Up All Night

by Faye Avalon

  “Put the phone in your left hand and touch your breast with your right. Cup it, like I did last night.”

  He heard a little hitch of her breath and knew she was doing as he’d instructed. “Use your thumb, rub it across your nipple.”

  When she gave an “mmm” sound, Marco had to widen his stance to accommodate the hard-on that was demanding exit from his jeans. “How does that feel?”

  “Good. Really good.”

  “Wet your right forefinger…trail it down your throat…around your breasts…dip it into your navel…” Marco gave out his instructions, his voice growing huskier with each syllable. He had to clear his throat a couple of times as he imagined the trail of Beth’s finger and wished to heaven it was his. “Where’s your hand now?”

  “On my stomach.”

  Her own voice was scratchy, her breath catching. He wanted to ask her if her pussy was covered with that silky dark hair or if she was bare, but decided it was something he wanted to find out for himself.

  Tomorrow.

  “Slide it lower. Touch your pussy.”

  “Oh…”

  Fuck. He was going to lose it. “Push it into your slit, bella. Imagine it’s me.”

  She gave a mewling sound, her breath coming faster and shallower now. “Oh God. Marco.”

  “Harder,” he demanded. “Imagine it’s me fucking you.”

  Unable to resist any longer, Marco slid his zip and reached inside for his cock. He began pumping himself in time to Beth’s frantic breathing.

  “Marco…” She went silent, her breathing ceased, and he knew she came.

  He kept pumping himself, his cock so damn hard he knew he wouldn’t get it back in his pants unless he found relief.

  Seconds later, cum spurted onto his stomach and as his legs threatened to give way he pushed himself against the wall. “Shit.”

  “Marco?”

  “Yeah.” He sucked in air. “I’m here.”

  “Good.” She made a purring sound and he knew she was stretched out in a post-orgasmic haze. “I’ve never done that before.”

  She sounded sleepy as hell and he imagined her snuggling into his side, all that warm succulent flesh soft against him as he drew in her scent, savored her taste.

  “Enjoy it?”

  “Mmm. Yes. It was… What about you? I never said anything to—”

  “You didn’t need to. Just thinking about you lying there naked, touching yourself when and where I told you got me off.”

  “Oh. Good.”

  Since he realized he was losing her to sleep, he knew he had to speak fast. “Close your eyes now and dream about what I’m going to do to you when I get you naked. Then it’ll be my fingers, my mouth, my cock.”

  She purred down the phone. “Marco?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m out of practice. It’s been a long time since I had sex.”

  Why the fuck did that please him so damn much? “We’ll take it slow.” He waited a beat. “I’ll pick you up at eight.”

  “Okay. Night.”

  “Night.”

  Marco disengaged but stood staring at the screen of his phone for several seconds before stuffing it back in his pocket. She’d never had phone sex before, seemed nervous about having sex with him. The realization stirred something primal in him and like he had in the woods, he felt a protective instinct flare in his chest.

  He’d been glad he’d taken her mind off the troubles of her day and guessed she’d now get some sleep. Hell, she’d need it with what he had in mind for tomorrow night. If she was anywhere near as responsive when he got his hands on her as she had been tonight, he was in for one fine ride.

  He zipped his jeans before heading upstairs to shower and change.

  Tomorrow, until eight came around, was going to be a damn long day.

  ****

  Beth needed to visit the bathroom, but she couldn’t bear to move. She was still in a post climax stupor, and she didn’t want to break the spell Marco had woven.

  All the while he’d been instructing her in the never before attempted delights of phone sex, she’d imagined him touching her. It was his fingers sliding over her nipples, his hands travelling down her body. It was his hard length, so much thicker and harder than her own fingers, sliding into her pussy and working her until she came.

  Hmm. Who knew that her own touch, guided by Marco’s resolute instructions delivered in that deep, husky tone, could be more erotic than Mr. Sparkly buried deep in her vagina?

