by Lori Foster
Stasia stiffened, but Harley didn’t let her hold back. He buried himself in her, then withdrew and drove in again.
The sensations were so much, both physically and emotionally, that it felt like he turned her inside out. She wanted to moan, to cry out, but his mouth swallowed every sound she made. He kept her locked to him, too tightly for her to do more than accept him.
And she loved it.
On his third stroke, she exploded, shaking all over, sweating, holding on to him with near desperation.
He groaned and rode her harder, faster. With the arm he had hooked in her knee, he levered up more and tangled a hand in her hair, keeping her mouth right where he wanted it. His other hand he used to lift her hips more. Stasia felt him so deep inside her, filling her, setting sparks off every nerve ending, and another climax rippled through her.
She jerked her mouth free to gasp for air, but Harley didn’t allow that. He was right there, reclaiming her mouth, taking everything in every way, and giving her so much pleasure that as the sensations finally began to fade, Stasia felt light-headed.
He stiffened over her, let her mouth go so he could press his face into her shoulder, and she heard his ragged groans as his big body shuddered and convulsed.
Tears burned her eyes. She wrapped both arms as tightly around him as she could. When he settled against her, going limp but still gasping for air, she had to bite her lip to keep from speaking.
She loved him, had known it for a long time.
But now that she’d had him, all of him, how would she ever get by without him?
HARLEY rolled to his back and stared at the ceiling. He had no words. His brain felt more at ease than he could ever recall.
There was no discontent. No lack of satisfaction.
Smiling, he turned his head and saw Stasia watching him through sleepy eyes. Damn. Could a woman look more beautiful?
He turned to his side, but didn’t touch her. “You okay?”
Still on her back, she gave a slow, lazy blink of her eyes and let out a slow breath. “I am remarkably sated.”
She was remarkably sexy. “Yeah? Me, too.”
Closing her eyes, she waited, and Harley felt her growing tension until she finally asked, “Now what?”
He couldn’t blame her for the uncertainty. He’d been so damned insistent on things.
Harley put a hand on her stomach. Her skin was soft and pale. So pretty. “I’ll be right back. Do me a favor, and don’t move.”
“I’m not sure I can.”
He left for the bathroom, disposed of the condom, and came back with a cool washcloth. In an unconsciously provocative pose, she had one arm behind her head, the other folded over her middle. Her hair spread out on the mattress like a silky fan. Her long legs were parted, her left leg slightly bent at the knee.
Very at ease, with her and the situation, Harley stretched out beside her and pressed the damp cloth between her legs.
Her arm came down and her eyes shot open. “Harley—”
“Relax.”
She caught his wrist with both hands. “Stop that! I can—”
“I want to.” Feeling devilish and playful, Harley moved the cloth over her. “Don’t make me tie you up now.”
She rolled to her side toward him. “This is ridiculous. I’m more than able—”
“So much bitching. Can’t a man just enjoy himself a little after sex?” Grinning, he tossed aside the cloth and turned her to her back again, pinning her in place with a heavy thigh over hers.
“Bitching!” Stasia swatted at him, half-laughing, half-embarrassed.
Wrestling with her was fun, so Harley let the play go on just long enough to get her winded before catching both her wrists in his. “Now.”
“Don’t even think it, Harley.”
“Think what? This?” He pressed her arms high, stretching her out and turning himself on at the same time. As he coasted a hand over her ribs, she squirmed, ticklish and uncertain of his motives.
“Stop struggling, woman.”
“No!”
He bent to her breast. “Give in.” He licked her, and murmured low, “Let me enjoy you.”
She said, “Damn it, Harley, I don’t want—” Then he sucked a now soft nipple into his mouth.
Stasia froze. But not for long.
On a groan, her body still sensitive from her recent pleasure, she tried to flinch away. Holding her tightly, Harley circled her nipple with his tongue, teased, and then, using just the edge of his teeth, lightly tugged.
