Possession (12 page)

“Yeah, yeah, we’re all cretins… I’d kill for
a burger or pizza, just sayin’.”

“I think we can let the diet slip, just this
once.”

Julian started playing with entertainment
center remote while she perused the menu, then called room
service.

“You want anything?” she asked. He shook his
head. “Hi, I’d like to place an order…the sirloin burger…cooked
medium, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato, no pickle…fries,
definitely…a diet Coke, and…a piece of the triple chocolate cake.
Uh-huh…twenty minutes? Thank you!” She checked the clock. “I’m
gonna really enjoy this.”

He turned off the TV. “Why don’ t you take
your hair down?”

Catherine nodded. “Alright.”

She didn’t know how many pins the hairdresser
had used, so she was kind of feeling blindly. She placed them on
the nightstand as she pulled them out.

“Here.” He came over to help. He batted her
hands away and took over, loosening the curls as they tumbled
down.

How did he make everything a sensual
experience? Having his hands in her hair sent tingles down her
spine and butterflies fluttering in her stomach. He removed the
last pin and combed his hands through her locks to make them flow
freely down her back. She bit back a moan of pleasure.

“There. Much better,” he murmured. He stroked
the silky strands from crown to ends. “So pretty. Cat…”

“Hmm?” She half turned.

He slid his hand under her hair to cup her
neck and leaned in to kiss her. She sighed into his mouth, her arms
slowly sliding up to wrap around his shoulders. He had the most
perfect lips for kissing, not that she had a
lot
of
experience. They had just the right fullness, his bottom lip
slightly more plump, and were surprisingly soft for a man’s. She
could tell he was holding back from completely devouring her, and a
part of her wanted to throw caution to the wind, but room service
would be there soon.

Maybe after she ate.

All too soon, the doorbell rang. They parted,
panting.

“I’ll get it,” they both said. He chuckled,
while she blushed.

“I’ll get it,” Catherine repeated.

She walked out, only to find the attendant
was already gone, leaving a cart with covered plates on it. She
wheeled it into the bedroom, stopping in her tracks when she looked
up.

He’d shed his shirt and was casually
reclining on the bed.

Yummy
, she thought, before dropping
her attention to the cart. She lifted the cover off the bigger
plate, her mouth watering the second the aroma of the large burger
hit her senses. She picked up the sandwich with both hands and took
a big bite, humming with pleasure at the first taste.

“Oh, this is good!”

He laughed. “And they say the way to a
man’s
heart is through his stomach.”

“Oh, shut up,” she mumbled, her mouth
partially full. She wolfed down the burger like she hadn’t eaten in
days.

He stood and leaned over to snag a couple of
fries. She slapped his hand.

“Hands off my food, buster! Get your own.”
She pulled the cart behind her and tried to look stern, though the
effect was somewhat dimmed by the fact that she was still
chewing.

Julian grinned and backed away to the bed.
“You are so bloody adorable.” He propped a pillow behind his back
and crossed one foot over the other, getting comfortable. “You can
have a seat, pet.”

“No more stealing my food,” she said, eyeing
him warily, before taking a seat at the foot of the bed.

“Mm-hm. Give me your foot.”

“What for?”

He rolled his eyes. “You’ve been complainin’
about those shoes, and I have hands. Gimme a foot.”

“Okay, okay…”

She shifted to put the footboard at her back
so she could place her feet in his lap. The heels of her shoes came
close to landing on sensitive property. She blinked innocently when
he winced.

He unbuckled the sandals and dropped them on
the floor, then took one of her feet in both hands and started
kneading it.

“Ow! Ow. Ohhhh…” She melted as the tension
suddenly disappeared. “How did you do that?”

“Told you--I have many talents. Just relax
and finish your grub.”

His skilled hands worked over every inch of
her foot. He switched feet. She was leaning back on her elbows,
eyelids heavy, watching his hands.

“Puttin’ you t’ sleep, love?”

“Hmm? Um, no…just very relaxed. I’ve never
had a foot massage before. My ankle once, after I twisted it, but
not my feet.”

