Sweet Ultimatum

by Naima Simone

  Sweet Ultimatum

  Naima Simone

  Caitlin has returned home after a self-imposed exile. Haunted by the erotic memories of the man she once loved and abandoned, Caitlin is unprepared to come face-to-face with Selig and the hunger resurrected under his golden gaze. Even as her body craves his touch, she denies him, realizing her reasons for terminating their relationship so long ago are as valid now as they were then.

  Six years have passed since Selig left New Eden, Washington, disillusioned and bitter after Caitlin’s cold denial of him and his love. Now he’s returned, demanding retribution for her cruel rejection. The payment—her body.

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Sweet Ultimatum

  ISBN 9781419923852

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Sweet Ultimatum Copyright 2009 Naima Simone

  Edited by Jaynie Ritchie

  Cover art by Willo

  Electronic book publication October 2009

  The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Sweet Ultimatum

  Naima Simone

  Dedication

  To my husband and children. You are my blessing, my support and my joy. You’ve motivated me, tolerated me and loved me. I thank God for all three of you. Without you, my life wouldn’t be as beautiful.

  Acknowledgements

  “I look to the hills from where comes my help.” Father, You have been my help. You are my everything. And without You none of this would have been possible. Not only are You the dream-maker, but You are the dream-giver. I love You for all that You are. My Father and My Friend.

  To Gary, thank you for making my dream your dream. There has never been a moment when you haven’t supported and loved me. Thank you for that—and all the coffee runs. To Daddy, I do believe you wanted this as much as I did! You pushed me—let’s call a spade a spade. You shoved me toward the mark and I love you for it! To Connie, thank you for being my ever-cheerful cheerleader and refusing to let me be negative! Nina, thank you for putting yours aside to work on mine, including the all-nighters! You’re still not getting a W-2 though!

  To Jessica Lee, my Jackie Chan, and Lanna Lejeune, my choreographer, not only are you fantastic writers who have pushed and challenged me to make my craft better, but two more giving, beautiful and talented women don’t exist! You both have always given your best to make me the best. Thank you for never holding back. You’re not just awesome critique partners, you’re the greatest friends.

  To Katie and Allie, you were there in the beginning, shaping and molding this story. I wouldn’t have had it without you.

  To Ellora’s Cave Publishing and my editor, Jaynie Ritchie, thank you for taking a chance on a new author and bringing a dream to fruition. To Debra Glass, you’ll never know what it meant when you gave your time and experience to an unpublished author. Your encouragement has no price tag and your kindness has no description.

  And to the ladies of RWA Southern Magic chapter, from the time I joined, you told me this day would come. You welcomed me with open arms, pushed me out of my comfort zone and never let me quit! Thank you and I love being a part of you!

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Boston University: Trustees of Boston University

  Hallmark: Hallmark Licensing, Inc.

  Kenny G: Gorelick, Kenneth DBA Kenny G

  Nissan Altima: Nissan Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha TA Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

  Pony Express United States Postal Service: United States Postal Service

  Seattle Mariners: Baseball Club of Seattle, L.P., The. Composed of Baseball of Seattle, Inc., JWR, Inc., and Mudville Nine, Inc.

  Stevie Wonder: Morris, Stevland AKA Stevie Wonder

  Wild Bill Hickock: Geronimo Productions, Inc.

  Chapter One

  “Suck me, baby. I need your mouth on me.”

  She sank to her knees, pushing the leather belt through the loop and tugging it open with eager hands. His fingers tunneled through her hair and she shivered as the blunt nails grazed her scalp. He palmed her head, his thumbs caressing the underside of her jaw. She tugged the zipper down, the movement impatient, hungry. Her lashes lifted to glance up the length of his taut abdomen and wide chest to meet the golden gaze staring down at her with lust and love.

  “Don’t make me wait.” He stroked her jaw with more pressure, his eyes darkening as the vee of his jeans widened and his cock jutted forward. “I need that pretty mouth. There’s no other feeling like your lips wrapped around my cock, sucking me to heaven. Take me to heaven, baby… Fuck!”

  Her mouth sank down over the rigid stalk of his erection. The spicy, musky flavor of his cock exploded in her mouth and this time the groan erupting in the room belonged to her. Her tongue stroked the iron length of him, every vein throbbing under the silk skin over rigid steel deserved to be traced, every bead of pre-come needed to be savored. Eyes closed, she lapped at the plum-shaped head before engulfing it whole, licking the sensitive underside with abandon. The blistering curse and shudder that quaked through his body sent a surge of power coursing through her. This man—this beautiful creature—quivered under her mouth and love.

  Her fingers wrapped around his cock, unable to meet one another around the thick column. She stroked his length from tip to root, tightening as she neared the head. Her other hand disappeared inside the lapels of his pants, cupping his balls, squeezing lightly. Rising higher on her knees, she opened her jaw wider to take more of him. It was so good. The erotic slide of his cock head against the roof of her mouth and the demanding nudge to the back of her throat. It enslaved her. She slipped her hand from his pants and slid it underneath the band of her panties, cupped her drenched sex. Pressing her palm to her clit, she rubbed the engorged button. Her pussy throbbed, insisting on being filled and stretched like her mouth.

