Twisted By Love, Reincarnation Tales, Book 1 (11 page)

His clever fingers stilled, left her. “Look
at me.”

Brushing aside the thoughts feathering
through her mind, she let her gaze trace every inch of his face.
“I’m looking.” God, he was perfect, far from handsome yet all hot,
hard masculinity.

Shifting, he pulled a condom from his pocket.
“We were thinking the same thing.”

She let her lips curve. “I had some in the
bedroom.”

He tore the packet, tossed the wrapper on the
counter, and rolled the condom down.

“First I want to watch you come.” He glided
over her flesh, sending heat and sensation coursing through her. “I
want to remember how you look.”

Once again, she wrapped her legs around his
hips, leaning back on her hands. “Make me come,” she whispered.
“Then I want you in me.” It was like another woman talking,
begging. “Oh, God, yes.” Her body undulated with his touch. She was
on fire inside.

She closed her eyes, colored lights playing
behind her lids like a kaleidoscope. There was only her body, and
his touch. In what seemed like only moments, she exploded for him.
Her head bumped the cabinet, but she didn’t care. She rode the
climax.

“Now,” he said, his voice far away and yet so
close. Then he braced her with a hand at the small of her back, and
before she’d even come down off the orgasmic high, he thrust.

Livie screamed. This time it was pure
pleasure.

Chapter Ten

She was like a glove around him, soft,
yielding yet the fit tight and consuming once he was deep inside
her. Bern held still a long moment, savoring her heat and the
ripple of her muscles along his length.

“Christ,” he whispered into her hair. The
locks were soft, her skin scented with lavender and the sweet,
sexual perfume of arousal.

Being inside her was like coming home after a
long, arduous journey, one he thought he’d never survive. He’d
dreamed of her every night, and those dreams had brought him
through. It didn’t feel like three weeks, or a month, or a year. It
felt like a lifetime.

He began a slow, sweet pump inside her.

“Right there,” she whispered. “Exactly
there.”

He didn’t know what she meant, whether he’d
found the perfect place inside her, or if, like him, this was the
place she needed to be.

They clung to each other. She held her hands
to his hips, tightened her legs around him, and urged him deeper,
faster. He’d seen her climax, and now, though his eyes were closed
and his face was buried against her neck, he could see the beauty
of desire on her face. He felt as if he’d had her a thousand times
and yet it had never been enough.

Then he let sensation rule, the silk of her
flesh around him, the heat of her skin against him, the sweetness
of her hair in his nostrils. He pumped and ground, his legs
shaking, his breath sawing. She met him thrust for thrust, her body
working him. He knew the moment her orgasm began. She dragged him
along with her, pulsing around him. The explosion rocked his world,
pulled him under, and he knew she fell into the abyss right along
with him.

How long he held her, still throbbing deep
inside her body, he didn’t know. Long enough to feel the beat of
her heart slow against his chest. He didn’t want to move. He didn’t
want to pull out. If he did, he knew he’d lose her.

Then Livie tipped her head back, her eyes a
rich, luscious chocolate. “Why don’t we go into the bedroom? A bed
would be a little softer than my kitchen counter.”

Bern’s heart kicked up the pace. He’d take
her wherever she wanted to go.

* * * * *

Livie stood at the railing of her balcony,
the glitter of lights down the long stretch of hill before her, the
dark hollow of the bay beyond. The balcony, doors opening onto it
from both living room and bedroom, was what had sold her on the
condo.

Though the usual evening wind had died down,
she’d wrapped herself in her robe against the chill of the night.
She sipped the wine he’d brought. They hadn’t drunk much of it.
They’d touched, kissed, licked, and stroked, making love in her
bed.

No, it wasn’t making love, it was sex. You
couldn’t make love with a man you’d known a couple of days. But
damn, the sex was good. Down and dirty on the counter, then long
and leisurely in her bed. She’d give him major points for knowing
exactly where and how to touch her.

