by Julie Leto
He didn’t buy her act for a minute. Dropping their bags, he grabbed her hands and pulled her flush against him, not hesitating before he covered her mouth with his.
Forceful and skilled, his kiss destroyed the last of her reluctance. His tongue did not tangle with hers, but teased and pleasured and tasted until her balance wavered. Her fingers still captured in his, he braced his hands on the small of her back, forcing her back to arch. The minute his mouth descended onto her neck, her nipples tightened and shards of need cut deep within her. When his lips touched the hollow at her throat, she moaned, a needful, mewling sound that was punctuated by the ding of the elevator announcing that they’d arrived at their floor.
Breathing heavily, Drew pulled away. He released one of her hands so he could grab their bags, but he held tight to her with the other. In silence, they found his room. Annie swiped the key card, knowing that the minute the door was closed behind them, her entire life would change.
5
DREW’S SENSES barely catalogued the scene around them. A faint orange glow of sunshine on the other side of drawn curtains. The smell of lilac and vanilla and recycled air. But the minute his lips touched Annie’s, nothing else registered beyond the wildness of her mouth on his, the soft swell of her breasts against his chest, the spiced fragrance of her hair and skin and the long-anticipated feel of her flesh yielding to his. Hungry for so long, he sought to gorge himself on her until he burst with satisfaction.
“Drew, wait,” she gasped.
With monumental effort, he pulled away.
“Why?”
“Is this how it should be?”
He had no idea what she was talking about. He’d take her any way he could get her.
“I don’t care how I have you, but if I don’t have you soon, I’m going to explode.”
She placed both her hands on his chest, holding him at bay while she panted until she could breathe and talk at the same time. He knew exactly how she felt. Though he could take in oxygen just fine, his lungs were burning for another inhalation of her.
“So we came all the way to New York to rip each other’s clothes off at the first opportunity?” she asked.
Her frankness knocked his brain back into sync. He’d fully intended to seduce Annie once they made it to Manhattan, but he’d planned to show a little more finesse. He swallowed thickly and pulled away, his lips buzzing from the absence of her warmth.
“I’ve got to be honest here,” he admitted. “That scenario isn’t entirely unappealing.”
Her chest heaved, torturing him. So round and perfect, he wanted those breasts in his hands, in his mouth. Her eyes, dark a moment ago with desire, expanded so that the emerald color shocked him with its intensity.
“You’re honestly that attracted to me?” she asked.
She still had doubts? He tried to put himself in her place, understand the situation from her point of view, but his heart was pounding in his ears and remaining vertical when all his blood was rushing downward wasn’t easy.
“However much you imagine I want you, multiply that times ten. That’s how many years I’ve lusted after you. I can’t imagine not being inside you as soon as possible.”
When he moved toward her, she did not flinch. In fact, her mouth opened and her tongue slipped out and moistened her lips, as if readying her flesh for his attention. But he did not kiss her. Instead, he locked his libido into pause and smoothed his hands down her sides, inhaling as the hourglass of her figure heightened his need to feverish pitch.
“And you want me, too,” he argued, “or your mind wouldn’t have thought such naughty things in that elevator.”
She didn’t deny it, though her gaze dipped momentarily to the floor. He didn’t allow her reluctance to last. Crooking a finger beneath her chin, he lifted her face to his.
“Why won’t you admit what you so obviously want?”
She shook her head. “I’m not used to indulging my own needs anymore.”
“You’re a very giving woman,” he assessed, allowing his hands to roam possessively around her waist, down her back, then curving over her ass. “You put everyone else’s needs above your own. But that’s not what I’m asking you to do here, Annie. I want you to take what you want. And I hope to hell that’s me.”
He leaned forward and kissed her neck. After a few seconds of his attention to the taut tendons, she relaxed and arched into him. He took total advantage, blazing a path along her collarbone, nudging her T-shirt aside with his nose. He nipped at her flesh, all the time rubbing her hips rhythmically, and then smoothing his touch upward until his thumbs brushed over her nipples. She gasped, then cooed. When her nipples strained prominently against the material of her shirt, he kneaded his hands into her hair and then outlined her slightly opened mouth.
“Drew,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” he replied, grinning. “Feels good, doesn’t it? You’re so beautiful, Annie.”
“What if—”
“Shh,” he insisted, moving his thumbs so that they pressed against her lips. “This isn’t a worst-case scenario. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Although, if you want tomorrow, and the next day and the next, I’m certainly willing to provide.”
He brushed a soft kiss just above her eyes, then pressed just tight enough against her so that she could feel the full length and thickness of his erection against her belly. The instinct to take away time for her to object warred with his need for her to be completely and totally on board with what he hoped like hell they were about to do.
She didn’t say anything, didn’t reply, didn’t move. She wasn’t stiff or unresponsive, but frozen in place, as if afraid to take what she wanted—what she deserved.
“Do you ache for me to touch you?” he asked. “Here.”
When he cupped her breast, she moved until her flesh filled his palm. She was the perfect size. The perfect weight. Was the texture as soft as he imagined? The taste as sweet?
His vision blurred. It took the full force of his self-discipline to drop his hand lower and give her a squeeze at the juncture between her thighs. “Or perhaps here.”
