Sinfully Summer (16 page)

Linking his fingers into the waistband of her knickers, he winked. ‘Lift your bottom.’

Her breathing sped to match her heartbeats and she obeyed, a fresh jolt of desire zapping down between her thighs. Ric dropped to her knees and removed her briefs. His gaze was level with a part of her she’d never expected him to see and she held her breath, waiting for his rejection like he did the last time they’d frisked it up in the kitchen.

‘Oh god, Alexa.’

He nibbled and kissed his way from her knee to her inner thigh and her breath rushed out when he closed in on her centre. She parted her legs wider, not caring any more if he pulled away, she was pretty sure she’d drag him back by the hair. But he didn’t kiss her where she needed him to. Instead, he moved to her other knee and began the same circuit. She huffed out a protest and he laughed against her thigh.

‘We have all night. There’s no rush.’

‘I’m going to explode on my own if you don’t hurry.’ She bit her lip, cursing her wayward tongue.

‘I’d like to see that.’ His dark eyes shone with humour, but his tight jaw made her think he was as ready to burst as she was. ‘But not tonight.’

His hands slid under her bottom and he squeezed, pulled her toward the edge and she yelped. She grabbed hold of the handles on the cupboards behind her and held on tight. He leaned in and her breath whooshed out in a rush. Still, he didn’t touch, only inhaled, shuddered and planted a soft kiss below her belly button.

Alexa hadn’t been lying about exploding; her whole body felt like one breath in the right place would do it. But he just licked his way down, then kissed the flesh on her tingling thighs.

Damn him. ‘Are you waiting for an invitation?’

His nose skimmed her naked flesh next to her bikini line. ‘No, I’m waiting until you’re so ready, you’ll come the second I taste you, then I’ll make you come again and again.’

Her whole body zinged. ‘Got news for you Ric, I’ve been there for ages.’

A smug smile curved his lips just before he leaned in and sucked her into his mouth. All the heat, the pressure in her body flooded to that point and then exploded, drawing a wordless cry from her lips and shudders from every inch of her.

He didn’t ease upon that sensitive area, making her wish she could speak and tell him to back off as pain mingled with pleasure. His tongue swirled, his finger found its way inside her and he zeroed in on the spot most men thought was a myth. Ric obviously didn’t, because he worked it like he had the instruction manual for her orgasms memorised.

She panted, squirmed and felt the pressure build higher, tighter until it weighed her down. Every time it built to the peak, he shifted the pressure outside and in until it she wanted to scream. After the third time, Alexa was ready to clobber him, but then he used his finger harder, sucked her into his mouth and the pressure shattered. Body melting, mind blank and seeing white, she shuddered.

He stood, facing her with glistening lips, a wry smile and come-to-bed eyes. Alexa didn’t think she could move if she wanted to. She could see his erection tenting the towel and couldn’t drag her gaze away from the huge peak. The first shred of unease cracked through her afterglow. It had been ages since she’d been with a man.

His hand cupped her cheek and tilted her head up. He frowned at her. ‘What’s wrong?’ She gulped and he grinned. ‘I’m not an animal,
querida
. It will be mind-blowing, I promise.’

He dropped a sweet kiss on her lips. ‘Bedroom.’

She released her death grip on the cabinets and held onto his shoulders while she slid off the counter. Her legs wobbled and Ric steadied her with an arm around her waist, grinning at her like the smug git he was.

‘Pleased with yourself?’ The fact he could make her irritated and want to jump his bones at the same time must be a skill he’d acquired over the years.

‘Very.’ He snared her hand and pulled her toward the door.

The sound of the lift clattering to life made them pause. ‘Who has a key?’ she asked, her heart stuttering to a halt. She was sure he’d locked it when they got back.

His whole frame stiffened and he turned to her. After looking her up and down, he said, ‘Get the bottoms.’

She scuttled back to the counter, whipped up the bikini bottoms and the robe, then pulled them on. The elevator doors opened and a female voice called his name. Alexa’s stomach fell to her feet and she had to put a hand on the counter for support while jealously burned through her veins. He was seeing someone, and she should be angry, she should pick up the dirty pan she’d cooked the chicken in and launch it at him, but instead her eyes burned with bloody tears.

He called something back in Spanish, then looked down at his towel, whispering something under his breath. He loosened and retied the cotton, disguising it a bit, but a shift in the wrong direction and the cheating bastard would be caught.

