Backstage (The Barter System Book 4) (31 page)

A small growl rose from his chest as he broke the kiss and scooted his body further down hers.  “I’ll never last if I don’t move myself.  You feel so damn good even with all our clothes on.” 

At the same level as her breasts, he smiled before he nuzzled them.  Rubbing his cheeks on the outer curves, underneath, and finally resting his face between them with a sigh.  “Full and real.  I want.”  He grinned at her.  “Every man has his favorite part of the female anatomy.  I happen to adore breasts…and I want yours in my mouth.”

The explicit words made the object of his attention draw up tightly.

“I talk a lot, Teddy.  I hope you don’t mind.” 

There was no way she could play coy with him.  No
way
could she pretend not to want him as much as she did. 

“Kiefer?”  He glanced up to meet her eyes.  “Take off your shirt.” 

She might be inexperienced but Theodora knew what she wanted.  The images from the computer flickered across her mind as he went up on his knees and unbuttoned his shirt.  When he shrugged it off and tossed it to the floor, she changed her mind. 

“Actually, I think it would be best if you take off everything.”

He chuckled and stood up.  She folded one arm under her head to watch him strip for her.  By the time he was down to his black boxer briefs, she held her breath. 

The man did not disappoint. 

Simply staring at him made her entire body react.  Her nipples drew tight, her breathing picked up, and she pressed her thighs together for necessary friction. 

He was perfect in a way she didn’t think regular men could be and she took her time taking him in.  Kiefer didn’t fidget or speak.  He simply stood with his feet slightly parted and his hands dangling at his sides. 

Theodora stood up.  In her bare feet, the top of her head was at his shoulder.  Meeting his eyes despite the blush she could feel, she placed her palm flat on his chest.  His heart was
pounding
.

Without a word, she unbuttoned her pants and skimmed them off her legs.  As she gripped the hem of her sweater to lift it over her head, she heard his sharp intake of air. 

By the time it settled on the floor, he was on his knees in front of her.  Big palms curled around the lace sides of her bra.  He looked up, an unspoken question in his eyes, and she nodded with a small smile.

Reaching behind her, he didn’t look away from her face as he unclasped it.  Her lingerie was her one true luxury, a vice that she allowed herself to indulge occasionally.  She’d never been happier about her fixation for pretty underthings. 

He stripped the fabric away and she watched his eyes glaze over.  Cupping the sides, he ran his cheeks back and forth without barriers in the way and she felt his hands shake.  Then he wrapped his arms around her waist, resting between them as he hugged her firmly.

It was lovely.

Releasing a heavy sigh, he took her nipple into the wet heat of his mouth and her knees almost buckled.  From one to the other, he licked and suckled her with absolute focus.

“I can’t…I don’t think I can keep standing.”  The words came out on a breath as she struggled to get enough. 

Without a word, he rose and picked her up with his hands at her back and behind her knees.  She almost asked him if she was too heavy then realized he hadn’t given so much as a grunt to imply she was…and decided that he knew his limits. 

Theodora hadn’t been carried by another person since she was a little girl and she decided to soak up the way it felt rather than what size jeans she wore.  She stared at his face as he carried her to her bed and was more than a little awed by the intensity there.  His jaw was clenched and there were slashes of red on his cheeks. 

“Are you alright?” she whispered.

He laid her on her bed and returned to his pants for his wallet.  He threw it on the bed after he removed condoms and draped his body over her. 

“I need to taste more of you.  All of you.  Right now.” 

Then he set to the task of devouring her.  She was gasping for breath by the time he released her lips, moaning as he licked and kissed his way over her breasts, and ready to scream when he yanked away her panties and settled his mouth over folds that were audibly wet.

She buried her fingers in his hair and allowed her eyes to close so she didn’t get dizzy from trying to watch him. 

Within two minutes, he made her come and it was the first time a man had been able to do so with oral sex.  She screamed his name and he growled as two thick fingers pressed inside her. 

“More.  I need more of you, Teddy.” 

One palm on the back of her thigh, he pushed her legs wider.  It was a position that brought her ass off the bed and he wasted no time removing his fingers and using his tongue instead. 

