by Anna Durand
By evening, we've both finished our books.
Richard gets to the end first and watches me while I finish the manuscript I've been poring over all afternoon. The second I set down the last page, he speaks.
"How was it?"
"Wonderful," I say. "Even better than his earlier books. How was yours?"
"The best thing Dex has ever written. And his sex scenes make me so randy I've had a devil of a time keeping my hands off you."
"I have the solution to that problem." I dump the manuscript I've had on my lap onto the floor. While the pages spill across the wood, I climb onto Rick's lap and straddle him. "I'd love to have your hands all over me, not to mention the rest of you."
"There's no reason to hold back anymore, is there? We've had more than a week of getting to each know each other the celibate way." He grasps my hips, rocking them forward into his stiffening cock. "I want you, Maddie. Right now."
"I want you too."
He dumps his manuscript on the floor, where its pages spill out to mingle with the ones I tossed away a minute ago. "Strip for me, Madeleine."
As much as I love the way his voice sounds when he calls me Maddie, I get even wetter and hotter when he speaks my full name. "Are you asking me to do a striptease for you?"
"Yes." He glances out at the aqua waters of the bay. "Maybe we should move outdoors. I'd love to shag you on the beach in the moonlight. We can go back to that secluded spot where I first kissed you."
"I'd love that. Let's go."
We both slip sandals on, but we leave our cell phones in the room. Rick snags a handful of condoms from a drawer in the bedside table. I don't make any snarky comments about how many condoms he's bringing along, because I need him to make love to me several times. It's been too long since I've felt him inside me.
Rick grabs a picnic blanket and ushers me out of the suite. The elevator ride seems to take forever, and there are other people in here with us, so we can't make out. At last, we escape the hotel and run to the beach. A small group of revelers is there, gathered around a bonfire, but we hurry past them to our favorite spot where we can have some privacy. Well, as much privacy as two people can get on a beach at a busy resort. I don't care if anyone finds us while we're having sex. Maybe I would have cared a couple of weeks ago, but today, I don't mind at all.
Once we reach our favorite spot, Rick spreads the blanket out and sits down. "Strip for me, Maddie."
Warmth sweeps over my skin, awakening all those secret places where I know he'll touch me and stroke me to drive me wild. I position myself near his feet, a yard or so away to make sure he can see all of me while I do this for him. No man has ever asked me to give him a striptease. Most guys can't wait to get me naked, but for their own pleasure, not mine. Get naked, screw, fall asleep. That's it. But Richard Hunter wants more. He always has, even that first night when we didn't know each other's names.
Luckily, I'm wearing shorts and a button-up blouse, plus underwear, so I have plenty of material to drive him as wild as he makes me feel. I'd kicked off my sandals the second we got to the beach, so I'm ready to go.
Rick stretches out on the blanket and links his hands under his head, his hooded gaze trained on me.
God, I love it when he looks at me that way.
I take hold of the top button on my blouse and unhook it slowly, then I move on to the next button, and the one after that. My gaze is bound to his, and every time I free another button, I swear the bulge in his pants gets bigger. When I unhook the last button, and my blouse falls open just enough to expose part of my tummy and my cleavage, he drags his tongue over his bottom lip. I push the blouse off one shoulder and bite my lip, letting it slide free of my teeth little by little. He shifts in place like his groin is paining him, but I know he's not suffering. I'm torturing him with my body, with my sensual striptease, and we both love it.
Pushing the blouse off my other shoulder, I trail my fingertips down the center of my chest until they bump into my bra. The sensation makes me shiver the tiniest bit, but only because of the way Rick is devouring me with his gaze. I roll my shoulders back and let the blouse fall away, fluttering to the floor.
He rubs his hands up and down his thighs like he's imagining doing that to my body.
I unbutton my shorts, then grasp the zipper pull.
Rick crooks his fingers into his thighs, making his pants bunch up under them. His attention zeroes in on my fingers and that tiny metal pull I grasp between them.
