Savin' Me (17 page)

In an instant, she understood the appeal of
mirrors on the ceiling. It was incredibly arousing to watch as he
tugged on her tight nipples, kissed and laved the side of her neck,
and nibbled his way to her earlobe.

He ran his hands down her arms and quietly
said, “Wrap your hands around the outside of my thighs.” She did as
he said, and he tucked her fingers under his legs, effectively
trapping them.

Watching her reflection in the mirror, he
said, “You are so beautiful.”

He pushed her hair over one shoulder and
dropped gentle kisses along the side of her exposed neck, sending
chills racing down her spine, while she moaned and wiggled
restlessly on his lap, eager for more contact.

Grinning arrogantly, he teased, “What’s the
matter? A minute ago you enjoyed slow torture.”

“God, Erik, you’ve been torturing me for
days.” It didn’t matter if she was awake or asleep, thoughts of
being with Erik had kept her in a perpetual state of arousal. Last
night had been amazing, but it hadn’t satisfied her as much as left
her wanting more.

He moved his hand across the soft, smooth
flesh of her stomach and stopped short of the edge of her panties.
She lifted her hips, encouraging him to move lower, but he only
smiled and dropped both hands to her knees. While his fingers took
an agonizingly slow trip up her inner thighs, his tongue and mouth
worked their magic on the back of her neck and shoulders.

The two of them were polar opposites. She
felt the slow, steady cadence of his heartbeat against her bare
back, while her heart pounded erratically. His breathing was slow
and rhythmic, while she gasped for air. He seemed relaxed and in
total control, while she teetered on the verge of insanity. She
wiggled and writhed, trying to create the friction she needed, as
well as entice him to get naked and join her in the Land of
Lust.

“Relax,” he murmured, as his fingers stopped
their northerly route at the point where her thighs met the
epicenter of her universe. His hands were so close to her sex she
felt the heat radiating from them, yet he might as well have been a
million miles away for all the good it did.

Frustrated, she tugged, trying to free her
hands, which were held securely under his thighs, her arms pinned
against her sides. His chuckle sent warm, moist breath dancing down
her neck and fury rippling through her body. She growled in
frustration and tugged again.

“Relax and stop fighting me. Enjoy every
touch and sensation. What’s the rush?”

“Rush?” she sputtered, stunned into
stillness. “You call thirteen months rushing?”

He smiled and smoothed his knuckles across
her chest, then gathered her breast in his palm. He flicked the
nipple, causing her to arch her back and resume the wriggling.

“I’m gonna spend all night scratchin’ that
itch, baby. But not until you relax into me and let go.”

She had never been this aroused, or
frustrated, in her life. She clenched her teeth and snarled, “I
want to let go, but you won’t let me.”

“Look at how fuckin’ hot you are.”

All she saw in the mirror was a wild woman in
a frenzied state, desperate to get off and dangerous enough to kill
if he didn’t get with the program and make it happen pretty damned
fast.

Finally, with whisper-soft touches, he moved
his fingers across the sheer fabric at the front of her
panties.

She whimpered and thrust again, and when she
caught his wicked grin reflecting in the mirror, she resorted to
begging. “Erik, please.”

“Please what?” His fingers continued their
butterfly caresses, but refused to give her what she needed.

“Please make me come.”

“Don’t take your eyes off that mirror.”

She locked her gaze on the mirror and took a
few deep breaths. The throb was agonizing, but she forced herself
to relax into him.

“That’s my girl,” he whispered. With one arm
wrapped around her waist, acting as an anchor, he used his free
hand to fist the fabric triangle of her panties, turning it into a
thin, narrow band. He pulled the strip of fabric up and slid it
over her sensitive and throbbing clit.

That was all it took.

The orgasm that shot through her threatened
to rip her apart. She tried to keep her eyes open, to see herself
as Erik saw her, to watch the appreciation on his face as she came
undone in his arms, but it was too intense. She arched her back and
bit her lip as her entire body shuddered through wave after
wave.

He held her tightly to him, never letting go,
even when she was sure she’d splintered in two.

