Still Into You (10 page)

Chapter Twelve

Their room was empty. Empty! Where in the hell could Leila be at nearly four in the goddamned morning? Seth was sweating by the time he jogged up to the main house and headed for the club.

The music in the place had mellowed from the pulse-pounding rock and techno from the night before to the low, sensuous beat of old-school R&B. The club was a ghost town. Two couples swayed on the dance floor as if suspended in some dream. A few others had tucked themselves into the darker corners and were well past the getting-to-know-you stage with their partners. Seth scanned the room, frantic to find Leila and praying she wasn’t one of those in the corner. Though he damn near deserved it based on how he’d bailed on her tonight.

But in his heart, he hoped that what they had was strong enough to keep Leila from hopping into bed with some guy for solace or revenge.

His eyes paused at each auburn head he came across, but none belonged to his wife. He made his way across the mostly empty club and spotted a familiar face sitting at the bar. Not the one he wanted, but one that maybe could help him.

“Hey.” He tapped Ian on the shoulder. “You got a minute?”

Ian paused in his conversation with the woman he was talking to and looked over his shoulder at Seth. “Oh, hey.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Seth said. “But I need to know if you’ve seen my wife tonight.”

Ian frowned and shifted on his stool. “Man, this isn’t really the kind of place where you report on people’s whereabouts.”

Seth took a breath, reeling in his urge to grab the guy’s shirt and demand answers. If Ian got the vibe that Seth was some husband scorned, he would never get any information. “I understand, but I had to run up to the city for work tonight and it ran later than expected. I don’t care if she’s with someone, I just want to make sure she’s all right.”

Ian eyed Seth for a moment, then, apparently buying the story, cocked a thumb toward the door. “She left earlier with Master Van.”

Seth’s throat tightened. “Master Van?”

“Yeah, Kade Vandergriff. Usually rents the cottage near the north vineyards. The one with the vines growing on the walls.”

Ian turned back toward his date, but the whole room seemed to blur in Seth’s vision. Kade Vandergriff.
Kade-fucking-Vandergriff
. Leila had left with the man who’d she’d said made her feel wanted. Beautiful.

Seth wanted to punch something. He wanted to heave. He wanted to fucking choke the guy with his bare hands. He wanted to kick himself.

He managed to mumble a thank you to Ian and set off to find the cottage.

Of course the place had to be on the other side of the planet. Seth stomped across the quiet grounds, so many emotions whipping through him he could barely form complete thoughts. He should’ve been coming up with a plan on what he was going to do once he knocked on this jerk-off’s door, but he couldn’t even get his head together enough to do that. Logic and plans had gotten him to this point, so maybe instinct was the way to go.

When he reached the cabin with the vines, he didn’t even pause to consider anything more. He climbed up the steps and pounded on the door like a cop ready to break it down. “Open up, Vandergriff.”

A few seconds passed and Seth raised his fist to pound again, but the heavy lock on the door clinked and a shirtless blond dude appeared in the doorway. The guy—Kade, no doubt—ran a hand over his face, obviously trying to shake the sleep from his brain. “Who the hell are you?”

“Is Leila here?” Seth asked between clenched teeth.

Kade crossed his arms and gave Seth a knowing look. “Ah, you must be the husband.”

Seth wanted to beat that smug look off the guy’s face. He crowded Kade against the door, the top of his head about to blow off. “You make a habit of fucking other people’s wives, asshole? Can’t find one for yourself?”

His blue eyes narrowed. “Make a habit of abandoning yours at a sex club, friend?”

Seth’s fist balled, ready to strike.

“Seth?” The soft, gasped word was unmistakable.

Both men turned their heads, and Seth lowered his arm. Leila stood there in nothing but bare feet, a man’s T-shirt, and bed head. His chest clenched at the sight of her.

So she’d screwed him.

Seth had left her here, and she’d given herself over to the temptation. He wanted to be angry, to yell at her, to beat this rich fucker to the ground. But instead, something deep and primal inside him took hold. This was his fault. He hadn’t done his job as a man. He’d chased her to this place. Into another guy’s bed.

