No Strings Attached (5 page)

And, bless him, he did. Pressing his lips to mine, we fell into a slower kiss—the kind that was sure to make my head spin if we didn't come up for air soon.

“I've wanted to kiss you since high school,” he said with a smile, resting his forehead against mine.

I had no answer. My gut twisted with guilt. Here I was, pouring my soul into my music in front of my old crush, and I couldn't decide if I was thrilled to have him kiss me, or angry he hadn't done it sooner. Before Bret. Before the damage. The abuse. Then, as I remembered Thayre's last statement, I continued. “What took you so long?”

“Well, I knew you weren't really seeing anyone, but I wanted to be sure.”

“Sure of what?”

“That you were actually looking at me the other night and it wasn't my imagination. Or you didn't come tonight for the music. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but I was really hoping you'd be okay with me kissing you.”

I couldn't help the grin on my face. “You have no idea.”

“Enlighten me. Was I off the mark?”

I shook my head. “Not at all. I wish it had happened sooner, though.”

“Like when we were young and slightly stupid?”

“Well, maybe not that far back, but before now. God, we have so much catching up to do.”

“I hope you enjoy music then, as it's probably all I'm going to talk about. And you, of course.” He rolled his shoulders. “Speaking of music, I want you to hear something.”

Thayre excused himself to deal with the sound system. I turned the stool so I faced the back of the room and watched as a media player appeared on one of the monitors. In the next moment, the song I'd played filled the space around us.

“I hope you don't mind,” he said, “but I remember how bad you always were on yourself. Figured if I recorded it, you could hear it the way I did. If not, at least I have a copy. So long as you don't mind, that is.”

He was right. It sounded amazing. I hadn't realized how true to myself the lyrics were until I listened to them.

He hit a few dials, and soon, a bit of trance joined in as though it was meant to be there. I closed my eyes and started to bob my head. The lyrics brought tears to my eyes as much as the melody did. Had I really been in that much pain when I was with Bret?

I knew I'd said as much in the lyrics, but there must've been a time when it wasn't that bad. Granted, I'd wanted out for the better part of a year, but what about the first few months? The first year? There had to have been some reason as to why I stayed.

It doesn't matter anymore,
Thayre's hand said as he gently rubbed his thumb on the back of my hand. And it didn't. I'd fought so hard to get out that, once I escaped, I spent as much time running as I did looking behind me.

Bret was out of the picture, and for now, my music was enough to carry me forward.

I exhaled. “I'm so glad it didn't suck.”

“One of your songs?” Thayre lifted his eyebrows. “Seriously, you need to give yourself more credit.”

“In my defense, I didn't actually get the chance to play before tonight.”

“You...wait. You mean you didn't practice at all?” He knelt in front of me. “Composing a bit too much for you these days?”

I smiled. “Maybe a little, but that isn't why I didn't play. Couldn't.” I glanced at my hands. “I seem to have lost my violin.”
Oh God, he's going to hate me now.

“Lost it?”

“Okay, not lost it. Well, not by choice anyway.”

“That's what I need,” he said, as he stood to lean against one of the glass walls. “I haven't found anyone as passionate about music as you. Ever.”

I laughed. “I guess it's because this is the first time I've played in close to three years.”

He furrowed his brow. “Seriously?” He dropped his arms to his sides. “I know it isn't my place to ask but, the song—”

“It's complicated.”

He nodded, and fortunately, the subject was dropped. “So, why did you stop playing?”

I chewed my bottom lip. “The one who caused me to write that song.”

“Well, at least he, or she, is good for one thing. It's amazing.”

I couldn't help laughing then. “You did say any emotion would do.”

“And I was right. Looks like I'll be pulling an all-nighter after all.”

“Feeling a little competitive now, are we?”

He stepped toward me and took my chin in his hand. “I wasn't talking about the music.”

His lips found mine again, and thank God I wasn't holding Angie. I threw my arms around him, then played with the curls at the nape of his neck as he deepened our kiss.

“You have anywhere you need to be?” he asked between breaths.

“If I do, I can call in sick.”

