Something to Talk About (15 page)

Michaela recovered from a near-swoon at the romantic scene and finally reacted like a proper emcee. “
Al
-righty
then, I guess that’s a done deal. I don’t think we’ll be seeing Mr. Cochran up here next year. Somebody please go get that money from her before she drops it,” she said briskly.

Adam and Alicia were making a hasty exit from the ballroom wh
en Darcy Hamilton stepped directl
y in front of them. She had a hand on one slender hip and a quirky grin as she looked at Adam and said, “Well, I guess the best man won.”

Roxy distracted Alicia’s attention from Darcy by handing her the long silk evening coat she’d worn. “I’ll get your car back to you tomorrow, honey. In the meantime, you have a good night. Looks like you’ve got a spa day coming—on me.”

In a very short time they were in Adam’s loft. They hadn’t really spoken a word on the way there, but Adam hadn’t let go of her hand during the ride. They rode the elevator to the top floor of the building in silence, but it was a silence full of meaning. When they were finally in the cavernous loft, Adam took her wrap and looked her over as if she were a rare work of art, taking in every nuance of her beauty from her glossy hair to her
sexy
feet. She was wearing dangerously high stiletto-heeled red sandals in silk shantung with silk ribbons that wrapped around her slender ankles, and he had a sudden urge to see her in those shoes and nothing else. “Alicia, you look incredible. I don’t know enough words to tell you how beautiful you are.”

“Thank you, Adam. So are you,” she said shyly.

Adam put her coat away and took off his dinner jacket while he was caressing her with his eyes. “Allie, walk for me, please. I have to see you move in that dress again,” he said in a deep sexy voice that was much more revealing than his normal tone. He leaned against the door and prepared to watch her graceful body move just for him. She surprised him, though, when she made a half pirouette and stopped.

“I do my best work with music,” she said seductively.

“Then music you shall have,” he agreed. He quickly used the remote to find the right CD among those in rotation and soon Norah Jones’s raspy, sexy voice was serenading them. He also lit several scented candles and opened the custom-made French doors that led out into the roof garden. Then he turned to Alicia and asked her to walk again and this time she did, moving seductively toward him with the skirt’s panels swaying around her long, shapely legs. She sashayed across the cavernous living area of the loft like something out of one of Adam’s most erotic fantasies, letting the seductive skirt do its work. Suddenly she spun around again and held her slender arms out to him.

“Dance with me, Adam, we didn’t get a chance to dance tonight.”

“Anything you want, baby.”

He pulled her into his arms and had to catch his breath as she melted against him. She felt so good in his arms, so right. Her scent surrounded him and created a cocoon of desire he never wanted to leave. There was nothing in the world outside of the loft, no one in the world except the woman in his arms. If all life had ceased to exist at that moment, he would have known total satisfaction, but life had something better in store for him. The song on the CD changed and he could feel Alicia smile against his chest. It was one of her favorite songs by Norah Jones, “What Am I to You?” The song was a conversation between lovers wherein a woman is asking her man what she means to him and she describes what he is to her.

Alicia pulled away from him far enough to look into his eyes and with a playful smile and sweet eyes she asked, “What am I to you, Adam?”

“Everything.
You’re everything to me, Allie, you’re my whole world.” His eyes were heavy with passion and his skin was on fire with desire as he watched her eyes fill with sudden tears.

He kissed her tears away and followed the soft caress of her cheekbones with a deep kiss, the kind of kiss he’d been burning to give her for so long. Their mouths opened at the same time, the better to intensify the explosion that was building. The dancing stopped but another dance began as they started tearing each other’s clothes off. Adam could vaguely hear the onyx studs landing on the hardwood floor as Alicia pulled the shirt away from his body, but his mind was on getting her out of the red dress. He found the single hook at the back of her neck and was delighted to discover that the stretchy dress slipped down her body like the peel of a ripe banana.

When he realized how little she was wearing underneath the dress, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom while their lips were still locked together. The frantic striptease continued as he pushed the dress down her slender hips and watched it puddle around her feet. She stood before him clad only in those dangerous sh
oes and a seductive pair of red lace boy short-styled panties
that exposed her perfect rear end. He laid her down on the bed and removed his shirt, then the rest of his clothing so when he joined her on the b
ed, he was naked and magnificentl
y aroused. They held each other closely for a moment, kissing and caressing each other with their eyes wide open to fully savor their desire. He stroked her shoulders and her breasts, then bent his head to her aching nipples and caressed them with his tongue while sliding his hands down her torso. As sexy as she looked in the incredible underwear, right now he wanted it off. He wanted nothing touching her except his hands.

He stopped the passionate kisses long enough to remove her delicate shoes, followed by the panties. Alicia was beside herself with desire; she was shaking with the need to be one with Adam. He kissed his way up her body until their lips were almost joined, stopping only long enough to retrieve a foil packet from the night-stand next to the bed. He slid the latex condom on, then pulled Alicia back into his arms, rolling over on her
slowl
y so she could get used to his full weight on her body. She sighed with happiness as she felt the warm weight of him on top of her. She opened her legs and wrapped their silken length around him, helping him to enter her love-moist body and make them one.

He pushed slowly, to give her time to become accustomed to his length. With excruciating tenderness he joined their bodies until the sensual movements of her hips proved too much for him and their rhythm quickened in mutual urgency. His powerful thrusts increased until their bodies were rocking at the threshold of a sensation so powerful it shook them into spasms of ecstasy at the same time, the sweet torture giving way to a hot climax that left them shuddering, sweaty, and complete.