“You’re incredible,” he said, as she slowly
opened her eyes and regained a form of consciousness.

She would have laughed, but she didn’t have
the strength. “I haven’t done a damn thing except enjoy
myself.”

***

Erik swallowed hard and tried to scrub away
the feelings bursting to life in his emotional wasteland. Kat may
think she hadn’t done anything except enjoy an orgasm, but she was
wrong. Very wrong.

Something inside of him tore loose the moment
he kissed her and burst wide open with her orgasm. Of all the
lovers he’d had, none were as responsive and open as Kat. She gave
herself over to him completely, and there was something incredibly
special about that.

Scooping her up in his arms, he turned and
laid her on the bed, situating her ass at the very edge. He pulled
her bra over her head, slid her panties off, and knelt between her
splayed thighs. He felt like a starving man on the verge of
death.

As he suckled her still-sensitive clit, Kat
cried out and grabbed the sides of his head. “Erik, please.”

He looked at her through half-mast lids.
“Please what?”

“I don’t know,” she said, half sobbing, half
laughing.

He rubbed his cheek and chin across the
sensitive flesh of her inner thigh, then smoothed the abrasion with
his tongue. “You’re like an ice cream cone,” he said, nipping and
sucking gently on her inner thigh.

Her glazed gaze caught his and her breath
hitched as he nipped her thigh again. “I’m what?”

“Like an ice cream cone.” His teeth closed
over the tender flesh at the apex of her thigh. “A little nibble
here.” He swirled his tongue in a circular motion. “A lick around
the edge of the cone. A suck here. Smooth and creamy and sweet to
eat.”

He slid his hands under her ass and lifted
her off the bed, which gave him complete access to her sweet cream.
He ran his tongue up the length of her slit, savoring her as if she
were his own personal treat, existing simply for his indulgence.
She gasped and groaned and thrust her hips as he nibbled, licked,
and stroked, and in a matter of moments, she erupted again.

His heartbeat pounded in his ears like a
jackhammer, and the head of his cock felt as if it would blast off
if he didn’t get inside her. While her orgasm subsided, he
undressed and rolled on a condom, then slid his elbows under her
knees, lifted her off the bed, and thrust into her in one long
stroke. Shocked by how tight she was, he immediately stilled and
allowed her body to adjust. “Are you okay?”

She wiggled and thrust upward. “I will be
when you start moving.”

He grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

Just like before, they fit together
perfectly. It was as if their bodies had been made solely for the
purpose of pleasuring each other. She met him thrust for thrust,
and they settled into a comfortable rhythm, her body accepting his
and his giving everything in return.

He slipped his arms from under her legs and
planted his elbows next to her head. Dropping his mouth to hers, he
lavished her with deep, passionate kisses. Rather than plundering,
like before, he gently stroked the inside of her mouth and savored
her tongue.

He stared into her beautiful emerald eyes
that were like open windows, always giving an inside view of
everything she felt. Right now, along with sexual satisfaction,
they were broadcasting deep, affectionate warmth.

What about her? What did she see when she
looked at him? Did she see the ugliness inside of him? Or did she
see those same feelings reflected.

Terrified of getting too close and allowing
that to happen, he squeezed his eyes shut and dropped his head into
the crook of her neck. Suddenly, it felt like he was fighting the
battle of his life.

It didn’t matter that her body pulled him in,
gripped him, and held on tightly. He could not, would not, fall for
her. He quickened his thrusts into a relentless, hammering pace,
trying to drive the unwanted feelings back. This was only sex.
Nothing more. Strictly. Physical. Pleasure.

But when she wrapped her legs around his
waist and her arms around his neck, pulling him in even tighter,
his control crumbled. Despite his scratching and clawing for a
hold, he tumbled over the edge and into the terrifying abyss.

He pulled her as close as humanly possible
and gave one last searing thrust as his orgasm ripped through him.
He fell into a previously unknown world—twisting, turning,
completely out of control, with no way to stop and no way of
knowing when he’d hit bottom. But all the while, knowing the crash,
whenever, wherever, would hurt like hell.

