Moonflower (9 page)

She
nodded, smiled, reached up to touch his cheek, then his lips that
parted beneath her fingers. He sucked and nibbled the tender pads
of her fingertips. She sighed deeply. His jaw tensed with arousal
as he took her in his arms, his hands pressed to her back, fitting
her body to his. His lips brushed her mouth and he breathed her
name. She pressed her lips to his; she the impatient one, but he
would not be hurried.

He teased
her lips, his fingers tangling in the just-dried curtain of copper
hair, holding her back, stopping her pressing forward and finding
his tongue. She felt his fingertips against her scalp, a tingle
that travelled down her neck and along her spine. At her desperate
whimper, he pulled her harder against his body and took her mouth
with a hunger she was sure would be impossible to sate.

She was
relieved he held her so tightly, because her head was spinning and
her legs threatened to give way beneath her.

Sophie
felt her lack of sophistication then. For a fleeting moment she
worried that she could never live up to the prowess of the women
he’d been with in the past. She wished she had some sort of
technique, a series of steps she was sure would take him from one
level of arousal to another, but all she knew at that moment was
the urge to tear at his clothes, to nibble and bite.

Her growl
had the fierceness of a lioness, and in answer, he swept her up in
his arms and carried her to the bed. She felt the coolness of the
sheets against her burning skin, saw the gossamer mosquito net
float above his head.

Greedily
she searched his handsome face, lines hard with passion, skin
suffused with heat. She reached up and pulled him to
her.

‘
You mustn’t make me wait,’ she told him.

‘
It’ll come, Sophie. Be patient.’ But his eyes blazed with a
passion that demanded satisfaction.

Sophie
reached between them as his body hovered above her, finding the
bulge beneath his jeans.

Reuben
let out a ragged breath. ‘Wild creature,’ he said, before pressing
his mouth to hers again.

Sophie
reached up to bring his hips towards her, pressing the centre of
herself against his hardness.

Never
once taking her mouth from his, she shifted her hand beneath his
shirt and ran her fingertips over his chest, then moved from his
chest to his belly. Massaging the skin in small circles, delighting
in the sound and feel of his breath quickening against her neck,
her cheek, her mouth.

She
grasped the top of his jeans, trying to coordinate the movement of
her fingers through the fog in her brain; his tongue a constant
distraction, leaving small wet circles along her lips, her jaw, her
neck. Finally she unbuttoned his jeans and pushed her hand past the
waistband, lower until she felt the tip of him against her
fingers.

Reuben
lifted his mouth from hers, his head tilted back. He closed his
eyes and moaned, a rumble, a vibration from deep in his chest. His
body trembled beneath the lightness of her fingertips and Sophie
was triumphant, felt real power then and, far from shying from it,
she wantonly indulged the sensation, let it spread through her,
like music to move to. She wanted to tell him.

‘
Reuben,’ she breathed. She took his head in her hands.
‘Reuben.’

He opened
his eyes. She put her palm against his cheek. He looked into her
eyes.

‘
Nothing in my life has ever felt this good,’ she told
him.

‘
What a magnificent creature you are, Sophie. A man could lose
himself in you if he weren’t careful.’ He moved his hand to
Sophie’s breast and squeezed gently. One by one, he undid the
buttons of her shirt, peeling back one side, then the other as if
he opened a most exquisite and delicate gift.

Sophie
watched his eyes widen, then the lids lower sensuously at the sight
of her nakedness: the tender, firm round breasts and rose-pink
nipples that ached to be touched.

She
reached up, touched his lips, drew his head to her breast. Reuben
reached for the other, cupping it in his hand as his mouth closed
around the other breast, sucking gently, filling his mouth with
her. She arched her back, gasped as his teeth closed over her
nipple and tugged gently at the hardened tip.

When he
left the nipple to tend to the flesh around it, Sophie opened her
legs and curled them around his hips, pressing his denim hardness
to her centre. She knew she couldn’t wait much longer. She wobbled
on an edge that with just the slightest touch could send her
spiralling over it.

‘
Go inside me now, Reuben. No reason to wait.’

Her
breath came in small gasps and whimpers as she fumbled with the
buttons of his shirt, tore at the fabric, desperate to remove the
last barriers between their skin; needing to feel his nakedness
against her, the power of him inside her.

‘
I’m sorry…’ she gasped. ‘I need to…’

His mouth
still worked at her breast, his palm circling over the other,
grazing an aching nipple.

‘
Reuben, help me!’ A small cry of frustration escaped Sophie’s
lips as she struggled to remove his jeans.

He broke
away from her, shrugging out of his shirt, then pulled off his
jeans. Finally free, Sophie reached for him, circling him with her
hand, marvelling at the heat and hardness beneath soft
skin.

Driven
half mad by the thought of him inside her, she began to fumble with
her own drawstring pants, her entire body trembling. ‘Oh, damn,’
she panted, fumbling with the tie.

‘
Lie back, Sophie,’ Reuben commanded. ‘Let me do
it.’

She’d
never heard a voice so full of arousal, so tender. She did as he
told her, watching the top of his dark head as he hooked fingers
into the top of her trousers and pulled them down slowly. Sophie
lifted her hips, moaning as the material slid over her sensitive
skin, feeling the cooler air on her naked body. She slipped her
hands into his hair, gently kneading his scalp as he dipped his
mouth to her belly, sipping from her, licking the sensitive skin,
soft sucking motions that made Sophie cry out. And still he kept
moving lower and lower. Burying his nose in her copper curls,
breathing her in.

‘
Please, Reuben,’ Sophie gasped. ‘You’re driving me mad. I’m
ready now.’

