by Donna Hill
“Damn, baby,” he said in a low growl. “You could make a man crazy coming home to look at you like this.”
Savannah’s body heated. Her heart pounded. “Like what?” she said, her voice laced with a desire for the man in front of her that never seemed to leave.
Blake moved closer, tugging at his tie. “Lush, sexy as all hell, beautiful.” He was right on her now, the cotton fabric of his shirt brushing against her very tender nipples, sending jolts of electricity rushing through her. His fingertips trailed across her baby bump. “And filled with our child.” He lowered his head and kissed her so tenderly, Savannah felt like weeping. “I love you so much,” he uttered against her mouth.
Savannah was on fire and knew that if her husband didn’t make love to her right then and there, she was going to implode. Her fingers fumbled with the buttons of his shirt. He tugged it off while she unfastened his thin leather belt and unzipped him.
They moved in unison to their bed, with Savannah landing on top of him. He cupped her breasts, their fullness overflowing in his hands. Savannah moaned, spread her thighs on either side of him, bent her knees and positioned herself over his erection, which was throbbing against her.
She slid down on him, her wet heat enveloping him like a glove.
“Ohhhh,” Blake cried out. His eyes squeezed shut. He grabbed her behind and pushed upward.
Savannah tossed her head back as a strangled cry gurgled up from her throat. The indescribable sensations that pulsed through every fiber of her being each time Blake moved inside her made her head spin. She felt outside herself, as if she were floating on a bed of pleasure and her body was a receptacle for delight.
She rotated her hips, then thrust her pelvis forward. The tendons in Blake’s neck stretched tautly. He looked into her eyes, his breath rushing through his partially opened mouth. He rose up, took the tip of her left nipple between his lips and teased it with the tip of tongue then grazed it with her teeth. Savannah began to tremble, from the balls of her feet, up the backs of her thighs, to pulse in the rise and fall of her behind, grip her spine and shake it.
“Come on, baby,” Blake urged in a voice coated in lust. “Bring it.” He grabbed her tightly by the hips so that she was unable to move, only able to take what he gave her—slow, deep, rotating thrusts that had her whimpering and shuddering. Tears of sublime pleasure sprang from her eyes.
“That’s how we like it, right, baby?” he moaned.
“Yessss,” she said through her teeth. She snatched his hands away and pressed them against her breasts as she took them to unbelievable heights with quick swirls of her lower body to meet his every push and pull.
Their incomprehensible sounds of pleasure filled the room, taking them higher and higher until they both exploded like rockets on the Fourth of July.
Savannah collapsed on top of Blake, both of them breathing hard and ragged.
Blake cuddled with her close to him, gently stroking her back, whispering his love for her in her ear and she whispering it back.
Life didn’t get better than this. If only every couple could be as happy as she and Blake, Savannah thought as she felt herself drifting off into the sleep of the satiated—just as the phone rang.
Savannah buried her head deeper into Blake’s chest, but it didn’t stop the ringing. Blake stretched his long arm across the bed and snatched up the phone.
“Hello?” he said, sounding sleepy. “Hey, Mom. Yeah, uh, she’s right here.”
Savannah flipped onto her back, mouthed “sorry” to her husband and took the phone.
“Mom. Hi.” She listened for a few minutes, her eyes widening, followed by a frown. “Are you kidding me?”
Blake propped himself up on his elbow and looked with concern at Savannah.
“I…I don’t know what to say. I mean…if you’re happy, that’s what’s important. Sure. Okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Dreamlike, she hung up the phone and turned to Blake. “Mom and Bernard are getting married, and she wants me to help plan the wedding.”
“I was hoping to see you.” Danielle said, thinking fast. Her heart was banging so hard in her chest that she knew Nick could hear it.
“Really? What made you come over here instead of to my regular spot at Gold’s Gym?”
“You said how much you liked this place. I just took a wild guess.”
