In answer, Harmony brushed his hands away, backing up until the backs of her thighs touched the edge of the bed. “Do I look sure?” she asked him, taking the hem of her tank top in her hands and sweeping it over her head. “Or do you need me to be more sure?” Arching her back slightly, Harmony reached for the ties that held her bikini top over her breasts; one gentle tug loosened the strings and she pulled the top away from her body, dropping it to the floor.
“You look pretty sure to me,” he whispered, stepping forward to cover her small breasts with his palms, lowering his head to tenderly kiss her lips. The kiss deepened, only breaking when Xander pulled away and swept his shirt over his head, throwing it to the floor. Lifting her into his arms, he moved closer to the bed, pressing one knee into the mattress before leaning to place Harmony gently on the pillows.
Xander looked at Harmony almost reverently as he backed away, smiling to himself when she nervously took her bottom lip between her teeth. She lay with one hand on her bare stomach, the other resting on the bright fabric of her bikini bottom, still tied around the sides of her hips; her face flushed as he unfastened the button of his shorts and allowed them to fall away. He was naked beneath them, and her eyes darted to his face in surprise.
“Commando,” he grinned sheepishly, bending down to crawl over the bed to where she was waiting. “And now, you should be, too. It’s only fair.” Kneeling beside her, he took the ties to her bikini bottom in his hands, tugging the bows free and tossing the slip of fabric away from her body.
Harmony took a steadying breath as Xander moved slightly away from her, sitting back to simply look over the length of her naked body, his straining erection standing proudly away from his lap. She moved to sit up, watching him, but he pressed a hand to her shoulders, urging her to be still. “I just wanted to see you,” he said. “You’re breathtaking, Harmony. So delicate.”
He bent forward slightly, leaning over her as he pressed a tender kiss to her collarbone, to one breast and then the other before circling her narrow waist with his hands. “So tiny. So perfect.”
Smiling shyly, Harmony reached for him, urging him to lay beside her. “So nervous,” she breathed, lowering her eyes from his.
He draped an arm around her waist, pulling her close against him as he kissed her forehead. “Why?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she answered, her voice trembling as he passed his hand over her back to her shoulders and then down again, covering her hip and running halfway down her thigh before returning to her waist. “I just am. Aren’t you?”
He shook his head, smiling slightly as he kissed her. “Not enough to want to miss this.” Tweaking her nipple, he lowered his head to take the sensitive bud into the heat of his mouth. “Not enough to get up and leave, if you still want me here.” Slipping his hand down the flat of her stomach, he stroked the heated juncture between her thighs.
“I still want you here,” Harmony gasped, opening to give him access.
“Then I’m not nervous,” he groaned, flexing his hips as her hand circled the silky heat of his arousal.
Chapter Thirty-One
The next morning, Harmony woke up alone in the center of her bed, the sheet tangled around her feet, the fluffy comforter thrown lightly over her naked body. The muscles in her thighs ached, the muscles in her stomach ached … her entire body ached. She felt thoroughly beaten and just a little bit used, but she was more satisfied than ever, and she felt completely delicious.
Except for the waking up alone part. “Xander?” She sat up, looking around the room. His clothes were gone, and she saw no sign of him anywhere in the room. “Xander?” she called a little louder, wondering curiously if he’d gone to the kitchen in search of food. But he didn’t answer. Turning, Harmony threw the blanket away from her body and crawled to the edge of the bed, reaching for her phone on the nightstand. The light was blinking; she smiled softly, rubbing her eyes with one hand while she lit the screen and opened his text with the other.
I woke up this morning, the same as yesterday and the same as the day before. Hopefully, the same as tomorrow. But it was beautifully and exotically different today. Because you were there beside me. Good morning. –Xander
Harmony rolled her eyes, smiling. “Cheesy,” she murmured. Still, she couldn’t stop the giddy flutter in her stomach as she read the message again. Pressing her finger over the text, she waited for the options list to appear, and then chose “lock,” protecting Xander’s words from being accidentally deleted. Finally, she settled back against the pillows, pulling the blanket up again and tucking it over her breasts and around her sides.
Good morning, she typed. I woke up surprised this morning. While I was sleeping, my Dragon got away from me, and now I don’t know where he is. Giggling, she settled in, wedging her shoulders more deeply into the pillows as she waited for him to text back.
He answered almost immediately: Maybe I should come help you make flyers. Xander ended the text with a little winking smiley face.
That could be very helpful, Harmony texted. The thing is, I might get lonely without his company.
A few minutes later, Xander stepped into the room with a smile on his face and a lap table in his hands. Harmony jerked in surprise, clutching her blanket more tightly over her nakedness as Xander arched an eyebrow, smiling. Carrying it to the bed where Harmony sat giggling, he settled the miniature folding table on the bed, next to where she’d curled her legs.
“Oh my gosh, you brought me breakfast?” Harmony asked, tucking the blanket more firmly around herself as she looked down at the little table. A plate of crisp waffles rested in the center of the table, covered in diced fruit and drizzled with syrup. To the side of the delectable treat, Harmony found her usual breakfast options: a cup of yogurt, a glass of orange juice, a glass of water, and a little dish of flaxseed granola. “How did you even know to do something like this?”
