Chapter Eleven
Taking Sarah’s hand in his, David led her through the vineyards, talking about his experiences planting each row of vines and his hopes for each vintage he planned to produce. Sarah possessed enough knowledge about the process to suggest blends and barreling methods, which David couldn’t help but be enormously pleased by. It wasn’t merely her beauty that attracted him but her brains as well. Her business acumen was the icing on the cake, and the fact she was willing to put it to use thinking of ways for him to increase business.
“Promoting this place as a wedding venue is a great idea but it’ll take a fairly big financial investment,” David said at one point. “Not to mention the services of an event planner. It’s one of those things I’d like to do someday.”
“I’m pretty good at drafting business plans,” Sarah replied, “if you ever need help convincing your bank manager to give you the funds.”
David noticed she didn’t try to put herself forward as a potential benefactor and he couldn’t help but be relieved. Perhaps she was finally starting to believe he would never take money from her. Not only that, her offer assumed an association between them that stretched beyond the weekend.
Lifting their linked hands, David placed a kiss to her knuckles. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
They continued their stroll around the property, the slow pace not reflective of the sense of urgency gathering inside him. Sarah’s nearness, the touch of her hand, hell, even the feet she’d bared when she took off her shoes, fired his every sexual impulse.
“David?” Sarah’s prompt made David realize they’d both fallen into contemplative silence. The sun was beginning to sink toward the horizon, taking some of the day’s warmth away.
“Hmm?”
“Why are you alone here?” She scanned the rows and rows of vines. “Something Kerri said this morning indicated there’d been someone once.”
David grunted. “Kerri ought to keep her mouth shut.”
“She was only concerned for you.”
“Warning you off, then?” He took her shrug as confirmation. His exasperation with his supposed friend grew. “She had no right.”
“She didn’t upset me if that’s what you’re worried about.” Sarah’s blithe assurance reminded David she was used to the cutthroat world of business. Whatever sniping match she’d gotten into with Kerri probably didn’t compare. “But it’s clear she doesn’t like me.”
“She thinks you’re just like my ex-girlfriend. Melissa moved here with me when I first inherited this place. She quit the job she’d always hated anyway, swore she wanted the relief from the stress of the advertising game. I think she started to go crazy after three days.” David showed Sarah a rueful smile, recalling Melissa’s agitation at the quietness of the cottage, the lack of activities to hold her interest. “Not enough excitement around here compared to what she was used to. After a while she took another job in the city and commuted but the visits began to dwindle before too long. I think we both realized it was over months before she left for the last time.”
They walked together in silence for a while. Somehow it wasn’t the slightest bit odd sharing such intimate details of his life with Sarah, when usually he was a very private person. He wondered if Sarah felt that same easy sense of intimacy, hoped that she’d freely volunteer a little information about her own past.
But when she at last spoke, it was to ask another question about his. “Did she break your heart?” Her voice was little more than a whisper.
“To hear Kerri tell it, you’d certainly think so.”
Sarah stopped strolling, compelling David to halt his strides as well. She stared at him, her expression earnest, even worried. “How would you tell it?”
There was no doubting Melissa’s leaving had hurt. He’d been with her a total of three years and he’d always assumed their future was together. But by the same token, if he’d wanted that future as badly as he should have, wouldn’t he have asked Melissa to marry him at some point? He hadn’t even used a proposal as a last-ditch attempt to beg her to stay with him, perhaps because having her stay wasn’t so vital that he was willing to commit the rest of his life to her to achieve the aim.
What did that say about him? Was he disinterested in marriage in general or had his apathy only pertained to his relationship with Melissa? As David gazed at Sarah’s arresting face, an image of her standing before him wearing white, shrouded in the pale netting of a bridal veil came to him unbidden. His heart rate spiked, rushing his blood in a way that made his veins feel both full and lighter than air at the same time.
The response had nothing to do with fear. So not against marriage in general then. Oh, Christ, you are in so much trouble, Genero.