  She moaned, popping her lips free of his cock. Leaning back, she rested on her heels while her hand continued to stroke his flesh. Her eyes lifted to his beneath lowered lashes and met a hot gaze that seared her with its passion. Lines of lust etched his lean cheeks, throwing the carnal fullness of his lips in sharp relief. Her nipples drew tight, the hardened tips rasping the coarse material of his jeans. She hovered on the edge of coming just from having his eyes on her.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, reaching out and circling her damp, swollen lips with a light touch of his fingertip. He paused then pressed his finger forward, penetrating the moist recesses of her mouth while her tongue curled around the
intrusion, suckling at the tip. She whimpered a protest as he withdrew.

  “Shh.” He trailed a wet path down her throat to her chest, finally resting on the engorged peak of her breast. He held her gaze, the dark gold searing her as a fingernail grazed the beaded flesh. She flinched, the pleasure spearing from her nipple to her pulsing clit. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, muffling her cry. “You like that, don’t you, baby?”

  All she could manage was a short nod as her hand left his cock to cup her other breast, plumping and molding the heavy mound. His heavy-lidded gaze dropped to stare at her fingers tugging at her nipple, pinching and rolling the turgid flesh. He released his grip on her head to circle his cock and thrust into his palm.

  “Come back to me, sweetheart. I need your mouth again.”

  His clever fingers continued to torment her nipple while the other hand loosened his grasp on his erection to tunnel through her hair and twist the dark strands in a firm grip. A gasp parted her lips at the sensual tug and another rush of cream coated her pussy. She leaned forward and reclaimed the purple, throbbing head with her lips and hand. Her tongue swirled, dipped, stroked and sucked, drawing the heated, salty essence of him from the slit at the top of his cock. She reveled in it, greedy for more, needing more, considering it her reward.

  “That’s it, baby, that’s it. Love me. Suck me. Damn it!”

  The bite from the sharp tug to her hair ratcheted her arousal up several decimals. The lust in his voice beat at her, pulsing in her pussy, in her clit. Her mouth opened wide again, trying to swallow the hard length surging between her lips. She groaned around his flesh, one hand sliding up and down his cock and the other rubbing her drenched pussy. The pleasure and sheer arousal bordered on insanity. No man had ever roused her to such a fever pitch. It felt as if the raging fire beneath her skin would blister the lace bra and panties right off her.

  The wet suction of her mouth on his cock filled the silence of the room. Her tongue swirled around the swollen crown, coaxing more of the addicting pre-come from the narrow slit. Then both hands cupped her head again and long fingers tunneled through her hair, caging her skull between two big palms. He wrested the control from her, gripping her head and holding it steady for the short, powerful strokes he pistoned between her lips. With a moan of surrender, she abandoned her own aching flesh to grab onto his hips, seeking purchase in the carnal storm. Her lips felt bruised from the passionate pounding. And she loved every minute of it. She’d fractured his control. His need for her obliterated that last vestige of restraint.

  “No—” she protested as he dragged his cock free of her mouth, leaving a pulsing emptiness in its wake.

  “I’m not leaving you, sweetheart. But I need you. I have to touch you.” He tugged her to her feet with an impatient hand under her elbow. She swayed under the abrupt motion, but he was there to steady her. In a move that stole her breath, he swept her up in his arms. His lips captured hers, devouring her mouth with a hunger that had her nails sinking into his shoulders. She arched into him, flattening her breasts against the smooth, hard plane of his chest. His taste—damn the taste of him. Like a wild thunderstorm right after lightning strikes the ground. Electrifying and hot. She sipped at his lips before swirling deep, daring his tongue to engage in erotic play. And he took up the challenge. As he carried her to the black, silk-covered bed, his mouth ate at hers, taking control and mastering the kiss. He settled her on top of the cool, onyx sheets, his torso pressing her into the mattress.

  When he reared back, breaking off the kiss, the breath surged in and out of their chests, the labored pants like explosions in the dark, heavy quiet. She watched, fascinated, as his hands gripped the open lapels of his jeans and dragged them down his hips. God, he was beautiful. The dim lighting under the lampshade bathed the corded muscle under pale gold skin. The wide breadth of his chest tapered down to a narrow waist and ridged, tight abdomen. She wanted to lick over and under every delineated muscle and not stop until she reached the lighter patch of skin that rose over the coarse dark hair of his groin. She wanted his cock in her mouth again.

  Her fingers slipped under the waist of her panties, sliding through the cream-coated slit of her pussy. Her eyes drifted shut as she thrummed her clit. A sharp flash of pleasure speared to her nipples and back to her clenching channel. The soft swish of fabric being pushed down legs urged her eyes back open. Just in time to see him step from his pants, kicking them aside. His hand wrapped around his shaft, pulling and stroking the length. His narrowed gaze lowered to where the almost nonexistent material of her panties shifted over her busy fingers.

