Crave

by Sierra Cartwright

  He sank his finger in to the hilt. He shortened his strokes inside her, increasing the friction.

  Despite his intention to only think about her, the strength of his orgasm plowed into him. “Come,” he said.

  She nodded.

  He buried his dick inside her.

  With her pussy, she squeezed him, groaning and pushing back against his thrusts until he came, hard. “Damn,” he managed, the word more a grunt than intelligible language.

  The urgency of his orgasm pushed her over the edge again, and she came right after he did. Under the force, she pushed him out.

  “You have learnt a few things.”

  She shook her head. “That’s all you, Sir. I haven’t ever come that hard before.”

  He eased his finger from her, then bent forward to kiss her. “Be right back.” He moved away from her only long enough to discard the condom, wash his hands and dampen a washcloth for her. “It’s cool,” he said by way of warning before pressing the small towel against her.

  “Feels good,” she said.

  He untied the nylon rope but left the cuffs around her wrists. “Let’s get you up.” He rolled her onto her back. “On second thought…”

  “Sir?”

  “I’m tempted to get the flogger and work over your front side.”

  She tensed, then drew in a breath. “If you say so.”

  “Perfect response.” Perfect sub. “I think you’ve had enough.” He helped her up. “I like you being a bit helpless,” he admitted.

  “And I like the way you take care of me when I am.”

  “Now the rest of it. Close your eyes.” He removed the hood and tossed it toward the bag. Her hair was matted down, and the back of her neck was drenched with sweat.

  Reece turned on a nightstand lamp and flipped the switch to turn off the overhead light. “Now you can open your eyes.”

  He wiped a thumb across one of her eyebrows. “You did well.”

  “It was delicious. I think I’ll feel some of those for a week.”

  “Good. How was the hood?”

  “Not as horrible as I thought it might be. I think I let it be bigger in my mind than it turned out to be. And…”

  “I’m waiting.”

  “Kind of like being tied up, it allows me the freedom to let go a little more. I wasn’t worried about my expression or hiding tears.”

  “Tears?” He touched her eyelashes.

  “Not from pain.”

  He froze. “Were you scared?”

  “No. Stop. I would have told you. It was just a little overwhelming. But in a good way.”

  “We won’t play with it again. I want to see your expressions, your tears.”

  “And I’d like you to occasionally allow me to want the freedom it provides.”

  “Stalemate.”

  “Not really. It’s ultimately your decision.”

  She was learning. And so was he.

  “Are you pleased with me?”

  “Always.”

  The fact that she seemed to ache to make him happy made his gut tighten. Made him wish— Reece shoved away the thought. He’d told her that they wouldn’t talk about the past, but it was always there, waiting, a trap threatening to steal pleasure from the present. “Let’s get the handcuffs off.”

  After he’d unfastened them, she rubbed circulation back into her wrists. Then she looked up at him, as if wondering what was next.

  “Come here,” he said. He plumped some pillows and pulled back the covers.

  She crawled across the bed.

  As easily as if the separation had never existed, she snuggled into his arms. He held her tight. She didn’t need to know she was the only woman he’d ever spent the whole night with.

  “I don’t think I remembered to say thank you.”

  “You didn’t.” Nor did she need to.

  “My manners must be buried beneath my delirium.”

  “I’ll forgive you.” He soothed her hair back from her face. “And give you a lesson tomorrow to help reinforce my rules.”

  “Promise?”

  He grinned. “You’re making me promise to discipline you?”

  “Yes. And I will hold you to it.”

  She turned toward him, hand splayed on his chest. “Thank you.”

  “That won’t get you out of trouble,” he said.

  “I was hoping it wouldn’t.”

  “What am I going to do with you, Sarah?” When she showed up in his life, common sense went on a testosterone-fueled vacation. The rest of the weekend would be interesting.

  He hoped they both survived it.

  With the way she moved her hand lower, suddenly he wasn’t sure.

  Chapter Four

  Downward dog was giving him a few ideas.

  “Watching you do yoga is a nice way to wake up,” Reece said, rising onto his elbows to get a better look at Sarah. She was wearing her boy shorts and bra. Evidently she’d gone through his pockets. Her hair was as untamed as a Caribbean storm. And she’d never looked more appealing. Wholesome and sensual in one divinely curved package.

  She moved into a lotus position, tucked her hair behind her ears then asked, “How long have you been awake?”

  “Since plank.”

  “That’s quite a few minutes, Mr McRae.”

  “And I’ve enjoyed every second of them. Except for the clothes. I was hoping for naked triangle pose.”

  “No chance.”

  “A man and his morning woody can hope.”

  “A man and his morning woody can order us some coffee before hitting the shower.”

  “You’re a cold, cold woman, Sarah.”

  “Julien already sent a text message to remind you about the basketball game.”

  “He sent you a message?”

  “I guess he tried you an hour or so ago and got no response. Message sender showed up as Birthday Boy. How the hell does he do that?”

  “He takes great delight in doing things that we mere mortals consider impossible.”

  She shook her head. “Does he ever sleep?”

  “Not that I’m aware of. Been the same way since college.” He tossed back the covers.

