Authors: Darah Lace
complaining. It felt good. Damn good.
She must have known how much he liked it
because she stopped. She did that a lot, stopped
when he started to enjoy it. But she always came
back to tease him with more. It was only when he
tried to take control that she vanished. Just like in
real life.
A sudden bright light pierced his eyelids, jolting
him from the sensual haze of the dream. He turned
his head away from its brilliance. It couldn’t be
morning already.
“Time to wake up.”
He opened his eyes, squinting through the glare
of his bedside lamp—not the sun—to the figure at
the foot of the bed. “Charlotte?”
When she didn’t answer, Marcus came wide
awake. She wasn’t an apparition; this wasn’t a
dream gone in some strange new direction.
Something was wrong. Charlotte needed him.
He bolted upright, only to have his shoulders
almost wrenched from their sockets when his arms
wouldn’t follow his body. “What the—”
One corner of her mouth lifted, and he knew.
She was up to something. Slowly, almost afraid to
take his eyes off her, he tilted his head back to look.
“Holy hell.” His wrists were bound together with
a brightly colored scarf—like the ones he’d
purchased in the gift shop—and tied to the ornate
spindles he hadn’t even noticed in the headboard.
One of his favorite fantasies brought to life, only in
reverse. He yanked to test its strength and felt the
silk tighten.
“Hell?” she said. “Hell is the cat and mouse
game we’ve played this weekend. But I’m changing
the rules, and you can consider yourself caught.”
He looked back at her to ask what she meant; he
thought they were through with games after this
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afternoon. But his jaw went slack as she whipped
the pink sweater she’d worn during the morning
shoot over her head. Her breasts stretched upward
with the movement, nearly spilling over the top of a
lacy pink bra before settling back into their cups
when she lowered her arms.
Tossing the sweater on the chair in the corner,
she reached for the waistband of her jeans. A quick
tug at the button and a slow pull of the zipper, and
she shimmied out of them. They went the way of the
sweater, leaving only a scrap of pink lace that
matched her bra in their place. He knew all too well
the pale curls that lay behind that triangle.
Marcus forced his gaze upward, reasoning that
if he focused on her face, he could pretend she wasn’t
half naked and convince her this was a mistake. Not
friggin’ likely when she looked at him with hungry
cat-like eyes, as if she were about to devour him.
“What are you doing, Charlotte?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
She grasped the sheet near his feet, and he
instinctively tried to twist to one side. Silk bit into
his ankles, strangling his attempt, and the panic
that had idled under his skin revved to full throttle.
He wasn’t wearing anything beneath the sheet.
Worse, he still suffered the effects of the dream, not
to mention a hurried but provocative strip tease.
“And just what do you hope all this will achieve?”
One shoulder lifted and fell. “An orgasm.”
His erection jumped beneath the sheet, along
with his desperation. Images of the night she’d come
apart in his arms in the mayor’s garden swirled in
his head. He mentally closed the door on them and
jerked on the restraints. The one at his ankles made
a tearing sound but held. If he could stall her long
enough...”Look, you don’t really want to do this.”
“Oh, but I do.” She pulled the sheet the rest of
the way off, and her eyes zeroed in on the part of
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him that would eagerly relinquish control if he let it.
“By the looks of things, you want it, too.”
He had never denied that fact before, and he
couldn’t deny it now. Not even if he wanted to. His
mouth simply wouldn’t form the words as she
hooked her thumbs under the pink elastic hugging
her hips and with excruciating slowness, slid the
lace down long, tanned legs.
Fingers spread, her hands smoothed up the
sides of her hips over her belly and ribs, seductive in
their movement. One arm twisted behind her back,
and an instant later, her bra loosened. She slipped
her hands under the cups, palming the fullness
beneath. Her back arched. Her head lolled to one
side. “Mmm, feels so good. But I can’t help wishing
you were the one touching me.”
Oh, he’d love to get his hands on her all right.
Right around her pretty neck. “Then untie me.”
“I would if I thought you’d actually go for it. But
you wouldn’t.” She shrugged out of her bra,
revealing
pink-tipped
breasts.
Pert,
firm,
mouthwatering. She massaged the underside where
the underwires had left indentions. “So I’ve taken
the decision out of your hands.” Her thumbs flicked
the beaded nipples then looked down at what she
was doing. “Literally, it seems.”
Her knee met the mattress.
“Wait.” He strained once more against the silk
bindings. The one at his wrists slipped again but
held tight. Damn. “Let’s talk about this.”
“That’s part of your problem, Marcus.” She
placed her hands on either side of his legs to crawl
up his body. “You analyze things too much. You need
to let things happen.”
Marcus squeezed his eyes shut and ground his
teeth against the sensation of her warm skin
brushing his, her hair trailing over his legs, his hips.
“Some things aren’t meant to happen.”
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“This is.”
And it was. But not yet. Not until...What? What
was so damned important that he couldn’t take the
pleasure she offered? God knew he ached for it.
“This wouldn’t be necessary,” she said, settling
between his thighs, “if you’d have just let go of that
damned control of yours. We could have ended this
last summer and moved on.”
