Surrender to a Donovan (Kimani Romance) (10 page)

Chapter 16

T
ate sat on the terrace, her legs stretched out in a lounge chair with Briana in her lap. They’d had dinner and Briana had splashed enough water around in the bathroom to make someone believe they had four or five kids in this condo. Briana was winding down, her little eyes drowsy as she lay against Tate’s chest, breathing steadily.

Sean had told her he had some business phone calls to make, so he’d closed himself in the office he kept on the first floor just off the living room. She’d walked the entire length of this condo, looking inside every room, deciding on the least conspicuous places to store her and Briana’s belongings. The last thing she wanted was to be in Sean’s way, even though he insisted they were no trouble.

She was starting to believe him when he said that, because their dinners together went along so seamlessly it was almost as if they’d been together for years. Tonight Tate had decided to cook, even though they still had leftover spaghetti. She was a stickler for not wasting food, so she’d made note to carry that for lunch tomorrow. Tonight she’d cooked fried chicken, steamed broccoli and scalloped potatoes. Briana had played happily with her chicken bone after eating the meat from the drumstick, and Sean had complimented her on the crispy chicken. It had been her mother’s recipe, so she was proud to accept the compliment.

It had been perfect. Almost too perfect, she thought.

And she loved this view. The Miami skyline at dusk was absolutely beautiful. The light breeze helped to lull Briana to sleep, and if Tate weren’t careful, she might find herself drifting soon as well.

“You look nice and relaxed.”

His voice startled her because she hadn’t heard him approach. But now Sean was sitting on the edge of the corner lounge chair, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

“Actually, I think I was dozing off,” she admitted with a lazy grin.

“She was tired tonight,” he said with a nod toward Briana.

Tate looked down at her daughter. “Yeah, Ellen at day care said she had a ball at the playground this afternoon.”

“She’s happy and healthy and beautiful, just like her mother.”

As always, his voice sounded honest and sincere.

“Do you want children?” she asked him abruptly. “I mean, one day, eventually, do you want to have kids of your own?”

His arm had already extended by the time she finished her question. Long, strong fingers rubbed softly over Briana’s cheek, ruffled her hair and then touched the small gold bead in her earlobe.

“I come from a really big family, and we all stick close together. There’s never been any doubt in my mind that I’d one day start my own family.” He looked back up at her and smiled, pulling his hand slowly away from Briana. “I guess that means yes, I’d like to have kids.”

That statement was like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. Tate wanted more children, always had.

“When I was a little girl, I used to daydream about having this big country wedding. My grandfather’s house is near the Eastern Shore and sits on a piece of land right by the water. I wanted to get married outside and then move into a big house just like the one I grew up in. I wanted lots of children and to sit on my back porch and write.” She stopped when she felt like she was sharing too much.

He looked at her like he was waiting for her to continue. So she did.

“I married Patrick at the courthouse because he didn’t want all the fanfare of a big wedding. My family didn’t like him and he didn’t really care for them, so I saw them less and less as we lived and worked in the city. I haven’t seen them for two whole years. They’ve never even met Briana.”

This time she stopped because she was afraid her next words would get lost in the lump of emotion clogged in her throat. Absentmindedly she rubbed Briana’s hair and looked away, toward the starless sky.

“I never imagined what my wedding would be like or what type of house I’d live in,” Sean began.

His voice was like a calming switch that she liked activating.

“I just knew that I wanted my life to be just like my parents’ lives. They have a happy marriage, though not without disagreements—because let me tell you, if Janean Donovan doesn’t get her way, whew! My dad’s great at dealing with her though. I think it’s because of how deep their love for one another is. We always had people around—family, cousins and uncles—and our family reunions were fantastic.”

“Family is so important,” she admitted. “I forgot that for a while.”

“You should call them,” he said. “I’ll bet they’re worried and concerned.”

She nodded. “My oldest sister, Blake, she used to email me. But I guess she got tired of not getting an answer. And my other sister, Jamie, stopped trying, too. After a while I just didn’t know what to say.”

