My Heart's Passion

by Elizabeth Lapthorne

  Ensnared, she began to read.

  Chapter Six

  Chloe opened the door that evening in the same jeans and bright sweater she had been in when he had left earlier that day. Samuel smiled, a bottle of red in one arm, a small box in his other hand.

  “You don’t waste any time, do you?”

  Samuel looked behind him, and the just-set sun. The sky still held traces of pink, red, and orange from the spectacular sunset.

  “Sun’s set, hasn’t it?”

  Grinning, he held the bottle of red out to her.

  “You eaten yet?”

  Rolling her eyes, Chloe grabbed the bottle from him and stepped back to let him enter the cabin.

  “Let me guess, you’re one of those men who constantly eat? I did warn you I wouldn’t cook anything other than breakfast. You should have eaten before you came over.”

  Chloe turned her cheek for Samuel’s kiss as he entered the cabin. She frowned when she realized she now expected the chaste greeting. Slowly, she closed the door and turned to face Samuel.

  She had better be careful, she warned herself, next thing she’d know she would start taking other liberties for granted. Samuel seemed to be growing on her when she wasn’t paying attention.

  Shaking herself, she remembered she was the person in charge here, not Samuel. He had promised not to step over the line she drew, and she trusted him to honor that promise.

  As she raised her eyes to meet his, she saw him pleading silently. She doubted the man could read her mind—so he obviously was begging for food, not sex. Then again, knowing Samuel as she did, she bet he wouldn’t turn down either if she offered.

  She sighed. “I suppose I might have some cheese to go with this red. Let me check.” Feeding the man currently seemed like the lesser of two evils.

  Instantly the pleading look vanished, and Samuel shone a bright smile on her. “I knew you wouldn’t let me starve. I brought the game. Here, I’ll grab the glasses, you get the cheese and a cutter.”

  Chloe sighed, trying to hide her laughter, and headed into the kitchen. Digging into the fridge she found some cheese, way in the back. Silently heaping grateful blessing on Mary for the find, she found a sharp knife and a cutting board. As she headed back into the living room, Samuel had set the box on the coffee table and found two wineglasses.

  Chloe eyed them, worried. “Weren’t those wedding gifts? Can’t we use something else? I’m much too likely to break them and that would really upset me.”

  “Nah. These are old drinking glasses of Dom’s. It’s what he used to use to impress the ladies he brought back here. I left the really good stuff back in the cabinet. Mary would likely try to skin me if we broke one of her precious crystal goblets.”

  Chloe nodded and sat down. Taking the smallish box from the table she opened it and looked through the cards as Samuel poured them both a glass of wine.

  The cards seemed to be color-coded into three sections. Cards with a blue border each had the title Beginner: Getting to know each other, green borders held the title: Medium: for a little more intimacy, and red borders read Advanced: for those who dare.

  Flicking through them, not reading them in any depth, Chloe understood enough to gather that some of the cards held dares and others simply had questions written on them. Putting the box of cards back, she looked at the cover.

  A dating, getting-to-know-you game for all levels, the cover declared.

  “So remind me again, why are we playing this game of Dominic’s?”

  Samuel handed her the glass of wine and sat back in his own chair. Clearing his throat, he looked almost sheepish for a moment. “Uh, it’s not precisely Dominic’s.”

  Chloe just sat back and waited for the rest of the explanation.

  “You see, it was Dominic’s game, but he sort of gifted me with it after he married Mary.”

  Chloe felt her stomach twist. “You mean he played this game with Mary? If this is something they did I’m not sure I really want to follow after them. The mental images won’t be pretty.”

  Samuel started to blush, both worrying and amazing Chloe. “Uh…no…you don’t fully understand. Dominic…used…this game before he met your cousin.”

  Blinking, Chloe finally fitted the pieces together. “Oh. I understand. It’s one of those pick-up games? Where forced intimacy and a sharing of confidences brings a couple together. Eventually one thing leads to another and the couple end up in bed screwing madly. How close am I?”

