Exquisite Betrayal (25 page)

His mouth is beckoning to me and I can’t
resist so I pull his head to me and take his lower lip into my
mouth. God, I love his mouth. His lips are completely irresistible.
I lick and then bite him. He lets me, but I know he’ll get me back.
We’re still joined together, and I want to stay that way. I wonder
if it’s possible to flip him over and straddle him. He must see the
questioning look in my eyes because he doesn’t waste time in
asking.

“
What’s got that curious look on your
face?”

My face heats. “Can you stay inside of me if
we flip?”

The question has barely left my lips before
I find myself straddling him. My mouth heads for my target, his
nipple. I tease him by mimicking what he does to me. I’m not sure
if he’ll like it, yet a few seconds later, when he’s moaning, I
have my answer. Moving to his other nipple, my tongue repeats its
little tease session. His hands grip my hips and he’s rocking in
and out of me, making me gasp.

I raise my head, arch my back and sigh
heavily while my hands travel to his abs as we both move in unison.
I lean back further and then his fingers are on my hot button.
Moments later, my orgasm explodes in me and I feel him spasm as his
warmth flows into me. My arms tighten around him as I crash down
onto his chest. His sweet warmth smothers me while he whispers
things against my neck; things I can’t hear because my senses are
still whirling with him. I burrow into him, wanting to soak him in.
One thing is abundantly clear to me now. There will never be enough
of him for me. Never.

These feelings of mine suddenly frighten me.
They’re so potent that they threaten to take me over. He knows
something’s amiss.

“
Tell me, Fallon. Your body just went
from lax to rigid in mere seconds.”

It takes me only a moment to decide that I’m
going to be honest with him. “I’m frightened by the intensity of my
feelings.”

He chuckles, surprising me. “Now you know
how I’ve been feeling since Christmas.”

“
Really?” I ask as I lift my head to
look at him.

“
Yeah, really. Don’t be afraid. At
least not of me. I’ll be true to you, love. I’ll never cheat on
you. You understand that, don’t you?”

He won’t. I know that. “Yeah, I do. But what
if you grow tired of me or fall out of love with me? There are all
sorts of things that tear lovers apart.”

“
Fallon, we’re more than lovers. We
belong together. You feel it. I know you do. I can see it in your
eyes. You and I are forever, not just for a month or a couple of
years, love. Why do you think I wanted to wait? I knew it would be
like this. My heart is yours now. It’s in your hands to do with as
you please. My hopes are that you’ll cherish and treat it with care
as much as I’ll do the same with yours.” I turn into a big puddle
of nothing except love for this man and wonder how the hell I ever
got this lucky.

It finally happened. Fallon said the words
I’ve been waiting to hear. It’s completely absurd, but as she was
saying them, I felt I’d been waiting my whole life to hear them.
I’m pretty sure I fell for her the day I laid eyes on her at the
airport. Then, when I thought I’d blown it—when I was the king of
all bastards to her—I knew I’d never get the chance to mend the
rift. But now, I can’t believe we’re together. It will take my
whole life to make it up to her, and I intend to do just that.

It’s her birthday and I have a surprise for
her. Well, now, there are actually three. She’ll laugh when she
sees one of them. The other ones… I’ve just decided after tonight
to give the last one to her. I hope she doesn’t think it’s too
soon. As she sleeps in my arms, there are so many things I want to
do for her that I can’t begin to name them. Tomorrow we’ll
start.

***

I’ve been awake for over an hour, though I
won’t move because I can’t bring myself to disturb the beauty that
lies in my arms. Her hair wraps around me and bathes me in its
scent. Its silken strands are something I can’t keep my fingers off
of. Much like her smooth skin. The sun is creeping above the
horizon now, and I know I need to wake her soon, to put part one of
my surprises into motion. But damn, I hate it.

