Until Noon (12 page)

She caught her breath, her fingers on the last few buttons, the white cotton gaping

open to show him the tops of her breasts and the slash of white silk that covered her pussy.

He groaned, stepped backward, breathing so hard his nostrils flared.

Never had she so inspired a man to want her. Never had she seen a man so

enraptured. God, what would it take to keep this man enthralled with her? She needed

him. Needed that.

She bent down, extending her legs out to the length of the island. With a flick of her fingers, she opened the last few buttons and the cotton fell away. Her breasts

overflowed her tiny demi-bra and her thong was drenched with her juices. Still, she

needed to give him more. Give herself more too.

She twirled to her back and arched, her palms covering her aching nipples. Rock

hard, craving his touch instead, they burned against her skin. She rubbed her thighs

together, her lips were so tender, so swollen and only he would do to make them feel

wonderful, alive, loved.

She trailed her hands to the front closure of the little scrap of cotton and flicked it open. The bra snapped to each side. Her breasts sprang gloriously free and she cried

out, delighted. Where was Raul? Did he see? Did he see enough of her? Oh, she yearned for him too.

She’d give him more. Slipping her hands down her ribs, she circled her bellybutton.

Caressed her hipbones, slid her fingers to her groin and covered her mound with her

hands, then pressed. Oh god. Even this was not enough to satisfy her. She slipped a

finger, two, inside the string and slid the tiny scrap down down, down her hips, away from her scorching hot pussy to her thighs. With a skill left from years of ballet and yoga, she lifted one leg, caught the fabric on her toes and slid the whole thong all the way to her other toe. And off!

He moaned his pleasure, the sound erotic music to her ears.

Licking her lips, she shimmied down the length of the island, her legs opened, her

toes hooked on the edge. She was splayed open to him, nothing concealed.
Nothing

closed. Here I am, Raul. All of me. Come feast on me, darling man.

Her eyes closed and minus the sensation of vision, she heard him move to the edge

of the island. There he stood for long enticing minutes. The only sound in the room was his breath. Heavy. Fierce.

Just as I want you, Raul. Only more, more.

Inspired, she let her fingers slide along her fat wet lips and spread them wide for

him. She hoped he
could see the core of her pussy, where he’d invade her, possess her.

He could admire her cream, coating her tender tissues, beckoning him. He could see

how red she was. How hot. How bold.

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Until Noon

She’d be bolder still. Holding her pussy wide for his enjoyment, she found her clit.

Dear god, swollen, huge and silky smooth, her nub was ripe for a fucking with her thick juices. She circled it, petted it, patted it. She gasped, growing wilder, needier.

She mewled. She’d come if she caressed herself anymore. She’d come without him

and while she hated that idea, if he wanted to see how her pussy reacted in the throes of bliss, well she wouldn’t deny him anything.

“
Cara.
” His voice was raw. Guttural. “Take your hands away.”

“No,” she whimpered. Pleading.

“Let me, baby. Christ, let me,” he growled as he grasped her fingers and tore them

from her. And replaced them with his mouth.

Oh, heaven.

His tongue. A noble instrument of rapture. He used the tip to tantalize her clit.

Lapping it, sucking it, tickling it, he had her keening with the excitement he brought her.

“God, you are divine,” he got out between his ravenous caresses. “How I’ve wanted

you. All day.”

His fingers spread her wider and his tongue delved deeper. She bucked, but he

soothed her with kisses to her inner thighs. “Pretty baby of mine. I need more.”

He sank two fingers into her core and pulled out, holding them to her lips. “Lick.

Taste.”

She sank her lips over his fingers and sucked him hard and long, only to end with a

pop as he moved away.

“More,” he told her and sank fingers of his other hand into her pussy. When he

withdrew them, he gently parted her ass cheeks, found her nether hole and inserted one finger, then the another inside her.

She groaned in delight. The only other time she’d ever allowed a man entry to her

ass had been with him. That night in Brussels when she had surrendered all she was to him and never forgotten the luxury and freedom of it. Dare she experience that again?

“Stay there,” she whispered. “Stay.”

He pressed one hand to her abdomen as he sent his finger deeper into her ass. “You

like this. I thought so.”

“I want more.” She clutched his forearm and stared into his love-glazed eyes. “Will

you?”

“Yes. But we’ll go slowly. Slowly baby. I’d never hurt you and I always feared that

night we were together that I had.”

“No. You hadn’t. I was tender. But I wanted it again. I wanted
you
again.”

“We’ll buy plugs. Practice. Get you accustomed to my cock, baby.”

She caught a chuckle. “That means we’re going to be together for a while.”

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He bent over her, caught her gaze with his own and grinned. His fingers inside her

most intimate orifice, he nodded. “For a long while. As long as I can make it.”

She sank her nails into his arm. “What will stop you?”

“From what, baby?” He smiled, his fingers working magic in her asshole.

“From making it a long time?”

“Only you,
cara mia
.” He slid his fingers out of her and gathered her closer to him.

“You are the one who controls me.”

She laughed. “Oh, honey. Who’s kidding who here? I belong to you. All of me.”

“But you must say if we are to be together after this.”

She felt despair closing in, robbing her of joy in him, in this sensual union. She

pulled him closer, fumbled for the zipper of his trousers. “Give me you, Raul. Let me prove to you I am yours.”

He gathered her into his arms and strode with her, curled into him, to her bedroom.

There he put her to the coverlet, stripped off all his own clothes and climbed on top of her.

His warmth fired her heart. His catlike strength enflamed her soul. She caressed his

shoulders, his toned abs, his hips and his rigid cock. “Come inside me. Have all of me.

My pussy. My ass. Claim me.”

