“All the more reasons to fuck your brains out,” he said with a grin, feeling a certain part of him harden.
But no, now was not the time, and if she wanted more information, he would try to give it to her.
Within reason, he wanted to give her anything she wanted.
“Where is your family?” She turned to him, pulling out her phone and biting her lip. “And am I allowed to interview them?”
“No,” he said a little too sharply. “We’re estranged.”
“Why?”
“I guess we just… have different lives. We prefer to stay out of each other’s way.”
“I’m guessing they aren’t high profile like you.”
“No, I’m afraid they prefer to work in the shadows.”
“Okay, what do they do?”
“I… Fine,” he said. “As long as you promise you won’t go looking for them.”
She nodded.
“Dare is, I think, usually in some kind of security job. Bouncer. Bodyguard. Any excuse to beat someone up.”
“Wow, rough and tumble. So the exact opposite of you.”
“Not exactly,” he said, taking off his suit jacket and rolling up his sleeves. “I’m sure you’ve seen that I have a rough side as well.”
“Did that come from how you grew up?” she asked.
“One question at a time. Right now I’m describing my brothers.”
“Oh, right, you said there was more than one.”
“Two. The other is Theo. He’s a surgeon, I believe. Renowned in his field.”
She set down her phone and rubbed her chin with her hand, looking pensive. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but with how empty your life seems, I don’t know why you don’t go after them. Maybe they’re lonely, too. Family is important, you know?”
“Oh, yes?” Nathan asked pointedly. “Well then, if you’re going to lecture me, why not tell me about yours? We did say tit for tat, after all.”
She sighed and turned back to the ocean, leaning her arms on the rail and putting her head on them in defeat. “I suppose. But why haven’t you Googled me as I said you could?”
“I told you I want to hear it from you. I know firsthand how useless gossip is.”
She exhaled for an oddly long time. “Most people know who my father is. Senator Williams.”
Nathan shook his head. “I don’t follow politics.”
“He’s the one who was caught with his secretary a few years back?” Lillian shook her head. “It was awful.”
“What happened?”
“Everyone found out. My mom was so ashamed and hurt, but when she confronted him, he chose the secretary over us.” She bit her lip. “He managed to somehow get the press on his side with a great PR agent and great attorney. They slandered my mom, painting this picture of a harridan who had been bitching him into an early grave.”
Nathan felt his jaw tighten with anger. “What happened?”
“He got everything in the divorce and somehow kept his job and his mistress. The world moved on, and my mom got practically nothing in the divorce, due to him having a better lawyer and starting the proceedings.”
“It’s not supposed to happen that way,” Nathan said uneasily.
“But it does,” Lillian replied, putting her hands up. “And it doesn’t matter. It’s over now.”
Nathan studied her carefully. “I don’t think it is.”
“I mean, you’re right. My mom started drinking and she hasn’t stopped. She lives with my aunt now, and they’re both really bitter people. Not that I blame them. I had to put myself through school, and I still have a bunch of loans, but it was better than taking anything from that sperm donor asshole.”
“Sperm donor asshole. I like it.” He laughed as he tossed back the rest of his mimosa.
“So yeah,” she said, putting a hand in her hair as it whipped in the wind, each curl catching and lifting as if held by invisible hands. “That’s why I don’t like secrets. And why I don’t trust people. Especially powerful men the world seems to accept with no issue. Power and wealth can hide a lot of flaws.”
He scooted his chair closer so he could join her at the rail and gently put a hand over hers. “I’m sorry about your father. That never should have happened to you.” He rubbed his thumb over her soft knuckles, watching her give a little shiver as he did. “I can see why you changed your last name.”
She nodded. “My mother’s maiden name. Not that my mother was able to do a lot for me. The situation really broke her. But at least she was always honest, unlike my dad.”
He drew back slightly. “So honesty means a lot to you, then?”
She nodded, and he saw her eyes were slightly teary. He reached up and gently wiped the moisture away with his thumb.
“Then what are you doing with me? You already know I can’t ever be truly honest,” he said quietly, knowing with everything in him that he should let her go before he had a chance to hurt her.
But as her hand covered his, keeping his palm against her face, he looked into her eyes and knew it was already too late.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I guess that in itself is a kind of honesty, and I want to see where this goes.” She rubbed his hand gently. “I want to know more about you. Everything about you. It’s not about getting the news anymore.”
He let out a breath he wasn’t even aware he’d been holding. “I want to know everything about you, too.”
Then, to her surprise, he reached down and picked her up under the legs, settling her in his lap as he sat back in the chair to watch the ocean.
She struggled for a second, then went still as he held her close and stroked her hair.
“For now, just let me hold you. While I do, I’ll answer any question you want.”
And he meant it. For her trust in him, for the way she was opening up. Because she wanted to know about him for the right reasons.
Because even the monster inside him was beginning to open up.
“Why do you leave me at midnight?” she asked quietly, waiting as he took a deep breath.
He decided to give her as much of the truth as he could muster. “Because it’s not safe for you to be by my side.”
