Breaking Free (10 page)

“That surprises me,” she said. “Isn’t fighting a male-dominated industry?”

“For the most part, but that doesn’t mean women can’t bring innovative ideas to the table. I don’t subscribe to the theory that we have to continue doing things the way they’ve always been done to be successful. Quite the opposite, in fact. It’s the trailblazers who are the most successful.”

She smiled. “I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, but I snuck away from the party to Google you.”

I laughed, caught off guard. I didn’t know why I was surprised. Maura had always been a straight-shooter. That was one of the things that had drawn me to her. “And what did you learn about me?”

“That you enjoy the company of beautiful women.”

“True.” There were dozens of pictures online of me attending various events with stunning beauties on my arm. It didn’t change the fact that there was nowhere else I’d rather be and no one I’d rather be spending time with than Maura, because whether she knew it or not, she was the key to my freedom.

“It must be difficult for you to be in a monogamous relationship with so much temptation around you.”

“Not really. I don’t do relationships.”

“Oh.”

I saw the flash of disappointment in her eyes. I had to backtrack or risk losing her. “That just means I haven’t met the right woman, not that I’m opposed to the idea of a monogamous relationship.”

She stared at me a long time, as though she were trying to read my mind. “You’re saying all the right things, but I can’t help but feel you have an ulterior motive.”

“You think my goal is to get you into bed?” I smiled when she nodded. “I’d love to sleep with you, but in case you didn’t notice, there were a lot of beautiful women downstairs. I probably could have gotten any one of them up here if I’d tried hard enough.” I wasn’t trying to sound arrogant or downplay her appeal. I just wanted her to know sex was only the tip of the iceberg.

“I’m sure you could have. Why did you single me out?”

“You have to ask?” I grinned. “I wish you wouldn’t, because it’s not something I can put into words. It’s a gut feeling.” I wasn’t lying. I’d never understood the depth of my attraction to her or why it was as intense now as it had ever been. She was the reason I’d spent the better part of a decade behind bars. I should resent her, but staring into her eyes still made me feel something I refused to acknowledge.

“A gut feeling?” She flattened her palm against her stomach. “I think I know what you mean. We women describe it as butterflies, I think.”

“Butterflies?” I loved that old-fashioned description of the excitement and attraction that blossomed with every great love affair.

“Yeah, butterflies.” She giggled. “It probably sounds silly to you, but that’s what it feels like—butterflies.”

I set my drink down, and she did the same before I reached for her hand. She surprised me by taking it without hesitation.

“Let me see if I can hear these butterflies.” When she stepped closer, I wrapped my hands around her waist and pressed my ear to her stomach. “I don’t hear anything.” But I could tell she was holding her breath in anticipation of what I might do next. I tipped my head back and looked her in the eye, my hands moving to her hips. “You’re beautiful, you know that, don’t you?”

Her breath hitched as a nervous laugh slipped past her lips. “It’s been a while since I’ve heard that…” She paused, looking thoughtful. “Or maybe it’s been a while since
he’s
told me.”

She’d refrained from using her fiancé’s name. Maybe because she was trying to forget him?

“Then he’s a fool. He should tell you every day, two or three times a day. If you were my woman, I would.” I sat on the couch and leaned back into the cushions, but I left my legs open for her to lean into if she chose.

“You would?” She bit her lip as her eyes filled with sadness.

“Of course I would.” Unable to maintain the distance, I tugged on her hand, easing her onto my lap. I knew she could feel my arousal prodding her ass. Wrapping my arms around her, I breathed in her scent.

“I’ve been playing it safe for a long time,” she said, running her hand over my arm. “But you’re not safe, are you?”

“No, I’m not.” I was lying about everything, but I wouldn’t lie about that.

“Yet here I am.”

“Here you are.” I removed her necklace before kissing her neck slowly, leisurely. We both knew where this was going, and I wanted to enjoy every second of it. I wanted to know if she could possibly compare to my erotic memories of the girl she used to be. “I love that you’re here.”

“Hmmm…” She tipped her head back, giving me better access to the sensitive spot above her collar bone. “I’m not sure how I feel about being here.”

