Chapter 8
The sash fell open and slithered over her hips, landing on her feet with a whisper of silk. Her robe was open, less than an inch, revealing a shadowy strip of her body between long panels of pale, gleaming fabric.
Close it, goddamnit, the little scolding voice in her head said. Yank that sucker closed, tie the sash tight, and say what has to be said to make this guy disappear. He’s more trouble than he’s worth. Way more.
The yammering voice faded into a meaningless blur of white noise in the back of her head. In the forefront, the image of the two of them in the mirror grew ever clearer as drips coursed their way inexorably downward, each one washing its own stripe through the steamy surface.
The robe gaped a little more now, though neither of them had moved. He could see her body. Her taut nipples pressed against the delicate silk. The valley between them, the heavy undercurve of each one, the swell of her belly, the dip of her navel was all clearly visible. The tuft of dark hair that covered her mound.
And she was letting him look. As if he had a right. As if she wanted him to. As if she’d been waiting for years, offering for years. Aching for him to look at her, to touch her. To take her.
The silence, the darkness, wove a spell around them both, thickening until it was palpable. It was a deep, throbbing hum, blotting out thoughts, fears, doubts and leaving only feelings. Wild, unruly feelings that were gathering a huge momentum, swelling into a power she could not hope to control. Her eyes were locked with his in the mirror, and the slow-growing realization became a certainty.
The impossible, the unthinkable, was about to happen. She was actually going to do this. He was going to seduce her, and she was going to let him. His hand drifted around, touched her face. Cupped her cheek. She blushed even hotter beneath his hand. Turned her face to him, leaning into his touch, like a cat being petted.
She terrified herself. She hadn’t thought herself capable of such depths of self-destructive stupidity, but she wanted this, desperately.
Why not? Why the hell not?
The decision abruptly made itself, without her help. Yes. She would live this fantasy, in full. No stupid romantic expectations.
Just hot sex. After all this drama, she was entitled to that much.
He traced the edge of her ear, swirling in tenderly to circle the inner whorl, sending shudders of pleasure through her startled nerves.
He smoothed a clinging lock of hair away. She licked her lips, her breath coming sharply. He touched her lips, his hand moving with majestic slowness in the breathless silence, the way a tangle of clasped hands moves over a ouija board, searching for mysteries and magic.
He trailed his fingertip over her chin and below, moving with delicate precision over her throat. He paused over her racing pulse, dipped into the hollow of her collarbone. His touch was reverent; so soft, she could barely feel it—and yet, she could feel nothing else. As if his fingertip left an incandescent thread of glowing light in its wake. He continued his relentless journey downward, pausing over her heart. It thudded against her ribs. Her breath was ragged. He was walking a fine line through a minefield of anger and doubt, with such sure steps. He didn’t try to open her robe, he didn’t grope or grab. He just stayed the course. Sure that she would open for him.
Like a flower blooming open to the sun.
His hand ventured lower, circling around her navel. He dragged in a sharp breath, and his hand dipped lower still, hesitating for an agonizing moment before it brushed across the very ends of her pubic hair. The faint, teasing contact jolted excitement through her body.
His hand stopped moving. And he waited, muscles trembling, his erection pressed against her bottom. Waiting for a signal.
She moaned, her thighs unlocking with a shudder of surrender.
He let out a low, triumphant sound, like a growl that raised the hairs on the back of her neck. His finger traced the damp slit of her vulva and delicately parted her, sliding into her slippery hot center.
The sensation was unbearably intense. Her knees buckled, her muscles gave. Sean caught her across the waist, pulling her back against himself to steady her. “I’ve got you. Let go. I’ll hold you.”
Her wiggling and heaving had opened her robe, and he could see it all, her heavy breasts, her plump belly, her rounded hips. His teeth sank into her neck, the growling sound vibrated against her neck. God, he was good, and she was so excited. So hot and soft, swollen and throbbing. The tiny muscles of her groin clenched around his hand, fluttering in frantic excitement, and her thighs clenched and released, and he was swirling his fingers around her clitoris, fluttering, pressing, and she tipped forward right into that terrible, wonderful moment of no return. A breathless free fall through space, and then…oh God.
It went on and on, the cresting wave that broke and pulsed like sea foam surging and frothing over gleaming sand. Pleasure that throbbed through every limb, to her fingers and toes. Leaving her drenched, gasping, dangling in his arms like a puppet with cut strings.
When her eyes finally fluttered open, she hardly recognized herself in the mirror. Her flushed face, heavy-lidded eyes. Sean’s golden, muscular forearm clamped across her middle, her hair draped across it, breasts spilling over it. His hand still clamped between her thighs.
