Lightning Strikes (The Almeida Brothers Trilogy #3) (21 page)

“I could be with you,” he said, his hooded eyes searching hers.  Their lips met, and he tightened his fingers around hers, picking up his pace.  “I could really be with you, Nina.”

“Me?” she asked, sleepiness from their lovemaking lacing her voice.  “Me, the hurricane?”

He matched her smile but felt his own vanish the instant a wave of pleasure shot through him unexpectedly.  He gritted his teeth and fought it.

She saw it happen and placed another kiss on his lips.  “It’s okay,” she whispered, kissing him again.

He gasped against her lips.  “When we get back to New York—” His voice broke when he felt the autopilot wavering, felt the control slipping away, and nearly cursed himself when he realized he might not be able to get her to her fourth, fifth, sixth orgasm.  At least, not tonight.  “I want to be with you,” he gasped to his finish.

She released one of his hands and reached up to circle it around his neck.

He tucked his head into her shoulder, jamming his eyes shut.

“It’s yours, Jack,” she whispered.

He screamed his release into her shoulder, slamming deep, and closing his eyes against every twitch of his dick.

This time, it was her who waited him out.  Waited for every tremor to leave his body, every jolt, every unconscious thrust, until they were both laying still, too spent to move another muscle, or even say another word.

***

She stirred awake, reaching for him, but all her hungry fingers found were wrinkled white sheets.  Her heart battled her ribcage.  When a mysterious, haunting melody floated into the bedroom and sped it up even more, she realized Jack’s absence wasn’t what had woken her up, but the music.  The tempo.  The melancholy.  It drew her out of her slumber and out of the bed.

The music whispered to her and moved her across the room.  She pulled a plush white robe from the closet with delicate hands, wrapping it around her body.

The music swelled and then sank, over and over, more poignant each time, slicing her heartstrings, moving her to the door.

She leaned on the frame, gazing into the living area.  Moonlight spilled in through the tall windows, bearing down on him like a spotlight, illuminating the deep curve of his back, hunched over the grand piano.

His fingers flowed across the keys like water, the frown on his face growing stronger along with the music.  His brows pulled tighter as the melody escalated, and eased as it descended.  His shoulders collected when he struck a difficult note and relaxed when he completed it.  Back and forth, his head swayed, moving along with the beat.

Nina breathed in deep as some sections took her breath away, eliciting feelings she couldn’t quite place or understand.

Tightening her robe around her body, she made her way toward him.

Eyes lowered, focused on the keys; he didn’t see her until she was just a few feet away, but when he did, he jolted.  His fingers and the music came to a jarring stop, and he gasped, straightening.

Nina jolted, too, and stopped moving toward him, her eyes wide in his.

The blush that hit his cheeks was deeper than she’d ever seen it, turning every inch of his skin cherry apple red.  The color traveled down his neck and through his chest.  She was sure even his arms were tinted crimson.

She smiled, resuming toward him.  She nodded at the piano, leaning her hip on it.  “What was that song?” she asked.  “I feel like I’ve heard it before, but I can’t remember where.”

He looked out of the window, at the light beaming in, waiting for his skin to cool, and then his eyes fell to the keys.  “Beethoven.”  He raised his eyes to hers.  “Moonlight Sonata.”

“It was the same song that was playing in the cab.  Back when we first met.  Remember?”

He kept his eyes on the keys.  “I remember.”

She tapped her fingers against the shiny piano top.  “You were playing the notes on the seat.  You even helped that homeless man when he was playing it at the train station.”

His blush deepened.

“You play beautifully.”  She smiled, leaning her elbows on the piano.  “It was really,
so
beautiful, Jack.  I was actually getting teary eyed over there.”

“It was choppy,” he whispered.

“Huh?” Nina’s mouth fell.  “It was
breathtaking. 
You’re crazy.”

His eyes remained on the keys, mumbling, “The A was too sharp…” His fingers trickled over the ivories, gentle enough not to make a sound.  “The melody got away from me…”

“What in God’s name are you talking about?”  She leaned deeper.  “Look, I’m no classical music buff. But I know enough to know that Beethoven is responsible for some of the most complicated compositions in the world… ever.  People practice their whole lives to play that song as beautifully as you just did.  The emotion. The rise and fall.  The frustration.  The
sadness
.  I felt it, Jack…” She waited for his eyes to meet hers.  “And I’d like to hear more.”

The blush was back.  This time, it nearly stretched from his strong jaw down to his belly button.  “No,” he said.

Nina stretched deeper into the piano, laying her chest on it.  She lifted her leg and climbed on top of it, crawling toward him.

His eyes rose to hers, slowly.

“I’ve never been so turned on,” she whispered, moving sensuously.  “Watching you play. 
Hearing
you play.  It made me wet, just watching you.”

He followed her with shyly hooded eyes, fighting a slow, boyish smile.

She stretched out on top of the piano, feeling her robe fall open, and her nipples brush the cool, slippery surface.

He took in the sight, and a moment later, his fingers trembled over the keys, playing the first note.  It rang into the quiet air just as his eyes found hers again.

Nina gasped.  If she thought the beauty of the music had taken her hostage from the bedroom, it was only because she’d yet to feel it rumbling underneath her, thanks to his talented fingers.  She felt every key, every escalation, and every descent.  She felt the darkness of the melody that was, somehow, so illuminating.  She felt the power in his eyes climb into her body and become a part of her.

Somehow, as the music made her lighter, it drove his face into a grimace.  Frowning as he played certain keys, lips downturned as he moved past certain parts, shoulders stiffening as he shook his head.

“You’re beautiful,” Nina whispered, but it was as if he hadn’t heard her.

As he finished the first movement, she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

***

Jack didn’t open his eyes until the sun was coming up, his cheeks tingeing when he caught sight of Nina cradled on the pillow next to him.