  The man made her come harder, faster than she’d ever come before simply by using his voice and by making demands. And she’d gone along with it. Every delicious demand he made she carried out without challenging him.

  When he’d started giving her instructions, she’d cottoned on to his intentions right away. As soon as he’d asked her what she was wearing. She could have laughed and fobbed him off, put a stop to his erotic plans right from the start. But she was turned on by the very thought of it. Turned on by him.

  He’d told her to imagine that it was his finger, his mouth, his cock inside her. How would that feel? How would he feel?

  Had he come as well tonight? Or was he just saying that to appease her. She hoped he had.

  When she realized she couldn’t put off the bathroom visit any longer, Beth hoisted herself from the bed and padded next door.

  Before returning to bed, she took a moment to look at herself in the mirror. Her face was flushed, her hair tousled, and her eyes soft, dreamy.

  Marco had done that for her. Given her not only her first experience of phone sex and—wow, where had that been all her life — but he’d made sure she climaxed.

  James had never bothered to check if she’d climaxed. In fact, she’d often wondered if he’d needed her there at all. One of those life-sized rubber dolls could have done the job equally well for him. But if she’d known then what she did now, she might not have been surprised at his lack of attention.

  Not that she was about to start with the memory trip. Not after what she’d just experienced with Marco. James was then, Marco was now. And if what she’d just enjoyed was anything to go by, she was in for a pretty amazing journey into the pleasurable world of sex with a generous partner tomorrow night.

  She could hardly wait.

  Chapter Four

  Beth had expected Marco would take her for a drink or a meal before they eventually hit the sheets, but as they pulled up alongside the club on Brighton’s seafront, she swallowed. “You have to be joking.”

  Marco turned off the ignition and glanced up at the Salsa Dance Club sign that had caught Beth’s attention. “After last night, I get the impression you like trying new things. Thought it’d give us an appetite.”

  Her face heated, and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “I thought we agreed not to mention that again tonight.”

  “Can’t help it. It’s in my head now. Hard to push it away.”

  “Well then,” Beth glanced at the sign again. “This is hardly going to help, is it?”

  He simply grinned and placed his arm along the back of her seat. “I’ve booked a table in the restaurant for after class.” Lightly, he touched her neck. “So we can refuel.”

  Beth felt the effect of the simple touch right to the tips of her breasts. “I’m hardly dressed for it.” She spared a glance down at her ancient navy shift dress. It was tight over the hips and ended two inches above the knee.

  His gaze slipped pointedly to her exposed thighs. “You look pretty good to me.”

  “I’m not going to be able to do much in a dress this tight. You need to be able to move around, don’t you?”

  He shrugged. “No idea. Never done this before. We had some promotional leaflets left at the bar and I thought it might be fun. Come on. Let’s try it out.”

  Resigned, Beth was half way out the passenger door when he arrived at her side, offering his hand to help her out. She took a moment to wonder if his mother had instilled in him some old-fashioned Italian va
lues. She liked it. Very much.

  “I have two left feet,” she declared as he guided her to the entrance of the club, one hand firmly on her lower back. “Don’t blame me if I step on your toes.”

  He leaned close as they walked so that only she could hear him. “Step on my toes all you like. It means you’re up close to me and that’s my plan for the evening.”

  A shiver ran through her, both at his words and the way his hand increased the pressure at her back. Determined. Possessive. She liked that, too. It should have scared her, made her uncertain, suspicious. But it didn’t do any of those things.

  “What level?” the man on reception asked as they came into the foyer. “Beginner, intermediate, advanced?”

  Marco drew out his credit card. “Beginners.” He looked down at Beth. “We’re just feeling our way right now.”

