Wanderlust: A Holiday Story (A Heroes and Heartbreakers Original)

by French, Kitty

  “Yes.” She skipped quickly. He paused on the first landing and turned to pull her into his arms for a few seconds. His kiss downstairs had been off-the-scale sexy because of its unexpectedness and its urgency. This was less rushed, a holding kiss, a brief seductive hint of his tongue against hers and a sigh that told her that he couldn’t make it to the attic without kissing her some more.

  On the second landing, Ford stopped again and pulled her against him, his hands cupping her bottom. “Ruby.” He said only her name, and she reached out and traced her finger over the fullness of his bitable bottom lip. He half-growled as he caught her finger between his teeth and bit down lightly.

  “Ford…”

  She didn’t get any further words out, because he shook his head.

  “Don’t say it.” He moved her hand flat against his cheek and then turned to kiss her palm. “I know it’s all kinds of crazy and we live on opposite sides of the world now, but please don’t say stop.”

  “I don’t want you to stop.”

  “Thank fuck for that.” He put his hand behind her head and drew her lips to his. “Thank fuck for that. Come on.”

  He wound his arm around her waist as they climbed the final flight of stairs, his hand resting on the warm skin revealed by her low backed dress. She understood the slow graze of his thumb up and down her spine as he reached for his key. Designed to comfort, and to acknowledge that this shift from friends to lovers was a big deal for him too. The potential for this had shimmered between them ever since they’d met more than a decade ago, yet up until now they’d managed not to cross the line. They’d buried their attraction behind a facade of friendship back then, but there was no burying it this time around.

  Ford swung the door open, and Ruby stepped inside. There was no going back.

  Chapter Five

  His hands were on her lace-covered hips, his mouth hot and wanting against the side of her neck. She could feel his rigid erection straining against her body as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

  “Ruby,” he breathed against her ear, pressing her body into his.

  She’d never experienced desire like this. She’d had sex with a few boyfriends and at the time it had seemed good enough, but no one had had her so desperate, so needy for the contact of skin on skin.

  She turned into his arms, her fingers searching for the buttons of his shirt.

  “Jesus, Rubes…” he whispered, shrugging the shirt off his shoulders and letting it drop to the floor. His body was ridiculous. Hard. Tanned. A light smatter of dark hair turned tawny by sunshine that tapered down into his trousers. Then her eyes settled on the tattoo on his chest, a solitary star placed over his heart.

  “Oh, God. Ford. It’s you.” She couldn’t hold the words in or keep her hands off him. She wanted to stroke him, and the feel of his smooth, warm back under her hands as she slid her arms around him made her groan.

  “How does this come off?” he muttered, his hands searching for a zip on her dress as he kissed her.

  “It peels off.”

  She heard him half-laugh, half-groan with appreciation, and then his fingers were on her shoulders. “Like this?” He hooked his thumbs under the stretch material and eased it down her upper arms, leaving her momentarily gypsy-like. Ford dipped his head and trailed a ribbon of kisses along the top of her shoulder, paused to lick the hollow at the base of her neck, and then kissed his way across her other shoulder.

  He straightened, his fingers back on the material of her dress.

  Then he slowly pulled the lace downwards, his eyes following his hands, his chest rising and falling in shallow, turned-on breaths.

  Ruby closed her eyes. The dress didn’t allow for a bra.

  She opened her eyes again as he continued to peel the dress slowly down, watching his expression as the material grazed down over her painfully stiff nipples.

  “So fucking beautiful,” he whispered hoarsely, and finally pulled the dress down to her waist, freeing her hands from the sleeves. He wrapped his arms around her, and the sensation of his naked body against hers made her moan with satisfaction. Her nipples brushed his chest, and when he kissed her, his lips were slow and hypnotic.

  “I’ve imagined what you’d look like so often,” he said, sliding his tongue over her parted lips. “I knew you’d be beautiful, but not like this.”