“But you know what to say to everyone else. Maybe you should write a letter to ‘Ask Jenny’ and get some advice. I hear Jenny’s smart as hell and shoots straight from the hip.”

Tate smiled, her eyes finding his once more. “You fix everything, don’t you? You find the problem and make it better. I’ll bet you’ve been doing that all your life.”

“Actually, my brother tells me I worry things to death.” He laughed, a full-bodied sound that cocooned them both. “Then I fix the problem.”

“See, I knew it.”

Their laughter died down, but the layer of comfort stayed with them.

“You’re good at it,” she told him.

He shrugged. “Only when it really counts.”

“And does this really count? I mean, I keep telling myself not to overthink this, not to make too much out of it. But I just have to ask, is this real? Sean Donovan, of
Infinity
magazine and the world-renowned Donovans, with me?” She knew she had said it as if she considered herself nothing, or beneath him in some way. But that wasn’t how she meant it. She just never imagined herself with a man like Sean before. Not a rich man, or an important businessman, but a good man who had the sense to recognize a good woman even through the shield.

He stood without a word and leaned down to take Briana from her arms. “Stay right there,” he told her.

She took in the sight of him cradling her daughter in his arms and looking down at her as if she were the stars in the sky. She knew the image would be forever emblazoned in her mind. Minutes later he was back, and he’d left Briana in her crib.

He held two glasses of wine. He handed her one and then scooted her to the side so he could sit on the same lounge chair she was on.

“Take a sip,” he told her.

She did and watched as he did the same.

“Sweet?” he asked.

She nodded. “Very, but soft, too. I like it.”

“So do I.”

He took a deep breath. “Smell that?”

She inhaled and exhaled. “Springtime, flowers, life.”

He nodded. Then Sean touched a finger to her lower lip. Tate trembled.

“Feel that?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Where do you feel it, and how does it make you feel?”

He dipped his finger into the glass of wine and then touched it to her lips again. She couldn’t help it—her tongue extended, and she licked the tip of his finger.

“Every time you touch me, Sean, I feel it all over. It’s sweet and it’s fresh and new.”

“Like the wine and the air and me sitting here with you. It’s real, Tate. You, this beautiful woman who fell right into my life like fate had brought you here just for me. And me, a man who seemingly has everything but was looking for so much more. We are real.”

He’d been moving closer, and now his face was just inches from hers.

She nodded. “It’s real?”

His lips brushed over hers. “You bet your pretty ass it’s real.”

* * *

The desire he had for her was just as real. It was real and it was potent.

Sean placed his glass on the floor. When he turned back to her, she was drinking hers again, licking tiny droplets from her lips when she finished. He circled his fingers around her wrist and removed the glass from her hand. She was watching him closely, waiting with the barest amount of restraint.

She’d changed out of the skirt and blouse she’d worn to work and now wore shorts and a tank top. He traced along the rim of the top and along the hill of her breasts. She sucked in a breath when he palmed both globes. He watched her face as his hands worked over her breasts. Her eyes were half closed, her mouth slightly open as she struggled to breathe regularly. She’d pulled her hair back into a messy bun with several wisps pulling free, which tickled her face as her head swayed from side to side.

On impulse, he pulled the shirt over her head, loving that her breasts were unbound and out for him to see freely. They were heavy in his hands, a natural feel that he loved so much more than the store-bought breasts women preferred nowadays. Her turgid nipples rolled over the palm of his hands, poked through his fingers. Sean heard his own gasp as his erection hardened significantly. He wore basketball shorts and a T-shirt, so there was no hiding his desire.

When she grabbed his wrists, pushing his hands down her torso, he almost groaned. Almost.

Instead, he pushed her shorts down her legs and off, using his fingers to pull the band of her panties down. She was gloriously naked now, lying back on the lounge chair like a
Playboy
model. Suddenly Sean wanted nothing more than to snap a mental picture of her, just like this, and keep it in his mind for all time.

“Your turn,” she whispered, one finger tracing along her lower lip.

She didn’t have to ask him twice. Sean stood, quickly pushing his shorts and boxers down and stepping out of them. He pulled his shirt off so fast he could have sworn he heard the cotton rip.