  “I want to see,” he growled, stepping closer to the bed. One bent knee depressed the mattress beside her thigh and she had a closer view of the heavy, thick erection and the tight sac hanging below. She gave her lips a slow lick, feeling the phantom thrust of his cock in her mouth. “Take off the panties and let me see you fuck that pussy.”

  Oh God. She shivered. She could come just from that dark voice. In little time, she shoved the lace down her thighs. Immediately, her fingers tunneled back through the weeping folds between her legs. She circled her clit with a fingertip, the slow glide over the sensitive nub causing her hips to give a spasmodic jerk. Her thighs fell open with an agonized whimper, giving him an unhindered view of the bare, gleaming lips. One, two, three fingers stroked over her sex before burying into the wet, dark channel clutching in need.

  Her eyes lifted to his, his golden gaze on her naked flesh as arousing as the fucking she gave herself. He reached out and encircled her wrist, dragging her fingers from her pussy. As if in slow motion, he lifted her hand to his mouth. Lips parting, his tongue peeked out and lapped at her drenched fingers. His lashes closed over the bright, hungry gaze as he sucked the cream of her desire with obvious relish. Each pull to her finger transmitted a corresponding spasm in her desperate sex.

  He lifted his lashes and stared down at her as his tongue gave one last stroke to her skin.

  “Please,” she whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut as her head rolled from side to side on the mattress. She didn’t know exactly what she pleaded for. His kiss. His fingers. His cock. She didn’t care. Just as long as he touched her and extinguished the inferno burning her alive. “Pl-ease!”

  The plea ended in a short, piercing scream as he speared three long, thick fingers in her pussy, filling her as her own hand never could. He withdrew and thrust, pulled out and surged forward. Her hips lifted and fell in time to the erotic tune he played. Her thighs spread wider, begging for more. Harder. Higher. More.

  “More. Harder. Deeper.”

  “That’s it, baby. Tell me what you need. Talk to me.” She cried out as the tips of his fingers curled, manipulating the tight bundle of nerves notched high in her sex. She shuddered, twisting and arching into his caress. That orgasm—that blinding release—loomed so close and yet it remained just out of reach. The tug to her hair jolted her eyes open wide, forcing her gaze to meet his. The gold burned so bright they seemed to emit a light of their own. Love, admiration and lust tangled together, bathing her, worshipping her.

  “I love you,” he pledged and with a sharp twist of his wrist, plunged his fingers deeper…

  * * * * *

  Caitlin jerked awake on a silent scream. Her torso arched off the soft cotton sheets of the bed, twisting in burning arousal. Her eyes were squeezed shut and three fingers were buried deep in the hungry channel of her sex. The residue of the dream faded away but not the arousal. She was so primed it only took a flex of her fingers and a brush of her thumb over her pulsing clit and she exploded. Her head turned into the pillow and the downy cushion muffled her cry of pleasure. The release ripped through her, torturing her clit with never-ending spasms. Her chest heaved, her hips writhed, wringing every last bit of pleasure from the climax.

  Long moments passed before she flopped onto her back and withdrew her fingers from her panties and pajama bottoms. Her pants echoed in the predawn stillness. Damn it! She opened her eyes to sta
re at the ceiling. Not again.

  Pushing aside the tangled sheets, she rolled from the bed and stood, thighs trembling. She padded across the hardwood floor and twisted the knob to the bedroom door. It had been a year since she’d returned to her hometown of New Eden, Washington. The first nine months had been spent with her parents in their home. Not for the first time she was thankful for the decision to move out of their house. She could just imagine bumping into her mother on the way to the bathroom after waking from that incredibly erotic dream, still shivering from the powerful orgasm. She chuckled, shaking her head. Don’t worry, Mother. I had the hottest erotic dream and a great orgasm. I’m just washing the come off my fingers. You can go back to bed now. Yeah, that would go over well. Caitlin grimaced. Her mother would probably have wanted to discuss why she didn’t have a man getting her off instead of doing it herself.

  After washing her hands in the bathroom, Caitlin crossed the living room on silent feet and headed to the kitchen. She wasn’t going back to sleep anytime soon. She might as well fix a cup of coffee. While she waited for it to brew, she sat down at the kitchen table and rested her forehead on her crossed arms. Her thoughts inevitably flew back to the dream. The fourth one in as many nights. Ever since her best friend, Alise, revealed Selig would be attending her and Mac’s wedding. She yearned and dreaded the moment when she would have no choice but to face the man who had been—and remained—the love of her life. She loosed a sharp bark of laughter, though she felt no humor. Her mind had rebelled at the news, but her body had been readying itself in welcome since the announcement.

  How ironic that if her father’s stroke hadn’t brought her back home, she would have avoided seeing Selig again. She wouldn’t have met Alise, become good friends with her and been maid of honor in her wedding. She wouldn’t be expected to look in the face of the man she loved—and betrayed—and act as if nothing existed between them. No love affair. No breakup. No! Caitlin gave her head a furious shake. Forget that, she couldn’t go there.