“I’ll make you glad you came.” I smirked at the innuendo as I ran my hand up her bare thigh. “You have amazing legs.”

I wanted to ask if she was still a runner, but I had to pretend she was a stranger. That was the hardest part. My body knew this woman. It responded to her, and my heart remembered the love I’d felt for her. Everything was so familiar. It felt so right, yet it was wrong. So wrong.

I eased her thighs apart and glided a finger over her silk panties. “You’re so wet. You’ve been thinking about this all night, haven’t you? Have you been fantasizing about all the things you wanted me to do to you?” She closed her eyes as I stroked her through the thin fabric. “Tell me what you want,” I demanded.

I didn’t want her to have regrets, though I knew she would. I was a stranger, or so she thought. In the harsh light of day, she wouldn’t be able to process her reasons for having sex with a stranger when a man who claimed to love her was waiting for her at home. But what he felt for her wasn’t love—it couldn’t be. He wanted her to bend to his will, and a woman as incredible as Maura deserved to be free so her spirit could soar. I saw her at her best when she was experimenting with me, doing the things others would consider taboo. She pushed the boundaries and realized how incredible sex could be when she let herself go.

“Let yourself go, Maura. It’s just you and me, sweetheart. Anything you want, you just need to tell me.”

“Kiss me,” she whispered so quietly, I barely heard her. “Not just a token kiss. A real kiss, like you mean it. It’s been so long since a man made love to me with his mouth.”

If I’d had any reservations about taking her away from her fiancé, I didn’t anymore. A man who didn’t take the time to worship her, to show her how much he adored her, didn’t deserve her.

I could tell myself she was the enemy, wrapped up in an irresistible package, but the truth was much more frightening than that. She was reminding me of the things I had no business remembering, triggering feelings I believed had been dead and buried for years.

I turned her face toward mine as I slipped a finger inside her panties and stroked her clit. My tongue slid inside her mouth, and I felt it straight down to my cock. I deepened the kiss as I eased a finger into her pussy, then another. I’d make her come. Then I’d make her come again… and again.

My tongue swirled around hers, reveling in her taste. Kissing had only been a prelude for me before Maura. She always made it an experience. She didn’t just kiss me; she turned me inside out. She made me hard. She made me hot. She made me want her and only her.

Moaning into my mouth, she forced me to move my hand from between her legs as she straddled me. She ran her fingers through my hair, tugging lightly as she teased my tongue with hers. She was getting crazy, which turned me on to no end, grinding her clit into my hard shaft and using the friction of the material between us to get her off.

“That’s it, baby,” I whispered, kneading her ass. “Let me watch you come.”

Fuck, she was still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Something in my chest tightened at the sight of her coming apart in my arms. I tried to ignore it, but when a tear slid down her cheek, the feeling only intensified.

I knew she was questioning what she was doing, so I said what she needed to hear. “You’re mine tonight. There’s no room for anyone else. Your only thoughts are of me. Your body’s mine. Just give me that. Please.”

She trembled as she kissed me again. “Why does being here with you feel so right? I don’t even know you.”

Ah, but you do know me, angel.
I couldn’t say that, but I wanted to with every fiber of my being. “Don’t question it. Just enjoy it.”

I scooped her up, knowing if I didn’t there would be more questions, more hesitancy. My job was to make her feel… and forget until I could make her remember. Before laying her on the bed, I peeled her dress off and set it on a nearby chair. I made sure the bedroom was dark so she couldn’t see more than I was willing to reveal. One thing that could give me away remained, but if I was careful, she would never see it.

I peeled off her panties and dropped to my knees between her legs. She was still bare. I’d suggested a Brazilian when we were dating, and I was shocked to find she still preferred it. “You’re so sexy, baby. I can’t wait to taste you.”
Again.

She moaned when I tickled her clit with the tip of my tongue before dipping inside her. She was delicious and so responsive. She was like a raging inferno as I glided my tongue over her slit, savoring the taste of her, the feel of her, everything I’d missed about her.

