by Desiree Holt
Why hadn’t he been able to see it?
Okay, so he was only here for a short time more. The clock was ticking. But somehow, he’d turned it into a time bomb. Now it had blown up in his face. There was so much more he wanted to do with Grace, who now haunted his dreams. There was still so much of his lifestyle he wanted to introduce her to. She was like a flower unfolding and he wanted to peel back each petal.
Stupid thought, but he’d had the feeling she’d been waiting just for him to come along. Now, his temper had managed to screw it up.
Shit! Double shit!
Sighing, he said goodnight to everyone in the staging area and the guard at the rear entrance and pushed open the back door.
And stopped, his jaw dropping.
He was sure he was imagining the vision leaning against the side of his truck, western hat tilted at a go-to-hell angle, lush body encased in the tightest jeans he’d ever seen. And on her face a very tentative smile.
All he could do was stand there and stare.
“You can tell me to go home if you want to,” she said in a tremulous voice. “But the guard’s going to think I’m a big liar because I told him you were expecting me. Besides, you’d have to find a cab for me since I left my car at home.”
He knew he should move, but he was frozen in place, his feet rooted to the spot.
“I guess that answers my question,” she said, her voice tight and pushed herself away from his truck.
That unglued his feet. Fast. He was on her in two seconds, grasping her upper arms, his eyes studying hers. He saw passion, hope, nerves—a potent emotional cocktail.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, anxious to get that out right away.
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I was unbelievably rude to you.”
He managed a small grin. “Not much else you could be to a man who storms into your home that way and rakes you over the coals.” He let out a long, slow breath. “I’d like to go back to where we were before, Grace. Maybe even where we started. If that’s possible.”
“Not back,” she said. She wet her lips with the tip of her tongue, a sure sign of her nervousness. “Forward. I want to go forward.”
Forward. God, was it possible? Could he make this night the most memorable she’d ever spent? Push her beyond her limits without chasing her away? His groin tightened as images flew through his brain.
“Are you sure?” he asked. Please let her be sure.
She let out a slow breath. “Yes.” Then, more firmly, “Yes, I am.”
“Good. Me, too. I want to keep going forward.” He pulled out his keys and pressed the remote to unlock the truck. “Why don’t we go to my hotel room and discuss it a little further.”
Her lips trembled with a tiny smile “Sounds like a plan to me.”
* * * *
She hadn’t known what to expect when they got to Ben’s suite. Maybe that he would rip her clothes off, throw her on the bed and ravish her. Tie her at once to the bedpost and let all the hunger roiling through him break free. Which no doubt he was, now that she thought about it. She probably could have handled that a lot better. It had less emotion wrapped in it. Just sex for the sake of sex.
But he’d apparently decided to take a different tack, determined to soothe her skittering feelings. To make her feel good. Relaxed. At ease, if that was possible.
She’d worn the little pin again, hoping it would bring her good luck, feeling its heat through the fabric of her blouse. It seemed to be more than doing its job. She wondered if she imagined the heat spreading from it throughout her body.
In the truck, Ben called the hotel and asked them to send a cooler with wine, glasses and chocolate-covered strawberries up to his room and have them ready when he got there.
“We didn’t get to them the last time,” he chuckled. “Remember?”
She remembered all too well, her pulse ratcheting up, her panties dampening at the images dancing through her mind.
Ben fiddled with the radio until he found a station playing soft mood music. Then he reached for her hand, lacing his fingers through her.
“Ben, I don’t—”
He lifted their joined hands to touch her lips.“Hush,” he told her. “It’s all right. Just put your head back and enjoy the ride. You look wound up tighter than a rope on a charging bull.”
He was certainly right about that. As much as she tried to calm herself, inside, her butterflies were frantically beating their wings.
“Let me call the shots tonight, Grace. Let me take you to places you never thought you’d ever go.”
Her heart raced and her mouth was so dry she could barely swallow. She was suddenly more nervous than she’d been on her first date.
