Love After War (7 page)

Adrian felt her tense up in his arms. He pulled back and focused his stare on her comely face. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing. Don't stop,” she moaned. “Please.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I need you.”

Adrian slid her skirt down her hips; then she spread her thighs apart. He stroked her through her panties, making her legs shiver and shake as he pulled the crotch of the silky panties to the side. Bringing her hips to his lips, Adrian licked and kissed her wet folds, seeking her throbbing bud. How he'd missed the sweetness of her. Dana wasn't like any other woman he'd ever known. And if someone had told him a week ago that he'd be able to taste her again, he wouldn't have believed it at all.

“Adrian!” she screamed as his lips closed around her clitoris. Adrian lapped her sweetness as she exploded in his mouth. Dana reached out and clawed at his shirt until she nearly ripped it off. He pulled back and stripped out of his clothes. Dana's eyes were drawn to his erection. Her mouth watered as he joined her on the bed. His body was still amazing, like caramel dripping over a delicious treat. He was much more than the fantasies she'd created in her mind over the last twenty-four months. When Adrian pulled her into his arms, Dana shivered from anticipation. The anticipation of feeling him deep inside her, the anticipation of tasting his lips again, and the anticipation of the pleasure she'd receive from the only man she'd ever been so free and open with. Gripping his shoulders, she pulled Adrian on top of her and kissed him with a burning passion, sucking his bottom lip as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

Adrian wanted to drive into her wetness, revel in the feel of their skin-to-skin contact as he was nearly burned by her heat, but with every ounce of strength in his body he pulled back.

“We need a condom,” he said.

“Umm,” she groaned. “I didn't pack any.”

Adrian threw his head back and released a sigh; then he remembered his emergency package in the car. “Give me five minutes,” he said as he hopped off the bed, pulled on his pants, and dashed out of the room.

Alone in the hotel suite, Dana's mind twisted and turned over what Adrian said about his mess. What was this mess? She sat up in the middle of the bed and ran her fingers through her locks as she waited for Adrian to return.

But if she asked him about it again, the mood would be killed, and she needed to be with Adrian in the worst way. She stroked her left thigh, eyes closed, imagining Adrian's hand there. Moving closer to her wet center, she moaned, shivering and whispering his name.

“Starting without me?” Adrian asked from the doorway. Dana opened her eyes and saw him, naked, sheathed, and ready.

“How long have you been there?” Her face was red with desire and a twinge of embarrassment.

“Long enough to get a view of what I've missed for so long.” He stalked over to the bed. “The way you called my name made me harder than a diamond.” He took her hand in his and kissed her fingertips, tasting the sweetness of her nectar. “I've never been so jealous of a hand before.”

She spread her legs. “Need you.”

Adrian entered her wet and awaiting valley with a thrust that made Dana groan. She was so hot, wet, and tighter than he expected. Part of him was happy to feel her tightness. Happy that she still fit him like a glove.

Another thrust.

Her moans punctuated the air like the perfect note from John Coltrane's immortal sax.

Another thrust.

Her desire poured down on him like rain. Adrian joined her chorus, crying out her name as Dana clenched her thighs around him and ground against him with the beat of a Latin groove. He fell deeper inside her, she felt so good. She thrashed against him, giving him everything and Adrian returned the favor, giving as good as he got. But when she flipped him over, mounted him, and gyrated her hips against his, he felt as if she were milking everything out of him—his heat, his desire, his love. Adrian tried to hold back his explosion, tried to save his climax. Dana wasn't going to allow that to happen as she tightened her grip around his penis and then she leaned forward and sucked his bottom lip as if he were the sweetest chocolate known to man.

Adrian was done.

Dana fell against his sweat-covered chest, nibbling on his earlobe.

“Oh, woman, don't touch me,” Adrian groaned as she darted her tongue in and out of his ear.

