Raw Exposure (9 page)

“Must? No. But I love the way your eyes sparkle indignantly when I do.” He winked and walked off toward a door she assumed led inside.

She followed with an amused sigh. His place was open and also as spotless as the garage had been. She gazed about the condo. Tile and hardwood floors and stark white walls with some framed pictures, which to her felt out of place. It deserved to be mentioned that she wasn’t all-knowing of what made Reeve tick, so perhaps it did fit him.

Stainless steel appliances graced his kitchen, and a large glass window area overlooked Chesapeake Bay. She smiled as she stared down at the boats out there at night, their lights beacons through the darkness.

“Nice place.” She peeked over her shoulder at him.

He didn’t respond just jerked his head in silent indication to follow, ambled down to an open door, and gestured inside.

“Here you are. I’ll have the bed made up in moments.” He paused and swung around toward her, his eyes liquid heat. “Unless you want to stay in my bed, with me.”

She didn’t pretend to think on it. Sure, they may go toe to toe and argue but the sparks never diminished between them. Sparks which had been there from the very beginning. There was no declaration for the future; this was all about the here and now.

Affrica stepped flush to him and dragged her tongue along her bottom lip as her arms simultaneously wound around his neck. The pain of her injuries drifted to the back of her mind.

“Dinna wish it any other way.”

A deep rumble rose from his chest, and his hands settled along her lower back. They stared at one another, breaths coming shallow and fast. Her exhaustion faded away with each breath she took, the rich and heady scent of Reeve Leighton giving her energy.

Reeve flexed his fingers before he removed them to curve along the sides of her face. His thumbs traced her bottom lip before he lowered his mouth to hers.

Finally.

Since his impromptu and way-too-short kiss outside Godric’s country club, Towering Oaks, her mind recalled very little else. He didn’t take and demand. No, Reeve gently licked along her lips before sliding his tongue along the seam, seeking entrance.

She opened for him, heart hammering against her ribs. He tasted decadent and masculine. She moaned and sank closer. He stroked everywhere, sides, roof, and along her tongue. Against her belly pressed the evidence of his hard arousal.

“Jeez,” he rasped, tearing his mouth from hers. “So fucking sweet.” Another deep kiss. “So damned addictive.”

She felt the same. Except she’d substitute masculine for sweet. Still, he
was
damned addictive. He kissed her again, and she forgot all else. He lowered his hands to her ass and, with a singularly smooth motion, lifted her. Without him saying it, she wrapped her legs around his waist.

When he stopped walking and placed her on her feet, she was ready to come at the slightest touch. A row of lights shone from the far side of the room. She held onto him, her limbs a bit shaky, until she was confident of standing alone, then she reached for the buttons on his silvered green shirt.

Reeve stood immobile as she undid each pearled button, until the silk hung open, exposing his muscular torso. A moment’s pause before she shoved the material off his shoulders to flutter to the floor. A soft golden tan dusted his skin, and she chewed on her bottom lip while her fingers familiarized themselves with his defined abs.

Silent, she reached for the black leather belt at his waist. His hand captured her wrist, and she regarded him with a slight tilt of her head. Heat swirled in his gaze, and she felt an answering tug in the pit of her stomach.

“Article for article, sweetcheeks.” He released her.

With a nod, she lowered her hands to the hem of her own shirt. Again, he stopped her. “Only fair I get to do this. You removed mine.”

Her belly clenched tighter. And so it went. Article for article. Piece for piece. By the time she faced a naked Reeve, she burned. Inside and out. She’d honestly expected a rush, tearing clothes off and going up in flames from the explosive heat.

He exhibited total control and took his time. His eyes kept her on the cusp with their passionate need. His fingers touched her ever so lightly as he removed her clothing, leaving her desperate for more.

She ran her hungry gaze over his nude physique. She lingered on the length of his jutting shaft. Drops of pre-cum caused the broad mushroom head to glisten. He was magnificent.

“Come here.” He beckoned her, and she stepped close, savoring the first experience of pure skin on skin. So warm. So strong. So aroused.

He carried her to his bed and laid her back upon the king-sized mattress. She stared at him as he looked down upon her.

