by Jianne Carlo
She knew the minute slumber left Terry by the slight hitch of his lungs against her back.
“Mornin’ darlin’,” he said, his voice sleep-gruffed.
His morning erection lengthened and thickened along her bottom cheek, and she scooted closer, rubbing her rear in a slow grind.
“Are you okay?” His deep baritone reverberated against her skin, skidding shivers to her curling toes. “You were in such a deep sleep last night. I didn’t have the heart to wake you up.”
She turned to face him, and he slid down on the pillow until their faces were level.
“I have a bit of a headache.”
“You’re very pale,” he said and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “I noticed you didn’t finish your food last night. Was the fish off?”
“I don’t like macadamia nuts, or rather, they don’t like me. I think one must have gotten into the vegetable medley. I feel kind of queasy too.” She rubbed her stomach.
“Su-Lin, darlin’, why’d you order the dish if you didn’t want it?”
“Uncle James said there was too much mercury in Mediterranean sole. He ordered the salmon instead.”
“Darlin’, I’m not understanding what happened.” He tucked a strand of silken hair behind her ears.
“I should have told Uncle James I’m allergic to macadamia nuts, I suppose. I don’t like to make a fuss.” A wave of nausea washed up her throat; she closed her eyes and breathed deeply.
“You’re not well,” Terrence said, leaning on his elbows and raking her features. “Look at me, darlin’, tell me what you’re feeling. Are you nauseous? You’re perspiring.” His thumb brushed her forehead. “I think we need to get you to a doctor.”
“No, please. I’ll be okay. Maybe a glass of water?”
“Don’t move a muscle. I’ll be right back.”
The mattress lifted as Terry levered off the bed, and the slight move collided with her roiling stomach. Su-Lin raced to the bathroom, passing Terry on the way. She threw up convulsively, belly heaving, damp hair clinging to her cheeks.
“Easy, easy, darlin’,” he crooned, his arms encircling her, warming her clammy flesh. “Let it all come up. Better to get it all out.”
“I don’t want you to see me like this,” she mumbled and tried to twist out of his hold.
“Shh. Here, take a sip of water,” he said, placing a cool glass against her lips. “Small sips. We need to keep you hydrated.”
She vomited the water.
“I’m taking you to the hospital,” Terrence stated and scooped her into his embrace. “You’re looking paler, darlin’, and you’re covered in sweat. I think you’ve got a bad case of food poisoning.”
“I’m okay. It’s just my reaction to the nuts. I need an antihistamine. It’s getting harder to breathe.”
“I know we have a supply in our emergency kit, but is there a particular brand you need?”
“Brown bottle, in my bathroom cabinet,” she managed to blurt amid fighting off a fresh upsurge of queasiness.
By the time Terry returned with the pills and a cup of water, the sick feeling had abated, replaced by clogged breathing.
“Su-Lin, you’re gasping for breath. Your skin’s taking on a bluish tinge. That’s it. I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“N0,” she managed to get out and held up one hand. “Pill…works…ten minutes.”
“In ten minutes, we can be in Nice.” He snatched a blanked from an adjacent armchair and wrapped it around her.
“Wait.” She panted, clutching the soft cotton. “Five…five…minutes.”
“Not a second longer,” he said, then sat on the bed and curled her onto his lap. In between stroking her back, he checked his watch.
Gradually, her breathing came under control and a numbed drowsiness tugged at her brain.
“Your eyes are closing. Should I let you sleep?”
She nodded. “Feel better when wake up.”
The antihistamine worked its magic, and she succumbed to lethargic slumber and the safety of Terry’s strong arms cuddling her close to his chest. His rhythmic even breathing coaxed her heart into a similar cadence and she slept relieved of all worries. When Su-Lin opened her eyes some indefinite period later, Terry’s gray gaze greeted her.
“Hi,” he said, tracing the line of her jaw. “Better?”
“Mmm, a little groggy. And hungry.”
He pressed his palm to her forehead. “No nausea?”
“No. I’m feeling okay. Honest.” She studied his somber features. “You look awfully serious.”
“You scared me, darlin’. After you took that antihistamine, your breathing slowed so much, I almost rushed you to the hospital. What else are you allergic to besides macadamia nuts?”
