Spirited 1 (31 page)

Rolling his tongue under and over the pebbled point, he licked it. Laved it. Her breasts were smaller than they had appeared in the corset she’d worn the night they met. But they were perfect.

She arched her back, offering him more, and he gladly accepted. He sucked the nipple into his mouth then popped it free, blowing his breath across it. She quivered in response. Then he turned his attention to the other nipple to give it the same loving.

“Off! Take my shirt off.” She started to pull her top over her head but stopped when the sleeve snagged at her bandaged arm. Drawing air in between her teeth, she emitted a small cry of pain.

He tugged her sweatshirt back down until it covered her breasts, leaving her belly exposed. “No, we can’t do this here.”

“Okay.” She pushed to her feet and stumbled a few steps before steadying herself, leading him toward the front door. She unlocked it and held it open. “Coming?”

“Not without you,” he replied, hurrying to her side. Leaning down, he whispered, “Don’t you know it’s impolite for a man to come before his lover?”

A burst of air escaped her and she blushed. “And you’re a gentleman, of course.”

“Of course.” He kissed her cheek. “And I’m going to make you come all night long.”

Her gaze darkened. He brushed his lips against hers then headed toward his home.

Seth had nearly reached his front door when he turned to see Juliana disappearing back inside her apartment. In three long strides, he ate the distance and caught her door before it swung closed. “Juliana, what are you doing?”

“I forgot my purse and keys,” she said. He held open the door and watched her disappear down the hall into her bedroom. She needed to hurry. His erection was close to popping the buttons on his fly.

She returned moments later, a confused expression on her face. “I could have met you in your apartment.”

“Yes, but a gentleman escorts his lady to the door.”

“And here I’d been picturing you more as a conquering warrior,” she said, then blushed. “I can’t believe I just said that out loud.”

He leaned over and kissed her until she started groping him again.

“Precious.” He groaned. “I’m fairly certain that tonight you’re going to be the conquering warrior. Keep touching me like that and I’m going to finish right here before we can get to my place.”

“We can’t have that.” Jules bolted across the hall to his door. She tried to open it, but it was locked.

He hugged her back to his front and nuzzled her neck as he unlocked his door, then opened it. Tugging her keys from her hand, he then patted her behind. “You didn’t lock your door. I’ll be right back. Make yourself at home.”

He left to lock her door, leaving Jules alone in his darkened apartment. She flipped on the light in his living room and tried to catch her breath.

Was she really going to do this? Have sex with him?

Heck yes!

When he’d said,
“No
,
we can’t do this here,”
she’d wanted to weep in frustration. For a split second, she’d feared he’d changed his mind.

Before he’d said that, she’d sensed his desires and fantasies. But the moment she’d lifted her shirt, baring her breasts to him, his fantasies had winked out of her brain. She wasn’t sure why, but she was too excited to care, especially after his promise to make her come all night.

Walking through the living room, she headed to Seth’s bedroom. She dropped her purse on the end table and continued on into the bathroom. She flipped on the light and the fluorescent bulb hummed to life. Quickly washing her face and hands, she ran her fingers through her shoulder-length red hair and tried to sweep some body into it. But it was no use; her hair was stick-straight.

Her reflection caught her attention. Her lips were swollen and red, her whole face was flushed, and she had the look of a woman who had been thoroughly kissed. She grinned, remembering the taste of him. And she wanted more.

Flipping off the bathroom light, she stood in the mostly dark bedroom and stripped naked. Except for the light from the streetlamp outside and the light filtering in from the living room, the bedroom lay in darkness.

She folded her clothes and set them in a neat pile on top of his dresser beside the bathroom door. Then she climbed into bed.

Manly but soft and inviting, the bamboo sheets were cool against her hot skin. Sighing, she reveled in the decadent sensation of the exotic material on her naked, needy flesh.

The front door opened and closed, followed by the distinctive sound of a lock clicking into place. Listening to his heavy footfalls, she silently imagined him crossing his living room, stopping only long enough to flip off the light, past his galley kitchen, down the hall, and into the bedroom. His footsteps paused at the door.

