From Ex to Eternity(21)

What was he doing? He couldn’t...he’d always respected her discom—

White-hot sparks exploded at her core as he put his mouth over her center, nibbling her through her panties.

She almost bucked off the cushion. Firm hands to her hips held her in place against the couch as he tongued her. He had to stop. This wasn’t...she couldn’t...and then the exquisite torture ratcheted up a notch as his strong fingertips slid beneath the string of her thong to grip her rear and shove her more firmly against his mouth. His tongue tunneled under the fabric to find her bare flesh, and his light touch teased her in a place no man’s fingers had ever teased.

It was too much. And oh so amazing.

Hands in his hair, she held on as he flung her into the heavens. Again and again, he drove his tongue against her nub, then deep in her core, and back to where he started. Bright pinpoints of light blurred her vision, and the cresting wave broke over her in a thick flood of release.

Panting, she scrabbled for purchase against Keith’s shoulders, desperate to hold on to something. As her body cooled and her heart rate slowed, her mind decided to start functioning again.

And it was turning over the fact that while it had always been good with Keith, it hadn’t been like that.

When she could speak, she eyed him. “What was that all about?”

His eyebrows shot up and his satisfied smile widened. “Well, I hoped it would be fairly obvious. Do you need a repeat, so you can figure it out? Because I’d be happy to help.”

Her lips involuntarily curved up in response. “You know what I mean. That was not standard operating procedure between us.”

He shrugged and picked up one of her feet to unbuckle her stiletto, still grinning as if he had plenty more where that came from. “We had busy lives in Houston. We didn’t live together. It was hard to justify taking my time when I always had a twelve-or fourteen-hour day ahead of me.”

The shoe slid from her foot and he started rubbing the arch, which felt so amazing, she groaned. “Because tomorrow isn’t going to be a backbreaker of a day?”

“No. Hear that?” He tilted his head to the window, where rain lashed at the pane and wind whined through palm trees. “That’s the sound of a storm giving me all the time in the world to do exactly as I please. I’ve got all night and a strong interest in getting...creative with how I spend it.”

Her tummy began humming. Her mama had raised her right and there were some things a lady didn’t do. Intimacy was something to cherish, something to create with the right person, and she’d never slept with a man she couldn’t imagine being with forever.

But this wasn’t her mama’s island fling. It wasn’t as if Cara had a true aversion to being adventurous—she’d just never had the right opportunity. There were limits to what you could realistically do and then look someone in the face every morning for the rest of your life.

But tonight wasn’t about the rest of her life. And she was safe with Keith. What better opportunity was there to take what she wanted and use him all up, as Meredith would say.

It would make it that much easier to walk away afterward.

With renewed interest, she cocked her head. “That sounds promising. Tell me more.”

His wicked grin curled her toes as he swept her with a pointed once-over. “Remember your answer to the newlywed game about your favorite position?”

“Missionary works,” she shot back. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing.” He kissed her foot and moved to her ankle with little butterfly caresses of his lips that teased and excited at the same time. “But there are so many more we can try.”

The idea took root and blossomed. But there was one small factor she couldn’t figure out. “Why now? What’s the occasion?”

They’d certainly never had such a conversation before.

Her other shoe hit the floor and Keith draped one leg over his shoulder, then bent the other one toward her torso, opening her up to his hot perusal. She let him roll with it and got a delicious little thrill for her effort.

“You’re a businesswoman now. Independent. I cannot stress enough what a huge turn-on that is.”

Oh my. So designing a few wedding gowns had suddenly cast her into a whole new level of hotness?

The thought was fascinating. He wasn’t turned on by her sexy lingerie—he’d barely noticed it. No shade of lipstick or hair color could have given her the slightest edge. Instead, something intangible beneath her skin had brought about this new realm of possibility. The best part? It would never fade because it was internal.

The fact that he found her sexier because of her accomplishments was turning her on, too, picking up the remnants of her earlier orgasm and fanning the flames. There was entirely too much talking going on, and it was totally her fault. But choosing to be adventurous and doing it were two different things.

