiful contrast.

  I was so wet and I throbbed around his thick cock as he teased me.

  But he only rocked in and out of me with a gentle laziness. His full attention was on my breasts and making sure I was so turned on when he finally took me that my orgasm was a foregone conclusion.