The Complete Tempest World Box Set

by Mankin, Michelle

  “Thanks.” I lifted my gaze from the plate and peered up at her through my lashes. “Everything looks delicious.”

  • • •

  Melinda

  I noticed his double entendre, and I couldn’t look away from him. I didn’t want to look away. He held me prisoner within his intense gaze. Be mine. The offer brimming within the warm espresso and gold flecked depths of his eyes beckoned me. I was on dangerously slick ice with him, sliding right along the top edge of a bowl at the top of a mountain with nothing but a yawning precipice to one side. If I let this go any further, the way I wanted to, if I went over the edge, I could get hurt. Badly. I should feed him then send him on his way. End this before it got any deeper. I had already given him too many glimpses of the real me. His song proved it. Disappointment and disaster loomed ahead once all the pretense was stripped away. But I didn’t have the strength or the willpower to do what I should do. Not right now. Right now I wanted to be who he thought I was. Right now I wanted to believe things could be different with him.

  “The song.” I dipped my gaze to his plate as he started to eat, feeling a surge of satisfaction that I was taking care of him. “Listen to me.” I needed to try at least one more time. I couldn’t stop myself from going where I shouldn’t go, but maybe I could convince him to throw on the brakes. “I know you think you have me all figured out. But we don’t fit, Sager.” He lifted his gaze, his eyes hard. His fork and knife clattered as he dropped them on his plate.

  “We fit very well,” he insisted, lowered tone laden with insinuation.

  “Not like that. You know what I mean. It’s that you are who you are, and I am who I am. And it’s more than the fact that your career and mine don’t mesh. Let’s just have some fun for a while. As long as you want to. As long as it lasts. But let’s be honest up front and say that there are no expectations beyond that.”

  His body went as still as a statue. For a long moment he searched my features with those artist eyes of his, active and analyzing.

  “You don’t really believe that, Blue.”

  I didn’t. He was right. It was scary that he could read me that well. I knew deep in my bones that he was the one. That he was the impossible standard. No other guy would measure up. “I do believe it,” I lied.” Please. I don’t want to disappoint you.”

  “You have never disappointed me. You are unexpected, exhilarating and challenging and a lot of other wonderful things, but never ever a disappointment.” He covered my hand with his own. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I came here hoping to start something. We don’t have to put labels on it if you don’t want to.”

  I nodded mutely.

  He squeezed my fingers. “You’ve had a long day, and I’m not hungry anymore.”

  “But you barely ate a couple of bites,” I protested.

  “I’ve got an appetite for something that supersedes physical hunger.” His gaze swept over me. “Is your shower big enough for two?”

  Cheeks warming, I nodded again. My throat went dry imagining that he might actually do some of the things we had talked about on the phone.

  He pushed back from the table and offered me his hand. “Come then.”

  I stood and slid my fingers onto his. Submitting readily. He closed his own around mine. Accepting me. Claiming me. My body flushed with warmth as he turned away from the table and led me down the hall. My heart pounded in eager anticipation. He came to an abrupt stop at my bed. He tugged me forward, and I tumbled into his arms, my breasts crushed to his deliciously hard chest, my hands reaching for his strong upper arms to steady myself, fingers curling into his warm skin, reveling in the electrical connection that crackled like static from his to mine. Gently, slowly, he lifted my chin with his curled thumb. His gaze probed my own. “Who do you think about when you wear that Tempest shirt to bed?” Something darkly possessive flared in his eyes.

  “You, Sager. I only think about you.” I gave it to him real because I sensed he needed it that way. In some ways I could read him nearly as well as he could read me, and he deserved the truth. “Dizzy was just a crush and then a blow to my ego. The guys since you were poor substitutions, failed attempts at moving on. But...”

  “That’s all I need to know, Blue. I don’t need names or details. From now on it’s only you and me. No one else anymore as long as we’re together. No joke. I will tear apart any other guy who even thinks about coming between us.”

  I could feel the tension vibrating his frame. “You’re scaring me.”