She stopped fighting to arch into him. Her legs shifted and she tried to open them, but he kept them still with one of his own. “Not yet, honey.”
“Harley…”
“I know. I told you so.”
That irked her, as he intended. She started struggling anew. He lifted up to watch her face as he played with her nipples, rolling them, tugging.
“Do you know all the ways I can make you come, Stasia?”
Her eyes half-closed. “No.”
“Why don’t we find out?”
“Why don’t you stop being a jerk?”
He laughed and put a hand to her heart. It beat hard and fast. “You love it.”
“I want you.”
“Which part of me?” Before she could answer, Harley said, “Tell me what you want, honey. My cock, my fingers, or…my mouth?”
Her body flushed with excitement. Her chest rose with each deepening breath.
“Unsure?” Harley teased. “How about I decide for you?”
She licked her lips, then nodded.
Already anticipating the taste of her and her reaction to the stroke of his tongue in the most responsive of places, Harley released her wrists and bent to put a kiss to her stomach. He breathed in the heated scent of her skin, and the muskier scent of sex.
Stasia put a hand in his hair. “But know this, Harley Handleman. Everything you do to me, I plan to repay in kind.”
Those words nearly dropped him. Well hell. He was already hard again, and now he felt on the volatile edge of detonating.
“In that case…” He caught her hips and with one firm tug, readjusted her at an angle on the mattress. He parted her legs and settled between them. “Bend your knees.”
When she hesitated, he helped her. With a hand on the inside of each thigh, he held her open wide so that he could see every inch of her.
Tracing one fingertip along her still swollen lips, he avoided her clitoris while testing her readiness. She shifted in growing need, and he pushed his finger into her in one long, firm stroke.
She pressed her head back, her mouth open, her eyes closed.
Adding a second finger to the first, Harley worked her until every breath was a moan and moisture bathed his hand. He couldn’t wait any longer. He leaned in closer and licked over her, around his fingers buried deep, up and over her turgid clitoris.
Her knees bent more and she lifted her hips up to him, pressing closer, begging for more with her body movements and soft cries.
He drew her into his mouth and sucked very softly, using his tongue to stroke her at the same time that he twisted his fingers, pushing them deeper, stretching her.
As she came, her cries were loud and raw and real, just as Harley liked it. Her climax lasted, lingering, until finally her muscles went lax and she sank boneless against the mattress.
He wanted her, no doubt about that, but other, softer emotions held him. Harley kissed her thighs, hugged himself to her, tasted her sweat-damp skin and the tangier taste of her excitement.
Simply put, he wanted to wallow in her, to somehow make it last when in the past, he’d only wanted fast relief followed by a faster good-bye.
Coming up alongside her, Harley kissed her open mouth and then her palm, before carrying her hand down to his erection. He curled her fingers around him—and saw her smile.
“Oh God, Harley. I need a minute.”
Feeling heady with need, he whispered, “Take all the time you need.” She could take
a lifetime, and he wasn’t sure it’d be enough.
He cuddled her breast, not to incite her, but just because her body was a part of her and somehow all of her had become so precious to him.
“That was enough to knock me out.”
He nuzzled her throat. “Sleep if you want.” He wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was she. He could wait if he had to.
As a reply, her fingers tightened on his shaft. “You won’t get off that easy.” She rolled toward him, then half onto his chest. She stroked him, smiled at his clenching jaw, and kissed his chin.
Like a curtain, her shoulder-length hair fell around her flushed face. “You are such a devastating man.”
“I’m a horny man.”
“Good.” She bit his earlobe, then his shoulder. “I could just eat you up.”
God, he hoped so. “Feel free.”
She licked his collarbone, bit a pectoral muscle, and teased her lips over his left nipple. “You know just how far to take things, don’t you, Harley?”
“Meaning?”
“When you bit me.”
She put her teeth to him, and Harley froze. “Uh, Stasia…”
Kissing him, she said, “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.”
