“After picking up double shifts at an all-night diner, my mother also picked up an impressive drinking habit which “helped her sleep and forget” she said. No one asked how she did it—no one cared but me. I knew something was very wrong when she never registered me for school that year and our landlord began coming around looking for his rent checks. It seems my mother drank that away and won us a one-way trip to the street. We lived in the car for a few months until she was fired for trying to bring her kid to work every day. Then the walking came. Can you save that homeless ten-year-old?” she asked. Her voice was distant and controlled.
“Eventually my mother and I were taken in by one of the slumlords in our neighborhood. I can imagine what she did for him in exchange for a roof and food for me. After social services forced my mother to re-enroll me in school, I never missed a day. I received an art scholarship to college and have been on my own ever since. With the exception of Audra and David, I have no family or long-term relationships to speak of. My mother died when I was nineteen, and I’ve never owned a dog. How was that for a recap? Do you still want to chase me so hard? Is the challenge still so attractive?”
Jordan’s jaw was tight with tension. Tremors made the ice clink in her glass as she brought the watered-down drink up to her lips. At that moment the waitress came by and asked if she could take their order, and Jordan looked at Riordan as if to say, Are we moving forward or not?
Then Riordan did something Jordan would never have expected. He picked up her hand and kissed her palm. Turning toward the waitress, he ordered for them both.
“We’d like an order of the clams casino as an appetizer and two house salads to start. We’ll need time to decide on entrées, thank you.”
“Very good, sir” the waitress said before moving on.
Jordan looked dumbfounded. She’d obviously expected a different reaction to her tale from Riordan, but he wasn’t having it. He sipped his beer and picked up the menu again and continued as if Jordan hadn’t told him of her soul-crushing childhood a moment ago.
“So, besides being a pillar of strength and a survivor, what do you like to do for fun? And making your fancy lotions doesn’t count.”
And that was the moment Riordan realized this woman was the reason why he’d been saving things his entire life. He was practicing for her. She didn’t realize what a force to be reckoned with she was, but he did, and he wanted her by his side like nothing he’d ever felt before. Courtship on, Lovely Viper.
***
Jordan held her fingertips to her mouth, unknowingly holding her breath as she flipped open the small card in her hand. Cheryl had delivered mail and more gifts from Riordan that morning. He had sent a small shipment of German chamomile, red clover from Denmark and a final box that smelled like heaven but she had yet to open it. She read the card several times, amazed at its contents.
My Dearest Viper,
I am sorry to be away these last several days. I am sure you understand that work will keep me traveling more often than not. I wanted to share a bit of where I’ve been and have asked my friend Alexi to ship you these items from his Boston address as I cannot communicate with you directly. Enclosed you will find German chamomile for your relaxation teas, red clover from Denmark per my mother’s request, and lastly, something I picked up for a lotion I would like you to make for yourself. My mother says the clover does wonders for hot flashes and anxiety. Best-seller guaranteed. And that she looks forward to meeting the woman who can out-smartass my smartass.
Missing you,
Riordan
She brought the card to her lips and smiled before tearing into the lovely smelling third package. Ghanaian cocoa beans! He wanted her to taste like…chocolate. She chuckled to herself. Oh, she could definitely make that happen. She didn’t know what to make of all the messages Riordan was sending her, but she was enjoying every bit of the attention.
This one package told her so many things. In the three weeks since their first dinner date, he had spoken about her to his mother, sent her high-quality product for her store, and had spoken of her to his other close friend, Alexi Bepa, the professor in Boston. She didn’t know where this relationship was heading, but she did know there was no sense of impending doom on her part. Audra had even called her giddy when they met for lunch yesterday. By now, she normally would have had that niggling feeling that the man she was dating was going to pressure her for sex, but so far Riordan hadn’t mentioned being physical in the slightest.
His only request was that she keep her Skype running on her laptop so he could see her face when he finally contacted her after landing back in the States.