Then they’d fallen asleep. She’d woken some
time later with the sense of something different. A man in her bed.
She hadn’t asked Bern to spend the night, yet it felt...right.
Good. Luxurious. She hadn’t had a nightmare either. She wanted to
get used to this. And that’s what had driven her from the bed. She
wasn’t ready to
need
him.

It was close to midnight. The cars running up
and down the streets below were few and far between, though she
could pick out a steady stream down on the freeway and across the
San Mateo Bridge.

Behind her, the door slid in its tracks.
Bern. She could smell his sexy masculine scent. Something about him
had called to her from the moment she saw him. It was the stuff of
romance novels. Livie would have said she was too practical for
that.

“Have you finished reading it?”

It certainly wasn’t what she expected him to
say. “Read what?”

“
The Fountainhead
.”

He came to stand behind her, holding the
railing on either side of her, his chin above her shoulder, his
cheek against her hair. She should have felt trapped, but he
managed to make her feel safe. His arms were bare. She could feel
through the robe that the rest of him was naked as well, but she
didn’t ask if he was cold. His body heat seeped through the thin
material.

“It’s a long book,” she said. “I haven’t
finished it, but I’ve made a good dent.” The book purchase
telegraphed her interest in him.

“What do you think so far?”

“It makes me wonder if the arrogant architect
who won’t compromise his vision is a bit like you.”

He chuckled softly. “I compromise, but I
still hope there’s something of Roark in me.”

She held up her wineglass and he took it,
drinking, then handed it back. She couldn’t say why, yet she viewed
him as a man of vision and integrity. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t
be as attracted. She wanted to know more about him, but was afraid
to ask. The more she knew, the deeper she’d fall. She went for
something neutral instead. “I’m enjoying the book. I didn’t think
I’d like something that old. The writing style back then was a lot
more wordy.”

He removed one hand from the railing and
wrapped it around her waist, the unmistakable imprint of his hard
body against her. Again he gave her the unexpected. “Do you come
out here often to watch the lights?”

“If I can’t sleep. It’s not the lights so
much as how the bay seems to swallow everything like a black hole.
Except when there’s a full moon. Then you see it glittering in the
water.”

Parting the robe, he slid a hand in to cup
her breast. Her nipple beaded against his palm and her center
melted for him. “It makes you wonder about all the cosmic
possibilities.”

His breath was warm across her cheek. He
pinched her nipple lightly, and suddenly the night was hot. She
held the wineglass in one hand, gripped the railing with the
other.

“So many possibilities,” he whispered. Then
he dropped his hand from her breast to the robe’s opening below the
tie.

She’d thrown on the robe, but no panties, and
he unerringly slid between her folds. Livie closed her eyes,
moaned, held the wineglass a little tighter so she wouldn’t drop
it.

“You’re still wet.”

She couldn’t say a word as he stroked her.
The lights were like stars behind her lids.

“I can’t get enough of you.” His hand was
gone, and she tipped her head slightly, opening her eyes to see him
suck her juice from his fingers. The sight was incredibly arousing.
“I love your taste,” he murmured.

She’d never known anyone like him. So
sensual. Far beyond a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am, he seemed to relish
every touch, every taste.

Holding her gaze, he said, “I want you right
here.” His words were needy, intense, calling to her the way
everything about him did.

The balcony was dark. And while there were
nearby apartments, they were farther down the hill. The street was
empty, parked cars but no movement. It they were to be seen,
someone would have to know to look up here, and she didn’t think
they’d see more than shadows. Yet even if it had been blazing
daylight, Livie would have wanted it.

“Yes,” she told him.

“You want it, too,” he said, as if he wanted
her in the same place he was, needing it, here and now, with
him.

She was blind to the night, wanting it badly.
“God, yes. Here. I need you right here.”

He plucked the glass from her fingers, set it
on a table, then lifted her robe. “You’re perfection.” He traced
the curve of her butt, then pushed his leg between hers, forcing
her to a wider stance. “I want you like this.” He stroked in from
behind, testing her readiness. “Hold onto the railing.”

