by Nina Crespo
Other than music, she knew nothing about him. What if her instincts were wrong? What if she couldn’t do this?
Hands shaking, she strummed one of the instruments. A low hum vibrated into her hand. “This doesn’t look like a regular guitar.”
Thane slid his arms around her waist, and he fit her snuggly to his front. “That’s a viola caipira. It’s a folk instrument from Brazil.”
She stroked the next instrument. “This is a mandolin, right?”
“No. It’s a bouzouki.” His thick erection swelled low on her back, and her heart sped up. Coaxed by the thrill of his arousal, she moved her hips in a deliberate sway.
A deep exhale tickled her nape. “Third one on the right.” Huskiness deepened his voice. “That’s a mandolin.”
Open-mouthed kisses swept down her neck. Drugged by the sensual assault, she tilted her head, giving him better access. “What about the rest of your collection?”
“I plan on showing you lots of things.” Inch by tingling inch, he lowered the zipper at her back. “But guitars aren’t one of them.”
Fabric grazed over the tips of her breasts as it fell, and a whimper escaped from her throat. Caresses down her waist and his lips ghosting down her spine to the top of her thong’s satin G-string sent desire coursing through her belly. The dress puddled on the floor.
“You’re a knockout in this.” He stroked up her outer thighs and traced the thin lines of satin on hips. A love bite sank into the bare curve of her butt. “And you’re damn beautiful out of it.”
Unsteady on her stilettos, she leaned into the heat of his chest. Clutching his thighs, she dug her nails into his jeans. “I want to see you, too.”
“In a minute.” He nudged her sideways and placed her hands on two empty brackets on the guitar rack. “If you don’t like what I’m doing, let go and I’ll stop.”
Anticipation swirled inside of her as she curled her fingers around the cool metal. For the reward of hard, thick length inside of her, she’d hold on for dear life.
A slow, torturous caress up her rib cage clued her into his plans. Sensual torture. Tweaks to her nipples sent charges of pleasure straight to her core. The arch of her back brought the teasing push of his erection against the cleft of her ass. She lifted her breasts into his hands, desperate for more feather-light swirls and harder squeezes, and ground against him. Her skin flushed with heat and felt stretched over every nerve ending.
Thane played with her nipple and stroked his other hand down toward the scalloped edge of her thong. Pausing, he leisurely circled the pad of his thumb around her belly button.
Her painfully aroused sex quivered. “Don’t tease.” She moaned.
“So you want me to stop?”
“Yes.”
His hands froze, and her heart skittered in her chest. “No. Wait.”
Thane chuckled and small puffs of air caressed her earlobe.
She gripped the brackets tighter and forced herself to breathe. “I’m getting you back for this.”
“I’m counting on it.” He strummed one nipple, then the other. The light scrape of calluses heightened need to a frenzy as his other hand roamed—her belly, her hips, the curves of her butt, her inner thighs. Purposely avoiding the place where she wanted him most.
The slow glide into her thong almost made her draw blood as she sunk her teeth into her bottom lip. She gripped the brackets harder. Metal bit into her palms, but she refused to let go.
Delicious heat radiated through her breasts. Her sex clenched in greedy pulses. “Thane.” Celine widened her stance, arms shaking from the effort of holding herself up.
“Tell me what you want,” he whispered.
She threw her head back against his chest. “Touch me.”
“Where?” He swiped kisses down her neck.
“Inside of me. Please.” She begged. “I need—”
He delved his fingers between her slickened folds, and a cry of relief burned her throat. With each thrust, her hips automatically rocked forward. She matched the sensual in-and-out rhythm. With every graze and brush against her clit intensity built. Her orgasm hovered.
He stopped.
“No.” She wailed.
“You’re so sweet, so sexy.” The raspy need in his voice made her weak, and Thane wrapped his arm around her. “But I want to be inside of you when you come.”
Burning with need, she rested her forehead against the wall. “Hurry.”