“Umm, make me,” she said as she tightened her thighs around him. Adrian palmed her round bottom and brushed his lips against her neck, then gave her a wonton lick across her collarbone. “Now you're cheating.”

“And what do you call that sucking of my earlobe ?”

“Tasty.”

He circled her nipple with his index finger, making her shiver from the inside out.

“Stop,” she moaned, feeling herself melt against him.

“You sure about that?” he asked, then replaced his finger with his tongue. He remembered how she would purr when he licked and sucked her nipples. Ah, there it was—soft and low like a happy kitten. Just as he felt his erection grow inside her, his cell phone rang.

“You'd better get that,” Dana said.

“I can ignore it.”

He thrust forward, and Dana answered with a thrust of her own. “What if it's important? About your club?”

She thrust again and Adrian gripped her hips. “I'm holding everything that matters.” Grinding like gears, they ignored the ringing of Adrian's cell phone.

After making love again, Dana and Adrian fell asleep in each other's arms. When she snuggled against him and he wrapped his arms around her, Dana felt a warm feeling of peace envelop her. As much as she tried to deny it, as much as she tried to fight it, being in Adrian's arms was where she wanted to be. Tonight she'd enjoy the moment and live inside the maleness of Adrian, then deal with reality tomorrow. Was this the closure that she needed with him or had she opened the door to more heartache?

Adrian woke up thinking he was dreaming again. Nope. Dana was in his arms. Her warm breath was heating his chest.

And that damned phone was ringing again. Glancing at the clock above the thirty-two-inch flat-screen TV, he saw it was 5:45 a.m. Who was stupid enough to call him at this hour? The last thing he wanted was to move. Not when he knew, come first light, that Dana would call last night anything but a reunion. He peered at her sleeping frame. Beautiful. Angelic. Peaceful. Her lips were swollen from the attention he'd given them hours ago. Tempting. As he leaned in to wake his beauty with a kiss, his phone rang again.

Somebody was asking for trouble. Tearing himself away from Dana, Adrian crept from the bed and angrily grabbed his phone.

“What?” he grumbled.

“Is this Adrian Bryant?” a male voice asked.

“You've got about two seconds to state your name and your business.”

The man chuckled. Adrian didn't get the joke. “My apologies, I'm still on East Coast time. This is Elliot Crawford.”

Adrian's heart stopped for a split second; his mouth felt as if it had been stuffed with sand and cotton. Something made his words gather in his gut and fail to reach his lips.

“Again,” Elliot said, sounding wide awake and in control. “Sorry about the hour. You've been in contact with my sons about putting a nightclub in Crawford Towers.”

“We've talked about it, but nothing's written in stone.”

“I have to say that I'm impressed with what I've heard about your business acumen and the establishments that you run in the greater Los Angeles area.”

You son of a bitch. If you've checked me out, then you know exactly who I am.
Adrian seethed as he listened to his father drone on about how he wanted to meet with him and get the details about the club in the hotel.

“I don't have my calendar on me. Why don't you adjust your time and get back to me so that we can make an appointment.”

“I'll do that,” Elliot said. Before he could say good-bye or when he would call him back, Adrian hung up the phone. He returned to the bed as Dana sat up and yawned. The white sheet fell from her body, exposing her supple breasts, and before his conversation with his father, he would've inched closer to her and taken her breasts into his hands, palming them and tweaking her nipples with his thumbs.

Then he would've licked and sucked her breasts until her body caught fire. But the only thing on fire right now was his anger. Well, if this would be the way he met his father, then so be it.

“She finally got you, huh?”

Adrian's eyebrow shot up and he scowled for a moment before his face softened. “That was some unpleasant business. You know how New Yorkers are—you all think when the sun rises on the east, the whole world is supposed to be awake.”

Dana frowned. She used to love this game, their version of the East Coast–West Coast rivalry, but there was something in his eyes that told her he was really upset. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing, just an unexpected meeting, and you know how I feel about getting my sleep interrupted.”

