“All right, make yourself at home, and if you change your mind and do decide you want something, my refrigerator is stocked and I also have beer, wine, sodas, water—”
“I’m fine, honestly.”
He didn’t have to convince her of that. All she had to do was look at his body, remember that same body on top of her, inside her, sleeping beside her …
“Okay.” She then made a move to take a step back, but he caught her wrist. She glanced up at him and he smiled. That smile sent a quiver rushing through her.
“At least I’ll be fine once I do this,” he said in a husky voice.
And then he was pulling her closer to his hard, masculine chest to kiss her in a way she was convinced that only he knew how to do. Tongues mated, dueled, tangled. Slow—methodically slow. Deep—unerringly deep. Thorough—imploringly so. And as absolute as you could get. She experienced it all. Then there was his taste that she was getting used to. A taste she was beginning to crave.
He pulled back and sucked in a deep breath. She did the same. She watched as he licked his lips as if he hadn’t gotten enough of her mouth. And then he said, “I think you need to get back to work. Just pretend I’m not here.”
Fat chance! That wasn’t possible when his very presence at any given time demanded attention. “I’ll try,” she said, smiling up at him before turning and walking on wobbly knees across the room back to the sofa to her laptop.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him move toward the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from her dining room. She tried not to watch as he eased onto a barstool how his firm thighs in a pair of jeans literally stretched the leather cushion.
She breathed in deeply, struggled to cope, fought to resist temptation as she turned her attention back to her laptop. The first three months after a new drug hit the market were crucial, and she needed to know everything there was about it to educate her doctors. With that thought in mind, she tried concentrating on the information on the computer screen.
Unfortunately, she found the task wasn’t easy.
Lake clicked off his BlackBerry. It always amazed him how much business he could take care of on the wireless instrument. He had discovered it had the ability to maximize his time and maintained relationships that were vital to his business.
He then thought of something—more specifically, someone—that he considered vital to his piece of mind. That flash of insight made him look across the room at Courtney. She was busy studying whatever was on her laptop screen and had been doing so for the past hour. As he’d told her when he had arrived, he didn’t want to take her away from her work. He would just wait.
Even if the wait was killing him.
Suddenly he felt guilty when he thought of how much lovemaking they had done the night before. He could just imagine how her body must have felt this morning. The soreness had to have been almost unbearable. In a way, he’d known it would be, which was the reason he had suggested she take the day off work. He, of all people, was aware of the intensity of his lovemaking and had figured with her it would be doubly so. She was his, and he had wanted to stamp his brand all over her. And he had. He doubted there was a spot on Courtney Andrews’s body that he hadn’t touched or tasted. The memory made him hard, and he shifted in his seat. The sound caught her attention, and she glanced over at him. And stared.
Something in the air surrounding them changed. There was this crackle of sexual awareness, a charge of heated desire that encased them. She tilted her head, as if trying to make sense of it, and it was on the tip of his tongue to tell her not to waste her time. Nothing made sense other than the fact they wanted each other. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing more certain than that.
He knew that even after last night she was still having a hard time accepting it, was putting roadblocks in the way, figured things were moving too fast for her. He understood. He even sympathized with her to a degree. But he refused to let up. Courtney wouldn’t know what hit her until it was too late. He was a man with a plan, and his plan was to marry her before the end of the year.
As they continued to watch each other, she slowly closed her laptop and placed it aside. Then she eased off the sofa and stretched, and he felt a deep, intense stirring in his body. The woman had luscious curves, nice breasts, and legs that could wrap around him and hold him tight inside her body.
He forced down the urge to cross the room and take her then and there. The guilt set back in, and he knew he couldn’t make her any more sore than she already was. Her body needed a night of reprieve. So what he intended to do was kiss the soreness away. He practically licked his lips at the very thought.
He blinked when he saw her move, and then she was crossing the room to him. He met her halfway. They stopped right in front of each other, and she leaned into him, twined her arms around his neck, stretched up against him, and then whispered against his lips, “Sorry to have kept you waiting.”
And then she was giving him a kiss, taking her tongue and tracing the lines of his lips. On his sharp intake of breath, she eased her tongue inside his mouth, caught hold of his, and began sucking on it in such a decadent manner, it nearly brought him to his knees. But he fought to be in charge, and when he couldn’t take any more, he took control of the kiss. And the night. Tonight belonged to her. His pleasure would come in pleasuring her. Besides, last night she had given him enough enjoyment and satisfaction to last a lifetime.
He pulled back slightly from her mouth and whispered against moist lips. “You’re still sore?”
The look in her eyes told him she wasn’t comfortable discussing such a personal thing to him. But he figured that soon enough she would discover they had no secrets and could talk about anything. Intimate or otherwise. When she didn’t immediately respond, he asked her again, “Are you still sore?”
Seeing he wouldn’t let up until he got an answer, she said, “A little.” She then arched her body against him, as if trying to take his mind off the physical state of her body. “No big deal.”
