The Next Move (23 page)

Thirty Four

         
The terrace was mostly empty, given that it was a somewhat drizzly night, but the air thrummed with the conversations of a few scattered groups and couples. Footsteps and clinking glasses punctuated the dull hum, but for the most part, it all blended together like background music, something Kat was aware of only in the sense that she would have noticed if it suddenly stopped.

         
A particular set of footsteps worked its way into her consciousness, the sharp, staccato click separating itself from the rest like a percussionist playing out of time.

         
"You disappeared." Chris’s voice should have startled her, but she knew before he spoke that he was there.

         
"Just needed to get away from the noise for a bit." She smiled.

         
"I’ve heard that before."

         
"You’ve said it before."

         
"But I get the feeling that’s not why you’re out here."

         
"No more than it was why you were out here that night."

         
"Touché." He put his hands in his pockets. "You okay?"

         
Now that you’re here
. She nodded. "Yeah, I’m okay."

         
He touched her arm. "Seriously?" His eyebrow lifted. "So your disappearance, out into the rain, no less, had nothing to do with that gorgeous Philipino girl I was dancing with?"

         
"Nothing at all."

         
"Not even a hint of jealousy?"

         
A hint doesn’t even begin to describe it
. "Okay, maybe a little."

         
He smirked. "Now, Kat, you know I’m—"

         
"You’re assuming I was jealous of
her
."

         
He laughed. "You know I’d share."

         
"Something that hot, you’d damn well better share." She laughed. "Chris, really, I’m fine. It’s just…" She shrugged, trailing off.

         
He squeezed her arm. "Kat, tell me. If there’s something wrong…"

         
"It’s not…" She cut herself off, looking away from him as she made a frustrated gesture. "I mean, I know we’re not exclusive, we’re not in a relationship per se, but…"

         
"But what?"

         
"I guess it’s a bit weird when we’re…" She paused, swallowing hard. "You know, when it’s…" She ran a hand through her hair, the cool mist that had settled onto it collecting in tiny pools between her fingers. "I don’t know how to describe it without sounding possessive or territorial, because I’m not. You’re not mine, I don’t own you, I’m fine with how we’re doing things—"

         
"But it’s hard to watch me with someone else." It was neither a question nor an accusation. If anything, she swore the words relieved some tension in him that she hadn’t noticed before.

         
"Yeah." She paused. "Yeah, that’s exactly it."

         
He pursed his lips and nodded, looking at the ground between them. "I know what you mean. I know exactly what you mean." They were both quiet for a moment. As they stood in silence, dark spots appeared on his shirt and icy drops landed on her shoulders while others worked their way into her hair. The dull cacophony of human interaction fell silent as everyone sought refuge indoors, but the air around them came alive with the steady, electric drumbeat of raindrops on the terrace.

Chris looked up, a raindrop landing on his face and sliding down his cheek. "We should go inside before the rain gets much worse."

 
Kat didn’t want to go in yet, not until they were on the same page. If they were alone on the terrace, all the better. She shrugged. "It’s just a little rain."

         
"You’ll get wet," he said.

         
I need to know that you won’t push me away
. "Chris,

you’re here."
I need to know that I haven’t pushed you away
. She grinned, putting a hand on his hip to test the water. "It’s much too late for that."

         
His eyes widened in momentary disbelief as he glanced at her hand, at the dark spots that expanded and multiplied on his shirt. She kept what she hoped was a seductive smile on her face, hoping he couldn’t see the uncertainty that coiled just below the surface.

He slipped an arm around her waist. "Well," he said. "When you put it like that…" He pulled her into a deep kiss, his hands hot against her rain-cooled skin.

After a long moment, he broke the kiss and they looked at each other. Finally, he broke the silence. "Look, if it’s going to cause jealousy—"

Something sank in her gut.
Here it comes. But then, why would he still kiss me? Why isn’t he pulling away?

"Maybe we should just keep our other pursuits out of each other’s sight."

         
She tried not to let him see or feel just how relieved she was, but she was certain he noticed the sudden release of tension in her body and her mouth. "I think that’s a good idea."

His fingertip raced a single drop down the front of her neck, catching it just before it dipped beneath her shirt. "Doesn’t mean we can’t, or shouldn’t, see other people, but doing it right in front of each other…"

She nodded. "I agree."

"But the one thing I don’t want," he whispered, his voice barely audible above her pounding heart and the driving rain as he leaned in to kiss her neck. "Is to stop this."

The gasp and shudder were as much from the touch of his lips to her skin as from relief, knowing that he was still there.
I’m here
, his hands reminded every inch of her skin.
I’m not going anywhere
, his lips told the hollow of her throat.

His hand drifted down her hip and she moaned as it disappeared beneath her skirt. His skin was damp from the rain, his touch a startling contradiction of hot and cold as he trailed his fingertips up her inner thigh.

"
Chris
…" She gasped, her legs parting at the insistence of his fingers in spite of her mind’s hesitance. His soaked shirt bunched in her hands as his finger drifted lightly across thin fabric, touching but not touching her pussy. "We can’t…not here…"

"Why not?"

"Because…" She stopped, closing her eyes and exhaling as a single finger hooked under her panties.

"Because why, Kat?" he whispered, kissing beneath her jaw. "Tell me why you don’t want me to do this." His fingertips slipped between her pussy lips, not entering, just teasing. "Tell me you don’t want me to do this."