I sway my hips, tossing my hair, and tip my head back to expose my throat. While I dance for him, I drag that zipper down, down, down, millimeter by millimeter. Between my thighs, a silky heat gathers, and I burn and throb in ways that make my breaths shorten. I can't stop staring at his erection, concealed inside his pants, even while I push my shorts over my hips and let them tumble down to my ankles. With one kick, I get rid of them.
Rick unzips his pants and slips a hand inside to cup his cock.
"Don't go off without me," I say, wagging a finger at him.
"I won't. For over a week, the thought of shagging you again has tormented me. Nothing is going to keep me from fucking you the second you've gotten rid of your bra and knickers."
Oh yes, I want that. All these days without feeling him inside me have been a torment for me too. The best kind. The hot and steamy kind. This has been worth the wait, but I don't want to delay one second longer than necessary.
I unhook my bra and shrug to make the straps slip off my shoulders. The way I've crossed my arms under my breasts keeps the bra in place, and though I'd love to torture Richard some more, I can't wait that long. I peel the bra away from my breasts and toss it away, then I shimmy out of my panties.
He strips off his shirt and starts to wriggle out of his pants.
My gaze is glued to him, to what he's doing, while I drop to my hands and knees on the sand. I crawl toward him inch by inch, my hips and my breasts swaying. That movement catches his attention, and he gets tangled up in his pants while trying to kick them off, so obsessed with watching my tits that he's ignoring everything else.
"Bollocks!" he half hisses, half shouts, still struggling with his pants.
"Let me do it." I wave his hands away and free his legs, flinging his pants onto the floor. Then I crawl even closer, walking my hands up his chest while I straddle his lap. "All naked now. It's your move."
"Mine? I thought women liked to be in charge."
"Yeah, but I did my thing. My striptease got you crazed with lust." I bend my arms to bring my face closer to his. "Now it's your turn to make me crazy-hot for you."
"I'm already naked, so I can't do a striptease." He dips his head to capture my nipple, scraping his teeth over the tip while he suckles it. When I gasp, he pulls his mouth away just enough that he can speak. "You inspire me in every way imaginable."
"You do the same for me."
"Lie on your back, please."
I slide off his lap and settle in beside him on the blanket.
Rick turns on his side, facing me. For a moment, he just lies there drinking in the sight of me. "You have the most beautiful body I've ever seen, but I love your eyes most of all."
"I love your smile best." I skate my hand along his arm, helpless to resist squeezing his biceps. "But your body is what I need right now."
He gets a condom out of his pants pocket and covers himself. "Spread your legs for me, love."
Without a second's hesitation, I do it.
He kneels over me, placing one leg between both of mine, then lifts my leg onto his shoulder while he turns sideways, bracing his other arm on the blanket near my hip. My free leg is now wedged between his thighs, and when he pushes inside me oh-so-slowly, I feel every inch of him gliding in deeper and deeper until he can't go in any farther. When he starts to thrust in easy, measured strokes, I feel him even more. His body is rubbing against my clitoris like never before and the intensity of the sensations has me gasping and begging
him to go even deeper. His biceps bulge from the effort of holding himself in this position, but he seems relaxed and focused on the task like it's no effort at all. God, that makes me want him even more. He's so strong, so agile, so adventurous and creative, all the things that make a man an incredible lover.
But the thing that makes me so hot for him that I can barely breathe isn't his physical strength or the way he's thrusting into me. It's the way he keeps his gaze trained on mine. I can't stop looking at him. The heat in his blue eyes burns into me, sizzling through my entire body, and I desperately want to grip his arms or his shoulders, but I can't reach him.
"Rick," I moan. "Come closer, please. I need to touch you."
He angles toward me, forcing my leg to bend backward, and suddenly I'm grateful for all those yoga classes I took. He tilts closer and closer, pushing my leg toward my chest while easing it slightly to the side to make room for his body. When he lowers his head, his mouth comes within an inch of mine. "Close enough?"
