Marine Ever After (Always a Marine) (5 page)

“You can. You just have to trust me with your pleasure. Now turn around for me, Lily.”

Another hesitation, but she pivoted obediently. Paul let out a breath. Her ass was finer in the white silky bikini briefs than in her dress. Round and sweet. He liked a woman with curves.

“Take off your bra.” He itched to get his hands on her, but pacing was important.

She started to turn toward him, and reached to unclasp the strapless number.

“I didn’t tell you to turn,” he reminded, and she paused. Peeling away one layer of her protection at a time. He wanted the woman beneath the shield. The one who peeked at him whenever she turned sassy.

The bra slipped away and he nodded with approval, not that she would see. “Now the panties.”

Another moment of hesitation and she unclipped the garter belt. He sucked in a deep breath, but the oxygen didn’t help when she slid her thumbs into the waistband and pushed her panties down with erotic slowness. His cock pulsed as her bare ass came into view.

Yes, tonight will likely kill me. But damn, what a way to go
….

Chapter Four

Lillianna’s body sizzled with anticipation.
I can’t believe I agreed to this
. She faced down strung-out addicts, cut up felons, upset family members, and arrogant doctors on a daily basis, but none of them turned her inside out the way Paul did. He had her strip off her panties, and since he hadn’t said anything about the garter, she clipped them back in place. Heart hammering, she stared at the wall, naked save for her thigh-high hose.

Cool air brushed against her too-hot skin. She wanted to turn around, but he hadn’t given her permission yet.
Permission? I didn’t ask for permission?
Mouth dry, she tried to slow the hard pants of breath. How long would he make her stand there?

A shudder rocketed along her spine. She had to get her reactions under control. The man hadn’t even touched her yet. Wetness pooled between her thighs and her sex clenched as though he already thrust into her. It took considerable effort to keep standing, to not turn and glance over her shoulder.

What is he doing?

“You’re beautiful.” His sexy voice came from right next to her, startling her from the thoughts chasing themselves around in circles. He stood so close, the warmth of him like a physical caress. “Do you like to be touched?”

Holy crap
. Two sentences dissolved her into a puddle. Forgetting how to speak for a moment, she wanted to wrap around him like he was a stripper pole.

“Lillianna.” His voice deepened with command.

Oh hell, I’m supposed to answer
. It took her a moment to remember the question. “Yes.”
Yes, I like to be touched. Please stop making me stand here before I embarrass myself
.

He nuzzled her neck. The feather-light brush of his lips teased her flesh with soft, puffs of air. Wildfire raced in her blood. Her nipples hardened further, almost painfully and her breath clogged in her throat. She tumbled right over the cliff from anticipation into pure lust.

Paul gathered her hair up, lifting it away from her neck and trailing a path of more feathery, torturous kisses from one side to the other. Every moment his mouth spent on her skin seemed to wind up the desire in her belly. Sensual, irresistible and she ached to touch him.

Raising her hand, she gave in to the urge and whimpered when he stopped kissing her neck.

“No. I didn’t give you permission to do that.”

Frustration fisted in her chest. Dropping her arm, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. What was it about him that turned her inside out? If she hadn’t agreed to play obediently, they’d already be naked on the bed—she’d have what she wanted. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them back.

“Oh, baby, it’s okay.” He rubbed her back. The light friction created a whole new wave of awareness. “It’s hard, takes time to adjust and I understand. Do you need a moment?”

A moment?
She almost growled. What…to stand there and not have him touching her? Oh, hell no. “No.” She was proud of the fact that her voice didn’t quiver or shake.

Releasing her hair, he began running his hands up and down her arms. He leaned into her, the soft hair on his chest tickling her bare skin, his erection pressing against her ass. She didn’t care that the cotton of his briefs separated them. The hot length betrayed his arousal and increased her own. Her knees threatened to buckle.

Dear God, if this is my reaction, what happens when he lets me turn around
….

The constant massage of his palms on her flesh relaxed the fresh wave of tension so much it startled her when he stopped. He wrapped his arms around her, flattening his palms on her stomach and drew her back until his erection rubbed between her ass cheeks. Heat flushed her. Soaking wet need throbbed in her core.