With bared teeth, he ran his eyes over the length of her. And if she saw in his eye

the hint of a tear, she ignored it and soared when he slid inside her, long and searing and heart-rending. There he held for a long breathless minute, withdrew and rammed

her over and over and over again.

She clawed at him, joyous, wild, flowing with him, as he fucked her and loved her

and adored her with his own incomparable body.

Climbing to a peak, she exploded with rapture. Her pussy pulsed. Her heart

hammered. She screamed how good this was, how right. And he ground into her. His

body taking and giving at the same time.

Clutching her close, he rolled to his side. The two of them coiled together, they fell into an exhausted sleep.

Hours later, she roused as he left the bed to wander to the balcony doors. The lights of the old city had grown dim. The sounds of pedestrians below were gone. She

watched him survey the navy-blue sky, his profile strong. His expression stern.

Worried.

When he turned, he caught her gaze and smiled at her. “I love you.”

Of all the things she thought he would say to her then, this was not one of them.

“Raul—”

“If you are going to argue with me, don’t bother. And don’t think I expect you to

say it in return, not yet. Not now. When…if you can.”

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Until Noon

“Come to bed.” She beseeched him with an extended hand.

He shook his head. “Let me tell you who I am.”

“Oh, darling, you don’t have to do that.” She put a hand to her heart. “I know here

who you are.”

“But your head is too strong, Pilar. Stronger than your heart. So be a good girl, sit up. Fluff a pillow and—”

“Come here and tell me.”

“No. I will be inside you again in a second. I want you too much.” He swept a hand

down his naked torso and she saw the ripe evidence that what he said was true.

“Very well.” She pushed backward to sit against the headboard and grabbed two

pillows. Then she crossed her arms and stared at him. Just to look at him was torture.

Her nipples hardened, recalling his touch. Her pussy wept, needing his luscious cock

inside her. “I’m ready.”

“I am thirty-seven. Not a young man, but old enough to know what I want in a

partner. I’ve had numerous affairs with women I desired. A Washington socialite. An

English baroness. The daughter of a Catalan real estate tycoon.”

Wow. She stared at him, her mouth open. He got around.

“I lived with two different women for extended periods of time. One was a Parisian

publicist for a film producer. That ended because we never saw each other. She was

traveling and I was often going in the other direction. She found a man who was going in the same direction. The producer. So she and I were finished. The second woman I

lived with was a teacher in a private London grade school. Problem there was again, I was gone too often for her needs. She found someone who was always at home.

Another teacher.”

He pushed away from the window to pace before her. “I began to think that my

lifestyle was not conducive to cultivating relationships. I’m here and there. Nowhere for very long. Mostly in Europe, especially now with my job with Nemesis. But I can never guarantee where I’ll be.”

“I have the same problem, Raul. Though I have to tell you, honey, not the same

number of failed affairs.”

He chuckled at her attempt at humor. “Thank god for that. It takes a toll.”

“I can see it has.” She hesitated to ask the bigger question. How could he say he

loved her? And so soon after they had met? Could she trust him?

Even in the dim light in her bedroom, she saw that he smiled sadly. “But now I find

there is an even bigger problem I have to solve with you.”

Here it is. She gathered her courage. “Tell me.”

“You have to trust me.”

“Oh. That.” She picked at the sheet, frowning, hating this subject.

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Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

“That means you will have to forget whoever turned on you. That man, Pilar, is not

me.”

“I know that.”

“Rationally, yes, you do.”

“I can work on this.”

“You can. If you want to.”

“I do. The best part of our relationship will be that we don’t work together.”

“That was the problem with this man?”

She nodded. “He was grasping. Unprincipled. He wanted a promotion.”

“Does he still work near you? With you?”

“Yes. In another department.”

“Good. Never introduce us.”

She chuckled. “Okay.”

“I’d be torn between killing him or kissing him.”

With a hoot, she laughed and Raul strode over to her to catch her against him. He

was serious, intense. “All those women?”

“Yes?”

“I never felt about them as I do for you.”

“Good to know.” She swallowed hard on the sweet admission.

“None of them ever made me think of them night and day for two years.”

“That is a joy to learn.”

“None of them ever distrusted me.”

She pressed her lips together. “That’s troubling to know.”

“None ever did a striptease for me.”

She slid down and opened her legs beneath the sheets so that she cradled his hips

near her own. “I’m wildly delighted to know that.”

“I never loved any of them.”

She searched his handsome face and saw the stark truth of his statement.

“Wonderful to know, darling.”

“You are so very fine, Pilar. I want to make us into one of those couples people talk about.”

She hugged him and kissed his lips. “What do you want them to say about us?”

“’See those two over there, holding hands? Always so much to say to each other.

How old do you think they are?’”

His sweet sentiment broke her open, made her yearn for his company for years and

years to come. “How old are they, sweetie?”

“Ninety-two.”

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Until Noon

She frowned. Could she trust his words? She felt as if she were standing on the

edge of a cliff, about to fall over.

He caught her close to roll her over with him. “Trust me, Pilar. I will never betray

you.”

But at the moment she had no words for him. As he cuddled her against him,

tension shimmered in both of their bodies. She wanted this but she was so afraid. How would this ever be resolved?

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Chapter Eight

Enrique Patron roused Raul and Pilar just after dawn with extremely disturbing

news. The things he told them had them both on edge. If everyone was right, they had a looming deadline that was scant hours away.

Using his influence he rousted a member of the maritime commission while Raul

called the Nemesis office, told them what he needed and he and Pilar put their plan

together.

They all arrived at Patron’s office shortly after that, the commissioner looking

totally irritated.

“I’m sorry to drag you out of a sound sleep,” Pilar began, “but I have crucial

information that cannot wait.

“And it better be life or death,
Señorita
,” he told her.