‘Stay here,’ he whispered as he ducked out of the kitchen.

She considered his command for three seconds, then stormed through to the lounge. Mrs Castillo beamed at him from the opposite side of the sofa and Alexa knew that this was the moment in her life that would have rocketed straight off the blush scale into what-the-hell-were-you-thinking territory.

Mrs Castillo turned to her. ‘Alexa, what a lovely surprise.’ She threw Ric a knowing smile. ‘I’m sorry to intrude. I didn’t know you had company.’

‘Alexa is staying with me until I can find her another room. We’re overbooked.’ He threw Alexa a questioning look.

The older woman didn’t look convinced, and if Alexa looked like she’d just had two of the most spectacular orgasms of her life, she couldn’t blame her.

‘We’re having a barbeque tomorrow and would like you to come. I thought I’d stop by and ask you since I was passing anyway. You too, Alexa.’ Mrs Castillo winked at her and Alexa smiled back.

‘We have work to do for the ball.’

Her eyes widened at his brazen lie. Well, she wasn’t working on a Sunday. She could feel the beach calling her.

Mrs Castillo looked between the two of them. ‘It doesn’t start until six.’ Ric’s expression said it didn’t matter what time. He wouldn’t back down. ‘Maybe another time.’

Ric nodded and walked her over to the lift. Alexa said goodbye and waited until the doors closed until she spoke. ‘Why did you lie to her?’

Raking a hand through his hair, he wondered if kissing Alexa would make the questions shining from her eyes fade. He could ease her through to his bedroom and get lost in the sweet taste of her for the rest of the night. Heat stirred beneath the towel, but he knew she wouldn’t back down this time.

With her hand on her hip and a scowl marring her pretty, freshly flushed face, there was no escape he could see. But that didn’t mean he’d tell her the whole truth, the reasons why he’d never accepted an invitation to his parent’s home for years. ‘I didn’t. We have a lot still to do.’

‘You do know tomorrow is Sunday?’

‘This isn’t a Monday to Friday job, Alexa.’ He walked closer to her, an eyebrow raised. ‘Now, where were we?’

The storm in her eyes shifted and her breathing sped. ‘But—’

Ric pinched her lips together. ‘No buts. Not this time.’ He replaced his fingers with his mouth.

The soft cry at the back of her throat sent his erection from interested to impatient
.
Pulling her flush against him, he squeezed that firm, peachy bottom and lifted her off her feet. Alexa wrapped her legs around him. He carried her down the hall, slipping the robe from her shoulders, and set her down on the middle of her bed.

‘Naked,’ he managed through his ragged breathing.

She looked around her room, a dazed expression in her eyes. ‘Why here?’

‘Why not?’ he countered, wondering if she’d ever just go along with him instead of challenging him at every step.

‘Condoms.’ He stared at her with a raised brow. ‘I don’t have any.’

He calculated how long it would take to run to his room, grab a pack and get back.
Too long
. He grabbed her hand and dragged her through to his bedroom. He threw the door open, released her then headed to the bedside cabinet.

Alexa eyed the box he removed from the half-filled drawer. ‘That’s some prep, Ric.’

He smiled. ‘Better to be safe than sorry.’ Tossing the box on the bed, he unhooked the towel and let it fall to the floor. Her gaze dropped and her mouth fell open. ‘You’re still overdressed.’

Swallowing, she reached around to unhook the clasp on the lime bikini top. She ripped her attention away from his body and stared at him with wide eyes. His chest tightened and he realised he had to slow down, not scare her away.

‘Come here.’

He pulled the top down her arms and tugged her close. Ignoring the twin peaks poking into his chest, he slid his hands over her back, reassuring, comforting. She melted closer, and his erection pulsed against her stomach.

‘Trust me.’

She looked up at him and he could see the trust there, see the emotion glistening in her eyes. The pull in his chest intensified, almost knocked the breath out of him and he couldn’t explain what it was—he hadn’t experienced anything like it before.

Maybe she was innocent, maybe she hadn’t been with the bad-boy types she’d been pictured with, but Ric didn’t think that was it. She hadn’t been shy last week when he’d stripped her top off, hadn’t been meek when he’d had her on the kitchen counter. Shaking the thoughts away, he spun them around and pulled her down onto the bed with him.

