She whimpered, her brown eyes flying open and finding his. Her eyes were dazed, aroused, and he fought against the powerful reaction just a look from her created inside of him. Clenching his fists, he fought to regulate his suddenly ragged breathing.
He turned, flipped the shower off, grabbed a towel off the door. He wrapped her once-again trembling body in the towel, tenderly drying her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, reaching a shaky hand to his mouth. “Why are we stopping?”
His smile was dark, sensuous against her hand. “We’re not. But the shower was getting cold. I thought you’d be more comfortable in the bedroom.”
He watched her eyes narrow, could see her mind working beneath the suddenly sharp brown eyes. He even knew the second she reached a conclusion satisfactory to her.
“No condom,” she said.
He raised his eyebrows, stopped in the motion of toweling himself dry. “Excuse me?”
“You stopped because we didn’t have a condom, right?” she asked.
He inclined his head, a gesture that was neither affirmation or denial. She could believe what she wanted. He hadn’t needed a condom to bring her release, had known she was teetering on the edge of satisfaction. A couple more strokes of his tongue and she would have come, magnificently. He knew it and so did she. But then he would have lost the chance to push her past a different edge, to see her finally lose that damned control once and for all.
He scooped her up in his arms. “Let’s go to bed, cher.” He carried her into the bedroom, dropped her on his lake-sized bed. His eyes blazed at the picture she made—her short hair carelessly tousled around her face, her pale skin a warm, rosy pink, his towel half-open around her, leaving one breast bare.
She smiled—a sexy, self-assured grin—and twisted onto her knees to reach for the nightstand. He groaned, nearly foaming at the mouth at the sight of her round, curvy ass wiggling in front of him. He wanted nothing more than to grab her hips, pull her ass firmly against him and thrust into her, over and over, until they both came harder and better than they ever had before. But she wasn’t ready for that and he wasn’t ready to take a woman, again, who was not as fully involved in his lovemaking as he.
“What are you doing?” he asked, desperate to distract himself from the need burning away his own control.
“Getting a condom. Ah-hah!” she crowed triumphantly, rolling over, a small, plastic packet in her hand.
“We don’t need that yet.”
Her brows furrowed and her lips turned down in the most adorable pout he’d ever seen. “We don’t?” she asked, disappointment obvious in her tone.
“No.” He shook his head and continued to watch her.
“Then why—?” Confusion gleamed in her sexy brown eyes, but she stopped herself from completing the question.
He sank down next to her on the bed, his hands gently cupping her face as he brought her mouth to his. Her lips moved softly against his, parted, her tongue slowly exploring the corner of his mouth. Serena slid her tongue, teasingly, temptingly over his lower lip, across his bottom lip, before finally, finally slipping inside his mouth to taste him.
His tongue met hers, dueled gently as she explored the recesses of his mouth. His cock tightened and he nearly whimpered with the need to be inside of her. But this wasn’t for him, it was for her. And he got more pleasure from simply touching her than he’d ever gotten making love fully to any other woman, even Deb.
His mouth skimmed over her cheek, nibbled her ear, before working its way down her long, slender neck. “I love your neck,” he whispered between kisses, his tongue caressing the pulse that beat at the base of her neck again and again.
“I love your ass.”
He leaned back, eyebrows raised as he grinned at her. “Really?”
She bit her lip, a little embarrassed, but then she nodded. “Oh yeah. The first couple nights I would watch you sculpt and struggle not to take pictures of your ass over and over again.”
He went back to what he’d been doing, but grinned as he nibbled her neck, loving the shivers that swept through her. He licked the hollow of her throat, reveled in the pulse that beat more and more rapidly beneath his questing tongue. “Did it work?”
“Did what work?” Her voice was breathless, strained.
“Did you take pictures of something other than my ass?” His tongue dipped into the valley between her breasts, lapped at a stray drop of water.
She moaned and arched against him, her hands gripping his shoulders as her legs wrapped around his hips.
He moved to her left breast, nuzzled the nipple teasingly. “Well, did you?” he asked again, his hand caressing the underside of her breast as he pressed wet, open-mouthed kisses in a ring around her nipple.
“Did I—did I what?” she asked breathlessly, pressing her breast more firmly against him.
He grinned, pulled her nipple into his mouth and firmly sucked for a minute before releasing her. She groaned in frustration, her hands fisting in his hair. “The pictures?” he prompted.
She tightened her legs around him, lifted her hips so he was pressed tightly against her. She shimmied, circled her hips and took the tip of his cock inside of her. He groaned, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead as he fought the driving need to take her as fast and as hard as possible.
“What pictures?” she asked, clenching her muscles and pulling him a little more deeply inside of her.
“Forget the damn pictures,” he growled, thrusting into her steamy wetness before he could stop himself. She laughed, lifted her hips to meet him, relishing the feel of him seated deep inside of her.
Kevin lifted his head, stared down at Serena’s beautiful, aroused face. She was grinning, her eyes fierce with triumph and arousal. He pulled back and thrust into her again, watched her lips part as pleasure swept through her. But her eyes, fierce and aroused though they were, still held a watchfulness—a wariness—that set his teeth on edge.