  He eased back and looked down at her breasts, then back up into her eyes. She saw so many of her own feelings reflected there in his clear green gaze and it reached down deep into her heart. Red-hot lust. Nerves. Need. Fear. Because being like this together felt so overwhelmingly emotional. She wasn’t sure that she wasn’t going to cry.

  “Touch me.”

  She heard the catch in her own voice, and he reached for her face rather than her body. He kissed her eyelids, his thumbs stroking away the tears that trickled down her cheeks.

  “I know, Rubes,” he crooned against her hair. “I feel it too.”

  She knew him in so many ways, but not this one. She could never have anticipated that he would be so sensitive, so reverential. He was beautiful inside and out, and in that moment her body ached to be joined with his.

  “Rubes … I’m only going to be able to say this once. Stop me now. If you don’t want this, stop me now.”

  She couldn’t have stopped him if her life depended on it.

  “Take me to bed.”

  Her words were enough. More than enough. He’d had to ask, because this wasn’t just any girl. This was Ruby. Ruby. The girl he’d wanted, the girl he’d made himself forget. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do that a second time, not after tonight. She was unforgettable.

  He could feel his body moving from civilized to animalistic, switching from being led by his head to led by the throbbing, sexual need to fuck the spectacular woman in front of him. “Take me to bed,” she’d said, and he didn’t need to be told twice.

  He swept her up, carrying her the few feet to the bed and laying her down on the quilt. She was creamy skin and rose pink nipples and brunette waves. She was curvy and womanly and lush. She was Ruby, and right now, tonight, she was his. She reached out for him as he sank down on the bed alongside her. Beautiful girl.

  Her kiss heated his blood, and he finally let himself touch her breasts. Fuck. She filled his hands, her nipples hard beneath his thumbs as he circled them. He needed to taste her. She groaned when he licked first one and then the other, arching herself into his mouth and his hands. She tasted incredible. The feel of her nipple in his mouth made his cock ache for freedom. He mouthed her, cupping her in his hands, his mind reeling at the velvet feel of her skin.

  She pushed her hands into his hair and held him against her, keeping his mouth on her. He licked her. Sucked her. Bit her until she cried out, then kissed her to soothe it better. Fuck. She flicked his trousers open, and he groaned at the anticipated freedom. He wanted her hands on him, but he didn’t trust himself to go slow if she touched him now. He’d have her in seconds, have her skirt pushed up around her waist, have her pinned beneath him, have his cock buried inside her. Fuck. He stilled her hands reluctantly.

  “Not yet,” he murmured, sliding up her body. “You first.”

  She frowned, and he half-laughed. Who knew she’d be demanding? In his fantasies, he’d always had to seduce her; he’d never thought to cast her in charge. He liked that development a lot, but right now what he really needed was to get her out of her dress. She lifted her hips obligingly when he gripped the material and tugged it down, and then he was doubly glad that he hadn’t let her release his cock yet, because his body ached so hard as he looked at her. It would take forever to drink his fill. He pressed his lips against the flare of her hip, and licked from her navel up to the valley between her perfect tits. His name tumbled from her lips, and he glanced up and saw so much raw emotion in her eyes that he covered her body with his own and crushed her to him protectively.

  Ruby’s arms wrapped around him, and her mouth moved under his. Jesus, s
he was sweet. She tasted of honey and of sex, and her restless fingers roamed his back. She lifted her hips to his. “Please, Ford…” She rocked his cock between her legs. “Don’t make me wait any longer.”

  Her words pushed him over the edge. He reached down between their bodies and flicked his trousers open, pushing all of his clothes off in one hurried movement. The only piece of clothing between them now was tiny, silk, and black.

  “You’re overdressed, baby,” he murmured, hooking his thumbs under the material and easing it down her legs. He paused for a second then to look up the length of her gloriously naked body. Heaven. He wanted to spread her legs and kiss her there, to take his time making her scream, but there would be time for that later. Right now he needed to be inside her. He reached down into the back pocket of his trousers for one of the silver packets he’d slipped in there earlier. He moved up alongside her, gathering her back into his arms now they were both naked. Fuck, he’d never known it could feel like this. Her big, trusting eyes were open, and her cheeks had flushed pink. She was achingly gorgeous, and as he rolled on top of her, she opened her legs to let him settle between them.

