InHap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance) (2 page)

            Dylan ran his
fingers roughly through his wavy locks. “I know you’re right,” he said,
pressing his mouth into a firm line, “but it kills me that you spent so much
time thinking that I’d abandoned you and given up on us, when nothing could be
further from the truth.” He touched his lips to hers and let them rest there
for a moment.

            “It’s a drop
in the ocean compared to the time we have ahead of us, Dyl, and I’d much prefer
to focus on that.” 

             His features
softened and he smiled. “Oh God, you’re absolutely right—regardless of
everything else, this is a happy day. No more secrets, no more hiding. It’s you
and me against the world now, Tia. Officially and forever.”

            “I really like
the sound of that,” she whispered. “Officially and forever.  That is really all
that matters.”

            He pulled her
to his mouth slowly, their lips and tongues moving in a familiar dance and
building to a crescendo that took her breath away. He shifted, laying Tia
against the long seat and pressed his body to hers, crushing her mouth with a
more demanding kiss. Tia lost herself in warm velvet, wet tongues, the softness
of his lips and his touch. She inhaled sharply as his hand slid over her
breast, cupping it firmly and giving it a possessive squeeze. Tia squirmed
closer, pressing her hips into his and moaning softly when she felt his desire
pushing urgently against her inner thigh.

            “I can’t even
tell you how badly I want you right now,” he growled into her ear, sending a
long shiver down her spine.

            “Show me,” she
whispered back, sliding her hand over to press it to his jeans, stroking him
through the soft fabric and pulling another snarl from deep in his throat.
There was no “slow and easy” in his eyes or his touch, and Tia felt her own
urgency rising to meet his.

            Finally, the
limo pulled into her driveway and they all but tumbled out of the car. Tia
fumbled for her keys as Dylan scooped his bags from the driver’s hands. She
grabbed his arm and pulled him to the door, finally managed to flip the lock,
and then they were inside.

            For the
briefest moment they just stared at each other, the intensity of their combined
gazes speaking what it would take hours for words to say.  There were a
tremendous number of tangled emotions in them both; relief, disbelief,
apologies, forgiveness, joy. A rogue tear spilled down Tia’s cheek, and Dylan
caught it with his fingertip, then pulled her to him.

            “My baby
girl,” he growled, his lips vibrating against her ear.  He nipped her earlobe
and slid his tongue along the contour of her neck down to her shoulder, the
slight stubble on his cheeks sending shivers along her nerve endings.

            “Oh Dylan, I
missed you so much,” Tia murmured as his hands roamed over her body rough and
fast. As she slowly inhaled her heart recognized his scent; dark and animal and
masculine and woodsy; and a thousand delicious memories rolled over the back of
her closed eyelids. The ragged echoes of their breathing slithered off the
walls and then his mouth was on hers and she surrendered to pure sensation.
Dylan caught her just as her knees went weak and pressed her against the door,
her soft body molding itself around every line of his hard frame.

             Dylan
couldn’t think of a time he’d wanted anything as badly as he wanted Tia at this
moment. His girl; his everything; was looking at him with such desire, such
trust, such intense need. He was suddenly transported back to the first time he
and Tia had made love.

           
He’d wanted
her so badly that night—there was something about her and the way she made him
feel that he couldn’t explain at the time. But as badly as he’d wanted her, he
was filled at the same time with an intense desire to protect her. He was only
in Chicago for a few days; and because he’d believed that he’d have to walk
away, his lustful feelings fought savagely against those compelled to respect
her honor. In the end, though, it was beyond their control—wanton desire had
claimed an undeniable victory over chivalry, and the spark that would become
their love had burst into flame in an instant.
He could feel that same heat
singeing him right now.

            They’d been
there and done that since that opening night; fumbled through the first
touches, bumped heads and teeth going in for kisses, seen each other with too
little sleep, too much to drink, and with noses red-rimmed and running from
head colds. They’d had a crash course in each other that summer in Europe, and
had grown closer and more comfortable with every passing day.