It felt thicker and longer than she would have imagined a tongue would feel and then she couldn’t think about anything but the fact that the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen was fucking her with it. 

Back to her clit as his fingers resumed their thrusts and Theodora wondered if anyone ever died from pleasure. 

Then Kiefer started to talk and she figured she was going to be the first.

“I knew you’d taste good, Teddy.  So fuckin’ delicious.”  He planted sucking kisses over her folds.  “I knew I’d enjoy time with you.  My balls are tighter than they’ve ever been with the need to come and all I want to do is drive you up again and again.”  His fingers went deep and she felt him turn his hand palm-up.  “You know what I didn’t know?” 

He kissed her inner thigh and she realized he was waiting for her to look at him.  She prayed he wasn’t expecting a rational response.

Opening her eyes, she stared down the length of her body at his face poised just above her glistening skin.  The evidence of her pleasure coated his skin and he grinned. 

“I never
dreamed
you’d be so fuckin’ responsive.” 

Then he curled his fingers and raked them over a spot she’d
never
been able to find as he sucked her clit between his lips. 

She screamed…possibly more than once…as the most powerful orgasm she’d ever felt slapped her over the edge of ecstasy.  Her body was out of control, spasming, and shaking as she rode the climax. 

Through heavy eyes, she watched him go up on his knees, his fingers still inside her.  The other hand reached for a condom and Kiefer ripped it open with his teeth. 

He was shaking as he rolled it over his cock.  It was almost purple.  Dropping over her body with his arm holding him up, he said, “Look at me, Teddy.” 

Eyes wide, she stared into his and the green looked like it was glowing.  Without looking away, he dragged the head through the cleft of her body and she held her breath. 

The sound of his voice was almost unrecognizable.  Low and gravelly, he told her, “All I want to do is ram deep inside you.  Fill your pussy as much as I can, as fast as I can.” 

She enjoyed the way he felt stroking her and she could feel the way it throbbed with need.  Going up on her elbows, she kissed him and he growled into her mouth.  The kiss was almost violent and she was shocked at the way it made her feel. 

Reclining back against the mattress, she whispered, “Do it.  Fuck me right now, Kiefer.” 

It was fascinating to watch him still.  Only his fingers moved to position his cock where he needed it. 

Then he fulfilled her demand. 

At almost thirty, Theodora had been with the opposite sex.  In college, she’d even dated a woman she thought was pretty and smart.  She hadn’t had many lovers nor had she ever been very good at the act itself. 

Nothing in her past had prepared her for Kiefer Johannson.  Nothing in her future would ever be the same now that he’d touched her. 

The man fucked her deep, hard, and thoroughly, holding back twice by gripping the base of his cock when he would have come.  He’d murmur to himself, “Too damn good to stop yet.  I can wait…I can wait.” 

Both of them were covered in sweat, in saliva, and she felt her own release slipping out of her body to coat her ass and inner thighs.  Still he drove on and on, making every stroke count. 

“You have the tightest, hottest, and wettest pussy I’ve ever felt, Teddy.  I’m desperate…fuckin’
desperate
.” 

She was exhausted,
spent
.  Finally understanding the meaning of a word she’d read a hundred times in books without a personal frame of reference, she reached up with trembling hands and cupped his face. 

Through gritted teeth, he managed, “You need…”

She shook her head.  “You’ve already given me more than every lover I had before you.  Let me see your pleasure, Kiefer.  Show me it was good for you.  I want to see what you look like when you come.”

A look of near-pain crossed his face and she smoothed his damp hair away from his face.  “It’s alright to let go now.  You aren’t a machine.  You don’t have to perform for me.”  She stroked his face, wiping away beads of sweat, down his neck to his shoulders.  “Come here, Kiefer.” 

He lowered his upper body until they were skin to skin.  She trailed her hands over the skin she could reach.  At his ear, she whispered, “What a beautiful man you are…inside and out.  Come for me.  Release all that control you don’t need and fill me up.” 

