by Desiree Holt
No, no way would he live through dancing with Sonia’s full curves pressed against his body. Maybe after he’d sated himself with her delectable body a couple of dozen times Evan might be able to think about dancing with her in public without wanting to strip her naked and fuck her on the nearest hard surface.
“Not tonight, maybe tomorrow,” he lied, weaving in and out of the crowd while keeping a firm grip on her hand. “We can dance in our room,” he promised, leaving out the fact they’d both be naked.
* * * * *
Sonia nearly stumbled as Evan gripped her hand and led her from the ballroom. Her heart was pounding, as much with anxiety as anticipation, and all her insecurities were battling their way to the forefront.
“I can’t wait to get you into my cabin, angel,” he said as they waited for the elevator, “and see that voluptuous body in the light.”
Sonia froze. This man was going to see her naked. With every blemish and extra pound mercilessly exposed to his assessing gaze. Once he got a good look at her body it would be all over but the shouting. She simply couldn’t go through with this. She just couldn’t.
She walked into the elevator as if she were heading down the last mile, and dragged her feet even more when they reached Evan’s deck and headed toward his cabin. His fingers danced down her spine as he urged her along the carpeted hallway. When they stopped at his door and he unlocked it, she took a step back, but then Evan grabbed her hand and tugged her inside.
“At last,” he breathed, running his hands over her bare shoulders. “I’ve been hard as a spike waiting to get you alone.”
His lips traveled along her bare neck to the hollow of her throat, his tongue teasing the pulse beating there, his breath hot on her skin. His hands slid gently from the smooth skin of her shoulders to the swell of her breasts above the bodice of her gown. When his thumbs edged inside the fabric she arched into his touch.
Sonia closed her eyes, giving herself over to the carnal feelings racing through her. Every pulse was throbbing, her nipples painfully hard and the crotch of her thong was drenched. A low moan escaped her throat as Evan’s tongue traced a line across the top of her breasts.
But then his hands reached behind her for the zipper of her gown and the raspy sound of it being lowered shocked her into awareness.
I can’t let him see me naked.
“Could-could you please turn out the light?” she stammered.
“And deny myself the opportunity to drink in the sight of your body? Not on your life.” His chuckle was low and throaty.
The zipper was all the way to her waist by now and Evan shifted his hands to push the fabric down. Like a child caught playing an adult game Sonia pulled away from him.
“Stop.” She gulped in a large breath of air. “Don’t. I-I can’t do this.”
She grabbed her little purse from the table where she’d dropped it, yanked open the door and fled into the hall, holding up her dress with one hand.
“Sonia!”
She heard him shouting, bewilderment in his voice. “Sonia, come back. Please.”
The elevator arrived at exactly that moment, two couples stepping out of it and staring at Sonia with curious glances. She dashed into the car and jabbed the Close Door button, breathing a thankful sigh when the doors whooshed shut just as Evan reached them. Somehow she managed to get herself zipped up again before arriving at her deck and hurried to her cabin, anxious to get away from any prying eyes.
She threw herself on the bed, willing her racing heart to slow down, completely disgusted with herself. Her one chance to play with the big folks and she blew it. Just blew it. Tears formed in her eyes and she yanked off her mask to blot at them with a tissue.
What an idiot she was. What a fool. If everyone at the office knew what a chicken she was they’d laugh at her forever. Someone more sophisticated should have won this cruise that was for sure.
When the tears finally stopped, she undressed, hung up the gown and stood in the shower for a long time, trying to wash away the memory of her embarrassment. She wasn’t tired enough to go to bed and knew she couldn’t concentrate enough to read. Instead she pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, grabbed her room key and headed for the upper deck, remembering at the last minute to pull on her mask. Maybe a walk in the night air would help.
Hah! Sure it would.
* * * * *
Evan moved up both the speed and the incline on the treadmill and picked up his pace. He’d been at it for twenty minutes, after a session with the weights, and his cock was still as hard as a railroad spike and his balls still ached. This visit to the ship’s health club, meant to help him get rid of his unsatisfied sexual desire, wasn’t working too well. He was sweaty and sore and just as horny.
