SimplyIrresistible (16 page)

She forced herself to breathe slower. This was the same Dom
who had quit topping Ashley after years of a red-hot affair. Self-preservation
instincts kept her from leaping into his arms and promising to love him
forever. If she actually acted out that particular fantasy, most likely her
butt would suffer carpet burns on her way out of his life.

At the landing, he stopped to adjust the thermostat. A few
seconds later the air-conditioning kicked up a notch. “You’re thinking too hard
again.”

She blurted, “How can you tell?”

He kneaded the muscles in her neck. “You get tense,
literally. Don’t start future tripping on me.”

“I’m not—”

“You didn’t use your safeword, so nothing we’re doing right
this second is a problem.”

She tucked her chin, unable to meet his gaze. “I’m worried
about what’s going to happen…” She paused and swallowed a lump of chagrin as
she realized he’d read her with uncanny accuracy. Again. “You’re right.”

“Stay with me in the here and now where we’re having fun.”
He flipped a switch as they entered the spacious master suite.

Chocolate-colored drapes were pulled shut against the sun,
helping keep the room cool. Twin lamps on nightstands flanking both sides of
the bed cast a glow on a wedding ring pattern done in rich earth tones. The
magnificent spread covered a king-sized mattress cradled in a cherry wood
sleigh bedframe. The bedside table nearest the door held a facedown copy of
Winds
of Winter
.

“This is beautiful.” She smoothed the soft fabric of the
heirloom quilt.

“The women’s sewing circle makes them. The fancy blankets
cover every bed in the house. Those ladies don’t understand the word no.” He
gave an exaggerated shudder.

“I cannot imagine you being intimidated by a group of
quilters.”

“You haven’t met them. They’re militant women who don’t take
prisoners.”

He was teasing her and she couldn’t help smiling. Hard to
stay cautious with her mouth stretched in a silly grin and her heart leaping
every time her eyes met his. Was she his rescue project or did they have a
chance for something more—something real?

It was too soon to ask. But she wanted real. The creepy
stalker had pushed them into an intimate arrangement before they were ready.
She wanted to be half of a true partnership. Unwilling to risk death to prove
her independence, she still feared becoming his plaything away from the club.
That wouldn’t do. She was a capable adult woman even if she happened to be
sexually submissive. She wanted to take care of him now and then, especially
when he deserved pampering.

“Still too much thinking, pet.” Liam stripped off his shirt,
revealing a mouthwatering expanse of smooth, tanned skin and heavy muscles.
Without pausing he skinned off the rest of his clothes.

He’d cured her thinking problem. Her jaw loosened along with
everything else as she tried not to stare at his truly impressive erection.

Time must have passed while her tongue was glued to the roof
of her mouth, because he said, “I’m starting the shower.”

A moment later, water ran in the bathroom.

She scanned the room for her luggage. If the bags had been
brought up, they’d been stored out of sight.

Meanwhile, the Master she miraculously lusted after was
showering next door. Already way behind in the getting-naked department, she
toed off her boots and set them neatly beside a simple wooden rocker and peeled
off her socks. After the footwear was history, she came to a cowardly halt.

He hadn’t ordered her to strip or join him in the shower.
She gathered her courage and squared her shoulders. Submissives had choices and
he was hers.

She shed the rest of her clothes. The mindlessness of simply
doing the next logical thing kept her from staring at her reflection and
overthinking her decision.

A sliver of unexpected color from the light empreador marble
bathroom counter caught her attention. Someone had set her bright-red
toothbrush in a crystal tumbler next to a tasteful clear brush that must belong
to Liam. Who unpacked for her? Taylor? If the petite guard had to put away
Tiana’s things it must have grated on the woman’s last nerve and factored into
her unenthusiastic welcome.

There were probably a million women who wanted Liam. The
too-cute Taylor just happened to be the second one Tiana had met.
Damn, I’m
thinking again.
Irritated with herself, she shook off the useless
speculation and joined him in the shower.