She was in her storage room when her laptop began ringing, notifying her of an incoming call. She immediately dropped her mortar and pestle and ran to her laptop in the front of the store.
“Hello…hello...” she answered, just a little breathless.
“Hey, beautiful,” she heard on the other end before the image cleared, showing Riordan on the other end.
“Hey back.”
He was wearing an unbuttoned dress shirt, his blue eyes sparkling with mirth and his blond hair loose and damp as if he’d just gotten out of the shower. Behind him was a plain beige wall with a gray linen headboard, a nondescript painting in the background—standard for hotel bedrooms. He was apparently sitting on a bed, with his back against the wall.
“Are you home?” she inquired excitedly, touching her natural curls nervously. I hope I don’t look a fright, she thought.
“Stateside as of six hours ago. How’s my little alchemist doing?”
“Busy as usual. I received your packages from Alexi today—tell him I said thank you and thank your mother too, for the red clover. It will go on my medicinal wall tomorrow.”
“I will. I’m glad they can be of use. Did you like the cocoa beans? I was hoping you could use a little in your own personal collection. I seem to always leave you still feeling hungry for your sweetness, and I figured this way I have a perfectly reasonable reason to taste that lovely skin of yours.”
She’d never thought such a simple compliment could make her blush. She understood his implication that when he finally got around to tasting her skin it was not going to be a mere nibble but a feast of the senses for him. She realized she hoped it would be a six-course meal for them both.
“When will you be back in DC?” she asked, her fingers tracing her décolletage absently. She noticed his eyes following her fingers, and she bit her plump lower lip suggestively.
“Are you teasing me, sweetheart?” he asked, his voice dropping to a lower register. “Because I am more than willing to follow your lead.”
“Teasing? Whatever do you mean, Viking?” she inquired as she let two fingers loosen the two top buttons of her poet’s blouse. She might not have been physical for a very long time, but she had an amazing lingerie assortment that begged to be admired.
“Hmmm, now you’re being coy. Would you like some direction, Jordan? I can’t touch, but I would love to see if your body is as sexy as I have imagined.”
Jordan sighed and stretched slowly, bringing the lavender lace of her demi-cup bra into view. “I am in my store. You know that’s not possible.”
“Oh, it absolutely is possible. A little trust is a wonderful aphrodisiac. Are there any customers in the store right now?”
“Nope, not a one.”
“Walk to your door, lock it, and put out your Closed sign,” he said softly.
“Excuse me?” she asked, not moving from her spot.
Riordan repeated his request, this time being extremely precise in his wording and more forceful in his command. “I said lock…your…door.”
Jordan paused for a moment, glanced around the empty store, and slowly slid from her seat behind the counter. She turned her Closed sign around and turned the lock on her front door until she heard a soft click.
When she returned to her stool she noticed Riordan had removed his dress shirt entirely, and she could see the swir
l of hair that covered his defined lower abs and disappeared under the waistband of his dress pants.
“Okay, now slowly open your blouse button by button until it is hanging at your sides.”
Her fingers were shaking a bit. She felt her core clench with awareness as if it were grasping for something hard and solid. When her blouse hung at her sides she looked back at the laptop screen and drew her moist tongue over her drying lips. She was going to do this. He was going to watch her, seduce her, from the safety of miles away. And she was going to let him.
Audra ran her fingers over the lacy edges of her bra, opening her blouse wide for his viewing pleasure. She was more caught up in the appreciation of his expression than the scandalous position she was in twenty feet from her own storefront. Every labored breath she heard and every encouraging word that fell from his lips made her a little bolder.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered. “That’s right, baby. Caress your breasts. Good, I can see your sweet nipples from here, begging to be sucked. Pluck them for me. Make them hard and ready for my mouth.”
She lowered the lacy cups of her bra, baring her nipples so she could tug and fondle them as she would in the privacy of her bedroom. The weight of them felt heavy and hot in her hands.