  The shiver increased to a full blown tremor as Marco’s free hand pressed into the small of her back. To distract herself, she watched the man deal with Marco’s card before handing it back to him. Suddenly, she wasn’t sure of anything. She’d thought they’d have sex tonight, but she hadn’t considered all the things that led up to it. The small talk, the conversation, the mere fact of being in a crowd of so many people. Hell. She was way out of her depth. Now she had to spend the major portion of the evening making a fool of herself trying to dance, not to mention being pressed up to Marco for hours with their clothes on. She’d hoped they could get back to her place pretty soon, get naked, have sex, then he’d be on his way and she could go on hers. This was turning into an event. A full out date, for crying out loud.

  In a kind of daze she let Marco guide her into a small room where about a dozen couples mingled on the dance floor.

  “Evening, everyone.” A man in his late fifties smiled out from a bright blue sequined suit. “Welcome to Couples Sexy Salsa Night.”

  Beside her, Marco slipped his arm around her waist. “And you were worried you were underdressed.”

  Still contemplating the couples and sexy parts of the announcement, Beth suppressed a giggle as she elbowed Marco in the ribs and the man continued his spiel.

  “The lovely Penny will be assisting me tonight and together we’ll make sure you learn the basics so you can continue to salsa sexily in private when you get home.”

  Beth wanted to roll her eyes at the laughter and guffaws that greeted this, but Marco’s possessive arm around her waist and the way his fingers moved up and down on her hip sent a warm feeling all the way to her toes.

  “Salsa is danced at a fast tempo,” the sequined man continued. “It uses a quick-quick-slow rhythm. The hold is sometimes referred to as a break step. There are four beats…”

  Oh shit. Beth cringed. She was lost already. Fast. Slow. Break. Beats. This was heading towards being a total disaster. She hoped to heaven Marco wasn’t expecting her to be able to do this.

  “Let’s begin by counting out the beats. Take your partner’s hand.”

  As Marco’s arm slipped from her waist and his hand reached for hers, Beth felt her pulse kick. He had such big hands. What was it they said about men with big hands? Hell. Don’t go there.

  “Begin. One, two, three. Beat. Five, six, seven. Good. Again.”

  After a few of those, Beth started to feel a little better. She forgot the beat a couple of times, but Marco’s supportive hand squeeze and the smile he gave her made her feel less clunky. He forgot it once, but she was sure he only did it to make her feel better.

  “Okay.” The instructor called, “and faster.”

  The music sped up and Beth did a sort of on the spot shuffle before she managed to get her feet into gear. Since most of the couples around were laughing as they got it wrong, too, Beth relaxed and soon got into the rhythm.

  Marco didn’t seem to put a foot wrong. “You’ve done this before,” she accused, grinning up at him.

  “I’ve hit the dance floor a few times. Having fun?”

  She was. By the time they mastered the first basic turn, Beth had laughed so much she’d forgotten her initial nerves. She learned that perhaps she wasn’t such a klutz after all and was in fact feeling like she could actually look straight ahead instead of down at her feet.

  “Good.” The instructor—whose name she couldn’t remember—called out to the group in general. “Keep that rhythm going.”

  “That’s the plan,” Marco muttered as the hand on Beth’s back pressed her a little too close to his hips than the dance required. “Doesn’t seem to be much wrong with our rhythm.”

  It didn’t take a genius to decipher the meaning behind his words, but if she had been in any doubt the dark flash of sexual promise in his eyes would have been confirmation enough. “Are you sure you haven’t done this before? You seem surprisingly good for a beginner.”

  “It’s in the hips.” He waited for the beat. “I’ve always had good hip control.”

  Damn. Her knees almost caved and heat spread delectably between her legs. If she hadn’t been holding on to him, she might have melted onto the ballroom floor.

  Oh hell. He was so amazingly sexy with all that dark hair and those tempting chocolate eyes that seemed to focus effortlessly on her alone, despite the bevy of hot and more appropriately dressed women amongst their fellow dancers. How could she resist him? And damned if she would. She hadn’t had sex for the best part of eighteen months, and there’d never be a better time to break her fast. Not when she had a hot, extremely willing male ready to service her like there was no tomorrow.