Liam’s head was tipped back. Fortunate shampoo suds caressed
his wide shoulders and cascaded past thick pectoral pads. The bubbles lingered
over rippled abs and clung to the narrow trail of hair leading to a proud cock.
She drank in the ripe plum head with its voluptuous ridge, the heavy vein
decorating the darkened shaft, which led her gaze to a neatly groomed bush and
a tight ball sac.

He was much larger everywhere than she was used to,
especially his sex. Her nipples perked into taut points and her slit grew hot
and creamy with desire. At least her body was unintimidated by his size.

Before nervousness erased her arousal, Liam slicked back his
wet hair and captured her head, holding her in place. The soft brush of his
mustache made her lips tingle in anticipation. He moved closer, finally
capturing her mouth with his and kissing away the last of her doubts.

Too many Doms ignored the preliminaries, concentrating on
bondage or torture. This man was a true Master who understood how to reassure
an edgy sub and how to build trust.

Tiana surrendered to the embrace, softening under his
onslaught and opening further for his pleasure. A masculine groan of sheer
erotic hunger confirmed she pleased him. The happy news inflamed her own
arousal.

He literally stole her breath. Her knees trembled and she
clutched his bunched biceps to stay upright. As their tongues danced, she
plunged into a sensual world with only the two of them. In turn he claimed her
mouth with sweet licks, playful nips and sizzling plunges that left her
clinging to him with unquenchable desire. She could have stood there kissing
him forever and never tired of the pleasure.

Liam pulled away, causing her to whimper.

“So sweet,” he rasped. After nibbling her ear, he grabbed a
bar of soap and began lathering, starting with her neck and shoulders. He
lifted her arm and washed underneath with firm, efficient strokes.

His matter-of-fact caring for her body disconcerted her. She
squirmed in his hold.

“Ticklish?”

She lowered her lashes, suddenly shy. “A little.”

His erection twitched against his cut abs.

“Almost done.” He moved a soapy palm on to lathering her
breasts. His big hands cleaned her very thoroughly, returning to her rigid
nipples to lave and rinse again and again. He varied his caresses, sometimes
nearly cruel, other times tender.

Never knowing what he would do next kept her off balance and
humming with arousal. His current focus on her breasts made her tips even
tighter and her clit peeked from her damp slit. One world-shaking orgasm in the
past few years and she was desperate for another. She wrapped her fingers around
his straining shaft. Hot velvet skin stretched over a rod of unbendable steel.
Fresh flames of desire delicately lapped at her core.

Liam carefully captured her wrist and pinned it behind her.

She tried to loosen his hold. He captured her other wrist too.

“I want to touch you.”

“You will, but I say when,” he growled.

Tiana wasn’t nearly as experienced as Liam, but she
instinctively understood that arguing would only delay the release she wanted.
She kept her lips sealed.

He resumed washing her body while his mouth quirked with
approval. Eventually he moved lower to soap her belly and between her thighs.
“I love how smooth and bare you are. Did you shave for me?”

“After I was accepted at the Crucible, I started waxing
again.”

“I’m glad you did. From now on, I’ll groom your pussy.”

Is he serious?
“Shaving irritates my skin.”

“Not a problem, I can handle waxing.”

Words evaporated from imagining him carefully applying the
strips of hot, melted wax to her feminine lips.

His breathing quickened, but he maintained the torturous
pace he’d set from the first kiss. He tended to every petal with meticulous
care. Satisfied with her sex, he moved on to clean between her butt cheeks with
the same attention to detail, making her blush.

She wriggled under his insistent fingers.

Liam soothed her concerns with longer, slower caresses. At
last he used the hand sprayer to rinse away every trace of soap.

He lifted her until their mouths were even and then claimed
her for another mind-melting kiss. The iron bar of his arousal seared her needy
sex with hungry insistence. She was pressed into his heat and still ached to be
closer. She banded her arms around his thick chest and wrapped her legs over
his lean hips. As their tongues tangled, her nipples scraped against his
hardened nubs and her pussy slid damp caresses along his heavy shaft. Every
minute shift in his embrace caused exquisite messages of excitement to race
from her slit to every portion of her body.

She’d been so lost in his kiss she hadn’t noticed they’d
left the shower until her bottom made contact with terrycloth. A second later
he ended the kiss and took a step away. She started to close her thighs. A
large hand clamped over her knee.