He smiled against my lips. “Good, because you aren't going anywhere unless it includes a flat surface and some condoms.”

I squirmed in his arms and inhaled his crisp cologne. “What are you waiting for, then?” I went to pick Angie off the floor.

“Leave it. If we don't get up those steps soon, we probably never will.”

H
e wasn't kidding. By the time we'd reached the middle of the staircase, we were already shedding our clothes. His shirt was lost somewhere at the bottom of the stairs, and as he lifted my t-shirt over my head, he added it to the pile. We joined each other again in a feverish kiss. I trailed my fingertips up his sides along his abs as he fidgeted with the clasp of my bra.

“This would be a lot easier,” I said, whimpering when his hard cock pressed against my hip, “if we were upstairs.”

“No time.” He moved down a step so we were at eye level. “God, I've wanted to do this since I saw you at the bar the other night.”

I released a gasp as my bra came undone. “You aren't victorious yet. We still haven't reached our destination.”

“Hmm, we should probably do something about that, then.”

He took my hand in his and led me up two flights of stairs to his room. We'd barely gotten in the door when he pressed me against a wall, kissing me behind the ear. Down the side of my neck as he held one hand in my hair and used the other to work on the button of my pants.

My blood pressure sky-rocketed from his kiss. The way he held me, kissed me—hell, the way he looked at me was nowhere near what I'd experienced before. It was much better. This was pure lust, the kind you read about in romance novels or see in movies. Years of pent-up tension and history forced us together in the most mind-blowing way possible.

And it couldn't happen fast enough. Every touch was as assertive as the one before it, and as his body mantled over mine, I found myself giving in to my submissive ways. I'd always been a submissive person, but I'd wanted to fight that part of myself. Ever since Bret. Up until Thayre. But now, I didn't know what it was I wanted more—to hold control over myself, or to submit to possibly the one guy I ever truly loved—well before I knew what being a submissive meant.

Thayre kissed my collarbone, and I rested my head on his shoulder. Absently drawing designs across his back, it was then I noticed the bands of black ink on either side of his spine. No doubt I'd have to get a closer look at his ink later, once the coals had settled and we'd had a chance to cool down.

Thayre dropped to his knees, kissing along my stomach, past my navel to the inside of one of my hips. He drew down my pants and undergarments, kissing as he went while I was left somewhere far above him. Above his entire room. One second he was fighting to get us out of our clothes, and the next, he acted as though we had all the time in the world.

Time slowed, and every damn sensation focused on Thayre. On his lips against my skin. The way he lifted my foot to remove whatever clothing was left. He rested his face against the inside of my thigh and closed his eyes. Slightly off balance with one foot on the ground, I was fortunate to have the wall behind me.

I looked at Thayre, into his intense eyes, and lost it. Here was this
gorgeous
man, kneeling in front of me as though he owed me something. I wasn't sure how to react, so I simply ran one of my hands through his hair, smiling when he moaned.

“A hair guy?” I asked, unable to hide the amusement in my voice.

“One of my weaknesses,” he murmured, closing his eyes.

He wasn't in any rush, and while we were no more than ten feet away from the bed, it felt farther away now than it had been when we were still in the basement.

Then, shaking himself out of his trance, his gaze met mine again. “You look beautiful like this. Just the way you are right now.”

I swallowed, and my head rolled to one side when he used a finger to part my pussy lips. “Oh God, Thayre. Please. I need this.”

“We'll get there,” he said with a smile in his voice, “but I want to watch you come first.”

I don't know if I can,
I wanted to say, but my mouth had suddenly gone dry, and any words I may have said were lodged in my throat. I'd found a way to gain control over my orgasms well before I broke things off with Bret, but I hadn't actually come for anyone else since then.

You could always fake it.
I couldn't lie to him. Like it or not, I didn't see Thayre as a one night stand, even if it didn't end in a relationship. He was more to me than a stranger off the streets. We had a history, and that past still connected us through our music.

“Oh God,” I moaned when Thayre circled my clit with a fingertip.

“Like that?” he asked, lowering my foot to the ground so I was level.

“Yes.”