            He thought at
the time that he couldn’t possibly feel a more desperate need to be joined with
this woman, but the blood coursing through his veins in this moment was a fire
that could only be cooled by sexual release. She was his drug of choice and he
was way overdue for a fix. He hooked his thumbs in the shoulders of the jacket
she’d worn that day and pushed it down, bunching it at her wrists and holding
her fast. With his other hand, he tore open her blouse, buttons skittering
across the wood floor, and bent to bury his face in the swell of her cleavage.
He kissed and nibbled his way around the curve of each breast, then skimmed his
lips over the fabric of her bra, nipping at her hardened bud through the lace.

             “Ah!” she
cried on a sharp intake of breath. “Oh Dyl, I’ve dreamed this so many times…”

            Dylan’s
response was a look that contained so much fire that Tia thought she might
actually burn. There was no tenderness there; just raw and primal hunger as he
unhooked the front clasp with one quick motion and greedily sucked one hardened
nipple into his mouth, rolling the other between his thumb and forefinger. The
sensation was pure ecstasy, and Tia arched her back as every nerve ending in
her body pulsed with electricity, each streak of current connected to the spot
directly between her legs that swelled and throbbed in anticipation. She felt a
floodgate open, and pressed her hips into him insistently.

            “No dream
could feel this good,” Dylan snarled, moving his free hand to unbutton and
slide her pants down in one swift motion to pool at her feet. She whined in the
back of her throat as she stepped out of them and kicked them aside, trying to
wriggle her arms loose. She was overcome with the depth of her need; more than
anything she wanted to touch him; to rake her fingernails down his naked back;
run her hands over every inch of his body and pull him deep into the place
inside her that only he could fill. She groaned in protest as he tightened the
grip at her wrists, but then moaned with pleasure when he pinned her to the
wall with his body, put his hand behind her neck, and kissed her with
undeniable urgency.

             Dylan took a
small step back and ran his gaze slowly up and down her body, chewing
seductively on his upper lip. Goosebumps popped up on her flesh despite the
inferno that burned inside. She’d lost the power of speech and perhaps even the
ability to form cohesive thought, so lost was she in the intensity of his
stare. Her breath came in ragged gasps until Dylan finally settled his eyes on
hers and took in her own longing.

            “You’re so
fucking beautiful,” he said, his voice rough and raw.

            “Oh Dyl,” she
whispered, “I just want to touch you. Please let me touch you.” She tugged at
her bindings once more, but she had little strength to resist.

            “Soon,” he
croaked. “Very soon.”

             Dylan gently
stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, then raised his index and middle
fingers to her lips and pushed them inside her mouth. Tia groaned, running her
tongue along and between his fingers while fighting the urge to wiggle free. 
With his eyes blazing into hers, he slid his moistened fingers inside her
panties, gliding them slowly over her sex before spearing her with them. Tia
arched into him and cried out as he pushed them deep, nearly lifting her off
the floor. She threw her head back as the entire focus of her being centered on
the place where they were connected, on the heat and the wetness and the
sensations that were rising up more quickly than she could control.           “Look
at me, baby,” Dylan commanded, “I want to see everything I make you feel.”

            “Mmm,” she
moaned and forced her gaze to his; no easy task as Dylan swirled and scissored
his long fingers, slowly stroking the place deep inside her that sent waves of
pleasure rolling over her entire body.

            A slow wail
was all she could manage as he slid them out ever so slowly, nearly making her
come by running the length of one slick finger along her swollen core.

            Dylan held her
eyes as he lifted his now glistening fingers to his own mouth, sliding them
inside. Tia moaned when his eyes lidded and clouded with desire as he licked
her juices from them. “God, I missed the taste of you,” he hissed as he slowly
pulled them out, running his tongue over his lips before finally releasing her
arms.

