Sweet Ultimatum

by Naima Simone

  With a gentle grasp on her wrist, Selig stopped her ministrations, removing her hand from his cock. With careful maneuvering, he settled her back on the pillows he’d propped up against the headboard. His concern for her comfort even during the passion of making love only cracked the seal of hope wider.

  Crouched over her like a tiger with his prey, he leaned down and brushed her lips with his once more. He didn’t linger, instead sliding down to her breasts. He swirled his tongue over and around the full mounds, bathing the globes with open-mouth kisses. His tormenting touch circled closer and closer to the rock-hard tips that begged for his attention. Finally, his teeth grazed the tip. Caitlin bit her lip at the electrifying caress that seemed to have a direct line to her clit. She lowered her hand between her legs circling the pulsing button. Dipping her fingers in the drenched cavern below, she parted the swollen folds and trailed back to her clit, spreading the moisture around and around until she shivered underneath her hand.

  “Damn, baby, yeah,” he growled over her breast, his stare fixed on her busy fingers. “Touch yourself. I love that. Show me how you want me to taste that sweet pussy.” His lips surrounded her nipple, suckling it, drawing it deep into his mouth. The hard pulls echoed in her sex until she cried out, the sound desperate.

  “Fuck me, Selig. Don’t tease me. Please, I need you,” she begged, and didn’t care. She longed to be stretched and filled. To be taken.

  A broken moan came from above her.

  “I want that, baby. I need that.” He slid back, bent his head and swiped his tongue through the glistening, cream-soaked lips of her pussy. Her hips bucked, a cry ripped from her lips at the soul-destroying pleasure. The twinge in her abdomen didn’t compare to the fire he flamed in her. He groaned, his eyes closing as if savoring a special treat. “Damn, that’s good.” He lowered again and lapped at the moisture. Caitlin screamed, her hands tangling in the dark waves below her. His tongue flicked her tortured clit, sending her racing toward release. Damn, just a little more pressure. Just a little more…

  She wailed a protest as he reared back when she teetered on the edge of orgasm.

  “Open your eyes, Caitlin,” he commanded, grasping her hips in his hands. She heard the hunger in the gravel of his voice and obeyed his demand, meeting hot need and something else…supplication. “I need to be here.” He dropped his eyes to stare down at where the engorged head of his cock hovered at the portal of her throbbing core. “While you were in the hospital, I asked them to test me.” He swallowed, his gaze lifting to hers once more. “I’ve been with—with women. I always came away from them alone, with a stain on my soul. Only with you do I feel clean, whole. When I’m here, buried inside you, fucking you, I’m never alone. I’m only complete when your pussy is sucking me deep, welcoming me. Let me have you. All of you. With nothing between us ever again.” His gaze bore into hers. She was branded by the bright stare. Never would she be free of him. She didn’t want to be. He’d claimed her soul long ago and had never returned it.

  “Yes.” Caitlin reached out and brushed her fingertips over the sensual curve of his full lower lip. “Yes, Selig.”

  On a harsh groan, Selig pressed forward, his cock head stretching her. The erotic burn increased as he slid the entire length into her pussy without pause. He didn’t stop his relentless invasion until he was seated fully inside her, the hair at their groins meshed in a sensual tangle. His fingers tightened on her hips, holding her still. The heavy sac bumped the stretched lips of her sex, the gentle motion its own caress. Every sensation added to the beauty of the moment to be forever etched in her memory. The warm, buttery ray of sunshine that arrowed across the bed and their tangled legs. The wet sound of flesh meeting flesh as Selig rode her, his harsh groans and her soft sighs filling the air. The feel of the cool cotton sheets beneath her. The heady perfume of sex mingling with his own unique scent that drifted up from his pillow to envelop her. The taste of his kiss that continued to linger on her tongue. The sight of his face, tightened in lust—and love. Yes. Love.

  She closed her eyes, flinging herself headlong into pure sensation. Love freed her to embrace the terrifying and wonderful freefall. His cock plunged into her pussy, riding her, rocking her. Her muscles quivered around the hard length and Caitlin shook under the hard, but tender fucking. And as the red-hot orgasm tore through her, hurling her into the fire, she screamed out her pleasure and love for him, clawing at his hips, his ass. She didn’t fight it, instead embraced it. As the dark closed over her, Selig’s hoarse shout reverberated in her ears and she plunged forward, a smile curving her lips.

  * * * * *

  “Did you mean it?”

  Drowsy from his loving and the mind-bending orgasm he’d given her, Caitlin lifted her lashes to meet the mellow gold of his eyes. He lay beside her, his head resting near her hip. His breath fanned the flesh above the gauze while his finger traced the tender strip of skin beneath.

  “Did I mean what?” Caitlin sifted the dark strands of his hair through her fingers. Six years ago, she’d adored his curls, but the long, sexy-as-hell waves drove her wild with lust. Especially when she pulled them during sex. She grinned. “Anything I screamed in the throes of orgasm cannot be held against me since I was out of my mind at the time.”