She usually had to try so hard to guide her lovers down the long, twisty path toward making her come, but it was an arduous journey with no guarantees, and normal men didn’t have that kind of patience.
No biggie. She’d gotten over it. Sex was about cuddling and company, not about orgasms. She had better luck when she flew solo anyway. Accompanied by her vibrator and her Sean fantasies, of course.
This was a whole new universe of dazzling sensations. Emotions.
“Can you stand up?” he asked, still nuzzling her neck.
His erection prodded her back. His arm clamped across her ribs so hard, she couldn’t expand her lungs, just make choked, shallow gasps. She locked her knees. There was a desperate urgency in his shaking grip.
“My God.” He pulled his fingers out of her and held them up to his face. He licked them greedily. “You taste amazing. I’m starving for it.”
“Good.” She twisted around, and grabbed the buckle of his belt. She had to do this quick, before she lost her nerve. “So let’s eat, then.”
He stood there, oddly passive and uncertain, while she struggled with his belt. When she got it open, he seized her arms, stopping her. “Wait. Before we do this we need to, uh, clear some things up. I wanted to tell you why I said what I said in the jail. I can explain—”
“No,” she cut him off. “Don’t. Please. I don’t want to know.”
She gave his belt buckle such a hard, angry wrench, he stumbled towards her with a low exclamation. “But it’s important.”
“No, it’s not. I’m not interested,” she said. “I don’t care. Don’t spoil this for me, please. Give me this much. Let me play out my fantasy.”
He scowled. “This is not a fantasy, Liv.”
“It is for me,” she told him. “And that’s all you are. I don’t want to hear any bullshit. I don’t want to be lied to or made a fool of, by anyone, ever again, you hear me? I’ve got real problems, Sean. My life is screwed. My business is wrecked. There’s a guy out there who wants to kill me. What was going on in your mind fifteen years ago is no longer relevant or even interesting to me.”
“But it’s not what you think,” he protested. “I didn’t—”
“I don’t want to know why you thought it necessary to hurt me like that. I cannot imagine anything that could justify it. I won’t give you a chance to do that to me again. All I want is…” She trailed off.
“For me to fuck you,” he finished flatly. “No more than that.”
She actually laughed, the words were so incongruous. “What do you mean, more? What more could there possibly be?” She jerked her gaping robe shut. “Don’t get huffy. If it offends your delicate sensibilities to be used, just put your hard-on back into your pants and get out.”
She was horribly reminded of his metamorphosis in the jail. The warmth in his eyes had gone out like a candle, leaving blank chips of green reflecting glass. It unnerved her to see his face like that.
She locked her knees and concentrated on not wobbling.
“OK,” he said, after a tense pause. “I’ve made my decision.”
“Oh, have you?” She knotted her sash with a jerk. “And?”
“I’ll stay and service you,” he said. “I can’t leave here in this condition. My dick feels like a steel spike. I’d probably injure myself.”
She couldn’t breathe at all, now. He was so scary, with that remote expression on his face. Sexual energy pulsed off him in waves.
He whipped his shirt off over his head, flung it to the floor. Crouched down and unbuckled his ankle holster, the knife strapped to his other calf. He pried off his shoes, his movements swift and practical.
The seduction that had imbued every word and gesture was gone. He was just getting down to business. Her belly fluttered with doubt.
He shoved his jeans down, stepped out of them, kicked them away. He did not wear underwear. He stood before her, his legs in a wide, aggressive stance, his erection jutting out before him.
His thin smile had no warmth to it. “Want to take a closer look? Check my teeth, measure my cock? See if I’m up to standard?”
Hah. As if she needed to. His sarcasm deserved a sharp reply, but she couldn’t come up with one. She was too busy staring.
Don’t gape. Don’t give him the satisfaction, her little voice nagged, but it was useless. She was speechless.
He was amazing. Big and broad, jutting out of the springy bronze tangle of hair at his groin. His thighs were hard with muscle, rough with hair. A thick knotwork of veins throbbed along the base of his shaft, the huge, flared glans was flushed an angry red. A gleaming drop wept from the slit. He covered it with his fist, rubbing it over himself with a rough hand. She’d never been with anyone that big. Nowhere near.
“So? What’s the verdict?” he asked. “Do I make the cut?”
“Oh, would you just shut up and do your job,” she said shakily.
“Fine. We don’t have anything to talk about, so let’s get right to it.” He advanced on her, and she backed away instinctively, sitting down abruptly on the bed when she hit it with the back of her knees.
Sean loomed over her. His scent was heat and salt and sweat, the dark musk of maleness, the spicy hint of some soap or cologne. She let out a tiny squeak as he grabbed her hands, and wrapped them around his penis, sliding them roughly up and down his length.