She cried out. The sound vibrated through him. He could hardly think. Hardly breathe.
“Let me soothe that ache,” Drew begged.
Yes, begged. He knew it and he didn’t care. He wanted her and had never imagined he’d get this close so quickly. They were alone in his hotel room and he’d already kissed her, already tasted her, already learned that she was attracted to him, even if she was coming up with a thousand reasons in her practical mind for why she shouldn’t give in to temptation.
He moved back just enough so she could see his face while he applied sweet pressure through her jeans.
Annie swallowed thickly, then said the word please with such force, he knew it had cost her. He’d make it worth the price.
He unzipped her jeans and tugged them down her hips. She stepped out of the denim and kicked the pants away, then grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her as she leaned back against the nearest wall. Inch by inch, he drew her T-shirt over her head.
Her sweet white bra cupped breasts he’d dreamed about for longer than he could remember. They were round and full and perfectly shaped to his hands. A dark tip peaked from the demi-cup. On fire with want, he braced her curved backside and lifted her just high enough so that he could take her in his mouth.
Her skin tasted like silk. She wrapped her arms tight around his shoulders and neck and lifted herself more fully into his mouth. He feasted on her, dizzy from the sensations, high on the sound of her pleasured moans. But this wasn’t enough. He wanted more. He wanted it all.
With deft hands, he released the closure on the back of her lingerie. In seconds, she was bare. And beautiful. He hardly knew what to do first.
He buoyed both breasts in his hands, pleasuring one with his thumb while he laved and suckled the other. She cried out boldly, her hair tossing from side to side as she fought the sensations. Then, little by little, she stopped fightin
g and unbuttoned his shirt. Skin to skin, she kneaded his shoulders, kissed his neck and tangled her fingers into his hair. He gave concentrated attention to her earlobes, breasts and lips, but he needed more.
With his hands on her hips, he dropped to his knees. Her panties, also white, but trimmed with a line of lace, hid too much. He pleasured her belly button, flicking his tongue in and out of the tiny groove while he dragged them down her legs.
Her hands were still in his hair, so she easily tugged his attention upward.
“Drew,” she gasped.
He smiled. She was uneasy. Uncertain. He understood, but he wasn’t about to let her give in to her fears. Not when he was this close to nirvana.
“I want to taste you,” he said.
She shook her head, but without any real conviction.
“Just one taste?”
She gulped for air, then pressed hard against the wall. The tension in her body extended down her legs so that her knees locked. He used his hands to part the sweet curls at the top of her thighs, exposing her pink, moist flesh. His mouth watered, and one long lick took him over the edge. She was delicious. Sweet. Salty. But the flavors hardly mattered. It was the way she moved beneath him that drove him mad.
He smoothed a hand down her leg, then lifted her thigh and placed it over his shoulder. Tilting her hips, he had complete access, which he used until she screamed his name.
“Drew, don’t,” she battled. “I’m about to—”
“Yes, I know,” he said between suckling her outer vulva and manipulating her clit with a stiff tongue. “Come on, sweetheart. Take what I’m giving. Take it.”
He stopped talking. He had better uses for his mouth and he applied them in earnest until she was crying out an aria of nonsensical sounds that played like music to his ears. Her taste intensified as she came and he lapped her up like nectar. He could barely drag himself away from her until she started to shake and he suspected she might collapse. “Drew, please.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he said, standing. “I’ve just started. There’s more where that came from. A hell of a lot more.”
6
SHE GRABBED his shirt and pulled him to her as she leaned back against the nearest wall. Her tendons had turned to jelly, her muscle to mush. Every inch of her skin quivered and she feared that the engorgement of her private parts would keep her from walking for weeks. Luckily, Drew sensed her inability to move and lifted her into his powerful arms. He carried her to the bed, somehow managing to rip the comforter to the ground before laying her on the cool, crisp sheets.
Automatically, she curled onto her side, facing him, her knees tilted in a useless attempt to cover her nudity. If he sensed her sudden shyness, he didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he leaned over her and kissed her on the mouth, long and thoroughly.
“You’re shaking,” he said, not without a lilt of cockiness.
“You’re surprised?”
“I’m rather pleased with myself, honestly. What about you?”
“I think I’m in shock,” she confessed.
“Then I’ll have to cover you and keep you warm until the shock wears away. Just give me a minute.”
He kissed her once more, then disappeared down the hall to where they’d abandoned their bags. She heard him dig into the luggage. Once beside her on the bed, he took out a box of condoms and a sparkling tube of sensual lubricant.
And not some over-the-counter lube, either. It was a specialty brand. She knew because she’d ordered the stuff for years. A woman didn’t live with a neglectful husband and not know a thing or two about sex toys.
She tugged the sheets out from under her and wondered how he knew about her personal preference.
“Pretty confident you’d need all that, were you?” she asked.
His grin renewed the throbbing between her thighs.
“I didn’t think you’d mind being protected—and pleasured.” He lifted the lube bottle, shaped not surprisingly with phallic contours, and gave it a shake.