"I…" The reasons she thought they shouldn’t faded into irrelevance as one, then two fingers slipped inside her. When his palm covered her clit, she only vaguely remembered protesting, couldn’t remember why she would ever think of telling him to stop.

Her knees shook, threatening to buckle, and he shifted his weight, leaning her against the railing. The rough, cold masonry barely registered, her senses offering the coarse surface little more than a passing acknowledgement, her every nerve ending completely enslaved by the two fingers that moved almost imperceptibly inside her.

Even his lips against her neck nearly escaped her notice, probably would have had he not murmured, "I can’t go anywhere until I feel you come." His voice thrummed across her wet skin, the vibration rippling down her spine to her pussy, to his fingertips, right into her G-spot.

Her hips, moving of their own accord, pushed against his hand, the pressure of his palm against her clit driving a whimper out of her. His fingertips crooked against her G-spot, beckoning her closer to the edge. Swallowing hard, she looked at him.

Water rolled from his slicked hair down the sides of his face like sweat, like tears, like the liquid desperation gleaming in his eyes.

"Chris, I…"

"Come for me, Kat." His voice was strained. Choked. "Come for…"

"I
can’t
."

His fingers slowed, but didn’t stop, keeping just the slightest movement alive against her G-spot. "You—what?"

"Not here." Trying to stay coherent—
sane
—in spite of what he did to her pussy, she tightened her grasp on his

shirt and looked him in the eye.

His lips tightened, an expression that told her he wasn’t sure whether to be amused or alarmed. "Why not?" His fingers slowly withdrew, their sudden absence from her G-spot making her shudder. "If you want me to stop, I…"

"I don’t want you to stop."

Amusement and alarm turned into confusion. His fingers stopped, neither withdrawing nor pushing deeper. "Kat, tell me what you want me to do."

Through chattering teeth, she said, "I want you to, but not here. Not…we can’t…I can’t…"

"Why not? There’s no one here. No one will see."

"It isn’t that." She licked her lips, not caring that they were already plenty wet.

"Then, what?"

A violent shudder went up her spine, nearly knocking her knees out from under her. Releasing his shirt, she put her arms around his neck. "If I come, I’m not going to be
able
to stop."

The words seemed to take a moment to register. Then, he moved closer to her, his fingers returning to their deliciously torturous place over her G-spot. "Are you suggesting," he whispered against the water trickling down her neck. "That if I make you come…" His palm circled her clit. "You’ll want me to fuck you?"

"I will
need
you to fuck me," she moaned.

He raised his head, kissing her. "Then tell me, Kat," he said. "Tell me if you want me to stop."

"I don’t want you to stop," she breathed. "But I don’t know if
I
can
."

His fingers trembled inside her, against her G-spot, and his voice was unsteady with desperation. "Give me the word, Kat." He sounded almost on the verge of tears. "Give me the word, and I will fuck you right here, right now."

There was no word to give, because the instant he said that, she was gone. She moaned something, maybe screamed it, but her voice was lost in the rhythmic percussion of the rain and the unsteady whisper of, "Oh my God, Kat, I want to be inside you…"

Through the delirium of her orgasm, she was vaguely aware of a sudden chill, a cool void over her shoulders where his arm had been. Something rustled. A second later, he turned his head away from her neck, and the sound of ripping foil made her pussy tighten around his still beckoning fingers.

Slowly, his fingers withdrew, allowing her to breathe at last. His belt jingled and the rain, which was falling faster and harder by the second, muffled the sound of his zipper.

Still leaning on the railing for balance, she slid her panties off as he put the condom on. Neither spoke, their eyes locked as his hand moved under her skirt and pushed it up her hip. She hooked her leg around his waist, pulling him closer, not sure who was shaking more as his cock touched the outer lips of her pussy.

He was inside her. She was instantly aware of him, of the sensation of being completely filled up, but it took her mind a few seconds to comprehend it.

"Oh
fuck
," she moaned, closing her eyes and throwing her head back.

"My God, you feel good." He pushed himself deeper. "Jesus, I could…"

"Chris? Kat? Are you guys out here?" Natalie’s voice pierced the thrumming of the rain, and they both froze.

"Shit," Kat said.

A male voice said, "Why the fuck would they be out here? It’s pouring down rain."

Kat looked at Chris in horror as she realized David had come out onto the terrace with Natalie. They were still somewhat hidden from view as long as David and Natalie didn’t stray more than a few feet from the door.

"Go out and see if they’re around the side," Natalie said.

"Why me?"

"Because I don’t want to get this outfit wet."

"I don’t want to get wet either."

Their voices lowered as they argued. Chris laughed softly, shaking his head.

"Come on, we should go." She gently nudged his shoulders but gasped when, instead of pulling out, he pushed deeper. "Chris…"

"Let them find us," he growled against the side of her neck as he withdrew slowly, then slid back in. "Because…oh

God…"

Clinging to his arms, she glanced over his shoulder, watching the empty terrace, expecting at any moment for their arguing friends to finally step out far enough to see them. "Chris…"

"Kat," he whispered. "Look at me."

She did, then her eyes flicked towards the rest of the terrace again.

"
Look at me
."

The words were somewhere between a growled command and a desperate plea, and the need to see him overrode her paranoia about being caught.