  “Well, welcome to my world, babe, because this is scary for me, too. I’ve never felt like this with anyone, like I’ve got a woman in my arms worth fighting for. I will never hurt you. But to be clear up front you’re mine when you are in my bed. I want us to be exclusive.”

  “Yes, I remember.” I lifted my hands to frame his handsome face. His scruff felt rough beneath them as I caressed his skin, gliding my fingers across the slash of his jawline and then into his thick hair. “No one else. I agree.” That wasn’t going to be an issue. It was getting him out of my system and picking up the broken pieces after we were inevitably through that was going to wreck me.

  “Good.” He lowered his head and sealed the commitment between us by taking my lips in a searing kiss that had emotions and desire rocketing through me by the end. Feeling weak in the knees, I clutched his shoulders when he broke the connection between our mouths, but arched my body into his desperate to be closer, desperate for another kiss like that, desperate for him. His heavy lidded gaze as he swept it over me seemed to be directly connected to every nerve ending in my body. He wasn’t fooling around. If I was a woman worth fighting for in his eyes, it was only by virtue of being the recipient of his affection. I found myself turned on by his intensity and terrified at the same time that I would screw things up with him again. “Melinda.” Staring deeply into my eyes, his fingertips brushed lightly over the sensitive surface of my kiss swollen lips as he tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. “You taste like fire, like a catharsis, like the beginning of the life I have always wanted.”

  I smiled melting inside from his words, the joy of being with a man with an artistic mind and a poetic heart. “You taste like the charcoal pencil you tap to your lips. When you kiss me, when I’m here in your arms, I feel like a blank canvas, like anything is possible.” I flushed from speaking the telling words straight from my heart. He smiled softly, his hands gliding down to my shoulders as he continued to hold me enraptured by his gaze. Needing to touch him, my hands slipped beneath his t-shirt. My fingers flowing smoothly over the chiseled contours of his heated skin. The room quiet except for the labored sound of our heavy breathing, I removed his shirt a moment later, my eyes feasting on the spectacular glory of his toned torso. Eyes to his, I placed my hands on his chest directly over his rapidly beating heart, then I spread them apart slowly brushing over the beads of his rosary and the coins of his nipples. They drew tight scoring my flattened palms as I skimmed lightly back and forth over them. He sucked in a sharp breath that I felt in my core. It was already wet, swollen and throbbing with the ache to be filled.

  Things got incredibly frantic. His hands whipped my t-shirt over my head. Mine darted to his belt buckle unfastening then unthreading it, unbuttoning his jeans, stroking his thick cock as I lowered the zipper. He grabbed my hand by the wrist and thrust it inside his boxers. He was hot and hard. I moaned. He groaned as my fingers found and closed around his shaft. I glided my thumb upward along his impressive length circling the velvety tip and then gently stroking over the slit spreading the wet lubricant that I gathered.

  He lowered his head again, ravenously taking my mouth in a punishing kiss, his sensuous lips steely and insistent, his tongue wet as he thrust it inside. His hunger was brutal, and I loved being on the receiving end of it, meeting his savagery with my own, nipping his lips, sucking on his tongue and panting my humid breaths into his mouth. He reached behind my back and unclasped my bra. Cold air bathed my breasts, and he made me lose th
e prize of his cock for a moment as he snapped the stretchy straps off my arms. Expression tight with need of his own, he yanked my pants down to my ankles. My boots prevented him from removing them completely. Before I could feel awkward with him kneeling at my feet, he rose, lifting me by my arms and tossing me backward onto the bed. “Fuck the shower. I’m having you here. On the bed. Right now.”

  “I’m sweaty from my workout,” I protested lifting myself up on my elbows to keep him in view.

  “Don’t care.” His head bowed, he quickly went about removing my boots, one and then the other. His hair slid forward shielding his eyes. “It’s gonna be fast and dirty,” he warned. His lips an unyielding slash, he quickly slid jeans that I had already unfastened along with his boxers off his narrow hips. I didn’t follow their progression any further. I didn’t see him remove and then kick the rest of his clothing aside. I was transfixed by his powerful cock. I licked my suddenly dry lips. I felt feverishly hot. The desperate need between my legs throbbed harder. The mattress dipping, my heated gaze lifted and melded with one equally hot as he joined me on the bed. He straddled one of my legs, spearing his knee between my thighs and spreading them apart as he slid it upward, using it once positioned to provide pressure for me in just the right spot.

