“So…” She tipped her head to the side and smiled. Her hair had slipped free of its knot, and her wet skin glistened in the light. She looked sleek and seductive as a mermaid. “When can I claim my reward?”
Coy as her delivery was, the question managed to drop like a stone squarely in his gut, a heavy reminder that she wasn’t looking to form a bond of friendship here. For her, he had a singular purpose. Sex. A week of training her body to release stress and accept pleasure. He couldn’t even fault her for such narrow expectations, because that’s exactly what he’d offered. Six days, a soul-crushing orgasm the likes of which she’d never experienced, and no complications.
“You want your reward?”
She nodded, but her smile slipped a little, which told him he was doing a piss-poor job of keeping a lock on whatever the hell was eating at him. Fuck disappointment. He was hard as a rock, holding a woman who wanted nothing from him except the rock-hard cock.
What more do you want?
Nothing. The situation suited him perfectly. He just had to keep reminding himself about the no-complications part, because although he wasn’t even on a first-name basis with her, Arden St. Sebastian made it too easy to forget his limits.
Just like you “forgot” to call Aunt Evelyn yesterday and cancel the date?
He still had two days to do that, and he would, because this thing had limits for both of them. The trick was to do what he did best. Enjoy the here and now. He lifted one corner of his mouth in a smile he knew from experience sent a crystal-clear message, and congratulated himself when the uncertainty disappeared from hers. “The timing depends on you, Czarina. How fast can you swim?”
Chapter Nine
This week is exactly what you needed.
Not just the week. The man, Arden silently corrected as she scissor-kicked through the natural pool and followed him toward the far end where the banks narrowed so the surrounding vegetation formed a fringy shield. He wasn’t just reintroducing her to orgasms, he was reintroducing her to fun. Some of the success might have to do with the fact that the parameters they’d set provided a perfect safe zone from real life. Arden St. Sebastian didn’t exist here, and after the last few months, that was gloriously liberating. The ironic result? She could relax with him, let her guard down and be herself in ways she hadn’t even realized she’d abandoned lately. The whole thing was so beautifully risk-free.
He sent her a backward glance and the kind of grin that contradicted any characterization of him as risk-free. Then he dived under the surface and disappeared beyond the veil of leaves. In the moment of solitude, with just the steady lap of water and the steady stream of her conscience to answer to, she acknowledged the risks that had started circling the edges of her mind like dorsal fins since somewhere around the time she’d experienced the best sunrise of her life. Yes, it would be easy to get addicted to the escape. To orgasms, and fun. And talented astronauts.
But that wasn’t going to happen, precisely because they had set parameters. This fairy tale ended in two days.
Does it have to?
Yeah, it did. She couldn’t be the czarina forever, and even if she could, Rider wasn’t looking for forever. For his own reasons, he was perfectly happy returning to his space station at the end of the week.
The thing to do, she decided as she drew in a breath and sank beneath the water, was enjoy the moment.
A few strokes propelled her under the sheltering leaves, and then two strong arms encircled her. They pulled her forward as they lifted, and she found herself standing shoulder-deep on a submerged ledge of rock, pressed against Rider’s hard, warm body. Sunlight filtered through the curtain of greenery shielding their small cavern, but she didn’t get much chance to look around, because Rider lowered his head and then an impatient mouth devoured hers.
He kissed her like he’d been waiting to do it for years…eons…and someone might yank her away at any moment. There was no way she could have prepared herself for the teeth-clicking, oxygen-stealing, mouth-fucking assault that left her ravished and hungry for more. She scaled him like a mountain and hooked her legs around his waist. His fast, delving tongue invaded at will, inciting and abandoning every vulnerable hollow with wicked efficiency. Wet, slightly salty lips slammed into hers with satisfying intensity, over and over, sliding away just as abruptly, only to crash down again. She cupped his jaw, determined to claim that avid mouth, even as she chased after every sensation like a woman scrambling after beads from a broken necklace.
His fingers were just as fast as his mouth. They tangled in her bikini top, yanking it off. She had no idea what happened to it after that, and she really didn’t care because at last she could press her breast into his big hand and feel the rough caress of his palm.