  “Ready?” he breathed, the tip of his cock already inside her. She nodded, her fingers in his hair, her lips parted and glistening. He rocked his hips into hers, and he heard the low animal moan leave his throat as her body welcomed him. Fuck. Warm, delicious friction enveloped him as he pushed the length of his cock inside her. Fuck. Ruby. Fuck.

  Her nails raked down his back and curled around his butt cheeks, dragging him in deeper. She was gasping, and the sound filled his head and spurred him on to make this the best it could be for her. He held her beautiful, familiar face in his hands and kissed her slowly, letting the base of his cock rub over her clitoris with every measured thrust. Her body moved beneath his, demanding all of him, her breath hot against his ear as her mouth roved over him restlessly. She was close, gasping, and he knew that the next thrust would be the one that pushed her over.

  He curved his hand around the back of her neck to hold her steady, murmured her name as he pulled back, loving the way she trembled. Jesus. He plunged down into her, holding her close as she tensed in his arms. He watched her eyes as she cried out his name, and his body roared in response. He couldn’t hold it back. His body slammed. Ruby. Luscious, sexy, beautiful, fucking Ruby. He needed to let go. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Ruby.

  * * *

  Ruby could feel Ford’s heart jackhammering as his body jerked over hers. Ford. The best friend she’d ever had, and now the best lover she’d ever had. Not that she’d ever imagined he’d be anything but fabulous in bed, in the rare moments she’d let herself imagine it at all, but she hadn’t counted on just how much their friendship would deepen the sex.

  When he’d held her in his arms, it had felt like every day of every one of those years they’d known each other had led up to this one night, tangled together naked on an antique bed in a snowstorm. His kiss had been sweetened by years of longing, and his touch had been underscored with a gentleness borne of them knowing each other so well.

  She stroked his hair as he kissed her, his mouth a slow drift over hers as their breathing calmed, heartbeat to heartbeat.

  “We should have done that a long time ago.”

  “Yeah,” she said shakily, half-laughing. “We should.”

  “Did you feel it…” He laid his hand over her heart. “Right here?”

  Ruby scrunched her nose, her heart aching as she laid her hand over his. “Right there, Ford.”

  He moved her hand to his own chest and covered it with his own. “Me too, Ruby red.” He settled his lips against her forehead. “Me too.”

  Ruby traced the outline of the star tattooed on his skin with her fingertip, slowly, point by point.

  “So I always know where home is,” he murmured, and Ruby closed her eyes against the unexpected tears that welled there.

  Some time later, he lifted his head.

  “Fancy road-testing that bath?”

  Chapter Six

  Ruby lit the candles, and Ford ran the bath. It wasn’t a tub for two, and it definitely wasn’t a tub for a man of his height. It was a bath designed for one, and for another to watch. He turned off the taps and swirled the foamy water with his fingers.

  “It’s ready,” he said, holding his hand out to Ruby on the bed.

  She’d often imagined how it might be to use that bath, to share this room with a lover, and tonight she was learning that she’d made all the right choices when it came to designing a room for seduction. The amber glow from the fire crackling in the hearth and the many candles dotted around lent the suite the feel of a boudoir, and the carefully selected, sumptuous fabrics and antiques shouted decadence and sex. Velvet-studded armchairs, silk padded counterpanes, and plump soft pillows all said come in, relax, make love.

  He stroked his hand down her spine as she stepped into the warm bubbles, and she sighed with contentment as she sank down into the water. It was every bit as blissful as she’d always hoped it would be. He ducked under the eves into the sitting room and returned a few moments later with a bottle of red wine and two glasses. She closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of him removing the cork, the gentle glug of the wine into the glasses, and then Ford settling himself on the shaggy rug next to the bath.

