Breathless Descent (9 page)

She kicked off her shoes, her pretty pink-painted toenails somehow a seduction of their own. Every little detail about Shay enticed him. And when she started to wiggle her jeans down her hips, her breasts wiggling with them, he had to force himself to rein in his control, to sit back against the couch cushion, loose-limbed. Otherwise, he would take the lead, he would take control. He wanted her too much not to. But he also wanted to know what she’d do next.

And he got his answer—and it wasn’t what he expected—but then maybe it should have been. She discarded her jeans and before he could fully appreciate the neatly trimmed triangle of blond hair between her spectacular legs, she turned and sashayed toward the brown chair, her gorgeous backside on full display.

“Your turn,” she said, sitting down in the chair and crossing her legs, as if intentionally blocking his view. Her hands dangled off the high arms of the chair, her eyes lit with challenge. “Undress for me, Caleb.”

He sat there a minute and then laughed. Leave it to Shay to tempt, dare and tease. “And if I’d rather come over there and kiss every inch of your beautiful body?”

She lifted her chin and cast him a haunting look. “Then
I
might have to spank you.”

His cock twitched. He was going to make Shay pay for her tormenting. “We’ll see who’s spanking who,” he said, pushing to his feet. He stopped in front of her, tugged his shirt over his head and tossed it aside.

She sat up, hands by her sides, as if she intended to get up. He bent down and planted his hands on the sides of the chair. “Not so fast, Shay-Shay. I’m not done with you in the chair. You like playing with fire, don’t you?”

“I like playing with you, but I’d like it better without your pants.”

“If I get naked, I’m going to find my way inside you damn hard and fast,” he assured her. “And I still have some playing of my own to do.”

She inched forward in her chair, her breasts high, her nipples inviting, and reached for his pants. “I like hard and fast,” she said breathlessly, her hand stroking his cock, tracing the ridge. “And I can tell that’s exactly what you need.” She pressed her lips to his abs and then surprised him by palming his crotch at the same time that her tongue dipped beneath his belt line, to where the head of his cock bulged. Her tongue lapped the head, to the liquid pooling on the tip. She eyed him and licked her lips. “You taste like you want hard and fast.”

“Witch,” he murmured, going down on the ground in front of her, his hands settling on her thighs. “I’m not done playing yet.” He leaned down and kissed her knee, stroking her calf at the same time. “I want to know how you taste.”

“Just like a man,” she said. “Always have to be in control.”

“I can assure you,” he said, inching her legs apart, “if I had control, I’d have my pants off by now.” She’d had him under her influence since the day he’d met her. He ran his hands up her inner thighs. “You’re spectacular.” His thumbs brushed the dampness clinging to her blond curls, his gaze taking in the pretty pale skin beneath it. She sucked in a breath at the touch. Whispered his name.

He leaned in as if he would taste her, letting his hot breath linger above the dampness of her arousal, but he didn’t kiss her, didn’t lick her. She moaned a plea.

He slid his hands upward over her waist as he admired her breasts, filling his hands and then using his fingers and his tongue to tease her nipples. Suckling and licking. She arched her back and moaned, her hands in his hair. She was so free with him, so willing to offer herself. And he knew she wasn’t like this with everyone. Knew how prim and reserved she could be. His little she-wolf.

The thought drove him wild. He kissed her, twining his hands in her hair, suckling her tongue, nipping her lips. Hungry. So. Damn. Hungry. “Have I convinced you this is going to be good?”

She laughed, agreeing.

He smiled and untwined her arms from his neck. “Then you won’t mind if I do this.” He sat back on his haunches, gently tugged her forward, to the edge of the cushion. Then, his eyes pinned hers as he lifted one of her long sexy legs and drew her ankle to his lips. Her lips parted, her lashes fluttered.

Caleb licked, kissed and caressed a path up her leg before finding wet curls framing her swollen clit. He raised her other leg over his shoulder and then closed his mouth around her. She moaned and grabbed the arms of the chair, and he slid his fingers inside her. She arched into his mouth, into his touch, and he laved her with his tongue, unable to get enough of the sweet honey taste of her. Enough of her moans. She rocked desperately against his hand before spasming around his fingers, her body jerking with the intensity.

He tried to take her down slowly, to sensually tease her to final satisfaction, but the minute her spasms slowed, she lifted her head. “Now, please, will you take your pants off?”

Shay straddled him, his thick—and impressive—shaft pressed to her backside. Instinctively, she reached behind her and touched it, stroked.

Intensity, desire, brutal handsomeness—all etched his face. And so did pain. He reached for her hand and settled it in front of him. “Condom. I forgot condoms.” He squeezed his eyes shut as if he couldn’t bear the thought of stopping.

She leaned forward, pressed her lips to his, then whispered, “I’m on the pill.” She’d been engaged. She’d been sexually active. She’d never been sexually satisfied. Until tonight. His eyes lifted and she said, “Unless you’re worried about—”

He pulled her forward, her chest to his, and kissed her, a deep, demanding kiss that tasted possessive and angry. It stole her breath, it tightened her chest. It turned her on. His fingers tangled in her hair, and with a gentleness that defied what she felt in his kiss, he eased her head back, pinned her in a dark stare. “You were on the pill for the guy you almost married,” he said roughly.

His directness surprised her, but she’d never lied to Caleb, and she wasn’t going to start now. “Yes.”

“Did you love him?”