He tangled both hands in her hair. In contrast to her hot skin, it felt remarkably cool. “I’m better at teasing than being teased.”
“Tough.” She nibbled her way along his ribs. “How is it that you know when to stop? My heart was pumping so hard, and I was half-afraid of what you’d do, but loving it anyway.”
“I take my cues from you, honey.”
“A learned talent, no doubt gained from lots of experience.”
He did not want to talk about other women with her. “We’re the only two here.”
She held his cock in her hand, tight, still. “I haven’t had as much practice as you, so I hope I don’t…” She nipped his hip with her sharp little teeth. “Hurt you.”
Ah hell. His every muscle drew tight, especially given he could feel her breath on his dick. “Stasia—”
“Relax, Harley.” Stroking slowly from the base to the head, she smiled up at him. “Let me learn.”
She was much better at teasing than she wanted to admit. “I don’t know if I like this, babe.”
“Let’s find out.” She licked her smiling lips, wetting them, then pressed a soft kiss to the underside of his shaft. When he automatically flexed, she did it again, then followed up with a hot lick.
“Damn.”
“You are so big, Harley.” She ran her tongue around him, below her fist, above it—up and over the sensitive head of his dick.
He jerked hard, he couldn’t help it. “Enough, Stasia.”
“I don’t think so.” She licked him again, then drew him into her mouth, sucking him while stroking with her hand.
He knew he wouldn’t last. He closed his eyes and tried to hold on. Her hot little mouth felt so good that he wanted to enjoy it more.
With any other woman, he might have succeeded.
But this was Stasia, and he couldn’t obliterate that thought, couldn’t separate the reality of it, of who she was and what she’d come to mean to him.
Eyes burning, Harley looked down at her. Resting on her belly, her adorable ass was there for him to see, her small hand held him, her hair teased his abdomen.
Her cheeks hollowed out—
“Enough. I give.” Against her protests, Harley caught her shoulders and pulled her up alongside him. “Get a condom,” he managed to growl. “There in the nightstand.”
Smiling in satisfaction, looking sexier than any woman should, Stasia turned and in record time came back with a condom. She went up to her knees and opened the little packet with her teeth.
“Hold still.”
“Yeah, right.” Harley fisted his hands and tried to concentrate on something, anything other than the fact that Stasia had him in her hands and was preparing to fuck him.
As soon as she had the condom in place, he said, “Ride me.”
Puzzled, she looked at him, and Harley caught her waist. “Ride me, Stasia.” He lifted her up and over him so that she straddled him. “Come on, sugar. Put me inside you. I want to see you sitting on me, taking me deep.” He was killing himself now, but he couldn’t stop. “All of me.”
Her nipples went tight. A pulse fluttered in her throat. “All right.”
She held him steady and slowly lowered herself onto him.
Harley watched as the head of his cock pushed inside her. Hell yes. The muscles in her slim thighs flexed. Her belly sucked in.
Eyes closed, her bottom lip caught in her teeth, she took about half of him and stopped.
He held her waist. “All of me, Stasia.”
“I don’t know…”
“Sit down.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “You’re awfully big—”
“I know. And you’re small and tight and it feels so fucking good, I could die happy right now.” It took all Harley’s concentration not to thrust up into her. He swallowed, and said again, “Sit down.”
Leaning forward to brace her hands on his thighs, Stasia looked at him. Their gazes locked.
“Do it.”
Taking deep breaths, she eased down. Her eyelids went heavy. Her lips opened. She panted.
Harley gripped her hips tighter and said through his teeth, “You’re killing me, baby.”
She closed her eyes, braced herself—and pushed down.
Oh God.
Harley struggled with himself, but damn, it felt so good being deep inside her, so deep…He couldn’t hold back any longer.
It didn’t matter.