Avoiding his close scrutiny, she muttered, “Bacon.”
“Bacon?” His voice rose, incredulity masking a hint of mirth in his tone.
“It’s the nitrates,” she explained. “I can’t help it.”
“I’ll speak with the crew and make sure our new chef knows. There will be no nuts of any kind or bacon on board the Glory as of today.”
“You don’t have to go to that extent. Other nuts are okay. And I can usually avoid bacon. It’s pretty obvious.”
“Su-Lin, we need to talk.”
“That sounds ominous.” She pressed her lips together and stared at the far cabin wall.
“Uh-uh, darlin’, no clamming up on me.” His thumb and forefinger captured her chin, and he turned her face to his. “Have you told your uncle and aunt about your allergies?”
“Sort of.” She lifted a shoulder. “I didn’t want to make a fuss. I know I’m not like other girls my age. I know my aunt thinks I’m a little strange, that I’m too wrapped up in my Chinese heritage. They’re my only relatives in the world. Is it wrong for me to want them to like me?”
Fiddling with his medal, she touched a finger to the hollow in his throat.
“You have no idea how precious you are, do you? It’s impossible not to like you, Su-Lin Jenny Taylor. My brother adores you, Harry’s half in love with you, and me -- I’m obsessed with you.”
Her heart felt like it would leap out of her rib cage. She swallowed a couple of times and blinked until his mouth came into focus. “Is that good?” she whispered. “You haven’t made love to me.”
“Not because I don’t want to.” He touched a forefinger to her nose. “I don’t deserve you. My past isn’t pretty, Su-Lin. If you knew half of the things I’ve done.” He shook his head. “You’d run for your life.”
“There’s nothing you can say that would ever make me want to run away from you. Terrence, will you make love to me?” Her lungs stopped working, and she looked right into his dilated pupils.
“Promise me you won’t regret it.”
She drowned in his gaze. “Never. Cross my heart.” Su-Lin drew an X on her chest.
He kissed one eyebrow and nipped a slow path to her ear. “You inspire me every minute of the day and night. Ever since I first caught a glimpse of you, I haven’t been able to stop thinking of you.” Sucking on her lobe, he alternated between nibbles, licks, and hot breaths, and Su-Lin added another unlikely erogenous zone to her growing list.
Closing her eyes, she savored the feel of his lips caressing hers, the sweet, almost-painful sense of being cherished making her heart threaten to break through her rib cage. “You make me feel special,” she blurted.
“That’s because you are special, my darlin’. A gift I shouldn’t open.” He feathered kisses across her forehead, the bridge of her nose, the pulse beating at one temple. “You make me want to be a better man.”
“You are the best man I’ve ever met.” She bit his earlobe. “So noble, so strong, such a wonderful friend.”
Lowering his head, he tongued one nipple and electric sparks shot to her center. His heated breath on her damp areola shivered embers up her vertebrae. Two sharp teeth grazed her breast, pooling moisture between her legs. With unconscious provoc
ation, Su-Lin sidled her left leg up above Terry’s waist and pointed her toes when his mouth moved in a moist trailing taste of her nape.
Useless bones, rubberized joints. Extremities fired darts in places hitherto asexual, the backs of her knees, her throbbing belly button, the curve of her shoulder blades.
“Slow down, darlin’,” he muttered. “I want you so much, but I don’t want to hurt you.” He rose onto his forearms and captured her mouth, sucking on her lower lip.
She opened her eyes to find him staring at her, his forehead creased. “Even if we use the oil, I can’t guarantee it won’t hurt.” He stroked the back of his hand over her cheek.
“It only hurts the first time,” she said, rubbing her thumb over his frown. “Make me yours, please. Let me belong.”
He swallowed and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he raked her features. “I may not be able to let you go, Su-Lin Taylor.”
The words I love you almost burst out of her mouth, and tears had her vision blurred. She’d never felt so treasured, not in her entire lifetime.
“Don’t go,” Su-Lin said as he tumbled away from her, and she reached for him, her fingers scraping a sinewy thigh.
“Time for the oil, darlin’. I’m not going anywhere. Today, I make you mine.”
