His One Desire (9 page)

He pulled back suddenly. “Spread your legs.”

Her knees were like jelly but she managed it somehow,
widening her stance and wondering why he—

Oh, God. He dropped to a crouch in front of her, and he was
staring at her pussy like it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. She
remembered last night, touching herself in front of him, and how Luke’s eyes on
her had made her so hot she thought she’d combust.

He used his thumbs to open her wide, the cool air on her
hidden flesh making her shiver.

“Do you want my mouth?” he asked, looking up at her.

Was he giving her a choice? “I—I’ve never really been
comfortable with—”

He leaned forward and licked her, the flat of his tongue
like wet velvet.

She squeaked, and then she felt rather than heard his
chuckle, a low vibration against her body.

No choice, then. The thought made her dizzy with pleasure.

He dug in deeper, spreading her wider. She’d never been this
open, this exposed. The hard pressure of his thumbs was half pleasure, half
pain, while his tongue was a soft seduction, teasing sensation from her as he
explored her secret places.

I’m yours.

It was the answer to what he was doing to her, the claim he
was staking. Surrender was in her very bones, in the arch of her spine as her
body rippled with desire. She would open to him utterly. She would give him
whatever he wanted.

She slid her hands into his hair as he drove her higher, his
tongue thrusting inside her. And now his thumb was on her clitoris and she was
so close, so close.

Then his hands gripped her hips and his mouth was
everywhere, devouring and consuming, licking and sucking and biting. When she
felt his teeth on her aching clit the sudden pain ignited an orgasm that ripped
through her body. As she cried out his name, only his hands on her hips kept
her from falling to the ground.

She still hadn’t fully recovered when Luke rose to his feet.

“Take off my clothes,” he said, his voice rough.

God, yes. She started undoing buttons, her hands shaking and
clumsy, and when she’d finished she swept the shirt open and pressed her lips
to his chest. He put a hand to the back of her head, holding her there for a
second. Then he pulled back.

“Keep going.”

She undid his belt and pulled it loose. Then she lowered his
zipper, revealing black boxers stretched over his erection, which was as long
and thick and hard as she’d always imagined.

“You’re not done,” he reminded her. She fumbled at his waist
and pulled his pants and boxers down together, and after he’d kicked off his
shoes he stepped free of his clothes and stood there, big and powerful and
naked and aroused, and she wanted to touch and taste him more than she’d ever
wanted anything in her life.

“Take me in your mouth,” he said, and when she knelt down
she relished the rough floor against her knees and the cool air on her skin and
the sudden ache in her still-wet pussy as she wrapped her hand around the base
of his cock and swirled her tongue around him.

God, he was big. She’d never been a size-matters girl before,
but Luke had just changed her mind.

He cupped the back of her head as she took as much of him as
she could, and a rush of pleasure sang along her nerves. When his hand pressed
harder, forcing her to take him deeper, her pussy throbbed in response.

Then suddenly he pulled away.

He was still for a moment, and Kali sensed him fighting for
control. Then he grabbed a handful of towels and tossed them on the floor.

“On your back,” he told her. He reached for his pants,
grabbing his wallet from the pocket. “Spread your legs.”

She lay down in a nest of towels as Luke pulled out a condom
and tore it open.

“Please,” she said, suddenly desperate to have him inside
her. “Please.”

He dropped to his knees, his eyes meeting hers in the
moonlight. “You’re so beautiful. And I’ve wanted you for so long.”

“I’ve wanted you, too. I’ve never wanted anything more.”

His hands gripped her thighs. “Wider,” he said, spreading
her legs as far apart as they would go, sending a throb of pleasure through her
at the helplessness of her position.

He settled over her then, supporting his weight on his arms
as his head dipped down to her breasts. His mouth teased her nipples as his
cock teased her pussy, pressing against her without penetration until she
almost screamed.

 He kissed his way up to her neck as she writhed
beneath him, trying to arch herself onto his cock.

“Beg for it,” he said, his mouth against her throat.

“Please, Luke. Please—”

“Please what?”

