The Education of Sebastian (43 page)

I could feel his warm breath on my cheek, his wet tongue teasing my ear. I took another, deep lungful of air and breathed in his scent: some spicy soap, salt, and his own sweet smell.

Perhaps he was getting his own back for my distractions in the café or perhaps he was learning to take his time: I couldn’t say.

I pushed my hands into the back pockets of his jeans and heard his breath catch in his throat. He let out a long sigh and let the full weight of his body rest on mine.

The doors hissed open, an almost welcome distraction.

He stood up straight and I pulled my hands out of his jeans’ pockets, then he stepped back so I could exit the elevator first.

The corridor was silent and our feet sank into the plush carpet soundlessly. The gilt sconce lights cast pale shadows on the patterned wallpaper and twenty wooden doors stretched in each direction. It took me a moment to remember which way to turn. I fished in my purse and pulled out the keycard.

“It’s room 429,” I said, softly.

Wordlessly, Sebastian took it from me then led me by the hand down the corridor, his eyes glancing at the discreet numbers on each door.

Towards the end of the corridor he stopped, pushed the keycard into the lock, and let the door swing open.

I’d left one small sidelight on and my overnight bag was still on the large bed.

I heard Sebastian turn the catch on the door, locking it behind us. When I turned around, he was standing watching me.

He kicked off his sneakers and tugged his T-shirt over his head as he padded towards me barefoot. I stood limply, frozen to the spot, mesmerized by his predatory gaze. When he reached me, he rested his hands on my arms and breathed in deeply, his fingers tightening around my biceps.

I laid my head on his chest and kissed him just above his heart. He sighed and wrapped his arms around my back. We stood there in silence just holding each other.

Then I kissed his chest again, and ran my tongue across his torso, remembering that I’d wanted to taste every inch of him. I let my hands drift down, pushing them inside his jeans, beneath his briefs, stroking his skin and digging my fingers into the flesh of his buttocks. A soft sound escaped his lips and his hips pushed forwards.

Still without speaking, I pulled my warmed hands free and stepped back, giving myself room to undo the button of his pants and pull down the zipper, opening his jeans and pushing them over his hips. I ran my hands lightly over his briefs and felt his body quiver, his erection evident beneath my gentle fingers. Carefully, I pushed the briefs down so he could step out of them.

He was beautifully, gloriously naked and I drank in his beauty and his strength as he stood before me, unembarrassed, eyes soft with love.

“You are my world, Caro,” he said.

“And you’re mine.”

He smiled and pulled me into his arms then walked me slowly backwards towards the bed.

I sat down and wrapped my arms behind his thighs, pulling him closer. I placed a soft, wet kiss on his tip and watched as his eyelids fluttered.

“Do you still want me to tie you up?”

He blinked several times then smiled again and shook his head.

“Not tonight. I want to be able to touch you – all of you.”

He grabbed the hem of my T-shirt and gently pulled it over my head.

“You’re so beautiful.”

He kneeled in front of me, resting his hands on my hips. He leaned forward to kiss my breasts, playful little nips, and then his tongue was washing over me, laving my cleavage. I arched my back, letting my head hang backwards and suddenly his hands were urgent. He pushed me onto the bed and leaned over me, his mouth, breath, tongue, hot against my skin. He groaned loudly then stood up. I struggled to sit but he slid one arm under my knees and the other behind my back, picked me up bodily and slung me higher up the bed. I was so surprised, the breath whooshed out of my lungs. He stretched out alongside then reared up to hover over me, his erection pointing confidently towards my belly. Before I could reach out for him, he knelt across me, lifted me up with one hand and with the other expertly unhooked my bra.
Jeez! Had he been practicing?

I knew what was coming next but before he could reach for my pants, I pushed him away and rolled onto my side, struggling to turn off the bedside lamp. The curtains were still open but the dull, orange illumination of the streetlamps was the only light.

“What are you doing?”

His tone was surprised.

I had my reasons. The marks on my leg were no longer painful, with the exception of my right foot that throbbed relentlessly, but they were unsightly. And I didn’t want him distracted, not by that. I had other distractions in mind.