That’s where she was wrong. To him it was a big deal. “I’m going to take the soreness away, sweetheart,” he bent his head to whisper in her ear.
She leaned back and looked at him. “How?”
“By kissing it away.”
Her eyes widened slightly when it became apparent just what he meant. “You’re …”
She couldn’t complete what she was about to say, apparently not sure she could say it. He decided to finish it for her. “I am going to …” And he leaned even closer to her and whispered in a low voice, but clear enough to be heard, “Yes, I am going to make love to you with my mouth, Courtney.”
Courtney stared at Lake. Not knowing just what to say. He had made love to her with his mouth last night, while alternating with his manhood for deep penetration. So did that mean he wouldn’t be going inside her, at least not with his aroused body part? And it was aroused—she could feel the hardness pressed against her.
He evidently suspected her concern and said, “You don’t need that tonight.”
A frown touched the corners of her lips. Who was he to say what she needed?
It was obvious that he detected her rebellion. He asked, “Do you want to have to take another day off work?”
Her frown deepened. “No. Are you trying to tell me that each and every time, after a night of lovemaking with you, that I won’t be able to go to work the next day?”
“Possibly. Depending how intense it is, and right now I can’t see it being anything other than that. I want you with a passion, but I plan to control it tonight because I know your body doesn’t need it again so soon.”
She glared at him. “And what if I don’t agree.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. But she refused to stand there and argue with him. She would let him think he was in complete control, but before the night was over, she would show him that she had a problem when it came to being stubborn. It was a flaw he would ha
ve to get used to if he decided to stick around.
She took a step closer to him, felt his hardness, and knew before the night was over she would have it. “I’m not going to argue with you, Lake.”
“Then don’t. Let’s do this instead.”
And then he was kissing her with an intensity that robbed her every thought. She felt his hands all over her as he tried relieving her of her sundress. He broke the kiss momentarily to ease the garment over her head, leaving her clad in nothing but her panties, since she hadn’t been wearing a bra. She saw where his gaze immediately went, saw the way he licked his lips, and decided she should remind him again. “You know what’s going to happen if you go there.”
She watched the smile that spread across his lips. “Yes, I know.” And then before she could catch her next breath, he bent his head and went there, taking one hardened nipple into his mouth. She squeezed her eyes shut as sensations speared through her, straight to the area between her legs. Her body tightened in sensuous need as he tightened his mouth on her breast and began sucking, while using the tip of his tongue to massage. If that wasn’t bad enough, she suddenly felt him easing his fingers inside her panties and going straight to her womanly core. She was already wet, and her thighs immediately parted with his touch. And then, while his mouth moved to latch on to her other breast, his fingers went to work, penetrating deeper, as they made their way inside her.
Her climax came easy. It was so mind-twistingly complete, she could have died right there. She couldn’t stop the whimpers of pleasure that seemed to flow nonstop from her mouth, and it was taking all she had to catch her breath. Then she felt herself being lifted in strong arms and placed on the barstool. He raised her hips just enough to remove her panties, and then he knelt down in front of her and widened her legs open. Before she could regain her senses, he leaned forward at the same time he gripped her hips to bring her to the warmth of his waiting mouth.
She let out a scream of pleasure the moment his tongue touched her. His tongue was urgent, demanding, and greedy, and she couldn’t do anything but press her back against the soft leather cushion of the stool while he blew her mind.
Last night he had introduced her to oral sex, but if he kept this up, she would become addicted. She felt her body shattering into a million pieces when she exploded in an orgasm of gigantic proportions, flying her to the stars. She began whimpering again, calling his name, but he continued to hold her to his mouth, refusing to let go, tightening his grip on her hips even more.
It was only after the last tremor left her body, that he finally released her. He leaned over and kissed her, and she tasted herself on his lips. And she knew that if she didn’t do something, he would leave her alone tonight without getting his own pleasure.
So she decided to take matters into her own hands. Literally.
While she had him so wrapped up in their kiss, she extended her hand toward the zipper of his jeans and slowly slid it down. He wasn’t aware of what she was doing until her hand had made its way inside his boxers and had clamped hold of him. He immediately broke off the kiss and tried pulling away, but she held tight.
“No, Lake, it’s my turn. Please. Let me taste you the way you’ve tasted me.”
Her request seemed to overwhelm him. She watched his expression. He was trying to refocus, regain control, but no doubt it was hard with the firm grip she had on his erection. Then she took the tip of her finger and began lightly tracing across the softer skin, and in a voice lower still, she said, “Please. I want to do this.”
Their gazes locked. She knew the exact moment he made up his mind to relent, surrender, and admit defeat. He took a step back, and she eased to her feet to stand in front of him. He began undoing his belt, but she reached out and stopped him, placing her hand over his. “No, I want to do it all, Lake.”