The champagne and strawberries were waiting as promised when he opened the door to the suite. The first thing he did was toe off his boots, stand them to the side and plunk his Stetson on the dresser. Then he nudged her into a chair, pulled her boots off and set them next to his. He whistled softly as he poured their wine then turned on the stereo. She hadn’t really notice before how cleverly it was concealed in an armoire.
Touching the rim of his glass to Grace’s, he said “To a night of unbelievable pleasure.”
“Unbelievable pleasure,” she echoed nervously, nearly gulping her wine and wondering what was going on here.
Ben took the goblet from her and set both glasses on the table. As the music flooded the room, he pulled her into his body, holding her against him as he moved them slowly to the rhythm of the song. She felt the strength in his arms as they wrapped around her and the soothing movement of his hands as he massaged the tense muscles in her back.
“Relax.” His breath tickled her ear. “We may be going forward, but we’re going to take it slowly. Enjoy every step of the journey. Catch up on some things we missed the first time around. When was the last time you danced with anyone?”
Too long ago to remember.
“That long, huh?”
She didn’t realize she’d voiced her thought out loud. “Dancing just hasn’t been a part of my life for a long time.”
“I think too many things haven’t been a part of your life,” he murmured. “Maybe ever. I blame myself for the way this played out. We sort of jumped into it with both feet. I was so hot for you the minute I saw you, I’m surprised I didn’t lay you down on the seat of my truck and fuck you right then and there. Holding on to myself until we got to the hotel was an exercise in discipline for me.”
His voice was like warm syrup, its deep tone sliding over her.
“Really?” Well, Grace, could you sound any more idiotic?
“You have no idea how aroused I was the first time I laid eyes on you. I thought I deserved a medal for what little restraint I had.” He nibbled her earlobe. “But tonight you’re going to get the full treatment, Gracie mine. You deserve it. Tonight, we’ll even get to the strawberries.”
She wanted to protest that it was okay, she understood, except she felt so good she couldn’t object to anything. For years she’d avoided any social interaction with men except for business and when she finally started dating, the men were all of an age where seduction was a long-ago memory.
This…this was…nice. She let herself be molded to his body as they moved in slow rhythm to the music. They were thigh to thigh and the thick ridge of his cock was evident even through their layers of clothing, as he moved them in a dance of miniscule steps. The heat of his body and the friction of his legs against hers made liquid drip from her pussy and soak her panties. She wondered if he could smell the scent of her sex through her slacks.
She shivered at the touch of his tongue on her earlobe, and the feel of his hands as they moved in a slow cadence along the dips of her spine. Her breasts where they pressed into the hard wall of his chest felt heavy and her nipples ached with an intense surge of desire.
The song ended and the music changed to something equally slow but with the heavy thump of a bass guitar. Ben’s hip motio
n became exaggerated as he shifted in time to the low beat and flutters rippled through the walls of Grace’s pussy. She moved her own hips in concert with his, the ridge of his cock rubbing against her mound. More moisture seeped into the crotch of her lace panties. The feel of his lips around the shell of her ear then down the column of her neck made her pulse stutter.
A soft moan floated in the air and Grace realized with a shock it came from her. She wanted Ben to strip her naked and run his tongue over every inch of her body but it appeared he was determined to tease her to a state of unbelievable arousal. He was seducing her in a way no one ever had before. Joe had done the big seduction bit, but he’d also been twenty-one years old. Neither of them had come to the relationship with much sophistication or experience. And he hadn’t ever practiced this much patience. Youth, she thought. Ben was way past that stage and he was controlling his own desire to give her everything he thought she should have.
“Your husband was young, you said,” he murmured in her ear. “Youth is exuberant but lacks experience. I want you to experience it all, Grace. To learn about your own sexuality and understand the gift it is to someone like me.”
“Ben.” She inhaled slowly and let out a long breath, her heart racing at his words.
“Ssh. Just go with it, Grace. Enjoy it. Open yourself up to it.”