  “Good hip control?” She looked up at him from beneath her lowered eyelashes. “I imagine that comes in handy now and again.”

  His nostrils flared a little, then he grinned. “You’re welcome to test it out any time you like. Sooner would be better than later.”

  She let her smile take a while to get where it was going, aiming for seductive. It seemed to work, because he gave a low hum in his throat. She missed the beat step again and stepped on his toe. “Sorry.” She giggled when he took the opportunity to pull her close against him, and she felt his erection press against her. “While I see what you mean about having good hip control, the evidence points to you not having much control anywhere else.”

  He held her so tight against him, she was barely able to shuffle her feet along to the music, so she did a sort of hop from foot to foot massaging his erection against her stomach. The movement was obviously not a good idea, because Marco hissed in a breath. “You trying to kill me?”

  “You’re the one holding me so tight I can’t move.” Beth glanced at the instructor who was making his way toward them. “We’re about to get told off, or even worse, expelled from class.”

  “It’s couples sexy salsa, right? I’d say a hard-on is par for the course.”

  She laughed again, but sobered when the instructor reached them and eased them apart to correct their dance posture. She couldn’t look at Marco because she could imagine him waggling his eyebrows or throwing her that sexy grin that would only start her off again.

  For the rest of the session, Beth tried to be a model student, chastising Marco who kept trying to pull her closer.

  By the time the class ended, Beth was so hot for him she was ready to head for home, and bed. But Marco led her upstairs to the restaurant.

  During the meal, most of the nerves that had dissipated while they’d been moving and laughing on the dance floor re-emerged. He was attentive, humorous, and very keen to make sure she was having a good time—so what was there to be nervous about?

  Only the fact he was over six feet of strapping male, sexy as sin, and was currently looking at her as if he could manage one more calorie-free course on top of the three courses they had already indulged in.

  Problem was, an eighteen-month hiatus didn’t do much for a girl’s confidence. All very well having phone sex, but in the flesh?

  “Having second thoughts?” Marco’s low voice came across to her amid the muffled chatter of the crowded restaurant.

  How had he pick
ed up that she was close to bottling on her resolve to put an end to that hiatus? Was she being that obvious? “It’s been a long gap between…” she circled her hand in the air “…and after last night, I’m a bit edgy.”

  “I meant about indulging in that dessert.”

  She looked into his eyes, saw the mischief there. “No you didn’t.” She laughed when he did. “You really enjoy back-footing me, don’t you?”

  “Didn’t have to work too hard during salsa. You kept losing your concentration.”

  “Because you kept pushing your raging erection into my stomach.”

  His eyes darkened. “I’m looking forward to pushing it somewhere else entirely.”

  “Shh.” Beth glanced around the nearby tables, relieved to find nobody seemed to have heard them. “When was the last time you had sex?”

  Marco kept his eyes on hers as he picked up his coffee. He sipped still watching her, then put the cup down. “Not sure that’s a fair question, seeing as you’ve just told me it’s been a while for you. Whatever I say will make me sound like a fornicating womanizer.”

  Beth picked up her own cup, hoping to appear nonchalant when in fact she was desperate to know. “I revealed, so you reveal.”

  He shrugged. “Last week.”

  Well, she’d asked. What had she expected? Her stomach became alive with butterflies. “Right.”

  “You’re not going to get all prissy on me are you?”

  “No.”

  “Good. Because from the sounds you were making on the phone last night, you seem to like sex well enough. Just because you’ve been in a slump doesn’t mean you can’t get back in the saddle and enjoy the ride again.”

  Since he’d used the very same phrase she’d used herself, Beth took it as a good omen. She squirmed in her seat, aware that the subject matter was making her nervous for an entirely different reason. “Can we talk about something else?”

  “Like what?”

  She looked over at him with a steady gaze as her mind seemed to settle and her hormones raced. Why was she making this so hard on herself? She’d made up her mind she was going to have sex with Marco. She’d barely been able to think of anything else all day. So what was she waiting for?