Actual Stop (7 page)

“Work was kind of rough. Mark hit me with a lot of assignments that have very specific and fast-approaching deadlines. I’m just a little stressed. I didn’t mean to let it ruin our evening.” I kissed her again—once, twice, a third time—each kiss lingering longer than the one before it.

“I’m so sorry,” Lucia murmured, when I finally allowed her to use her lips for speaking. “I know Mark has been coming down hard on you lately. I shouldn’t have given you a hard time yesterday.”

I shrugged as much as I was able, trapped in her embrace. “It’s my fault. And you’re right. We’re past it. As for Mark, I’ll manage. I just need to try to put it out of my mind.”

“Hmm. If only I could think of a way to distract you.” Her eyes glinted, and she grinned mischievously. She cradled my face in one hand and slipped the other up the back of my shirt to rake her fingernails over my skin. I shivered and closed my eyes.

“If only,” I whispered.

“What can I do?” Lucia tilted my head back and nuzzled my now-exposed neck with her lips.

“I don’t know.” My eyes were still closed, and I thoroughly enjoyed her grazing the sensitive spot just under my ear with her teeth. My nipples hardened instantly, and sparks of pleasure shot straight to my already aching sex. “I’m really concerned. It might take a lot.”

“Yeah?” Her tone was light as she nibbled on my earlobe. “Guess I’ll have to be resourceful.”

I threaded the fingers of my free hand through her hair and tugged gently to pull her away from her exploration. The passion in Lucia’s eyes made my breath catch in my throat.

As I looked at her, my conversation with Meaghan from the day before echoed in my head, and I deliberately reviewed the long list of things I liked about Lucia. She was smart. She was strong. She was an unbelievably hard worker, dedicated to her job. She had a wickedly sharp sense of humor. Her capacity for tenderness and caring was limitless as far as I’d been able to tell. She was compassionate and understanding. You couldn’t ask for anything more in one human being. I considered myself lucky.

I traced my thumb lightly over Lucia’s full lower lip. Perhaps I was overthinking the entire situation. In fact, maybe I was trying to talk myself into—or out of—something. Definitely not what I’d had in mind when I’d started my introspection.

I held Lucia’s scorching gaze as I slowly pushed myself to a standing position. One day soon, I’d have to stop fighting and really analyze what was happening between Lucia and me and where—if anywhere—our relationship was going. But not tonight. I’d done more than my share of thinking for one day. Tonight I just wanted to feel. More importantly, I wanted to make her feel.

Lucia watched me with a knowing smile. Returning it, I held out a hand and pulled her to her feet. We stood there, face-to-face, our lips scant inches apart, just staring into one another’s eyes. I allowed the fire between us to smolder for another moment or so before I turned and led her down the hall to her bedroom.

The light from the streetlamps filtered in through the window to paint the room in dimly lit shadows broken here and there by yellow swaths of illumination. My eyes raked hot trails down Lucia’s body, and when they made it back up to recapture hers, the desire there made my knees wobbly.

“Ryan.” Lucia’s voice was a whispering plea.

“Soon.” I cupped her face in my hands and pressed my lips to hers, reveling in their softness, their taste.

A moan escaped her throat, and she parted her lips to allow me entry. I teased her with the tip of my tongue, first running it over her upper lip and then her lower, but I refused her blatant invitation and had even gone so far as to pull back with an admonishing “tsk” when I felt her tongue attempt to explore the depths of my own mouth. Lucia let out a groan, and an adorable frown wrinkled her brow.

“Ryan.” Her tone was complaining now, and she reached for me. I grabbed her by the wrists and stopped her before she could touch me.

“Not yet.”

Lucia whimpered, and her eyes fluttered as I placed a kiss in the palm of each of her hands. Her breathing was a touch ragged, and I smiled, intoxicated that I could have this effect on her. I hoped, as I always did, that I’d manage not to disappoint her somehow.

“Are you trying to kill me?” I think she wanted to sound sharp and irritated, but her tone spoke only of lust and longing.

I chuckled but didn’t justify her question with a verbal response. Instead, I took her hands and placed them around my neck, patting them decisively, my meaning clear. She was allowed to touch me, so long as she kept her hands there. Immediately she tangled her fingers through my hair, her grip rough and just this side of painful. I’ll admit that flipped some switches for me, but I was determined to remain focused on Lucia for the time being.

