The Pleasure's All Mine (25 page)

Steve and Eric didn’t move a muscle.

“You’re fired. Get your shit, and get the fuck outta here.”

The two men looked at each other, smiled and shrugged.

“Cool,” Eric said, and whipped around in the opposite direction.

“Peace,” answered Steve, who followed Eric’s lead.

Simeon banged his fist on the desk. “Naw, don’t go. I got something else for yo’ sorry asses.” He nodded to the burly man at the door. “Vlad, call the police. Tell them these two stole some shit—those boxes that got out of here a few days ago.”

Eric shot back, “Oh yeah? I’m going to love suing you.” He crossed the room, lifted the phone from the cradle and thrust it toward Simeon. “Seventeen-year-old
New York Times
bestselling author wrongly jailed by his employer on a bullshit charge.” He pushed the phone into the man’s face. “Call ‘em. My lawyer will use your money to clean her dinner dishes.”

Simeon glared at Eric, then Steve, who crossed his arms over his chest, a smirk playing on his thin lips.

Eric leaned toward Simeon. “You might have some pull with your celebrity friends, but your cred with the boys in blue is practically nada—zilch—zero. They’re
waiting
for you to do something
this
stupid.”

Simeon backed up an inch, then dismissed them with a wave. “Get them the fuck outta here.”

Vlad reached for Steve, who pulled back.

“Keep your fucking hands off me!”

Eric gave Simeon a mock salute. “Thanks, but we know our way out.”

The moment the two hit the elevator, they let out sighs of relief and rested their backs on the wooden panels.

Eric looked at Steve. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

Steve nodded. “As much as I hate to interrupt Pierce’s first vacation in fourteen years…”

❤ ❤ ❤

“God didn’t mean for it to be that damn good,” Raven murmured as she changed positions.

“I disagree,” Pierce replied, spooning her from behind and reaching forward to cup a hand over her breasts. “He wanted to make sure we’d be fruitful and multiply no matter how pissed we were.”

“Hmph.”

“You know how you women are—put us on lockdown just on general principle.”

“I’d never deny you this,” she said, moving against him. “I’d never deny
me
this.”

“Try saying that when I piss you off.”

“You’d do that?”

“Woman, as stubborn as you are, it’s bound to happen.”

Miffed, she said, “I’m not stubborn—”

“Mule-headed, headstrong—”

“All right, I get your point,” she grumbled, watching as he pulled the blanket around them. “Then what am I doing here?”

“Finally, you agree that we belong together.” He nuzzled her neck, eliciting a small moan.

“You’ll get no argument from me.”

Pierce kissed the tip of her shoulder.

This time, she laughed and her emotions spilled over. “I love you, Pierce.” Her hands flew up to cover her mouth.

His hand froze on its trail down her rib cage.

She looked over her shoulder and up at him. “Pierce, I didn’t…I mean to say—”

Pierce turned her to face him, cupped her face in his hands, kissing her again. “And I love you, Raven.
My
Raven.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “For so long, I’ve waited to hear that from someone who said it because she meant it—and not because they had someone else in mind.”

“Simeon?”

Pierce nodded, causing a slight tug at her heart forcing her to wind her soft arms around his neck and pull him toward her. At this moment, he was so very vulnerable—every beefy pound—and her heart went out to him. They stayed that way for so long she thought he might have fallen asleep.

Finally, her voice broke the silence. “Pierce…talk to me, baby.”

Pierce slid up so that he was holding her again and locked gazes with her. “I haven’t been too big on the romance thing. This is the first time since Jennifer that I’ve even tested these waters. I haven’t met a woman that I’ve wanted to go there with—until now.” He tilted her chin toward him. “I don’t want Sim anywhere near you, and if you’re more into his type, Raven, I’d rather know sooner than later.”

That small request was issued softly, but she didn’t miss the hardness in his voice or the pain.

“Pierce, you’ll never have to worry about that. I’m all yours.”

A slow, burning liquid filled his eyes, but if they were tears, they refused to fall. “I won’t doubt it for a single moment.” He lowered, buried his head into the soft swell of her breasts.