“Here,” he said. “Get acquainted.”
Oh, whoa. He was so hot and stiff, his skin so soft. He pulsed beneath her cool, trembling hands. She felt his heartbeat in her fingers.
More gleaming liquid dripped from him onto her hands, and he pressed himself against her cupped palm. “Squeeze it,” he said. “Hard.”
“I’m—I’m not very—”
“Get your hand wet with your lube, too. Rub it over me until I’m all slippery. I want those lily white princess hands to rub royal pussy juice all over my cock. Mmm. Luxurious.”
“Would you quit it with the princess cracks?” She touched her fingertips to the hot, throbbing moisture of her vulva.
“No.” He sank to his knees and pushed her thighs apart. “That’s not going to do the job. Do it like this.”
She gasped as he thrust two fingers slowly, deeply inside her, and wiggled, whimpering, as he curved them into a gentle hook, pressing upward and circling a soft, throbbing spot inside her that grew and flushed, wider and wider, until it encompassed everything. It resolved into deep sobbing jets of pleasure, like a fountain inside her.
She sagged over his hot damp shoulder, panting. His hair was silky and fragrant against her face. She sucked in gasps of his scent.
“Ah,” he murmured. “That was amazing. So hot. You squirted girl jism right into my hand. God, I fucking love that.”
“I did?” She lifted her head, bewildered.
He pulled his dripping hand out of her, grinning triumphantly, and stroked himself with it until he looked like he’d been oiled. “Magic juice. Makes me hard enough to drive nails. Hold me, Liv. Squeeze me.”
He dragged her hands up and down his shaft until the slow, pulsing rhythm milked another shining drop of fluid out of him. His penis bobbed in her face. He cupped the back of her head in his hand and tugged, very gently, a wordless question in his eyes.
She let out a nervous little giggle. “You can’t expect me to…oh, dream on! That thing wouldn’t fit in my mouth.”
“I don’t care,” he said. “Kiss it. Taste me. Seal our bargain.”
He stroked the hair on the back of her head, his eyes fixed on hers. She could feel the power of his will, working on her like the huge, inexorable force of a magnet. She gripped him tighter, so that the bulb shone, taut and swollen and hot. Desperately eager for her touch.
He swayed obediently closer, his breath harsh and audible.
She pressed her lips to the end of his penis. Flicked her tongue over the small slit. Licked up the drops of moisture. He shuddered, groaned. Yes. He was salty and good. His body made magic juice, too.
Emboldened, she assaulted him with her tongue. His hands tightened in her hair as she twirled her tongue around the ridge of his glans, flicking at the tender part beneath it, stroking the taut, delicate skin, savoring the metallic taste of his flesh, hot and swollen.
He gripped her hair and tugged her head away from him. “Back off,” he said, breathless. “I’ve got a job to do. You can suck on me later, when I’m exhausted. I’ll fit better then, anyhow.”
“But I’ll be exhausted, too,” she complained.
“That’s your problem, not mine.” He pushed her down onto her back. “Right now, it’s your turn again.”
“My turn for what?” She braced her hands on his hot, hard chest. She could feel the rough puckers and ridges of a scar beneath her hand.
“To touch yourself. I want to watch you come again. I love that.”
She felt desperately exposed as he pressed her knees wide open and stared at her. “Show me how you do it,” he urged.
She swallowed, biting her lips. “But I don’t do it like this.”
“No? Then how do you do it, baby?”
She realized that she had never told this to anyone in her life.
“With my legs closed, tight,” she admitted. “Squeezing really hard. I don’t know if I can do it any other—”
“What if I help?” He seized her hand, guided down between her legs. “Put your hand in your pussy, and I’ll play with your clit at the same time. We’ll get you where you need to go.”
Her fingers slid into the silken, slick opening of her sex, and she fell back onto the bed, staring up at the shadows on the ceiling. He pushed her legs wide, and put his mouth to her.
Her legs flailed, slipping on the satin comforter. His hair tickled her thighs, her groin, his beard stubble rasped her skin, the hot vortex of his lips fastened over her clitoris. He sucked, stroked, swirled. So much intense sensation, her brain couldn’t process it all. She fell to pieces, delicious explosions that went on and on, and he watched it happen, hot-eyed and pleased with himself. His gaze made her feel so vulnerable. The hot quivering began to shake her face, her chest.
Sean didn’t seem turned off by her weeping. On the contrary, when she opened her eyes and dashed away the blur, she found him straddling her, his penis hot and hard against her belly. Waiting.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can’t seem to stop.”
