Through the Night (17 page)

She didn’t argue as he leaned in and slanted his lips across hers, delving his tongue into the honeyed heat of her mouth. She moaned her assent, yielding to him completely. His chest came into contact with the fabric of her top instead of bare skin, and he wasted no time in tugging loose the tie at her waist holding the top together, then shoving the blouse off her shoulders so that it fell to the floor at her feet.

She was wearing a black lace bra, the sexy kind that pushed up her breasts and barely covered her nipples. Slipping his fingers beneath the straps, he dragged both of them down her arms to her elbows, until the appliquéd fabric peeled away and gave him his first unobstructed view of her firm, high, perfectly rounded breasts.

Everything about her was stunningly gorgeous, including those twin mounds of flesh. Beyond aroused by the sight, he left her bra on and drew a puckered nipple into his mouth. He swirled his tongue over the taut crest, tugged on the tip with his teeth, and when she gasped at the sharp twinge of pain, he soothed the sting with a soft, soothing lick before giving her other breast equal attention. Her hands gripped his shoulders, her short nails digging into muscle, and she thrust her hips toward him, seeking relief from the tension he was building inside her.

He unsnapped and unzipped her jeans and pushed a hand inside. The material of her pants was tight, forcing him to wedge his fingers where she wanted them the most, which increased the pressure and friction when he eased two of them deep inside her. She was so hot, so slick with need, and he curved the tips of his fingers for maximum pleasure as he stroked her inner walls. With another erotic bite on her nipple, another wet lick, she splintered apart, her scream echoing in the darkened room.

Not even close to being done with her, he dropped to his knees in front of her, kissing his way down her flat belly, his damp mouth leaving a trail of wetness on her silky, fragrant skin. “There’s something else I want, Valerie,” he said as he dipped and swirled his tongue into her navel, mimicking a more intimate act. “Do you know what that is?”

Just in case she needed a clue, he imagined doing the same thing to her sex, tonguing every inch of her, sucking on her clit, and feasting on her as if he hadn’t a meal in days and she was the sweetest dessert ever.

A sharp gasp escaped her lips, telling him that she’d read his mind, and she managed a breathless,
“Yes.”

He smiled against her stomach. “Tell me exactly what you want, sweetheart,” he murmured as he skimmed his hands along her waist and grasped the sides of her jeans with his fingers, pulling them down just a few inches to tease her. “That’s the only way you’re gonna get it.”

This new, sexually empowered Valerie didn’t hesitate. “Put your mouth on me,” she said, her voice husky with wanting. “Make me come with your tongue.”

“Yeah,
that,
” he said, and as she shimmied to help him ease the jeans over her hips, he tugged the black denim and a black lacy pair of panties down to just above her knees … and left them tangled there.

He knew she expected him to take off her heels and strip off her pants so she could spread her legs wide, but it wasn’t going to happen. With her unable to move, she was at his mercy, and he was the one calling the shots—and she had no choice but to surrender to whatever method of satisfaction he decided to indulge in.

He glided his flattened palms back up her smooth, supple thighs, feeling them quiver beneath the stroke of his hands. He continued upward, and when he reached the heart of what made her a woman, he parted the folds of her glistening flesh with his thumbs, exposing her to him completely. She was waxed bare, her nether lips so incredibly soft, smooth, and undoubtedly sensitive, and he groaned his appreciation.

He glanced up the length of Valerie’s body, loving how promiscuous she looked all disheveled and half-dressed, all her glorious curves on display. She still had her bra on, and her breasts spilled out, swollen and flushed from his sucking on those ripe, rosy nipples. Her tousled hair fell over her shoulders, and she looked hotter and more fuckable than one of those Penthouse Pets he used to masturbate to as a horny teenager.

Now, he was staring at the real thing, and she was utterly enchanting. So completely beguiling. So amazingly honest and pure in her desire for him.

He lifted his gaze to her beautiful face. Her eyes were closed, and she bit her lip in anticipation of what he was about to do to her, but it wasn’t enough for him. He wanted her involved, physically and mentally.