“No,” she said without hesitation. “I should have. He was a good man. But I didn’t.”

He studied her a long moment, as if deciding whether he believed her. His mouth met hers, and she pressed her hand to his chest, when an uncomfortable thought occurred. He’d been out of reach, out of touch. “Were you ever…married?”

“Never even close,” he told her.

They stared at one another, the air thick with implication. This time she let him kiss her. She had no idea where this was going, no idea why his answer had mattered so much, or why he’d cared about hers. A frenzied rush of kissing and touching. Of melding their bodies together, until he lifted her hips and guided her. Shay reached behind her and wrapped his shaft with her hand. It was hard and hot and pulsed in her hand. She gasped as she slid down him, felt him deep inside her. Caleb was inside her. They shared an intense look for several seconds before somehow, someway, they both ended up smiling.

Caleb’s hands slid around her backside and leaned her forward, her mouth near his before he smacked her cheeks. Shay’s breath caught in her throat at the erotically charged connection, her body clenching around his cock. Her eyes shutting. His fingers plucked at her nipples, rough and…exactly right. She’d never thought she liked rough. Not that, by any means, he was being too rough. No. He was exactly right.

Before she knew it, her nipple was in his mouth. Shay rocked her hips against his, the sway tugging the stiff peak, but he held on, suckling with delicious pressure, creating shock waves of pleasure to the center of her body. She wanted more. Of him. Of the sweet tug on her nipple. Reality slid away. There was only Caleb, and the ache to feel him deeper and harder. And this blissful sense of not thinking…not wondering what he was thinking. Knowing he wanted what she did on some level, that threw inhibition to the wind.

But the erotic tension, the sexual frenzy, shifted yet again. Shifted in the depths of a kiss. Turned to a slow seductive dance of their bodies that settled around them with the warmth of shared emotion. Soft touches, shared looks. Gentle, satisfying touches. Shay felt the edge of orgasm only seconds before it rushed over her. She moaned into Caleb’s mouth and felt her breath catching in her throat. The first spasm jerked her body, the feel of him inside unbelievably good. She would have moaned if she’d been capable. Instead, she buried her face in Caleb’s neck and clung as one ripple after another clamped down on his body and sent darts of pleasure all through her limbs. A low guttural sound slipped from Caleb as he pressed her hips down and thrust hard inside her. She felt the pulse of his release as his hand came to her head, and he leaned his face into her neck. Shay relaxed against Caleb. “Mmm,” she murmured softly, utterly sated.

They didn’t move for some time, holding each other, saying nothing, doing nothing, but just…being. A little piece of reality slid back into her mind and Shay swatted it away. But it came back, and she wondered if her silent satisfaction might be his silent guilt.

She pulled back to look at him, cupping his face in her hands. “Is this where we have an awkward ‘after’ moment? Whoops, we just had sex.”

“After is a long time away, sweetheart,” he said and pushed to his feet, her body still wrapped around his. “Where’s the bedroom?”

“I have a sunrise jump,” he reminded her, his lips brushing her shoulder.

Shay shivered against the touch at the same instant that her stomach clenched. He was leaving. This was where that awkward moment happened. The goodbye and we’ll talk. Later. Or maybe they wouldn’t. This was that forbidden temptation satisfied. Only, she wasn’t satisfied. Not even close. But now, she’d know if this were nothing but that for him. Now she’d have to move on. She inhaled. And she would. If this was a “bye, see ya” kind of thing to him, she’d move on. She’d finally move on. But it was going to hurt.

He smacked her on the backside playfully. “So get up, Shay-Shay. We have to leave in fifteen minutes.”

“What?” she asked, rotating to her side to face him, resting her weight on her elbow. “I’m not going to jump out of a plane.”

“I didn’t think you were,” he said, scooting close to her. His hand settled possessively on her hip. “You can sleep in my trailer while I jump.”

“I…no. No, I’ll stay here.”

“Not a chance in hell,” he said. “I’m not leaving you here and have you start wondering if I’m having regrets.”

She wanted to deny she’d do such a thing, but instead asked, “Are you?”

“My only regret will be getting out of bed,” he said. “But the very fact that you asked confirms it. I know you, Shay. You’re already thinking too much about what I might be thinking, and fretting over the possibilities. If you’re with me, and you want to know what I am thinking or feeling, then you can ask. Better yet, I’ll tell you, so you don’t have to ask. I don’t want you conjuring it up in your head because I had to run off like this.”

“I’ll be asleep,” she claimed, though it was doubtful. He was right. She’d be awake—fretting. “I won’t have time to conjure anything.”

He moved closer, his gaze flickering over her breasts for a hot instant. “If you come with me,” he said, his fingers caressing her cheek, “I can finish my jump and then climb into bed with you and go back to sleep. We can wake up and do the morning after, the right way.”

“Which is what?”

“Waking up next to each other, making love and then eating a big breakfast that all the lovemaking made a necessity.”

Her chest tightened. “Caleb,” she said softly, “what are we doing?”

“That’s what we’re figuring out, sweetheart,” he said. “But so far, whatever it is, I like it.”

She opened her mouth for a “what if,” and he kissed her. “We’re figuring it out, Shay. Once and for all, we’re figuring it out.”

Shay inhaled a hard-earned breath and nodded, but tension curled in her body, a warning they were treading on dangerous territory. But then he kissed her all over again, and the only thing she cared about was the next silky caress of his tongue. And the enticing idea of waking up next to him, in his bed.