He looked at her for a long moment, as if trying to see something behind her words. “Lucky guess.” He grinned and the line of tension between them snapped. “Look, I’m sorry about earlier.”
“Me, too.” She unbuckled her seat belt and got out. She stood in front of him, reached up and stroked his face. “Are you going to be long?”
“About an hour.” He paused. “But I can come home now if you want.”
Danielle smiled. “I’d like that,” she said softly.
He kissed her lips and ran his hand along her hair that hung down her back. “See you at home.”
Danielle got back into her Navigator and watched as Nick walked off to his Trailblazer. She let out a long breath of relief, realizing she was shaking all over, and gripped the steering wheel and stared off into space. She was going to have to be supercareful if she was to get through this without getting caught.
Danielle and Nick arrived at the same time and parked behind each other on the narrow street. Nick set the alarm on his vehicle and met up with Danielle at the top of the stairs to their apartment.
“I was really surprised to see you,” he said, unlocking the front door. “For a minute I thought you were following me or something…or meeting someone.”
She almost choked on that one.
Nick stepped aside to let her in and followed her up the steps. She kept her gaze focused on her feet.
“I felt bad and silly for being such a witch this afternoon. Especially when you were only being sweet.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Like you always are.”
She opened the door to their second-floor apartment, tossed her bag on the table in the foyer and turned to Nick, stopping him in his tracks.
Her eyes moved across his face. “I’m glad I found you,” she said softly.
Nick slid his arms around her waist. “Tonight or in general?” he teased.
“Both.”
“I’m glad I found you, too, Dani.” He drew in a breath. “You’re everything I want in every way.” He pushed a loose strand of hair away from her face. “You know that?”
She looked up into his eyes. “Yes, I do.” She rested her head on his chest and listened for a moment to the comforting beat of his heart. Why couldn’t she totally commit to this man? she asked herself for the countless time.
Nick leaned back. “We got some great shots today before you arrived.”
“Let’s take a look while we fix something to eat. I’m suddenly ravenous.”
“You mean, while I fix something to eat, don’t you?”
She made a face and poked him in the arm. “Whatever.”
Nick chuckled. “Come on.”
Huddled together on their king-size bed, with a steaming plate of homemade chicken fajitas next to them, they reviewed the day’s shoot on Nick’s twenty-one-inch Mac.
“These are fantastic,” Danielle muttered over a mouthful of food. “Stephanie is incredible to work with. Wow, look at the way the light hits her accessories,” she said, pointing to a shot of the model near the water fountain with the rush of Manhattan traffic in the background.
“And she knows exactly how to play up each piece without taking away from herself,” Nick added.
“That’s why she gets the megabucks,” Danielle said drolly.
“Speaking of megabuck…” He hopped off the bed and left the room. Moments later he returned with two long-stemmed wineglasses and a bottle of champagne.
Danielle’s eyes widened in delight. “What are you doing? And where did you find champagne?” she asked over her laughter.
He sauntered toward her and winked. “I always have a surprise up my sle
eve. Well…actually,” he hedged, “this was a gift from Mia when we went to her party a few months back.”
“Ohhhh, right. I’d forgotten all about it.”
“So had I.” He sat on the side of the bed and after several attempts popped the cork with a flourish. The bubbling brew rushed to the top and spilled down the sides of the bottle neck.
They giggled as the champagne splashed over Nick’s fingers and he stuck his head beneath the flow to catch it on his tongue.
Danielle held out her glass and he filled it. The bubbles tickled her nose, but the expensive champagne went down like silk.
“Mmmm, good stuff,” she said.
Nick placed the bottle on the nightstand. He raised his glass. “To the new ‘it’ girl in the photography world.” He touched his glass to hers.
“To our continued success,” she said. “I couldn’t have done it without you.” She leaned forward and kissed him.
Nick took her glass from her hand and set it on the table next to the bed. He gazed into her eyes as he un-buttoned her blouse and slipped it from her shoulders. “Do you want this?” he asked, dropping featherlike kisses along the crests of her breasts.