  “Wow. That erection is impressive.”

  “I blame your downward dog.”

  “When did you become a yoga expert?”

  “I have a DVD. Watched it a few dozen times. Hot, bendable woman in a sports bra and bikini bottoms on a Hawaiian beach. What’s not to enjoy?”

  “You’re supposed to practice along with her.”

  “Watching her got my heart rate up. Finish your workout. Don’t mind me.”

  “Voyeur.”

  “How could I not be? When you’ve got a naked woman contorting her body, I’m happy to be a participant.”

  “Half naked,” she corrected.

  “Not in my mind.” He called room service and asked for a pot of coffee.

  Sarah said something, so he asked the attendant to hold on for a moment.

  “What are you planning to drink?” Sarah repeated. Then she smiled serenely.

  “Make that two pots of coffee,” he said before hanging up.

  “I would have ordered it myself, but I wanted to let you sleep.”

  “If there’s half-naked gymnastics going on, feel free to wake me up.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “You really haven’t matured.”

  “That’s for wine.”

  “Shower, McRae.”

  “Get in here with me.”

  “We saw what happened when we did that last night.”

  “How do you feel? Any bruising? Sore muscles?”

  “Not a single bruise. The one mark that was there last night is gone.”

  “I’ll do better next time.”

  “Good.” Looking at him with those impossibly big, impossibly green eyes, she added, “I like to touch them afterwards.”

  Every time she said something like that, he had an immediate physical reaction. “Grab a condom and take care of this proble
m you caused.”

  Thirty seconds later, he had her beneath the spray, palms flat on the tile as he fucked her from behind.

  He was a gentleman. He let her come first.

  “That doesn’t, er…mean…”

  “Took the edge off,” he assured her, turning her to face him. “You’ll be riding my dick later.”

  He heard a knock on the door, followed by, “Room service.”

  “Since I value my life, I’ll get that,” he offered.

  “Good. Because I can’t move.”

  He grinned.

  A second knock followed, and he called out that he’d be right there. He dried off and wrapped a towel around his waist. No doubt he wasn’t the first guest to do that. And, this being Julien’s party weekend, no doubt Reece wouldn’t be the last.

  The waiter rolled in a cart with the coffee. It also held two bottles of Scotch. “They were waiting for you at the front desk,” the man explained, “so I brought them up. We’d left you a message.” He pointed to the light blinking on the phone.

  Kennedy.

  And a harsh reminder about how the weekend might end. Would end. Reece had no intention of taking her back and exposing himself to that kind of risk again. No matter how sweet the return.

  Reece signed the bill and added a generous tip.

  He heard the shower turn off.

  “Tell me that was the coffee,” she said, exiting the bathroom.

  She had one towel wrapped around her and she was rubbing her hair with a second. “Something wrong?” she asked. Then she saw the bottles of alcohol. “Would you like me to go now? Say thanks for the beating and the sex?”

  “Probably for the best,” he said.

  She froze.

  “But no.”

  “Look, Reece, Sir… Crap. I don’t even know what to call you. Or this. What we’re doing.” She sank on the edge of the bed. “I didn’t expect that this would be easy.”

  “We agreed to give it until Sunday night.”

  “And? What then? I’m starting to think that I’ll want more.”

  “We have no trust between us.”

  “Not true. I trust you.”

  “You didn’t.”

  She frowned.

  “If you had trusted me and what we shared, you would have stayed.”

  “Enough said. I’ll get dressed and…” She inhaled.

  Then he saw her shoulders go rigid.

  She dropped the towel she’d been using to dry her hair. With more confidence, she started again, “I’ll get dressed and see you after your game. I’m not walking away. You want to get rid of me? Send me away.”

  Fuck. He wasn’t sure he could have let her leave, let alone ask her to go.

  “Cream in your coffee?” she asked as if nothing untoward had happened. She stood and crossed to the cart. Without waiting for his answer, she poured each of them a cup and added cream.

  He took the cup she offered to him. “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure.”

  “Look, Sarah…”

  “Unless you’ve changed your mind, unless you’d like to use a safe word, then honor your promise.” She raised her cup in his direction in a toast of sorts, then she took a sip.

  Reece cursed himself for being an ass.

  He was being waited on by the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She was offering a few days with no commitment. The trouble was, for him, at one time, anything less than a lifetime wouldn’t have been enough.

  And now?

  Sarah put her cup on the room’s small table. Though he was certain she was trying for an air of nonchalance, he saw the way her hand shook, betraying her nerves. He knew he was the cause of it, and he did nothing to reassure her.

  Overnight, her dress had fallen on the floor. She picked it up and pulled it over her head, doing a little dance as the material settled into place.

  After draining her cup, she sauntered across the room to him. She slipped on her shoes then leaned in to kiss his forehead. “Enjoy your game.”

  “Sarah.”

  At the door, she paused and looked back at him. “Sir?”

  He shook his head, and she left, quietly closing the door behind her.

  His phone rang. He snatched it up and saw that the caller was the Genius of the Known Universe. Julien, clearly. Reece hadn’t programmed his friend’s name that way.