  “You said you loved me.”

  Her fingers stilled. Their gazes tangled. Had she said that? It didn’t surprise her. At that moment, her love for him had been so huge in her heart she supposed she wouldn’t have been able to control the words. Staring down into his solemn gaze, Caitlin realized she couldn’t hold that back from him. Even if he didn’t return it. Her heart belonged to him. Always.

  “I meant it. I love you.” Her heart sped a hundred miles a minute. The aloof mask of protection that had served her so well in the past had disappeared forever sometime between when he’d held her while she cried and when he’d made love to her with a fiery passion that had razed every shield she’d ever erected around her emotions. “I’ve always loved you. Nothing or no one could take you from my heart. And if we hadn’t been reunited for another six or sixteen years, I still would have loved you. You’re my heart, Selig.”

  His eyes swung away from hers. He pressed his forehead to her hip. Silence enclosed them. The initial clutch of her heart at his lack of response passed and Caitlin breathed easier. The sting of rejection she would have felt only three weeks ago never materialized. In that instant she recognized why. She trusted him. He’d fought Nicholas and faced death to save her life. He’d slept by her side, holding her hand waiting for her to wake up in the hospital. A man didn’t do that unless he loved a woman. Whether Selig could admit—or even recognize it—he loved her.

  And Caitlin was willing to wait until he did.

  “I don’t deserve you. I don’t deserve your love.” His muffled whisper stunned her. Before she could form a reply, he shook his head. His hair swept across her skin. “You gave me up to save my life. And in return I’ve resented you. Insulted you. Used you and made you enter into a relationship you didn’t want. I almost lost you, Caitlin. You bled in my arms and all I could think about was I would never have the chance to tell you how sorry I was—I am. I would never have the chance to beg you to forgive me.”

  “Selig, look at me.” Caitlin didn’t wait for him to comply. She reached under his chin and tipped his head up to meet her eyes. “How can I blame you? I would have reacted the same way in your shoes. You couldn’t have known about Nicholas’ threats. And you couldn’t have made me take part in anything I didn’t want. The truth is I wanted to be with you. All you did was hand me an excuse and take the guilt off my shoulders.” She chuckled, stroking his lean cheek with the back of her fingers. “Have I thanked you for that lately?”

  “No,” he shook his head, voice hoarse with the love shining in his eyes, “you haven’t. You could have told me that sooner, you know, instead of letting me lambast myself with guilt.”

  “Now where would the fun have been in that?” She laughed, loving
this man. Loving him so much her body wasn’t big enough to contain the emotion.

  “I love you.” His sober declaration shouldn’t have shocked her. She’d just convinced herself she knew how he felt toward her. But the words. Hearing the words unlocked the residual hurt and doubt, sweeping them from the corners of her soul forever and setting her free. “I love you so much. I’ve been a dead man for the past six years. I walked in to that reception and suddenly I breathed again. My heart beat again. Stay with me, Caitlin. Make your home with me. Love me.”

  “Where ever. When ever. Forever.”

  “Just like that?” He smiled that half-smile she adored. His lips tipped up at the corner and his gaze warmed her in its own special glow.

  “Just like that.” Caitlin nodded, returning his smile.

  So this was happiness.

  How had she lived without it? The years of separation and pain melted away under its healing and loving caress.

  Raising himself on his elbow, Selig lifted above her and captured her mouth in a carnal, yet tender kiss, conveying his desire and love in the sensual exploration of lips, tongue and teeth. Nuzzling her mouth, he tunneled his fingers through her hair, tangling the strands in a firm grip.

  “I love you. You’re mine forever. I’m claiming you, Caitlin, and I’m never letting you go again.”

  About the Author

  I was born the daughter of a sharecropper…okay, maybe not. But I am the daughter of a pastor, from whom I inherited my love of romance. The man can preach a mean Song of Solomon! (There’s that plug, Daddy! You can pay me later!)

  Although my first book starred a cucumber named Fred, my first romance came several years later in the seventh grade when I wrote myself as a heroine opposite Ralph Tresvant from New Edition. Through the power of my pen and imagination, Ralph took one look across a crowed stadium, met my dark, mysterious gaze, fell passionately in love and serenaded me in front of everone—once we had the inevitable fight, a.k.a. black moment, and made up with a passionate declaration of love and fidelity. The same story reincarnated itself many times over the years—with Donnie Wahlberg from New Kids on the Block, Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington and, as recently as last night, Vin Diesel.

  Though the characters have changed, my love of love has endured. Shaping the lives of the unique men and women who experience the first, hungry bites of lust, the dizzying heights of passion and the tender, healing heat of love—nothing compares to it. Except maybe discovering new material for love scenes with my husband, the head of Research & Development!

  The author welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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