“You’re a beautiful woman, sweetcheeks.”

He cut short her response by cupping a breast and rolling the tip in his fingers. She gasped at the sensation, arching into his touch. He gave a wicked grin and ducked his head. His mouth showered attention on her other breast, and he kept it up until she cried in pleasure to the room.

Reeve kissed his way down her chest and belly until he sat poised over the apex of her thighs. She tensed, waiting for the first touch, only to moan in frustration when he moved past. His rich chuckle filtered back to her.

“All in good time, sweetcheeks. I want to enjoy you at my leisure.”

And he did.

When Reeve moved back up her and kissed her, she tasted the heady combination of their flavors. Fire coursed through her veins, and she craved but one thing now. Him. Deep within her.

She watched from behind lowered lids as he opened a condom and rolled it over his turgid length. Her legs widened in silent invitation. He teased her with just the broad head of his cock before sliding into her, inch by torturously slow inch.

“Fuck,” he uttered.

His expletive jerked her lids back up again. He had a clenched jaw, and she followed a droplet of sweat as it rolled down his face and neck. She couldn’t speak. Never had she felt so full. He seemed to touch places she’d not even been aware of. She shifted beneath him, eliciting a groan from him.

“Move.” It took her a few attempts to get the word out.

He pinned her with his gaze and did as she’d ordered. Back and forth, he built up a rhythm which had her toes and fingers curling into the bedspread. They moved in the perfect sync of a dancing duo. She undulated. He rolled. She arched. He thrust.

So close and yet so far was completion. The tingling from her approaching orgasm had her panting his name as he continued on with the deep, penetrating strokes. Her legs locked high around his waist, the angle hurtled her closer and closer to the edge.

“Oh…I…harder…” Her babbling continued as their sweaty bodies worked in tandem with one another.

She focused on the set of his jaw, the passion in his eyes, and the pleasure of his touch. Reeve bent forward so his mouth hovered near her ear. He smelled of sweat and sex.

“Come with me,” he murmured, in a darkly seductive tone.

Nothing else need be said. She arched, coming hard, a cry of passion exploding from her mouth as colors flickered behind her lids. She tightened around him as he powered twice more within her and came with a roar all his own. She rode out the tremors until she sank bonelessly back into the mattress. His body followed, a hot and welcome weight.

Damn!
They lay there, hearts pounding and slowly starting to calm. She wriggled her fingers, amazed to find them in the thick locks of his hair, which was dampened by their exertions.

He pushed up and stared at her. His gaze hooded and almost mysterious yet she could still see the heat in them. It hit her in that moment. Her life had just changed.

Chapter Six

Reeve leaned against the doorjamb and stared at Affrica while she slept. Hell, he’d only just recently woken up himself. They had both fallen asleep after the first time of making love. He’d never been so sated, not to mention never so drained, after.

Two more times since then they’d done a repeat. Each time for him, it got better and better. He expelled a sharp breath and rubbed his bare chest.

Affrica slept diagonally across his bed, lying on her stomach. Her head almost fully covered by a pillow, keeping morning’s first light from her. He’d woken up a full hour before his alarm would have gone off and spent most of it watching her as she continued to slumber.

Now, it was time to wake her. He padded to the side of the bed her head was nearest and sat. With one hand, he trailed his first two fingers up the curvature of her spine. She moaned low and shifted beneath his touch. Gathering her hair to one side, he bent and kissed a bared shoulder.

“Mmm.”

“Wake up, sweetcheeks.”

“Time to go already?” Her sleep-laden voice was deep and sensual, stroking him to an even harder state.

“You are welcome to stay as long as you desire.” He realized how very true the words were once he spoke them.

She rolled onto her back and gave him a sexy smile. “I have to work.”

He smoothed some of her hair back and paused when he felt the remnants of a scar. Stroking his fingers along it, he met her shuttered gaze.

“What’s this from?”

Affrica sat up, ignored the sheet which showed off her beautiful breasts as it pooled at her waist. “Motorcar accident.” Her accent thick and difficult to understand as her body held rigid.