She watched him with a coy smile.

He turned away, covering his own with his hand.

“You’re blushing,” she accused, her voice still a horse whisper as she reached out and tapped his nose.

He caught her wrist in his hand, meeting her eyes as he kissed the back of it.  “I don’t blush.”

“The hell you don’t.  You were blushing all night last night.  Especially when you got between my legs on top of that piano. For a minute, I was sure those red cheeks would be permanent.”

“Allow me to rephrase,” he said.  “I don’t blush; unless I’m balls deep in the most incredible pussy I’ve ever had in my life.”

“Incredible, huh?”

His smile fell in an instant.  “Last night was…” He took a deep breath.  “Incredible.”

“Incredible,
again
?  An orgasm really sucks the Aries lawyer right out of you.  What’s happened to my human thesaurus?”

“Your pussy happened.”  He kissed the inside of her wrist again.  “So wet.  So tight.”  He dipped his tongue out.  “So
warm
.  Fuck…”

She let her smiling eyes search his, watched as he placed soft kisses up and down her arm before she couldn’t take it anymore.  Sitting up, she straddled his thighs with her back facing him, tugging the waistband of his boxers down while looking over her shoulder.  She found his gaze riveted to the swells of her ass, and in seconds he had it under his greedy hands, squeezing.

His fingers found her entry just as his morning wood plopped out of his boxers.  She caught it before it could hit his stomach, sitting up and easing it inside.

She caught his tortured expression over her shoulder. “This is all it takes to tame you, Aries?”

His tightly closed eyes and downturned lips were answer enough as she sank down on his dick. 

When he buried his hands in his hair, his eyes still closed tight, lips releasing soft, breathy moans, she laughed and began a fast, determined bounce.

He’d lasted for hours the night before, but that morning she got him there in minutes, screaming the whole way.

***

“You’re going to kill me, woman,” Jack whispered after they’d woken up for the second time that morning—which was quickly approaching afternoon. Stirring in the sweaty remnants of their morning lovemaking, neither was in a hurry to roll out of bed and acknowledge the world.   “I can’t get last night out of my mind for two seconds.”  He shifted his head on the pillow they shared, smiling lazily.  “The way you moved on that piano… Jesus…”

“Only because I had good music to move to.”

His eyes danced across her face.  “You were just… elegant.”

She chortled, accepting his fingers as they clasped hands.  “No one has ever accused me of being elegant.”

“You can’t mask elegance under a crop top and red leather pants,” he whispered, letting his smiling eyes run a race across her face.  His fingers played against hers.  “It’s inherent.  The straight back.  The long neck.  The strength…” He took a deep breath.  “The strength that you don’t have to boast about, because it speaks for itself.  That’s real elegance, and it radiates from you.”

“I’m nowhere near as strong as you think I am.  How strong can someone be that’s running this hard, and this fast, away from their life?”

“Tell me,” Jack said.  “Tell me what you’re running from.  You already know mine.”

“A homicidal blonde bride is your easy answer, Jack, not your real answer.  I still have no idea what you’re really running from.”

“But you’ve got an inkling.  I don’t even have an
inkling
about you.”

“But you slept with me regardless.”  She squinted at him.  “You slut.”

He laughed heartily, making his smile bloom and his nostrils flare.

Her eyes fell to his lips, taking in the genuine happiness, and how it made him ten times more gorgeous than he already was.

“You should be a model,” she said, squeezing his hand.  “No wonder you’ve gone viral.”

“Please don’t remind me.”

“Just a stone cold fox. The hottest guy I’ve ever nailed, by a long shot.”

“You’re the fox,” he beamed.  “What’s amazing is that you don’t even know it.  If my little brother were here, he’d be hard at work trying to take you away from me right now.”

“So your brother has a thing for the sistas, too?”

“I think my brother has a thing for anything that’s mine.”  Jack thought about that, licking his lips.  “Or maybe it’s the other way around.”

“Ahh…” Nina sat up, intrigued, cradling her head.  “See; now I feel like we’re getting closer to what you’re really,
really
running from.  Has your brother made a habit out of stealing your girlfriends?”

“Like I said, maybe I stole her from him.”

“Her?  So just one girl.”  She shifted.  “The woman you left in the pews at your wedding?  Lila?”

Jack released her hand and plopped onto his back, staring at the ceiling.  “When my parents died…Chase was only thirteen.  It demolished him.  He loved our mother very much, and if it had been up to him, he would’ve gone with her.  I took guardianship of him so he wouldn’t get put into the system, but I couldn’t handle his indignation.  He was so,
so
angry.”  Jack met her eyes, and when she nodded, he continued.  “I wasn’t exactly a ray of sunshine myself.  Probably in worse shape than he was.  How could I help him? I couldn’t even help me.  So I drowned myself in work and found someone who could.  I hired Lila to tutor him in the classes he was failing, and to watch over him when I pulled long hours.  That’s what I
hired
her for, but now I know the real reason I went looking for Lila.  It’s because I was afraid to face him.”

“Why would you be afraid to face Chase? The one person who understood exactly what you were going through?”

“I made Chase give him the keys.”  Jack’s voice went vacant.

Nina sat taller, frowning.  “The keys?  You made him give who the keys?”

“He didn’t want to.  He begged… he
begged
me… but I wouldn’t hear it.  I couldn’t.”

Nina’s eyes widened, she took his bicep in her hand.  “Hear what Jack?”

But Jack was in another world, gazing ahead.  “All the anger I had before they died, the anger he always worked overtime trying to squash… it was like I transferred it all to him.  It was the most selfish thing…” His voice broke.  “The most selfish fucking thing I could’ve done.” He met her eyes.  “I guess I really am an Aries, huh?”