“If you’re asking if I’m over her, the answer is yes.” David took a step forward, invading Sarah’s personal space. He cupped her cheek and ran his thumb along her lower lip. “All I’ve been able to think about since that night three weeks ago is you.”
Sarah’s eyes grew misty. “Oh, David…”
“Don’t say it.” He could tell by the expression on her face she wanted to reiterate her belief that there was no possibility of a future between them. And right now, David didn’t want to bloody hear it. “Don’t say a damn thing. Shut up and kiss me.”
Swiftly, he closed the distance between them. Her lips were pliant, already open by the time he crushed his to them. He delved into her mouth immediately, tasting her as he’d yearned to since this morning. Hours upon hours, almost a whole day and he hadn’t kissed her. It was too damn long.
Her arms twined around his neck, urging him closer. David ran his hands over her, his touch frenetic on her back, her waist, the undersides of her breasts. She sucked in a breath and drew back, allowing him to cup them. He molded and shaped, gently squeezed and pinched, until she wiggled with impatience, grinding against his erection.
Grasping her hips, David drew her forward, settling fully into the V of her thighs. “Christ, Sarah, you win. You don’t have to promise me anything and you can call it whatever you want. Just let me inside you again. I want you so bad I hurt.”
She responded by taking a slow step back and lowering to her knees on the grass. She held his gaze the entire time, fire and promises in the blue depths of her irises. When she reached for his waistband and unsnapped his jeans, David’s heart flat-out stopped. The lowering of his zipper sounded so loud in the afternoon quiet, but he was sure they’d walked far enough away to be concealed from the house and the retail section of the winery. A row of vines on either side of them offered further privacy. Nobody would find them unless they specifically came searching.
Still, was he really going to let Sarah Harrington, heiress to a small fortune, a woman of substance and class, get down on her knees before him in the grass?
She reached for his underwear and pulled it down, freeing his aching cock. Her breath was hot as it fanned over the tip and even that mere suggestion of her nearness, her willingness, was enough to have pre-cum forming.
By God, yes, he was going to let her.
Grabbing hold of his shaft with one hand, David threaded the other through Sarah’s hair. “Suck it.” His command was rough, needy.
Her eyes flashed with both surprise and base sexual response. She moved forward without hesitation, opening her lips and taking the tip of his cock between them. David couldn’t stifle his groan as her tongue swirled around his head, teasing and thrilling him.
“Deeper,” he said, tilting forward so he sank into the wet heaven of her mouth. She took him in eagerly, sucking and licking his shaft. He angled her head to his liking and eased his erection in and out of her mouth. The visual coupled with the heady sensations swirling in his loins had his balls drawing tight, filling with liquid fire. He could come in under ten seconds if she kept at it.
David was tempted, very tempted. But it wasn’t what he’d been craving all day, all night in the hours he couldn’t sleep. Pulling out of her abruptly, he reached into his back pocket for the condom he’d been carrying around all day.
“Your pussy.” He saw that he’d shocked with his use of the word—shocked and aroused her. Well, it was what she wanted, wasn’t it? A man to talk dirty, to be hard and ready whenever she wanted him to be. On both counts, he could accommodate. “Lie back on the grass. I have to fuck your pussy.”
She dropped to the ground as though his demand had knocked the wind out of her. With frantic fingers she went for the snap of her jeans, undoing them and pushing them down her legs. David liked her impatience. It granted him a modicum of control, if only by comparison. He watched her strip out of her borrowed panties as he rolled the latex over himself. Then he dropped to his knees between her spread thighs.
He could smell her arousal mingling with the earthy scents of soil and the subtle fragrance given off by the grapes. It made him want to plunge brutal and deep in one thrust. “Touch yourself. Make sure you’re wet enough for me.”
Her laugh was wry. “I am. Trust me.”
He pinned her with his gaze. “Do it.”