Cool air wicked moisture from her spine. The slide of his zipper and the shush of fabric sliding from skin made her shake. She should help him or at least turn around. His bare chest brushed her back, and hot, rigid flesh bumped and throbbed against her butt.
“Condom,” she breathed out.
He stilled. “Fuck.”
Exactly. A bubble of near hysterical laughter almost escaped her throat.
“Hold on.”
She glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see him rifling through his jeans, but he wasn’t in the room.
Oh, please don’t tell me he had to go upstairs.
She turned back, preparing to let go of the brackets, but the warm spicy scent of cologne and man surrounded her.
“Let me make it up to you.” Before she took her next breath, his cock sank into her from behind.
Celine’s breath caught. He pulled out, and she pushed back. His slow glide made a sound she’d never made in life purr out of her throat. Thane didn’t just move. He fucked like a man who enjoyed giving pleasure. Rolling and pumping his hips in an alternating pace of slow, hard, and fast thrusts in tune with her movements and moans for more.
Pure sensation exploded into urgency, and she lost herself in the rhythm of each stroke into her body. She let go of the brackets and flattened her hands on the wall. Thane took hold of her hips and raised her higher on her toes. He grunted in satisfaction as he stroked deeper. “That’s it. Take it all. It’s yours.”
The smell of sex, the slap of skin against skin, the way her whole body burned from his thrusting cock. It all gripped her in a tailspin.
Tingles moved up from her toes as her orgasm unfurled like fire. She cried out, clawing to reach the brackets, trying to hold on as she gave him what he wanted, what he demanded. All of her. One deep surge forward pushed her flush against the wall. Coolness seeped into her breasts as heat radiated into her back. He lifted her hips higher and seated deep, satisfying her and leaving her craving more. His body grew rigid. The muscles in his thighs tensed and he gripped her tighter. His body shook with hard, intermittent strokes as he climaxed. Her knees buckled, and Thane wrapped his arms around her waist and shoulders.
Harsh breaths lifted his chest and his heart pounded into her back. “I’ve got you. You won’t fall.”
As Celine rested against him, a faint warning echoed in her thoughts. It was the exact opposite. If she let herself go, she’d fall straight for him.
Chapter 6
I’m lost.
In an all too familiar dream, Celine walked down an endless road surrounded by swirling fog. Unease gripped her chest. Panic sped up her heart. With each breath, less and less air filled her lungs. Where was she? How did she get here? Up ahead, a figure walked out from the grayness. Relief rushed through her.
Dominic. Tall, broad-shouldered, light brown hair cut in a military-style fade. His kind eyes expressed his love.
She went to take a step, but her feet remained stuck to the ground. She tried again. Struggling, reaching out for him. Why was he standing there when she needed his help? She started to call out. Before she could, he offered her a small, sad smile and stepped back into the fog.
No, wait! Dominic, come back.
She snapped out of sleep. Gasping, she endured the emotions washing over her. Disbelief, heartache, waves of despair followed by unsettling stillness. This time, something was different. The pillow she clutched wasn’t hers. The scent of the laundry soap wafting up from the sheets wasn’t familiar, and a man spooned against her back. She took in a shaky bre
ath, fighting mixed feelings. No, not Dominic. Thane.
His deep exhale tickled the nape of her neck. “Are you all right?” He pulled her back against him, and his erection hardened against her lower back.
Awareness uncoiled, and she squeezed her thighs shut. Her body still wanted him, but in all fairness to him, her mind was in a different place.
“I’m fine.” She nudged his arm, trying to ease out of his hold. “But I should go.”
“Why? The sun’s not up yet.” He nuzzled his face into her neck and planted a kiss behind her ear. “You must have big plans with your girlfriends.”
“No. I work on weekends.”
“What?” He chuckled. “You have to go out for fun sometime. What do you do when you’re not working?”
She hugged the pillow tighter. “I haven’t done anything. At least not in a while.”
He lifted his head. “You mean not since losing your fiancé.”
She stared at the shadowy outline of the picture hanging on the wall. The story of her social life for the past year was as vague. “I guess so. I want to, but I haven’t found any new places to go.”
