Sweeter Temptation (Kimani Hotties)

by Bourne, Phyllis

  “You wanted to ride.” He stretched his arms over his head and cradled the back of his head with his hands. “Saddle up.”

  The sexy invitation was the only prompting Nia needed to channel her inner cowgirl. She straddled him. Gasping in pleasure, she lowered herself onto him slowly inch by delectable inch. It took a moment for her to adjust to his size, but once she did Nia began the slow ride she’d been fantasizing about all day.

  Kyles large hand moved to her hip. Gripping it, he thrust upward while the other hand caressed her breast, his thumb teasing an erect nipple.

  Nia moaned.

  “You like that?” he asked.

  “Y-yes.” Her reply was a little more than a pant.

  He increased the pace. “And that?”

  “Oh, yes!” She rode him harder.

  “So, so beautiful,” he rasped.

  Bracing her palms against his broad chest, Nia closed her eyes tightly to block out his words. She focused instead on the sensational feel of him and the joyride she never wanted to end.

  “Nia,” he said.

  “Mmm.” Her eyes remained closed as she matched his powerful movements. Again and again. His upstrokes collided with her down strokes, hitting her spot and bringing her closer to the release she desperately sought.

  “Look at me, Nia,” he panted.

  She kept her eyes firmly closed. She couldn’t look down at his gorgeous face and see a well-meaning lie roll off his lips.

  He repeated the demand.

  Nia shook her head and continued to ride him. She was oh, so close.

  In one swift move, Kyle flipped her over until she was on her back with him on top, still buried inside her. He smoothed a hand over her short-cropped hair and dropped a kiss on each of her eyelids.

  She lifted her pelvis in an attempt to resume the rhythm of their sensual dance, but Kyle remained motionless.

  “Look into my eyes,” he demanded, his warm breath fanned across her face.

  Finally, Nia did as he said.

  Kyle remained deep inside her, only moving his finger to tilt her chin upward until their gazes connected.

  “This isn’t sex talk. It’s real talk, and you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

  He dropped a kiss on her breast, over her heart.

  “I see you, Nia,” he said. “The real you, and I like what I see.”

  Overwhelmed, all Nia could do was nod.

  “When I call you beautiful, I mean it.” Kyle emphasized his point with one powerful thrust, and Nia gasped.

  “So beautiful.” He thrust again, harder.

  An intense intimacy replaced their earlier playfulness. His strokes now hit another spot. A spot deep in her soul, no man had ever touched.

  Longer. Slower. Deeper.

  Each exquisite motion brushed the base of his hardness against her slick wetness until the sight of him, the feel of him became all too much, and she came looking in his eyes and calling his name.

  Chapter 9

  Kyle awoke to Nia thrashing beside him.

  “Stop,” she mumbled. “Watch out.”

  He sat upright, blinking to orientate himself to the pitch-black darkness enveloping the room. Ice-cold air hit his bare chest.

  “Watch out!” Nia shouted the words, followed by a moan and something that sounded like the word tree.

  Realizing she was still asleep, Kyle nudged her gently, but she continued to flail.

  “Wake up, Nia,” Kyle said louder. He gave her a gentle shake. “It’s just a dream.”

  Finally, she roused.

  “Kyle?”

  Instinctively, he reached out and drew her into his arms. “Yes, baby. I’m here,” he reassured. The endearment slipped from his lips naturally as if he’d called her that for years. “It was just a dream.”

  “Cold.” She trembled in his embrace.

  Kyle rubbed at the gooseflesh on her arms, but resisted the urge to pull her closer. They needed to figure out options for light and heat first.

  Nia yawned. “What time is it?”

  He felt for his watch on the night table and checked the time by its light.

  “Two a.m.,” he said. “Looks like the power’s out. I need to rebuild the fires in here and the living room. You’ll be okay for a few minutes?”

  “I’m fine.” She nodded, but he could still feel her trembling.

  He got out of bed and scrambled in the dark to find the jeans and sweater he’d thrown on the floor earlier in his frenzy to make love to her.

  “Wait.” She reached into the bedside drawer and a moment later a beam of light cut through the darkness. “This may help.”

  Kyle took the proffered flashlight.

  “My first trip after the last power outage was to the hardware store,” she said.

  “I don’t suppose you picked up a generator.” He aimed the light in her direction just in time to see her smile, which bathed the freezing room in warmth.

  “No, but there are candles and plenty of firewood.”

  “Well prepared and beautiful.” He leaned in and brushed a kiss against her mouth, noticing this time she didn’t flinch or freeze up at the apt description.

  Kyle brought more wood from the living room and made quick work of getting the bedroom fireplace going. Meanwhile, Nia donned a pink flannel robe, lit candles and added more blankets to the bed.

  “That’s better,” he said, as heat began to radiate off the flames.

  “But not nearly as good as body heat,” Nia said, her dream apparently forgotten.

  Kyle slipped into bed and once again gathered her in his arms. He leaned back against the headboard. Although, she’d seemed to be over her nightmare, he couldn’t help feel guilty. It was his fault she’d had it in the first place.