She held him there, allowing him to tease her. Moisture pooled between her thighs; she couldn’t believe that as sated as she had been, she wanted him even more now.

Raven inched him away slowly, turning so her buttocks rested comfortably in his groin. She felt him grow hard and pressed herself back toward him.

“Ahhhhh, baby,” he groaned as her hips began a slow, teasing rhythm that made him harder. He cupped her breasts, burying his head in the soft curve between her neck and shoulder. “Raven.”

“Take me from this position. I want to feel you. I want you to cum.”

“Raven, I can’t do that.”

“Yes, you can.” She reached back, taking his hands and placing them squarely on her buttocks. Was that a growl she heard from Pierce? Or was that her own reaction?

“Raven?”

“Go on, Pierce. I’m ready.”

Reaching down to her delta, he teased her pearl until her hips moved against him in a pace rife with need. Slowly, he parted her buttocks with his thighs, moving his hips forward so his erection teased along her pearl.

“Pierce!”

“Sweet Lord, this feels...” his sharp intake of breath said everything. He inched into her heat a little and waited for her body to accommodate him. Then she backed her hips into him until she had more than half of his length firmly lodged inside—all in one motion.

She tensed at the impalement, then she moistened the area, cupped her buttocks, squeezing them around his exposed length, cocooning him in an extended wave of heat.

Pierce moved within her, and she whimpered. Was it in pain or ecstasy? He waited a moment. Too long. Raven moved forward slowly, then backed into him, taking more of him into her.

He steadied himself, gripping her hips, and kneading her soft flesh, using it to brace himself to move with her, within her. The heat within him built to a dangerous, overpowering level.

Raven moved with him, quickening the pace as each thrust forward made her body jerk with the force of his power. “Pierce. Oh, God, Pierce!”

He drove into her.

She screamed his name, her hips moving frantically towards him.

A low, animalistic groan parted his lips as he buried himself deep inside her, thrusting to meet her, the tight walls enveloping him.

Their pace quickened. She could feel the heat come and go, come and go, come and go—all the while he held onto her body as if his next breath depended on this erotic connection, and at that moment, it certainly did.

Pierce came in short, hot bursts that filled her body to the point that it overflowed as his thrusts quickened.

“Good God!”

It had never been this good for her. She’d never had an orgasm so…fierce, so violent, so
intense.

She remained strangely still as he stayed inside her, jets of semen still flowing forward as his body jerked a few more times before coming to a complete halt.

With his breathing still returning to normal, he reached out to touch her. “Raven?”

When she didn’t answer, his heart stopped.

“Raven?”

She began to cry, sobs racking her body. He cursed himself, pulled out, turned her to him, and looked into her eyes “Raven?”

Pierce drew her to him, burying his face in her neck. “I’m so sorry, Raven. I never meant to hurt you. God, I never meant to hurt you—”

She pushed him away a little, breathing in short gasps. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re crying. I thought—”

“I always cry when I have an orgasm as explosive as that one. Even ones I give myself.”

Pierce didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

She let out a breath. “I mean, those first three must have been appetizers, because this one—Oh. My. GOD!!!” She started sobbing all over again.

Pierce held her tight for several minutes, then reached down, massaging the area just below her abdomen.

“I think we’ve found a position that works, huh?”

Pierce answered with a low, throaty chuckle.

She looked down at the bed and grinned. “I don’t think sleeping on your side of the bed will work tonight.

He followed her gaze. “I don’t think any side of this bed is a good bet.”

Pierce carried her to the guest room, covering them with the blanket as he curled her back into his arms.

Raven closed her eyes, allowing the feel of him to surround her like a tide washing onto the shore. She loved that he continued to massage the area just above the hairs leading to her delta, helping the little spasms of pain that she hadn’t mentioned to subside.

He had held her heart captive with every waking moment, and her body had finally followed suit.

She leaned up and kissed his cheek. He answered with the stroke of his palm against her buttocks as she surrendered to peaceful dreams.