I decide to let my hand drift south, and
soon it’s cupping the roundness of her sweet ass. I’m filled with
want for her. My fingers slowly slip between her cheeks, finding
exactly what they seek. Just as I’d hoped, she’s wet and I glide
into her. She starts to move against my hand, but I’m not sure if
she’s awake or asleep, so I continue my pleasure play, enjoying the
feel of her next to me. I’m surprised when I feel her hand tighten
around me, and begin to match my rhythm in her.

“
Did you think I’d let you feel
neglected?” she whispers, her voice husky with desire.

“
I don’t really know what I was
thinking, other than how damn beautiful you are. And that I’m
completely in love with you.”

She lifts her head and looks at me. “Ryland
Thomas.” And that’s it for the both of us. We come together in a
rush; breath mingling, mouths crashing against one another, arms
reaching for each other.

This time there’s no gentleness. It’s
fevered heat. Desperate emotion spilling out of us and into each
other. She’s beneath me now as I thrust into her, and she cries out
my name over and over again. This rough frenzy of passion drives me
to a heaven I’ve never known. We can’t get enough of each
other.

“
More. I need more.” And I give it to
her. Her nails dig into my hips and ass as I pound into her while
she tells me that’s what she needs. God, she’s incredible. I know
she’s going to climax. I can tell by the way she starts to tense up
on me as well as the way she starts crying out my name. It sends me
right off the edge.

When we finish, we’re both catching our
breath as we gaze at each other. She cups my cheek and is kissing
me all over the place; my shoulder, neck, face. Anywhere she can
reach and it’s so damn adorable that I don’t ever want this moment
to end.

“
Have I told you how very much I love
you today?”

She giggles. “I think you may have mentioned
it.”

“
Thank God. But I’m gonna tell you
again. Fallon, love, I adore the hell out of you.” I move her hair
off her face. It doesn’t really need to be moved, but I do it
anyway, just so I can touch it.

“
Can I ask you something?” She lowers
her eyes, telling me it must be something she’s shy
about.

“
Look at me, love.” She does. “There
isn’t a thing in the world you can’t ask me. You don’t have to be
timid about it, nor do you have to ask if it’s okay. Got
that?”

She nods. “I’m inexperienced at this. You
know… you’re my first lover and all, so I don’t have anything to
compare this to. Does it always feel like this?”

I see where this is going. “Never this good,
Fallon. I’ll tell you the truth. I’ll not lie and say sex was bad
with Iris or anyone for that matter. I mean, I don’t think a bad
orgasm is possible, but I’ve never had such a deep emotional
connection with anyone before, like this. I’ve never loved anyone
like I love you. So no. It doesn’t always feel like this. This is
extraordinary what we have.”

I’ve never seen someone glow before, yet
Fallon does. She positively radiates light. “Jesus, Fallon, what
you do to me. You’ve rearranged me, love.” And that is the truth of
it all. She’s reorganized me into something different; something
better, something stronger. I’m a richer man, emotionally.

We’re silent for a few minutes, but I know
we need to get moving, so I say, “It’s shower time if you want part
one of your surprise.”

“
Part one?”

“
Yep. Come on.” I get up, take her
hand and lead her into the shower. Of course, I know it won’t be an
in and out. Fallon loves my shower. It’s huge with several
showerheads that can do all sorts of magic things to her. When we
finally get out, we’re running late. I tell her not to put on
anything except her panties, which earns me a weird look from her,
however she does as I ask. Everything I need is in my closet so I
dash in there and come back with my arms loaded down. She figures
it out when she sees what I’m carrying.

“
Oh, no! You didn’t.” She claps her
hand and laughs.

“
Oh, yes, I did. It’s pretty warm
today, so you’ll only need these under your pants.” I hand her some
light tights. Then I give her the ski pants. They’re a perfect fit.
Next, I hand her a lightweight fleece top and a sports bra. I get
dressed as she does.

“
Here are your ski socks.” We put ours
on. I go back in the closet and bring out gloves, goggles and
helmets.

“
A helmet?”

“
You don’t think I’d let you risk that
lovely head of yours, do you?” I kiss her as I hand it to
her.