She arched in his arms. When she tore her mouth from his to moan for more, or less…or more, he scraped his teeth across her earlobe and muttered, “You must have known when you tied on that tiny red bikini you’d be torturing me all day.”
She had. Yes, she had. Her neck muscles took a time-out, and her head fell back as he plucked her nipple. “You said wear a swimsuit.”
“That’s not a swimsuit. It’s a cock-torment, and you know it. The top ought to be illegal. It shows everything. I had to drive us here with a ruthless hard-on because each dip and turn in the road made your tits bounce, and let me tell you, there are a lot of fucking dips and turns on the road to Hana. Those little triangles were red flags, and I was the goddamn bull.”
The confession thrilled her as much as the way he covered her breast with his hand. She raised her head, but couldn’t muster up the strength to open her eyes. “Should I apologize?”
“Eventually. But sixty miles is a long time to suffer, Czarina. You’ve earned some very special punishment.” So saying, he moved his hand to the side of her breast. “Watch.”
Her eyes were already open and glued on the sight of his tan hand against her much paler breast. Then he gave it one quick, restrained slap. They both watched her flesh jiggle from the impact. She felt the rebound all the way to her core and gasped at the sensation. Before she fully absorbed it, fully separated the pleasure from the shock, he transferred his attention to the other breast and delivered the same punishment.
Her lips parted to release another gasp, and then another. She lost count after that, caught in a thrall as he delivered more little slaps—to the undersides, the gentle swells of her cleavage, and again to the outside curves. When he paused, she collapsed against him, breathing heavily, pressing her aching nipples against the cool, soothing granite of his chest. “Sorry,” she murmured into his shoulder.
He trailed a hand along her spine. “Did you think the jump would be the most reckless thing you did today?”
“I didn’t know.”
“And now?” The roving hand sneaked into the back of her bikini bottoms—way down—and squeezed her ass.
She blindly sought his mouth. “Bring on the reckless. I want to be crazy. When I look back on today, I want to blush at the things I had the nerve to do with you.”
A low groan reached her ears. The world spun behind her eyelids, and then her butt landed on a hard, smooth surface. The move jarred her eyes open, and she realized he’d set her on a water-worn rock bordering the pool. Her bare skin tingled where the air touched it.
He stood between her parted knees, still waist-deep in the water. While she watched, he slid his palms up the insides of her thighs, spreading them. “Things like this?”
Before she could answer, he lifted her legs, hitched them over his shoulders so she fell back onto her elbows, and put his mouth in a place fairly referred to as her bikini area.
Her cry of surprise echoed in her ears, as did the gasp of pleasure when he kissed her through the swimsuit with the same unquenchable hunger he’d kissed her mouth with moments ago.
Her spine arched. She flung one arm over her head, instinctively searching for something to hold on to and coming up empty. The other dived between her legs to tan
gle in his hair. Despite the pleasure building under his busy mouth, a protest rose in the back of her mind. “You promised…” she managed, tugging at his scalp. “You promised me—”
“I also promised you an orgasm. My cock doesn’t go anywhere near your mouth until I know you’re going to come for me.”
While she digested the requirement, he shifted both of her legs over his left shoulder, curled his arm around her crossed knees to secure them, and then straightened. The move lifted her hips. With his free hand he raked her bikini down, turning it to a tangle of fabric banding her thighs. The position left certain needy areas of her anatomy locked between her legs, while comparatively untouched, but equally sensitive portions hung in the air, bare and unprotected.
“Can you come for my mouth, Czarina? Come for me like this, with your knees crossed tight, and your clit throbbing in the tight trap between your thighs while I bite this wet ass, kiss, and lick, and tongue-fuck everything I can reach.”
“I-I don’t know,” she answered, honestly. She was hit or miss with oral sex, too. But she really, really wanted him to try. So much she squirmed at the thought. The small, unconscious act brought those cocky brows up.
“Let’s find out.” Then he proceeded to deliver on the biting, the kissing, the licking and—oh sweet mercy—the tongue-fucking. Everywhere he could reach, and the man had impressive reach.