❤ ❤ ❤

As the sun began to rise, Pierce uncurled from Raven’s warm body and lightly stroked her with his hands to gently wake her.

“It’s against my religion to get up before 6 a.m.,” she mumbled.

“What religion is that?” he asked.

“The church of I’m on vacation and should be able to sleep until my eyes open of their own accord.”

Pierce placed a gentle kiss on her neck. “Never heard of that church.”

“Obviously.” Raven turned back over.

“Come on, woman, shake a tail feather, we’re going to be late.”

“And what exactly are we supposed to be doing today?” she grumbled.

“Snorkeling. Turtle Island.”

“Right.” She snuggled into the pillow and didn’t move.

“Raven!”

“Yes, Daddy,” she moaned.

His dick flexed. “Shoot, I like that! Say it again, baby.”

“Will it get me an extra thirty minutes of sleep?”

“Nope.”

“Then you’re SOL, dude.”

Pierce gave her rear end a kiss, followed by a swat. “In that case, get your gorgeous ass up.”

Raven rolled out of bed, laughing on her way to the shower––with a sexy little dip in her hip. Pierce could only grin.

An hour later, they were at Maalea Harbor and falling in line behind a small crowd waiting at the dock. The crew from the
Frogman
greeted them, gave everyone a few rules, identified the first-timers and the certified divers, then took off for the island.

As the catamaran cut through the waves, Raven marveled at the vibrant colors of the water, which ranged from teal to aqua to sea foam. Pierce held her in front of him, and she could almost swear she felt his body relax enough to fall asleep.
Serves him right for getting us up so damned early
.

The crew entertained them with a bit of island history before docking at a point not far from Turtle Island.

The moment Raven’s foot touched the water, she froze. Memories of gym class and her fears of the deep end of the pool resurfaced. The ultimatum had been to either fail the class or dive in and retrieve the brick at the bottom. She had failed—the first and only time in school when she had done so. After that day, nightmares of hundred-foot deep pools with no shallow ends or land for safety had followed night after night. Only sheer determination and a single opportunity given by the teacher to reverse that F, had forced her to try again.

Raven had closed her eyes, dived in, and held her breath until she reached bottom, then grabbed the brick all the while, fighting the rising panic as she pushed to the surface. Still, that success had done nothing to quell her fears of being in large bodies of water. Skinny-dipping in the shallow end she could do. Sitting on the edge of a pool with her feet in for fun—that was a given. Walking her ass into the deep, dark ocean was out of the question.

Only a few stragglers remained on the boat. Pierce, already floating in the water, had his arms outstretched, inviting Raven in. Yet even his nicely built arms didn’t quite equal the safety of staying on board. “Pierce, I think you’re going to have to do this by yourself.”

“Raven?”

She shook her head. “I can’t handle this much water.”

“Just hold onto me.”

“I…I…I can’t!” She moved aside, letting others pass. “I can’t.”

“Here, take one of these,” a little freckle-faced, cinnamon-haired boy said, handing Raven a bright pink foam stick. “The noodles will keep you floating.”

She looked skeptically at the stick that did not reassure her by any stretch of the imagination. “Thanks, but,” she tapped the boat’s hull, “I think I’ll stick close to home.”

Pierce moved back toward the steps a little, wading in the water with an ease that she envied. “Raven, come to me.”

“I can’t do that,” she shrieked, her panic rising.

“Just look at me, move forward, and wrap your arms around me,” he said softly. “Come on. Now.”

She panicked. “Who are you supposed to be? Jesus with that walk-on-water stuff?”

“Actually the true translation is
along
, not
on
, but we won’t get into that.”

“You’re supposed to be giving me confidence here.”

“What I’m giving you is honesty,” he corrected. “I’ve got this under control, honey.”

She was inching forward, stretching her arms out to him and struggling to connect with his hands before the fear stabbed at her like no time she could remember. “Pierce!”

“Trust me, I’m not budging, baby,” he encouraged, moving her forward. “You’re doing fine.”