Clenching his teeth against the lust roaring through him, Kevin used superhuman strength to pull out of her. “No!” she gasped, her body bucking against his.
“Yes,” he answered grimly. “You’re not ready yet.”
“If I get any more ready I’ll—” She stopped herself.
“You’ll what?” he asked. “Lose control? Fall apart? Come?” His voice dropped a little more with each word and his Cajun accent grew more and more pronounced.
“Die,” she answered, eyes blazing with fury and arousal.
“La petite mort. The little death. Not such a bad thing, hmm, cher?” He smiled wolfishly, even as his eyes searched the area around the bed, desperately looking for something he could use. When he found it, he kissed Serena fiercely, grabbing her arms and lifting them above her head as his mouth devoured hers. At the same time, he reached down, shook his belt free of his pants and looped it around the headboard and then her wrists again and again. He gave a final tug, satisfied that it would hold, and then sat back and studied her.
Kevin moved away from her and Serena became gradually aware that her hands were anchored above her head. She tugged gently, then harder as they refused to move. “What did you do?” she asked, twisting to look at her wrists. “You tied me up?” Her voice rose. “You tied me to the bed? Let me go!”
“No.”
“No?” Outrage raced through her, followed by overwhelming uneasiness and more than a little curiosity. “I don’t know what you’re into, but I don’t play this game.”
His eyebrows rose and his beautiful blue eyes were more serious than she’d ever seen them. “I’m not into anything and I’m not playing.” He lowered his mouth to her nipple, bit gently and then laved the tiny hurt with his tongue.
She arched at the first touch of his mouth on her breast, damning herself for the unrelenting passion she felt for this man. “Kevin, don’t ruin it. Let me go and make love to me.”
“I’m going to make love to you, Serena.” His hand circled her other nipple, flicked back and for
th across it. “But I’m going to do it like this.”
Heat rushed through her, painful in its intensity and Serena was deathly afraid that she was going to let Kevin have his way. She wanted him, desperately, would do almost anything to have him.
She twisted against her bonds. Anything but this. She never gave up control. Never. “Don’t ruin it, Kevin. Please.” She felt tears burn the back of her throat, felt them well in her eyes. She turned her head so he wouldn’t see, but she knew it was useless. Kevin saw everything.
His hand slipped down her stomach, his fingers tangled in her pubic hair as he thrust first one, then a second finger inside of her. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked as his finger found her G-spot and began to stroke.
She gasped and her insanely aroused body responded by arching into his wicked, wonderful hands. His fingers thrust back and forth inside of her, rubbing against her G-spot again and again. His thumb flicked gently across her clit and Serena nearly sobbed with sexual frustration.
“Serena?” he asked, his mouth teasing her breast as his hands continued to work their magic. “Do you want me to let you go?”
Her pride demanded that she say yes, that she make him free her and then storm from the room. But there was something intensely exciting, erotic, about being chained for his pleasure. For her own pleasure, because she was certainly getting more pleasure from Kevin than she had from all the other men she’d been with put together.
She glanced up at the ceiling and noticed—for the first time—the huge mirror positioned directly over the bed. She stared at herself, shocked at the picture she made. Her legs spread, her body rosy pink with arousal, her arms anchored to the headboard so that Kevin could do whatever he wanted with her.
Her nipples were peaked, her breasts heaving as she strained against her restraints. Was this what he saw when he looked at her, she wondered, as her eyes coasted over her flat stomach to the glistening pubic hair at the apex of his things. Not the scared little girl she so often felt, not the basket case she tried so hard to bury, but this—this siren? Her eyes heavy-lidded with arousal. Her lips full and plump from his kisses. Her body moving restlessly as arousal coursed through her. Curiosity filled her, along with a need to explore the boundaries of this woman she barely recognized.
“Serena?” He lifted his head, his concerned blue eyes staring into hers as he lifted a hand to the headboard. “Do I need to untie you?” He began to fumble with the belt, obviously reluctant to have his other hand leave her to join the first.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. Did she want him to let her go? The question echoed through her head, taking on dimensions of its own. No. She didn’t want him to, not now and not later. She didn’t want to lose the woman she was just beginning to acknowledge.
“It’s okay,” she murmured, her legs moving restlessly against him. With a shuddering sigh, she forced her body to relax. “You don’t have to untie me. But you’d better make it worth my while.” Her brown eyes blazed at him meaningfully.
A huge grin split his face and Kevin dipped his mouth to her breast again. “Oh, I will, cher. I will.”
His mouth found her nipple and his tongue flicked back and forth across it while his hand continued to work its magic deep inside of her. He began to increase his tempo, his fingers thrusting deeper and faster inside of her. Each thrust rubbed against her G-spot, bringing her closer and closer to the edge.
She was nervous, scared. Never in her adult life had she yielded control so thoroughly and she was frightened of what she’d feel like tomorrow. But, as her hips bucked desperately against Kevin’s hand, needing more, she gave herself up to him and what they were creating together.
Kevin felt her surrender, felt the stress leave her shoulders even as her body pushed more and more tightly against him. It was what he’d been waiting for.