"Yes, thank you."
I grip his face with both hands and kiss him, plunging my tongue inside his mouth in strokes that match the pace of his cock plunging into my body. He groans deeply, the sound resonating in his chest and vibrating into me. He's rubbing into my stiff nub even more now, and he begins to thrust harder and faster, spurring me to push my tongue into his mouth harder and faster too.
He pries his lips away from mine. "God, Maddie, I—"
"Keep going, Rick, please. I'm so close."
My body is on fire from head to toe, but the blaze burns hottest deep inside where he's consuming me with strokes that grow wilder with every thrust. I grip his arms, arching my back, my mouth falling open though I can't make any sounds. Everything inside me tightens and readies for the climax that's about to rip me through me any second. I can't breathe, caught in that moment right before bliss hits, teetering on the edge for so long that my ears start to ring.
Rick pulls his hips back and punches into me, shouting my name.
And I sail off that precipice, free-falling into a mind-altering orgasm, sailing through outer space with my eyes squeezed shut while stars burst around me. Weightless, I soar through the emptiness, but I don't feel empty or alone, not with his length inside me and my body clenching his cock over and over. When he shouts my name again and slams into me one last time, the pleasure of feeling his release explode out of him makes me come even harder. It launches me into deep space, where nothing exists except the two of us joined in every way.
Once it's over, I float back down to earth. Sucking in a deep breath, I force myself to exhale it slowly. I keep doing that until the ringing in my ears fades. Rick is still inside me, still on top of me, but he has his face buried against my neck. His chest heaves, and his breaths bluster over my skin. He mumbles something, but it's muffled by my neck.
"Sorry, I didn't catch that," I say, running my hands over his back.
He lifts his head to look at me. "I said that was the best sex in the history of the world."
I laugh. "Best in history? Wow, I might need to put that on a bumper sticker. 'Maddie gives Richard the best orgasms since the dawn of time.' No, that won't work. It's too long to fit on a bumper sticker."
"Shorten it to 'Maddie plus Rick equals best shag ever.' That might fit." He pulls out of my body and rolls off me, though he slings an arm over me to hold me close. His chin rests on my shoulder. "I need to go home. Back to England."
That beautiful glow I've been enjoying since our simultaneous climaxes evaporates. He's leaving. I knew it would happen sooner or later, but I'd let myself forget it for all this time. My chest aches, but it's not a heart condition. Well, in a way it is. My heart hurts from the strength of my response to his announcement, and the truth of what that means hits me.
I never want to say goodbye to Richard Hunter.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Richard
Maybe I've chosen the exact wrong moment to spring that announcement on Maddie. I do need to go home, but I don't want to leave her. Yes, I talked her into the idea of two weeks with no strings, and then we say goodbye. But the time I've spent with Maddie has been the happiest of my life, and I want it to go on forever, here on this enchanted island with this sweet, wonderful woman. It can't go on forever, though. I have responsibilities that I've ignored for too long.
I'd love to blame sex for distracting me, but until a few minutes ago, we hadn't shagged since that first night. The second I'd spoken the words, telling Maddie I need to leave, I'd experienced a strange discomfort, not quite a pain, not quite nausea.
Maddie sits up, strapping her arms around herself. "You're leaving? Just like that?"
"Not 'just like that.' I'd never planned to stay this long, but I extended my visit because of you." I sit up too and force myself to look into her eyes while I explain. "Now that I know Dexter wants to sign with my company, I don't need to be in the Caribbean anymore. I'll draft a contract from here, so I can have Dexter sign before I leave. But my company needs me. I've ignored work for too long, and I need to straighten things out back there."
"I get it." She whisks her hands up and down her arms, hugging herself tighter.
Maddie looks so…dejected. I want to hug her, but after what I've told her, I'm not sure she'll want me to do that. I'm feeling the way she looks, my shoulders caving in and an ice-cold lump forming in my gut.