Danielle’s body shuddered. “Yes,” she whispered.
He lowered one strap of her bra and then the other before pushing it down below the swell of her breasts so that they rose even higher.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said, his tone growing thick with desire.
“You make me feel beautiful all the time.”
“I never want you to forget how much I adore you, Dani,” he said in a ragged voice and eased her back against the thick pillows.
She draped her hands behind his head and urged him toward her mouth. His kiss was sweet, tender and possessive all at once, and Danielle lost herself in the bliss of it, giving him everything he gave her.
Their tongues danced the waltz, slow and sure; then they dueled in a tango and whined with the rhythm of the Caribbean.
She tugged at the hem of his gray T-shirt, and Nick needed no further coaxing. He pulled it over his head and tossed it on the floor.
Danielle’s heart banged against her chest, and the bud between her thighs thickened and pulsed. Just looking at Nick’s body was the ultimate turn-on. His devout exercise regime had rewarded him with the body of a god. His arms were like steel, and whenever he wrapped them around her, she knew she was safe and protected. His chest was defined and rock hard, and it led down to a six-pack-like stomach that would make Mr. America weep in shame.
Through a series of maneuvers, they discarded the rest of their clothing and rolled around on the bed, laughing and finding places on each other’s body to nibble, stroke and kiss until Danielle found herself pinned beneath Nick’s weight.
“Don’t move,” he ordered, before inching his way down her body, starting at the pulse beat in her throat. He suckled her there until she began to squirm with pleasure. “Don’t move,” he said again. His tongue flicked across the tip of her hardened nipple, and a moan pushed through her lips. She grabbed a handful of sheet as he continued to lick and draw her nipple into his mouth, slowly and firmly.
Her stomach muscles fluttered and the inside of her thighs trembled. She gripped the sheets tighter as he neared her belly button and took a little dip.
Nick’s strong fingers stroked her hips and thighs before pushing her legs apart.
“You sure you want this?” he asked, taunting her.
She couldn’t speak. Her body was on fire. She nodded vigorously.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
His thumb brushed across her wet, swollen pearl, and her hips instinctively rose in response.
“Naughty girl,” he said, before grabbing her hips in a viselike grip and pinning her to the mattress.
His expert tongue and lush lips separated her wet folds and played her like a master violinist, each stroke, flick, lick more intense than the other. He drew the bud tenderly into his mouth and sucked on it until her cries filled the room in sweet agony.
Her head thrashed back and forth as bolts of electricity ran up and down her legs. She wanted to buck up against him, to push her essence even farther into his waiting mouth, but she couldn’t move—and that reality only intensified her need and the experience.
Tears squeezed from the corners of her closed eyes when suddenly Nick released his grip on her and draped her legs over his neck, cupping her lush rear in his palms, and he went at her like a man hungry for dessert.
Danielle’s thoughts spun while jolt after jolt of pleasure surged through her veins, and just as she was on the brink of release, Nick stopped. Her eyes shot open; her breath caught and held in her throat as she was suddenly filled with the hard thickness of him.
They both groaned in unison at the contact as Nick slid deep into her pulsing walls.
Nick held her like a bundled baby, crooning softly in her ear, professing his love and need for her as their bodies rose in ecstasy.
Danielle felt electrified as her limbs stiffened, her toes curled and her hips arched, thrusting hard and fast against each of Nick’s downward strokes.
Then, like a volcanic eruption, she came, the sublime pleasure spewing from her lips in a rush of incoherent sounds of release that pushed Nick over the edge to fill her to her core with all the love he felt for her.
They lay together, still linked, their breathing exhaling in short erratic bursts while their heart rate slowed almost in unison.
“Congratulations,” Nick murmured before sucking on her bottom lip, a glint of delight in his eyes.
Danielle giggled. “I think the congratulations should go to you, sir. That was quite a performance.”
“Aw, shucks.” He grinned. “Yeah, well, I was pretty good, if I have to say so myself.”
