Cherished (30 page)

At the restaurant, she held his arm and let him do the door opening and the chair pulling out. He knew she didn’t need it, but he wanted to and she allowed it because of that. The pleasure of that knowledge warmed him.

She mixed his wasabi and soy carefully, looking up to catch his eye to be sure it was the mixture he preferred. He watched her hungrily and wondered what she’d look like totally naked. When his beer arrived, she poured it for him.

He hadn’t been waited on like this. Ever. Not in this personal way she did. Sure, he’d had waiters pour his beer and serve his food, but this was Daisy, taking care of Levi, and it got to him. Got to him like so many other things about Daisy Huerta and he couldn’t seem to stop thinking of her. And how she was different.

Which was stupid. Because she
was
different, different enough that she was totally off the menu when it came to anything long lasting. It wasn’t like he could bring her home to his parents. A twenty-four-year-old artist with tattoos and all that in-your-face, lush beauty. His mother would be unfailingly polite to her and when she saw him next she’d cut him to shreds with his responsibility and his future and how wholly unsuitable a girl like Daisy was for a man like him.

He shouldn’t be there with her at all. But he was. And he had no plans at all to change that.

“How was your weekend?” His fingers brushed hers as he took the glass and then sipped.

“Lovely, thank you. Worked and hung out with my friends Saturday. Yesterday my friend announced her wedding date at long last over dinner. Yours?”

He sighed and she laughed.

“That bad?”

“Family drama.” He shrugged. “Not as fun as being with friends and hearing wedding dates.”

He was very stingy with his life, she noted. It annoyed her.

“The rest of your family lives in Seattle?”

“Mainly. One of my brothers is in Kirkland, another is in Redmond. The rest live in Seattle. What about you?”

“My entire family lives on Bainbridge. I’m spoiled to have them all so close. Why did you decide to be a lawyer?”

“Why did you decide to be an artist?”

“Do you always answer questions with questions?” She paused when the first plates began to arrive. She grinned when she noticed they’d given her an extra plate of yellowtail nigiri. Her favorite. She winked at the server in thanks. He blushed.

“Do you know that guy?”

“I worked here for two years. On weekends usually. They know my favorites.” She shrugged.

“You know a lot of people.”

She laughed and popped one of the nigiri into her mouth, pausing to enjoy it. “I do. I imagine you do as well.” Only she doubted they were servers at restaurants and dance instructors. “I promise to answer any of your questions totally honestly, if you answer some of mine. Really it’s quid pro quo.”

A half smile touched his lips and,
man
, she wanted to see him naked.

“Why did you decide to be an artist?”

“I grew up not really knowing it was so unusual to be an artist. My grandmother has been a painter for as long as I can remember. I watched her do it. Make it work. Have a career in art. So I never had those oh-it-can’t-happen moments. They had lean years of course. But she kept on. So when I started making papier-mâché she got excited about it and they—she and my grandfather—displayed my little boxes in the gallery. And they sold.” She laughed at the memory. “Anyway, I like to create. I’m an artist because I like making things.”

He sipped his beer before speaking. “I decided to be a lawyer because my father is one. I saw him argue a case. I must have been eleven or so. I remember seeing him in a totally different light after that. He was so self-assured and clever. I wanted to be that. Wanted to change things with my brain and words. Two of my brothers are architects, but I hate math. Don’t tell my mother that.” He smiled and she relaxed. His demeanor warmed as he opened up to her. “After that day I made a plan and I stuck to it.”

She bet. The man sitting across from her wasn’t one who let life happen
to
him in any way. “Of course you did. I like that. You’re very ambitious. And this is your family business? The law firm?”

He nodded. “Me, my father, my older brother and my uncle and a few cousins.”

“It’s sort of fun working in the family shop.”

He laughed. “Yes, I suppose we both are, aren’t we?”

What she really wanted to know is how he was forty and unmarried. But she didn’t want to ask right then. He’d probably think she was looking for a marriage proposal, though she just wanted to know him a little better.

So they ate and chatted about silly stuff until they were finished and it got suddenly a lot more serious at the car.