  Samuel cleared his throat. “Uh, fairly close, I believe.”

  Chloe nodded. “I’ll remind you of your promise to leave when I’ve had enough.”

  Samuel nodded curtly.

  Chloe shrugged. If Samuel was still willing to leave when she told him to, she didn’t mind prying into his psyche. She was prepared to let him into a little of her mind as well. Fair was fair after all.

  Choosing a blue card, Chloe sat back to read it thoroughly. Absently, she checked with Samuel.

  “We’re starting out on the blue ones, right? No sense in spoiling the fun and jumping the gun to the medium or advanced dares right away.”

  A strangled grunt was the only reply she got. Looking up, she saw Samuel’s face scrunch as he sipped too much wine.

  Shrugging, she returned to the card. “What is your favorite sexual position?”

  Chloe turned the card over. The back was blue, the front white with the simple words written neatly. No indication was given as to whether Chloe answered the question herself or asked Samuel for his answer. Smiling, she figured with the lack of directions, she might as well make it up on the spot.

  “So, Samuel,” she purred, enjoying playing the vixen for once, “tell me all about your favorite sexual position.”

  Samuel took one more sip of his wine, then set the glass down on the coffee table. Sitting back, he removed his sneakers and relaxed his posture in the chair. Steepling his fingers to support his head, Samuel seemed to take the question very seriously.

  “My favorite…hmmm…you certainly don’t pull any punches, love. I suppose if I simply had to cut it down to one favorite position, I’d prefer the woman on top. I love seeing a lady astride me, pumping away, taking her pleasure and giving me incredible pleasure in return.”

  Chloe felt her mouth dry slightly at the mental images she found searing across her mind. Herself, astride Samuel, thrusting down upon him to make him reach deep, deep inside her. Licking her lips, she tried to drag her mind away from the heated images.

  “Mmm…yeah…gotta admit a woman on top is probably my favorite position. What about you?”

  “Pardon?”

  “You, little girl. What’s your favorite sexual position?”

  Determined to be just as blatant and casual, Chloe sat back in her own chair, tucking her legs up underneath her. Mentally she ran through the list. Missionary was too ordinary, and though she enjoyed it, she liked to be a bit wild. Doggy style was fun, but certainly not her favorite. She enjoyed being on top, but refused to copy Samuel and appear as if she were copping out.

  “I’m not sure it’s my favorite favorite, but it certainly gets me hot and going every time. So I suppose in that sense it’s the best. There’s something about being backed into a wall that drives me crazy.”

  She paused for a second, gauging the reaction this caused in Samuel. A fire sparked in his deep blue eyes, hot and molten. She noticed his breaths were coming slightly faster, and every inch of his attention was firmly focused on her. Taking confidence in his obvious attention, she continued.

  “One of the first sexual encounters I had was in a shower. We were rather inexperienced still, so it was more a farce than a heated sexual odyssey. But being gently backed up against the wall, with the water streaming down around us, even though we fumbled and groped, and the tiles were uncomfortably cold…it still gets me hot every time I think about it. I suppose it’s got something to do with the fact that up against the wall has the naughty factor of a quickie, along with that ‘woma
n under submission’ thing without actually getting involved in all the bondage games.”

  She shrugged, blushing slightly. Samuel was still staring intently at her, soaking up every word and nuance. It made her feel a bit odd, being under his undivided attention. Determined to turn the spotlight from herself, and feeling as if she had certainly answered her part of the question fully, she waved her hand at him.

  “Well, go on. Pick a card.”

  Samuel opened his mouth, but she glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest. She hadn’t exactly meant to give quite so much detail to him. But now that she had, she refused to enter into more conversation about it. With luck, the next card would be a little less personal.

  Who was she kidding? The voice inside her head silently mocked. The game is designed to create intimacy, she reminded herself. Remember your own mocking of enforced intimacy bringing up situations like this?