A sound between a roar and a sob left his chest and he thrust so hard against her that he drove them across the bed.  Then he came, pushed as deep as he could go, with his arms holding her hard enough to leave bruises.  He murmured her name repeatedly as his hips continued to thrust in reflex, ensuring he gave her everything he could. 

It was only when he lifted his face to stare down at her that she realized he’d had his teeth clamped over the muscle of her shoulder.  It gave her a clenching feeling in her womb that he’d held her, marked her, much like an animal with its mate. 

Tamping down the thought, she cupped his cheeks and allowed him to simply stare at her.  Lowering carefully, he gathered her close. 

For a long time, he didn’t say anything.  She felt his fingertips gently stroking through her hair. 

“How did you know?” 

Not pretending to misunderstand, she gave him a smile.  “You seem to be striving for some perfect
representation
of manhood, when you accomplish the
reality
of being a caring man with little effort.” 

Rubbing her thumb across his lower lip, she let her heart open to a man who had no clue what to do with such a thing.  “You are intelligent, kind, talented, and absolutely beautiful, Kiefer.  Cut yourself some slack.” 

Chapter Seven

Kiefer stared into the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen and felt his heart – something he’d thought was barren – reach for her. 

He crushed it down.

Everyone who knew him knew he was a bad risk.  He’d only had a couple of long-term relationships and they hadn’t ended well.  They got demanding, he got bored, and then he started flirting with their friends.

It would destroy Teddy to be caught up in his shit.  Instead, he focused on the way her hands felt on his body. 

“Do you like touchin’ me?” he asked her quietly.  She nodded, never breaking the rhythm of her movements that reminded him of a curious kitten.  “I love the feel of you touchin’ me.  Are you alright?” 

“I think this kind of alright has its own zip code.  I didn’t know orgasms like the ones you gave me actually existed.”  She tugged her lower lip between her teeth.  “You’re…very good at this.”

“Thank you.  So are you.”  Bracing his forearms at her sides to hold his weight off her, he pulled back and left the sweetest haven his cock had ever experienced.  “Be right back, Teddy.” 

He climbed off the bed and walked into her bathroom to remove the condom, wash his face and hands, and gather his composure for a minute.  After several deep breaths, he wet a washcloth with warm water and returned to her. 

The sight of her sprawled across her bed almost stopped his heart.  She turned her face and smiled at him and Kiefer knew he’d made a horrible mistake in suggesting such an arrangement to such a woman. 

Theodora loved to her core.  No matter their agreement, she’d be heartbroken when he left.  He knew it with every fiber of his being.  Right now, he was already breaking her heart.   

She noticed the change in him and went up on her elbows to watch his face.  “You’re thinking too much.  We’re friends, remember?”  He said nothing as he knelt on the bed to wipe her skin of their fluids. 

She blushed but he pretended not to notice as he took in the bruises, the scrapes, and the bite mark that were beginning to darken on her skin. 

“I hurt you.”

“No, you didn’t.  I bruise easily but they don’t hurt.  Kiefer?”  Finally, he met her eyes.  “I know you have to leave.  It doesn’t matter.  That’s in the near future but right now, I’m so glad you got in the cab with me.  I will always have this time with you.  The memories are worth it.  I intend to enjoy every moment and worry about missing you later…okay?” 

After a pause, he nodded then went to the bathroom, hanging the rinsed washcloth over the edge of her tub. 

He stared at his reflection in the mirror and wondered when he’d become the sort of man to use such a decent person. 

At the side of her bed, he helped her to her feet and waited as she used the bathroom.  He heard her wash her hands and brush her teeth.  She was shy about walking across the room naked. 

Holding the covers, he smiled as she climbed under them and more at her surprise that he joined her and took her in his arms.  He kissed the top of her head. 

“I’ve never been so exhausted after sex.”  She chuckled and he ran his palm down the soft skin of her back.  “Your body seems made for me.  I love everything about you.”  He hesitated before saying, “Teddy…”

She put her fingers to his lips.  “Don’t talk about it now.  I don’t want to waste a minute of our time together.” 

He held her tighter, both of them dropping into exhausted sleep within moments.  It was the best sleep he’d ever had with a woman in bed.