Let It Ride (9 page)

He cupped her head and took her mouth in a long drugging kiss, only pulling back when she was standing on tiptoe, her fingers digging into his shoulders. His erection stirred against the tails of his shirt. “Or one of us might not be as eager as the other one.”

“Don’t underestimate me, Deacon,” she said. Then slid her hands down his back and under his loose shirt. Her nails raked his buttocks.

“After watching you play pool, I doubt I will again.” He dropped his cue and folded her into his arms. Leaning into his body, she nestled the center of herself against his arousal. Bending, he nipped at her collarbone.

“Stop stalling, angel.”

“If you insist.”

Backing a few steps away from him, she slowly unbuttoned the dress, revealing the curves of her breasts cupped in an ice-blue bra of sheer fabric. Her nipples beaded against the fabric. She stopped unbuttoning when she reached her waist and shrugged out of the bodice. Then she let the garment fall to the floor to pool at her feet.

She still wore her modest heels, but otherwise her body was clad in only the matching panty and bra. He hardened more. He felt so full he thought he might not need to be inside her body to come.

He picked up his cue. Though he wanted to pick her up and put her on the table. “Next I’ll take your panties.”

“Are you sure you don’t want the bra?” she asked, cupping her breasts and rubbing her fingers over the distended nipples.

“I want it. Just not yet.”

He closed his eyes, trying to banish Kylie from his mind for a minute. But it was hard. He wanted her. And this teasing game that he’d intended to ease them into lovemaking was more torture than fun.

He opened his eyes and found her watching him. He lifted her by the waist and put her on the table in front of him. Bending, he took her nipple in his mouth, sucking fiercely on it until he felt her hands in his hair. She molded them to his head and kept him close.

He slipped his hands over her back, releasing the clasp of her bra, and then used his teeth to peel the fabric away from the creamy curves of her breasts.

“I wanted to do this at the pool.”

She trembled under his hands. She unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders. He stood before her totally naked. Aware of her eyes on him, he flexed his muscles and stood still until she’d looked her fill.

She reached between them and ran her hands over his chest. Lingering on his nipples, scraping her nails over them, she then followed the tapering line of hair down his stomach to his groin. She took him in her hand, caressing his length with both of her hands.

Reaching between his legs, she cupped him. His breath hissed in through his teeth. He couldn’t wait much longer. “Take off your panties.”

She nodded. He bent and took a condom out of his pants pocket and quickly donned it. “I can’t wait this time.”

“Good.” She hopped back onto the side of the pool table, leaning back on her elbows. She spread her legs and tilted her head to the side.

She looked so tempting, lying there waiting for him. He put his hands on her thighs, holding her legs apart while he lowered his head and kissed her center. She moaned his name. And her hands were once again holding his head.

Reaching up, he plucked at her nipples with both hands. She was twisting under him, her center dewy and sweet with cream. Her hips lifted toward him, and he licked and nipped at her until she was on the verge of climax. One more taste pushed her over the edge. The sounds she made as she came echoed in the room.

He lifted his head and looked down at this woman who was going to be his for the rest of his life and slid into her. She was tight, and despite her wetness, he had to pause to let her adjust to his width before sliding all the way home. She wrapped her legs high around his waist and he slid even farther into her. He lowered his mouth to her breast and put his hands under her hips, lifting her into each of his thrusts.

She tightened around him. Her hands roamed down his back. They were touching everywhere. He nibbled his way up to her neck and suckled at a pulse point. He kept his thrusting strong, growing in momentum until he heard that catch in the back of her throat that signaled her orgasm.

The base of his spine tingled and he knew that his was just a breath away. He lifted his head and watched her face as her climax broke over her. Then he gripped her hips and thrust into her one more time, emptying himself with a force that made his knees buckle.

Deacon lifted her in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. Kylie tried not to cling too tightly to his shoulders, but the impulse was there. She wanted to wrap herself around him and hold him to her forever.