Damn her, anyway. Things had been going so well. What had he done to scare her off? Did she actually have such a poor self-image that she wouldn’t let herself be seen naked by a stranger? Was she so inexperienced she worried about being a disappointment to him?
How could he tell her that it was that very innocence that made her so appealing? That her curves were far preferable to the skin and bones of the women who chased him?
Damn, damn, damn.
He had to find a way around this or it had all been for nothing. He refused to believe the intense connection he felt was only one-sided. Sonia wanted him, everything in him shouted it. But how to get past her prickly defenses?
Ending his workout, he showered, first with hot water then icy cold in an attempt to control his libido. He’d find out now if cold showers really worked. Slapping on some of the cologne he’d stuck in his gym bag, he combed his wet hair, climbed back into his shorts and t-shirt and slipped back into the stupid mask.
Back up on deck he paused for a moment to enjoy the crispness of the night air and try to plot his next move. A slight movement to his right caught his eye and he sucked in a breath. It was her. Dressed as he was, even to the mask, in casual clothes. At the bow of the ship she leaned into the breeze, like Kate Winslet in Titanic. Taking a deep steadying breath, he walked up behind her and slid his arm around her waist, pressing his mouth lightly against her slender neck.
She jerked in surprise, gasping at his touch. “Evan.”
“Easy,” he murmured against her skin. Enormously pleased to hear his name from her lips. “I just came from the health club, saw you and wondered if we could talk about what went wrong earlier.”
She stiffened for a moment, then relaxed in his hold.
“I should think it’s fairly obvious. You can see I didn’t step off the pages of the latest fashion magazine. I don’t have the fashionable flat stomach or walnut-cracking ass cheeks. I like to eat and it shows. I’ll never be a size two and I don’t care.”
He swallowed back his anger at all the people who had made her self-conscious about the curves he wanted so badly to sink into. Curves that made his hands itch to clutch them tight and lips ache to taste them.
“Sonia, you’re exactly the kind of woman I want to take to bed and ravish until you can’t move.” He licked the side of her neck. “Can’t we please make a fresh start? Let me show you the effect you have on me.” He rubbed his aching cock against her pliant flesh and bit back a moan. “You think I normally go around harder than steel? Angel, I’ve been this way since I first caught sight of you. No matter how much I jerk off or how many cold showers I take, a single thought of you leaves me hard and throbbing within seconds.”
* * * * *
Sonia gripped the railing with her fists. When Evan had first walked up behind her, the scent of his cologne drifted across her nose and she thought, Chase. The exact same scent Chase had used for years. She was as familiar with it as she was with her own perfume. She had to tamp down the disappointment when she realized it was Evan. Why would Chase be here, anyway? She cursed her stupid hormones and even stupider imagination. When would she finally be free of Chase and this idiotic teenage crush?
She turned in his arms and leaned her mask-c
overed face into his shoulder. Maybe this was a sign of some kind. A sign that she could let go with this man, that all her insecurities really were in her imagination. And she wanted it so badly. She wanted to be someone’s treat on this Valentine cruise. If only for a few days, Sonia wanted to pretend she mattered to a man. She needed to pretend the fantasy was real.
Evan wanted her still. Even after her childish behavior a few hours ago. Something in her chest warmed at the thought that he hadn’t given up. Instead of finding someone new to take to bed he’d gone to the gym. A glow of pleasure warmed her heart at the thought.
Letting out a slow breath, she nodded. “All right. I’ll go back to your cabin with you.”
His hand stroked her back as he placed a tender kiss to her neck. “I promise I’ll take very good care of you. Very, very good.”
Chapter Four
Evan paid the cabin steward an obscene amount of money to rush iced champagne to his room. Sonia sat uneasily on the edge of the bed, sipping at the icy liquid, and wondered what came next. It wasn’t as if she’d never had sex before. Just not under these circumstances or with this type of man.