This time when he lowered himself to the lounge he pushed her legs open so that they dangled off each side and she was spread before him like a delectable feast. He touched her there, right in the center, letting his fingers part her moistened folds. She sighed with his touch, and when he looked up at her, he was pleased to see her licking her lips and watching him closely.

“You are simply beautiful,” he told her.

“Only for you,” she said.

He leaned forward, the fingers of one hand still exploring her center. His lips touched hers. “Always,” he whispered over her lips. “Always.”

Her tongue greeted his with a loving swipe, and Sean sank deeper, his tongue in her mouth, two fingers pushing gently into her opening. She bucked beneath him, her teeth nipping his lip as she moaned. He pumped his fingers inside her while the tip of his erection wept with arousal. A light breeze tickled his bare skin, but Sean barely noticed as he pulled both his lips and fingers away from her.

Pushing at her thighs, he buried his face between her legs and licked along her plump folds. Her nails pinched at his shoulders as she gripped him tight, thrusting upward to meet his touch. She was intoxicating, her scent, her flavor—everything about her made Sean drunk with desire. As his tongue found the tightened bud, he lapped at it hungrily, loving the stiff feel of her in his mouth.

“Sean!” she yelled as her entire body trembled.

He held her right there, his hands tight on her hips as he continued his brutally erotic assault. Her release was sweet, the sound of his name in her voice melodic. He wanted to yell it to the world, the second he felt himself sinking, drowning, falling in love with Tate Dennison.

* * *

Every ounce of her body had been engulfed in a torrential heat storm orchestrated by Sean’s mouth. She’d known it was a dangerous instrument that he wielded with the greatest skill, since his kisses were so seductive and addictive. It was no wonder those kisses applied to her most vulnerable of parts would prove deadly. Her thighs still trembled, even as his tongue traced adoring paths up and down the insides.

Tate wanted to scream again, but she feared someone might hear her since they were outside. Sean’s condo was a penthouse, but she didn’t want to take any chances. What she did want was to return the favor.

The way he looked at her, talked to her, said her name, touched her body, all of it had emboldened her. Tate pushed up from the lounge, moving her hands from Sean’s shoulders to his biceps as he looked up at her. She stood and he followed her over to the sectional seats. When he moved to take her in his arms, she resisted, touching her lips to his chest, stroking her tongue over his pectorals. He held the back of her head gently with one hand, the other stroking her bare arm.

“Tate,” he whispered, and she shivered. “You drive me crazy. Your body, your smile, your touch.”

His words made her float. She loved the intimacy they shared, the closeness she’d never experienced before.

“I love touching you,” she admitted, letting her fingers fan over his torso, down to his rock-solid abs, over his sculpted hips.

“Touch all you want,” he encouraged.

She took his advice, lowering herself until she was sitting on the seat, with her palms grasping his muscled buttocks. He shifted with her, moving to stand between her legs, his fingers buried in her hair.

She pulled back and stared at his length. He was long and hard, the tip of his erection arrowed directly at her. She glimpsed the tiny bead of arousal, and her mouth watered. Of their own accord, her fingers drifted until they were wrapped around his thickness. She rubbed tentatively at the base of his shaft and was rewarded by a deep groan and a tightening of his grip on her hair. This was all new to Tate, so she was operating purely on instinct. And right now instinct told her to continue.

She stroked her hands upward to the bulbous tip. He sucked in a breath and that bead of arousal grew larger. She couldn’t stop herself if she wanted to. Tate dipped her head, touched her tongue to his tip and let the moistness linger there.

“Baby.” It was a strangled cry from his lips. A tone to his voice she’d never heard before.

Tate took that as a good sign, lavishing his tip with her tongue, showing him just how much she desired him. Sean held on to her, guiding her head with his soft strokes until neither of them could wait another moment.

He pulled away from her, pushing her back on the chair and lifting her legs so that they draped over his shoulders. He entered her in one long, hard stroke that left Tate completely breathless. He thrust deep, pulled out completely and then sank back inside of her. Her mouth opened, breath gushing out as she tried to hold on for the tumultuous ride.