“Jules?” he called in a stage whisper. “Did you fall asleep?”

“No.”

“Damn.” He moved into the room with a slow, deliberate gait. “I was looking forward to finding a creative way to wake you up.”

“Hang on,” she said, feeling saucy. “I’ll pretend to sleep and you can show me.”

He chuckled. “I don’t think so. I want to truly wake you up when I work my magic.”

“Ooh,” she said, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice. “Well, then I can go to sleep now.” She faked a yawn.

Seth laughed again, then the bed dipped.

He sank down beside her and untied the laces to his sneakers one at a time, letting each one fall to the floor with a thunk. Stretching across her midsection, he reached out and turned on the lamp atop the bedside table.

“That’s better,” he said, propping his hands on either side of her head and staring down at her. “I could just look at you all night.”

I don’t think so.

She grabbed him and kissed him. He grinned against her lips and she smiled in return. Then she got down to some serious smooching. Driving her tongue into his mouth, she reached for his right hand, placing it on her bared breast.

He groaned into her mouth, then lightly pinched and plucked at her nipple until she moaned in response. When she finally did cry out, he broke their kiss and closed his lips around the aching tip while plucking and pinching the other one.

With each flick of his tongue or brush of his fingers on her breasts, she wound tighter and tighter until she thought she might shake apart with the need for completion. Then he dropped one hand between her thighs.

She spread wide for his touch, needing him to fill her and stop the torture. But he only glided one long finger inside her just enough to coat himself in her moisture, then he started stroking her. Not enough to bring her to release, just enough to keep her spinning with a growing, aching need.

“You’re killing me.”

“I am not.” He laughed. “Just tormenting you. Besides, you’re enjoying yourself. And believe me, I’m really enjoying it. You’re so damned sexy.”

Sexy?

She hadn’t realized she’d closed her eyes until she opened them and found him stretched out beside her on the bed. He was still fully clothed except for his shoes and socks.

Oh, this wasn’t fair.

Jules sat bolt upright, flipped over, and scooted down the bed until her face was in line with his jean-clad thighs. She yanked at the buttons on his fly. Excitement rippled through her when his erection sprang free.

“Commando?” she asked, licking her lips.

He might have answered her. She wasn’t sure because she’d already leaned forward and licked him from base to tip.

“Ah, precious, you’re going to give me a heart attack.” He gasped between each word.

She might have been to blame for that. Each time he uttered a sound, she licked or nibbled or reached into his jeans to cup his sac. But he was so incredibly responsive to everything she did that he made her hungry to try more.

When he lifted a trembling hand to stroke the hair away from her face so he could watch her take him into her mouth, she nearly froze.

There was something sinful about being totally naked with a man who was still clothed. Especially when teasing him until
he
shook. Keeping eye contact with him, she inhaled and slowly took more of him into her mouth.

His breathing went ragged. His fingers tightened on her head as he guided her up and down, teaching her the best way to please him. The grip loosened after a minute as she caught his rhythm and did it on her own.

He sat up, forcing her to adjust her position in order to keep pleasing him.

Why’d he sit up?

As if to answer her unspoken question, he slipped a hand between her thighs and coated his fingers in her moisture again. Then he stroked her, rubbing the swollen, distended bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs.

Her heart rate accelerated and her whole body tensed. Squeezing her eyes shut, she slid her mouth down his shaft again and held it there as lights exploded behind her eyes. Reflexively, she sucked hard on his shaft and he groaned loudly. “Precious, stop. I’m barely holding back here.”

He tugged away from her touch and slipped his hands beneath her arms, dragging her sensitized body up his before flipping her onto her back and covering her body with his. He leaned back long enough to tug his shirt up over his head.

His beautiful naked chest glistened in the light. He was really about to make love to her. She’d thought he’d been sexy before, but actually running her hands over his naked abs, she realized he was even more so.