It scared her, feeling this intensely about a man she’d just met. But at the same time it was new and exciting and more than she’d ever imagined she could feel. Especially for a man like Deacon, who didn’t show her very much of himself.

“You okay?” he asked, his voice gruff.

She lifted her gaze to his and took a deep breath. Okay? She doubted she’d ever be okay again. But she nodded. “Yes.”

He set her in the middle of his bed, which was covered in a dark blue duvet. The blinds were closed, keeping out the sun. The room was light but still had shadows—which Kylie found comfortable because she wanted to hide from Deacon. She didn’t want him to know or even suspect that her feelings for him were deepening by the hour.

He was someone used to gambling and living life on the roll of a dice. She was the opposite. She was used to routine. Used to calm steady waters, not waves, through which to move through life.

He lay down next to her on the bed and pulled her into his arms. She curved herself around him. Resting one thigh on top of his and putting her head on his chest, right over his heart.

She could hear it beating, the sound steady and solid and very reassuring. His hands moved up and down her back, and she knew from the tenor of the embrace he meant for it to be comforting.

And it was. But it was also very arousing. She’d never made love during the day before. She’d never been with a man, who even though he had work to do, would stop and dedicate the day to her. And in essence that’s what Deacon had done.

Her stomach growled indelicately.

Deacon chuckled and put his knuckles under her chin, tilting her head back until she met his gaze. She saw a lightness there she seldom saw. And though she was embarrassed, she felt a little better.

“Ready for brunch?” he asked with a wicked arch of one brow. “Or perhaps I should say lunch, now.”

“I…yes. Sorry. I’m used to eating an early lunch.”

“Why?”

“Because at work we have to cover the phones, and I drew the first lunch break.”

“Do you like that?” he asked, propping himself up on his elbow. His free hand rested on her stomach and he looked down at her in that intense way of his she was coming to realize meant he was processing everything about her.

“What’s to like? It’s part of working.”

“I can go to lunch whenever I want,” he said with an expansive gesture that encompassed her and the bedroom.

“I haven’t seen you eat anything yet today,” she said. She wasn’t about to explain office politics to this man who owned a hotel/casino. It’d be nice if she was the senior person in her office and able to decide when she wanted to go to lunch, but she wasn’t. And she was working to pay off her house, so sometimes she had to do things she didn’t necessarily want to do.

“Who said lunch was all about food?” he said, caressing her from her neck to her waist with languid strokes of his broad hand. He came close to touching her breasts, but stopped just shy of them. At last, using a forefinger, he traced the flesh at the bottom of one breast.

An incredible sense of fullness, of voluptuousness filled her. She shifted her shoulders against the duvet and tried with such movement to direct him where she wanted his touch.

She glanced up and realized he’d said something and was waiting for a response. Something about lunch and food? She didn’t really care. She wanted him to make love to her again.

“What did you say?” she asked. She traced one finger down the center of his chest, following the patterns in the hair there. She loved the strength of him, but also the differences between the two of them. The way he made her feel so soft and feminine, just by being in the same room with her.

“That lunch isn’t necessarily all about food,” he repeated as she tiptoed her fingers closer to his groin.

“Oh,” was all she said. She sat up to better see his body. Pushing on his shoulder, she urged him onto his back. She didn’t kid herself that she’d manipulated him to where she wanted him. Deacon had lain back because he wanted to. Whether because he was indulging her or because he craved more of her touch she didn’t know.

She shifted to her knees and touched his entire body this time, starting at the top of his dark hair and stroking every inch of his flesh. Then she followed the same path with her lips and tongue. She did this twice, avoiding his groin completely the first time, just trailing her fingers over his body. And then the second time Kylie let her breath caress him.

He’d hardened even more than before. She lowered her head to drop a kiss on the tip of his erection. He held himself tense under her mouth and the hands that rested on his thighs.

She glanced up his body, some of her curls dropping to caress his length. “Like this?”