I shimmied out of my pants and panties while he watched me, and tossed them randomly, not caring where they landed.

I could see his silvery gold outline on the bed next to me as my eyes adjusted to the dim light. I sat up and found that my skin was too tender to kneel across him. Instead I seated myself in his lap and stretched my legs out in front of me.

“Sit up,” I said, my voice high from tension.

I wrapped one hand around his neck as he raised himself off the bed, and then held his length in my hand to position myself over him. I stroked him several times and he took a deep, faltering breath. As I sank down onto him, he groaned and I felt him tremble.

It was an extraordinarily intimate moment as our bodies joined together, our faces just inches apart.

His eyes were wide and wondering and I pulled his head towards me, breathing a soft kiss onto his lips. Then his mouth locked onto mine and our tongues moved in a new rhythm as our bodies thrust together. I pulled my knees up slightly and he did the same, almost lifting me off the bed with each powerful movement of his hips. He wrapped his arms behind me, pulling me still closer.

I needed to take a breath and Sebastian mirrored my actions. His eyes were fixed on mine and in a moment of utter stillness, I stroked his face, letting my fingers whisper across his cheek, his eyelids, along his soft eyebrows, down his nose, across the slight flare of his nostrils, along his jaw and fluttering across his lips, where he kissed them.

We were joined together as one; it was impossible to be closer, more intimate – all the barriers between us were finally down. We were equal and open and unafraid.

I ran my hands down his back and felt him move inside me. I pulled back and leaned away from him, changing the angle of connection and he groaned again and began to pump faster.

I clenched around him, unable to control the waves of sensation pulsing through me.

He called out and I felt him shudder into me with one, deep thrust. He gasped, pulling in lungfuls of air and then he gathered me to him, crushing me to his chest so hard I could barely breathe myself.

We sat like that, still joined together, and I felt a small giggle bubble up as I wiped a bead of sweat off my forehead.

“Who needs gym classes,” I said, stroking his face.

He laughed softly. “You don’t need anything, Caro, you’re perfect.”

“Oh, I’m far from perfect, but I’m very happy that you think I am. I’ll have to keep you in a darkened room forever.”

“Suits me.”

“You might get hungry,” I pointed out. “You’d starve to death.”

“We’d order take-out,” he said pragmatically.

I eased myself off him gently and lay back in his arms as he stroked my hair.

“Hey, did you check out the bath situation?” he said.

“Hmm, what? No. I was too busy checking you out.”

He laughed. “Seriously! We could take a bath together.”

“Oh, okay,” I said, reluctant to move from my semi-comatose position. “If you go run it. See if they’ve put out any bubble bath.”

He kissed me quickly and leapt off the bed. He had so much energy. I was exhausted already and I sensed it was going to be a long and wonderful night.

I heard the sounds of the faucet running as if from a great distance while I felt myself drifting asleep. But then a strange, unfamiliar sound reached my ears and suddenly, unexpectedly, I was wide awake: Sebastian was singing to himself. I strained to hear the words. When I did, my heart broke open, filling with the love that poured from those faint, heartfelt words. Peace and joy and a sense of wholeness that I’d never known utterly overwhelmed me and I began to cry softly.

              When I hear her voice, the world disappears

              When I hear her voice, I have no more fears.

I had never believed it was possible to cry from happiness.

Quietly, I slipped off the bed and moved silently to the bathroom door, standing half hidden, watching him. He was leaning over the tub, testing the water with his fingers, the steam weaving through the air like ghosts.

He’d switched on the light above the shaving mirror and the yellow glow bathed his skin with gold. I watched the ripple and play of his muscles as he continued to reach into the bath, drawing pictures with his fingers in the hot water.

She takes away the sadness, she takes away the pain

She takes away the darkness, she takes away the rain.

He stretched up to pull down two white towels, placing them carefully at the side of the bath.

When I’m traveling from so far away

She’s my path, she’s my sun, she lights my way.

Then he turned and saw me standing in the shadows.

“Caro! Why are you crying?”

“Because I love you.”

Chapter 18

He stared at me, then one, long second later he strode towards me and took my face in his hands, kissing the tears as they trickled down my cheeks.