Oh, if this is a dream, don’t let me wake up!

She tried to help him strip but only succeeded in getting in the way since she couldn’t stop touching him. So she focused on freeing him from his jeans.

When her palm came skin to skin with his erection, Seth groaned deep in his throat, then laughed. “Stop helping me! You’re going to help us into waiting another hour if you touch me like that again.”

“An hour, really?’ Jules asked with surprise. She watched him strip out of his jeans, grab a condom from the nightstand, and roll it on. “I thought men only needed twenty minutes.”

“Precious, with you, I have a feeling I wouldn’t need ten seconds before I’m ready to go again. But you make me come before I can get inside you and I’ll tie you down and torture you for an hour before I’ll let you come again.”

Butterflies in her belly quivered in delight at the thought of him teasing her nonstop for an hour.

He positioned himself over her. With his thighs between hers, he rested his weight on his fists beside her head, and said, “You ready or should I test out that sexual torture idea right now?”

He didn’t wait for a response; instead, he slid into her with one long, deep thrust.

She gasped, wrapping her legs around his hips. He lowered his body until his curly chest hair tickled her breasts. He wrapped one hand behind her back, clutching her backside and kneading it with his fingers while he slowly slid back out and then even deeper inside her again. The sensations of both actions nearly distracted her from what he did with her right arm.

Gently, slowly, he entwined the fingers of his left hand with her right one. He raised her arm above her head, pinning it to the pillow beneath her. She turned her head to look at what he’d done.

“Seth, why did you do that?”

He didn’t answer but covered her mouth with his. Had the kiss been passionate and full of demand, she wouldn’t have been surprised, but it wasn’t. It was tender and lingering. Caring.

It brought tears to her eyes. It was a moment unlike any she’d ever experienced. She’d had sex before, but this was the first time she’d ever felt as if someone was making love
with
her.

She blinked back the moisture so she wouldn’t make a fool of herself. Wanting to breathe him in, to touch him, she caressed his naked back with her free hand and still he kissed her as he thrust rhythmically.

Like a moment suspended in time, she wanted to make love with him forever, to keep going, but that incredibly needy build of excitement coiled in her midsection. It spread through her entire body until she was straining to reach her climax.

Seth broke their kiss and pressed his lips against her left ear. “Let go, I’ve got you, precious.”

As if to emphasize his words, he pistoned his hips and started pumping harder into her, pushing her higher until she snapped free and was flying.

Seconds later, he plunged deeply inside of her one last time. With a groan of pleasure, he shifted his weight to her left side and sank onto the mattress.

Still breathing heavily, he lowered her arm and checked her bandage again as if expecting her to have torn her stitches. His brow furrowed in concern, he examined the dressing so white it nearly glowed.

She couldn’t resist teasing him. “It’s not like you tied me down this time. I doubt we did anything that could have aggravated my wound. But you could tie me up next time. Or maybe I’ll put those handcuffs you used on me . . . on you.”

Inside her, he twitched to life.

“Ooh, you are a naughty boy.” She laughed.

He opened his mouth wide and playfully bit her shoulder, then laughed too. “I knew you would be trouble the moment I caught you sneaking into my bedroom.”

“Right.”

“No, I did.” He chuckled again. “It’s my sixth sense. It always lets me know when trouble’s brewing.”

“A sixth sense?” She snorted, half-disbelieving and half-hoping. “You’re so full of it.”

He pulled back until he stared into her eyes. “You don’t believe in a sixth sense? Come on, precious. See the world beyond the
monochrome.
”

Jules let out a short, nervous laugh, then said, “You know, you’ve called me
precious
since the moment we met. You go around calling everyone that when your sixth sense warns you they could be trouble?”

“Nope. Only you.” He licked a path from her collarbone to her nipple.

She stretched under his caress and tried, unsuccessfully, to tamp down her delight at his use of the term
sixth sense
. “So I’m trouble.”

“Oh yeah, precious,” he said, kissing her neck again. “The kind I need to spend all night investigating.”