            “Oh God,” Tia
shuddered quickly shrugging out of her jacket and ruined blouse and tossing
them to the floor. “I need you inside me right now,” she pleaded, her voice
guttural. She‘d never in her life felt such intense need—a physical ache to
have their bodies joined. She shoved her hands underneath his shirt and pushed
it roughly over his head while he snaked out of his jeans and finally, they
were flesh to flesh. 

            “I like the
way you say that,” he growled as they crushed together; their hands moving
possessively over reclaimed territory. “Tell me again.”

             “Now, Dylan,
please!” she insisted, desperately needing the space inside her filled. He bent
and scooped her up and they fell together onto the couch, frantically tossing
pillows to the floor. Dylan shifted his weight and lifted her hips, plunging
himself into the slickness of her; planting himself to the hilt in one swift
motion. She came instantly on a strangled cry, and he forged a rhythm that was
rough and hard and fast as wave after wave of delicious pleasure ebbed and
flowed through her entire being.

             It was too
much for him to bear…simply being inside her again brought him to the edge
immediately, but her face—her beautiful face—threatened to toss him off the
cliff from which he barely clung. He held her gaze as he watched the pleasure
he was bringing her play out over her features; her eyes hooded as she crested
the wave, then rolling back as she tumbled over into ecstasy; the muscles of
her legs quivering against him where they were wrapped around his waist. She
held her hands under her hips to give him deeper access and the passionate
sounds that slipped through her swollen lips echoed off the walls.  She was
heat and velvet and sweet, sweet, slickness and he could feel her clenching
around him as he pushed urgently toward the precipice from which he was now
desperate to plunge.

            “Oh, Dylan,
yes!” Tia hissed as she felt his climax swelling inside her, and rode it with
him as he came on a snarl and a curse. He thought that he’d never heard a more
beautiful sound than her crying his name in the throes of passion, and as the
muscles that surrounded him tightened their grip he felt a second orgasm
building inside him and quickened his pace. He watched her eyes go wide as she
felt it too, and she threw her head back in pure carnal bliss as they rode the
next wave together until he fell on her, completely spent and breathing in
gasps.

             Reaching
blindly over the back of the couch, Dylan pulled a blanket over them and
wrapped it tight to ward off the drafts wafting over their slick bodies. He
rolled onto his side, pulling her close and taking her hand in his, interlacing
their fingers and bringing it to his lips as he smiled down at her. He’d never
seen her look more beautiful, he thought as he drank in her sex-flushed face,
her disheveled hair, and the smudge of mascara at the corner of one eye. He
disentangled his fingers and pushed them through her twisted locks, tucking
them behind her ear.

             “I’m so glad
you came back for me,” she whispered, reaching up to stroke his face.

            “Oh, baby, I
never let you go,” he smiled, placing her palm on the center of his chest. “You
were always right here, Tia.” She spread her fingers, sifting them through the
soft hair there and absorbing his warmth and the still-frantic beat of his
heart. He lifted the Eiffel Tower charm from where it rested on her chest and
turned it so the tiny diamonds caught the light. He’d given it to her the night
he first told her he was in love with her as a reminder of just that—that she’d
always be in his heart, no matter how much physical distance was between them.
How he wished that there hadn’t been so many moments of great doubt during that
separation…how he wished he could have spared her that pain.

            “I took it
off,” she admitted. “When I thought you were finished with me I couldn’t bear
to wear it—couldn’t stand to have it shining at me in the mirror when it felt
like all the sparkle was gone from my life. But I didn’t tell anyone we broke
up, and people started noticing I wasn’t wearing it, so I had to put it back
on. I’m glad that I did.”

            Dylan smirked
and raised an eyebrow; a simple gesture that she’d missed horribly over the
past months, but that seemed to mock her in the moment. “You didn’t tell anyone
we broke up?” he asked, with what could only be described as a laugh in his
voice.