His orgasm pulled her over the edge with him,
and she threw her head back, cried out his name on a sob, and
arched her body into his.

Too exhausted to move, he rested his head in
the safety of the crook of her neck and held her tight as their
breathing and hearts settled. When she released her grip on his
neck, he lifted his head and risked glancing into her eyes.

And had his heart ripped from his chest.

“Kat?” he whispered, running a thumb over her
damp cheek. “Why are you crying?”

She took a deep, shuddering breath and gave
him a quivering smile. “I don’t know what happened. All I know is
that it was so intense I started to cry, and I couldn’t hold back
the tears. I’ve never had that happen before.” Looking embarrassed,
and trying to lighten the moment, she giggled and said, “What did
you do to me?”

More than happy to go along with the humor,
he waggled his brow and said, “Old Erik secret.” Feeling as if his
legs were strong enough to carry him to the bathroom, he kissed her
on top of the head, and prepared to make his escape. “I’ll be right
back.”

As he struggled to maintain his cool on the
trek to the head, her words echoed through his mind.
What did
you do to me?

He should be the one asking her that, because
he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, he was not the same man he’d
been an hour ago.

Chapter Eleven

With achy muscles moaning in protest,
reminding her of the delicious workout they received the night
before, Kat eased into the Adirondack chair on the large deck
surrounding Erik’s house. The morning air was cool, but the
brilliant sunshine quickly warmed her skin. She propped her bare
feet on the railing, then relaxed into the chair with a bagel and a
bottle of water.

The sun’s morning rays reflecting off the
slow-crawling ocean waves created a magnificent picture. But the
sight of Erik playing ball on the beach with Little Bit was
breathtaking. He wore only loose-fitting swimming trunks that hung
low on his waist. The muscles in his arms, back, and shoulders
bunched and flexed in a spectacular display as he leaned back and
launched the ball into a high arc.

Her fingers twitched with the memory of how
those lean muscles had felt under her fingertips as he’d arched
away, then plunged back into her. Waking, wrapped in the cocoon of
his embrace, would have been the perfect way to start the day. But
it hadn’t surprised her to wake alone.

Throughout the night, she’d felt like she was
making love… no, no, no… having sex with a rubber band. At times,
they were so close emotionally it was like their souls were fusing
into one. And then, when things got too intense, Erik would snap
back, emotionally recoiling.

Their wild and reckless adventure in
Charlotte had been all about trying to make a bad day better. It
had been nothing more than a detached comforting, and exquisite
physical release. There had been spinning and flipping and feats of
contortionism that had made them laugh as they’d entwined like
twist ties. There had been little full-frontal contact and minimal
prolonged eye contact.

But last night, emotions had come into play.
On both sides. Whether he admitted it or not, Erik cared for her.
She knew that wasn’t part of his plan. Hell, it hadn’t been part of
her plan, either. But the tenderness etched on his face as he held
tight and drove deeply into her couldn’t be denied.

Little Bit’s whining and scratching at the
door this morning had given him the perfect excuse to leave the
room and have some space. She hadn’t seen the point in getting up
and rushing things; they’d have to face the consequences of the
night soon enough. So, while he spaced it somewhere else, she took
advantage of the quiet and got some much needed sleep.

However, she couldn’t put off the inevitable
any longer. It was time to see how much damage had been inflicted
and make sure there weren’t going to be any residual problems with
their working relationship.

She brushed the bagel’s crumbs from her tank
top, took a drink of water to wash down the clump stuck in her
throat, then meandered down to the beach. She waited while Erik
threw the ball, then said, “Good morning.”

His smile was large and genuine as he turned
and gave her a quick kiss. “Mornin’. How’d ya sleep?”

His easy, suggestive drawl tempted her to
believe her concerns about the potential fallout were unfounded,
and she began to relax. “What little I got was great.”

He smiled like an arrogant male who knew just
how completely he’d satisfied his partner, and he was damned proud
of it. But then, as if realizing they were getting too cozy, his
demeanor shifted, and he went into retreat and withdrawal mode
again.