In the center of the room, two retro beige sofas faced each other. Between them stood a glass coffee table, on which flickered a low, off-white candle.
Otherwise, the lights had been dimmed to a romantic glow. And likely because I was in the midst of experiencing sensory overload, only then did I become aware of the music Austin had chosen for us to listen to tonight. It was a soft, moody, contemporary jazz that surreally matched exactly how I felt at that moment: completely unprepared for the next beat and unaware of what was to come next.
“While I make our martinis, you can either have a seat on one of the sofas and relax, or you can take in the view. Whatever you like.”
“I’m choosing the view,” I said. “Where I live, my view looks nothing like this, as you’ve already seen.”
“One day you’ll have a spectacular view of the city, Sienna. But for now, please enjoy mine. Believe me, it took me years and a hell of a lot of hard work before I finally got that view for myself. I’ll be right back.”
As I walked over to one of the windows and looked out at the city, I thought it looked particularly pretty tonight. After I’d soaked it in, I closed my eyes and listened to the music playing through the surround-sound system, drinking it in and becoming lost in it—until I heard Austin aggressively start to shake our drinks in the kitchen, which brought me back into myself.
I looked over my shoulder as ice and liquid started to smash against each other, and when I turned to look for him, all I saw was the wall that divided us.
He’s seducing me, I thought, returning my attention to the city. But not overtly—he’s being more subtle in person than he was in his texts this morning. He’s playing me now…
I’d come here armed for something more aggressive, but if anything, Austin was going out of his way to make sure I was relaxed—not that he’d fully succeeded when it came to that. After all, seeing him in his tuxedo had nearly done me in—could he possibly have looked any hotter? No. And then there was this gorgeous apartment of his. Everything about it was impeccable. No detail had been overlooked. And nothing about it remotely looked like a bachelor pad. If anything, it looked more like a home to me. His home. A place where he could relax after a long day’s work. I looked around the living room and could only imagine how soothing it would be to sit on one of these sofas with a cocktail in hand and relax while admiring the city.
How the hell was this man still single? It stymied me. I couldn’t make sense of it. This city was filled with gorgeous, accomplished single women, and Austin was the full package. So, I had to wonder. How could it be that no one had managed to open that package yet?
Maybe some have tried, I thought, turning again back to the city. Like me, maybe he’s just been focusing on his career while waiting for the right person to come along.
When I considered that, I stopped myself.
Am I that person? Because if I am—
“Are you enjoying the view?” he said from behind me.
I turned to face him when he said that, and when I did, I saw that he was standing at the living room’s entrance with two martinis in his hands. The light of the candle on the coffee table reflected off the glasses as well as his eyes, which seemed lit with fire as he crossed the room and offered me my drink.
“I’m glad you came, Sienna,” he said. “I know you felt it was a risk. I hope that now you feel it’s less of one.”
No, Austin, I thought as we touched glasses and sipped our drinks. Now I feel that the risk is even bigger than I’d imagined. I should have listened to Julia. I never should have let it go this far. I never should have believed I could do this in person. To your face. Because right now…right now I feel too weak to stop the heat that’s building between us. After all the trouble you’ve gone through tonight, I don’t know if I can even find the words to say what I was planning to say to you. I had no idea you’d go to so much trouble. I’ve completely underestimated everything, and now I feel like a goddamn fool to have believed I could just come here and shut down whatever has been escalating between us.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’m sorry?” I said, looking up at him, startled out of my reverie.
“Your expression just changed. I hope I’m not crossing any lines here, but you just looked overcome by grief.”
Had I? I probably had. And for good reason—I now had a clear idea of the man I needed to leave behind. And it was killing me.
He must have known exactly what I was about to say, because before I could say a word, he took my martini from my hand and placed our drinks on the coffee table. When he turned back to me, there was a pulsing sense of need in his eyes, and he held my face in his hands for a long, heated moment before he acted.
“Austin—”
“No,” he said. “Don’t.”
With one swift motion, he pressed the full weight of his body against mine and nailed me against one of the windows. Everything after that happened so quickly that it left my head spinning. When his lips met mine, the kiss we shared was so electric, intense, and erotic, I could feel it pass from my heart straight through to my toes, which curled upward in my heels as I drank him into me.
When I could no longer help but give him a fierce kiss of my own, I did so—and I knew in my gut that whatever happened next would forever change the course of our lives.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
As we kissed, his lips scorched against my flesh, leaving in their wake what felt to me like fire as my arms reached around the back of his neck and drew him in even closer.
Our tongues collided and danced. Our bodies surged and thrummed. At one point, I felt that the universe was expanding right in front of me—but then I realized what was expanding was Austin, whose crotch was pressed against my left thigh…and my God was the universe ever huge!
As frightened as you are, you know this is right, I thought, shoving aside my initial fears. Let down your guard. Let go of what’s holding you back. At least for tonight. If only for tonight…
I became unhinged.
“Christ, you’re hot,” he said roughly against my ear.