“Feel a little better?” Why was that so sexy? She wiggled her hips and he exhaled a hard sigh. “No moving.”

Crap
. She hadn’t meant to break the rules.

But instead of taking his touch away, he slid a hand between her thighs, one finger drifting along the seam of her sex. “Answer.”

Leaning her head back on his shoulder, she stole a look at him from the corner of her eye. The firm, sensual line of his mouth curved ever so slightly. His jaw flexed as though he were fighting to maintain his own control. A giddy sense of power buoyed her.

He might be in charge, but he was hardly unaffected.

“Lillianna.” He said her name like a caress. “Feeling a little better?” He punctuated the question by gliding a finger right around her clit. Heat rushed upward, blooming like a mushroom cloud set off by a nuclear detonation.

“Yes,” she moaned. A single teasing brush was all he gave her, and she wanted to cry out at the loss. She must have made some sound, because he rubbed her stomach in slow circles.

How could it make her hotter and soothe her at the same time? Hardly able to keep her legs beneath her, she needed his support to stay on her feet. He pressed a kiss to her jaw, and trailed his tongue along the line of her face to her ear, a light, almost intangible brush, before he sucked her earlobe and set off another series of quakes shocking her sensitive system.

“I’m going to let you go in a minute,” he murmured, low and husky. “And you’re going to walk over and lay on the bed.”

No, dammit
. She didn’t want him to let her go. Every caress seemed to rev her up and then he’d retreat. Unbearable tension stretched through her. Closing her eyes, she inhaled a deep breath and tried to bring her raging hormones under control. Paul shifted against her back and swept his hand from her stomach to her breast, cupping it and destroying the fragile will she’d managed to gather together.

Another moan broke free before she could bite down on it.

“Shhh,” he murmured again, catching her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. The barest amount of pressure sent shudder after shudder rippling over her. “I like to hear your pleasure. You can moan or cry out all you want.”

Oh, thank God
.

He massaged both breasts, alternating between the whisper-light caresses and squeezing her nipples. She couldn’t find the rhythm of his actions, every touch a pure assault on her senses.

He let her go and she stood, dazed.

“Go to the bed, Lillianna,” he ordered. She complied, not proud of the near stagger in her step. At the bed, she hesitated. Did he want her to lie on her back? On her stomach? Sit?

Helpless, she looked at him and he smiled. The wild heat inside of her turned up another few degrees and her heart squeezed.

“On your back, baby. Sit down and slide back until you’re comfortable.”

Staring at him scrambled her brains. Nothing spare on the man, he moved with purpose. So gorgeous, as well as funny, intelligent, and self-deprecating. Lust wound a blazing path in her bloodstream. Instead of following her, he watched with hooded eyes as she arranged herself on the bed.

She needed to be touched, held, and discover the pleasure he promised her with every brush of his skin on hers—hell, even the way his gaze roved over her. Settling on the pillows, she tried not to shiver at the cool friction of the comforter on her skin.

Sliding one knee up, she braced her foot flat against the bed and left the other leg out—a wanton position that displayed her assets for him. But she wanted him to see—wanted him to know what he did to her.

“Comfortable?” he asked in the slow, patient way he used.

“Yes,” she breathed. She couldn’t wait to see what he did next.

Paul drank in the sight of her, taking time to gather his fraying control back in place. Discipline and a desire to make the experience amazing for her was all that kept his cock in his briefs. She’d splayed herself on the bed perfectly; sweet, sinful perfection. Her uncertainty and the hesitation were both gone. He’d found the woman he caught glimpses of throughout dinner and dancing—the woman who peeked out from behind the carefully placed shields segregating her from danger and disaster—physical or emotional.

Beautiful
. Canting his head to the side, he studied her and waited. He didn’t want her confidence to waver, but he also didn’t want to rush the moment. It was a careful balance to strike and she had every reason to feel confident in her sexuality. Arousal brightened her eyes and in the low light of the bedroom, they looked like liquid gold.

