Rivals in Paradise (10 page)

That was the way men like him operated, and they left a long line of broken hearts behind them to prove it.

Since she wasn't about to tell Margie that Chase was mad because he didn't want to have a short, no-strings-attached affair with her, she just shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

Margie picked up her cloth and popped Cicely on the arm. “Don't shrug your shoulders when I'm asking you a question.”

Chase's eyes widened in outrage. “Ma, you can't just pop strangers with your cloth. There's nothing wrong with me. I'm fine,” he grumbled.

“Cicely's not a stranger. She's practically family! And judging by how irritated she has your normally smooth and untouchable self, she's probably the only woman who can handle you.” Margie smiled at Chase as he glowered.

Cicely giggled, which made Chase turn and narrow his eyes at her. “Margie, you are something else. Chase is fine. We're both fine. But I know I could use a plate of your excellent food. I haven't had anything else in Dahinda so far that compares.”

“And you won't have anything else that compares. I'll fix you a plate.” Margie glanced at her son. “How about you, Chase? You want something while I'm back there?”

“No, Ma. Just bring Cicely something. We're about to head out of here once she eats.” He gave Cicely another poignant stare.

She could tell.

He had made his decision.

He was going to do it. Or do her, as it were…

Hooray!

He must have mulled over her terms and decided they were for the best.

Perfect.

That was exactly what she wanted.

Wasn't it?

A
s she followed Chase into his home, so many things were going through her head. He had been pretty silent through the rest of their time at Margie's Rum Shack—so much so that she halfway expected him to take her back to the hotel instead of to his place.

But as soon as they entered his home, all of her second-guessing and wondering went out of the window. Chase was on her in a flash of steamy, scalding heat.

He pulled her into his arms as soon as the door closed and pressed her against the wall in the entryway. Their lips met, and the point of contact
was electrifying. His kiss was so demanding, she knew that if he could have swallowed her whole he would have.

Just as his strong body pressed against hers, his lips pressed against her and into her, spilling forth a passion and desire that refused to be squelched. His tongue seemed to have a mind of its own as it traveled first around her lips and then through them, trailing her mouth and touching every erotic corner and crevice. The kiss was more than tasting and even more than devouring. This was some form of inhalation that had the opposite effect. The person doing the inhaling wasn't the one becoming inebriated. No, the one being inhaled was the one most impacted.

The drugging effect of Chase's kiss lulled her until she didn't know where he stopped and she began. She reached up and held his face in her caressing hands to try and still the storm, just a little, so that she could catch her breath. He responded by lifting her up onto the wall and cradling her on his strong, muscular thighs.

He pulled his mouth away from hers with so much effort you would have thought it almost killed him to do so.

He stared at her with a heat and desire that matched what was going on inside of her so completely, she had to close her eyes.

“Cicely, look at me.”

She opened her eyes and faced the passion. She felt the fire.

“I want you to know that I am only agreeing to your terms under duress. And I reserve the right to revisit my agreement if I feel the need to.”

She let her hands trail down from his face and hold on to his broad shoulders. With electric-fueled desire coursing through her body the way it was, the last thing she wanted to do was start some kind of haggling of terms with Chase.

“The ground rules are nonnegotiable, Chase.” If her feet had been on the ground instead of dangling at the sides of his thighs, she probably would have stomped them for emphasis.

Chased placed his hands between the wall and her behind and pressed into her some more.

She felt him, hard and pulsing with need.

“My terms are nonnegotiable, too, Cicely. I'll agree to your terms because you have me so open right now, I would probably agree to anything. But I reserve the right to change my mind.”

He pushed his hips forward, and the promise of what he had to offer made her rock her hips forward, too.

If only the barrier of their clothing weren't in the way.

He planted soft, teasing kisses down the side of her
face. “Take it or leave it, Cicely. It's the only way.” He pecked her lips once, twice. “Please, Cicely.”

“Fine. We have a no-strings affair. No questions. No promises. No problems. And you can reserve the right to change your mind if you feel the need. But—”

He cut her off with a kiss so potent it left her breathless. His tongue was almost acrobatic in its mission. It twirled and flipped and spun in her mouth as if it were the star attraction in the greatest show on earth.