He dropped a kiss to her shoulder and wrapped his arm around her and the pillow. “Do you still like the old places?”
“Yes.”
“Then why not go there?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because I don’t want to go by myself, but it’s too hard on people. Once they realize it’s a place Dominic and I enjoyed, they start acting weird.”
Lauren and Ari avoided any associations with her past and so did her staff. The last time she’d treated them to lunch at the same restaurant where she’d thrown a birthday party for Dominic, it had been a disaster. Everyone kept staring as if they expected her to fall apart right in the middle of the main course. Since then she’d made it a point not to go to those places or mention anything about Dominic. “I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable.”
“That’s their problem, not yours. There’s nothing wrong with you wanting to make new memories in the places you enjoyed with him.”
He moved away, and she gave in to the gentle press of his hand to lie on her back. Bright moonlight illuminated the ridiculous amount of hard muscle in his torso, along with the sincere expression on his face. “Come on, tell me. If we were hanging out together this weekend, where would you want to go?”
“Well.” She hesitated. But what was the harm of living out the fantasy of making Thane the boyfriend in her head? “First, we’d go to this little café downtown where they make beignets from scratch. We have to get there right when they open because they’re gone in an hour. If we miss out, the next best thing is their homemade French toast with real maple syrup and butter.”
“You’re killing me.” He groaned. “Do we get bacon?”
She nodded. “And all the gourmet coffee you can drink.”
“That place is at the top of the list. What’s next?”
Place by place, she planned the perfect day in her mind, seeing him, not Dominic, as she imagined where they’d go. An art festival by the beach, her favorite vintage clothing store, the wine-tasting gallery offering tapas and live music on Sundays, the movie theatre she liked because they had the best popcorn and reclining seats.
She smiled as another idea came to mind. Something she’d never done with anyone else.
“What?” Thane’s brow rose as he smiled down at her.
“No, it’s boring.”
“I still want to hear it.” He rested his hand on her belly and stroked his fingers in a lazy pattern on her skin. “Tell me.”
“Well.” Heat flushed into her cheeks, and she shrugged against a sudden shyness. “Sometimes, I like to sit at the park in the historic district. I thought it would be nice to have you bring your guitar and sing to me.”
His hand stopped moving and he looked away.
“See, I told you it was bad idea.” Celine breathed out a shaky laugh and inched closer to the edge of the bed. She’d taken the fantasy too far.
“No, it’s not.” Thane caught her around the waist and slid her back across the mattress. “It’s perfect.” He opened his mouth to say something more but stopped.
“What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Wait a minute.” She playfully poked his chest. “You just made me tell you about our weekend. You can’t—”
Thane covered her mouth with his and lured her in with the draw and pull of his lips. He lifted a hairbreadth away. “Don’t leave yet. Stay.”
He slid two fingers into her sex and excuses derailed with the slow trace of his thumb around her clit. Lost in heady sensation, she fisted the covers and lifted her hips for more. His warm mouth closed over her nipple, sucking, biting, teasing. Each tandem stroke into her sex and flick of his tongue obliterated worry completely. He’d promised her all the pleasure and passion they could share in one night. Technically, the night wasn’t over.
* * * *
Thane devoured Celine’s breathy cries, and need surged like sparks through his blood. Primed and ready to explode. Cool off with a long, cold shower. Let her walk away. The rational part of him commanded it, but the part of him driven to have her one last time prevailed. This was for her, not him. This was about easing her sadness. Someday soon she wouldn’t remember him, but maybe a part of her would hold on to their night together. Maybe she’d move on and let her passion instead of loss rule her life. She deserved happiness. He couldn’t predict the future or permanently erase the past. For a few moments longer, he could take her away from the memories of all she’d lost. Show her how special she was in this brief moment of time.
With an urgent moan, she untangled her legs and nudged him on his back. As they rolled, her lips bumped and brushed against his. Teasing nips and barely there kisses bred frustration. He threaded his fingers into her hair, holding her in place as he sealed his lips over hers. Every plunge and stroke of their tongues infused him with intoxicating heat.
