“What?” This was so far from what Ellie had expected him to say that she stopped still.
“I didn’t have plans with any other woman tonight.” Nate arched an eyebrow, gesturing back toward the parking lot. “You were my first choice. My only choice.”
“I … just … wow. Okay.”
He grinned. “Glad we got that cleared up.” Nate splayed a hand across her back and walked her into the room, shutting the door behind them. “Because I believe you said something about returning a favor.”
Just like that, the entire world narrowed until it was just her and Nate, and the heat pulsing between them.
Before she could lose her courage, she reached for his waistband, gasping when he pushed her hand away, pressing her up against the cool metal of the door.
“I said no touching.” Slowly, deliberately, he undid his belt, pulled it from the loops. Let it fall to the floor. “Not until I say you can.”
As he regarded her intently, Ellie watched, breathless, trembling just the tiniest bit as he untucked his shirt from his jeans and loosened the top button. Undid the front zipper of his jeans.
Ellie couldn’t stop herself from looking, and also couldn’t hold back the small murmur of pleasure when the head of Nate’s cock, straining to be free of the black underwear, made itself known, glistening and ready.
“Lose the dress.”
Ellie’s attention snapped back to his face. Surely he didn’t expect her to just strip for him?
She’d pictured this more as a frenzy of them ripping each other’s clothing off, a frantic coupling that left no room for thought.
Nate remained still, watching her. Apparently not.
She hesitated, not sure she could do this. Good girls didn’t do erotic stripteases for demanding lovers, right?
Well, good girls didn’t have orgasms in coat closets, either, and she’d already done that. What was one more step into craziness?
Raising her chin, she reached around back for the short zipper that fastened her dress. She could reach it easily enough, but the position felt awkward, thrusting her breasts forward, putting them on display.
Nate didn’t offer to help. Instead he just continued to watch her with that serious expression, missing nothing as she slid the straps from her shoulders, then, with a great big breath, let the dress fall to the floor.
She was naked except for her shoes. Oh God, oh God. Her hands fluttered, anxious to cover her breasts, the embarrassingly damp space between her thighs, but a low growl from Nate stopped any movement.
“Don’t you dare.” He caught her hands, tugged, arranging her so her hands were clasped behind her back. Something about being so exposed while Nate watched her hungrily was as awkward as it was exciting.
“You agreed that tonight you’re mine. And if you try to hide what’s mine, there will be consequences.” The harsh words were contrasted with a sweet, wet kiss.
Nate clasped her chin in his fingers and guided her movements as he took her mouth. She had the fleeting notion that she should be a more active participant, but after always giving in to what everyone wanted and needed, it just felt so damn good to let go and let him be in control.
By the time he ended the kiss, she was warm and relaxed like she’d just drunk a big glass of wine while soaking in a hot bath. One of those wolf-like glances from Nate, though, and the searing need came rushing back, right into her veins, making her high.
“Are we agreed?” he asked.
“Agreed,” she whispered.
“That makes me very happy, Blondie.” He grinned as his hands returned to the waistband of his jeans. Ellie felt her mouth go dry as he slid them and his briefs down over his hips, freeing his rock solid erection.
“Now, back to returning that favor. Leave the shoes on, and get on your knees.”
* * *
Nate was feeling the pressure.
He’d imagined this exact scenario a million times, in a million different ways, but he’d never fully realized the weight that he would feel when it happened.
He wanted to make this good for her.
More to soothe his own nerves than hers, he walked deliberately across the room to where the clerk had left the bottle of wine chilling in a plastic ice bucket. Classy, but it served its purpose, he supposed.
He knew that Ellie’s gaze was on him as he picked up the bottle, approved the label, then uncorked it. He made a show of pouring an inch of the straw-colored liquid into the cheap glass, then lifting it to his lips and sampling.
When he turned back toward her, her eyes were bright, intent. Focused on his face, even though his jeans were still hanging open.
He moved to the edge of the bed, sat, then patted his thigh.
“Come here.”
She made a choked sound, her hands twitching, and he knew that her instinct was to cover herself again. In response he simply arched an eyebrow and waited.
After a long moment in which she flushed the prettiest shade of pink, Ellie crossed the room, closing the space between them. It was obvious that she felt exposed, but that was the way he wanted her—exposed, open, on edge.
Now that he had her here, he was damned if it would just be about sex, never mind what she believed about him.
“Sit.” He again patted his leg, and couldn’t hold back the smirk when she squirmed.
“Nate. I can’t sit on your lap while I’m naked.” She reached again for her glasses, hissing with frustration when she found nothing there.
He waited without comment. Finally she heaved a great sigh, then settled herself gingerly on his leg.
Before she could catch her breath, Nate tugged her flush against his chest. She gasped when he ran his fingers through her hair, stroking her like one might an overly excited animal. With a small sigh, she settled into the touch, and Nate felt his pulse stumble.
He knew that she believed he was just a playboy, not capable of anything more. Hell, until he’d heard the news of this wedding, he’d believed that too. But he knew that after he’d been inside of Ellie Marshall, after he’d shared this experience with her, there would be no going back, at least for him.