“And your name is Austin—as in Texas,” I said deliriously. “You practically personify heat.”
He clocked me with a humorous smile when I said that, and then—with a wicked grin—he took me into his arms as we flung ourselves headlong into a heated hotbed of desire.
I raked my fingers through his impossibly thick head of black hair and tugged at the back of it, which only made him growl as he reached down and grabbed a handful of my ass.
“Better than I imagined,” he said.
Not to be outdone, I lowered my right hand and took a fistful of his own ass, feeling my knees go a little weak as I did. “And yours is just as tight as I thought it would be.”
Undone by desire, we started to flip horizontally across the living room’s two windows as we kissed each other with a fervor I’d never felt in my life.
First it was my back pressed against the cool panes of glass, then it was his, and then we continued until we were out of windows and had no choice but to go back in the other direction.
As we pinwheeled across the living room, my heart and my soul seemed to shoot straight into the ether as I wondered what had become of me. Who was I? Where was I? How had this man claimed my body and my mind and turned them into a cylinder of sex unleashed?
At one point, Austin removed the wooden stick holding my hair together, and when he did, my hair fell down around my back in a shiver of soft waves. I shook it out and tossed it back, noting the dangerous look of desire that entered his eyes.
“I want you,” he said. “I can’t wait, Sienna. To hell with dinner—we can order takeout later if we want. More than anything in the world, I want to make love to you now. Don’t deny us this moment.”
I looked longingly at him when he said that, thinking about all the ramifications having sex with him would bring, but even as they emerged, they only struck bricks—because I already knew there
was no stopping this from happening. As much as I wanted to deny it, all this had been inevitable. It was time to find out if our connection was real.
“Where is your bedroom?” I asked.
His eyes brightened when I said that, likely because he’d thought I had been about to shut him down. But without missing a beat or saying a word, he swept me off my feet and into his arms as if I weighed nothing. And when he did, our lips crashed against each other again as he led us out of the living room and into the hallway…where I smelled dinner cooking.
“Austin—” I said.
“God, you taste good,” he said when our lips parted.
“Austin, I think you might want to—”
His mouth stopped me again, this time as it lightly kissed the nape of my neck, which felt so tender and sensuous to me that it was enough to silence me just so I could linger in the sheer amazement of it all. But only for a moment. I quickly came back into myself. With my index finger, I lifted his chin so he had no choice but to look at me.
“Austin,” I said.
“I can’t wait to have my—”
“Dinner,” I said to him.
He furrowed his brow at me. “Dinner? Sienna, you’re not dinner. You’re fucking dessert.”
I giggled when he said that, which clearly perplexed him.
“What am I missing here?” he asked.
“Dinner,” I said. “I can smell it cooking in the kitchen. Before you take me to your bedroom, I think you should tend to whatever you’re cooking. I’d hate for it to burn and set off smoke alarms before we do so ourselves.”
“Shit,” he said, swinging me toward the kitchen. “I forgot about dinner.”
“The only thing that should be cooking in your apartment right now is us,” I said in his ear. “Put me down and go take care of the kitchen. I’ll be here waiting for you.”
“I’m not letting go of you,” he said as he strode toward the kitchen. “Not now. You’re coming with me.”
“But with me in your arms, how are you going to manage?”
“Trust me,” he said, “I can manage.”
And because he was so strong, he did.
With his right arm curved along the low of my ass, I held tightly to his neck as we entered the kitchen. There, Austin turned off two ovens before deftly slipping into an oven mitt that was lying on the countertop. He opened the oven doors and removed two pans—a delicious-looking beef tenderloin in one of them and sizzling roasted potatoes in the other. He placed each pan on top of a six-burner stove before looking at me.
“That was going to be dinner,” he said, “along with a Caesar salad.” He arched an eyebrow at me. “Just so you know, I also made a cucumber-infused amuse-bouche.”
“That sounds dirty,” I said to him.
“It was meant to sound dirty.”
“Why am I turned on by you and your culinary ways?” I asked him.
“Probably for the same reason I’m turned on by you and your humor?”
“Well,” I said, glancing down at the tenderloin and the potatoes. “They look wonderful, Austin. Even if they are undercooked.”
“May they rest in peace,” he said before he kissed me again.
Why does he continue to underscore just how funny he is? I thought as we kissed. Because that alone is beyond sexy…
As we left the kitchen and he carried me down the hallway toward his bedroom, I felt at once tense with anticipation, overcome with excitement, and thrilled in the moment. I hadn’t been with a man since Eric.
And so, I had to wonder—what would it be like to make love to Austin Black?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
When we entered Austin’s bedroom, he switched on the lights and dimmed them to a soft glow. When I looked around the room, I glimpsed a masculine, stylish interior dominated by two things.
First was the large window at the room’s far left, which offered sweeping views of a city that seemed as electric as I felt. Second was the king-size bed along the wall across from me. Made in the arts and crafts style, it was the room’s focal point, particularly given its striking brown-leather headboard and the two reading lamps fixed to the wall above it, thus illuminating it.