Celine pushed from his chest. As she fit her pussy tightly against him, it took everything he had not to sink inside of her balls deep.
He slid his palms up her supple thighs and molded his hands to her ass. “Baby, unless we’re going bareback this time, you need to glove me up now.”
Smiling, she grabbed one of the condom packages on the nightstand. His mouth went dry as he endured each long second of her rolling it down. She positioned her opening against his cock, braced her hand on his chest, and sank down. He reached for her hips to set the pace, but she knocked his hands away. Her breasts pillowed against him as she swept kisses up to his throat and rested her cheek against his. “No way—this is my ride.” Her light chuckle vibrated into his chest, tugged low in his abdomen, gripped his cock.
“Whatever you want.” With the next roll of her hips, more blood surged below his waist. His balls tightened, aching for release, but he held back.
She rose and fell in a sensual rhythm. Torturing, teasing, wrenching groans out of him as she clamped around him and lifted up. Suspended in sweet agony, she made him wait, finally sinking back down, taking him deep.
The scent of desire, her sweet caress, her lush pussy grasping his cock. She brought him closer to the place he’d buried under music and missions. All the constraints he’d let get in the way of relationships. He didn’t want to pull back—couldn’t pull back. With the next fluid roll of her hips, he slipped over the edge. His future crystal clear. He’d wake up from his dreams wanting only her. Feel cheated when he chose another woman to satisfy his needs. Her hips undulated in another slow roll, and a groan whooshed out with his breath. Thane’s heart raced, and sweat broke out on his skin. No. He couldn’t let her get so far into his head. Calling on every skill he’d learned, he refocused. Reconning new terrain, learning an opponent, pleasing a woman, they all required the same approach. Observe weakness then seize the objective.
He grabbed her thighs and prepared to flip her under him. He’d drive them both to a quick relea
se. But her soft gaze and the rise and fall of her hips bound him like invisible threads to the mattress. Beckoned him to wait. Alive with pleasure, she was so beautiful. Thane snaked his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her down for a hard kiss. Her tongue matched his stroke for glide. His hands shook as he found her clit and her breathing quickened with whimpers. Arching back, she writhed against his hand. Her sex fisted around him, and wet heat bathed his length. Climax gripped him hard and fast. His balls tightened. Quickening the pace, he bucked into her. So good. All his. Never want it to stop.
Losing the battle, he surrendered.
* * * *
Thane got out of bed.
Celine slept soundlessly on her stomach, the sheet resting below the dimples low on her back.
He instantly hardened. Fighting the urge to get back into bed, he put on briefs. He phased to the kitchen and poured water into the coffeemaker.
When she’d mentioned the park, it was as if he could feel the sun and smell the grass. He could see her lying there smiling up at him as he played his guitar, and he’d wished it were real.
He’d brought a lot of women to his bed in the past few weeks. Different shapes, sizes, and ethnicities with names and faces he hadn’t bothered committing to memory. No promises, just one-night hookups he’d gladly ushered out the door before sunup. Hours of wasted time he’d gladly exchange for more with Celine.
Fuck. What was wrong with him? One night was what they’d both wanted. Even if he had time for the weekend she’d mentioned, he wasn’t the one to give it to her. It belonged to her and some guy with every intention of enjoying those places and making time for new ones. Jealousy and emotions he wouldn’t dare define sliced into him. No. She’d described their special day in the park. Something he should experience with her, not some other guy.
Thane grabbed the package of coffee from the counter. Releasing a harsh breath, he slammed it back down and grounds spilled onto his hand. He could travel into the future. Go anywhere he envisioned in his mind. See seconds ticking by as if the world were in slow motion, but even with all his power, he couldn’t have more time with Celine. The first weak rays of dawn lit up the back terrace. She had to work today and soon he’d receive word on a new mission. He couldn’t give her the park, but he could take his place as the first man who intertwined what she loved from her past with something new.