“
But, I won’t be doing anything steep,
will I?”

“
No, but it only takes one fall to
bump your head. No arguments on that, okay?” She agrees. “I was
worried about your foot when I was planning this, but you’re all
good there. You said the doctor cleared you for everything,
right?”

“
Yep, all clear.”

“
Good.”

We’re all geared up so we head downstairs
where my ski pass and her lesson pass are. I grab our breakfast,
which is a couple of scones I picked up yesterday, then I fill our
go cups with coffee and we’re out the door. I explain to her on the
way that she has a private lesson for four hours and then she’ll
ski with me. If she doesn’t like it, we’ll come home after a lunch
on the mountaintop.

The ski resort of Heavenly is only a
ten-minute drive away, and by the time we get her geared up in
rental skis and boots, her instructor is waiting on us. We head to
the chairlift and she starts to freak.

“
Don’t worry,” her instructor, Shane,
says. “I’ll assist you off the chair.”

“
I’ll be on your other side, too,” I
add.

Her instructor shoos me away after we get
off the lift. He explains that he prefers to teach his students one
on one because there are no distractions.

“
Shane, take good care of my girl
here. You got that?” I shoot him a look, and he knows I mean
it.

“
Don’t worry about her, Ryland. I’ve
got her.”

I kiss her, hard, and then I tell her I love
her. Turning to Shane, I say, “I love this, woman. Safety,
Shane.”

We arrange to meet in four hours at a
designated restaurant for lunch.

***

“
That was the best!” she can’t stop
saying at lunch. “Shane even took me down a blue! A blue, Ryland
Thomas! I went down a blue run. Can you believe it?”

I’m caught up in her excitement, super
thrilled. She loves it. I’ve been a bit worried she wouldn’t and
that would suck for me because I ski a lot. So now I have a new
fan, and with some practice, she can hone her skills and be on the
black runs by next year… maybe.

“
That’s fabulous, love. I knew you’d
love it!”

“
Thank you. Thank you so much. This is
the best birthday gift ever. So can we go and ski some
more?”

“
That’s the plan.”

We head back out. She really does have a
knack for it. Her turns and stops are quite good so I move her off
the greens, or beginner’s runs, and we spend the rest of the day on
the blues, or intermediate slopes. We take our time and she loves
it so much she wants to come back the next day.

“
Honey, it’s your weekend and we can
do whatever you want. If you want to come back here tomorrow and
spend all day, we’ll do just that. But let me warn you about
something. It’s the weekend and the crowds will be terrible. I’ll
leave it up to you, though.”

“
Like tons of people?”

Her face is shining with excitement and I
don’t want to crush it, but she has to know how the crowds can
affect her skiing. “Tons. The lift lines will be long and the
slopes won’t be wide open like they were today.”

She frowns. “I don’t think I want that
then.”

“
Can you stay until Monday? Sunday
afternoons are usually great,” I suggest.

“
No, because I took today
off.”

My brain is churning with ideas. She loves
skiing; I didn’t even think about how much she would enjoy it.
“Okay, I have an idea. Are there any other days you can take off…
any other Mondays or Fridays between now and mid-April?”

“
I can check. Why?”

“
The season closes mid-April and I’ll
bring you back if you can get up here before then. And any weekend
in early April will be good, too. The crowds tend to start thinning
then,” I tell her.

“
That sounds like a great
plan.”

“
I didn’t know you’d love it this much
or I would’ve thought up a way to get you out there
sooner.”

“
But my foot. Remember?”

“
Oh, that’s right.” I forgot for a
moment. “And it didn’t hurt at all, did it?”

“
Not a bit. Thanks for bringing me.”
She leans over and kisses my cheek.

“
You up for a dip in the hot
tub?”

“
I don’t think so.”

By this time we’re getting in the car and I
stop and turn her to face me. Her answer has shocked me. “Why?
What’s wrong?”

She laughs. “A dip? I want a soak, you dork.
I’m sure my muscles will be screeching and telling me to fuck off
by the time we get home.”