He moved his head, tilting it to give him access to the hollow of her throat, where her pulse beat wildly. When he licked gently at the skin, tiny sparks showered through her body. She moaned again, wanted more from him.
“You’re incredible,” he murmured softly, his lips against her skin. “You set me on fire, Grace. Burn me up alive.”
As they continued swaying to the rhythm of the music, Ben slid his hands around between them and slowly unbuttoned her blouse, letting it fall free. Almost carelessly, he tugged up her top, baring her breasts in their fancy lace. His touch on her exposed skin sent those familiar shivers racing through her again. He traced circles around the lacy edge of her bra, his palms cupping her swollen breasts supported by the thin material.
She kneaded the hard muscles of his back, loving the feel of them as they flexed beneath her touch. With a desperate need to feel his skin, she yanked his shirt from the waist of his jeans, slid her hands beneath the fabric and moved them over his heated body. And all the while, he used his magic fingers to tease her breasts, pinching the nipples beneath the restraining cups of the bra.
Just when she thought her breasts would surely explode, he dropped his hands to the snap of her jeans. She heard the snick as it opened then the rasp of the zipper sliding down. Ben’s rested his hand on her hip, fingertips just inside the top of her panties, branding her skin with their heat.
“Take off your shirt,” she whispered, tugging at the material again. “I want to feel your body against mine.”
Ben stopped moving, stepping back barely enough to strip off the shirt, yanked it from his body and tossed it aside. He followed that by disposing of Grace’s top and bra. When she felt him skin to skin, her knees weakened and she clutched at his upper arms to steady herself.
Ben brushed his lips against her, a whisper of a caress, then reached for his half-filled champagne glass. With studied care he dripped it one bubble at a time from the hollow of her throat to the valley between her breasts. Setting the glass down again, he followed the trail with his tongue, lapping the liquid, drinking it from her skin.
“Oh, God,” Grace moaned. “Please, Ben. Please, please, please.” Desire was like a thick cloud surrounding her.
“Slow and steady wins the race, darlin’,” he crooned.
Grace was sure she’d be one big nerve at the end of a slow race. Unlike the first night they’d been together, Ben was indeed wooing her, seducing her, drawing her into an erotic web she’d never want to find her way out of.
Holding her hips steady with his big, capable hands, Ben sank to his knees, brushing his mouth against the soft skin of her waist and down to the top of her barely there panties. She gripped his shoulders so hard her fingers dug into the hard muscles of his shoulders. Moaning slightly, she rocked her pelvis against the heated breath trailing fire across her body. When he pushed her jeans down to her ankles, she balanced herself to kick them away as quickly as she could.
Ben pressed his face against her through the sheer silk covering her naked pussy and inhaled her scent. Urging her thighs to widen, he swiped his tongue against her wet crotch, his hum of approval vibrating against her and echoing through her body.
Grace didn’t know how much longer she could stay upright. One more lick of his tongue and she knew she’d come right where she was standing. Finally he rose and lifted her in his arms, carrying her through the sitting room to the bedroom where he used one hand to tug the covers free. He placed her gently on the silken sheets and kissed her forehead.
“Back in a minute.”
When he returned, he was carrying the champagne cooler in one hand, the glasses lodged in the ice and the tray of chocolate-covered strawberries in the other. He placed the tray on the bedside table and the cooler in the floor, retrieving the glasses and filling them with the bubbling liquid.
He handed one to Grace, touching the rim of his glass to hers. “May your life always be a sip of champagne, Grace.”
The low timbre of his voice set her hormones racing again, but not nearly as much as the bright sheen of lust in his eyes. For her. She didn’t know what to say, so she just sipped at the cold liquid, hoping it would cool her off just a little. Enough so she didn’t explode the minute he touched her.
With a flick of a button on the bedside remote, Ben brought the music from the stereo into the room, something sultry and smooth. As the notes drifted on the air, he unzipped his jeans and slid them slowly down his hips along with his boxers. His cock sprang free, thick and enormous, rising proudly from the heavy nest of curls. He cradled it in one hand, stroking it slowly as he held her gaze, heat flaring in his eyes.