“Fuck me!”

He invaded her body with one powerful stroke, burying
himself inside her and staying there, grinding against her clit until she
clutched at his knotted arms. “Oh, God, Luke—”

He began to move then, pulling out and pushing back in, and
he was so big and hard and perfect she dug her nails into his biceps.

His head jerked up when he felt her claw at him. And
suddenly he was pounding into her, his expression raw and fierce and exultant.

“Kali,” he said over and over again. “Kali.”

Her climax hit like a tsunami. She threw her head back as
she called out Luke’s name, and he slammed into her one more time before he
stiffened with his own orgasm, his body shuddering with aftershocks as he
collapsed on top of her.

It took a long, long time to come back to earth.

She had never felt like this before. She was floating in a golden
haze, her body buzzing and humming. Luke’s head was buried against her
shoulder, and she threaded her fingers into his hair in a spasm of tenderness.

“Mmmmm,” he said, a low rumble of pleasure that vibrated
against her skin.

He shifted much sooner than she was ready for him too, and
she murmured in protest.

“I’m too heavy for you,” he told her, rolling onto his side
and pulling her with him, cradling her against his chest.

His arms tightened around her as she nestled against him.

“That was incredible,” she said, still boneless with
pleasure.

Luke hesitated before answering. “It wasn’t too rough for
you?”

“God, no.” She thought about that for a moment. “I wonder
what that says about me. Do you think I feel some deep inner need to be
dominated and will require years of expensive therapy?”

He laughed then, a rich, happy sound that reverberated
through both their bodies.

“What’s so funny?” she asked suspiciously, even though it
was impossible to keep from smiling with him.

“Nothing. Nothing. I—” he stopped suddenly. “I feel very,
uh, fond of you right now,” he finished, and Kali knew with a thrill of
certainty what he’d stopped himself from saying.

“You didn’t answer my question,” she said, pressing a kiss
into his breastbone.

He smoothed a hand into the dip of her waist and up the
curve of her hip. “I think you have a very specific need to be dominated by me
sexually…just like I have a very specific need to dominate you sexually. But
you’d never let me dominate you any other way and I would never try. You can
run circles around me intellectually, and emotionally…” he paused. “I guess I’d
say we’re equals. Not that that’s saying much.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…I don’t think either one of us can lay claim to much
emotional maturity. Not when we’ve never let go of the past.” There was a note
of determination in his voice, and Kali felt her muscles tensing as she sensed
what was coming.

This time, though, she wasn’t going to run.

Luke pulled back so he could look her in the eyes.

“Truth or dare?” he asked.

“Truth.”

As he looked down at Kali lying in the circle of his arms, a
surge of love and protectiveness went through him that had nothing to do with
the mind-blowing sex they’d just experienced.

They belonged together. He’d never been so sure of anything
in his life. But before they looked to the future, they needed to put the past
behind them for good.

“Why did you stand me up on prom night?”

Kali took a deep breath. “I can’t believe it took us ten
years to have this conversation.”

He brushed the back of his knuckles across her cheekbone.
“Better late than never. Was it your dad? Did he say you couldn’t go with me?”

She nodded. “That was part of it. He said…” she paused, and
he could see her face tense with the memories. “It was after Lisa James accused
you of being the father of her baby. Do you remember that?”

It wasn’t something he could ever forget. The situation with
Lisa had changed him, had made him think more seriously than he ever had before
about his relationships with girls, and the possible consequences—not just for
him, but for them.

“Yeah, I remember.”

“You told me you’d always used protection when you were with
her, and I believed you. And of course Lisa admitted later that you weren’t the
father. But that was after the prom. Before the truth came out, when everyone
still thought it was you, my dad said…” she paused again. “He said you were
trash, that all you were interested in was sex, that you’d screw me and dump me
just like you’d dumped Lisa.”

It wasn’t a surprise, but it still stung. Not just because
of what Kali’s father had said, but because it reminded him of the way he’d
felt about himself then. His own father, Kali’s father, the way everyone had
been so quick to condemn him…it had all been a confirmation of how he felt
about himself, deep inside.