She slipped her hand under her pillow and watched wickedness dance in Drew’s light brown eyes. He really was incredibly delicious. And he’d given her the first male-on-female orgasm she’d had in years—as opposed to vibrator-on-female, which she’d grown weary of.
“I don’t mind, but I am wondering how you came to select that particular brand of lube. I may be dazed from what you just did to me, but I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“I knew you were a smart woman,” he said, removing his jeans.
If he’d intended for the sight of him to distract her, he’d again maneuvered expertly. The blue material of his boxers clung to him like a second skin, outlining the proof of his arousal, as well as emphasizing his lean, six-pack abs and impressive thighs. Her lungs tightened and breathing suddenly wasn’t easy or automatic.
She cleared her throat and soldiered on, though, determined not to make a fool of herself.
“How’d you know what I like?” she asked.
“I moved you last year,” he replied.
“You went through my personal things?”
He reached forward and slicked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “I’m not a stalker, Annie. But if you recall, you asked me to take care of packing up your office. I’m afraid the receipt caught my eye.”
She blushed. Really, honest-to-God blushed. Heat rose from her chest to her neck. Her face burned for an instant, before he laughed, leaned forward and kissed the mortification away.
“Finding that receipt made my mind up for me,” Drew said. “Any woman who had the guts to take care of her own needs was a woman I wanted to be with. I wish you’d bought more on that purchase so I could know all the things you like.”
She laughed, determined not to let embarrassment keep her from enjoying this amazing man. “I like you,” she admitted.
What was not to like? He was handsome, charming, smart and successful. He’d just brought her a rush of pleasure she hadn’t had in years, without taking a single thing for himself. And now, instead of jumping her bones when he had her naked in his bed, he was having a nonchalant conversation about discovering her sexual secrets and wanting to exploit them all.
She grabbed the lubricant and popped the top. “Let’s start with what we’ve got and I’ll try to fill you in as we go.”
Though she didn’t think his smile could go any broader, she’d been wrong. The grin cracked his face in two—each half more devastating than the other. He slid under the sheets with her and kissed her hungrily.
She couldn’t help but instantly melt into him. His body, so lean and hard, pressed against her plump softness with utter perfection. Despite the fact that he hadn’t had any satisfaction against that wall, he seemed completely content with bathing her face in kisses, then her neck, then her shoulders, then her breasts. He ramped her up to boiling point again, but instead of lowering himself and moistening her with his mouth, he retrieved the lubricant, poured a measure onto his fingers, then explored.
The first sensation between her legs was cold—bitter, intense cold that brought her nerve endings to immediate attention and soothed the skin he’d already suckled to satiation. She nearly shot up off the bed, forgetting how potently this magic potion worked when applied by a man’s skillful fingers rather than slathered on the end of a waterproof, rubberized vibrator.
“Oh, Drew,” she moaned.
“Yeah, baby,” he growled. “Open up for me. I want to see this work on you.”
He crawled downward and positioned himself between her thighs. His expression of wonder injected her with a boldness she’d never thought she’d feel again. She bent her knees and spread her thighs, opening her to his full and unhampered gaze.
“You’re still shaking,” he said, smoothing his fingers around her skin, teasing the tip of her clit with his deft touch.
“So cold,” she managed to mutter, hardly able to break apart the barrage of sensations. The chill of the lotion. The heat of his gaze. The precision of his to
uch.
“Then let’s get the heat started,” he said, pressing his index finger into her slick passage.
Her breath caught as the cold eased deeper and pleasure blanketed her body like a snowstorm. Moving his fingers in and out, he stretched her, prepared her, built the anticipation to nearly unbearable levels.
And then the heat began.
Friction ignited the lube and turned it to liquid fire. The burning was delicious. Blood rushed to her core and whatever nerve endings might have been asleep now awoke full force. She was panting, hardly able to bring in a single gasp when she heard him flip the lid of the tube again and then smear a bit of the amazing lotion over the tips of her breasts.
“Oh, my,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s it, sweetheart. This is perfect timing. Enjoy that while I suit up.”
Despite her best efforts to concentrate solely on the sensations of her body, she turned her head and watched him tug down his boxers. His erection was thick and taut and she longed to take him into her mouth and taste every inch of him. But before she could voice her desire, he’d donned a condom and climbed above her.
“Ready for me now?” he asked, his eyebrow tilted devilishly.
“I’ve never been so ready,” she replied.
He reached for her hands and held them above her head while he pressed against her. She was so slick, so ready, he merged with her without much resistance, though he took the path slowly, enflaming her. When he’d reached the farthest depth, he groaned.
“Good God, Annie. I can’t believe— You’re…perfect.”
She tried to reply, but he withdrew, then thrust forward again. Just as slowly. Just as deliciously. His neck was curved back, his eyes closed, as if in reverent prayer.
“Drew?” she said.
“One more time,” he begged, retreating again with infinite slowness and then pressing in millimeter by millimeter.
She lifted her knees, tilted her hips and this time, he went deeper.
He cried out—and so did she. Not in orgasm. She, at least, was too early in the process. But she recognized the sound of his pleasured surprise—as if he hadn’t truly appreciated how perfectly they would fit. She couldn’t believe it, either. She’d never have imagined.