The thought was terrifying and liberating at the same time. And from the way she shivered against him, he wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
“Drink.” Holding the glass up to her lips, he tilted until the golden liquid tipped into her mouth. She hummed a sigh of approval, then opened her lips for more.
He let her have one more sip, then took one himself, laughing at the noises she made as she swallowed.
The sexy, sexy noises.
“Sorry.” Ellie caught him looking and twisted her lips into a wry smile. He tracked the movement of her tongue as it darted out over the curves of pink. “I don’t think I’ve ever had such expensive wine before. I don’t know if it’s worth what you paid for it, but it’s damn good.”
“I have high standards. And I only indulge in the best.” Nate held the glass up to her lips again, tugging it back when she reached for it with her own hands. “No. Hands on your thighs. Let me give this to you.”
He’d been referring to more than the wine with his comment, but when she didn’t seem to notice, he didn’t push. Something told him that this particular woman needed to be shown how special she was, rather than told.
She tilted her chin up for more wine, and he let her have one final sip before tugging it away. Her gaze flicked from the glass to him, and he watched as her chest heaved with a deep breath.
“Aren’t you going to finish it?” Her voice was pitched low, painted with a husky tone that he’d never heard there before.
It was like a siren’s call, and suddenly his capacity for patience, his desire to take it slow and draw out her pleasure were stretched tight and thin.
“Oh, I am.” Keeping a careful grip on the wine glass, he used his other arm to slide her from his lap to the bed. Her thighs parted, cradling him as he settled her onto her back, then knelt on the floor between her legs.
<
br /> “What are you doing?” Ellie pushed herself up onto her elbows, staring at him down the length of her body. There was nothing sexier than seeing the beam from those sapphire eyes, looking down at him from that expanse of silken skin.
She was clearly aroused, flushed and short of breath, but he wanted more. He wanted her screaming his name, wanted her writhing beneath him.
He wanted to take her further than she’d even gone before. Wanted her to remember this night for the rest of her life.
Lifting the glass, he tilted it until a trickle of the gilded wine poured over the edge. It landed on her breasts, and he savored her gasp as he drizzled it down the soft plane of her stomach, then the swathes of her upper thighs.
“Nate! What are you doing?” She jerked up, gasping. Tossing the glass aside, he pressed on her belly with the flat of one hand until she laid back down.
And then he laid his tongue on the glistening dampness that lay on her thigh, sliding the wet heat into the crease where leg met stomach. She moaned, and he felt a surge of triumph, knowing it was him and only him that was making her feel this way.
“I’m finishing the wine.”
Chapter Six
Nathan Archer is licking wine off of my skin.
Ellie arched her back, pushing herself into the touch. The sensation as his tongue dragged over her body was so much better than anything she’d ever imagined—and she’d imagined plenty.
“So have I.” Nate’s voice took her by surprise.
Ellie didn’t realize she’d spoken out loud until he’d replied to the thoughts churning through her head.
“I’ve thought about you like this since long before I should have,” he said.
Nate licked a trail up her stomach, following the lines made by the spilled wine and she gasped.
“I—I had no idea. And it’s … hard to believe.”
A sharp smack on her left hip shocked the words out of her mouth, and she stared up at Nate open-mouthed.
“If we’re going to do this, then you need to trust me.” He arranged himself over her, but held himself just far enough back to make her long for his touch. “That means that if I tell you something, I expect you to believe it. Understand?”
“Yes.” She wiggled beneath him, trying to get in contact with his touch again. He delivered another light slap to her upper thigh, and the world around her begin to whirl. “What was that for?”
“You can’t just say that you believe me.” Dipping his head, Nate brushed his lips over hers in a touch so light that it ignited more than it satisfied. “You have to actually believe it. Or there will be a punishment. Do you understand?”
Holy. Hell. The intensity in Nate’s stare, the way he’d set her skin on fire, the flutter in her chest—she’d never felt so alive.
Aware that Nate was waiting for an answer, Ellie nodded, frantic to have his hands back on her. As he crushed his lips to hers again in a feverish kiss and she melted into the embrace, she fought to remember that this was nothing more than sex to him. Sex and friendship.
And that was how she wanted it. How it had to be.
Right?
“Care to share with the class?” Breaking away, Nate smirked down at her, and Ellie flushed as she realized that he’d noticed her little internal argument. And what was wrong with her, getting lost in her own head when this was happening around her?
“I’m sorry.” She placed a tentative hand on his chest. She was a strong, professional woman—no way was she about to admit her insecurities to him. The kind of women he usually had his bed probably had egos the size of the Statue of Liberty. “Where were we?”
He shifted his weight onto his knees, braced above her. He regarded her for a long time, and she felt as though those charcoal eyes could read into her very soul.
She hoped not, because then he’d be able to see that, more than aroused, she was having an awful lot of very fluttery feelings in the depths of her belly.
“Interesting.” Still rising above her, he began to unbutton his shirt, one fastening at a time.
“What’s interesting?” she asked, then she no longer cared at all.