“Why do you look like that?” She rolled over and propped her chin in her hands.
“Like what?” He stalked over to the dresser and picked up two of the vials of oil.
“Sad and serious.” She wriggled her toes.
Tumbling the jars between his hands, he met her eyes, ambled closer, and sat on the mattress. “I’m afraid you’re going to regret this decision.”
Sitting on her haunches, she laid her palms on his hard pectorals, looked right into his eyes, and whispered, “What do I have to say to convince you I won’t?”
Closing her eyes, she leaned forward and kissed him, sliding her tongue deep inside his mouth, tasting the faint hint of peppermint mingled with smoke. In her mind, she surrendered, letting the love she’d repressed from the moment she’d seen him take over.
He broke the kiss and rested his forehead on hers. “My turn to massage you, darlin’. Close your eyes, relax, and enjoy. You’ve such strong thighs.”
Warm moisture dripped onto her left leg. Terry’s large palms rubbed a gentle circle on her quadriceps. Through half-lidded eyes, she viewed the intense concentration with which he examined her torso, both hands stroking the curve of her pelvis, a forefinger caressing the ridge of one hip bone, another trailing the rim of her navel.
“I feel boneless.”
“And I’m all one big bone,” he said, flashing her a grin and flicking a hand in the general direction of his cock.
“I can see that,” she said, and her cheeks warmed.
Centering the two vials on her stomach, he lay on his side, one hand cupping his cheek. He tipped one of the oval bottles over. The scent of musk reached Su-Lin’s nose, and warm liquid trickled over her belly, tickling her skin. Hips shifting side to side, she quipped, “It tickles.”
“It’s a warming oil, and I added cherry flavor.” His voice coarsened. “How does that feel, darlin’?” Two fingers sifted through her pubic hair, dampening the curls, and he razed both digits through her folds, separating the already-slick lips.
“Hot,” she replied, lifting off the bed. “Good. Oh.” She gasped when both fingers slid inside her.
“Jaysus, you’re so tight. And so responsive. Su-Lin, look at me, darlin’. That’s it,” he crooned, slipping another finger in her sheath. “Did I mention cherry’s my favorite flavor?” he asked, dipping his mouth to her reddened hood and flicking his tongue across the quivering skin. “You smell so good, and you taste like heaven, my heaven.”
His hands and lips worked magic; Su-Lin arched to his touch, to his laving mouth, to the rhythm he urged, his fingers gliding in, withdrawing, over and over.
“Terrence,” she moaned. “Terrence, please.”
Her eyelids flew upward when he cupped her bottom and lifted her, positioning the large head of his penis at her entrance. Her mouth curved, and she breathed, “Oh yes, yes.”
Storm-cloud gray irises almost disappearing under pupils dilated and darkened with passion met hers. Jaw clenched, he kept his eyes fixated on hers and pushed inside, stretching her muscles. Beads of sweat peppered his forehead. His knees nudged her legs wider. He leaned on his forearms, slanted his lips over hers, and thrust his tongue into her mouth, impaling her with his cock in one fierce plunge.
The fierce sting made her react automatically, and she stiffened and pushed at his chest. At once realizing what she was doing, she murmured, “It’s okay. I didn’t mean…stay…don’t go.”
“I’m sorry, darlin’, so sorry.” He feathered kisses over her eyelids. “I won’t move again. It’ll get better, I promise.”
“That stung,” she said, exhaling a shaky breath.
“I know,” he whispered, sucking on her lip, running a soothing tongue over her swollen mouth. Tracing the line of her neck, he nipped the curve of one shoulder, cupped a breast, and suckled, plumping the nipple taut with his teeth.
Her heels dug into the soft sheets. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded, tangling her hand in his damp hair. All of a sudden the pressure inside her gave way, and as she wriggled forward, a delicious friction made her lungs stutter. When he started to withdraw, she wrapped a leg around his waist and ordered, “No.”
“Yes. Trust me.” The words vibrated in her ears. “This is what you want.” He withdrew, her muscles contracting and clenching in refusal around his cock.
She whimpered when he slid his organ into her heat one torturous millimeter at a time.
