Love Beyond Words (City Lights: San Francisco Book 1) (22 page)

“Yes, now,” she said over the thundering of her heart. “I want…I want you to fuck me, Julian.”

She couldn’t believe that had come out of her mouth, but it was exactly what she meant. Her words spurred Julian like a whip. He attacked her bra; cool air swooped in until his mouth was there, then his hands. He mauled her breasts until she pushed him away enough to open his pants.

“Tell me what you’re going to do to me,” she breathed, her lips brushing his with every word. She slipped her hand inside his pants and squeezed the hard length of him. “Tell me,” she demanded, stroking him harder and pushing his slacks down to his knees.

He gripped her wrists in both hands and slammed them against the wall over her head. He filled her with his presence, captured her, so that all she could see and feel was him. “I’m going to fuck you.”

His voice was low, feral, his accent exotic and sexy as hell. Natalie closed her eyes at the sudden flood of heat between her thighs that was already throbbing with pleasure. “
Yes
.”

He hooked her leg around his waist and impaled her, pinning her to the wall. She didn’t bother to keep from screaming out; impossible not to. She held on to him, her nails digging into his neck. “More,” she gasped. “Tell me more. Tell me in Spanish.”

“
Te sientes tan bein
,” he said, driving in to her fast and hard from the start. “
Y mojado, oh Dios…”

“Yes…Julian…”

“
Corre más amplio para mí ... así que puedo follarte
.”

She didn’t know what he breathed so hotly into her ear but the implications were clear enough. She reached out, found the edge of the wall with one hand, the other gripped the back of his neck and held on for dear life as he thrust harder, over and over again. “I want… I want…”

“
Que me quieres.”

You want me.
She understood that, clear as day. “Yes, yes, god
yes
…”

He silenced her insensible words by crushing his mouth to hers. “
No se habla mas. Voy a hacerte gritar
…
” he grunted. “
Quiero oír tus gritos…”

Yes, perfect,
Natalie thought. She clung to him, her back thumping against the wall with the force of his movements and gave herself up to the heavy, hot pressure building deep inside her. It didn’t even matter if she came again, she thought. She just wanted this. Him. But she did come, hard, a sudden rush of pleasure that wracked her, surged through her and across her, like a storm sweeping across an already turbulent lake, leaving it in ecstatic turmoil. She clung to him as he tensed, every muscle rigid with his own climax that filled her with sticky heat.

Neither moved but to breathe, forehead to forehead, sweat mingling. She slid down until both feet were on the floor.

“Natalie…” Julian gasped. He kissed her gently, softly, as if to make up for the roughness of their lovemaking. “Oh god…I definitely did not expect that.”

“I love you. I feel safe with you.” She smiled coyly, confidently. “It helps that you’re drop-dead gorgeous.”

He swept her into his arms.

She let out a little shriek of breathless laughter. “Where are you taking me?”

“The bedroom,” he said, his voice growing husky. “I don’t want this weekend to be over yet.”

Monday morning came too soon.

He lay draped over her, naked, his head pillowed on her stomach as she stroked his hair absently.

“I have to go,” she told him eventually, sighing. “I have class and then work. I can’t afford to skip any more shifts.”

“You can…”

“No,” she said. “I can’t. I don’t want you to do that.”

“To do what? Help?” He moved to lie beside her, propped up on one elbow. “Natalie, I can make things very easy for you.”

“You can make my rent disappear with a snap of your fingers, you mean.”

“Well, yes…”

“
No
.” Natalie said. “You told me why it’s okay for you to buy me gifts, how it’s important to you. Well, this is important to me. I can see myself just getting lost in it all, like how I get lost in your books. I’ll just sink into you…your life, your home, your money. What happens to the rest of me?” She stroked his cheek. “You catch my drift?”

He smiled. “I think so.”

“This weekend was perfection and I’d love more like it. Not the fancy stuff necessarily, just more dates. Movies, dinner, dancing. You can pay for all of it to your heart’s content. I mean, even that sounds presumptuous.”

“No, that sounds absolutely appropriate.”

“But if I stop working or let school fall away, I won’t be much good to anyone and…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because you’re a gift the universe set down before me, and I don’t know what I did to deserve such a treasure.”

“Stop right there,” Natalie said. “I’ve been
marginally
good all weekend about blubbering—only one total break down in a café but who’s counting? If you start in with your talk I’m going to break my twenty-six-hour-long streak.”

He laughed heartily and kissed her shoulder. “Okay. I’ll call you a car. You’ll let me do that, yes?”

She glanced at the clock. “I have a little time. You don’t have to kick me to the curb just yet.”

“In that case…” He kissed her again, this time with intention behind it. She felt a thrill surge up her spine…and then the security system beeped.

“That would be David,” Julian said. “Not the best timing, but I’m eager for the two of you to meet.”

“Does he always come and go as he pleases?”

“Officially, he works four days a week but I’ve long ago stopped trying to convince him to do less. He takes care of all the things I’m too lazy to do myself. He spoils me, really.”