Maybe that’s why he hadn’t fought harder for Kali back then.
Because on some level, he didn’t think he deserved her.

“Did you believe him?”

Kali shook her head. “I didn’t think you were trash, or that
all you wanted from me was sex. But…”

“But what?”

“I knew how many girls you’d been with. And you always broke
up with them, never the other way around. It was hard for me to imagine that I
could ever…I don’t know, hold your interest. And the sex part…” She hesitated.
“After you kissed me that day, I knew…I felt…that you wanted me. And that was
absolutely terrifying. I wanted you too, more than I’d ever wanted anything.
I’d always had a crush on you. But I was so inexperienced, so awkward and hopeless
about guy-girl stuff. At first I told myself it would be okay, that you would
show me what to do. But then…”

“What?”

She sighed. “It’s so humiliating to talk about things that
seemed important back in high school. Saying it out loud makes it seem stupid,
but the emotions back then were so powerful…”

“I know,” he said softly. “And it’s the emotions that we
remember. That keep us from moving forward.”

She sighed again. “Well. About a week before the prom, I
overheard Jeff Crane and Mick Raleigh talking.”

“I have a bad feeling already.”

“Mick said he couldn’t understand why you’d asked me to the
prom. Jeff said you must be on a cherry-popping kick, but that you’d get bored
with me after a week or so and be back in action.”

“Assholes.”

“Then you joined them, and—”

“Shit.”

“They didn’t say anything to you about me, specifically.
They just started talking about sex, and how much better it is when you’re with
a girl who knows what she’s doing. And you agreed.”

“Shit,” he said again. He shook his head. “I don’t even
remember that conversation.”

She smiled up at him. “That’s probably because you talked
with your friends like that all the time. You were just shooting the breeze,
the way teenage boys do. If they’d mentioned my name or insulted me, that would
have been different, and you would have defended me. But at the time I didn’t
think of that. And I couldn’t forget it no matter how much I tried. I didn’t
think you’d dump me, necessarily, after we had sex…but I thought you’d be
bored. I thought you’d regret asking me out, and wish that we’d just stayed
friends. And then…”

“It gets worse?”

“My dad said that if I promised not to see you again, he’d
make sure you got that scholarship to UCLA—the one he was sponsoring. And if I
kept seeing you, he’d make sure that you didn’t…and he’d do everything he could
to keep you from having a career in Hollywood.”

“Jesus. What a—”

He stopped. What would he have done in her father’s place,
if he had a daughter like Kali?

He’d like to think he wouldn’t have resorted to bribery or
blackmail. But he would have done whatever he could to protect Kali from a guy
like him…or the guy he’d seemed to be.

He ran a hand over his face.

“What is it?” Kali asked.

“I always suspected something like that. That’s why I
refused to take the scholarship when they told me I’d won it. Even if I’d
earned it fair and square, I didn’t want to take anything from your father.”

Kali nodded. “I was so upset when I found out you’d turned
it down. I felt like I’d made this huge sacrifice for nothing, and of course
you didn’t even know. But when I tried to talk to you about it, you—”

She stopped, and he winced. After Kali had stood him up on
prom night, he’d cut her out of his life completely. He wouldn’t even look at
her in the hallways at school.

“I was such an asshole to you.”

“I deserved it. I was a coward. I should have talked to you,
should have told you what happened with my dad. We’d been such good friends up
to that point…I’d always been able to tell you anything. That was the worst
part, you know. Losing your friendship.”

He caught the glitter of tears in her eyes, and he pulled
her close. “Hey,” he murmured into her hair. “You’re never going to lose me
again, okay? I swear it.”

“I can’t believe it still hurts so much to think about. I
was so stupid back then, so—”

“That’s all over, Kali. It’s in the past. We’re not the same
people anymore. We’re capable of things now that we weren’t capable of then. At
least, I hope we are. I’d hate to think we haven’t learned a damn thing in ten
years.”