  “We’re waiting on you. Unless you’re being led around by your overly large dick, get down here.”

  “Overly large?”

  “I provided the condoms. They weren’t too big, were they? I didn’t believe Sarah, but she insisted.”

  “I squeezed into them. Restricted the circulation.” He ended the call, cutting off Julien’s laughter.

  Ten minutes later, he met Julien and Kennedy outside at the multi-purpose area adjoining the tennis courts.

  Nearby, workers were cleaning the swimming pool and hot tub. There wasn’t much activity outside yet, though he heard the distant hum of people who were having breakfast on the patio. Probably not too far from where he’d removed Sarah’s panties last night.

  As always, Kennedy looked cool and collected. No matter what, even in a bar room brawl, the man kept his movie star good looks untarnished.

  Julien could write books on how to live well—a table was lined with water bottles and sports drinks. There was fresh fruit, orange juice and pastries. A cooler contained damp towels, and there was a minibar off to the side. He wore the latest designer basketball shorts and an authentic jersey from one of the California professional basketball teams. His shoes, though…

  “I need a better pair of sunglasses,” Reece said.

  “Neon green is too much?” Julien asked. “Is it because of the sun?”

  Kennedy shrugged.

  Reece had to be the one to tell the truth. “It’s not because of the sun. They’re…” Hideous.

  “They were a gift from Kennedy.”

  “Athletic shoes? You’re involved in athletic shoes now?”

  “Among other things. You might want to see the portfolio. How did your evening go?”

  “We here to play a game or discuss my sex life?”

  “So there is a sex life to discuss.” Julien, sharp as always, seized the opening.

  Reece caught movement out of the corner of his eye and glanced toward an approaching figure. “Grant?”

  “Hey, you made it,” Kennedy said, lifting a hand in greeting.

  “We managed to get him out of his cave,” Julien said. “Had to use Dynamite.”

  “It’s not really a cave,” Grant said.

  “Close enough. It’s near the National Lab. Built into a mountain.” Then with the glee of a kid discussing his favorite action hero, Julien added, “Super-secret stuff. It’s where all my best things are developed.”

  “That was specific,” Kennedy remarked.

  “Damn glad you made it,” Reece said, shaking Grant’s hand. He looked rumpled, as if he’d slept in his jeans and button-down shirt. “Didn’t think you’d ever leave New Mexico.”

  “I assume you don’t mean literal dynamite?” Kennedy asked, showing that he also never missed a detail.

  “No. Working name of my plane. Prototype. Can land on the shortest runway. Not quite as good as a helicopter, but not bad. Explosive take-off power.”

  “Hence the name,” Grant supplied.

  “Stock available?” Kennedy asked.

  “It’s still in development.”

  “Best time to invest.”

  “It’s going to be a success,” Grant added. “I’ve bought in.”

  “Can we forget business for five minutes?” Reece asked.

  “You bet.” Kennedy clapped Grant on the back. “We were discussing Reece’s sex life.”

  “Did you say I could buy into your Scotch business?” Reece asked, desperate for a diversion.

  “I need a drink.” Grant looked at the table in the distance. “What do you have to do to get a drink around here?”

&nb
sp; “You been to bed yet?” Reece asked.

  “Not to sleep. Julien sent an enticement to get me out of the office.”

  “Svetlana is definitely a keeper,” Julien said.

  “Svetlana?” Reece repeated, intrigued. “Russian?”

  “Could be. Or not. She was a spy at one time, according to her résumé.”

  Only a man who loved to hack into foreign intelligence agencies would consider that an asset.

  “I’m not sure which country’s payroll she was on, but she has a lot of talents. Speaks half a dozen languages. Can pilot anything that has a propeller. I can tell you this… I would do anything she asked. Or, even better, I like it when she tells me to do things.”

  “I did exactly as she told me,” Grant supplied with a grin. “I liked it when she strapped me down with that five-point harness. My new favorite saying is sit down and hang on.”

  “Which is why you were up all night.” Kennedy’s tone held a note of admiration.

  “See?” Reece asked. “There’s no need to discuss my sex life.”

  “He’d better hope he scored,” Julien said. “Because he sucks at Horse.”

  Grant scoffed. “We always let you win.”

  The four had been friends since their first year at the University of Texas at Austin. By any definition, they were an odd group, thrown together by student housing and interest in the campus’s co-eds.

  Reece had won admission because a long-forgotten uncle had attended the university and had a building with his name on it. Kennedy went out of rebellion, mostly. The school made his list because it was renowned for business, and it was about as culturally different from home as he could get and still stay in the country. Julien had graduated in the top ten percent of his Texas high school class and been accepted at colleges all across the country. Since his mother still considered herself a hippie, Austin had appealed to her and she’d influenced him to attend. His mom had even rented an apartment in the city to be near him, which was why he’d moved into student housing.

  The biggest surprise was Grant. An interest in engineering and a scholarship had convinced him.

  And after the Night of Infamy in their junior year, where no one would confess or rat on the others, they’d all gone to jail, and the four had become lifelong friends.

  “Where’s my drink?”

  “Bloody Mary mix and vodka are in the refrigerator.”