Before she could decide what to do first, he turned his unshaven jaw into her thigh and abraded her skin lightly, then sucked. It was slightly painful but thoroughly thrilling, and the answering tugs at her core shocked her at their intensity.

As he edged closer to her panties, he left a trail of light marks in his wake. When his lips hit the fabric, he glanced up through his lashes. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

“Is that how this works?” she asked, her voice catching over the tangle of stimulation in her throat. “We just do whatever we want?”

“Yes.” He nodded succinctly. “Take charge of your pleasure, Cara. I insist. Be in control. I will not complain.”

Emboldened by his frank instructions, she rolled her hips, brushing her panties against his jaw. “Do that again, but without the thong.”

His gaze heated. “Liked that, did you?”

Without another word, he hooked the strings of her panties and yanked them off, resettling between her thighs, but unlike the first time, gentleness didn’t seem to be a part of the agenda.

He gripped her hips, pulled her to the edge of the couch and pushed her thighs apart. His tongue raked her still-sensitive nub and she gasped, bowing up. Then he slid two fingers into her and twisted. The eruption of heat nearly made her black out.

She swallowed a very unladylike curse, hips swiveling with a mind of their own as he shoved her to the edge of desire. And beyond. The release rocketed through her, encompassing her whole body.

With the aftershocks still gripping her, Keith murmured, “You know what’s really good? Me inside you before you’ve fully come down.”

This could be better? Half-blind, she sat up—how, she didn’t know when all her bones had disappeared—and clawed at Keith’s shirt, popping buttons as she stripped him out of it.

He pulled his arms from the fabric, and the motion propelled her off the love seat and into his lap. She took it as a sign to lock lips and lost herself in the dark, sizzling splendor of his kiss.

His strong, amazing lips. The things they’d done to her. The things they were still doing. He tasted of wine and earthiness, and it was exquisite.

She pulled off his pants, and in her urgency got the legs all tangled up. He was no help, grappling with one side while she yanked on the other. Finally, her questing hands found bare flesh and she stroked every inch she touched.

Keith’s head tipped back and he groaned. Her lips curved up, surprising her. It was heady to cause a man so controlled and so big and so masculine to feel pleasure.

“Now,” she said and pushed him back against the carpet, then mounted him.

Wordlessly, he held up two fingers with a foil packet caught between them. Yes, of course he’d be on top of that. She shoved aside the reminder that they of all people shouldn’t take any chances and paused as he put on the condom.

Thighs wide, she guided his body until everything clicked and he filled her instantly. Oh, yes, that was good. Still sensitized, still damp, the additional friction and pressure nearly set her off again.

Throwing her own head back in ecstasy, she found a rhythm that got a guttural sound of approval from Keith. Wantonly, she glanced down at him spread out underneath her like an offering to a goddess, and the power of it shot through her.

He reached up to touch her and she shook her head, lacing her fingers with his to pin them to the carpet. Despite knowing that he could break free any moment, she reveled in the ability to command a 190-pound man covered in sinewy muscles.

His eyes shut in apparent pleasure as she changed the angle again, driving her hips harder, and all of it coalesced into a bright, hot ball at their joined bodies. Nonsense words flowed from her throat as the orgasm built and exploded in an epicenter of ripples.

Totally sapped, she collapsed on Keith’s chest as he cried out with his own release. His arms came around her, binding her tightly to him as he spent himself.

Chests heaving together, they lay torso to torso. She couldn’t have moved if the hotel room caught fire.

“That,” Keith huffed, “was un-freaking-believable.”

It had been. Keith never talked like that, but she agreed—no other term could describe it.

“And then some.”

But only because Keith had encouraged her to spread her wings. Only because he’d told her how hot it was. Only because this was a fling and nothing more.

The thought made her a little sad all at once. Why couldn’t sex between them be adventurous and fulfilling and wonderful while they were a couple?