Alexa shoved at his shoulders and he fell back against the pillow. She crawled on top of him, her thighs bracketing his. Before he could ask what she was doing, her head dipped and he felt the wet heat of her tongue trailing the contours of his chest. The touch sent a fresh flow of blood to his groin.

She worked her way down his stomach, the short backcombed bob tickling his skin as she went, the scent of wild berries clogged his senses. Her lips grazed the tip of his erection and he clamped down on his stomach muscles to stop from embarrassing himself. Alexa reached for the shaft, but he hauled her up by the shoulders and rolled them so he had her trapped beneath him.

‘No fair.’ She gasped and pouted. ‘You got to do it to me.’

Ric grinned. ‘When is anything in life ever fair?’

Making sure further protests were cut off with his lips on hers, his hands got busy sliding over her silky skin, tweaking the tight rosebud nipples, drawing gasps and more soft mewls from her throat. Ric swore it was a sound he’d never want to hear when someone was in bed with him, but the sound of it coming from her made arousal rage through his being. He wanted to hear what noises she’d make when he was inside of her.

Nudging her thighs wider with his knee, he slid between her legs. He thrust his hips, rubbing against her and making them both moan. Her fingers dug into his backside, heat tingling down his spine. They needed a condom.

His hand fumbled blindly on the bed, his lips trailing kisses and nips on the silky skin on her neck. Her hips rocked up to meet his thrusts, and he was slicked with her heat, losing a little more of his mind every second it took to find the damn condoms.
Where the hell did he put them?
Unwillingly, he ripped his lips away from her. ‘Alexa, wait.’

Her eyes, unfocused, were black with the same crazed lust swarming through him. ‘Why?’ Still challenging, even now, she dug her fingers tighter to his backside and rubbed herself against him. He shuddered.

‘I can’t find—’

‘I’m on the pill.’ Her eyes rolled back as she rocked her hips. ‘Have you been tested?’

His control was shot to bits, his mind in turmoil and her wetness skimming his naked flesh with every thrust wouldn’t allow him to think as rationally as he knew deep down he should. ‘Yes. You?’

She nodded, another mewl slipped out of her mouth and all doubts vanished. Ric reared back and thrust into her in one quick jerk. They both gasped and stared at each other for a long second. Her body was tight around him, hot, and he’d never felt anything as amazing. Flesh and heat drawing him in, as deep as he could go. His arms shook where he hovered above her.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked. She was a little too snug and the frown above her brow could have been discomfort. He reared away but her legs encircled his waist and hauled him back.

‘Gimme a minute.’

A minute, was she crazy?

He forced a smile and locked his jaw. Her muscles tightened around him and he groaned.

Ric felt like he’d held on forever. Her expression relaxed and she released a heavy sigh. Cupping her cheeks with his hands, he rubbed the silky skin beneath his fingers. Her face was angular, but also seemed soft. Those kiss-swollen lips made him want to nibble on them for days and the cloudy platinum eyes intensified the pull inside him.

Maybe sex would break it once and for all, maybe after tonight he wouldn’t feel it any more. It not, he was certain two weeks was enough to work her out of his system.

‘Okay, go,’ she said, squeezing her internal muscles and rocking her hips up to meet him.

His head dipped down and he gave in to his desire, nipping and licking those kiss-swollen lips as he gently rocked into her. Their breathing was drowned out by his heartbeat pounding in his ears, her cries every time he skimmed that place deep inside her made him want to take it slower, make this last.

Lifting his head, he watched ecstasy play across her features, saw the depth of her lust shining from her eyes. But then it all went to hell and something shifted. Alexa snapped her eyes shut, but not before he caught it, the look of hope and trust that he’d seen earlier mixed with some other emotion he didn’t want to see—to understand.

Her hips met his thrusts, her body so warm and welcoming that he thought pulling away would kill him, but the dread filling his stomach told him no more slow and nice. The guilt eating away at him was insane. He’d promised her nothing more, so why did he feel like the worst kind of bastard?

Ric untangled her legs from his waist and leaned back on his knees. Her eyes opened, confusion was all he could see and he almost let out a sigh of relief. Still, he lifted her bottom onto his thighs and placed her ankles against his chest. This way he kept control, this way he could stop the slow, sensual strokes and make it about their joint pleasure, nothing else.