My fingertips tingled, and soon, all I could feel was Thayre's thumb on my clit. His cool exhalations on my cunt.
Oh fuck
—his tongue parting my pussy lips.

I arched my back away from the wall, whimpering as he pulled away. “Don't...” I swallowed and tried again. “Don't stop.”

“Wouldn't think of it.”

With the gentle touch of his hand, he coaxed me to part my legs further while still leaning against the wall. It may have been hard and cold, but at this point, I didn't care. The bed was too far away. It would've taken too long to get there, and leaving the wall meant we'd have to stop.
Not going to happen.

I set a hand in his hair, clawing at his scalp and screwing my eyes tight when his lips closed around my clit. I hadn't had a man go down on me in years, but much like his aggressive kiss, Thayre knew exactly what he was doing. He sucked, licked and circled my clit, then changed directions with his tongue as soon as my climax started to build from his licks.

Oblivious to what I may have been doing to his scalp with my hand, the center of my universe was focused on his mouth. That tongue.

“Oh my God.”

He thrust a finger inside my pussy, gently beckoning my G-spot as he continued to tease my clit with his mouth. Cool fire ran up and down my spine, igniting every one of my nerve endings as I rose higher and higher.

“That's it, baby,” Thayre's voice reached from outside my subconscious. “God, you have no idea how hard I am for you right now.”

I moaned as I tried to focus on his voice, but as soon as he spoke his last words, I lost myself to the endorphins racing through my body. The room tilted to one side. I placed both my palms flat against the wall to keep from falling.

And Thayre kept going, fucking me with his hand. His mouth. Both at the same time. I could barely breathe as he withdrew his finger from my pussy, inserting two digits moments later. Using smooth, fluid strokes, he brushed against my G-spot as his exhalations against my clit grew harder. More aroused.

I felt more than heard him groan, and I forced myself to look at him. My breath caught at the sight of Thayre's lips on my pussy. Of his free hand lost somewhere in his pants, his cock no doubt as hard as he claimed.

I trembled and gasped for breath—a breath he stole from me as he quickened the strokes of his fingers inside my cunt. I wanted to touch him. Hold him. To claw at his back. Something. Anything. But the act of reaching out to place my hand in his hair again was too much. So I stood there, lost to his actions as my eyes closed against my own will.

If I was blind, that didn't mean I couldn't see him in my mind's eye. It was the very last image of Thayre that I saw now. On his knees, his hand around his painful erection, driving me high as a kite with no chance of coming down. God, I needed to feel him deep inside me.

I groaned and screwed my eyes tight. Fisted my hands. My back stiffened, and my pussy clamped around Thayre's fingers. I was so agonizingly close, right on the edge.
Please let me come. Please let me come. Please—

“Oh fuck!” I cried out.

“Let go, baby. Let me see you—
feel
you come.”

My eyes flew open. Thayre met my gaze, and I lost it. My vision turned a blinding white as the room around us shattered into a million tiny pieces.

I struggled for breath. To get a grasp on reality, but all was lost to me as the sea of endorphins clouded my thoughts. I'm not sure how long I was out of it, but when I finally returned to orbit, Thayre was standing right in front of me with the biggest grin on his face.

“You're as amazing when you fall apart as I thought,” he said, keeping a hand on my hip while the other worked on getting him out of his pants.

He was rock hard. I bit my bottom lip. Imagined what he must've tasted like. Hell, what it felt like to go down on him. To deep throat him.

I was about to drop to my knees and give him the same treatment I'd experienced but he stopped me.

“I can't fucking wait,” he said, suddenly out of breath. “Stay here.”

He headed toward the nightstand beside his bed.

“Wouldn't the bed be better?” I asked, hoping he didn't notice the way my knees shook.

“No, where you are right now is perfect.” He moved beside me and, very gently, kissed me on the lips. “So long as you think you can stand a while longer.”

I smiled.
I've stood through orgasms and sex before.
“I think I'll manage.”

“Good, because if I don't get inside you now, I might lose it right here.”

“Well, we can't have that, can we?”

“I certainly hope not.” He bit at the side of my neck, sending chills up my spine. “Turn around and face the wall.”