Adam held Alicia tightly as the aftershocks continued to rock them. Their bodies continued to move against each other, the sensual twisting and writhing that increased the pleasure they were feeling and presaged more of the same. Adam could feel his body renewing its need for Alicia. The sinuous movements of her hips, the silken tightness of her vaginal walls clutching him, and
her cries of satisfaction were starting him on another passionate plunder of her treasures, but first he had to tell her, he had to let her know. He placed one hand under her chin and kissed her hard, then whispered, “Open your eyes, Allie. I love you, baby, I love you.” He repeated the words until the sensations made speech impossible.

With every word he stroked harder and deeper and together they rode another convulsive climax to a shuddering completion that left them bathed in sweat and shaking from release. Gradually, the pulsing slowed down; their heartbeats regained a more normal pattern and their pants of pleasure slowed to more normal breaths. Alicia loosed her long legs from their grip around Adam’s body and slid them down so they were entwined with his, although neither one of them moved to break their most intimate connection. They smiled ravishing smiles at each other and kissed
each other
once, then twice
and then again
.

Adam smoothed her hair away from her face and kissed her brow. Shifting
his body
so
that
she was on top of him, he cradled her against his big chest. They held each other without saying a word for a long time, just loving the intimate embrace and reveling in the warm closeness. Adam kissed her hair, stroked her back and arms and softly said her name.

“Allie?”

Without realizing it she pushed closer to him, stroking his arm and rubbing her head against his
shoulder
for the sheer enjoyment of feeling his skin next to hers, loving the scent of him, the taste of his sweaty skin as she ran her tongue across his collarbone. Finally she whispered a response.

“Yes, Adam?”

“Everything okay?”

Alicia smiled and buried her face in his neck. She kissed his neck and shoulder, and then rose up so she could look into his eyes while her hands clung to his shoulders.

“Everything is better them okay, Adam,” she said softly. “I haven’t felt like this since ... ever. This is better than I remembered, Adam. Better than I imagined, better than I dreamed.” She cuddled into his shoulder again and ran her hand over his free arm, the one that wasn’t holding her against him.

“You know I love y
ou, right?” he asked
, bringing his other arm around her and holding her even closer.

She smiled sleepily at his words. “Yes, I do. And I love you right back, with all my heart. I’ve been in love with you for a long time, Adam.”

“Yes, but I loved you first,”
he said with satisfaction
.

Alicia moved so she was straddling him, looking down into his eyes with a mischievous, sexy smile. “Prove it, Adam. Love me again so I’ll know for sure,” she whispered.

Adam tightened his grasp on her and reversed their positions so quickly she gasped. “Your every wish is my command, my love.” And he began to love her all over again until they were both too weak to move. They fell asleep in each other’s arms, sated, completed, and one.

Chapter Ten

A few hours later they had slept in each other’s arms, made love several more times, and had a long, sexy shower together, which led to more passionate interplay. Now they were relaxed on Adam’s huge bed, Alicia in one of his T-shirts and him wearing a towel around his waist. He was feeding her slices of kiwi fruit with his fingers
and she was holding an icy bottl
e of spring water from which she was taking sips between bites of the cold, sweet fruit. She said she’d had enough and Adam popped the last piece into his mouth, watching her as she looked around his room.

“I like this room, Adam. Although it might be difficult to have overnight guests,” she teased.

The sleeping area of the loft was separated from the rest of the loft by a wall of glass bricks. There was no door per se, and the area could be entered on either side of the wall simply by walking around it. The wall didn’t extend all the way up to the high ceiling, either; it was ten feet high and about twelve feet long. The bed that he’d designed occupied the unconventional space. It was a platform bed and the platform was also made of glass bricks wired for illumination, so that with the throw of a switch the base of the bed would light with a soft glow that emulated candlelight
.
The mattress was a California king, a huge expanse that was like floating on a giant raft

There was very littl
e furniture in the room, just a night-stand to one side of the bed and a long dresser against the wall. A beautiful wool carpet with a subtle abstract pattern in muted tones provided the only color in the room; there weren’t even paintings on the brick walls. There were tall palm trees in each of the huge industrial windows that were across the back wall of the bedroom, but those were at Alicia’s insistence. She’d forced him into having plants by sending them over as a housewarming gift
. 
Left to his own devices, he wouldn’t have had one bit of green anywhere, but he conceded that they made the space more eye appealing.

She stared brazenly at Adam as he rose to remove the black lacquer tray from the bed and return it to the kitchen. She loved looking at his long, muscular legs and torso. His body was like a huge, glistening sculpture in motion. A sudden burst of giggles made him return her look with one of his own.

“What’s so funny, Allie?”

“I was just thinking about last night at the auction. I’ll bet people are still talking about it,” she said with a smile.
“Especially Miss Darcy Hamilton.”

Sitting straight up, she suddenly looked puzzled. “What did she mean about the best man winning, anyway? She said that to you last night
Was
she calling me a big ol’ horsy broad or something?”

Adam gave a wry snort as he went over to the dresser to retrieve a large leather chest from its center. He placed it on the end of the bed in front of Alicia and sat down behind her, spreading his legs wide so they cradled hers and pulling her flush against his bare chest. “She was referring to me, sweetie
. Darcy wasn’t interested in me;
she was after
you,
Allie.”

Allie was
totally
still while she strove to understand what Adam was saying. “Oh.
Ohh
,"
she said as light finally dawned. “Well, I never ...” she mutt
ered as she handed Adam the bottl
e of water to put on the nightstand.