The urge to possess her roused a sleeping bear within him. He enjoyed his part of the lifestyle, but he rarely found a submissive who enjoyed surrender without toys or pain. He understood the need and desire for such experiences; he’d dabbled in them, but found only real satisfaction in the exchange of power, in the absolute control when a woman surrendered.

He’d never found the perfect woman before, though.

Uncertainty flickered in her eyes and he approached slowly, stripping his briefs off in one, swift motion. Circling the bed, he checked the nightstand—condoms. It paid to be prepared. Not that he’d planned for the exquisite opportunity she gave him. He hadn’t even known Lily seven hours ago.

“Would you like me to tell you what I want to do?” He enjoyed the way her emotions played across her face. She didn’t hide anything from him, wore no carefully constructed professional or congenial mask. Hesitation gave way to relief, and when her attention dropped to his cock, it stroked him as intimately as if her hand cupped him. His right eyelid twitched.

A smile curved her sensuous mouth and satisfaction warmed his chest. She liked what she saw.
Good
.

“Yes.” She didn’t whisper and there was nothing docile in her gaze when she looked up at him.

He sat only when certain he wouldn’t roll over and explore her damp depths he’d only fingered before. The urge to trail his mouth across her for a taste, to swirl her clit with his tongue and draw it hard until she screamed with the need for release pounded in his brain.
Not yet
.

“I want to begin here.” He drifted a caress along her upright thigh, just a fleeting caress, a tease for him as much as for her. She shivered and goose bumps rose in the wake of his touch. “I want to touch every inch of your skin. I want to know what you like, what you don’t. I want to see need play across your face, I want to hear your breath catch.”

With two fingers, he traced over her knee, feathering lighter strokes to the inside of her leg. “I will explore everything. And then we’ll move up….” Mirroring his words with his touch, he deliberately pressed his palm to her sex, flattening the heel of his hand above her clit. “Except here. We play here last.”

The words came out hoarser than he intended, the urge to thrust a finger into her, to test how ready she was—would be surrendering to her. No, she wanted that and he saw it in her face, in the way her mouth formed an O, and the not-so-subtle arch of her hips.

“Bad Lily,” he chided, bottling his amusement. He could hardly be upset at her eagerness when a similar level of excitement pushed him to move faster. Defiance flared in her eyes and the tilt of her chin. “Keep it up and I won’t put my tongue right here.” He grazed her clit with his thumb, enjoying her throaty sigh and shudder. “Understand?” He brushed her clit twice more

“Magnificent.” If only he could draw their play out, and wondered if it were possible to keep them both in the constant state of arousal for hours, or if his brain would pop from the pressure. Moving on, he explored a path over her abdomen and eased farther onto the bed until he captured each of her breasts, shaping them and teasing the swollen, dusky nipples. She sucked in a breath each time he flicked the hard tips. Some women found the tap as erotic as a roll or a pinch.

“You definitely like this.” His Lily seemed to enjoy both. Her squirming became harder for him to contain and she fisted the covers in her hands.

She groaned. “Yes.” It hadn’t been a question, but she answered it anyway.

Taking pity on her or maybe himself, he licked a nipple, careful to watch her face. She closed her eyes and arched, offering the breast to him. Taking the tip into his mouth, he sucked gently, then with a harder tug. They stiffened further.

So fucking responsive
….

Her skin was like velvet, tasted like peaches and the rich rosy musk of her arousal filled his nostrils. His control wavered and he wanted to cross his eyes with the bliss of wanting her. Leaving the first nipple, he treated the second to similar attention and slid his hand over her hip. Cupping her sex, he wanted to moan.

She’d been damp before, but she soaked his palm and gave a little jump as he pressed in with one finger. So much virgin territory to explore with her, and he was as randy as a floater on his first liberty after a hella-long cruise.

Fuck it
…. He thrust his fingers in gentle rhythm, paying attention to the moments when she gasped and when her hips stiffened, or her stomach tensed. As the pauses between pants shortened, he abandoned her breasts altogether and positioned himself between her legs.