When Austin put me down in the center of the room, my heart was beating hard against my chest in anticipation of all that was to come, I felt light-headed. With his eyes trained on mine, he shrugged off his jacket, tossed it onto a nearby chair, and started to remove his bow tie. Everything about him was perfect. His chiseled face, his impossibly muscular body, his quiet confidence, his kindness—and the very clear sense that he hungered for me.
He was sexy as hell.
With his tie gone, he leaned forward and gave me a searing kiss that was heated. Fierce. Passionate.
And wanting more.
When we parted, he pressed his forehead against mine for a long moment before he took a step back and started to unbutton his shirt, beginning at the neck and then working his way down. Unable to help myself, I glanced down and saw the broad expanse of his chest as it was slowly revealed to me. Like the rest of him, it was massive, the white T-shirt he wore underneath stretched tightly across it. When the shirt was gone, his stiff, aroused nipples tented the thin material of this T-shirt in ways that were wildly erotic to me. I just stared at the magnificence of him.
“I want to undress you,” he said.
I wanted the same.
In response, I simply turned my back to him so he could unzip me. But when he didn’t do so at once, it occurred to me that Austin was in no hurry when it came to getting me into his bed. As I stood there, unable to see him but knowing he was taking in every inch of me, my senses became acute.
I could hear him breathing—low, shallow, steady. When I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, I smelled his distinct, masculine scent, which was enough to make me shut my eyes tightly.
How long had it been since I’d smelled a man who needed no cologne to define who he was? I’d been surrounded by male models for so long, it had been too long ago to remember—but I loved it. I appreciated it. Finally Austin came up behind me, and when he did, he wrapped his arms low against the flat of my stomach and pulled me toward him so I could feel his excitement throbbing against my ass.
It was too much. It was sensation overload. When he kissed each of my bare shoulders before stepping away from me and beginning to lower my dress’s zipper, I thought for sure I was about to come right then and there.
But I didn’t.
As cool air touched my back, a shiver of anticipation shot through me. I looked at the window in front of me and saw in it my own reflection. I looked like a woman undone. My lips were parted. The desire in my eyes was unmistakable. I thought I looked like another person—someone who’d just been set free.
As my dress came off and Austin helped me out of it, I saw in my reflection the pretty lace bra and panties I’d chosen to wear tonight, and I thanked God I’d had the sense to wear them. Before I could turn to Austin and show them to him, his lips were already against the nape of my neck, where they lingered before he slowly, maddeningly started to kiss the length of my spine, stopping just above the curve of my ass.
The stubble on his chin sent waves of heat through me. I felt his hands curve around my inner thighs, which he began to stroke with the light, feathery touch of his fingertips. With his breath hot against my skin, I could feel myself growing wet for him.
Never in my life had I thought it possible to crave a person so much. But I did. And his name was Austin Black.
“Turn to me,” he said.
He was still kneeling in front of me. If I turned now, he’d come face-to-face with my sex. It was covered for now, but given the thickness I heard in his voice, I knew it wouldn’t be for long.
I turned to him, and when I did, his eyes burned as he looked up at me.
“I want to explore every inch of you,” he said.
Unable to stop this now, I simply shrugged at him. “What’s stopping you?”
He smiled when I said that, and then he stood. He kicked off his shoes, looked straight into my eyes as he removed his belt, and then pulled his T-shirt over his head, finally revealing to me all that had been hidden beneath. I stared at his naked torso. His chest was thick yet cut, and it sported the faintest dusting of soft, dark hair, which trailed down his corded abs before disappearing into his bulging black pants.
“Who should take off my pants?” he asked. “Me? Or should that be you?”
“That would be me,” I said.
“So…what’s stopping you?”
I smiled when he said that, and I watched him put his hands on his narrow hips as he waited for me to do to him what he’d just done to me.
When I knelt before him, I took my time, wanting this moment to build. First, I unfastened his pants, the top of which pretty much split into a wide V due to the sheer pressure of his erection. Without looking at him, I kissed the area of flesh just below his belly button, and then I ran my tongue along it as he gasped in surprise. With a wicked grin, I reached up and tugged at his zipper. As I continued to lower it, I could feel the anticipation building between us—especially when I realized that Austin wasn’t wearing any underwear. When that became clear to me, I stopped and simply looked up at him.
“Do you always go commando?” I asked.
“Not usually,” he said. “But lately I have.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say I’ve been needing the extra room lately.”
“So I saw this morning.”
With a brazenness I rarely felt—but nevertheless seized—I traced my index finger along the curve of his penis, which inflamed him. I went from the base of his balls to the tip of his head before slowly tracing my way back toward the zipper as my own sex throbbed with desire.
Just as I was about to tug his pants down, I suddenly stopped, stood before him as his eyes widened, and then reached down and grabbed his bulge in my right hand as we kissed. After this morning, I already had a good idea of how long Austin was. But I sure as hell wasn’t prepared for just how thick he was, which unnerved me.
Faking It Page 13