  “I’m sorry.” He kissed the top of her head. “I shouldn’t have pushed that movie off on you earlier. If I’d known it would give you nightmares, we would have never watched it.”

  Nia shook her head. “It wasn’t the movie,” she said, her voice sounded hollow and weary.

  “You’ve had the dream before?”

  Again, she nodded. “Every once in a while.”

  Kyle knew it was none of his business. They’d only known each other a little more than a day. Much too soon for his protective instincts to kick in.

  “Want to tell me about it?” he asked, telling himself he was merely curious. “I’m a good listener.”

  He felt her shrug.

  “You don’t want to hear my troubles. From the way you were shoveling snow earlier, it seems like you have enough on your mind.”

  “I’ll make you a deal. You tell me about your dream, and I’ll tell you about the one I had last night,” he offered.

  Nia lifted her head off his chest to look up at him. The candlelight cast a soft golden glow over her smooth, brown complexion.

  “And what makes you think I want to hear about your dream?”

  “Because you were in it.”

  Nia lay her head back on his chest, and he tightened his embrace. She exhaled. “I was dreaming about the night my mom died,” she said. “We were in a car accident. She died instantly. I walked away with cuts, bruises and a broken arm. I was seven.”

  God, no wonder she had nightmares. He couldn’t imagine losing a parent so young. Even worse, Nia was there when it happened.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” Again, the endearment slipped out. “Was your father in the car, too?”

  Nia stiffened. “No,” she said, not elaborating on the subject of her father. “My mom’s mother took me in and raised me.”

  Kyle’s gut told him there was more to the story than she’d revealed, but he didn’t press.

  “Your grandmother mu
st have been a wonderful woman,” Kyle said.

  “Grandma was a better parent than either of mine ever were to me.”

  Their conversation made Kyle more curious. He wanted to know about Nia. A realization that startled him.

  After sex, he was usually the one looking for his clothes to make a quick exit. Yet here he was holding this woman against him asking to hear her secrets and tempted to divulge his own. The storm was holding him here, of course, but he wanted to be here, too.

  “In addition to having awesome taste in movies, your grandmother did a great job of raising you,” he said. “I think you’re incredible.”

  You were lucky to have her, he wanted to say. While he grew up with everything money could buy. He hadn’t been fortunate enough to have a caring grandparent, like Nia and his brother, Adam, to compensate for his all-business father and a long-dead mother he couldn’t remember.

  Nia’s laughter kept him from dwelling on it any longer. Some things were best left in the past.

  “You don’t have to flatter me, you know. I already slept with you on the first date.” Feigning embarrassment, she pulled the covers up until they covered half her face. “Actually, there wasn’t even a date.”

  There could be, Kyle thought, liking the sound of the idea.

  Maybe Nia would understand what he had to do with the candy factory was just business. He didn’t intentionally want to hurt her friends and their community, but he wouldn’t shirk his responsibility to Ellison Industries, either.

  Kyle pulled her closer, tightening his embrace. He’d just have to figure out a way to make her understand, because after the storm he wanted to see more of her. A lot more.

  “We had lunch out and a movie,” he explained. “In my book, that’s a date.”

  Nia laughed. “Lunch out? We ate peanut butter sandwiches outside on the front porch.”

  “Like I said, lunch out.”

  “Hey, we had a deal.” Nia tilted her neck back and looked up at him. “I told you my dream. You were supposed to tell me yours, remember?”

  “It’s all coming back to me,” Kyle said. “I was stranded in a snowstorm with a beautiful woman who couldn’t get enough of sex and feeding me copious amounts of toffee candy.”

  Nia gave his side a playful punch. “Is that the best you can do? Beg for candy like an off-season trick-or-treater?”

  “Since the power’s out and it’s in the freezer. Seems like I’d be doing you a favor by helping you eat it.”

  Nia heaved a put-upon sigh. She threw back the covers and grabbed the flashlight from the nightstand. “Oh, all right.”

  Minutes later, she dived back into the bed, plastic container in hand. “There’s good news, and there’s good news,” she said.

  “So what’s the good news?”

  “Looks like it finally stopped snowing,” she said.

  Yesterday, Kyle would have been relieved. However, now the news didn’t thrill him.

  “And the other good news?” He hoped this time it was something he wanted to hear.

  “The candy in the freezer had already started defrosting,” she said. “So you’re actually doing me a favor helping me eat it.”

  Kyle automatically reached for a piece, but she pulled it out of his reach.

  “Not so fast,” Nia said. “I told you about me, and all you did was make up a dream to get more of my candy.”

  Kyle reached beneath the blankets and pinched her flannel-covered bottom. “I can’t get enough of your sweet candy.”

  “Uh-uh. You can do better than that.” She popped a piece of candy into her mouth and slowly chewed.

  Kyle’s stomach growled in protest. “Let’s see. I’m thirty-one years old. I...”

  She shook her head, cutting him off. “Something real,” she said. “It’s not like I can tell anyone. We don’t even know each other’s last names.”

  Kyle closed his eyes briefly. He didn’t want to destroy the mood, but now was as good a time as any to come clean. “My last name is El...”