“I texted Whitney,” Xander confessed, holding his hands up defensively as Harmony’s eyes darted to his face. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her anything, just that I wanted to drop in with surprise breakfast. I asked her what I should bring you.”
“And after I ignored her all day yesterday, she didn’t try to interview you at all?” Harmony cocked her head to the side in surprise as she moved to grasp the fork in front of her, spearing a little cube of strawberry from the top of the waffles. “I’m shocked!”
“Well, don’t be,” he laughed. “She did try, but I told her she’d have to talk to you, and that I couldn’t really say much because I was driving to the store. She says for me to inform you that you had better call her the second I leave after breakfast.”
“Oh, you’re leaving after breakfast, are you? Love ‘em and leave ‘em kinda guy?” Harmony winked, patting the edge of the bed in silent invitation. He lowered himself carefully to the mattress, watching to be sure that he didn’t jar her breakfast as he stretched out on his back. Reaching for the edge of the blanket just before the weight of his body completely pulled it away, Harmony readjusted her weight and covered herself more securely.
“Well, I could stay a little longer if you want, but I have to be gone by one. I have to be in the arena for training tonight,” he said, watching the edge of the blanket as Harmony tucked it carefully behind her to hold it in place.
Harmony laughed, watching him as she sliced off a bite of waffle. Transferring the bite to her mouth, she closed her eyes, moaning slightly as she chewed. Xander turned carefully to his side, raising up on his elbow and propping his head in his hand. “Not fair!” he complained. “That is way too close to the noises you made last night. Now I’m thinking I’m losing a competition with a plate of waffles!”
“Mmm,” Harmony mumbled, swallowing the bite of waffle as she shook her head. “Believe me, there is no competition.”
“Oh really?” he asked.
“Really. Waffles win every time,” Harmony joked. She laughed when Xander pursed his lips and growled warningly at her, settling the for
k against the edge of the plate and she drank from the water glass.
“If you didn’t have such a prissy bed, I’d seriously risk spilling your breakfast to prove you wrong,” he said, his eyes dropping to the edge of the blanket that covered her nakedness before rising back to her face again.
“Well, how about you move this tray over to the dresser and show me just how you can be better than waffles,” Harmony answered. Her blue eyes twinkled with suppressed laughter as she replaced the water glass on the little table, watching shock dawn on Xander’s face.
“Yeah?” he asked, surprise in his voice. “I don’t have any more condoms, though. We used what I had, so I can’t.”
Leaning to the side, Harmony opened the bedside drawer and pulled out a compact of pills. “Yes you can,” she grinned. “Birth control. I can tell you I’m clean, so as long as you’re clean, we’re good.”
Xander took the pills and turned them over in his hand, laughter in his voice as he said, “Your breakfast will get cold, you know.”
“Oh, I see,” Harmony said quietly, hiding a smile as she turned back to the table and dipped the spoon into the little cup of granola, mixing the crunchy bits into the cup of yogurt. “Well, if you’d rather me just sit here and eat my breakfast like a good girl, then that’s –“ Laughing, Xander rolled over the edge of the bed, landing smoothly on his feet and standing to whisk away the breakfast table, leaving Harmony with nothing more than the yogurt-covered spoon she’d been holding.
“Oh no you don’t,” he said. Turning, he settled the table safely on Harmony’s dresser before stalking back to the bed, his eyes heated with the excitement of her playful challenge. As he returned to her, he swept his t-shirt over his head, and by the time he reached the edge of the bed, he was fully undressed.
Harmony watched the muscles of his body working – strong thighs, narrow hips, flat chiseled stomach. The muscles in his chest and shoulders rippled as he stopped walking and bent down to grasp the lower edge of the blanket hanging over the end of Harmony’s bed. Her eyes widened as she realized what he was about to do, and she turned to drop the still messy spoon onto the edge of her nightstand just as Xander ripped the blanket from her hands.
The fabric had barely finished sailing to the floor by the time he was upon her, leaping onto the bed and dragging her hips until she was flat on her back beside him. Stroking his hand up the naked curve of her waist, he moved to her breast, palming the modest weigh of her curves as she sighed and closed her eyes.
“Xander.” Harmony whispered his name, relishing the soft heat of his hands on her skin, loving the scratchy roughness of his cheek against her collarbone as he kissed the hammering pulse in her throat. Her breath quickened with her heartbeat as he moved above her, this time wasting no time on tender words.
Last night he had been sweet, whispering in her ear, warming her heart as he’d warmed her bed, loving her with his hands, with his body. Now, he was passionate, possessive, and she gasped as he flexed his hips, filling her with one strong thrust of his body.
Sliding her hands up his muscular arms, she rounded the strong shoulders and stroked her nails lightly down his back, fueling his passion. He groaned, lowering his head to nip at her bottom lip as he drove himself deeper.