“Look at me, Valerie,” he commanded, and once she obeyed his request and her heavy-lidded gaze met his, he added another demand. “Watch me make you come.”

He moved in, placing a soft, reverent kiss on her bare mound before sliding lower and exploring in earnest. He was done teasing, done tormenting. His mouth ravished her, while his tongue pushed deeper, savoring her body’s essence, and her unbridled response. Everything about her—her scent, her taste, the way she trusted him with her passion—went straight to his head, and his aching cock.

“Oh, God, Chase,” she moaned. She entwined her fingers in his hair to hold him in place—as if he were going anywhere—and her hips jerked toward his relentless mouth as her body shook in yet another powerful orgasm.

She released a high-pitched cry, and he pushed to his feet and covered her mouth with his, kissing her deeply and sharing the flavor of her still on his tongue. Her hands went back to his pants, trying desperately to open the fly of his jeans over the thick bulge straining painfully against the zipper. She released an impatient sound when the zipper wouldn’t cooperate, and he stopped her before she did damage to his package.

He gently held her wrists, feeling her heat, her fire, the electricity that sparked between them and made her wild and delirious with the same uncontrollable hunger now coursing through him.

“I want you inside me,” she said, her expression reflecting an odd combination of lust and vulnerability. “As hard and deep as you can go.”

Jesus.
His heart responded to the emotion in her eyes, but his body burned to claim her completely. A first for him when it came to a woman. “Put your hands on the dresser.”

She didn’t even pause, bending at the waist and placing her palms flat on the surface. Still in her heels, her jeans still caught at her knees, she offered herself up to him without hesitation. His throat went dry as he withdrew the foil packet he’d tucked into his wallet just in case something like this happened with her.

After freeing his throbbing shaft and his tight, aching balls, he rolled the condom on and came up behind her. He placed one hand on her hip, wrapped the other around his erection, and guided the swollen head between the cheeks of her bottom, until silky moisture coated the length of his cock and he was poised at the entrance to her body.

She braced herself, clearly expecting him to drive home, but something in him wanted to luxuriate in this moment, in her, before things escalated to something more frenzied, as he knew they would. He leaned over her, sweeping her hair off one shoulder so he could nuzzle her neck and inhale the muted fragrance of her perfume mixed with the more drugging scent of her arousal. He felt her shiver, heard her sigh, and placed a lingering kiss on her shoulder as he filled his hands with her breasts and rolled and pinched her nipples between his fingers.

Chase’s need for Valerie consumed him like nothing he’d ever experienced for a woman before. And while he knew that their psychic connection was responsible for the way they reacted to each other, he was also aware that having sex with her, being deep inside her body so that there was no separation between them, was going to change them both. And shockingly, he was open to that change, whatever it might be, because this vibrant, passionate woman was beginning to feel like everything that had been missing in his life for so long.

Valerie rolled her hips and pushed back against him, seeking more than just a few inches of his cock. “Do it, Chase,” she urged in a soft, breathy whisper.

“Do what?” he rasped into her ear, wanting to hear her say the words.

“Fuck me,” she said huskily.

He gave her what she ultimately wanted, filling her up with a single thrust that nearly lifted her from the floor. And once he was surrounded by her slick heat, being squeezed by her tight channel, there was no stopping him or the crazy onslaught of adrenaline that spiked his need to possess her, to mark her as his. High on the rush of being inside Valerie, he pumped rhythmically into her, rougher and more aggressive than he’d intended, but her soft, unraveling moan assured him she loved it, too—and that’s what spurred him on.

He tilted her hips, forcing her spine to arch even more so that he could stroke harder, deeper inside her—all the way to the hilt, again and again in a mindless, selfish taking. He made no attempt to hold back, lost in sensation, in the tight suctioning pull of her body that dragged him closer to the edge of sanity with every frenzied, surging grind of his hips against hers. She alone inflamed him, seared him in ways that stole his breath, and as he continued to pound furiously into her, she tossed her head back with a cry, her dark, silky hair spilling down her naked back and over her shoulders, adding to the wildness of the coupling.