Satisfied that she intended to comply with my unspoken command, I shifted my attention to other areas of her body. If the look in her half-lidded eyes was any indication, I didn’t have much longer before her fragile control shattered. Idly I made a bet with myself about how much more she could stand and, after she finished enduring my torture, whether she just took what she wanted or begged. It was a fool’s wager. Either outcome would more than suffice.

Using the lightest touch, I ran the tips of my fingers back down her arms to her shoulders, delighting in her shiver. Her nipples stood out clearly through the fabric of her shirt, making my mouth water. I held my impulse to taste them in check and continued my teasing exploration, working my way slowly over her collarbones and down her chest to trace the contours of her breasts, deliberately avoiding those hardened peaks.

Lucia’s breathing came fast now, and she squirmed as if to force my touch where she wanted it. The desire on her face was one of the most captivating things I’d ever seen, and my heart swelled with the knowledge that I’d put it there. I wanted nothing more than to give her the pleasure she deserved.

For the briefest of instants, thoughts of Allison threatened to intrude and splinter the intimacy of the moment. I closed my eyes, took a deep, shaky breath, and willed them away. Lucia. This was all about Lucia. I opened my eyes again to see her looking at me. She smiled, and my heart fractured, leaving a pronounced ache in my chest.

“Are you going to do something with those?” Lucia’s teasing tone was slightly breathless, and I couldn’t help smiling back.

I cupped her breasts and ran my thumbs over the hardened tips of her nipples. Lucia moaned and arched her back, pressing herself into my hands. Her heart was pounding against the pads of my fingers, which kicked my own heart into overdrive.

“Tell me what you want,” I whispered roughly, nuzzling the inner curve of her breasts with my cheek. Even after all this time, I still couldn’t decide what turned me on more: her facial expressions, the little noises she made, or her spelling out for me how she wanted me to touch her.

“I want you inside me.” Her sure, immediate answer robbed me of the ability to think momentarily.

I lifted my head so I could look into her eyes. “Already?”

That small smile was still gracing her full lips. “Unless you want me to go off without you.”

I quickly took off her shirt and tossed it across the room. Her warm skin was smooth and inviting, and I wasted no more time on teasing. I bent to capture one pebbled nipple between my lips as I worked furiously on the button of her jeans. Impatient now, I moved to shove them down off her hips. I groaned in the back of my throat when I realized she wasn’t wearing any panties and nothing stood between me and the silky wet heat of her sex.

Lucia stepped out of her denims and allowed me to maneuver her onto the bed. The sight of her stretched out naked there stopped me. The need in her gaze held me captive. I couldn’t help myself. I stared.

“What?”

I blinked like someone waking from a dream and carefully lay down on the bed beside her. I reverently traced the contours of her cheek with my thumb and rested my other hand on the back of her neck. “You’re exquisite.”

Lucia looked shy for a beat before regaining her composure. “And you really are trying to kill me.”

I shook my head, allowing my hand to stray and sketch a light trail over her collarbone and down the center of her chest. “Never.”

I drew tiny circles on her abdomen before inching my way over to her hip. Lucia’s breath hitched as I caressed the crease at the top of her thigh, but I purposely avoided going any closer to her sex.

Lucia growled, her face a mask of tortured frustration. She grabbed my hand, and I relented, allowing her to force my touch to go where she needed it most. I smiled at her impatience and silently promised to pay up on the bet I’d just lost to myself.

I gasped at the silken heat that awaited me. My fingers easily slid through her folds, and I regained what little control I had over the situation by slowly exploring her length without entering her, which the insistent tilt of her hips told me she clearly wanted.

“You’re soaked,” I whispered. I closed my eyes, wanting to fully concentrate on the experience. I loved the feeling of her arousal coating my hand. Knowing she was this wet for me caused a new flood of moisture to collect between my own thighs.

When I looked up, Lucia had thrown her head back and closed her eyes. Her bottom lip was pinned between her teeth, and the tendons stood out on her neck. She nodded. “Been thinking about you all day.”

“Really?” I drew my hand through her heat again, touching her more firmly. She was so ready.