She stilled at the roughness of his command. He’d surprised her again. But she didn’t delay long, snaking her hand down until it covered her mound. David almost whimpered when she slipped her middle finger inside herself, plunging it in and out in an action that mirrored exactly what David wanted to do with the erection that now throbbed painfully. Watching her finger her own pussy with those beautifully manicured hands was the most erotic thing he’d ever seen. When she withdrew her finger it glistened with her juices.
“I could watch you do that for hours,” David rasped. “Maybe you should get yourself off before I fuck you.”
“No. With you this time. Please.”
It was what David wanted too and he didn’t prolong things any further. Grasping Sarah’s thigh, he held it wide so he had easy access to her opening. Then he positioned himself and drove home in one fierce thrust.
Sarah cried out, the sound mingling with David’s groan of pleasure. She was so tight and so slick the urge to come assailed him immediately. “Jesus, lady. I won’t last long.”
In answer Sarah moved her hand between them, using the fingers still covered with her cream on her clit. David stared at the spot, thrusting into her as she rubbed and lightly pinched herself. “Yeah, that’s it. Fuck, you’re beautiful. Come for me hard and fast.”
“Yes,” Sarah gasped, her fingers working ever faster on her clit as David pummeled her tight pussy. “Yes. Oh David.”
She said his name again, over and over, as her internal walls rippled on his cock. Her orgasm drew his forth and David joined her in the mad whirlwind, swearing and grunting as he released himself in a torrent of wet, ecstatic heat.
As the fury began to ebb, David fell to his elbows, resting his weight above her and breathing harshly into the curve of her neck. When reality once again set in, Sarah chuckled ruefully. “Oh my God, that was something.”
“That was a quickie on the ground in the open air,” David supplied. “Bet none of your other blokes have shown you this good a time.”
“Oh, absolutely not. You’re a definite standout.”
“Hey, watch it or I’ll think you’re being sarcastic.”
Her tone softened. “I wasn’t.”
He raised his head so he could see her, his heart seizing at the dreamy awe on her face. “Damn, Sarah. You shouldn’t look at a man like that if you’re planning to leave him at the end of the weekend.”
Her expression sobered, a little furrow forming between her brows. She lifted a hand to brush back the stray curl that always bobbed around his forehead, then opened her mouth to say something, when a sharp bark halted any reply she might have made.
They both turned to see Keaton barreling toward them, followed closely by Buster carrying one of his ubiquitous sticks and emitting a muffled yap. David sent Sarah a warning glance. “Uh-oh, we have company.”
With a curse he climbed off her and yanked up his jeans. Understanding the potential for embarrassment, Sarah scrambled to locate her own jeans and pull them on. Her hurried movements told David she was wondering the same thing he was. Had the dogs gotten out of their fenced area on their own or had Kerri let them out and come to find David?
Sarah was still struggling to do up the snap of her jeans when Buster dropped his stick at her feet. David admonished him but Sarah merely laughed and petted the dog. Keaton stopped trying to bathe David’s face with his tongue and sidled up to Sarah, nudging her free hand with his nose.
“Oh, I see how it is. You’re a couple of turncoats.”
Ignoring their owner’s pretense at anger, the dogs continued to circle Sarah adoringly, wagging their tails and whining in excitement. Sarah sent David a cheeky grin. “What can I say? Dogs like me.”
“Then they have good taste.” Moving the dogs away with his foot, David snaked an arm around Sarah and drew her to his side. He murmured, “I really enjoyed our vineyard tour.”
Sarah smiled. “Me too.”
“But what just happened here—it wasn’t exactly classy of me.”
“Who says I want classy? I’ve had it and it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“Still, I feel the need to make it up to you,” David said. “How does a hot bath and a roaring fire sound to you?”
She sighed. “Heavenly.”
“Then heaven is what you shall have, my lady.”