As he felt her shudder and contract around him in hot, rippling waves, he finally let go and buried his cock one last time, hard and deep, and growled deep in his throat as his own orgasm tore through him with the strength of ten thousand volts of lightning. He climaxed, knocked breathless from the force of the sizzling, searing burst of pleasure—and knew he’d just lost a little piece of his soul inside her, as well.

But instead of panicking at the thought, he didn’t fight the feelings she evoked in him. Not when she complemented him so perfectly. Not when everything about her felt so good and right.

For several long moments following their orgasms, neither moved, their bodies fused and the silence in the room broken only by their heavy breathing. Finally, reluctantly, he withdrew, and felt her retreat in a whole different way. She wouldn’t look at him, and the switch had flipped again and she was back to being guarded and controlled.

Surprisingly, he understood. The intensity of what they’d just shared went beyond an easy, forgettable fuck. Valerie was anything but easy or forgettable. From their very first handshake at the Onyx, the connection between them had been strong and sexual, and now there was an added element of intimacy and caring added to the mix that altered their relationship.

Hell, he had absolutely no experience with the kind of warmth and affection that was taking up residence in him, but recognizing just how special Valerie was, Chase was willing to give those growing feelings a chance.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, and headed to the bathroom to clean up. Then they needed to talk.

But when he returned a few minutes later, he took one look at Valerie and that too-familiar wariness in her eyes, and knew any attempt he made to draw her into a conversation about what had just happened would make her close off more.

Yeah, he already knew her that well.

She’d pulled up her pants and clutched a change of clothes to her chest. Without a word, and her gaze averted, she scooted around him and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

He released a harsh sigh and jammed his hands through his hair, trying not to let his frustration get the best of him. Trying also not to barge into the bathroom and show her all over again how good the two of them were together. But he knew that the barbaric approach wouldn’t be his smartest move with Valerie right now, and that was the only thing that kept him from invading her personal space.

He knew from their conversation that morning that she’d been hurt in the past and didn’t trust easily, he needed to break her in slowly and gently like a frightened filly. It was all about giving her time and space to adjust to this change between them.

That he was making such a concession for any woman told Chase just how much Valerie was starting to mean to him.

*   *   *

It was just sex. It was just sex. It was just sex.

Valerie repeated the mantra as she braced her hands on the edge of the sink, her heart racing in her chest and her knees weak. And not just from the raw, animalistic mating and multiple orgasms she’d just had, but from the realization that sex with Chase wasn’t just
sex,
no matter how many times she tried to convince herself.

Oh, he’d pleasured her beyond her greatest expectations. He’d been temptation and sin personified, and all erotic, rock-hard male inside her, and she’d been helpless to resist anything about him.

Not that she’d wanted to. She went into tonight wanting Chase and every bit of ecstasy he had to offer, and he hadn’t disappointed, taking her to heights she’d never reached before. But she hadn’t been prepared for the deluge of emotion that had overwhelmed her senses toward the very end and stripped her bare.

With him so deep inside her, she’d felt his thoughts and feelings intimately, as if they were one sole entity. She’d felt the rawness of his hunger, the depth of his passion, and worse, she’d been all too aware of those emotional, soul-stirring thoughts that had raced through his head. It was more than sex for him, too, except he seemed ready to accept what had just happened between them.

And
that’s
what shook her up the most and left her reeling.

Everything about Chase and being with him was different from any attraction she’d ever had to a man. Between the real-life sparks that flared between them when they touched, their mental connection, and the way his mere presence made her feel safe and secure, it all tugged at something she’d buried deep inside after her parents’ death.

Chase made her want. He made her feel beyond just surface emotions. He made her wonder if having a normal relationship with a man was possible.

Oh, God.
She shivered, not from any chill, but because she’d made the mistake of letting him get that close. She couldn’t let those floodgates remain open, leaving her vulnerable to pain and loss. Now it was time for damage control.