Sinful Paradise (Kimani Hotties)

by Christopher, Ann

  “Cooper,” she tried again.

  He didn’t answer.

  Feeling breathless, she stared at her new husband’s down-turned profile as he unlocked his bungalow door. His right hand moved with quick, sure movements. The fingers of his left hand were twined with hers, holding her in an unbreakable grip. His jawline was hard. Set. And his big body radiated a heat more powerful than the bonfire they’d just left.

  “We don’t have time—”

  His gaze flicked up to her, a piercing glint of blue. Then he swung the door open, tugged her inside after him and nudged the door shut with his foot.

  “Cooper.”

  To her utter astonishment, he raised her hand, flipped it over and pressed a kiss—oh, he was so gentle, so sweet—into her palm. His serrated breath fanned out across her skin, making nerve endings buzz with anticipation until she was dizzy with it.

  Her gaze flickered up to his.

  His face was wet. Tears glittered against his dark lashes, and his eyes...

  His eyes were the most amazing things she could ever hope to see—diamonds and aquamarines.

  And she was in love with him. Helplessly, hopelessly, breathlessly in love with him.

  “I should probably tell you,” he said softly, “that you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  “That’s funny. I was just thinking the exact same thing about you.”

  He tried for a rueful smile. Failed. Shrugged. Held her gaze. “I’m so in love with you,” he said, his voice cracking. “You have no idea how much I love—”

  He couldn’t go on. With a choked sob, he murmured her name and pulled her into his arms. Need collected, hot and slick, between her thighs, and suddenly she was the needy one.

  She gripped his prickly cheeks between her hands and stood on tiptoe. His mouth found hers. She yielded and took, opening to the salty sweep of his tongue even as she locked her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his silky curls.

  She needed him closer, so she scraped her nails across his scalp, urging him on. She needed more of his circling hips thrusting against her sweet spot, so she hooked one of her legs around his waist. She needed his two-handed grip on her ass to be harder, to hold her tighter, to never let her go.

  “More,” she gasped when his lips roved across her face, nuzzling her forehead and cheeks...her eyes, nose and neck. “I need more, Cooper. Don’t stop.”

  Stopping seemed to be the very last thing on his mind. Breaking free, he jerked his tunic off, pausing to wipe his eyes with it before dropping it to the floor.

  Then he reached for her.

  Heavy lidded, she stared at him, this beautiful man she’d married. He was too thin now, and she planned to learn to cook for the sole purpose of fattening him up a little, but he was all broad-shouldered, taut-bellied sinew, as though he’d sprung to life from one of Michelangelo’s sketches, and he was perfect.

  And she wanted to taste him.

  Shooting him a purposeful glance, she went to work on his belt.

  “No,” he said warily.

  “I’m your wife now.” She kicked off her shoes, dropped to her knees and pressed her face to the heavy bulge of his crotch so she could nuzzle him. His head fell back and she wanted to lick the golden column of his throat, to nip, to suck. His groan was a low, earthy rumble that fed every primitive impulse she had. “You can’t tell me no.”

  Staring up the length of his body, she unzipped his fly, reached beneath his boxer briefs, took his thick penis in her firm grip and waited.

  With a shuddering breath, he burrowed his fingers in her hair, angled her head way back and looked down into her face.

  One of his tears dropped, splashing the corner of her mouth. She licked it, watching him.

  “You’re going to break me,” he said, his voice so low and raspy she had to strain to hear. “You know that, don’t you?”

  “I don’t want to break you,” she murmured, knowing the heat of her breath against the head of his penis—it was a perfect plum now, swollen and ripe—would drive him wild. Sure enough, his hips began to thrust involuntarily, and she tightened her grip. “I just want to own every part of you.”

  “You’ve owned me since I laid eyes on— Gloria.”

  She licked him, a long, lingering swipe up his length that culminated with a swirl—and a suck. He stiffened, his fingers tightening reflexively in her hair, and the near pain was sweet. Delicious. So was the strain to her mouth and tongue. She took him deeper, bobbing her head up and down...learning the feel of him in her mouth...the raw animalistic sound of him in her ears.

  Until he couldn’t take it anymore and wrenched free. Panting and wild-eyed now, he stared down at her for one glorious second.

  Then he bent down, hauled her up by the arms and swung her around, ripping the covers out of the way before roughly tossing her to the bed. She landed on her back. By the time she’d finished bouncing, he’d joined her and reached under her dress for her panties. He jerked, she wriggled, and the panties hit the floor. She spread her legs, reaching for him, but he had other ideas.

  Flipping onto his back, he pulled her astride him and latched on to her waist. She just had time to brace her hands on his chest before he entered her with a single powerful thrust that made them both cry out.

  Then she began to move, swiveling her hips in wide circles and riding him hard.

