What else can you teach me?
Something about that thought…scared me, and I pushed it aside and then shifted her—quickly but fluidly—so she was under me and I was hovering above her, my weight on my hip to the side of her body on the lounge chair. She blinked up at me as if uncertain about what had just happened. I wanted to pull her fully against me so she could feel the full extent of my arousal, but I instinctively knew that would be the wrong move right now. And I was all too willing to do whatever it would take to warm Kira slowly to passion. The quick spark earlier in the day had scared her off for some reason—a reason I’d find out, but not tonight.
I took a moment to drink her in. Her hair was splayed around her, her lips shining with the wetness of my kisses, and her eyes regarded me with hazy passion and just a touch of wariness. I leaned in and kissed her again, my body tensed with the effort to hold back. I wanted to strip off her clothes and plunge into her soft, tight heat right here. My body was pulsing with need. I started to pull the straps of her sundress down and she made a small squeak of protest, so I halted but leaned in and kissed her neck, dragging my lips down her soft, fragrant skin, darting my tongue out to taste her. She leaned her head back and arched up into me, and I took the opportunity to pull her dress down so her breasts popped free. I wasn’t able to repress the deep animal groan that rose from my throat at the sight of her beautiful, full breasts. “You have the prettiest nipples I’ve ever seen,” I murmured. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them.” I leaned in and kissed one and Kira let out a small feminine gasp. At the sound, my cock hardened to painful proportions. “I’ve wanted to taste them and suck on them since I walked in on you the other day,” I admitted, my lips against her skin as I kissed the other breast. “I’ve wondered if they taste as sweet as they look.” The memory of her breasts had been distracting me for days now. And I hadn’t even been remembering how beautiful they really were.
“Grayson,” she groaned, tangling her fingers in my hair. I lowered my mouth to one stiff peak and licked at it, swirling my tongue around and around.
“God, you do,” I moaned, “taste as sweet as you look.”
“I said we shouldn’t… This isn’t…” Her words left off in a breathy sigh. A few seconds later, those breaths turned to pants. At her response, I wrapped my lips fully around her nipple and suckled, pulling it into my mouth and then using my tongue to soothe it gently. She cried out, pulling at my hair. “Oh God, Gray,” she groaned. “You, we have to—”
“Shh, little witch,” I soothed, taking the other nipple in my mouth and sucking gently before pulling back. “Let yourself enjoy this.” There was no reason we shouldn’t. No reason in the world.
I eased her thighs apart, putting one of my knees between them. She gazed up at me with eyes unfocused and drugged with arousal. My gut clenched at that look. I put that there. This woman was so filled with passion…for everything. For life. To have it focused in my direction felt like a bright ray of light. Warm but blinding. I pressed my erection against her belly as I leaned in to kiss her again. Her body suddenly went rigid and she turned her head. “No,” she said, her voice soft and still scratchy with desire.
“Yes,” I said, leaning back in. She pushed at my shoulders.
“No,” she said more firmly. I groaned, rolling to the side. She stood quickly, pulling her dress up over her breasts. It appeared as if she was having trouble making her legs cooperate. “This isn’t a good idea… Just… Bad things will come from this.”
Bad things will come from stopping. My body pulsed painfully with unspent lust. God, I wanted her.
She exhaled and smoothed her dress down, pulling herself together while at the same time attempting to look unaffected. Her flushed skin and the hardened points of her nipples poking through her dress gave her away. It also made me smile. “I should get to bed.”
She turned to go and my arm shot out and I grabbed her hand before she could run. “I understand if you have to think about this, about us, but, Kira, there’s no reason we have to sleep alone. It wouldn’t have to change anything. You obviously feel what we have between us as much as I do.” I attempted a smile but it felt pained and tight, like my body.
She looked away and pulled her hand free of mine, her expression distressed. It worked to cool my blood. I didn’t want to upset her. It was the last thing I wanted right now. “Did you tell me that story so this”—she moved her hand back and forth between the two of us—“would happen?”
Confusion made me pause. “What story?”
“About the puppy.”
“The puppy? What? No.” Did she think I had told her about that to manipulate her into kissing me? A splinter of hurt stabbed at my insides.
She studied me for a moment and then let out a sharp breath. “I told you, Grayson, I’m not interested in that…in this.” She gestured between her and me once again. “It would only complicate an already complicated situation. This wasn’t our deal.”
“Deals change all the time,” I murmured as I sat up and brought my leg over the chair and stood up to face her. I took a lock of her hair between my fingers, testing its silky texture, wishing the moon brought out its fiery highlights the way the sun did. But in this light, its fire was shadowed. My body throbbed again, still hard. I wanted her…for hours and hours. Or, hell, even just once… Was she worried I was going to try to control her in some way if she slept with me? Try to…lay claim? “It can be temporary, Kira. Just like our marriage,” I reassured her.
She blinked and then brought her hands to her cheeks as if they were warm. I couldn’t tell in this light whether that was the case though, or not. I had an inkling I was saying all the wrong things, but I had no clue what she wanted from me. “It wouldn’t work. Just trust me.” She turned toward the stone staircase up to the house. I called her name, but she didn’t look back.
I sat back down on the lounge chair, letting out a long, sexually frustrated sigh, trying to figure out what had just happened. I had no idea how to handle my own wife. Women had always come easily to me. Keeping them…well, Vanessa had proven that might be a different matter. But Kira and I had already established our relationship would be temporary, so with her, that wasn’t an issue. I’d never experienced being turned down for sex, though, especially when I focused my charm. I wasn’t being arrogant—it was just the truth. I rubbed at my head. Did I actually know how to seduce an unwilling woman? Maybe not. How ironic that the first woman I’d have to work for was my very own wife.
* * *
“See you on Monday, Charlotte,” I said, leaning forward and kissing her soft cheek. It was Friday morning, and she and Walter were taking a weekend trip to San Francisco to visit friends.
“There are several casseroles in the freezer, with instructions written right on top,” she said. “Oh, and I baked a batch of those citrus butter cookies you like. They’re in tin foil in—”
“Charlotte.” I chuckled. “I’m a grown man. I can take care of myself for the weekend.”