“Did you—”

“Leave it alone, Reeve.” She voice left no room for argument. “Now, come shower with me.”

She stood and sauntered away until all he could see was her hand. Her finger crooked, and he went, kicking off his sweats on the way.

Once they stood under the pounding heated spray, she grabbed his cock, pumping it with her wet hand as she sank to her knees before him. Fuck! He’d been dreaming of this since the day he met her and had zoned in on her full lips. Dropping his head back against the smooth tiled wall, he held his breath in anticipation.

Her mouth was warm as it slid over the head of his shaft. She ran her tongue along the rim before slipping farther onto him, bringing him deeper into her. His blood pounded as she worked up and down his length. Her fingers fisted below her mouth to continue applying pressure on him. With her other hand, she began to caress and knead his balls.

Lightning spiked in him, and he locked his legs to keep upright. Adjusting his head, he peered down at the woman on her knees before him. Her eyes closed she had a look of contentment and desire on her face. As if she’d sensed his gaze upon her, she looked at him.

Hunger, raw and powerful, poured from her brown orbs to engulf him in their fire. He reached for her, dug his fingers into her thick wet hair, and began thrusting his hips.

She relinquished control to him. Both of her hands repositioned to hold his thighs, and he could feel the soft bite of her nails in the back of his legs. The suction, her heat, her wetness, all of it combined to hurtle him closer to the edge. His balls tightened, and he knew he couldn’t last much longer. His hips powered faster, and he stared at her. Water from the showerheads cascaded around her. Her dark nipples were peaked and taut. Between her slightly spread legs, he could see the black hair which hid her heated core.

She drew harder, and her fingers dug in to his flesh more. Close, so close. He began to pull back, only to stop when a low rumble escaped her. She kept him there, and unable to withstand the torture any longer, Reeve erupted in her mouth.  Affrica didn’t release him until she had gotten everything from him.

The second her mouth freed him, he dragged her up, spun them so her back was against one wall, lifted and lowered her so she was impaled on his rock hard shaft.

“Oh,” she sighed, lids fluttering.

He powered home into her with deep, barely controlled thrusts. Her lids lowered, hiding her eyes. Straight white teeth captured her lower lip as she undulated with him.

“Look at me,” he growled.

Hazy eyes met his demand, and he slammed his mouth over hers, his tongue moving with the same furious pace as his hips. When he tore his mouth away, her hands were anchored on his shoulders, her eyes closed, and a language he didn’t speak poured from her mouth. This, this was what he wanted. Her so far gone, she forgot to speak in English. Her throaty speech heightening his own pleasure.

Without slowing, he reached between them and flicked his thumb over her clit, and she screamed as her body arched closer to his. The power of her orgasm, the feel of her velvet walls milking his cock, and the fact it was Affrica, a woman he’d been dreaming and obsessing over for months, sent him right after her. And, for the first time in years, he released himself inside a woman without thought or care of protection.

Spent and exhausted, he slowly lowered them to the floor of the shower, his cock still deep inside her. Affrica lowered her head and buried it against the side of his neck, her breathing still coming fast and sharp. Eventually, she pushed up so he could see her gaze.

“Well now,” she said with a grin. “That ‘tis a lovely way for a person to begin their day.”

His cock twitched inside her as her accent, still heavy and thick, flowed over him. He trailed his hands up her arms, over her shoulders, and down to her breasts.

“Then, stay, wake this way again tomorrow.”

She shifted on him, and he had to bite back his groan. This woman was going to be the death of him. Leaning closer until their foreheads touched, she sighed.

“Ya know, times like this ya’re a nice enough man, Reeve Leighton. Unfortunately, I canna stay. I’ve work ta do.” She brushed her lips over his lightly. “But I do thank ya for a wonderful night and morning.”

He halted her from getting off his lap, gripping her shoulders and flexing up into her. Her gaze smoldered, and she flashed him an impish grin.

“One for the road,” she whispered as she began to ride him.

Two hours later, he walked her to the door of the train station, carrying her bag for her. He observed her from his periphery. Face scrubbed fresh and clean, she wore no makeup. Her thick wavy hair had been drawn back into a ponytail and moved with every step she took.