“Uh-huh. Going crazy.” Her eyelids fluttered, and she gasped before emitting a low moan as I slipped my fingers inside her.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I drew my fingers out of her at an agonizingly slow pace, enjoying the furrow of her brow.

“You seemed—oh, God—upset earlier.”

I pushed back into her just as slowly and let my thumb lightly circle the place that would make her come undone, enjoying the feel of her as much as her reactions to my motions. “So?”

“Jesus, Ryan!” Lucia was quiet for a few seconds. She took a long, deep breath and lifted her hips again. One of her hands wandered up to fondle her own breast, rhythmically rolling the taut nipple between eager fingertips. My mouth went dry at the sight. I loved watching her touch herself.

I prompted her when I could finally think again. “And?” I could barely make out my own voice over the distant humming in my ears.

“And what?” Her gasps were faster and shallower. Her other hand tried to assist me with what I was doing, but I pushed it away and pinned it against the bed.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were waiting for me?” My voice may have come out as a hushed whisper. I may not have actually spoken at all. I was now completely caught up in her pleasure. My one hand took up the rocking motion of her hips, and the other moved to attend to her neglected breast.

Lucia’s free hand fisted in my hair, and she roughly pulled me to her. “Kiss me,” she demanded, even as she brought her mouth up to meet mine. Her lips were hot, possessive, and a moan escaped my throat as she nipped at me.

She was panting now, her body tense and covered in a light sheen of sweat. Low grunts and groans escaped her throat as she rode my hand and kissed me breathless. Her muscles began to tighten around my fingers. She was close.

Lucia tore her lips away from mine abruptly, and her eyes locked onto mine, holding me spellbound. The emotion laid bare in front of me honored yet terrified me. I opened my mouth to say something, to acknowledge the precious gift of her passion, but nothing came out.

A small smile ghosted over Lucia’s lips, and she caressed my cheek, her hips pumping furiously. Her other hand dug into my shoulder hard as I drove her to climax, and her grip became almost painful in the seconds before she tumbled over the edge. I knew I’d bruise, and I didn’t care. In that perfect moment, I’d have given her anything she asked for, no matter the cost.

Lucia shuddered and closed her eyes as she rode the waves of her orgasm. Her inner walls clamped around my fingers like they were trying to draw me all the way inside her, and my heart beat a matching rhythm. One lone tear leaked out of the corner of her eye, and I kissed it away and settled down next to her. I sighed as I buried my face into her neck.

The throbbing of my own need was distant, barely a concern. As long as she was happy, so was I. Could I make her come again? I stroked her most sensitive spot once more with my thumb in an effort to find out. My lips and tongue fed at the hollow of her throat, savoring the taste of her.

Lucia let out a light laugh and grabbed at my wrist halfheartedly with one hand, silently urging me to stop. I did so reluctantly as I felt a soft kiss deposited on my temple.

“I knew you were trying to kill me,” she whispered.

“Didn’t work. Guess I better try again.” I maneuvered my hand up to cup her breast, but Lucia intercepted me before I’d reached my desired destination.

“Just give me a minute.”

“Take all the time you need.”

We lay together for a while, me half on top of her, limbs tangled haphazardly. Only the sound of our mingled breathing and the occasional contented murmur or sigh cut through the silence.

“So, why didn’t you tell me you were waiting for me?” I wanted to know.

“Hmm?” Lucia had been slowly relaxing by degrees, and she sounded pretty close to the edge of sleep.

“You said you’d been thinking about me all day.”

“Oh. Yeah. I had.” Her lips moved against my forehead.

A sharp tug of guilt bit at me. Apparently, I’d been so wrapped up in myself I’d completely missed the signs. I frowned and wallowed for a moment in self-loathing and disgust. “You should’ve told me. I’m sorry.”

Lucia lifted the shoulder I wasn’t occupying in a careless shrug. “’S okay. You were worried.” She patted my hip, and her fingers came into contact with the bare skin just above the waistband of my pants where my shirt had ridden up, making me tremble. “I was supposed to be distracting you.” Her tone suggested she wanted to be aggrieved by the recent turn of events, but she wasn’t quite able to muster up the required energy.

“Oh, honey, you did. Trust me.”