Dana wrapped her arms around Adrian's waist and rested her chin on his shoulder. “You know, I've slept through the night. I wasn't born last night. What's going on, Adrian?”

He turned to her and kissed her cheek. “You're the only person I know who's ever been able to read me like a book. Remember that mess I was telling you about?”

She nodded. “Adrian, why don't you tell me what this is all about?”

“It doesn't concern you and this is what I wanted to avoid.” He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Hey, let's get some breakfast.”

“Breakfast?” she asked as she glanced at the clock. “It's barely six a.m.”

Adrian smiled, then ripped the sheet from her body. “Well, then, let's start with me having you for my breakfast.”

He spread her thighs, kissing her hot wetness with a fervor that rendered her speechless. What about that phone call? Well, her mind clicked as his hot tongue lashed her throbbing bud, that could wait. Lusty feelings invaded her body, sapped her rational thoughts out of her head and her body, and made her give in to the desire. The passion and the skill of Adrian's tongue. Her legs shivered and her thighs quivered as Adrian deepened his kiss, pressed his tongue against her clitoris, and released a hot breath that made her love come down like rain.

Dana screamed his name as her thighs turned to jelly and she reached an explosive climax. Adrian pulled back and smiled at the sated expression on Dana's face. If he could cocoon himself in the room with her forever, he'd be happy. He wouldn't need to seek revenge on the father who never wanted him. Wouldn't need to avenge his mother, who died with that man on her mind. Her last breath whispered Elliot Crawford's name.

The soft stroke of Dana's hand against his cheek brought him back to this moment.

“Where did you go?” she asked.

“I'm right here.”

She held his face with both hands, staring deep into his eyes. Adrian's body shifted. “I know you and I know that look. You're either going to tell me what's going on or tell me good-bye—again.”

“Can we just have today? Let it be about me and you?”

“And if I want tomorrow?” Dana shook her head. “Your mess returns then, right?”

“Dana, if I could give you all of my tomorrows, I would. This—”

“Are you married?” she bellowed, then leaped from the bed. “Get the hell out of my room.”

Adrian chuckled at her. Naked. Angry. So damned sexy. He didn't move a muscle, simply watched her heave.

“Think what you want about me, but I'm not a cheater and I ain't married.”

Dana paused as if she realized she looked absolutely ridiculous. She wiped a few beads of sweat from her forehead and reached for the short white robe on the back of the desk chair. Slipping it on, she asked, “What is it, Adrian? What was that call about—and don't try to change the subject again.”

He crossed over to her, leaving a sliver of space between them. While he wanted to wrap his arms around her and inhale her fragrance, he decided to be honest . . . sort of.

“All right, there are some issues with my clubs. I've been pretty hands-off and the wrong element has gotten involved. I'm trying to keep it quiet working with the LAPD to get things cleaned up without publicity.”

“How long has this been going on?”

Hearing the concern and the tortured look in her eyes made his lies burn on his tongue like acid. But telling the truth would compromise his second chance. “I don't want you worrying about this. I have to take care of my problems on my own.”

“Adrian, I . . .” Dana's voice trailed off as she looked into his eyes. Did she see through the lie? “Where do we go from here? I thought I needed one last night with you to get you out of my system, to get closure. But now I feel . . .”

“Dana,” he whispered. “I need you back in my life, but this isn't how I want it. I love you and I don't want any of this nastiness to touch you. But I can't push you away again. I will not make the same mistake twice.”

A cell phone rang again. This time it was Dana's.

“Do you need to get that?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Should I wait for you? Am I supposed to sit back, constantly worrying about you and these shadows you're fighting until the time is right for you to bring me back into your world?”

“Dana.” He inched closer to her. “Just tell me I'm not going to lose you to Hollywood Ken.”

Pushing him forcefully, Dana glared at Adrian, feeling foolish and angry all at once. “You asshole! Is that what last night was all about? You see me with someone else and I become a temporary priority ? Get out and this time I mean it.”