  “Where are you in your dreams, Ruby red?” She could hear the lazy smile behind his words as he stroked a fingertip down her nose.

  “Right here,” she said, because she couldn’t dream any place better than this one.

  Ford’s hand travelled down her face, lower into the bubbles at her throat. She drew her top lip into her mouth and sighed when his fingers tightened around her nipple, rolling it leisurely.

  She opened her eyes then and turned to look at him, his head resting on his forearm laid along the ceramic bath edge. His hand played across her breasts, his eyes heavy with lazy lust.

  It wasn’t exactly relaxing. It was too sensual, too sexual to be relaxing, but it was unhurried, and meltingly erotic.

  “Let me take care of you,” he said, his voice quiet and thick with longing.

  His hand stroked down over her abdomen, lower still to part her thighs.

  “Relax,” he murmured. “Close your eyes.”

  The warmth of the water and the silk of his voice had her boneless as he caressed her with infinite, languid care. He stroked her, letting just the tips of his fingers graze momentarily over her clitoris. He slipped his other arm beneath her shoulders, cradling her, kissing her as he opened her with his fingers to give himself full access to her sex. She granted it willingly, resting her head back on his warm forearm and opening her mouth to let his tongue in.

  He worked slowly between her legs, touching her everywhere except for her clit until she was desperate for him. When her breasts jutted above the water, Ford broke off from kissing her to suckle them, choosing his moment to slide two fingers inside her. She was so ready, so needy, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in the crook of his shoulder as his thumb finally began its intimate massage. Slow, rhythmic circles. Measured, smooth thrusts. He built her with murmured words of endearment, and he built her with his insanely sexy fingers, and as her body burst for him he tipped her head back and kissed her through it.

  Ford held her as no man had ever held her. Ruby clung to him when he swept her up out of the water and laid her on the sheepskin rug in front of the fire, his cock thick and rigid as he rolled on top of her and pushed himself inside her. A shuddering sigh left his body when she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him in deep.

  “So good … so fucking good…” His eyes raked her face, almost as if he were looking for affirmation.

  “Best ever,” she whispered. Because he was. He really, really was.

  It was well after midnight when they finally got around to picking up their wine glasses. Ford had propped himself up against the pillows in bed, the white cotton sheet slung low on his indecently tanned hips, and
Ruby sat beside him, more demure with the sheet tucked under her arms.

  “That was one hell of a welcome home, Rubes,” he said with a grin, his fingers playing with hers on top of the sheet as he eyed her over the top of his wine glass. “You must have really missed me.”

  “I never gave you a second thought.”

  “Liar.” Ford laughed under his breath, then sighed heavily. “I thought about you.”

  Ruby let his words settle in. She could feel all of the old wounds opening up. The hope and disappointment every time the phone rang, the missed birthday cards and Christmases.

  “Yet you never called.”

  “No.” He raised his eyes unflinchingly to hers. “No. How could I, Rubes? You needed to be here, and I needed to be somewhere else,” he paused, scanning her face. “I still need to be somewhere else.”

  She nodded, her throat suddenly thick with emotion. “And I still need to be here.”

  Ford stroked the back of her hand. “Phoebe must be all grown up now?”

  It was as much a statement as a question, and he was right. At twenty-one, Phoebe had just finished university and was having the time of her life flat-sharing with her two best friends. But the truth was, it had never been just about Phoebe; Ruby’s attachment to home went far deeper than that. She was a home bird by nature, a characteristic amplified a million times over by the sudden loss of her parents. She’d painstakingly rebuilt her life from the ground up, and she needed routine and stability every bit as much as Ford needed sand between his toes and an ever-open ticket. Their hearts were compatible, but their lives and needs were a million miles apart.

  She placed her wine glass down and turned to him. She didn’t want to talk anymore. If tonight was going to be as good as it got for them, then they needed to make every second count.

  Chapter Seven