…
Sarah sprawled atop David’s firm body, a quilt from wrapped around her shoulders. Beside her, the fire flickered in the hearth, sending warmth out to add to the sensation of being cocooned in a cozy shell. A shell she had no desire to crawl out of anytime soon.
It was heaven. When David Genero made a promise, he certainly delivered.
The thought spiked Sarah’s heart rate. A man who delivers on his promises must be trustworthy. She wanted to trust him with her secrets, with her future, with her heart. She had to think the fact they couldn’t keep their hands off each other was about more than mere sexual chemistry. Yet even thinking along those lines seemed dangerous. Existing in this state of near faith was like standing on the precipice of a bottomless crevasse. The unknown beckoned her, thrilled her, yet terrified her still.
“I thought you were asleep.” David’s murmur rumbled against Sarah’s ear where it rested against his chest.
“Who says I’m not?”
“You stopped breathing for a second there. You do that when you’re worried about something.”
How could he know her so well already? “I wasn’t worried,” she hedged. “Just thinking.”
“Oh no, thinking’s bad. Every time you start thinking I ought to make you come so you’ll stop.”
Sarah chuckled. “Big words. I don’t think you could rise to that particular occasion again tonight.”
After she’d taken her time in the hot bath David had drawn her, he’d brought her to the living room where they’d pretty much stayed ever since. He’d built a fire and laid a rug on the floor beside it, soon bringing her down to it with him. They’d subsisted on a diet of cheese, bread, wine and each other until the moon was high in the sky and the dogs were fast asleep in another room. Sarah had welcomed him into her body several times, as the pleasant ache between her thighs could attest. She had no idea what time it was and Sarah didn’t care to find out. Not knowing was better. It helped sustain the fantasy that tomorrow would never arrive.
With a shift of his hips, David nudged her stomach with his semihard penis. “I’m not down for the count yet.”
“Unbelievable. I’ve lost count.”
“That’s because the jury’s still out on whether a multiple orgasm counts as one or several.” The hint of smug pride in his voice couldn’t be missed.
Rolling her eyes, Sarah rested her chin on her hands so she could look at him directly. “You’re taking all the credit for that, I see.”
“Not all.” He grinned. “But definitely some.”
Sarah found herself returning his smile. “I suppose that’s fair.”
He lifted a hand and stroked the hair back from her face. The way his attention fixed on her made her breath still. “Sarah, you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. Every bloody thing about you is sexy, from your eyes to your lips…”
He trailed off as he traced their outline, and Sarah figured he was recalling how she’d wrapped those lips around his rigid cock out in the vineyard, and again a little while ago. The second time she’d gone slower, drawing out his pleasure until his breathing was shallow and his pleas for mercy desperate. Against her stomach, he stiffened further and her body responded, liquid warmth gathering between her thighs. Dear lord, she’d become insatiable.
David moved his hands downward to cup her ass. He ground his erection into her mound. “And this is the sexiest backside in the world. I loved taking you from behind before. I loved watching your ass push back against me as I fucked your tight pussy.”
Sarah’s nipples grew tight at his dirty words, her pleasure made all the more intense because he uttered them for her, because she’d discovered a penchant for hearing them that she’d never known she possessed. Pushing up on her hands, she quirked a brow at him. “You know you say that word like you’re at the doctor—aaah.”
He smiled and gave the anatomy in question a rough pinch that made her squeal in delight. “Well, this aaahs deserves a really long vowel.”
Sarah dipped her head and kissed him, their mingled laughter soon turning to moans of pleasure. David kept his hands anchored on her butt, molding and squeezing it until Sarah was grinding against him, her desire growing into an ache once more. When he broke their kiss and started nipping at her neck, Sarah had to admit the truth. “I need you so much. I don’t know how you’re doing this to me, but I need you more than air right now.”
He growled in her ear, “Gonna fuck you again, Sarah.”
“No.”
David stilled immediately and sought her gaze. It shouldn’t matter so much, they were only words, but Sarah’s heart pounded with the knowledge of what she was about to ask for.