  They stared at each other the whole time, so she saw the way the sweat broke out across his forehead and upper lip...the way his wet eyes turned to sapphire...the way they glazed over as his body tensed...the way he struggled to keep his heavy lids open and watch her.

  They spoke to each other, the same breathless mantra over and over again.

  “Cooper.”

  “You don’t know... You don’t know how much I love you.... You don’t...”

  And then, when her thighs had started burning with the effort and she couldn’t hold back the sensation any longer, she came in a piercing wave of pleasure so intense she actually saw black spots pop before her eyes. Sated and exhausted, she let her head fall back and her body go limp.

  Beneath her, he stiffened, arching back into the pillow with a final groan. She stayed where she was until the tension eased out of his body. By that point, there was nothing left of her but rubbery spaghetti, so she toppled to one side of him and stretched out on her back.

  Maybe she passed out. Maybe she slept a little.

  The next thing she knew, there was a soft touch at her temple.

  “Hmm,” she said, smiling. “Cooper.”

  Opening her eyes, she discovered him lying next to her, smoothing her hair back from her face. He was right there, all wide eyes and rapt attention.

  “What?” she asked, smoothing the line between his brows.

  “I can’t live without you,” he said quietly. “Just...for the record. I can exist, but I can’t live.”

  “Good.” She ran the backs of her fingers across his lips, which were still swollen from her kisses. “Now you understand.”

  “Understand what?”

  “How I feel. Why I married you.”

  The beginnings of a smile crinkled the corners of his eyes as he leaned in to kiss her.

  Epilogue

  “Look, husband, she’s still crying.” Talia, her face aglow with newly wedded bliss, nudged Tony with her elbow. Bride and groom looked down the candlelit table to Gloria, who was, in fact, pressing a linen handkerchief to her eyes. “Do you think she’ll stop before they start with the toasts?”

  Tony shook his head dubiously. “I don’t know, wife. I thought they’d have to sedate her during the ceremony.”

  “Oh, very funny,” Gloria snapped as they laughed at her. The reception, which was beneath a white tent on the beach, was in full swing, and the t
oasts, cake cutting and dancing would happen soon. “You two geniuses write your own vows, then you recite them without notes and you talk about how your health issues—” she pointed to Talia “—and your war experiences—” she pointed to Tony “—only made you stronger and love each other more, and then you expect the rest of us not to cry? Are you insane?”

  “A couple discreet tears are one thing,” Tony said, looking her up and down and shaking his head in mock dismay. “You’re a mess.”

  “Now, look,” Gloria said, laughing. “Just because you’re family now doesn’t mean I won’t still hurt you. Just so you know. I still have my eye on you. You’re still day-to-day as far as I’m concerned.”

  Tony raised a brow. “Day-to-day, eh? Man. And here I thought we’d bonded, Glo.”

  “Bonded?” Gloria cried. “Do I look like the bonding type?”

  She glared at him. Tony looked crestfallen. Talia said nothing but looked worried.

  Then they all burst out laughing. Further down the length of the table, someone clinked their champagne glass. More clinking ensued until the music stopped and the crowd’s excited chattering died out.

  Cooper stood, his glass in hand.

  “Can I have your attention for a minute?” he asked. “Don’t worry, Marc, I’m not cutting off the liquor. Just making a toast. No need to look so alarmed.”

  Marcus snorted. “Everyone who’s ever heard you give a toast is looking alarmed.”

  Everyone laughed.

  Talia took the opportunity to whisper in Gloria’s ear, “So I notice that the wooden ring on your right hand matches the one on Cooper’s right hand.”

  Gloria, who’d earlier noticed her sister’s keen gaze on her newest piece of jewelry, was ready with evasions that weren’t outright lies. “What, this? I found it this morning. Pretty, isn’t it?”

  Over at another table, Mr. Davies cupped his hands around his mouth. “Shut up and let your brother talk, dummy!” he called to Marcus, to more raucous laughter from the crowd.

  “And did Cooper also get his ring this morning?” Talia continued in Gloria’s ear. “I’m curious because they look an awful lot like traditional wedding bands. Tony and I thought about using them for our ceremony.”

  Gloria held her gaze and tried not to smile, which was hard when she was this happy. But her marriage to Cooper was precious and new, and she wasn’t ready to share it with anyone just yet, including her sister.

  And this was Tally’s day.

  “Wow,” Gloria said. “Even on your wedding day, you find time to be nosy. Impressive.”

  Talia shot her a sidelong—and knowing—glare.

  Tony slung his arm across the back of Talia’s chair. “Are you two going to keep talking and miss the toast? Were you raised by wolves or what?”

  “Shhh,” Gloria said.

  “Do I have everyone’s attention now?” Cooper asked. “’Cause I’ve been working on this little speech, and it’s pretty freaking brilliant. Everyone done with the yak-yak? Okay. Good. Here goes.”