Livie held on with both hands, fingers
wrapped tightly. He tugged her robe aside, and cold air washed over
her. Then he slid along her center, coating the condom with her
moisture. He must have been wearing it when he came out. He’d
planned it. Livie didn’t care.

“Please, do it now,” she begged.

He entered her without further preamble,
thrusting deep, holding still a moment.

“Oh God.” The words fell from her lips.
“That’s so good.” He filled her. She leaned forward, savoring the
feel of him as he slid even deeper with the new position. “More,”
she whispered.

He began to move, withdrawing slowly,
maddeningly, then plunging deep. His rhythm was flawless, turning
her wild, sensation exploding. Her legs quaked and he wrapped a
hand around her waist to steady her. She was going to come, oh God,
yes, then it was rolling through her. She might have cried out,
might even have screamed. As her body contracted around him, he
thrust hard, deep, fast, throbbing inside her, the guttural sound
of his climax dragging her under with him.

* * * * *

“Mmm, lust is good,” Livie purred against him
as he carried her back into the bedroom.

There was a hell of a lot more than lust
between them. His gut was telling him that his relationship with
Livie was the most important of his life. Screw the why of it.
Nothing else mattered. He’d just have to convince her of it.

He laid her in the bed, patted the covers
around her, half expecting her to tell him to go home now that she
was done with him. He wasn’t leaving. He was spending the night,
waking up with her in the morning. They’d done too much tonight for
him to walk out now.

In her girlie bathroom with all the lavender
towels and bottles on the counter, he tossed the condom, cleaned
up. By the time he returned to her bed, her breathing had already
deepened into the cadence of sleep. He crawled in bedside her,
pulled her into his arms, and wrapped himself in her warmth.

* * * * *

Goddamn them. Toni fisted her hands around
the steering wheel. He’d screwed her right up there on the balcony.
Sure it was dark and they were high up in the shadows, but Toni had
known what they were doing. She’d unrolled her car window, and
swear to God, she thought she heard Livie crying out. Her bitch of
a sister.

Anger bubbled and boiled inside her right
along with desire. It was a potent combination. She’d touched
herself while she’d watched them grinding together up there on the
balcony. It had been exciting, the intensity of her emotions, need
swirling inside her. She knew deep in her bones exactly how he’d
feel buried to the hilt. Briefly closing her eyes, he was screwing
her
, not Livie.

But then it was over, and they’d gone back
inside. He’d actually carried Livie in his arms. How pathetically
romantic. Toni wanted to throw up.

She’d followed him here. He hadn’t even
known. She was adept at following men, staying a few car lengths
behind, letting other cars merge between them, but always keeping
an eye on her quarry. After several turns, she’d known where he was
going. Asshole.

She should never have left Livie alone. She’d
let her anger get the better of her when Livie wouldn’t take her
shopping. Though maybe this was better; now she knew for sure what
Livie was up to. She just had to figure out what to do about
it.

She’d waited out here in her car for hours,
but he was actually spending the night with Livie. If she knew her
sister, that meant they’d been seeing each other for a while. Livie
was too boring to go to bed with a man on the first date, let alone
allow him to spend the night.

Just the same, Toni sat for another half
hour, counting the minutes. Goddamn him, he really wasn’t leaving.
She pounded the steering wheel until her fist ached. A car passed
and she ducked down. It was late. She looked suspicious sitting out
here.

Maybe she should let herself into Livie’s
apartment. She could walk in on them, pretend she’d had a panic
attack and had run to Livie for help. That would freak them
out.

She’d parked three spaces down and across the
street from his car so he wouldn’t notice her. Such a nice car.
Always clean. Always perfect. Toni had a brilliant idea.

Glancing up and down the street, she opened
the door and popped the trunk lid. Rummaging through the crap she
had back there, she found the tool kit. She kept a tire iron just
in case she was stranded with a flat. It was heavy in her hand,
cold, hard steel.

She checked the street again. Livie’s road
wasn’t a high-traffic area. She slipped down the sidewalk beneath
the shadow of overhanging trees, then crossed the street, hitting
the shadows again.