  “It doesn’t matter to me.” She touched a finger to his lips to shush him. “I’d rather know what was bothering you when you were shoveling snow earlier. Maybe I can help.”

  Kyle kissed her finger, before taking her hand in his. It was the first time a woman had said his last name didn’t matter, and he believed her. In his experience, the name Ellison always mattered.

  “Problems at work and my being out of touch with the office isn’t helping,” he said. “I’ve been expecting a big promotion, now it looks like I might not be the only candidate for the job.”

  “Are you the best candidate?”

  Kyle thought about it a moment and answered with certainty. “I am, but my past behavior has made it difficult to convince the right people I’m the man for the job.”

  “You said past behavior, does that mean you’re a changed man?” She held the box of toffee out to him, and he took a piece.

  “I wouldn’t say changed. Just a more focused man with different priorities,” he said.

  “Well, I think you’re a good man,” she said. “And if your boss has a brain in his head, he’ll realize it.”

  “Thanks for saying that.” Kyle reached for another piece of candy. He chewed slowly, savoring the mix of smooth, buttery chocolate and melt-in-your-mouth almond-flake crunchiness.

  Nia lifted her head off his chest and faced him. “Like you, I mean what I say,” she said. “You’re good people, and I have every confidence in you.”

  She offered him more candy, but Kyle shook his head. Her misplaced faith in him felt like a punch to the gut. He wasn’t good people. He was first and foremost a businessman, and his success would leave her hometown financially devastated.

  Please understand, he silently pleaded.

  “There’s one piece left,” she said. “Sure you don’t want it.”

  “No thanks. You go ahead.”

  Nia polished off the last bite. “That’s the last of it.”

  “So you’ll make the next batch from her recipe?” Kyle wanted to talk about anything that kept his mind off his work and how it would ultimately impact Nia.

  She shook her head. “I wish I could, but it’s missing. She kept all her recipes handwritten on index cards and filed in a recipe box. I’ve looked and it’s not there.”

  “Maybe she lent it to someone?”

  “No. Grandma guarded her recipes as if they were state secrets. She never would have let anyone peek at it, let alone give it to them.”

  “And with the last pieces gone, there’s no way to have it analyzed and re-create the recipe,” Kyle said.

  “I hadn’t thought of doing that,” she said. “Now it’s just another one of her mysteries I’ll never solve.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Grandma was the mayor of Candy when she died, and she was working on some big plan. Something important to her constituency. Unfortunately, she died, and everyone is depending on me to figure it all out.”

  “Did she leave any clues?”

  Nia shrugged. “She tried, but her stroke stole both her speech and her ability to write. All I could make out is there’s some file she was desperate for me to find.” She looked up at him. “I’ve practically torn her office at city hall and this place apart, but I haven’t found any file, let alone a missing recipe.”

  The firelight danced across her face, and despite the low light Kyle could see the worry lines creasing her forehead.

  “I can help you search the house again.”

  She shook her head. “I’ve looked everywhere. It’s not here.”

  “I don’t mind,” he said. “It’s the least I can do after you were kind enough to stop and pick me up, and then take me into your home.”

  Nia bit down on her bott
om lip. “I’m sure there are some other ways you can show me your gratitude.”

  She got out of bed just long enough to shed the pink, flannel robe. She got back in and snuggled next to him, and all he could think of was her warm, naked curves.

  Even as he reached for her, he knew he should tell her exactly who he was and get the hell out of her bed.

  “Make love to me, Kyle.” Nia moved against him.

  Her soft command and the pounding of his heart drowned out the small voice of his conscious as he kissed her. Kyle couldn’t stop himself from making love to her, before the snowplows came and ruined everything.

  Chapter 10

  Nia felt the heat first, blowing out of the vents full blast, before daylight nudged her out of a deep, dreamless sleep.

  The lamp on her night table was on, too.

  Power had been restored, and she could hear the rumble of engines and plows in the distance. It meant the real world would soon be closing in on the makeshift one the storm had created.

  Nia allowed herself a moment to savor the feel of waking up in Kyle’s arms. The warmth of his big, hard body. The satiated ache between her legs. He’d made love to her twice in the wee hours of the morning; each time was more wonderful and made her feel more beautiful than the last.

  But he had a life to get back to, things to do. So did she.

  Blowing out a sigh, Nia eased out of his embrace and slipped into her flannel robe. She showered quickly and dressed in jeans and a sweater.

  “Reality beckons?” Kyle asked, when she returned to the bedroom.

  Nia nodded. “Whoever plows the road after a storm usually comes up to the house to check on me since it’s so isolated,” she said. “From the sound of the plows, they’ll be here soon.”

  Kyle flung back the covers, and she allowed herself a greedy eyeful of his nakedness. Her eyes remained glued to his firm behind as he bent to gather his discarded clothing. Nia licked her bottom lip. What she wouldn’t give for a sudden deluge of snow and one more night.

  He strode across the room to her, clothes in hand but still deliciously naked. He hauled her against him in one swift motion and kissed her so thoroughly her toes curled inside her thick socks.