Devastating reach.
Her eyes flew open, and her shocked cry echoed off the rocks. Reflexively, she tightened her abs and tried to twist away, but he didn’t allow it. He spanked her ass hard enough to let her know his tongue wasn’t on some aimless wander. He knew exactly what he was doing. Keeping a firm grip on her hip, he stayed the course. All she could do was clutch at the damp rock under her, try not to buck too hard or moan too loudly as he introduced her to his version of a thorough tongue-lashing.
His raspy jaw scoured her skin. His breath danced over it. Warm lips coaxed her rioting nerve endings to a false state of calm, only to have his fierce tongue whip them up again. Just when she thought she might have to beg for mercy, he lifted that evil mouth away from her just enough to say, “Don’t waste those hands touching a rock, Czarina. Touch yourself.”
Despite the water still beading off her and the shade of their hideaway, her body burned. His instructions, and the fact that he seemed intent on waiting until she followed them, sent flames of need licking along every inch of her skin. She followed them, sweeping her hands over her hips and up her torso. Her palms felt cool from the rock, and her already-tight nipples contracted even more in anticipation of her own touch. Never had she fondled her breasts in front of a guy before out of any instinct except basic theatrics. But doing it now made her groan out loud.
Whiskers abraded more territory, signaling that Rider’s mouth was on the move again. Her body responded with shivers she couldn’t control. The need burned inward, merging and concentrating in two hot spots—a place low in her abdomen, where volatile sensations stacked together like sticks of dynamite, and the fragile fuse currently imprisoned by her clenched thighs.
His mouth slowed and lingered. Tasted. “I love this part of your pussy. It’s so soft.” Those low words caressed the freshly licked area, leaving it wet and tingling. “So kissable.” He followed that with a kiss. Slow. Hard. Dragging her flesh through his teeth as he eased away. The urge to open her legs quickly escalated from a relentless pressure to an all-consuming compulsion. She couldn’t think past it. Especially when he growled, “So fuckable,” and speared his tongue into the crevice formed by her crossed legs.
“Please,” she whimpered, and struggled against the band of his arm. The thought of his mouth there, at her center, left her light-headed.
Two blunt fingertips tapped along the threshold of the passage he’d left quivering and painfully empty after the taunt of his tongue. “Do you have an answer for me yet?”
He punctuated the question with another delve of his tongue—dangerously close but so brutally fast she gasped. Thoughts whizzed through her mind like leaves in a tornado, but she couldn’t catch hold of any of them. God, she was going to have to answer him, and she wasn’t sure she could form words besides, Please, Rider, part my legs. Kiss me wide open, and then close your dirty mouth over me. Lick me. Own me. Suck the ache right out of me and make this need go away.
Maybe she said it out loud, because he looked up at her. His clear brown eyes burned with the same hot need ravaging her. She found some satisfaction in that. She wasn’t the only one being victimized by pleasure. He was dealing with it, too, and she could relieve him by taking his big, gorgeous cock in her mouth and giving it with the same treatment she desperately wanted for herself. She could do that. Possibly without irretrievably losing her hold on the orgasm waiting at the apex of her crossed legs. But even if she did lose it, she wouldn’t regret anything. He’d been so generous with her already this week, fixating on her pleasure, paying close attention to what she liked in a way no other man had, and patiently making sure she found a release no matter how long or intricate the process. Taking care of her.
She could take care of him, for once.
“Focus, Czarina.” His voice penetrated her thoughts at the same moment his fingers penetrated the twitching muscles guarding her entrance. The physical world snapped back into the forefront. She landed in her own body with a short, inelegant groan.
He stirred his fingers slowly. “Are you going to come?”
“You have to let me”—God, she couldn’t be still when he did that—“open my legs. Please.”
“Concentrate on this. On how you feel like this, sealed tight, all soft and swollen around a knot of nerves so sensitive to touch and pressure, the slightest variation in either could send you over.”
