At least she’d always come. A lot of times she’d had to take care of that for herself, but for an overall selfish man, Graydon had stepped up to the plate his fair share. It still bothered her that they’d stayed together for so long, for all the wrong reasons. Thank goodness he’d found another heiress, someone who matched his family’s net worth. They had broken up with a handshake and no regrets. Well, he’d had none. She’d felt as if she’d wasted the only good years she ever had. So soon after college she’d turned recluse, and that had been the end of a traditional sex life for her. But she was quite certain that being alone was far better than being with someone like Graydon. Of course, being with Michael was best of all.
She hoped.
The bed dipped with his return, and she cursed her bad luck for not watching him. She’d like to see him naked, all of him, standing in good light. She’d pictured him so many times; she wondered if she’d gotten any of it right.
He held up a box. “Condoms.”
“That makes sense, considering the clothes I found in the drawers.”
He got close, his body chilled from his brief foray out. It felt delicious as he pressed up against her. One thing for sure-the trip hadn’t dampened his enthusiasm one bit.
“You feel good,” he said, his fingers brushing her hair back from her face.
“So do you.”
“I’ve thought about this a lot,” he said. “Imagined this a hundred times.”
She raised her head, checking his face for lies. “Really?”
“Really.”
“I had no idea.”
“You weren’t meant to. It wouldn’t have been appropriate.”
She sighed as she settled against him, resting her head on his pillow. “I suppose all bets are off now.”
“Yep,” he said. “Until I’ve got you home, this is a whole new ball game. I want you to tell me if anything is uncomfortable or frightening. Aside from the obvious, of course.”
“I will.”
He touched her chin and made eye contact. “Anything. That means you get to say stop anytime. You can change your mind, and it’ll be just fine. Got that?”
She nodded.
“Seriously.”
“Michael?”
“Yeah?”
“I appreciate it, but I’m in.”
He studied her for a long moment. “Thank God.”
She laughed, but his kiss silenced her. Soon his hands were exploring all her private places, touching her with a fascinating mixture of reverence and greed.
Since she’d always been a fan of quid pro quo, she decided to throw caution to the wind and discover Michael to her heart’s content. She wasn’t satisfied simply to stroke his cock. She cupped his balls. Delighted at his response, she pinched his delectable ass.
“Hey!”
“Shh,” she said before she kissed him again, thrusting her tongue inside him. That quieted him down. Except for his moans, which did strange and wonderful things to her insides.
Nothing she’d felt prepared her, though, for the sensation of his fingers parting her lips, rubbing her all the way up and down, then sliding into her once, twice. Her muscles tightened and her heart beat faster, but there was no panic now. Nothing but excitement and anticipation as his finger found her clit.
He was tender there, the tip of his finger moving in tiny circles, but it still made her eyelids flutter closed, made her abandon his mouth for her own soft, “Oh.”
“You like that?” he whispered.
“Mmm,” she mumbled, moving her hips to the rhythm of his rubbing.
“You’re so wet and hot.” He plunged into her again, this time not so gently.
She eased her left leg over his hip, giving him permission to plunder away.
“You’re making me crazy.”
She smiled. “Me? I’m not the one with the wicked fingers.”
“I was going to ask you about that,” he said. “I’ve always imagined you being very, very wicked.”
“Me?”
“Oh, yes. Don’t forget, I know what you read. What you think is funny. You’re not normal, Tate.”
“What?”
“I said you’re not normal.”
“I don’t know…” she said. “Should I be insulted?”
“God, no. I love that on the outside you’re so prim and together. They all think you’re sweet, don’t they? They all assume you live so quietly because you’re just a good girl who does what she’s supposed to.”
“I am.”
“Yes. But I was there for the discussion of The Story of O, remember? I know exactly how you felt about that one scene in The Big Easy. You may have been on the phone with Sara, but you were talking to me.”
“Oh, God,” she said, burying her head in the pillow so he couldn’t see her blush. “Was I that obvious?”
“I can’t hear you when you mumble into the pillow.”
She lifted her head and repeated the question.
“Yes. You were.”
She groaned, and this time it wasn’t from his busy digits.
“Hey, I liked it.”
She shook her head, not wanting to hear his excuses. She knew he was just being polite, and that killed her.
He leaned down so his mouth was close to her ear. “I used to go home and stroke myself to the memory of your voice.”
A shiver raced down her spine, and she ended up squeezing his finger quite tightly.
“See? You do like to tease. And you can’t tell me you didn’t know the effect it had on me. There were all those times when I stood behind the limo door after letting you out. I can’t believe you didn’t know why.”
Looking up once more, she tried to figure out if he was playing her. Was it all just a way to make her forget that she probably wasn’t going to live to have sex again? He looked sincere, but that didn’t mean a thing. The only real proof she had-if she could call it that-was his very hard dick. Of course, he might be getting off for any number of reasons, only one of them being that he truly wanted her.
“What are you thinking?”
“That this could all be some ploy to distract me.”
“It’s not. But if it was…?”
She smiled. “Good point. Distract away.”
His fingers stilled, his body tensed and the way he looked at her gave her gooseflesh. “Know this, Tate Baxter. I think you’re an amazing woman and I’d never do anything to hurt you. Got that?”
She blinked back sudden tears, but he didn’t see because he was kissing her again. When he pushed her to her back, she went eagerly, spreading her legs for him. It had been a long time, but she was so ready that when he pushed inside her, she nearly passed out from the pleasure.
While he was in her, fully in her, he somehow lifted her butt and shoved a pillow underneath. So when he moved the next time, he not only filled her perfectly but he rubbed her already engorged clit.
She’d read about this neat little trick but always assumed it was fiction. Boy, was she glad to be wrong.
It was her last coherent thought as Michael proceeded to rock not just her world but all the worlds in the galaxy. She came like a Roman candle, and he had to kiss her so she wouldn’t wake everyone on the East Coast.
Flushed, gasping, eyes closed, she felt him remove the pillow from under her butt, then pull the covers up to her chest. She wasn’t sure if his gentle kiss on the forehead was real or a dream or both.
HE GOT OUT OF THE bed and went straight for the bathroom so his moaning wouldn’t wake her.
He pulled off the damn rubber, then turned on the cold water, whispering every curse in every language he knew. He’d held off before, but damn, it had never hurt like this. He was getting old, that’s all. Old and unable to control himself as well.
It seemed to take forever for his dick to calm the hell down, and even then getting dressed made him swear again. He’d done his job, all right. She’d fallen asleep, as predicted. Now all he had to do was make sure she didn’t wake up in the middle of his escape.