She couldn't be outdone so early in the game, so she moved her tongue slowly in and out of his mouth, interrupting his pace, slowing it down but keeping the heat of the kiss. She arched her back and moved her hips, swiveling them and rocking them against the hard press of his masculinity.

He met her, rocking his own hips as he groaned.

He let her slide down off of the wall. His eyes were hooded in desire as he gazed at her. He lifted the hem of her sundress, his hand inching it up her thigh in a slow, seductive manner until he reached the part of her inner thigh closest to her core. He let his fingers move then. They moved her thong to the side and then entered her, first one, then two, stroking her and stirring up her desire. He moved his fingers as skillfully as he had moved his tongue, and soon she was moving her hips again. She moved in time
with his fingers, riding them until she cried out with a quick shuddering climax that took her by surprise.

Chase pulled her thong down, and somehow she found the coordination to step out of it. He pulled out a condom, unzipped his pants, freed himself and put the condom on. As he hiked up her sundress again, he lifted her from the floor and entered her so smoothly her gasp was delayed until she felt the fullness of all of him stretching her to her limits.

He held himself still, as if it would kill him to move. She used his stillness to get used to the breadth and depth of him.

“I'm apologizing ahead of time. Because this first time is going to be over much quicker than I want it to be.” He gritted his teeth when she moved her hips and held her still.

The pulsing heat radiated from his body to hers, and she didn't know how he managed to remain still. He relaxed a little, but he still didn't move.

“Like I was saying…I have to take the edge off now. After this, I'm going to take my time and make love to you slowly, over and over and over until—”

“Oh, just do it already, Chase! Dang!” She managed to swivel her hips a little and she even bounced. The feel of him inside of her was addictive. She could have sworn that she felt each throb and pulse of his sex, swelling and contracting inside of her, on the verge of exploding.

He grabbed her hips and pulled out to the tip before thrusting back in. He used his muscular thighs to bounce her behind like a soccer ball, up, down and around before repeating his withdrawal and thrusting motion. He was moving so fast she barely had time to scream when another, bigger orgasm shot through her like lightning. The sound that came out of her mouth was a strangled cry that sounded much like an angry cat.

Chase didn't let her call of the wild stop his clever hips. He kept rocking her, rocking in her, faster and harder. Her back slid up and down the wall so swiftly she could have sworn she was wearing a new groove into it. There had to be a mark on the wall the very width and length of her torso, the way he had her going.

Even though it felt like forever as he continued to thrust and she continued to meet his thrusts, it was actually only a few minutes before he had joined her with his own release.

“Cicely. Cicely. Cicely. Cicely.” He repeated her name over and over as he continued to stroke out the last of his orgasm.

Soon she found herself being lifted all the way into his arms as he slid out of her. She rested her head on his chest as he carried her, listening to his sure and steady heartbeat.

He took off her sundress when he stood her on
her feet and then picked her up again and placed her on the bed. She looked up into his sultry, seductive gaze and smiled.

“I'll be right back,” was all he said as he left the room.

She assumed he was going to get rid of the protection, but she had no idea. The only thing she could think of was how satisfied she felt. She'd never felt so utterly and completely sated in all of her life.

She settled into the bed and thought it wasn't exactly as soft and cushy as it appeared. The plush white down comforter and humongous white pillows were a cloud-like surface covering a sturdy and firm bottom. It was just as comfortable as she'd thought it would be, though. She sighed at that thought as her eyes closed and she nestled her head into the nearest pillow.

 

When Chase came back into the room after removing the protection, he found Cicely fast asleep. The slow rise and fall of her chest and the restful half smile on her lips was almost enough to make him just want to get in the bed and hold her until he went to sleep also.
Almost.

Cicely had awakened something in him that demanded more. And he had a feeling that even if he made love to her all night, or if they never left his
bedroom for the next four days of her vacation, it still wouldn't be enough.

He had no idea why he had agreed to her foolish ground rules. Although, watching her stretch and curl back into her restful pose, looking absolutely tantalizing in her nude glory, he got a pretty good reminder of why he had agreed.

Moved by the sudden urge to touch her, to be joined with her, to make passionate love to her again, he removed his clothing and climbed into bed with her. His mouth immediately found her nipples. He took one in his mouth and sucked it in, alternating between sucking and nibbling softly, moving from one nipple to the other until her eyes fluttered open and she gazed at him.