“Would you like to come over? Have a drink?”

She took a deep breath and nodded.

It wasn’t as if he’d never brought a woman back to his place, but this one, well, this one made him a little nervous.

She fit against his side perfectly as he walked with her up the stairs from the garage into the house and then she paused, sucking in a breath.

“This is breathtaking,” she murmured and broke away, wandering toward the wall of windows he so loved to stand and stare out.

She looked remarkably right there, the night silhouetted around her curves like a lover. The heels she wore were very high. Her back arched, showcasing her ass and legs that were surprisingly long for such a petite woman.

“You do realize your body is ridiculously beautiful, don’t you?” He took her coat and noted the pleasure on her face at the compliment.

He stepped away and hung her things before he turned music on, needing the buffer because with her it always felt so raw.

“I could play coy and pretend I don’t.” She shrugged a shoulder and turned to face him and then walking to where he stood, mesmerized by her. She slid her hands up his chest. “I’m not very good at coy though.” She tiptoed up to kiss his neck, just at the place below his ear. “I know what I want. I know who I am.”

“Good.” He hated coy. Hated women who danced around what they wanted.

His arm encircled her waist as he caught her hand in his on the other side and they began to sway. She leaned in, her cheek against his chest and melted against his body.

Here in the dark, in the private of his home, the lush sensuality of her body sharpened his hunger.

It was slow between them, not quite careful.

He buried his face at her neck, breathing her in, the softness of her hair against his cheek.

“It’s been some time since I slow danced. I’d forgotten how delicious it was,” he murmured as he kissed her jaw, over her closed eyes, her nose and then to her glorious mouth.

Desire beat at him. Urgent. Greedy. And he let it take over with a tug on her bottom lip between his teeth until she made a sound, low and deep. That response arced through him like electricity.

He gripped her upper arms firmly and it made her mindless. Shivers broke over her and her knees went rubbery.

She swallowed hard as his lips slid down her throat, licking and nipping the skin until she nearly shouted at him to do more.

“Are you with me?” He pulled away from her body enough to look into her face.

She nodded because words had escaped her.

“Thank God.” He bumped her, walking her backward until she hit a wall. He pressed his weight against her to hold her in place.

The way he handled her made her mindless to anything but him. His hands at her upper arms, his body against hers to keep her where he wanted. Whatever he did, it was so raw and delicious.

Before she’d even registered it, her dress was slipping from her shoulders and he’d bent his head to kiss over her collarbone. Her hands on his shoulders held him to her, but she also felt the fine tension there.

“Don’t hold back,” she whispered.

“I’m not sure I could even if I tried.”

“Oh now, that’s not true.” She licked her lips and watched the dress pool at her waist as his hands went to her bra, peeling the cups back with a groan.

He pinched her nipples, tugging and twisting the bar in each until her hips jutted forward all on their own. She was pretty sure she’d never been wetter or more ready for sex. Ever.

She may have said something; she sort of went away for a moment as he palmed her breasts and squeezed. Not hard enough
to hurt, but hard enough to bring that edge of pain. Hard enough to remind her he was there and he wanted her.

The edge of his teeth slid over her shoulder and she stuttered a breath and it seemed as if a warm weight settled over her system. It was so good, so right, all sorts of chemicals flying through her, rendering her slightly stoned.

Could it be so very easy for him to push her into sub space? The temptation to explore that with her was so overwhelming he had to close his eyes against it.

He’d told her he wasn’t sure he could hold back. But he could. And he had been for a long time. But he hadn’t exaggerated how much of a temptation she was.

“I want to see you in the light.”

Her gaze cleared and she nodded as he led her up the stairs and toward his bedroom. Her dress was still on halfway, exposing breasts that made him want to fall to his knees and praise.

Both nipples pierced. He exhaled at that memory.

“I’d like you to take your clothes off and sit on the bed, please.”

He’d been about to soften that once he got past his surprise that he’d said it. But she shivered and he realized she was totally on board with it. And then he couldn’t fight it anymore.