She was quiet a long moment, her body rigid and still. Then she sank in against him. “PTSD or something?”
“Or something,” he said. “I’m sorry I can’t say more.”
“Will you ever be able to?”
If the tide stopped. If the world froze over. If the sun failed to come out tomorrow.
He pressed his lips together. “Maybe.”
“Then that’s enough for me,” she said, leaning against him. “You’re a terrible mystery, Nathan Lancaster, and I should probably run. But I can’t seem to resist staying beside you. Always wanting more.” She looked up at him, her lips just a breath away.
So he lowered his mouth over hers, kissing her deeply as the ocean air broke over them.
She should leave him. She should run. But since she wasn’t, he decided he wouldn’t waste even a moment of having her in his arms.
The rest of his life might be darkness, but right now he could bask in her light.
Chapter 20
Lillian felt Nathan’s lap disappear beneath her as he stood, carrying her with him as though she weighed nothing at all. It didn’t take a second look to realize he was carrying her to the bedroom, and a shiver of anticipation buzzed through her as the cool ocean air tickled her skin.
Just his kiss alone was enough to make her logic start to cloud over with erotic thoughts of what they’d done before and what they could do very soon.
The room was spacious and airy, arrayed with light blues and tans, evoking images of the beach over which the villa looked. The bed, an oversized king, seemed so large compared to the lounger the other night. And as he lay her on it, slowly and gently, she took in the luxurious feel of satin sheets beneath.
And Nathan surrounding her above.
“How is it you make me feel this
way?” Nathan said, muttering almost inaudibly as he raked over her with heated glances.
“It’s like you took the words right out of my mouth.”
Then his lips were over hers, the pressure like sparks at the edge of a pyre ready to become a blazing bonfire. She opened her mouth, begging with her mind to be claimed, and he didn’t hesitate, swiping inside with his tongue.
Each deft thrust, each expert tease made Lillian’s fingers and toes prickle with excitement. She felt like ice beneath a noonday sun, melting into the ground beneath her.
“So soft. So perfect to hold.” His lips we so close even his breath turned her on. His hands roamed down her sides, over her hips, and to her thighs.
“Hey, some people might find that offensive,” she said, speaking up more on principle than actual insult. It was hard to think about anything other than what he was doing with his hands or his mouth at any given moment.
“Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear the first time.” His dark-blue eyes were so piercing as he looked down at her, rays of sun poking through the clouds illuminating them in the early afternoon light. Slowly, intensely, he undid the zipper of her jeans and slid them off. Lillian couldn’t avoid the feel of her skin flushing in embarrassment, yet she couldn’t break contact with his gaze, the fire in his eyes demanding she keep her eyes on him.
“You’re perfect, Lillian. So much I don’t know how I managed to deserve any part of what we share together.” He continued, fingers caressing her skin like sensual promises. “But I can’t stop wanting you. Even against what I know logically is best for both of us.”
Lillian wanted to ask what he meant. Wanted to know the secrets he was hiding behind his eyes as he lowered himself to kiss up the side of her left leg, moving over her aimlessly yet turning her on with even the minutest touch.
“Then don’t follow logic. Follow your heart.”
For a split second, his countenance darkened, an indescribable flash of something that Lillian couldn’t quite place. Then it was gone, and he looked down with a rakish grin.
“Well, my heart says to pleasure you senseless.”
She could feel his hand moving up the inside of her thigh, closer to her center, and her heart jumped in her chest.
“I think… that sounds… fine.” Every word she could form was an unspoken victory as he teased her, getting so close she was ready to grab his hand and put it where she so desperately wanted it right now.
Thankfully, he didn’t draw it out too far, and with a light stroke, fire bit at her veins as his finger rubbed over her. Lillian bit down on her lower lip, but he wasn’t playing games anymore as he touched her over and over again.
And apparently, just pushing her toward mind-blowing orgasm wasn’t enough. Somehow she felt his hand behind her, undoing her bra and loosening it as he kept at it with a feverish pace. But the touch felt entirely ancillary compared to the liquid heat cooking between her legs right now.
That was until his other hand gathered one breast and he squeezed, pressing her nipple as he did, and her body shuddered with arousal.
“Don’t stop.” Great, she was begging. But Lillian couldn’t help herself at this point. She was too close, too close to everything, to be able to quit.
Just the way he looked at her, as if he were reveling in every second of her pleasure, just pushed her closer to release.
Yet the stubborn part of her tried to hold on. But it was like a person with sandbags trying to hold back a typhoon. No amount of physical determination was going to save her from the tidal wave that was Nathan and his particular way of making love.
Lillian clenched her teeth, and her throat tightened. And then with one perfectly placed stroke on her clit, she came, invisible floodgates breaking and pouring indescribable ecstasy into her veins.
The sound of soft satin moving beneath her as she writhed contrasted with the feel of falling, rushing into blinding pleasure without stopping. Throbbing, pulsing orgasm made its way through then out of her as she gradually found herself once again on the bed in the quiet villa.