“Put your fingers in your mouth and slide them out slowly, sweet. Imagine your fingers are my tongue flicking those sweet nubs. Faster…faster. That’s it. Don’t close your eyes. Jordan... Baby, look at me! Are you wet yet? Are you dripping?”
Jordan whimpered her reply, the hard wooden stool pressing into her sensitive mound as she rocked back and forth in front of the screen. She reached toward the screen as if to feel the hard planes of his chest and pull him closer to her body. She needed to be filled soon. Her pussy was flooding sticky juices into her panties, and Riordan looked like he wanted nothing more than to lap up her sweetness.
The rustling on his end brought her attention to his arousal. He had unzipped his pants and slipped his thick, lengthy cock out of his boxers to ease his self-induced torment. She couldn’t help but gape at the glistening head, her mouth salivating for a swipe. She may not have had a lot of experience in the traditional sense, but even if she couldn’t fuck it she could definitely suck it and she longed to introduce Riordan to that particular skill she had mastered.
Even while Riordan kept up the even rhythm, up and down on his shaft, he was still focused on Jordan’s pleasure.
“Take your right hand and dip your two fingers into your pussy, baby. That’s right. Massage every wall, pick up every drop of sweetness and rub your clit for me. Can you do that?”
Jordan hurriedly pushed past the waistband of her skirt and cotton panties to slide her fingers into her core. She moaned heavily, dropping her left hand loudly on the edge of the counter to steady her body.
“Faster, baby. Work that sweet clit for me,” he demanded.
A minute later, with the seductive soundtrack of Riordan’s encouraging murmurs, the wet smacking of her fingers plunging inside her pussy, and her fierce pounding of her clit Jordan orgasmed in front of a man for the first time in her life.
***
Riordan had never seen anything more lovely than Jordan’s head thrown back in erotic ecstasy. He had never heard anything more pleasing than her whimpers during the aftershocks of post-orgasmic bliss. He knew this night was not going to end with him one hundred miles from her side.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?”
Jordan raised her head and stared at the screen, her eyes at a seductive half-mast.
“Hmm, yes, much better. So when will you be home again?” she asked, cupping her breasts slowly before recovering them with the delicate lace.
“Ninety minutes. I’m checking out now. Don’t reopen. You’ll just be wasting valuable energy I’m going to drain from you later. See you soon, Lovely Viper.”
There was nothing Riordan could do about Jordan’s past, but he could be here for her present.
Her passionate nature was beginning to come through. Regardless of the fears she still held, he was going to be there to be the recipient of what he knew would be a beautiful awakening.
Fifteen minutes later, he dropped the hammer on the Jag in a wonderful impression of Thor and made his way through Maryland into DC proper like the hounds of hell chased him. As aggressive as he wanted to be, he knew this important step had to be something she controlled, that she manipulated. He could give her that. He would still get what he wanted and along with that he would gain something even more valuable. Her trust.
Chapter Eight
Riordan stood still as a statue. His hands were clasped behind his back, his well-defined chest jutting forward. Feet shoulder-width apart, breathing deeply and evenly, he looked like an obedient soldier awaiting Jordan’s orders. Every few seconds a stream of sunlight would pass through the bamboo blinds and highlight his strong jaw or golden head. Jordan ran her hands over his rounded shoulders and laid her head on his chest.
“Thank you,” she whispered softly, laying a butterfly kiss on his shoulder, “for coming to my house where I feel more at ease.”
“You could have asked me to meet you on the steps of the Capitol Building for all I cared, sweetheart. I just knew I couldn’t stay away any longer. Are you sure you are okay with my suggestion? I know it may be unorthodox for you, but it may help you. Anytime you need to stop, talk to me, tell me what makes you so apprehensive, I will be unable to do anything but listen.” Technically that was not true. Binding him with silken ties was a necessary illusion. He would never purposely let anyone leave him defenseless, especially with his woman nearby, even herself.
She stepped away from his warm body, returned a moment later, and wrapped the long, white, silk scarf around his wrists in a figure eight motion. He made a quick attempt to pull the ties apart and stopped.