Joy swept through him and he pressed his fingers more firmly against her, even as he allowed his thumb to begin the circular motion she’d been so desperate for. He pulled her nipple deep into his mouth at the same time he circled her clit. His fingers stroked faster and faster and with one final pull on her breast, he sent Serena careening over the edge.
Her body exploded and she cried out, her hands clutching at Kevin. “I can’t—Oh my—Kevin!” she wailed as her world spun crazily out of control.
“I’m here, bebe. Trust me. I won’t let you fall,” he murmured, kissing his way tenderly across her rib cage, down her stomach. He traced the thin scars crisscrossing her torso with his tongue, gentling her as her body continued to buck wildly against him.
The contractions became fewer and further apart and he could feel Serena begin to float back to earth. As her body relaxed, he positioned himself between her thighs, her legs draped over his shoulders. As she sighed, braced for his penetration, he leaned down and captured her with his mouth.
She screamed, her eyes flying open as he thrust his tongue deeply inside of her. Her hips twisted against his mouth and he licked his way up to her clit, his tongue swirling around and around.
“Stop! Kevin, I can’t. Not again.”
He ignored her, pulled her clit into his mouth and sucked as his hands cupped her beautiful ass and held her more firmly in place. She whimpered, then moaned, again and again, as he began to stroke her gently between her cheeks. His tongue speared inside of her at the exact moment his finger slipped into her anus and she came again, sobbing, clutching his hair and struggling for breath.
Kevin rode her through it, his mouth merciless in its possession of her. Moments later she came a third time, her body twisting, her breathing harsh, tears and sweat mingling as they ran down her face.
He reached for the condom she had picked up earlier, rolling it on and freeing her hands in a series of quick, coordinated movements. Within seconds he had spun her around, pulled her to her knees even as he thrust inside of her.
He groaned, seeing stars as her body clutched at his, the remnants of her orgasm milking his cock again and again. But he didn’t want it to end yet, didn’t want to give up this connection he had to Serena. So he ignored the urgent need to come that clawed through him, concentrating instead on Serena’s incredible, unbelievable, unselfish response.
She gripped the rungs of the headboard, her body thrusting back against his as he pounded into her. Harsh sounds tore from his throat, high-pitched screams from hers as he thrust as deeply as possible. He reached his hand around her, found her clit and tapped. She shattered, her body going rigid as screams of surrender ripped from her throat. Her body clutched his tightly, her muscles contracting on his cock again and again. He couldn’t hold back any longer and with a bellow of intense satisfaction he came, his body rhythmically emptying itself into her as he struggled desperately for breath.
Chapter Seven
Serena woke gradually, keenly aware of the empty spot beside her in bed. She rolled over and buried her face in Kevin’s pillow, loving the fresh, clean smell of him that lingered on the sheets.
Her body ached, but the feeling wasn’t an unpleasant one. Memories of the previous night clicked through her head; an erotic slide show that set her body humming all over again. She had made intense, glorious, wonderful love with Kevin and his warmth lingered inside of her.
Despite the warmth, she couldn’t help wondering if she’d done the right thing. Had she really given everything to Kevin last night? She was always in control, always took the dominant role in every aspect of her life—from her career to her relationships. In one night, Kevin had stripped that identity from her. He had seized control from her, had turned her inside out with the most intense, insidious pleasure she had ever experienced. And it had felt wonderful.
As the morning light of the bayou leaked through the closed blinds, she still felt wonderful. But she was no longer so sure that she had done the right thing. Her control, and the distance that it provided her, was the only thing that had kept her sane after Sandra’s death. Even her profession had helped her keep that distance.
The world looked different through a camera lens—sharper, clearer, but also farther away. She’d needed that distance when she was seventeen, the ability to control her environment after it had been so violently disturbed. But she was older now. And wiser? She grimaced, not knowing the answer to that particular question.
How wise had it been to sleep with the subject of her latest project? How wise was it to let him strip her of every defense she had, leaving her standing, raw and naked, before him? But try as she might, Serena couldn’t bring herself to regret it. Kevin had opened her up to an entire world of feeling and sensation that she had forgotten about. He had, in one night, shattered the wall she had hidden behind for almost eleven years. Now she had to figure out if she could function without it. Did she even want to try?
Rolling over, she glanced at the clock. It was barely six, but Kevin was already gone. Though the tempting aroma of coffee drifted down the hall from the kitchen, she knew he wasn’t in the house. When he was around, the whole world seemed to pulse with the sensual energy that poured from him. And while her body was pleasantly humming from the most incredible sex of her life, she wasn’t melting into a boneless puddle of lust—something she seemed to do whenever Kevin was in the immediate vicinity.
Serena stretched her overworked muscles and climbed gingerly out of bed. She’d bet that he was in his studio, blasting away, and she would give anything to be able to catch some candid photos of him. Admittedly, he always worked like he had no idea she was around, but what would he be like if he really didn’t know she was there?
She rushed through her shower, ran a comb and some gel through her wet hair before slipping into a pair of jeans and a tank top. She started to put on the long-sleeve shirt that had been part of her “uniform” her entire adult life, but then discarded it. Kevin had already seen everything she had to offer. What good would her armor do her now?