He leaned against the doorjamb and watched as she reached behind her body and unhooked her bra.

“When they’re covered by a bra and a dress they’re amazing. When they’re free they’re magnificent.” And holy shit they were. High and full, a metal bar in each nipple. His mouth watered to taste.

She smiled, not shy at all. And then she unzipped the rest of the dress and stepped from it.

Stockings.

Garter belt.

High heels.

Teeny panties.

The last time he’d seen a twenty-four-year-old naked, he’d been twenty-six or so. The experience was not overrated.

“On second thought,” he said as he pushed to stand and stalked toward her, “leave the stockings and heels on. Those panties…well, I’ll take care of them.”

“Should I sit?” Her usual saucy demeanor had softened, gone obedient.

Again he had to close his eyes a moment to get himself straight. It had been a very, very long time since he’d opened this part of himself to anyone else. “Yes.” He opened his eyes and settled his gaze on her. On the lush curves she sported.

She sat, as he’d told her to, and he got to his knees, spreading her thighs wide. Her skin was as soft as he’d imagined it to be. Her scent teased as he leaned in close, breathing over her cunt through her panties. The material was whisper thin; he could see the darkness of her labia, knew just beyond was a slick, hot world he planned to explore for as long as possible.

She whimpered, her fingers digging into the bedspread and when he pressed a kiss against her pussy she jumped a moment and then squirmed. Turning his head, he breathed a kiss over her inner thigh and then slid the panties down and off. She’d worn them over the belt like a smart girl.

“Are you going to get naked? Because I’d really, really like to see that.”

He kissed her thigh one last time and then spread her pussy open to his mouth. He took a long lick and sucked her clit between his lips, tickling the underside with the tip of his tongue.

“Yes.”

He drew circles around her gate with a fingertip, sliding it down to her asshole here and there, enough to keep her whimpering and gasping. Enough that he was glad he was still in his clothing because all he wanted was to get inside her cunt and fuck her.

But that could wait. He needed her orgasm first. Wanted her
to know who gave it to her, who she was there with. Then he could think straight and fuck her the way she deserved. He hoped.

“Your cunt tastes salty sweet.” He swirled his tongue through all that soft, wet flesh as she trembled.

He opened his eyes and found her looking down her body at him, her lids half mast, her eyes glossy, lips parted. There was no hesitation there, nothing but pleasure.

He continued to flick his tongue over her clit as he turned his wrist and slid two fingers deep.

Tight. Hot.

He knew he found the right place when she jumped and then rained honey all over his hand. He stroked that sweet spot and ate her cunt like it was meant to be eaten.

She must have let go of the bed because her fingers slid through his hair and then she tugged, pulling him closer, rocking her hips. Taking what she wanted. His cock throbbed angrily, approving mightily.

He hummed and she made another sound, a weeping sort of moan, and then she came, her back arched, pressing her pussy into his face as she pulled his hair and goddamn, he loved it.

Slightly dazed from climax, her inner muscles still jumping, Daisy watched him stand, his lips shiny from her pussy.

And then he flicked open a button on his shirt and snagged her attention again.

“Why don’t you undress me.” Not a question. Not a request.

But it didn’t need to be. She stood on slightly shaky legs and slid her palms up the fine cotton of the shirt until she got to the collar and began to unbutton.

His chest was broad. Hairy but not in a disgusting way. Threaded with gray here and there, which only made him a million times hotter.

She dragged her nails down that gorgeous, hard chest, over his nipples and rejoiced in his snarl of pleasure when she did.

Unable to resist, she leaned forward to take a taste, spreading the shirt open wide to lick over his left nipple and then his right. Left it seemed, got more of a response so she went back to flick her tongue over it and scrape her teeth against it as she pulled back.

He watched her, his expression inscrutable. She caught her lip between her teeth and walked behind him to remove the shirt and fold it carefully before placing it on the back of a nearby chair. His back was nearly as impressive as his front and called to her hands and lips as she paused to kiss and caress, sliding her palms around to his waist where she unbuckled his belt and pants, teasing with little touches of her fingertips and nails.