  “Oh, Sager,” I moaned. Wantonly lifting my hips, I rocked my soaked panties and the swollen clit beneath them against him.

  “Hot. Wet. And gorgeous.” He leaned closer, reaching for me, his warm hands with those long talented artistic fingers of his closing around my breasts. I moaned again and arched into his touch to deepen the contact. His gaze dipping to my chest, his eyes darkening to near black, his hands overflowing with their bounty, he flicked a thumb across one taut aching tip and then the other while a new wave of heat dampened my already soaked panties. I was sure he could feel it against his knee. Molding, shaping, caressing my breasts, he rolled my nipples between his finger and thumb each in turn, elongating them and sending delicious sensations spiraling through me with each practiced twist of his hands. His hungry expression searing itself into my mind, my lids fluttered closed, and I gave myself over to his care, my lips parting as I panted and moaned. I loved the biting burn of his relentless tugs on the sensitive peaks. My hips lifted rotating in concert with each pull. My pulse pounded in my veins centering between my legs. I felt it building, felt myself hurtled toward the ledge, but I wanted him with me when I took that leap.

  “Sager,” I warned, my eyes flying open, body tensing to stave off the implosion that loomed just out of reach.

  “Had enough, babe?” His voice was a sexy rasp.

  “Yes.” I nodded.

  “No you haven’t. Not yet.” He flicked the tight tips again with his callused thumbs but faster like he was playing the climactic ending to a frenetic song. Then he plunged his hand down between our bodies, grasping the edge of my panties and ripping the lacy fabric off my legs in one smooth masterful motion, exposing my damp pussy to a rush of cool air.

  I sucked in a breath inhaling his intoxicating cardamom, wood and leather scent. A sensory memory flared reminding me how good it had been the first time, how right it had felt to have our bodies joined, to have his cock buried deeply inside me.

  More wet soaked my pulsating flesh.

  A satisfied curl ghosting the outer edges of his mouth, he leaned backward, grabbed a condom I hadn’t even noticed him place on the mattress and sheathed himself. Grabbing my thighs and spreading them wide, he settled his narrow hips between them and shifted to bring his gorgeous cock right to my entrance. His gaze dropping to where our bodies were almost joined, he swept it over the rest of me, his expression fierce. My flesh felt like it was on fire. I was throbbing with need. My lower belly quivered. I was aching a moment later when his lust filled eyes reached my face. Holding my gaze, he very purposefully, very deliberately slid his hard cock all the way inside me. My breath caught. ‘You are mine,’ he was saying without words. Not that he needed them. I wasn’t going to contradict his claim. In fact I reached for him, grabbing his ass to hold him more firmly to me.

  “Please.” I begged, my desperate fingers flexing as I squeezed my urgent need into his taut skin and the tensed muscle beneath. “I need you. Now.” His lips curved. I squirmed. With him so deep inside me my movements and the darkly sensual grin he gave me sent a spine tingling scalp to soles shiver rolling through me.

  “Babe,” he praised sweeping his possessive gaze over me once more. “I need you, too.” Tunneling his fingers beneath my rear, one cheek in each hand, he withdrew until only the tip of his cock remained inside me, then yanked me back onto him, impaling me with the entire length, his balls slapping my pussy and his tight grip on my ass adding a pleasurable sting.

  “Sager,” I praised, his name spilling from my parted lips.

  “Melinda, you feel so wet. So tight. So perfect.” He began to move. Wicked circles. Decadent thrusts. Taking me. Commanding me. Making me chant his name. This was totally different than the first time. He had given it to me so sweet then. This time he was showing me his more raw and unedited side. The side of him I suspected he didn’t reveal to others. The part of him that had endured abuse and survived unimaginable loss. The part of him that tempted me the most. The broken wounded part I wanted desperately to mend.