And now it was time to fucking fix it.

He shoved past Kade and stalked toward his wife. Leila’s eyes widened. “Seth, listen—”

But a yelp cut off her words as he lifted her by the waist and hauled her over his shoulder. He locked an arm around the backs of her thighs and turned toward the door. “I don’t want to hear a word from you. Not one word until we get back to our own cabin.”

Kade stepped in front of him, blocking his way.

“Get the fuck out of my way, man,” Seth warned, his tone lethally calm.

“She isn’t going anywhere unless she wants to.”

He glared at Kade, ready to tackle him if necessary. The guy had an inch or two on height, but Seth was more muscular. He could take him.

“Kade,” Leila said, her voice shaking a bit. “It’s okay. Seth won’t hurt me.”

A little tension eased out of Seth’s stance, and Kade gave a reluctant nod, stepping to the side. Seth pushed past him without another word and began the quarter-mile walk back to their own cabin.

Leila tried to speak, but he cut her off. He had a lot to say, and he feared he wouldn’t be able to get it out if she started talking. “Keep quiet, Lei.”

She shifted her weight hard to the left, purposely trying to make him stumble. “Enough. Put me down right now. I’m not going back to our room until we talk.”

With a grunt, he set her on her bare feet in the dewy grass, the lake glittering like an oil slick behind her. She looked so beautiful standing there in the moonlight, all soft curves and tousled hair.

She wet her lips, suddenly looking nervous. “About Kade—”

“I don’t care,” he said, half-surprised by his own words.

She closed her mouth on whatever she had intended to say, a crease appearing between her eyebrows. “What?”

“Whatever happened tonight was my fault.” He looked out toward the horizon, wanting to say so much but not even knowing where to start. Finally, he dragged his gaze back to hers. “I’m sorry, Lei. I’ve spent these last few years trying to become some guy who would be worthy of being married to someone like you. I wanted to buy you that house you loved. I wanted to send our kids to the schools you went to. I wanted to prove to you, to myself, to everyone that I wasn’t just the guy who knocked up the rich girl and got her to marry me.”

She frowned. “No, it’s not—”

He reached out and cupped her cheek. “But I’ve been an idiot. I have this beautiful, drop-dead sexy wife and I’ve made you feel . . . less than. Starved you in a way that made guys like Kade Vandergriff look like some damn knight in shining blond hair.”

She smirked a bit at that.

“But I know he can’t give you what I can. Because he doesn’t love you like I do.” He paused, grasping for the right words, wanting to tell her so much, but settling on just dumping his raw feelings at her feet. “You’re it for me, pretty girl. Whether you decide you want in this marriage or not, you’ll always be it for me. I would choose you a thousand times over again.”

Leila stared at him as he lowered his arm, her eyes going shiny, and he waited.

Waited for her to tell him that she didn’t love him back anymore. Waited for her to tell him that she was running off to elope with Mr. Fancy Pants. Waited for her to break his heart.

“I didn’t sleep with Kade,” she said finally.

All the air whooshed from his lungs.

“We drank.” She swallowed, her pale throat working to get out the words. “We kissed. Then I stopped everything.”

The
thump thump thump
of Seth’s heart drowned out the soft singing of the crickets, the rustle of the leaves in the trees, his own harsh breathing. She’d only kissed him. She’d had full opportunity to do whatever she wanted with the guy. But she hadn’t. “Why’d you stop, Lei?”

She shook her head, the tears finally tipping over her bottom lids, and stepped closer to him. She laid her hands against his chest and pressed her cheek against his pounding heart. “Because he isn’t you, Seth. I don’t want anyone but you.”

Chapter Thirteen

Seth wrapped his arms around Leila and held her against him like he wanted to absorb her. She wound her arms around his waist and tried not to completely crumble. Her heart had plummeted to her toes when she’d seen Seth standing there with Kade in the doorway.

All hope of saving her marriage had sifted through her fingers like sand, spilling their imagined future onto the floor. How could Seth ever forgive her? Even if she hadn’t slept with Kade, she had kissed him, had stayed there, had slept in the bed of the man who’d been the impetus for this whole weekend in the first place.