"Where do you live?" I ask. "Can't believe I've never asked you that, but I just realized I haven't done. So where do you live, Maddie?"
"Nowhere." She hunches her shoulders. "I had an apartment in Chicago, but I was gone so much that I only went there maybe once a year. I gave up the lease so somebody else could have it. My job takes me all over the place, which means I haven't really had a home in years. My parents moved to Sweden several years ago, and my sister lives in England now. I'm a vagabond, I guess."
Her voice conveys a loneliness I hadn't noticed in her before. I suppose she's hidden it because we were virtual strangers when we met, and we've only just gotten better acquainted. I can't blame her for not sharing her deepest feelings with me. Maybe on some level, I sensed her loneliness, and that's why I've thought of her as a kindred spirit since the day we met. I've felt the way she looks right now. We've both let work take over our lives to the detriment of everything else.
Maddie's family lives closer to my home than to America, especially Rika. That realization prompts an idea, one I'm sure will be blown to bits once I voice it out loud. Maddie won't do it. How can she? We've known each other for less than two weeks.
She's gone quiet, her head down, her hands slack on her lap.
"If you need a place to stay," I begin, "I may have an option for you."
"You'll let me keep this suite for a while after you leave?"
"No." My mouth has suddenly gotten so dry that my tongue feels like a lump of wool. I glance at the palm trees, the sand, the surf, even my feet, before I order myself to stop acting like a coward and tell her what I want. I clear my throat. "Come home with me, Maddie. To England."
She jerks her head up, pinning her wide gaze on me. "What?"
"Come home with me. You said you have nowhere to go back to, and your sister lives not far from where I do, so…" I take her hands in mine. "Please come back to England with me. I can't say goodbye to you yet."
Though I'm not at all sure I can ever say goodbye to her, it's too soon to tell her that. Scaring her with a ridiculous, if heartfelt, declaration won't convince her to follow me home. I need her with me. Am I falling in love with her? I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't mind at all if I am.
I'm not stupid enough to blurt that out, though. Not yet. Wait until we're not ensconced in a tropical paradise where everything seems like heaven. Wait how long? Days? Weeks? I don't know how much longer I'll be able to hide my growing feelings for her. Not for weeks. Days might be a stretch too.
Maddie smiles in the sweetest way. "Yes, Richard, I would love to
go home with you."
"Brilliant!" Do I shout that like a ruddy moron? Possibly. I'm too old to act like a lovestruck teenager, but I can't disguise how happy I am that she said yes. I drag her into my arms and kiss her. When I finally give up her lips, I say, "Let's skim through the rest of Dexter's books, then I'll draft a contract and call Ilsa. We may need to fly back to Dex's island, but I'm hoping I can take you home sometime tomorrow."
"I love that plan. Do I get to meet your family?"
"Why wouldn't you?"
"Don't know. You might feel weird about introducing me to your family since we met last week. This was supposed to be a vacation fling."
"But it's much more than that now." I pull her close again. "My parents will love you."
"My parents will love you too. Rika's already been telling them about you as part of her matchmaking scheme. She had Mom and Dad convinced you're my soul mate before we ever laid eyes on each other."
No one has ever made me feel as good as Maddie does. But soul mates? I don’t know if I believe in that.
We go back to the resort to order dinner, then eat in our suite while skimming through Dexter's manuscripts. I'd known after reading one of his new books that I need to publish all of them. Even a quick browse of the others solidifies my commitment to this project. These eight novels are the best things he has ever written, and though they are a bit different from his previous books, I know the public will love the new novels. Each tells the story of one member of a large family. Every book can stand on its own, but the way they interweave makes the entire series so bloody good that I have trouble sticking to my plan to skim them so I can finish quickly.
At three o'clock in the morning, I finish the last page of the last book.
Maddie is lying beside me on the bed, asleep on her stomach.