  I accepted him, all of him, this complex, brutal, breathtaking man, wrapping my arms and legs tighter around him, lifting my hips to take each thrust deeper, to take him deeper. The hot pleasure. The crucial need. The dark desire, it spiraled beyond my ability to control it. I shuddered my complete surrender, giving him all of me, and he groaned his climax at the exact same moment giving me all of himself in return.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Sager

  I tucked Melinda closer into my side, stroking my fingers lazily through the heavy length of her still damp hair. She was a temptation I couldn’t resist. Every facet of her personality intrigued me. I wanted to take away the shadows that sometimes darkened her eyes. I wanted to make her feel safe and whole the way I felt when we were together. I wanted to take her beyond the dawn of a new beginning into the bright future I had imagined we could have. Every day, every moment that I spent with her, every time that I took what she so beautifully offered me, she got deeper and deeper under my skin.

  We made love in the shower, slow and leisurely for the second time, and because of the angle of the trifold bathroom mirror I had been able to see Melinda’s face while I had taken her gently from behind. I had loved the visual of watching her face and gorgeous body flush with pleasure, but I had noticed that she didn’t like to look at her reflection. In fact, she avoided it. I didn’t understand it. She was hot, though notably thinner than she had been a month ago. Despite her reticence with the mirror, she had liked everything I had done to her. Her face was unguarded when I made love to her. I could read every emotion that crossed it. I felt her respond each time I touched her. Hell, sometimes even when I just looked at her. Being inside her was off the chain, hands down the best I had ever had. Just thinking about it had my cock tenting the white sheet around my waist.

  The hand she had placed at my waist glided lower across my abs. My lips lifted. She had noticed my interest. I knew where she was headed, but I stopped her, grabbing her wrist before she could reach it. As crazy as it seems, I wanted to talk to her before I took her again. I knew I might be able to bind her to me with physicality, but I wouldn’t be able to hold her that way. To do that I was going to have to get her to open up her heart to me.

  “Babe.” I brought her hand to my mouth and kissed each tatted letter before I laid it on my chest and covered her fingers with my own. “You know nearly all there is to know about me. My father in lock up for life. My older brother is coming up for parole. My little brother in a better place far away from all three of us. But I need to know more about you. I see you with your dad at the Mine. He’s the kid. You’re the grown up. I imagine it has always been that way. But what about your mom? You never talk about her
.”

  She tensed. “What do you want to know?” she whispered.

  “She died when you were little. Right?”

  A nod. She withdrew her hand and ducked her chin into my ribcage withdrawing into her shell.

  “Did she look like you?” I asked gently.

  “Yeah. I mean my dad says she did.”

  “Then she must have been beautiful,” I affirmed. That got her to glance up at me. I caressed her soft cheek with my knuckles. “I bet it was love at first sight for him.” It had been a swift kick that had knocked the breath out of me the first time I had clapped my eyes on Melinda.

  “I don’t really remember her face clearly anymore,” she mused, her brow scrunching tight. “She was pretty, though. I’ve looked at the pictures. She was a lot thinner than I am.”

  Probably due to the drugs, I thought. It was disconcerting that Melinda seemed to equate being thin with being beautiful. “Daddy saw her in the audience. He asked one of the roadies to get her and bring her backstage.” She shrugged.

  “Do you remember anything about her at all?”

  “Not much really.” Her gaze dropped. She was quiet for a long moment before confessing, “I remember the yelling. Breaking glass. When they fought she threw things…I don’t think he was faithful to her,” she whispered.

  Ah, that explained some of her difficulty with trusting me. “Did she sing like you?”

  “No. And I don’t remember her ever smiling except when we came here.”

  “To Whistler? Skiing?” This was a revelation.

  “Yeah. I don’t know what it was about her being out here. Maybe there were too many bad memories at the house. Maybe being in a hotel reminded her of the way it was when she first met my dad. She certainly liked the snow.” Her words hesitant at first began to tumble out of her mouth. “I remember making angels in the snow. Sledding. She took me to my first ski lesson. I picked it up fast.” I bet she had. She was phenomenal on skis. “It seemed to please her, how quickly I learned.” She yawned.