  He took a deep breath, his gaze briefly flickering to Gloria, who flushed furiously.

  “Mmm-hmm,” Talia muttered.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gloria said, then took a hasty sip of water.

  “Some of you may have noticed,” Cooper began, “that a change has come over the Davies men in the past couple years or so. My cousins Sandro and Tony, and my brother, Marcus, and I have all turned into fine men. Oh, sure, we were always handsome, smart, charming and kind to small animals—”

  “And modest!” called Mrs. Davies.

  “—and everyone but Sandro now showers at least once a day—”

  Sandro had been bouncing his baby son, Pietr, on his lap while Skylar, his wife, looked on. Without missing a beat or looking away from his son’s face, he raised a hand and gave Cooper the finger.

  “Hey,” cried Nikolas, Sandro’s teenage son, whose hair was pumpkin-orange with black roots. “I saw that, man!”

  Sandro shot the kid a narrow-eyed warning look. “You saw nothing. Nothing.”

  “—so we’re very proud of our progress since we were kids,” Cooper went on. “And there was this one time when the four of us decided it would be a good idea to see if we could sail our rubber rafts from the Hamptons to Miami, so you know it was touch and go for us for a while.”

  “I remember that!” called Arianna, the younger sister of Sandro and Tony. “The folks had to call in the Coast Guard to bring your butts home!”

  “Wow,” chimed in Arianna’s husband, Joshua, who’d spent time in prison on a wrongful conviction. “And I thought I had a checkered past.”

  More laughter.

  “But lately,” Cooper said, “the Davies men have a new maturity. A new happiness. And, no, I’m not talking about the fact that the auction house landed Judah Cross’s auction and made a killing on it.”

  Marcus and Claudia, who was now his wife, grinned at each other.

  “No,” Cooper said. “I’m talking about the women who’ve come into our lives.”

  Nikolas pulled a face and made gagging sounds. Sandro playfully smacked him on the back of the head.

  Cooper ignored this disruption. “Sandro found his beautiful Skylar, a veterinarian who can handle the savage beast. And she’s good with animals, too.”

  Everyone, including Sandro, laughed. Cooper raised his glass to Skylar, who inclined her head before kissing Sandro.

  “My brother, Marcus, met his match in a spicy Brit who actually looks better in black than he does, and that’s hard to do.” Cooper raised his glass again. “To Claudia.”

  Claudia pressed a hand over her heart in thanks, then accepted a regal kiss on the cheek from Marcus. Both were wearing black linen amid the sea of white.

  “And Tony.” Here, Cooper got a little choked up and had to pause. Pressing his lips together, he held up a finger. “Give me a minute on this one.”

  Everyone clapped for encouragement.

  “Take your time, Coop!” someone yelled.

  Gloria swallowed back her latest surge of tears; Tony ducked his head; Talia ran her hand over his shoulders.

  “We thought we’d lost Tony in the war,” Cooper said. “And then he came back to us, but he was broken. And then he found Talia. Beautiful Talia. An artist whose glowing presence brightens our hearts the way her paintings brighten our walls. And now Tony’s whole again, better than before. And I know that everyone here is praying, like I am, that Tony and Talia have sixty happy years together, because no one deserves it more. So...” He cleared his throat and raised his glass. “To Talia.”

  “To Talia,” the crowd echoed.

  By now the only pair of dry eyes in the house belonged to Talia, whose glorious smile was blinding, especially when Tony pulled her onto his lap and buried his face in her neck to hide his tears.

  Gloria wiped her eyes.

  “One last toast,” Cooper said, his gaze now connecting with Gloria’s. “I hope you don’t mind if I paraphrase from Proverbs. To excellent wives, who are hard to find but who are more precious than jewels. The hearts of these men trust in you, and we will have no lack of gain.” He paused, raising his glass to Gloria. “To our excellent wives.”

  “To our excellent wives,” the crowd murmured.

  Cooper sipped and lowered his glass, his gaze still locked on Gloria. I love you, he mouthed.

  Gloria kissed her wooden wedding band, pressed her hand over her heart and beamed at Cooper, her new husband.

  I love you, she mouthed.

  * * * * *

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Kimani Romance.

  You dream in vibrant hues! Harlequin Kimani Romance stories feature sophisticated, soulful and sensual African-American and multicultural heroes and heroin
es who develop fulfilling relationships as they lead lives full of drama, glamour and passion.

  Enjoy four new stories from Harlequin Kimani Romance every month!

  Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

  Other ways to keep in touch:

  Harlequin.com/newsletters

  Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks

  Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks

  HarlequinBlog.com

  ISBN-13: 9781460329078

  SINFUL PARADISE

  Copyright © 2014 by Sally Young Moore

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  ® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

  www.Harlequin.com