“It’s OK,” he said. “Lots of girls cry when they come.”
That infuriated her. She tried to shove him off, but he leaned forward, pinning her to the bed. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Lots of girls, huh? Have you had so many that you can run your own personal statistical analyses?”
“Why should that bother you? I’m just a convenient piece of meat for you, right? What difference does it make how many girls I’ve had?”
She shoved at his hard chest. “It bugs me to be lumped into a category. There’s the umbrella group, Girls Sean Has Screwed, and there’s subsets, like Group F-12b, Girls Who Cry When They Come. Just slot me in, file me with the rest of the teeming masses. Get off me!”
“I thought you wanted to keep this emotionally uninvolved.”
“I guess I suck at that,” she said. “Surprise, surprise. Get off.”
Sean rolled off, and she struggled into a sitting position, pulling her robe around herself. “Time out,” she said. “This isn’t working. It’s making me feel worse, not better. I can’t afford to feel any worse.”
“Not working?” He looked incredulous. “You came like crazy.”
“It’s more complicated than that.” She jumped off the bed, belted the robe. “I’m sorry to leave you high and dry, but I—”
“Oh, you won’t, babe. Forget it. I’m not going anywhere.” He spun her around and pushed her up against the wall. “Not now.”
She stared into his eyes. The peonies on the wallpaper pulsed in her peripheral vision like a fever dream. Her pulse pounded. She was terrified, aroused, furious. He jerked the robe open, cupped her breast, fingers tracing shivering circles around the under-curve. He bent down, took her nipple in his mouth, his tongue a hot rasp of need.
He cupped her face, smoothing away her sweat-dampened hair. “I would never hurt you. You know that, don’t you?”
She thought of all those nights spent sobbing until dawn. All those years of useless therapy. “I cannot believe you have the nerve to say that to me,” she hissed. “You have no clue, do you? You idiot—”
He cut off her words with a frantic kiss, but the aggression melted down into ravenous sweetness, and the kiss went wild, tongues seeking, limbs twining. They wanted to punish each other, devour each other.
He pulled his mouth away. “Too late to blow me off,” he said. “We passed that point of no return, oh, maybe three orgasms ago?”
“Don’t muscle me around, you ape!”
“Or what? You’ll call Mommy and Daddy, or Blair the Ass-wipe Madden to save you? I’d like to see you explain why you’re stark naked and cherry red and slippery with lube all the way to your knees.”
“Goddamn you, Sean—”
“How about if I just slide down here—” he did so, dragging wet, hungry kisses down over her breasts, her belly, “to my knees and lick some more of that sweet pussy juice off of the royal clit.”
Liv struggled, but he held her hips and pressed his face against her mound, his long tongue squirming its way into the divide of her sex, fluttering skillfully. “Stop,” she begged. “I can’t take any more.”
He lifted his face away. “And when you’ve had enough orgasms, you’ll already be in the perfect position to kick me in the face.”
She wrenched out of his grip, and pitched off balance with her own frantic momentum. Sean lunged to steady her. They careened against the dresser, and caught the cord of the lamp. It clattered to the floor along with them. They landed on her soft, fuzzy pink hooked rug.
She was pinned beneath his big, hot weight. He was so steely hard, heavy and huge, vibrating with emotion. “Aw, shit. You OK?” he asked breathlessly. “Did you hurt yourself?”
She shoved at his chest. “You weigh a ton, and you’re squishing me into jelly, and you’re a rude, horrible jerk, but other than that, no.”
He lifted himself off her rib cage, still keeping her trapped beneath him, and grabbed a pillow that had tumbled off the bed in the tussle. He tucked it behind her head, and scooped her hair, spreading it out over the pillow. Kissed her face, her forehead, her cheeks, her throat.
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” he whispered. “Really. Ever.”
Then why did you do it? The question echoed between them.
He groped for his jeans and plucked a condom out of the pocket. He ripped it open with his teeth and rolled it on himself with careless expertise. She felt like a virgin sacrifice, splayed out wide on a silk draped altar. Offered up to a sensual, merciless demigod.
She couldn’t breathe, she was trembling so hard. He pressed against her, and she gasped at the electric shock of contact. He swirled himself around, caressing her folds. She squirmed towards him, biting her lip to muffle the eager, sobbing sounds she made.
He pressed deeper, staring into her eyes as he bore down. Oh. Whoa. Yikes. He was huge inside her. Her nails dug deep into his arms.
Rap, rap, rap. “Livvy? Honey?” It was her mother’s sharp voice. “We heard noises. Is everything all right?” Rap, rap, rap. “Livvy?”
Sean went motionless. His body began to vibrate with laughter.