“Jaysus.” His harsh croak barely penetrated the purring rumbling from her throat. “Are you okay?” Lips feathering her cheek, he held her gaze. “Hurting?”
This close, his eyes a tad out of focus, she slanted him a dreamy gaze and shook her head. “Oh no. Not hurting at all.”
Reaching down, he settled between her thighs, his cock rigid and large, a heated inferno between her drenched folds. The scent of sex filled the room, its heady aroma giddying, dizzying.
Terry captured her mouth, growling when she didn’t open soon enough. He swirled in, angling this way, that way, his tongue plunging in while his prick plundered her slick pussy, one rigid groin impacting her mound.
Cradling her face, his hot, moist palms held her for his devouring lips; his tongue stabbed an escalating rhythm. Hips angled, thick cock chafing all her pleasure points, she matched him thrust for thrust. One warming hand fell away.
She moaned a protest, but he cupped her bottom and pulled her tight, tight, so his penis hit that sweet spot, igniting a feverish spiral, and she begged, “Please, yes. Oh please, Terrence, Terrence.”
His mouth trailed down to one breast, and he swallowed in the whole tip while his free hand rolled her overlarge nipple, and the point flamed into molten lava. He grunted and nipped a swollen, erect peak, and ripples shuddered through her.
Oxygen left the room, and her light-headedness exploded. Mindless actions guided by some primordial Amazonian felinity, Su-Lin bit his shoulder and suckled his salty, blazing skin, mimicking his thrusting cadence unknowingly, sliding her leg up and down his sweat-dampened bottom cheek.
She shrieked when he threw back his head and roared, his prick shooting semen inside her. He didn’t stop moving, working a feverish plundering of her folds with nimble fingers, and she fell off the precipice again, spiraling out of control.
Collapsing onto the mattress, she fought to gulp a lungful of air and listened to the drumming of his heart, the slowing of his labored gasps, stilling when his thumb circled the dimple above her rear, savoring the intimate caress, memorizing it.
“Breathe, darlin’,” he said, nuzzling her neck.
When he turned her way, his chin stubble grazed her collarbone, and she marveled that such an innocuous spot, such a slight touch, could shock voltages through every pore
.
Warm lips brushed the pulse at her throat; he licked the throbbing area and rumbled against her surging veins, “Here, you taste like the creamiest ice cream. I lick you and I’m high; I think of you and I’m drunk.”
“Is that why you call me your Asian aphrodisiac?” she whispered, fingers curling into her palms, half-afraid of the answer.
Raising his head, he locked their gazes. “I’ve seen you flinch when your aunt stumbles over your name, when she calls you Jennifer in that English spinster tone. You are Su-Lin. Calling you by your rightful name is an acknowledgment of two things. Your unique, exotic beauty, which is a perfect combination of Chinese and Caucasian. The most amazing mixture, which produced a stunning woman who’s proud of her combined heritage.”
Thank the gods they weren’t standing, because her bones wouldn’t support her weight, not after those incredible words. She bit down on her lower lip and blinked away the moisture brimming in her eyes, refusing to tear up.
“Don’t you want to know the reason, darlin’?”
She nodded because her voice couldn’t work.
“What turns me on about you, what makes you my aphrodisiac, is the combination of two cultures in here,” he said and covered her breast with his palm. Shifting forward, he touched her head. “And here. You are free of the ugliness of the world. You haven’t interacted with men like me. You haven’t been corrupted.”
Su-Lin knew her soul, all the love she had for this man, overflowed in her eyes, but she couldn’t break away from his gaze, couldn’t hide the emotions battling in her heart, terror and a pure ecclesiastical joy.
At least she’d have exquisite memories to devour when her heart ached, after he’d left, after she’d left. But would her mind break as Annika’s had? Did she have too much of her mother in her? Would she lose the will to live?
She squeezed her eyelids together and forced away the fear, and channeled the here and now. This man, this time, all hers for the moment.
Placing a finger on his lips, she murmured, “And I said you had no pretty words. I’ll treasure this moment all my life. Thank you.”
“You make me want to be a good man, Su-Lin,” he said and turned his head to the side. “But I’m not, darlin’. I never have been.”