And there we were, two fools in love.

“I waited and waited and waited,” he stammered. “You never said it… you never told me… and now you have. I love you I love you I love you. Oh, Caro, so much.”

A sob escaped his throat and I felt ashamed of having held back for so long, not realizing how much he’d needed to hear me say the words.

I wrapped my arms around his waist as he took long, shuddering breaths. My own tears soon dried, overwhelmed as I was by my own happiness and my need to protect and comfort this beautiful man-child who had known so little love in his life.

Skin to skin, my head to his shoulder, we stood, drinking each other in. Finally his breathing slowed and he kissed the base of my neck. A smile lifted my lips and I opened my eyes.

“Sebastian, the water!”

The bath was nearly full and in danger of overflowing – like me.

“Oh, crap!”

He leaned down to turn off the stream of water and pulled out the plug to let some escape. He continued to stare into the water and I sensed he was using the time to compose himself.

When he looked up again, his focus was slightly to the left of my shoulder. He couldn’t meet my eyes and the expression on his face was sheepish.

“Sorry for spazzing out on you.”

I laid my hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at me.

“No, Sebastian! Don’t
ever
be embarrassed about how you feel – not with me. Not ever. I love that you’re so open with me; I love that you show me how you feel every moment of the day and night; it drives me crazy when you do it in front of other people but I love it, too, because it’s part of who you are. I’ve never known anything like it and I don’t want it to stop. Because I feel the same.”

He gasped slightly then beamed at me.

“Okay,” he said softly.

I smiled back and all the tension drained from the room leaving us calm and replete.

“Shall we have a bath now?”

He nodded, then his forehead creased as he glanced at my right foot that was still swathed in thick gauze.

“Can you? You don’t want to get that wet,” he said, and his expression darkened to something quite intimidating.

“I’ll hang it over the side,” I said, trying to stop him from brooding on my injury, “but I’ll need to lean on something: I had you in mind.”

He smiled. “You think I’ll make a good pillow?”

“Well, you’re a bit hard...”

He grinned at me salaciously, then looked down at his dick.

“Not at the moment, but I could be…”

“Can’t you get your mind off sex for two minutes?!”

“Nope, don’t think so.”

I sighed, pretending to be annoyed, but it was hopeless: a huge smile cracked my face.

He grinned back and even as I looked at him, his dick twitched. It really did have a life of its own.

“Oh no! I’m not ready for round two yet! I want a nice, relaxing bath. I’ve used muscles that I didn’t even know I had.”

“Okay,” he said, still smiling, “but it’ll have to be a quick one.”

“‘Quick’ and ‘relaxing’ aren’t words that really go to together,” I pointed out.

“Oh, I don’t know: I can think of an occasion when they’d go together.”

His eyes seemed to darken and I couldn’t help it as my gaze dropped to below his waist; it was apparent that he wasn’t just having a rush of blood to his head.

“Can I take a rain check?” I said, my voice a little shaky.

“Nope, don’t think so,” he repeated, pacing towards me.

“I want to take a bath.”

“We will. Later.”

I backed into the vanity unit and had nowhere else to go.

He caught me by my hips, pressing himself against me and nuzzled my neck.

“I really want to take a bath,” I gasped, gripping onto his wrists.

“Mmm,” he replied, as my body arched at his touch. “You’re not dirty enough yet.”

I watched, speechless, if not completely soundless, as he slowly sank to his knees. His mouth followed the general downward direction and I swallowed hard.

His tongue traced around my left nipple then he bared his teeth and pulled against the heated flesh, tugging not very gently while his hands continued to knead my hips, his fingers digging into my ass. Then he turned his attention to my right breast, sucking and kissing and grazing it with his teeth.

My blood was thrumming through my veins and my knees began to tremble. Then his right hand slid down from hip to my calf, and started a slow ascent back up to my inner thigh. My breathing sounded loud and seemed to echo around the bathroom. The volume was almost embarrassing but it seemed to turn Sebastian on even more because he began to bite harder, making me shudder and call out. Then he began to rub me, gently at first and then harder, circling around and in and out.