“I want to propose something,” Evan said in his hoarse, whispery voice. “I want us to take our masks off, so I can kiss you properly but that violates the anonymity rule.”
“So then how could we do that?” Sonia asked, not sure if she wanted to remove the comfort of her mask, but she really did want to see what lay behind Evan’s devil mask.
“I’ve already seen your face, so let me blindfold you. That way I’m still an unknown quantity.” He leaned closer to her. “And it heightens all the other senses. You will feel the thrust of my tongue, taste me in your mouth and revel in the caress of my fingers on your breasts and your sweet cunt. Do it, Sonia. Be a little daring. Isn’t it time you started to live?”
Sonia took another swallow of champagne, this one more of a gulp. She would really be under his control. Could she trust him for that? The scent of clean linen drifted across her nose again and she nodded her head.
“All right.” Her voice came out more wobbly than confident, but she didn’t care as Evan’s hands drew up to touch her.
He stroked a palm across her breasts over the t-shirt, then down over her belly to her cunt, still covered by her shorts. She knew he could feel the dampness wetting the cotton.
“Close your eyes, angel.” His hand drifted back over her chest and down to her pussy again, barely touching her through the thin fabric of her clothes. “I can’t wait until I see you naked.”
She felt him unzip the mask and lift it from her head, replacing it with a thick fold of silk that he tied securely in place. He was right about the deprivation of one sense enhancing all the others. The clean linen scent was sharper than before, reassuring in its familiarity even though she knew this wasn’t Chase. Mingled with it she sensed the arousing odor of male musk. When she reached out blindly with her right hand it bumped against the crotch of his shorts and the outline of a truly enormous erection.
She heard the hiss of an indrawn breath.
“Better keep your hands to yourself for the moment,” he said hoarsely, backing away from her touch. “I wouldn’t want the program to end before it even began.”
Sonia allowed herself a tiny smile of satisfaction. It pleased her to know she had that effect on him. Made her feel a bit bolder in their sexual play.
“Lift your arms a little,” he commanded, then tugged her top off over her head.
Her breasts were bare and she had the idiotic urge to cross her arms and cover herself. As if he sensed her thoughts, Evan wrapped his fingers lightly around her upper arms.
“Uh-uh,” he admonished. “No covering up.”
Artificially cooled air made her nipples pucker and harden. A finger drifted over first one, then the other, making them harden even more. When Evan pinched them simultaneously between thumb and index finger, Sonia drew in a breath. Tiny pinpricks of heat zapped through her body, heading straight for the muscles inside her cunt and making them quiver.
“Your breasts are gorgeous,” he said in his low, rough voice. “Plump and round, and your nipples. God, they look like dark rose petals begging to be plucked.”
His words aroused her. No man had ever spoken about her body that way. Or even talked during sex. It was always all about them. Their pleasures and desires, but never about what she needed or wanted.
That’s why she had daydreamed about Chase for so long. She knew he would be different. But this man was as close as she was going to get to her ultimate fantasy and she was definitely going to let go of her inhibitions. If he ultimately found her undesirable…well…at least she would have this night.
His warm palm came to rest on her slightly rounded tummy, caressing it with a gentle, circular motion. She lifted slightly into his touch but his hand quickly disappeared. In a moment his hands were at the waist of her shorts, untying the drawstring and easing the fabric down her legs.
“No panties.” There was a hint of humor in his raspy voice. “What a naughty girl. I might have to spank you later.”
Instantly she felt more moisture gather in her pussy. She had no idea why the thought of his hands slapping her bare bottom should arouse her so—she’d never been into that sort of sexual play—but somehow with Evan everything stimulated her.
A hand urged her thighs apart and one finger brushed against her pubic curls, then traced the length of her wet slit. When he pressed against her clit she wriggled her hips, trying to increase the pressure.
“You like that.” It was a statement, not a question. “You are so deliciously wet. I want a taste. Badly.”
The bed shifted as he crawled between her legs, pressed her thighs farther apart with his palms and placed his open mouth directly on the center of her pussy. Streaks of icy heat raced through Sonia’s body. She tried to close her thighs to hold his head in place but Evan kept his pressure on her inner thighs.