She abandoned her breasts and clamped her hands to her trembling thighs. And then, because she had no shame, she reached around and traced her way to where his fingers fucked her with maddeningly shallow, abusively leisurely strokes. “Please.” She licked her lips and tried to calm herself, because somehow she’d ended up on the edge of a sexual panic. “I want more. I want you. You promised.”
“Are you going to come if I part your legs?” He sank his fingers in deeper, sweeping along her inner walls.
“Yes!” Her hips flexed and lifted of their own accord. “God, yes. I think so.”
“Good.” He withdrew, leaving her bereft, but rested his hand there in a gesture she should have considered offensively possessive—this is mine—but instead she found the protection of his hand over her most tender, most vulnerable parts strangely reassuring. “Here’s the deal, Czarina. I’m going to let you go, climb up there, and get into position. But you are not going to open your legs. Not a millimeter. Your job is to lie there with your legs in the air, knees and ankles crossed, and keep that orgasm locked up tight. Wait like a good girl while I slide my cock between those pouting lips. Can you do that?”
She honestly didn’t know if she was strong enough to hold a leg-lift that long. Especially not in her current condition. She tightened her abs and lifted her legs off his shoulder. “Hurry. It hurts.”
“I know. Believe me, I’m hurting, too, but no matter how much it hurts, you’re going to do it. Hold that position while I feed myself into your mouth as deep as you can take—deeper than you’ve taken anyone before. Hold it while I make sure you can handle what I’ve given you. Once I’m sure you’re good to go, I’ll tell you to lower your legs. But even then, you’re not going to open them.”
“I’m not?” Her muscles were already starting to burn. Somehow, the strain only added to the pressure building inside her. Was he going to make her earn her orgasm this time, by seeing to him first? Fair enough, but she hoped she would make it that long.
“No. That privilege is mine. Understand, Czarina? It’s mine.”
…
“I understand.”
Her words were barely a whisper, but he knew the weakness in her voice wasn’t a sign of uncertainty. She was co
nsumed in the moment, and verbal responses took too much effort. All of those eternal stressors that invaded her mind to interfere with her pleasure were far away. She was so ready.
He was ready, too. Insanely ready. He dragged his trunks off and tossed them aside, but even the cool water couldn’t calm his raging cock. Pressure formed a painful weight in his balls. Every beat of his heart sent more blood into his shaft. Despite it all, he took a moment to soak her in. She’d never know what a sight she made, with her slender body laid out on the rock—legs in the air, ass a little red from the scrape of his stubble, hands draped across her breasts. Her damp skin glistened in the watery light, and her long hair flowed away from her face to form rivers of dark silk over the weathered basalt. And that face? An uncontrived and irresistible seduction, with her heavy-lidded eyes, her lust-flushed cheeks, and lips parted to release quick, shallow breaths. This was the face of raw, feminine need. A woman desperate for a man.
For him.
Jesus, she was beautiful, and Jesus, he’d fucked up, because once again he wasn’t going to get to watch her come. Tomorrow, he vowed as he climbed onto the rock. He’d fix that tomorrow.
Her eyes raced over him as he moved over her. Impossibly, he got harder, and harder still as he watched her gaze focus on his cock and her tongue slide over her upper lip. Her hands closed around his ankles.
“Come down. Give it to me. Now.”
He was on his knees before she finished speaking. Carefully, he gathered up her hair, twisted it around his fist, and kept her head still while he moved closer. Once he straddled her face, he draped the smooth rope over her chest where he wouldn’t be in danger of kneeling on it. She needed to be free to move. “Open your mouth, Czarina.”
She responded immediately and gave him yet another sight to appreciate. Head tipped to an accommodating angle, lips parted in invitation, and round, rapt eyes trained on his jutting cock. He wrapped his fist around the base. Although it was a risky move at this stage, he tightened his grip and choked his shaft a little, because he wanted to be perfect for her. Then he primed the pump even more with a firm pull, wringing a drop of liquid from his dick in the process. It beaded on the crown, and a shiver rippled down his spine at the thought of her flicking her tongue over the tip to lick it away.
Compromised in Paradise Page 11