“Oh, fuck, Blaise…”

For the first time since I’d adopted my new identity, I wanted my old one back. I wanted her to be making love to
me
, to be moaning
my
name.

“You taste so sweet,” I whispered, forcing back the pang of regret as I blew on her clit. “I could lick your pussy all night.”

“Hmmm…. yes…” She gripped the sheet in her fists as she dug her heels into the mattress. “Don’t stop. I need more. I need you.”

I need you.
I hadn’t realized how much I’d wanted to hear her say that until she did. I craved it, just like I always had. Things were getting complicated. My plan was veering off course. She was drawing me into her web again, and any control I thought I had was quickly slipping away.

“I’m not stopping, sweetheart. Not ever.” I stroked her clit with my tongue, basking in the gasps and cries that told me I was giving her exactly what she needed.

“Oh God, I’m going to come.”

I held her firmly in place as I licked her. Nothing turned me on more than feeling her come in my mouth, knowing that I was giving
my
woman what no other man could.

Without giving her a moment to catch her breath, I made my way up her body, licking a path to her breasts. My tongue caressed patches of jagged skin, and I knew that’s where that monster had left the evidence of his wrath. She tried to pull me away from my exploration, but I became more insistent, tenderly kissing the patches of skin she didn’t want me to see. She was embarrassed of her flaws, but they only reminded me of how incredibly strong she’d been.

“Blaise, please,” she whispered. “I don’t want—”

“Sssh.” I kissed every inch of skin. “Just let me love you, baby.” Those were strong words for a man who was supposed to be a stranger, but I hoped she would assume I was being thorough, treating her to the care I’d promised.

She whimpered, lifting her hands above her head when she realized it was pointless to fight me. I reached her breasts, licking and sucking them the way she liked. I swirled my tongue around her nipples before I nipped them, followed by the brush of my lips to distract her from the sting.

“Yes, just like that,” she said, arching her back. “Just like that. Oh, God.”

When I was satisfied I had her primed for another orgasm, I reached into the nightstand for a condom. I hated that I had to wear it. I wanted that primitive connection with her, the one we used to share, but I knew a smart woman like her wouldn’t have unprotected sex with a man she’d just met, especially when she had another man waiting at home.

The thought of him drove me to intensify her pleasure. It aroused something in me, something that had been dormant for a long time: jealousy, possessiveness. No other woman had inspired it. Knowing she’d be going home to another man, possibly sharing her body with him tomorrow and every night thereafter, made me crazy. I shifted from tender and thorough to frenzied and desperate, obviously startling her, but I didn’t hear her complain as I captured her mouth, the condom packet still in my hand.

“Please,” she whispered, taking my mouth and giving as good as she got. “I need you.”

Those words again. There were only three others that would please me more, and I was starting to crave those almost as much as her body. Without even realizing it, she was throwing me way off course. Or maybe we were just charting a new course together.

I wasted no time shedding my clothes and sheathing myself. I couldn’t wait to plunge inside her, to touch her in places she hadn’t been touched in years. I knew I could give her something no one else could. She’d shared the darkest parts of herself with me, and I intended to use that to give her the intense pleasure she thought was lost to her forever. I had no doubt her lover was in the dark about the things she really liked, and that put me at a decided advantage. This was war, and I intended to win at all cost. My eyes locked with hers as I pushed her legs back. I entered her in one deep thrust and tipped her knees to just the right angle to maximize her pleasure.

“Oh my God,” she cried, gripping my biceps. “That feels incredible.”

When I’d shed all my clothes, I’d exposed myself to her in a way I’d never intended. All she had to do was turn on the bedside lamp, and she’d know who I was. Determined to keep her distracted so she wouldn’t consider the light, I plunged into her with reckless abandon, my slight grip on sanity the only thing driving me.

“Yes, deeper, harder…”

“Harder, faster, deeper” had been her mantra back in the day. I was fucking her so hard the headboard was beating a staccato against the wall, probably waking the people next door. But I didn’t care about them. I cared about her and her pleasure. That was the only thing that mattered to me. Not my pleasure or my orgasm. Hers.

“Come for me, sweetheart.”