She swallowed over the lump of nerves that balled in her throat. “Please make love to me.”
His breath stilled, completely stopped like hers apparently did when she was worried. Sarah’s heart slammed against her ribs as she interpreted the emotions in his dark-brown eyes. Deep appreciation mingled with absolute, primal determination. He held her head, lowered it and swallowed her oxygen with a kiss that seared more hotly than the fire.
He ravaged her mouth, on the verge of losing control. The prospect tempted Sarah to take her words back, to demand he forgo being gentle and loving in favor of more marauding actions. But then David’s kiss slowed to a languorous dance of lips and teeth and tongues, and Sarah couldn’t utter a single word. She shut up and let him set the pace, trusting him to take them both where they needed to go.
Trusting him.
Sarah’s heart stuttered as David flipped her over, pressing her back against the downy quilt and staring into her face. He touched her cheek, his fingers featherlight, reverent. Sarah held her breath—this time in anticipation instead of concern—as he trailed his hand downward to brush tender caresses over her throat, her shoulder. Her breast tingled as he neared, its tip puckering into a tight knot. Tearing his gaze away from hers, David stared at her breasts, watching their reaction in fascination as he gently fondled the yielding flesh. Her nipples distended further, strained desperately for his attention. But Sarah said nothing. She showed no impatience, made no demands. She let David take his time.
She let herself trust him.
When at last his thumb brushed over her aching point, Sarah gasped at the exquisiteness of the contact—too much but not enough, an unbearable tease worth waiting for.
David’s command was husky, one rough syllable. “Arch.”
Sarah curved her spine, lifting it off the floor. She kept her hands fisted in the quilt beside her head as David accepted her offering, bathing her nipple in the wet warmth of his tongue. He teased and stroked, squeezed her flesh in his hand while he sucked the stiff crest into his mouth. He loved both her breasts until Sarah was writhing on the quilt, panting with desperate want.
She didn’t hurry him. She didn’t instruct or control. She waited for every touch, every hot kiss as his mouth moved lower, trailing over her abdomen, circling her navel. Quicksilver heat shot to her pussy when he descended farther. She was so wet, so needy. Yet she waited, growing to love the excruciating anticipation in the long moments before he at last, at last, wet her quivering lips with his tongue.
“Open,” he rasped, and Sarah’s thighs fell apart, inviting a deeper kiss. The moist, hot pressure was pleasure unadulterated. Sarah let out a long, keening moan as David made love to her pussy with his talented, giving mouth. When he briefly lifted his head and issued his final, one-word command—come—Sarah was once again more than ready to oblige.
Her insides quaked, her body falling to pieces as David’s hot tongue worked its magic. She erupted in a rolling, undulating orgasm that made her pussy quiver against David’s lips. The spasms continued to rack her frame when David reached for a condom, swiftly donning it and probing her entrance. He pushed inside her by degrees, ensuring she experienced every thick inch of him with her still-fluttering inner muscles. His steady, purposeful glide in and out of her body kept her hovering on the pinnacle of her climax, regenerating sensations that ought to be fading. As David stared into her face, his gaze as probing as his cock, Sarah was thrown into another series of tremors.
Groaning, David sank into her deeper, harder. He never took his eyes from her face as he joined her in ecstasy. It was so beautiful, the simultaneous joy of it, that tears threatened. She hadn’t realized until that instant that she’d never truly been made love to before.
This time with David was different, more intense than their prior encounters. Yet in one fundamental way it was the same. She may have pretended a few times to make love, but David never had. He’d always cherished her like this, he’d always gifted her with his generosity, with his willingness to show his emotions. His willingness to let love in.
So in a way it came as no great shock when David’s words vibrated against her neck. “I think I’m in love with you, Sarah.”
David’s emotions were no surprise but they were everything Sarah feared—and couldn’t help but hope for too.