  Chloe ignored her own doubts, and smiled brightly at Samuel, causing his eyes to narrow slightly. For a moment, she could swear he could hear the almost panicked fighting going on in her brain.

  With a very small smile on his face, he leaned forward and picked up a blue- rimmed card at random. For a moment, he simply stared at it. Chloe stared at the black backing, wishing desperately that she too could read the card. She wasn’t the most patient person on earth, and the excited suspense was driving her insane as the seconds ticked by.

  After what was probably only a minute or so, but felt like a small eternity, Samuel huskily said, “What’s you favorite time of day to do it?”

  Chloe took a breath, unaware until then she had been holding it. Her favorite time? Did women have favorite times?

  Thinking about it, Chloe realized she didn’t really have one at all. For the right man under the right circumstances any time was her favorite time. She didn’t, however, want to come across as a sex-craving maniac.

  “Uh…well…assuming we’re talking about someone I’m sexually interested in, first thing in the morning is always nice. It sort of starts the day off right, you know?” At Samuel’s raised eyebrow, she continued. “And last thing at night is always nice. Relaxes you into a nice sleep with interesting dreams. Nothing wrong with having some nookie to complete a girl’s day.”

  “Let me guess. You’re also not opposed to a nooner now and then, or maybe middle of the afternoon perhaps?”

  Chloe tried hard not to blush. “And how about you, Mr. Stud Muffin? Or maybe we should say when isn’t your favorite time?”

  Samuel’s grin was slightly feral in its intensity. “Damn straight. With the right woman, any time is my favorite. There’s nothing in that to be ashamed of. That’s how you really feel, isn’t it, little girl?”

  Chloe nodded curtly, not knowing why it felt weird to admit it. She kept her eyes away from Samuel and reached forward to pick up her glass of wine.

  “I guess so. I suppose I’d never really thought about it. With the right person it doesn’t seem to matter what time it is when you get together, the sex is always good and always welcome. I think women are just expected to not want it all the time. Men can be a bit weird about that.”

  “Weird how?” Samuel also picked up his glass of wine, content to continue the conversation.

  Chloe thought for a moment before she spoke. “Well, if a man is horny all the time, that’s just expected. Men think about sex all the time, men want sex all the time. It’s a fact of life and no one thinks they’re strange if they admit to such. But for a woman, we’re supposed to be…I don’t know…more restrained, purer than that somehow. We’re not supposed to daydream about sex all the time, or feel horny all the time. Women who do, throughout the ages, have been thought of as whores or sluts.”

  Chloe took a sip of her wine, watching Samuel digest what she had said.

  “To a degree, yes, I think you’re right. But I also think you’d be surprised at how many men would love to be with a woman who enjoys her sexuality, who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. Sexually, there are few things that are a greater turn-on to a man than a woman who would whisper in his ear naughty things she wants to do, and then proceeds to do them to herself or him.”

  He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Chloe looked at him and realized he had a raging hard-on from their conversation.

  She smiled. “I can see that it’s one of your fantasies, anyway.”

  He smiled at her. “Chloe, it’s not the thought of just anyone whispering naughty suggestions that’s giving me this boner—it’s the thought of what sort of naughty things you would whisper in my ear.”

  Startled, Chloe took another sip of wine to give her hands something to do. Before she could stop herself, she imagined some of the things she might whisper in his ear. She had always wanted to wear a dress with no panties on underneath, go out to dinner and casually whisper the secret into her partner’s ear. Watch the reaction she received.

  Or maybe whisper her fantasy of being taken hard and fast as soon as she and her partner entered her small apartment after a night out somewhere. That thought immediately brought back her fantasy and enjoyment of quickies up against the wall.

  Strange how things tended to click together after a drink or two of wine, she silently laughed at herself.

  Forcing her mind away from her heated fantasies, she reminded herself that a few nights with this man could be a dangerous game to play.

  Clearing her throat, trying desperately hard not to squirm in her seat to relieve the wet ache between her legs, Chloe tried forcing her mind back to the game they were playing. Sharply realizing her turn had come again, Chloe leaned forward to take yet another card from the box.