“Harmony,” he groaned, arching his body as he worked above her, his hands gripping her hips to anchor her, his face buried in the curve of her throat.
Her belly filled with fire, the flame growing more powerful as he moved, her breath coming in hot puffs of air as the flame kissed her skin, warming her, dampening both of them with a fine sheen of moisture. She cried out, bracing her heels against the mattress and driving her hips up, meeting Xander’s powerful thrusts, causing him to breathe her name again, the word a hoarse growl as he grasped her body and rolled.
Rising up above him, Harmony grew suddenly still, impaled on the hot shaft of his body, her thighs wide around his hips. She looked down at him, smiling until he flexed his hips beneath her; he drove still deeper, dragging her hips to fit her more tightly against his body as she threw her head back, moaning.
Bracing her hands against the round muscle of his chest, Harmony worked her hips in slow circles as she bent down to run her tongue over his chest, circling one flat nipple before sitting up again and finding her own rhythm. She moved slowly, erotically – a victorious smile spread over her lips as Xander gasped her name again, his hands sliding up her waist to flatten over her breasts.
Finally, he could take no more; he pulled Harmony down to him, cradling her body against his as he rolled again, thrusting powerfully as she locked her legs around his waist. Quickening his speed, he thrust into her one last time, groaning as he emptied himself into her.
“Xander,” she whispered, clutching him close as the sheath of her body tightened blissfully around him.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Well don’t you just look blissful,” Whitney giggled, stepping around Harmony and into the living room.
Closing the door, Harmony couldn’t help laughing. “Well, don’t you look eager to hear things you don’t need to know about?” she teased.
“Duh,” Whitney laughed, dropping onto the couch and crossing one leg over the other. “I thought I was gonna die, waiting for you to text me. It’s been days, no news.”
“It has not been days,” Harmony retorted. “It’s only been since the day before yesterday. I was on the boat until late with Xander last night, and I just didn’t pick the phone up while we were out there.”
“Uh huh, too busy with other things, were you?” Whitney joked, inclining her head toward Harmony’s bedroom.
“You always were such a vulgar girl.” She said the words with a smile though, sitting on the couch next to her best friend. “You know I’m not telling you about that stuff, though, right?”
Rolling her eyes, Whitney settled deeper into the softness of the couch. “I don’t want to hear all that stuff,” she lied, forcing a bored expression onto her face. Pulling the television remote from the little basket sitting in the center of the couch, she turned on the TV, searching randomly through the program guide. “But seriously – how was the date? Dinner on a boat? That’s for real romantic, Harmony.”
“By the end of the night, it really was,” Harmony grinned. “And we were almost a little awkward at first; we got out there early so we just kind of hung out for a while and he showed me around the boat. Then we just laid around in the sun for a while.” Remembering what else they’d done lying in the sun, Harmony felt her face flush, and she lowered her eyes, avoiding Whitney’s questioning gaze.
“No boat sex? Come on, Harmony, for real?”
“Well, not on the boat,” Harmony hedged, her face flaming as she tucked her hair behind her ears.
“Aah, I see,” Whitney giggled again, nodding her head. “So tell me about the boat, then.”
“It was so fun, and just a really good time for us. We talked about regular stuff, just laying around and hanging out. The boat itself was really cool though; he says it’s pretty small for a cabin cruiser, but it lacks nothing. Whit, seriously, it’s got a stereo system, lighting everywhere. There’s a bathroom, a little tiny bedroom bunk, and then on the other end of the cabin there’s a little kitchen area. And the benches go together with the table to make a second bed so you can take more people out on it.”
Whitney grinned teasingly. “All those beds and no good action?”
Slapping her friend’s shoulder playfully, Harmony stood and moved into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator and pulling out several glass bottles. “Well, not really no action,” she laughed, placing the bottles on the counter and going back to the fridge. “How can I get away from the topic of whether Xander and I have been naked or not?” Pulling a package of chicken from the shelf on the refrigerator, she moved to the sink and opened the cabinet just above her head.
“Tell me something distracting,” Whitney laughed. “Come on Harmony, you know I’m not that hard to distract, give it a
shot and I’ll let it go.”
“I told him about Turner.” Looking up briefly to meet Whitney’s eyes, Harmony settled a bowl on the counter and held the package of chicken over the sink, ripping open the wrapping and adding the meat to the bowl next to her elbow. “And I didn’t tell him everything, but I told him about Cameron – about how much the things that happened to her affected me,” she added.
“What did he say?”
“He was understanding,” Harmony said with a contented smile. “I really expected him to think it was stupid, or maybe selfish of me to be so traumatized. I mean, it happened to Cameron, not me; it shouldn’t have hit me so hard, maybe. But it did, and there’s not much I can do about that, you know? Other than to try to move on.”
“True.”
“And Cameron’s still such an example to me. I mean, I watch her with Mac and with Logan, and I want that, Whit. It’s just time to try letting it go for real. I don’t know how, but I’ll never make it out from under the anxiety if I don’t just try letting go.”
Wrestling Harmony (The Kingsley Series) Page 22