“No generous boyfriends in high school?”

She shook her head. “I had boy friends, but
not
boyfriends
. Everybody’s best friend.”

“A date for the dance, at least?”

“I went, but it was always a group outing.
You saw me when I arrived. I wasn’t one of the popular kids. But I
had several friends and we stuck together, made sure no one was
alone. Could’ve been a lot worse. Were you ever picked on as a
kid?”

“Couple o’ times, maybe…hard to remember that
far back.”

Yeah. Right…

“I suppose. Kids are cruel in any time
period, though, right? Popularity contests seem to be human
nature.”

“They do, at that.” Julian pulled her closer
by her ankles.

“Hey…”

He started massaging her calves. “Done with
the feet.”

She smiled, shaking her head, looking at the
canopy above. Standard male tactic: look as innocent as possible
while getting their hands on more skin. Extra points if the girl
doesn’t notice. Not that she minded, honestly. She knew how this
night had to end.

Four more hours to sunrise.

***

His young companion was trying to appear
nonplussed at his attentions, but he could read what was underneath
her surface calm--the accelerated heartbeat, the rise in body
temperature, the deliberately deeper breaths. He was at knee-level
now. Any higher, and he had to slip under the hem of her robe or
push it higher on her legs. His hands moved under her knees so he
could work on the back of her legs.

Such soft skin.

“Why don’t you roll over, pet?”

“Why?”

“Catherine…”

“Okay, okay…” She flipped over.

Julian kneaded her thighs, skipped over her
shapely behind, and started on her lower back through the robe. The
thick terry kept sliding under his fingers, getting in the way.

“This would work better on skin,” he
said.

She waited so long to reply, he began to
think she was going to ignore the comment.

Catherine wriggled to pull her arms out of
the robe and pushed it down to waist level, revealing the fastening
of her black lace bra.

He swallowed and put his hands on her back.
They’d absorbed enough of her body heat by now to feel warm. She
sighed as his thumbs dug into the muscle group at her waist.

“Nice?”

“Mmm-hmm.” She placed her forehead on her
hands for a pillow.

He slowly and carefully kneaded every inch,
all the way to the nape of her neck. He brushed her hair up out of
the way and pushed his fingers over the curve of the base of her
skull and along her scalp. She sighed. He continued massaging her
scalp in gentle circles. When he was finished, he sat back on his
heels and lightly squeezed her shoulder.

“Pet?” He brushed her hair off her face.
“Catherine?”

Oh, bloody hell…

He’d put the girl to sleep. Muttering
chastisements, he got up and went to the other side of the bed,
turning down the covers, then came back around to roll her over so
he could pick her up.

What’re ya doin’ to me, love?

She whined a little at being moved, but
didn’t stir. He set her down on the soft sheet and covered her up
to the neck with the rest, then turned off most of the lights, and
got into bed next to her.

“It’s a sad day for you, mate, when you try
to seduce a girl, and she falls asleep,” Julian muttered.

Chapter 12

There are moments in life that contain
instant knowledge.

The first time expectant parents hear their
baby’s heartbeat and realize the world isn’t just about them
anymore.

The moment when a runner can see the finish
line and knows they’re going to win.

The instant death is inevitable when your
parachute doesn’t open.

And the moment when you look into another
person’s eyes and know that tonight, or for a few hours, you’re the
only two people in the world.

Catherine’s eyes popped open, her body
sensing she was being watched.

Julian was right there, his blue eyes dark in
the dim light. Their eyes met. Their lips touched.

She cupped his cheek with her hand as his arm
slid under her back. No more hedging or evading. She was ready to
dance.

***

He was in no hurry, though the way she kissed
him now was encouraging. He wanted this to play out with prefect
timing, making her completely willing putty in his hands. She was
already more responsive to his touch than Celia. Whether that was a
Catherine-thing or a human-thing, he didn’t know.

Right now, didn’t care. What mattered was
that she was warm, soft in all the right places, and wanted
him
.