She pinched his bare butt. He feigned a yelp and rolled off her and onto his back.
“You weren’t half bad either,” he said, still teasing her.
Danielle rolled her eyes, then snuggled against him. She draped her arm across his hard belly and nestled her head between his neck and shoulder.
“I was thinking that maybe we could take a weekend off and get away somewhere,” Nick said.
Danielle tensed. “Hmm, sounds good.”
“How ’bout next weekend?”
Her thoughts raced. “Well, let’s see how things start off with this new account. There’s no telling what is going to be required until we get that under wraps.”
Nick blew out a breath, and Danielle fully expected him to reject the delay.
“You’re probably right,” he conceded. “Plus we still have the catalog work for JCPenney and the new shots for Ford Models.”
She shut her eyes with relief. “True. So as soon as we can see some daylight, okay?”
“Sure.” He rolled onto his side to face her. “As long as I get to spend some alone time with you.” He kissed her shoulder. “I’m going to get some of the prints ready.” He got off the bed.
“Okay,” she said with a drawn-out sigh. “I’ll just lie right here.”
Nick laughed. “You do that.” He wagged his finger. “Then you’ll be well rested when I get back.”
Once she was alone, she closed her eyes and all of her near misses for the day flashed behind her lids. She knew that Nick would be a while in their workroom, so she took the opportunity to check out the TLC video on her laptop.
The thirty-minute infomercial narrated by Jean Arm strong told of the beginnings of TLC and the reason why an organization that could function under the radar was necessary. They could go places that the police and government officials couldn’t. She told of building the Cartel from former CIA and Homeland Security agents. All women, all highly skilled, all above suspicion. But Jean had envisioned an even more covert way to infiltrate the unsuspecting: train ordinary women who had innate, savvy and useful skills.
There were several links detailing many of the assignments that had been fulfilled since the organization’s inception
five years earlier, as well as short demonstrations of the tools of the trade: recording and listening devices, fingerprint tools, telephoto lens cameras and guns. All of which came in every TLC member’s handy little makeup case.
Overall, it gave Danielle a sense of belonging to something greater than herself, and she felt the loyalty among the women whose stories were detailed on the presentation.
Throughout her childhood she’d never felt that she belonged anywhere. She’d spent much of her life trying to fit in. Her mixed heritage had been a burden that constantly reared its ugly head in a world that held appearance in the highest esteem.
She remembered going to family gatherings on her mother’s side of the family, which was Hispanic. Her father never went, and it wasn’t until one afternoon that she found out why. She was sitting in the kitchen with her grandmother helping to prepare the standard rice and beans for dinner. Danielle adored her grandmother, and loved the times she spent with her, hanging on her every word. If her grandma said so, then it was so, as far as Danielle was concerned.
“You are such a beautiful girl,” her grandmother had said as she poured a cup of coconut juice into the pot. “You take after your mother.” She placed the cover on the pot and turned to her granddaughter. “Thank God for that.” She shook her head.
“What do you mean, Ma Ma?”
Her grandmother turned to her, her sharp features pulled taut by the salt-and-pepper bun that she religiously wore like a badge of honor.
She wagged a finger at Danielle. “I told your mother not to marry that man. He wasn’t good enough for her. But she wouldn’t listen.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Mixing,” she said as if that would explain everything.
Danielle looked at her, curiously waiting for an explanation.
“Your father, he is not one of us. Black.” She spat the word out as if it would poison her if she didn’t get rid of it quickly.
Danielle was blindsided by confusion.
“You could have turned out looking just like him. Black. With a big nose, thick lips and knotty hair.” She breathed in relief. “But thank God—” she made a sign of the cross “—you didn’t. I can’t imagine what your life would have been like if you had.” She went to the counter and began cutting up tomatoes for her special salsa. “Remember this if you remember nothing else, never marry anyone darker than a paper bag. If you do, I warn you, he will not be welcome in this family,” she said with a haughty lift of her pointed chin.