“Grace.” His look was smoldering. “Fucking you is one of the most erotic, most exciting experiences of my life.”
“E-Even though I know so much less than your…other women?” The minute the words were out of her mouth, she wished them back. How juvenile it sounded.
“Ah, but that’s what makes it special. With you, darlin’, everything is new and fresh and different. Besides.” He gave her a wicked grin. “This way, I know what we’re doing is just for me and I can teach you what to do.” The grin disappeared. “Or order you what to do. Would you like that, Grace? For me to give you sexual commands?”
Her heart raced like a high-octane engine at the thought. Yes, yes, yes, she wanted to shout. And whoever thought that proper Grace Delaney would want to be someone’s sexual submissive?
No, not just anyone’s. Ben’s.
He moved forward onto the bed, positioning himself so he was kneeling between her spread thighs. He lifted one of the strawberries from the tray and stroked it across first one nipple then the other. Grace’s breathing hitched as soft waves of sensation rolled through her.
“Your nipples remind of these strawberries,” he told her. “Ripe and plump and juicy.”
He leaned forward to feed her the sweet fruit, one bite for her, one for him, the juice trickling down her chin. He licked it off with a soft swipe of his tongue that made her nerves pop with tiny sparks. When it was finished, he lifted another piece of fruit from the plate and rubbed the chocolate across the tip of one breast. His mouth was hot and wet on her nipples as he sucked at the cool chocolate there. He scraped his teeth lightly over the pebbled surface as he took the confection into his mouth.
“Oh, my God,” she gasped, reaching for his head to pull it close.
He lifted his head and circled her wrists with his fingers. “It’s much better when you know you can’t touch me,” he told her. “When you’re spread out like a feast before me and I can take my time.” He lowered his voice. “You like it when I restrain you, don’t you, Grace?”
“I enjoy seeing you helpless, open to my mouth and hands and cock. Does that frighten you, Grace? Is that what made you run away?”
She shook her head and finally the words rushed from her lips. “Honestly? All of it scared me, Ben. The whole scene. But hiding from it hasn’t helped. I discovered I really love it all. I want it all. With you. Can you imagine what a shock that is to me? I like being wild with you.”
His chuckle was low and warm. “Tonight, you will get it all, darlin’. Every bit and then some.”
Smiling, he pulled a pair of handcuffs lined with pink fleece from the nightstand. “I bought these the other day when I had high hopes for the evening. Before you stood me up.” A grin played at the corners of his mouth.
“M-Maybe you should punish me for being bad,” she ventured, knowing the desire in his eyes was reflected in her own, yet still shocked at her boldness.
His laugh was full and rich. “Oh, I think I’ll have to do that. But all in its own good time.”
He threaded the handcuffs through one of the spindles on the headboard then locked them around her wrists. His eyes ate her body like a starving man with a glimpse of a bountiful feast. Very slowly, he slid her panties down her hips, over her ankles and tossed them to the floor, before cupping her naked pussy with his warm palm.
“Two days and you need shaving again.” His voice was husky with need. “If I didn’t have other plans for tonight, I’d do it right now, but we’ll put it on the schedule. I love it when there’s nothing here between my tongue and your skin.”
He knelt between her thighs and ran both large hands over her body, shaping the hills of her breasts, the swell of her stomach, dipping into the creases where thigh and hip joined. His gaze followed the path of his hands, as if memorizing every inch of her.
Grace knew somehow tonight was different from the first time. From all the other times. There was an erotic charge in the air, making everything more…intense, filling her with a desire to hold every minute captive. To savor the delicious taste and feel of him. This was more than just hot, raw sex. This was like falling into a molten pool of sensuality. Of eroticism. And never being able to climb out. She was getting in way over her head again and knew she couldn’t do a thing about it. Or wanted to.