“Oh…” She smiled and caressed his face.

He had never thought a woman would be able to spark such strong emotions in him just by smiling at him. But then, he'd only recently been the recipient of Cicely's smiles as opposed to her rolling eyes and frowns. And given the way his heart jump-started and his entire body became energized, he was going to have to keep this woman in smiles for a long time.

He let her nipple go and smiled back at her. “I told you the next time would be slow, and that we'd get started as soon as we were done with the first time.” He captured her lips and kissed her awake, using his hands and that electric energy that sparked whenever
they touched to finish waking her up. He caressed her breast, moved down to her belly and stroked her core until she wrapped her arms around him and rocked against him.

He closed his eyes as he felt her hot, sticky, sweet nectar spilling onto his hand.

Such a waste…

He kissed his way from her neck to her core, taking the time to get another nip and nibble of her nipples on the way down. Once he reached the spot where he wanted to stay awhile, he spread her legs and feasted.

Cicely's eyes opened wide then. She couldn't believe what Chase was doing to her with his oh-so-talented mouth.

She had never really been a fan of oral sex. She had always said it was overrated and pondered who really wanted some guy slobbering around down there.

But now…

Now she knew that those other guys just weren't doing it right. Chase had her torn between climbing the bed to get away from his plundering mouth and grabbing his head so that he would never ever be able to stop.
Ever.

So she did some variation of both. She must have looked like a frantic mess. But she didn't care. How
could she care when Chase was making her feel so damn good?

When the orgasm hit her, the only thing that kept her tethered to the bed was his strong hands holding her in place. She thought he might have taken pity on her then and stopped his skillful, mind-altering assault. But his mouth just kept working her until she found herself crying out with another release, shorter than the previous one but no less powerful.

Was it possible to die from pleasure overload? When she felt him finally stopping, she could only sigh.

Finally, he must have realized that she couldn't take any more.

She could hear him beside the bed, opening the nightstand, and then she heard plastic ripping and he was back.

“Slow this time, Cicely.”

He inched inside of her, stretching her and filling her again, causing each of her already overstimulated nerve endings to pop and sizzle.

“Oh…” she sighed.

She couldn't really take any more. But she couldn't in good conscience turn down what he was offering.

When was the last time she'd felt anything this close to mind-blowing? Never. And where would she
get a chance to have her world rocked again after this vacation was over? Nowhere.

So she needed to get while the getting was good.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and lifted her hips from the bed, meeting his thrusts with her own and trying to give as good as she got.

“I knew it would be this way between us, Cicely. It's so damn good, I can't even figure out how to tell you. So, I'll just show you.”

Chase moved his hips in a slow, winding motion as he plunged deep and withdrew. She felt like he was marking out every vacant space inside of her, and those spaces were just satellites for the rest of her body—because each place his stroke hit caused other parts of her to react until she was feeling him deep in her heart.

Her heart raced with desire and devastation because she knew she would not leave this island the same way she had come.

She'd come thinking she was hurt after finding Isaac in her bed with another woman. But she knew that hurt would never match the hurt she was going to feel when her affair with Chase was over.

He kissed her neck, sucking and marking her. She turned her head, giving him full access as she rocked with him until another orgasm caused her to go still.
Her eyes were wide open, and her mouth opened to let out a scream of ultimate completion.

He captured her scream with a kiss, his tongue mimicking the sure and steady stroke of his hips.

She let her hands trace every delectable inch of his muscular frame that she could reach.

He felt amazing to touch.

He made her feel amazing.

When he lifted his mouth from hers and stared at her with that wonderful gleam of a man on a mission in his eyes, she couldn't help it. She went into overdrive. She moved on a mission of her own, and she wasn't going to be satisfied until she heard him screaming her name.

She lifted her hips, swiveled them and clenched her pelvis, giving him a loving embrace that made his surefire thrusts just a tad bit more erratic. She narrowed her eyes and concentrated on his handsome, masculine face as she lifted, swiveled and clenched, over and over and over.

“Cicely,” he panted.

She smiled.

Close, but not quite.

She lifted, swiveled and clenched some more, but this time she added a clutch as she grabbed on to his behind, pulling him into her with every ounce of urgency she felt.