Her mouth went dry, struck dumb by the sight of a well-cut shirt being shrugged off of wide, extremely well-sculpted shoulders. Not even if those shoulders were covered with dark, intricate ink, and not even if the rock solid chest boasted…
Oh, sweet Lord. Nate had a nipple ring, a simple silver hoop looped through the left side. Before she could stop herself, her hand was reaching up to touch.
He let her dance her fingers over the small piercing, hissing when she stroked, fascinated by the contrast of the cool metal and the hot skin.
“This is what’s interesting.” Eyes dark, he caught her hand, pressed her fingers against him. With his hand over hers, he helped her to tug on the ring, and they groaned in tandem at the touch. “You’re a dirty girl, Ellie Marshall. And all these years I had no idea.”
“I… I don’t know what to say to that.” Propping herself up on her elbows, she let her hand rest on his chest, absorbed the steady thumping of his heart beneath her fingers. “I’ve never thought that way about myself before.”
“Haven’t you?” Before Ellie could blink, Nate had both of her wrists caught in one of his hands, pressed into the quilt above her head. He grinned down at her as she tugged, then squeaked, realizing that he had her pinned.
“When I take it slow, your mind wanders. When I’m nice, your response is lukewarm.” Dipping his head, he pressed his lips to hers, his tongue demanding an entrance that she immediately yielded to. “It’s when I show you my piercing and pin you down that you get all excited. So yes, Ellie, you’re a dirty girl. And if I want to ruin you for all other men—and believe me when I say that I will—I’m going to have to take you farther than you’ve ever imagined going before.”
What?
“Nate—what—”
His hands pressed her wrists into the mattress hard, and then he backed off of her, standing on the floor between her knees.
“Don’t move an inch.” The muscles of his arms, his chest rippled in the low light that filtered through the window coverings as he hooked his fingers into the sides of his opened slacks. Ellie almost whimpered when he inched them down his lean hips, letting them fall to the floor.
He was absolute perfection. Over six feet of lean muscle, golden skin decorated with intricate designs that made her fingers inch to touch. That tantalizing and unexpected piercing, and an erection big enough to make her catch her breath.
He was swollen, the head already leaking. Was that really for her?
She didn’t realize that she’d sat up, that she’d moved toward him until he growled low in his throat.
“I told you not to move.”
She barely had a moment to appreciate all that was his hard, naked body before she was flipped onto her stomach, a pillow pushed beneath her belly.
“Oh, shit.” The words escaped her lips as he clasped her hips, canting them up. She froze against the pillow, her fingers clenching the fabric. She’d never been in this position before, so open and exposed.
Knowing that he could see—probably was seeing—that most intimate part of her cleared her mind of thoughts of everything apart from what was happening in the moment.
“You’re wet already. Do you know what that tells me, Ellie?” His hands came to rest on the curves of her ass, and she shuddered. “That tells me that you like this. You like being open to me, and you like me telling you what to do.”
I just like you! The words reverberated through her mind, but then his palm landed on the curve of her behind, and all words were lost.
The sound of the blow was a sharp crack in the small room. The strike wasn’t hard, but it was a scarlet shock to her system. She cried out, rearing up, only to have a gentle but firm hand placed between her shoulder blades, pressing her back down.
“Is this—are you—punishing me?” Another blow landed, making it hard to get the words out. “For n
ot believing you earlier?”
A wicked chuckle sounded from above and behind.
“I should. Yes, I should punish you for that.” One more blow, right over the division of her ass, and then a finger slid between her slick folds, slipping inside. “But no. Everything we do tonight is for two reasons.”
He curled one finger inside of her, rubbing over her inner wall, and Ellie felt her knees tremble. “One, because you’ve shown me that you want to be taken further. Further than even I imagined you would want to go.”
The single finger pulled out, and was replaced with two, which forced a whimper from between her lips.
Her hips rocked of their own accord. So close, she was so close. Never mind that he’d brought her to climax less than an hour ago, it had only awakened the hunger.
“And two.” The two fingers inside of her curved, finding some spot that made her gasp. At the same time, he pressed his thumb over her clit, and light began to dance behind her eyes.
“Two is because I want to. No more, no less.” Just as she opened her mouth to cry out, already anticipating the fall, Nate removed his hand.
“No!” Frantic, Ellie shoved back against him. Instead of placing his fingers back inside of her, he delivered an open-handed slap to the shockingly sensitive flesh of her pussy.
Her mouth opened on a wordless scream.
“We’ve already taken the edge off for you, remember?” God, but that commanding tone, the one that was like steel and silk, only served to ratchet her arousal up higher. “Now it’s my turn.”
With one smooth movement he rolled her onto her back again, her head cushioned on the pillow. Eagerly, she reached for him, but he pulled back with a warning glare.
“Tilt your head back.” She did as he asked, and he adjusted her body before climbing off the bed and rounding it. His hips were level with her lips, her head hanging upside down off the bed, and anticipation wracked her body as she understood what he was about to do.
Her lips had already parted before he’d taken himself in hand and pressed the swollen head of his erection to the warm cavern of her mouth.
Never Say Love (Never Say Never #1) Page 7