“Stay exactly as you are.” He pulled her nearer.

Balanced on the edge of the bathroom counter with her pussy
exposed made her vulnerable. Her stomach muscles tightened in erotic
anticipation.

Liam snagged another towel and patted away the drops of
water with tender care. “Your hair’s still a little wet. You want me to blow
dry it?”

She quickly wove the damp mass into a rough braid, tucking
the ends underneath. “This works.”

His eyes met hers and held, glinting with wicked intentions
the entire time it took for him to rub himself dry. At least with him holding
her gaze, she’d managed to avoid staring at his straining erection. She wasn’t
certain whether she felt awe or dread. The last time she’d actually had sex was
an old, bad memory and neither of her previous lovers had been nearly as
lavishly endowed.

He tossed the towel and cupped his hands over her hips,
keeping her secure.

Her nipples pebbled and her sex softened and swelled. More
cream rushed from her core, adding fresh lubrication to her entrance. Clearly
some of her parts were diehard optimists.

“Stop thinking.” Liam feathered a kiss down the side of her
neck.

She tilted her head to give him better access. “I don’t know
how.”

“Just feel. That’s an order, pet.”

His dominant growl scattered her thoughts as if they were
frightened mice.

He returned to nibbling kisses across her collarbone and
down her sternum. His mustache tickled. Before she giggled and spoiled the
mood, the rough stubble on his jaw scraped the sensitive skin, leaving a
sensual trail of fire to mark his passage. He licked and nipped and lapped away
the sting carefully, avoiding her rigid nipples. When he finally pulled one
beaded peak into his mouth each swallow sent jolts of urgency straight to her
cunt.

Liam anchored her with one hand and rolled the hard nub of
her neglected breast while she arched nearer to his amazing tongue and fought
to not grab his ears as encouragement to continue. By the time he finished
tormenting her nipples her heart galloped and her legs quivered. He moved
south, teasing her ticklish stomach. He sampled her bellybutton and nipped the tender
skin between her hipbones, making her gasp and arch. His free hand parted her
outer lips. Her muscles coiled tighter, anticipating more slow torture.

This time he didn’t tease. He lapped at her slit like a man
dying of thirst would gulp from a bubbling spring. Need coiled deep in her
belly and clenched her butt muscles. Nonstop waves of arousal rippled from her
sensitized nipples to her swollen clit and back to her drenched cunt. “May I
come please, Master?”

His dark eyes met hers as he lifted his head long enough to
growl, “Yes.”

He replaced his mouth with a rough thumb circling her clit.
Two thick fingers stretched her entrance and rubbed the inner nexus of nerves.
“Come for me.”

As if her body had only been waiting for his explicit
invitation, she melted into a state of sheer bliss.

The first icy contact of gel drizzled on her breasts ended
her sensual haze and snapped her eyes wide.

“Sorry about the chill, pet. Cold helps soothe the rash from
my scruff.”

She followed his progress as rough fingers painted her
reddened skin with a clear viscous lotion. He finished her breasts and squirted
gel on her hot lower lips and spread the balm to her inner thighs.

He used such gentle care ministering to the mild case of
whisker burn that another piece of her heart rushed into his keeping.

“Better?”

Tiana swallowed the knot of tenderness lodged in her throat.
“Yes, thank you, Sir.”

He capped and put away the lotion before lifting her and
carrying her into the bedroom. He sank onto the mattress, taking her with him.
He cupped her face and captured her mouth in a kiss so hot a new blaze of
desire sparked to life.

“Teach me how to please you, Master.”

He pulled her up his hard body until only a sliver of air
separated their lips. “Your desire to serve me pleases me. Your compliance
pleases me. And your trust pleases me most of all.”

His warm breath teased her nearly as much as his words. She
tried to guard her heart. She told herself it was too soon. None of her efforts
worked. She lost the battle. Liam was her perfect Master. How could she resist
falling in love with him?

An impulse made her dare to lick his full bottom lip. The
salty-sweetness of her own cream lingered on his mouth. Remembered pleasure
shimmied through her core.