But then Seth had looked at her with fire in his eyes. Not the gaze of a man scorned, but the look of a man on a mission. One who wasn’t going to let some other guy stand in the way of what he considered his. The possessive vibe rolling off him had damn near knocked her down. And any doubt she may have had about whether her husband truly loved and desired her had fizzled in a puff of smoke.

In that moment, she realized she didn’t need bells and whistles, didn’t need threesomes and sex clubs. What she needed was that—that look Seth had given her that made everything bloom inside her.

Seth eased back from the embrace and looked down at her, his eyes silvery black in the moonlight. Then he cradled her face and claimed her mouth. Claimed her.

The kiss started off slow and sensual, a coming together after feeling adrift for so long. His tongue slid against hers in a languorous, all-encompassing rhythm, one that sent warmth radiating down to all the good parts. But soon the intensity picked up, and his body was hardening against hers, their hands roving. He cut off the kiss with a gasp. “Lose the shirt, pretty girl. I never want to see you in another man’s clothes again.”

Without hesitation, she lifted the hem and yanked the shirt off, leaving her in just her panties. He grabbed it from her and tossed it under a nearby tree, then took one long, hungry perusal of her.

The shiver that went through her had nothing to do with the cool breeze blowing off the lake. He pulled off his own shirt and graced her with the view of his lean, muscular chest. How had she forgotten how lose-your-mind sexy he was? If he was guilty of taking her for granted, then she could be charged with the same crime.

The urge to taste her way down every inch of his beautiful body overwhelmed her. She slid her hands onto his waist and kissed a path down his sternum, taking her time, relishing the scent of the only man she wanted in her bed. She nuzzled the dark trail of hair beneath his navel, then her knees hit the dewy grass. She brought her fingers to his belt.

“Lei, you don’t . . .”

“Hush.” She drew his zipper down. “Let me enjoy you.”

She knew he was letting her know she didn’t have to go down on him. It was yet another testament to how screwed up things had gotten. Somewhere along the way she had stopped taking the time to savor her husband, to please him beyond the basic lovemaking they’d settled into. And he’d apparently gotten the impression she’d didn’t enjoy pleasuring him this way anymore.

But, oh, how wrong he was.

She’d always loved the excitement of turning him weak-kneed with her mouth, the rush of womanly power it brought. She peeled back the fly of his pants and slipped her hand into his boxers to take his cock in her hand. He shuddered as she ran her fingers along the velvet length of him. He was hot and hard already, and her own body tightened and warmed in response. She wrapped her lips around him and caressed with her tongue, tasting his arousal, slipping into the place in her mind where all that existed was the two of them.

His hand tangled in her hair and a deep groan cut through the quiet symphony of crickets, the breeze, and the lap of water against the shore. His grip guided her pace, keeping her movements slow, as if he was savoring every stroke of her tongue against him. She lifted her gaze to him and their eyes locked, the emotion and desire swirling in the depths of his launching her back to a time so long ago. A time when he’d laid her out on the picnic table and looked at her like no other girl in the world existed.

A look she’d never dared hope to see again.

Seth eased back, his eyes never leaving hers as he knelt down to face her. He caressed her face and swiped moisture she hadn’t even known was there off her cheeks. “Why’re you crying, pretty girl?”

She put her hands over his. “Because I just found something I thought I’d lost forever.”

He gave her a dimpled smile and kissed her softly. “I know the feeling. Now, lie down. I want to make love to my wife.”

His wife. The words had never sounded sweeter to her ears.

She shifted her legs out from beneath and let him lower her to the grass. The dew was cool against her bare back and her nipples tightened to stiff points. Seth stood to get rid of his pants, and then he was over her—naked and beautiful, edged by moonlight, a midnight lover right out of her fantasies. He lowered his head and flicked his tongue over one of her nipples before taking it fully into his mouth and tugging gently. She arched beneath him, the sensation shooting straight down her abdomen to her sex.