Giving up all control, Stasia dropped her head back and groaned. Harley drove up into her, guiding her hips, metering the pace, harder and faster. He brought his knees up and said urgently, “Lean back.”
She did, and the position lifted her breasts.
Harley growled. Seeing her, feeling her, watching her pleasure build was a big mind blow. She cried out in a sudden orgasm, and that was all it took. He joined her on a rush, and as she lay down over his chest, he cradled her close…and cherished her.
CHAPTER 21
HARLEY took his time regaining his wits this time. He felt it when he slipped from Stasia’s body, but she didn’t budge. She was a limp weight against him, their skin melded with sweat, the scent in the air heady and rich, filled with pleasure.
He could have slept like that, Harley realized, with Stasia as his blanket, comfortable atop him. But he had to dispose of the condom. Moving carefully, he turned her to his side. She mumbled something and curled up as if, having lost his body heat, she felt chilled.
A lump the size of a cantaloupe caught in his throat. He smoothed her hair, touched her soft mouth with his thumb. In the past few months, she’d given him hell, taken him on a damn chase, and numbed his mind with incredible sex.
She wanted to shove her idea of guidance down his throat, but maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Stasia was an intelligent, intuitive, honest woman. And she seemed to know him, better than most in fact.
The least he could do was consider her comments.
Harley left the bed and looked at her again. He realized she was dead center in the middle of the mattress. He smiled.
Not since Sandy had left him years ago for another man had he slept with a woman. Slept. Well, there was that night at the garage with Stasia, but he’d remained awake all night, listening for trouble, thinking—resisting.
He was so tired, he swayed on his feet.
Fuck it. He couldn’t very well wake her and tell her to leave, and he’d feel like an ass camping out on the couch.
Besides, there was a terrible yearning inside him. He wanted to be beside her, to hold her and protect her. It would only mean what he wanted it to mean. Nothing more.
He controlled himself and his life. He could control this, whatever it was, too.
Harley pulled the displaced blankets up and over Stasia and went
into the bathroom. After quietly cleaning up, he went out to make sure the house was locked up. Everything was quiet and still, peaceful in a way he’d never considered or noticed before.
Thoughts churning, he returned to the bedroom. Stasia still hogged the middle; that lump remained in his throat.
He turned off the lights, squeezed in beside her, and pulled her against his body. As if she’d slept with him for years, she adjusted herself to his body, got comfortable, and sighed back to deep sleep.
Harley wondered if he’d get any rest at all.
It was his last thought until morning sun came through a small opening in the curtains.
STASIA woke with her nose against a hairy chest. Instinctively, she knew it was Harley, and before she’d even gotten her eyes open she was smiling.
Blond hair disheveled, light beard shadow covering his jaws, he looked incredible.
And peaceful.
She didn’t have the heart to awaken him. And because she had no idea how he’d react to finding her still in his bed, she didn’t have the nerve.
Feeling like a coward, she eased away from him and slid to the edge of the mattress. Harley stirred, turned to his back, and settled back to sleep.
He worked so hard, pushed his body to the limits, and let his uncle run him ragged. He divided his concentration between training, promotion, family duty, and friends. He had to be exhausted.
The sheet barely covered his lap, leaving his torso bare for her perusal. One big foot stuck out at the bottom. He raised an arm, and she looked at the paler underside of his heavily muscled arm, the softer armpit hair, the gentle way his lax hand rested with his fingers open.
She drew a shuddering breath.
Even after last night, seeing him again sent her heart into a tailspin. She knew she was head over heels in love with him, but she didn’t really know what to do about it. Harley had never misled her, and she wasn’t about to kick up a fuss.
But…God, it hurt.
Cool air sent a chill over her skin and she picked up his discarded sweatshirt from the night before, slipped out of his room, and eased the door closed again.
Had anything really changed between them? To her, it felt like a whole new dynamic had been added to their relationship. But she couldn’t trust in her own perspective, and she knew it. For her, sex was a commitment.