“Good,” he said in a voice she almost didn’t recognize. “Comfortable but not easily broken.”
“Riordan, if this is going to make you uncomf—” Jordan began.
“Oh, my Lovely Viper, nothing you do to me would make me uncomfortable. If it makes you feel at ease, it’s my pleasure to do this. Now continue,” he commanded.
Jordan was a taken aback by his deep, gravelly voice. She felt like she was the one being controlled by his voice alone. Only this wasn’t scary, and it was more than a pleasurable. It was almost freeing. He had given her the control to be as vulnerable, wicked, demure, or demanding as she wanted. She stood back and thought about all the wonderful things she could do to her own personal Viking without fear. It was so liberating she did something she had been tempted to do since she’d seen him all those months ago. She swept her warm, wet tongue over his pectoral muscle and bit the firm muscle like a peach. She felt his shaft jump in response against her belly. She popped him on his hip and chuckled.
“You said you weren’t moving. Behave.”
Riordan smirked and made his thick shaft bounce once more before replying with a very serious, “Yes, ma’am.”
Jordan couldn’t help but laugh at the little bit of silliness he let slip through during a rather intense situation. It relaxed her and reminded her that her silly Viking was hidden there under all that intimidating muscle and aggressive emotion. There were times in his work where he needed to use those traits to survive, but never toward her when they were intimate. She smiled and knew this was right.
Dropping to her knees, she pulled him closer, slowly circling the head of his shaft with her warm tongue. Gripping his hips, she pulled him forward, swallowing and relaxing her throat in a slow, tortuous cadence that brought her face to his groin. Her fingers cupped and massaged the heavy sacs she knew would soon be slapping her wet folds in a carnal, staccato rhythm. She was ready.
Riordan jerked and groaned deep in his throat at her teasing pace. When she began to move faster, using her hands, tongue, and lips in a firestorm of pleasure, Jordan began to hum in contentment. She was a giver. This pleased her immensely. Releasing Riordan’s
cock with a resounding pop, she looked up at him from under her lashes. He was panting like a marathon runner and watching her like a predator. Her usual fear was that she would confuse .sexual aggression with physical aggression, yet, surprisingly, those tendrils of fear never came. They never came.
Standing quickly, she circled behind him and released the sash. Leaning into his back, encircling his waist, she laid her cheek to his back and whispered, “I want to try with you, Viking. Like a normal woman, happy and…in love.”
Riordan’s abrupt turn made her step back, her calves hitting the bed behind her.
“Thank God,” he responded. “If I don’t taste you soon I will explode.”
As she brought her mouth to his in a luscious, soul-searing kiss, Jordan’s body ignited in a way it hadn’t ever before. She reveled in the tactile euphoria; his hands in her hair, her sensitive nipples scraping the hard planes of his chest, the feeling of wanting to be so far inside him that she wanted to be covered by him physically, emotionally. She felt a relief so profound tears began to fall as she wrapped her legs around him and he fell onto the bed with her in a mass of arms and legs.
She watched Riordan take hold of her ankles and slide to the base of the bed. He spread her wide, running warm, wet kisses down her calf before nibbling on her luscious thigh and taking a long swipe of her dripping pussy. She jackknifed off the bed when he dove into her core face first, his tongue circling her sensitive entrance and his nose grinding against her clit. He swept his tongue up and suckled the growing bud, growling around the bundle of nerves and sending streaks of lightning up her spine.
He inserted one, then two fingers into her core, stretching the tight ring of her entrance before massaging the deeper muscles more firmly, pressing harder as his tongue tasted each side of her clit. When he finally sucked the precious bead into his mouth and feasted, pumping his thick fingers inside her with vigor, Jordan found her second orgasm of the day. Her thighs locked around his ears and her hips pushed her wetness tight against his face. The only portion of her body supported by the bed was her head and shoulders as he held her hips aloft, drinking in every drop she was gifting him.
Jordan’s Deliverance Page 4