***

She rolled onto her side to face him,
pressing her body closer. His touch heated her blood, feelings
arcing from nerve endings long after his hand had already moved
elsewhere. She ended up on top of him, grinding her pelvis against
his hardness and cradling his face in both hands. His hands were on
her butt, encouraging her movements.

Needing oxygen, she broke the kiss to sit up.
He looked bewildered and slightly panicked, until he realized she
wasn’t moving away. She kept eye contact and she reached behind her
back and unhooked her bra, tossing it to the side and on the
floor.

His gaze immediately dropped to her bare
breasts, his hands coming up to feel them. Her head fell back as he
gently squeezed and kneaded with talented fingers. He sat up to
wrap his lips around one nipple while tweaking the other between
two digits, his other hand on her back to hold her in place.

Catherine moaned. Her hips rocked back and
forth over the erection beneath her. Logically, she’d known the
boob stuff was going to feel good, but not
this
good. It
felt like all the blood in her body was pooling right above her
clit, and if she could get just the right…

“
Julian…”

He lifted his head and grinned. “Need more,
baby?”

She nodded eagerly, whimpering and wriggling
in his arms.

The hand that’d been on her breast dropped to
the tie of her panties and pulled the bow loose, then slipped
underneath to stroke her center while he sucked hard on the other
peak. She squeaked and grabbed his face to bring his lips to hers;
kissing him with all the intensity she felt coursing through her
body. The closer she got to orgasm, the harder she held on, digging
her nails into the back of his neck.

***

The heat radiating into his fingers increased
along with the whimpers and moans timed with the roll of her hips,
as any second she was going to pop. She was taking what she needed,
and he had no problem fulfilling that. Clinging to him like a life
preserver as he swallowed her cries with his mouth.

Hottest thing he’d been a part of in a long
damn time.

She panted post-climax, watching him suck her
juices off his fingers. He winked.

“Delicious.”

She blushed. She brushed her fingers tips
over the grooves in his skin from her nails. “Sorry about
that.”

He tipped her chin up. “Hey, don’t apologize.
Don’t
ever
apologize for expressing your passion,
sweetheart. Besides…” He Eskimo-kissed her nose. “I like it.”

She blushed again. “Oh.”

***

Their faces were still millimeters apart.
Their lips met again, slower this time. She could taste herself on
his tongue. It wasn’t repulsive.

Julian’s hands reflected their owner’s
personality--they were rarely still. He stroked her hair, her
shoulders, breasts, waist, and hips…peppered her face and throat
with kisses. All while his erection strained against his pants.

Catherine’s own fingers got sneaky, slipping
between them to pull the zipper down and give him some relief. He
gasped when she caressed the soft skin with her thumb.

“Oh!” she yelped. It took all of a minute of
touching him before he rolled and switched their positions.

“Drivin’ me crazy, love.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

He grinned and kissed her again, then pulled
the other bow loose and stuffed her panties in his back pocket. He
thrust a finger inside her hot channel, then another. Her back
arched and she moaned in surprise. He curled his fingers upward and
stroked the soft, fleshy wall.

“Oh, god…” she whimpered.

“You want me, don’t you, pretty kitty?” he
murmured next to her ear. “Want me to fill you up?”

She nodded, her eyelids fluttering closed as
his fingers made her eyes roll back. They popped open when his
touch abandoned her, to find him naked and poised above her.

Julian grabbed her wrists and brought her
arms above her head, pressing them into the pillow, then surged
into her in one stroke. Her inner muscles clenched around the
invasion, more in surprise than pain.

“Sweetheart, you should have told me…”

Why wasn’t he moving?

“Huh?
Oh
…” Catherine shrugged.
“Figured you knew.”

“Not for certain…in this day…are you
alright?”

She was touched he seemed genuinely worried.
“Be a lot better if you started moving,” she replied with a
smile.

“You’re not in pain?”

“No pain.” She squeezed him with her inner
muscles. He groaned. “Move already!”

Julian gently pulled out a little. “Bossy
chit. I can leave you wanting if you’re not a little nicer.”