His tongue was like a butterfly, darting here and there on her slick inner flesh, pushing just inside her vagina, then withdrawing. Sonia reached her hands down to tug on the thick silk of his hair, but he turned it just at that moment and began the dance of his tongue on the inside of her right thigh. As he licked and nipped the tender skin, his thumb took possession of her clit, rubbing back and forth in the lightest of movements, just enough to stimulate her but not enough to give her any relief.
When he had finished one thigh, he gave the other one the same treatment. Sonia couldn’t stop squirming under the sensual onslaught. His mouth seemed to be everywhere, now on her cunt, now teasing at her navel, now sucking each nipple into his mouth. Her skin was hot, shivers raced along her spine and her pulses throbbed with increasing intensity.
The sudden absence of his body caused her to moan and reach for him again. He laughed a gravelly sound that warmed her with its familiarity.
“Don’t worry. I just thought both of us should have our clothes off. Although I could spend all night just feasting on your body. You taste like every delicious morsel I’ve ever had in my mouth. Only ten times sweeter, richer and thicker than any dessert on this ship.”
Then he was back, his body covering hers. The rough hair on his chest brushed against her swollen nipples, making them ache even more. He must have caught himself on his forearms because he hadn’t let his entire weight fall on her. His arms, pressed against her ribs, were warm, the heat seeping into her and adding to the raging inferno already building inside her.
He shifted one of his long, muscular legs and his cock pressed against her thigh. Enormous! She’d been right. The tip felt damp, marking her thigh where it rested on her flesh. Oh god, she wanted to feel that inside her. But he was back to his teasing mood, again using his tongue everywhere.
When he shifted lower, opened her labia with his fingers and thrust his tongue inside her a climax raced through her, unexpected in its force. He massaged her clit and fucked her with his tongue while her inner muscles spasmed and cle
nched and her body shook with tiny tremors. Her hips jerked and thrust, she ached to squeeze her thighs together but Evan held them mercilessly apart.
When the last small aftershock had spent itself, Evan moved again, this time apparently reaching for something. Sonia heard the unmistakable snap! of latex as he sheathed himself. She barely had time to catch her breath before he lifted her legs and arranged them over his shoulders, parted her cunt and thrust himself inside.
Despite the fact that her vagina was tight, her honey made the penetration easier. He was large, larger than any man she’d ever been intimate with and her pussy muscles strained to accommodate him. She breathed in, then out, trying to relax herself so she could take every bit of him.
His musky aroma teased at her nostrils, exciting her, and the fine hairs on his arms where they touched her skin were like tiny feathers. She thought again how right he was, that every sense was more acute when sight was removed. His hips rolled and thrust as he pushed in more, withdrew, pushed again. He slid his hands beneath her buttocks, lifting her to him even more.
“Your body is everything I imagined it would be,” he whispered. “Lush, ripe, with curves that make my mouth water. A body a man could lose himself in. God, I must be the luckiest man on this ship. Why would you ever think you aren’t desirable?”
Sonia wanted to believe him. Badly. But at the moment she couldn’t concentrate on anything except what he was doing to her body, the icy heat racing through her veins and the need building within her again. The friction of his cock in her pussy was driving her crazy. He seemed to know just the tempo to set to pull her up the spiral without giving her release.
His mouth closed over one nipple again, pulling it tightly into his mouth. When his teeth grazed the swollen bud she cried out her pleasure. She locked her ankles behind his neck, pulling him into her even deeper and thrust her hips at him.
He drove into her, hard, one last time before his body stiffened, and they exploded together, tumbling through the orgasm as if a whirlpool had swept them up. Her body shook with tremors, muscles tensing and releasing as she convulsed again and again. Rockets exploded in the darkness behind the blindfold, electric shocks zapping her like lightning bolts. She thought the spasms would never stop. When the final aftershock whispered through her, she felt completely limp and boneless, and more satisfied than she’d ever been in her life.