There it was. The reason. He could no more have
moved on then than he could now.
He’d loved her all these years and never known.
Or maybe he’d known but fought it. Either way,
until this afternoon, when he’d stood alone and
watched her vanish over the mountain’s edge, he
hadn’t understood.
Grasping hold of the thought with all his might,
he opened his eyes. “But this thing between us didn’t
start last summer, did it? It started years ago.”
Her hand hovering above his cock stilled. She
peered up at him from beneath a veil of silvery
blonde hair, her gaze startled.
“Admit it. The attraction’s been there since the
night we met.”
The shock faded from her eyes as they
narrowed. “I’m beginning to wish I’d gagged you as
well.” Full pink lips stretched into a smile. “But I
know how to shut you up.”
Her fingers encircled, warm and tight. His hips
thrust upward involuntarily. She laughed as she
lowered her head and he tried to sink into the
mattress.
Don’t think about what she’s doing or how good
it feels. Concentrate on something else
.
Wet kisses rained up and down his shaft.
Count
.
Count what?
Her tongue slathered him from root to tip.
Ceiling tiles, the spots in front of your eyes, the
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beats of your heart, anything. Just count.
One, two, three...
Her lips slipped over his engorged head.
A low groan choked him, and his back came off
the sheets. His arms strained against the silk
around his wrists. But nothing could stop the
sensations her mouth created. He slammed his eyes
shut and started counting again, faster this time.
One, two, three, four...
Wasn’t
working.
Backwards
maybe.
One
hundred, ninety-nine, ninety—oh, God that felt
damn good. Like...like...nothing he could describe.
No, it felt awful. The worst. Like having a tooth
pulled. He needed drugs.
She stopped and sat up.
Marcus expelled a lung-full of air. Thank God.
His body went limp, the tension easing from his
cramped muscles. Resisting was getting more and
more difficult.
He had to think again why it was so important
to keep fighting her. Why couldn’t he give in to the
pleasure his body craved? He wouldn’t be using her
as other men had. He loved her.
Ah, but that was it. He loved her. And damn if
he hadn’t almost given up on that love once today.
He’d been half way down the mountain when he
realized he couldn’t do it. He had to try again. Had
to show her how much he loved her. For the woman
she was, not what she could give him.
Giving in to his physical needs now would be
worse than if he’d taken her last summer. For her
sake, she had to trust him first. For his, she had to
love him.
She leaned forward, regaining his attention. Her
hair tickled his shoulder. Her breath feathered his
jaw. Cracking one eye open, he found her stretched
above him, fumbling for something on the night
stand. Then she backed up, one hand pushing off his
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chest, to resume her position between his legs.
He followed that hand as it held the thing she’d
been searching for. A flat, black packet with gold
writing.
“No.” His strangled cry went unheeded as she
tore the foil open and pulled out a dark purple
condom.
“Yes.” She rolled it carefully down his sensitive
flesh. “This
is
going to happen, Marcus.”
She bent and kissed his belly next to his
towering purple erection. Her tongue lashed out to
wet the spot she’d kissed. Then she blew softly.
Pleasure rippled straight to his balls.
Silk bit into his wrists and ankles as he renewed
his efforts to free himself, jerking and twisting. He
concentrated on that pain rather than the sweet
torture of her mouth as it traveled up his stomach,
his chest. Or the feel of her soft thighs straddling his
hips. Or her hot, wet core pressing against his
throbbing shaft.
“Charlotte, no.” He thrust a leg up, hoping to
unseat her. One foot ripped free of its bindings.
“Yes,” she breathed and tilted her hips, taking
the head of his cock inside her.
The thudding in his ears grew louder, faster,
whether from his struggles for freedom or from the
pulsing desire rocketing through his body.
“Yes,” she hissed again as she rose above him
and slowly sheathed him to the hilt, then paused.
“Be still, Marcus. I’m too close. I want this to last.”
“Oh, God.” Marcus froze, afraid to move, as her
muscles tightened around him. This was good.
Better than he’d ever dreamed. His whole body was
on fire, screaming for relief.
Yet as good as it felt, it wasn’t enough. It was
still only sex. Not at all what he would have wished
for once the time came. He wanted to run his hands
over every inch of her soft flesh, to follow their path
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with his mouth, to make her feel the same sweet
pleasure she made him feel.
He wanted to make love to her.
A tremor traversed through her, encompassing
him. He shivered and watched her as she came to
grips with her body’s need to surge ahead.
Damn, she was beautiful. Sooty lashes fanned
flushed cheeks. Equally rosy breasts peeked from
behind moon-kissed hair that spilled over her
shoulders. Her delicate hands gripped the top of her
thighs, nails digging into soft flesh.
He closed his eyes, shutting out the vision, just
as she shifted, taking him deeper. He moaned. She
moaned. Then ever so slowly, as if testing against
the threat of climax, she moved, lifting herself until
only the tip of his cock remained inside her.
“Charlotte, stop...” He groaned as she engulfed
him once more and began to ride, slowly undulating,