He studied her gaze before letting his arms go limp at his sides. She decided she wanted to taste him all over, which meant removing all his clothes and not just his jeans, so she proceeded to do so. This was her first time undressing a man, and she was enjoying it immensely—especially when it was a body whose very exposure sent wantonness all through her.
She eased his shirt from him and then took off his socks, shoes, pants, and boxers with his help. When he stood before her completely nude, she felt a sensual longing that tried taking over the very essence of her being. And then she began taking care of business. Starting with the corner of his lips, she took the tip of her tongue and grazed a heated trail across his chin, down the hollow of his neck, then lower to concentrate on the two buds on his chest. She heard the sound of his breathing and the sharp intake of his breath, as her mouth began moving even lower, easing down on her knees to do so.
She discovered she really liked his navel and placed plenty of kisses there. And his hipbone, as well. And when she came face-to-face with his erection, stared straight at it, saw it hard, solid as a rock, bigger than life, she gripped it in her hand and brought it to her mouth, slowly licking it all over before inserting it into her mouth like a lollipop she had to have. And she discovered she was enjoying it just as much.
She felt his fingers when they reached down and took hold of her hair, at first she thought to pull her away, and then she knew it was to keep her there. But he didn’t have to worry; she wasn’t going anywhere. She knew the moment he was about to come and prepared herself for it, but he had other ideas.
“No more,” he said throatily before reaching down and hauling her to her feet.
She let her thighs brush his and brought her naked body against him, pressing her womanly core against his still-hard erection. While she knew he was fighting for control, denying himself the one thing she wanted to give him, she leaned over and whispered, “Put it inside of me, Lake. I need it.”
He met her gaze. Stared at her as if he wasn’t sure to believe her. But evidently something in her eyes convinced him. However, deciding that he wasn’t responding quickly enough to suit her, she shifted their bodies to literally push him back onto the barstool, and then she proceeded to straddle him. She lowered her body downward onto his erection, and since there was no other way for it to go other than up, she basically forced him to enter her.
He went completely still. Held his body immobile. But she kept going, pushing further downward while at the same time wrapping her legs around him to keep him deeply embedded within her. She liked the feel of his throbbing erection inside her body. It was an erection that she had gotten primed and ready with her mouth.
Feeling smug and victorious, she tilted her head back and looked at him, daring him to ask her to get off him. He still hadn’t moved, although she felt his hands go to the back of her spread thighs to give more support. He met her haughty gaze and said in a low but clear voice, “Forgot something, didn’t you?”
She immediately racked her brain, trying to figure out what. And when she felt him growing even bigger inside her, she remembered. A condom.
Ooops. She closed her eyes. If he were to pull out of her now, she would die. For a moment she thought that she did feel him easing out, but then as if he’d made his mind up about something, he clutched her thighs tighter and pushed back in, going even deeper, all the way to the hilt.
She opened her eyes to find him staring intently at her. Then he said, “You know what could happen, don’t you?”
Unable to speak, she nodded.
“I’m safe. I get a physical every year,” he then offered.
She nodded again, and then somehow managed to say, “So do I.”
It was his time to nod. “The only other thing we need to worry about is a baby,” he said huskily. “I never got around to asking if you wanted children.”
“Yes.” She raised a brow. “Do you?”
His lips curved into a smile. “Yes. Ours.”
There was no doubt in her mind that he felt the tremor that touched her body with his words. What he’d done was reiterated what he’d been trying to get her to accept all along. And by consenti
ng to take the risk of becoming the father of her child, he was acknowledging what he’d said the first night they had met—that he was an intricate part of her future.
Courtney became overwhelmed at the possibility that Sonya was right. The hunter had captured the prey he wanted. Just knowing she was the one pushed her entire body into a state of arousal. Instead of saying anything, she leaned over and captured his lips, letting her actions express what she couldn’t for the moment say in words.
He began moving inside her the moment her tongue began dueling with his. Their lovemaking tonight was different. No restrictions were in place. They were accepting any risks.
She broke off the kiss and threw her head back when he began thrusting inside her with whipcord speed, relentless perseverance, and enduring passion. The sensation of being skin to skin, flesh to flesh with him made her crave his aroused flesh even more.
And then she felt him buck beneath her, felt the firm grip of his hands on her thighs tighten even more, and then he spread her legs wider as he thrust upward one last time before she felt him exploding inside her, shooting his release.
The sensations ignited her own sensuous eruption, and she tightened her legs around him and held on. Never had she felt such an urgent need for what a man had to give her. Never had she wanted it so badly. She felt cherished when he wrapped her into his arms, pulled her closer, kept their bodies locked together until completion.
But he still didn’t release her. Nor did she release him. She needed this time. This period of understanding and realization to think. And when he leaned up and captured her lips with his, she ceased thinking at all.
21
It was daybreak when Courtney awakened to find Lake was no longer in bed with her. But he had left a note on the pillow beside her. She shifted positions to sit up to read what he had written.
Sweetheart,
Her Little Black Book Page 17