“Hell, yes,” he said.

She turned back to him and took him into her mouth. He moaned her name when she reached between his legs to cup him intimately. She continued to suck at him until his hips left the bed and his hands bracketed her head. Then he pulled her up the length of his body.

Using his hands on her thighs, he positioned her on top of him. The feel of his erection against her flesh was a pleasure in itself—but reminded her they were close to having unprotected sex.

“Condom?” she said.

His hands were on her breasts, plucking at her nipples. His erection was nudging closer and closer to her center. And she was tempted to say the hell with it.

“Nightstand. Top drawer,” he said.

She scooted up his body and leaned over to open the drawer and remove the box. She felt his breath on her nipple seconds before his lips closed around it. She almost dropped the box of condoms when he started suckling her. But she ached deep inside and she wanted Deacon now.

She wanted to reaffirm the bonds they’d forged in his living room. She wanted to reaffirm the bonds that her heart had started to make around his. She wanted to reaffirm that this man was quickly becoming much more than a vacation fling.

He held her with one hand behind her shoulder blades and the other moving over her body, bringing every inch of her to tingling awareness.

He lifted his mouth from her. “Find them?”

“Yes.”

He took the box from her hands, opened a packet and reached between their bodies to sheathe himself. He did it quickly and efficiently and then glanced up to find her watching him.

He said nothing, only arched one eyebrow at her in question.

She only shrugged. No way was she going to say anything about how every action he made fascinated her.

He grasped her hips and arranged her over him, but didn’t move to penetrate her. She opened her eyes and found him watching her. Waiting.

“What are you waiting for?” she asked.

“You. Ride me, angel.”

She balanced herself with her hands on his shoulders, then slowly lowered herself over him until he was fully inside her. She began to rock her hips. He sat up, wrapped his arms around her body and held her close, content to let her set the pace. And it wasn’t long before they were both shaking with their orgasms and clinging tightly to each other.

Deacon rolled them to their sides and held her close in the aftermath. Kylie closed her eyes, hoping to hide the truth of her emotions from him, but really wishing she could hide from the truth in her heart.

Eight

T
he next four days went by too quickly for Deacon. He wasn’t a man for wishing, but now he wished with all his heart that time would slow down. He knew that the end of Kylie’s vacation was approaching and that soon she would return to her old life. He also knew that he didn’t want this courtship to end. The courtship was the best of both worlds.

She’d refused to move into his suite, but denied him nothing of her body. If he wanted to make love to her, she welcomed him, but stubbornly refused to spend the entire night in his bed. And for some reason he wanted her there. It was all he thought about when they were apart. Mac had been by a couple of times to check on the status of their bet, and Deacon had smiled with confidence and said it was a piece of cake. But Kylie wasn’t as easy to read or play as the roulette wheel or a hand of cards.

He broke out in a sweat every time he thought about asking her to marry him. Every time he imagined her answer. Every time he watched her walk away from him.

He pushed those thoughts aside as he waited for Kylie on the roof helipad. He’d promised her an aerial tour of the area, including the Red Rock Canyon and Hoover Dam.

The door to the hotel opened, and Kylie came out onto the helipad, followed by Mandetti. Mandetti had said he needed a break from studying the casino operation and had volunteered to escort Kylie to the wax museum earlier that day because Deacon had been unable to break away from work.

Mandetti wasn’t like any gaming-commission officer Deacon had ever met before. He liked the older man. If his mom was in town, instead of on a cruise in Hawaii right now, Deacon would’ve introduced the two of them.

He crossed the tarmac and placed a lingering kiss on Kylie’s lips. The woman was becoming more important to him by the hour. And the fact that she fit his idea of wife didn’t seem to matter much.

He had a hard time remembering that he was trying to woo her with slow moves. His gut said to claim her. To lock her in his bedroom and make love to her until she couldn’t move. Until she forgot everything she’d known before him. Until she was his completely and none of this damned doubt remained.