He pressed his face against her throat. “Yeah, Livvy.” His tiny, taunting whisper tickled her ear. “Are you all right?”
She shook with laughter. It was the ultimate moment of no return. And she had to get herself under control, or the choice would be taken out of her hands. In the worst possible way.
“Livvy?” Rap, rap. Her mother’s voice rose in pitch.
She tried to coordinate her trembling vocal cords. “Ah, no, Mother, I’m fine,” she called. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you. I was moving my suitcase, and I knocked over a lamp. Sorry I scared you. Good night.”
“I heard you talking to someone,” her mother said suspiciously.
“Yes. I was, ah, talking to Alison on my cell phone.”
“Ah. Can I come in? I want to talk.”
Liv’s fingernails dug into Sean’s shoulders. “Um…I’m indecent, Mother. I was about to step into the shower. Can it wait?”
Her mother made an irritated noise. “Oh, I suppose. Set your clock for five AM. We’re interviewing bodyguards tomorrow. Sleep well.”
“OK,” she said. “You, too.”
Her footsteps receded. Liv’s eyes were shut tight. Her teeth almost chattered. Sean’s lips teased her mouth open, touched the tip of his tongue to hers. Her hands skittered over his chest, feeling every dip and curve, the coarse rasp of hair, his nipples. The air felt heavy against her skin. She felt his heartbeat pulsing in the glow between her legs.
“Thank God,” he whispered. “Your waffling was driving me nuts.”
Her eyes popped open. “I was not waffling!”
“No?” Sean’s voice was a challenging whisper. “First I finger fuck you, then you lick my cock like a lollipop, then you sob in my arms, then I suck on your clit, then you tell me to fuck off and leave. Good thing we’re on the ground with my cock inside you. I was getting dizzy.”
She dragged in a sharp breath as he penetrated deeper. “I can’t believe you can be a smart-ass at a time like this. Oh. My. God.”
“Am I hurting you?” He went still, his body vibrating.
“Duh,” she muttered. “You’re enormous. It’s so typical. Like everything else, that would have to be ridiculous, too.”
His chest jerked with a burst of muffled laughter. “I don’t think anybody’s ever called my cock ridiculous before. He doesn’t mind, though. Not while he’s finally squeezing into that tight, juicy pink flower of a pussy after years of dreaming about it. Can I give you more?”
She nodded. He was sliding more easily now, oiled by her own body’s writhing eagerness. His weight shifted. Click, and she felt the pressure of light against her eyelids. “Open your eyes,” he said.
She did. The pink silk lamp lying on the floor cast a rosy pool of light. Sean grabbed a pillow off the bed and tucked it behind her.
She stared down, mesmerized. His thick, gleaming phallus slowly disappeared into her body. He arched over her, his sex-dampened pubic hair grinding against the darker thatch between her spread thighs. He was lodged so deep, rocking, swiveling. His eyes glittered.
She shut her eyes against their piercing intensity.
He cupped her head, his hands tightening in her hair. “I want you to see my cock going into you. I want you to remember every detail.”
She pulled against his hand, swatted his chest. “Let go of my hair. I don’t go for the grunting caveman act. Cut it out.”
“Oh, yeah,” he muttered. “Scold me while I fuck you. Put me in my place. I love that. Can’t get enough of it.”
She wound her fingers into the hair on his chest, and yanked it.
He sucked in a breath. “Fuck.” He pinned her hands to the pillow on either side of her head. “Goddamn, princess. That was dirt mean.”
She stared into his eyes. “You started it,” she said. “You deserved it. Provoking me on purpose. You arrogant bully.”
They stared at each other, panting. Afraid of the wild energy, the momentum of desire. Each challenging the other. Unable to back down.
Liv hooked her ankles around his and pressed against him. Clenching around that solid club of his flesh embedded deep inside her.
He let go of her hands and gathered her up beneath him, slamming into her body. Her breasts jiggled with each jarring thrust. She strained beneath him, arching, jerking to meet every frenzied lunge with one of her own. It was amazing. It hurt, and she didn’t care. She incited him, demanded more, with teeth and nails and gasping cries.
At some point they were on their sides, then on Sean’s back with her on top, then he rolled her back beneath him. The position didn’t matter. Nothing could break that wild rhythm, or slow the hard, slapping blows of flesh against flesh. The pink carpet worked its way across the floor beneath their grappling bodies. They clutched each other. A shock wave of pleasure teased, beckoned…and hit.
She spun, soared through the spangled darkness. Settled slowly, conscious only of shimmering delight that rippled endlessly, spreading from the center of her soul. Extending out into a starry black forever.