He worked off her panties as he continued to rain attention over her breasts, her navel, her hip bones, igniting every place his mouth touched. He kissed her inner thigh and then ran his tongue along the crease where leg met pelvis. Her body quivered like a stretched rubber band ready to snap.

He pressed another kiss on her mound, maddeningly close to the spot that was now throbbing for attention. She let out a little whimper, canting her hips toward him, silently asking for what she needed. Instead of obliging, he lifted his head and looked up at her. “I’ve missed your beautiful body, pretty girl. No more hiding under the covers in the dark. I want to see all of you exactly like this. Confident. Unashamed.”

She glanced down at her body, realizing how far she’d come in a few days. How she’d cringe at the idea of being naked in front of him. For the first time in a long time, she really did feel beautiful and sexy. Not only because of Kade or Ian or how Seth was looking at her, but because she’d seen so many people here at The Ranch owning their sexuality, their unique desires, their individual bodies. Comfort in your own skin was what made people beautiful.

And finally, she was feeling comfortable in hers.

“I won’t hide anymore,” she promised. “Plus, I’ve been missing out on seeing
you
naked—the true tragedy of the lights-out strategy.”

He laughed and moved his way up her body until he had an arm braced on each side of her. “Oh, you like?”

She drew her fingers down the muscles in his abdomen and then wrapped her hand around his erection and stroked. “I like very, very much.”

His eyes darkened and he captured her mouth with his, while parting her thighs and sliding inside her. She gasped into the kiss as the length of his cock filled her, her body clasping around him. He nibbled her bottom lip and rocked back before plunging deeper, stretching her, owning her.

She let out a low moan, and the back of her head pressed against the soft earth. Her legs wrapped around his waist, holding him as deep inside her as she could. She had never been with anyone else, and no longer wanted to be, but she couldn’t imagine any man feeling more perfect than this. It was as if her body was made for him and him alone.

Seth pinned her arms above her head with one hand and began to pump harder. “And while we’re making confessions, I’m finding I kind of like this whole dominance thing, pretty girl. You looked so fucking sexy restrained for me this weekend. You on board with that?”

“Yes, sir,” she murmured, loving the grit in his voice, the sexual edge that he’d apparently hidden from her. “I’m all yours.”

A low growl rumbled through his chest, and he tucked his free hand between them, finding her clit and pinching. Her back bowed and her wrists twisted in his grip. “Fuck.”

“You’re going to wait for me,” he commanded. “Don’t let go until I tell you to.”

She bit her lip, trying to hold on. He’d already teased her and brought her to the very edge before he’d even gotten inside her. But she wanted to obey, wanted to go over the ledge together.

He continued to slide his finger along her hot button while rocking into her, and the stars began to melt behind him, swirling into a mass of light and dark. She closed her eyes, falling into the moment—the feel of him against her, the elemental scent of man and nature, the electricity racing through her nerve endings. Every muscle in her body hummed in anticipation. Her hands clenched and unclenched in his grip.

His breath became short and choppy against her bare skin, his thrusts more punishing. “Come with me, beautiful.”

With the skill of a man who knew her body, Seth moved his fingers to the exact perfect spot and buried himself to the hilt. She cried out, long and loud, the sound slicing through the night air and breaking her wide open. Waves of pleasure rolled over her, swallowing her whole and sending her into the dizzying space of orgasm.

Seth’s moans joined hers as he spilled his heat inside of her. Barely intelligible words of love, adoration, and downright naughtiness tumbled from his lips, and Leila held on to him with her legs, suspended in the moment of shared, mindless bliss.

Union. Love. Perfection.

His hand eventually released her wrists, and they both drifted back down from their high—soft kisses, murmured words, gentle caresses.

Everything in her world now seemed sharp and clear. She knew exactly where she was supposed to be. And who she wanted there with her.

Seth rolled over and pulled her on top of him. She laid her cheek against his chest, and he idly traced the notches of her spine with his fingers. “I love you, Leila Ann Austin.”

She closed her eyes, listening to the comforting thump of his heartbeat, and smiled. “It’s not Austin. It’s Carlo.”

And always would be.