But he
would still not give her release, only drop his mouth to her soft
folds, the lightest flicking of his tongue against her hard pebble
that sent lightning flashes of sensation through her. And just when
she felt herself moving to the very peak of her arousal, he lifted
his head, shifted between her legs, but he still did not enter her.
He moved his head to her breasts, teasing one nipple between gentle
teeth, then the other.

Beyond
reason, Sophie raised her hips, opening herself wide, small wild
cries escaping swollen lips as she felt the tip of him against her.
She writhed and clawed at his buttocks, nipping at his chest,
trying to force him deep inside her.

‘
Wildcat!’ Reuben growled at her, as he dropped his hips,
thrusting forward and up until he’d buried himself deep inside her.
Sophie cried out. A deep, throaty primeval cry of triumph. The call
of possession. This man, this masculine force of nature was
hers.

Sophie
curled long arms under his armpits, up round his shoulders and
clung to him as he shivered for a moment inside her. She was
overtaken by a deep tenderness as he began to move out of her, then
in again. With hips thrusting upwards to meet every stroke, she
muttered words of encouragement as he moved faster and faster,
strokes becoming shorter, quicker.

And in a
moment, Sophie felt as if she’d leapt off a mountain, her stomach
twisting and turning. Her paraglide finding an upwind as she
spiralled up and up until it was as if she’d reached the sun and
had flown straight into its mad convulsions of blinding light and
heat that threatened to burn her to ashes with its
intensity.

They
didn’t move for the longest time. Reuben was utterly spent. He had
never in his life felt so deeply satisfied, so drained, empty,
contented, happy.

Eventually, he withdrew from Sophie, but only because he was
worried that his weight might become too much for her.

‘
You don’t have to,’ she said, holding onto him.

‘
Problem is, if I don’t pull it together, I’m going to stay
here far longer than I should,’ he said, reaching down and running
fingertips over her belly.

‘
Mmm,’ Sophie breathed. ‘And you’d be only too
welcome.’

‘
I knew I was dealing with a wild one,’ he said, his hand
slipping between her thighs. ‘But I must say, I’ve been pleasantly
surprised, Ms Kyle.’ Reuben smiled delightedly as a blush spread
across her cheeks.

But this could be a problem
, he
thought, burying his face in the sweet scent of her hair. He’d said
all he could promise her was here and now, and she’d accepted him
on those terms. But he’d never expected to be so utterly completed,
sexually, by a bubbly, inexperienced twenty-four year old. He was
still reeling. Surely they could enjoy each other here, like this,
then simply walk away, back to their real lives, a continent
apart?

So, why
then did the thought of life without Sophie start a panic in the
pit of his stomach?

Chapter
Six

Labour’s
End was a hive of activity on Sunday. Reuben had welcomed the first
batch of friends and business associates to the farm that morning
and an orderly state of chaos permeated each room.

Sophie
marvelled at how Sara and Rolf kept track of the mountains of
expensive luggage while steering guests to the correct rooms and
noting requests that ranged from anti-inflammatory foot ointment to
cold drinks.

She
helped where she could, putting her foot down only when a florid,
sweating man with pale red hair and freckles ordered her to carry
his enormous suitcase up to his room. He had an imperious manner
about him and never looked at Sophie when he spoke. Perhaps it was
her khakis. It was Isaac who eventually hauled the suitcase up the
stairs to its destination.

Reuben so
often seemed to be in the periphery of her vision; welcoming
guests, chatting easily to them on the verandah. It was then she
realised just how sophisticated a man he really was. No one, except
perhaps the most watchful of his guests, would have guessed there
was anything between them. He never once allowed himself to be
distracted by her presence, although every now and then his eyes
would meet hers and linger for just a second or two longer than
required by casual acquaintances.

Sophie
did her best to emulate his control and professionalism. She had a
lot to learn. The effort involved in keeping her lips from curling
into a smile or her gaze staying too long on his face took an
effort that sometimes seemed beyond her level of skill.

If
anything, he seemed to be enjoying the secret nature of their
tryst, turning it into a game of seduction that sent the heightened
sexual tensions that already existed between them into the
stratosphere.

When they
met in a doorway, and for the briefest of moments no one was
around, he would step up to her, although there was more than
enough room all around. His chest would lightly brush her breasts,
his breath against her cheek, instantly setting her on fire. His
hips grazed hers and she’d press forward, wanting more, her face
tilting up to touch her lips to his. But then he’d be gone into the
next room without looking back to where she stood, every lustful
nerve in her body screaming for him.

Sophie
stepped outside to find a quiet spot. In the stillness, and with
nobody to see, she could indulge the secret smile that spread
across her face as she remembered the start to her day.

She'd
woken in Reuben’s bed just as the sun was rising. She had sat up to
leave, knowing she’d be mortified if Sara and Rolf found out that
she was spending nights in her boss’s bed. But Reuben had stirred
beside her and she’d looked back at him over her shoulder, feasting
her eyes on the hard muscles of his chest, the delicious arrow of
hair that sped across his belly, pointing downward to an explosion
of soft curls and a quite magnificent organ that seemed able to
give her the sort of pleasure she’d never dreamed
possible.

Sophie
had known she should leave quickly, before the household began to
stir, but she'd turned and kissed the dark lashes that lay against
creamy cheeks, the mouth, sensual and soft in sleep. And she’d felt
him smile beneath her lips. She’d squirmed with pleasure as his
hands moved suddenly beneath the sheet to cup and squeeze her
buttocks.

'Trying
to sneak out before paying for your night of debauchery, Ms Kyle?'
His voice was deep and husky; the way he said her name had her
turning back to him, thighs loosened.

'Only
trying to preserve your reputation from ruin, Mr
Manning.'

'Ah!'
Reuben said, lifting her astride him. 'So you admit you could ruin
my reputation.' He cupped her breasts, stared intently at the
hardening nipples, licked his lips, latched onto her.