Damn, how could Nathan possibly make this feel so good?
“I guess that’s one.” His voice was casual, as if he were commenting on the weather. But the air was still electric with attraction, a primal need that seemed to exist between them outside of time, even space.
“Please tell me you’re not keeping a tally.” Even as she spoke, Lillian could feel little aftershocks of pleasure shoot through her.
“No.” But there was a gleam in his eyes that said otherwise. “Don’t worry. I’ll lose count. Eventually.” He shifted slightly, keeping his hand between her legs but moving so he was propped above her on his free hand. When his hand moved over the soft flesh there, her body jolted, and her hands grasped at his shirt, pulling him closer. She needed him closer.
Then she remembered how he’d been the other night about touch. Should she stop?
“I…” Lillian said awkwardly, not sure if the same rules applied as she let her hands fall to the sides.
Nate didn’t say anything, but just sat up and gathered both her hands in his. Then, to her surprise, he placed them on his chest, and she felt hot, hard muscles hidden beneath what was probably a very expensive silk shirt.
“Can I?” Lillian asked, looking at the shirt. Before, she’d only been able to gape at those muscles, imagine how powerful and firm they felt. Now she wanted to see them.
Nathan nodded, his expression intense but his body relaxed. Excitedly, she undid the buttons and pulled the shirt off, greeted by a very close and personal view of his perfect, masculine body.
For someone who seemed to never work out, the bulge of his pectorals, the symmetrical row of hard abdominals, even the way his sharp Ken doll lines trailed past his fitted slacks bespoke incredible strength. But not in a body builder kind of a way. More like someone had taken it upon themselves to sculpt the perfect male form, and that form had sprung to life as Nathan.
“That’s enough for now,” Nathan said abruptly, interrupting her languorous perusal of his muscles. “You can hold me when I make you come.”
“But—”
She wanted to say, “I was just getting started,” but his finger on her clit made everything else stop, and she held on to him for dear life like a raft keeping her afloat in the storm of Nathan’s own making.
As long as he was there, no storm felt like it could be too great.
* * *
Lillian’s fingers on Nathan’s skin were searing hot as he pushed her toward another orgasm, wanting to be in control of the situation once again.
It wasn’t that he hated the way she looked at him, the way she touched him. In fact, it was both amusing and arousing to see her eyes light up just at his appearance. But the longer her focus lingered on him, the more he felt exposed, as if she were getting closer to what he really was. That perhaps just by looking hard enough, she’d see what he was hiding just beneath the surface.
For both their sakes, he could never allow that.
The delightful sounds of Lillian’s moans as he stroked satisfied him in the deepest parts of his soul. Nothing had felt more natural than pleasuring her.
So, not wanting to draw out her second release, he pressed ever so slightly harder, and she came again at his behest. This time her fingers dug into him, so warm on his flesh as he took in his lover’s pleasure.
“Nathan. Oh God, Nathan.” Her eyes were closed as she pled, so beautiful in release.
Two.
It took several deep breaths for Lillian to relax once more, and Nathan busied himself with pulling off the rest of her clothes so he could enjoy the sight of all her ample assets. She didn’t argue, just moved as needed as he tossed her shirt, bra, and finally panties aside. A tepid breeze blew through the villa, carrying the sounds of distant seabirds somewhere on the horizon and washing them in the scent of salt.
Following his need to pleasure her that was now as instinctual as breathing, he spread her legs and lowered himse
lf, cutting the cool relaxation of the moment with Lillian’s gasps. She waited for a moment, hands grasping for something until they settled on the wrought iron accents of the headboard behind her, knuckles clenched as he licked over her center in rapid succession.
For a moment, Nathan regretted not wearing a necktie on their outing, or he would have tied her up.
Maybe next time…
He offered no quarter, not giving Lillian even a moment to catch her breath until she came again. And just as that orgasm receded, he started again, not removing his tongue from her clit until she climaxed once more.
Three. Four.
Sex with Lillian wasn’t just fun. Wasn’t just distracting. It was everything. It warmed his soul, heated him from the inside out, as if he could forge something new from the twisted monster inside him when he was with her like this.
Of course, Nathan knew that was absurd. Fairy-tale endings didn’t exist for creatures like him.
But, at least for a moment, he felt he could be something other than what he really was.
“You… you just don’t stop. I don’t know if that’s even a compliment or not.” Her words were husky, staccato between heaves of her chest as her body tried to regain purchase on reality.
“I’ll take it as such until further notice.” The view of her body from every angle was so erotic, wide hips and full breasts and curved belly and legs. So pleasurable. So yielding.
So his.
He let his hand come up her thigh, moving toward the apex of her hips, and she looked down with excitement and nodded yes. Then he dipped inside with one finger, exploring her wet heat and relishing in the very real, very clear evidence of her pleasure and attraction to him.
Then, using two fingers, he stroked as he licked up her clit again, timing his thrusts with the tip of his tongue so both sensations hit her at the same time.
“Oh damn, Nate—”
Midnight_Nightmare Dragons Page 14