  Chapter Seven

  Samuel casually crossed one large leg up over the other in a vain attempt to hide his incredibly hard cock.

  Chloe might be young when compared to his years, but her package sure packed a wallop. She was the perfect height for him, five-eight to his six-four, slim but curvy in all the required places. Not for the first time today, he wondered if it was genius or self-inflicted torture playing this game of cat and mouse with her.

  He had never found himself particularly confused when contemplating the opposite sex. Either he wanted to bed them, and proceeded to do so to both party’s mutual satisfaction, or he felt more a friendship bond rather than a sexual one, as he did with his few female friends and his sisters-in-law.

  His uneasiness with Chloe, he was almost certain now, stemmed from the fact she didn’t fit neatly in either box in his mind. He felt a sexual attraction to her, got a raging boner when he thought too much of her or found himself in her presence.

  Yet, he also felt the softer, more friendship-based feelings he felt for his sisters-in-law. He felt both styles of emotion when in her presence, and this confused him and made him hesitate to either become close friends with her, or drag her to the nearest bed-like piece of furniture and fuck her senseless.

  In some respects, this card game was perfect for him. He hoped he could decide through the sharing of small intimacies and confidences whether he wanted a friendship-based relationship with Chloe or a sexually based one.

  His mind shied away from a deep enough relationship where they would be both friends and lovers. Treading down that path would ultimately only hurt both himself and Chloe, and he had no wish to hurt her. Fuck her ‘til they both dropped from sated exhaustion, yes, but hurt her, no.

  Samuel realized Chloe had been staring at her particular card for a few minutes now. Lost in his own thoughts as he had been, he hadn’t noticed the passing of time.

  “What is it? Come on, don’t kill me with the suspense.”

  He watched her shift uncomfortably. She shifted her legs underneath her and finally looked up from the small card.

  “Describe one of your favorite fantasies.”

  Samuel grinned. He had checked with Dominic before he and Mary had left that there wasn’t anything too personal on the cards. His brother had grinned in that charming manner
that used to have women falling at his feet, and declared some of them came close to too personal, but nothing he hadn’t been able to handle.

  Samuel had grinned back at his brother, determined to pick up the gauntlet that had been thrown down.

  Samuel smiled into Chloe’s slightly worried eyes, sat back, and closed his own eyes. He tried to clear his mind—to picture a favorite fantasy—but nothing sprang to mind.

  He had a zillion fantasies, but he wanted a special one for Chloe. Thinking of her, picturing her naked and waiting for him, a scene began to form in his mind. He spoke aloud as the scene unfolded.

  “I’m naked and lying back on something soft. Bed, couch, rug—it doesn’t matter what it is. My fantasy woman kisses me, and I hungrily kiss her back, gently biting her soft lips.”

  With his eyes closed, Samuel could mentally see Chloe kissing him. He could feel himself tasting her soft, full lower lip. He tried not to groan and shifted in his chair.

  “She pulls back, and with lots of skin-on-skin contact, she strings kisses down my chest, arrowing downwards.” Samuel built the fantasy in his mind. He pictured Chloe kissing her way down his chest, wet kisses, nibbling, taking her time and enjoying the process.

  “My fantasy woman takes her time, draws out the moment. I think we’re in firelight; I enjoy the glow of the crackling flames shedding light on her brown hair. She nibbles me and kisses me. She works her way down my chest until she reaches my cock.”

  Pausing for a moment, eyes still closed, Samuel imagined what it would feel like to have Chloe pause for a similar moment as her chin lightly grazed his hugely erect staff.

  It would be painful ecstasy. Samuel cracked one eye open, gazed over at Chloe, still sitting with her legs crossed under her. Her eyes were wide and slightly glazed. Obviously she, too, was picturing what his fantasy would be like.

  Before he could lose the moment, Samuel re-closed his eyes, delving back into the fantasy that was quickly becoming his favorite.