They got dressed but one glance in the bathroom mirror and it was pretty clear how they’d been spending the morning. Natalie ran her fingers through her hair and followed Julian into the living area where a tall, lanky young man in his early thirties stood glancing about uncertainly. He wore a nice suit, if a bit rumpled, and his brown hair looked as though he drove a convertible with the top down. His smile stretched from ear to ear, but didn’t touch his eyes in the slightest.

“Hi, there,” he said, hurrying over to Natalie, hand outstretched. “Heard voices…didn’t want to intrude…Not staying long, just dropping off and picking up…I’m David Thompson.”

“Natalie Hewitt,” she said. His hand felt cold and dry, his grip harder than necessary.

“Pleased to meet you, Natalie. I’ve heard a lot about you from the boss here.” He glanced at their breakfast dishes from earlier strewn over the counter. “Oh darn. I didn’t know you’d have eaten already. I brought you a breakfast burrito from El Gordo.” He offered Julian a white plastic bag he’d been holding behind him as if it were a bouquet of flowers.

“Hey, thanks!” Julian took the bag. “I’ll save it for lunch since Natalie is abandoning me.”

David’s eyes lit up. “Oh, you’re not staying?”             

“No, I have class,” Natalie said. “In fact, I’d better get going…”

“I’ll call the car.” Julian went to the phone in the living room, leaving Natalie and David alone.

Natalie glanced up at him. For the briefest of seconds she found David wearing a dark look, but then he beamed. “So, what do you think of Julian? He’s wonderful, isn’t he?”

“Yes. Yes he is.” She cleared her throat. “And you’ve been his assistant for…?”

“Six years. Time does fly, though. Doesn’t even feel like work. We’re more friends than employer and employee.”

Natalie had the impression of a jack-in-the-box bouncing on its spring. She smiled faintly. “That’s…good.”

“Primarily, I handle his accounts and finances,” David continued, his tone more subdued now. “Wealth management, investments, that sort of thing. He has a trust fund, you see…”

“He told me who he is,” Natalie said, and felt a strange surge of pleasure at the look of dismay that flitted over David’s face.

“Oh, he did?” David ran a hand through his fly-away hair and laughed shortly. “Well, that was…impulsive of him.”

Natalie thought she could exchange “impulsive” for “stupid” and it would have more accurately reflected his tone. She glanced at the living room and saw that Julian was gone, perhaps to the bedroom.

“He’s never told anyone. Not in ten years. You must be very special to him for him to trust you with such an important secret.”

“I’d like to think so.”

“Are you?”

Natalie balked. “Am I what? Special?

“Trustworthy?”

“Of course,” she said, rubbing her arms from the sudden chill that danced over them. “I only want him to be happy.”

Julian finally reemerged with her bag and her velvet dress on a hanger. David took the remnants of Julian and Natalie’s breakfast to the kitchen sink. “Here, let me.” He started water and began cleaning the dishes noisily.              

“You know you don’t have to do that, David,” Julian began.

“No trouble. No trouble at all.”

Natalie gathered her purse and sweater from the couch.

“Ready?” Julian said. “I’ll walk you down,”

“Pleasure to meet you, Natalie,” David called. “I’d shake your hand again but…” He flapped his soapy hands and smiled his ear-to-ear grin.              

“I don’t like him,” Natalie told Julian the instant the elevator doors closed.

“What do you mean?” he laughed. “You were speaking to him for all of two minutes.”

“You know what they say about first impressions.”

“Oh, come on. David’s harmless.”

“He reminds me of Uriah Heep. And I don’t like the way he looked at me when I told him I knew who you were.”

Julian’s lips pressed into a thin line. The elevator opened and they walked through the lobby; the day security guard greeted Julian and gave Natalie a warm smile.

“He’s no Uriah Heep. That’s a harsh comparison, and uncalled for.”             

“Don’t get mad,” Natalie said in a quiet voice. “I just…”

Julian took Natalie’s arms. His smile was strained. “David’s been a good friend to me—my only friend—for six years. He’s a little bit neurotic and a lot over-protective, but I care for him. Please tell me you’ll give him a second chance.”

“I’m sorry. I guess I just want you more to myself right now.”

Julian’s smile lightened. “I know what you mean. I’ll ask David to call before he stops over. And you’ll warm up to each other, given time. Samantha—my last girlfriend, whom I promise not to mention more than three or four times a day—”

“Four maximum, if you don’t mind.”

Julian grinned. “Samantha found David to be quite the confidant.”

I can’t imagine it.
“All right. Next time I see him, I’ll try to start over. For you.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

Natalie slipped her arms around him. “I miss you already.”

They kissed until the car came for her. Angelo, the door man, cleared his throat discreetly.

“I love you,” she said. “Thank you for everything.”

He sighed and held her tight. “Oh no, love. The pleasure’s all mine.”

She felt another blush color her cheeks. “Not all of it.”

After the weekend with Julian, going back to school and work seemed like drudgery. But Natalie slipped back into her routines, the days brightened now by dates with Julian, nights spent at either his place or hers, in throes of ecstasy or basking in the simple joy of his companionship. Her long, lonely days seemed like a bad dream; one that she never wanted to have again.

Well into March, Marshall called her, and Natalie felt a pang of guilt; she hadn’t spoken to either him or Liberty since that night at the Kyrie.