The Satin Sash (18 page)

“It does . . . ,” she admitted, stroking his throat, “make me feel better.” Her teeth caught her lower lip, and her voice again went strange on him. “I couldn’t see you. . . . And your hands felt so different, like you were touching just anyone. . . . And you didn’t say anything to me even when I was trying to look so sexy for you. . . . I wanted to hear your voice . . . but you were mostly quiet, and I felt so . . .”

She inhaled a tremulous breath, and he realized that while he’d been quietly pleading for a lifeline from her, begging to crawl into her skin and feel close to her, she had wanted to be inside
him
.

He swallowed through a dry, sandpapery throat and closed his arms around her. “Come here, come closer. I need you. I need this.”

This
was the kisses they placed on each other’s faces.
This
was the whispered words, the breaths they took in unison.
This
was their sweat-coated bodies tangling together, growing warm where they touched. She seemed so small when he gathered her like this, his entire body swallowing hers up.

“Heath just seems so lonely,” she admitted, her fingers fluttering across his shoulders. “I feel a little sorry for him.”

He inhaled the aroma of sex and peaches at her neck, in her hair, dragging her essence into his lungs. “He’s alone because he likes it,” he whispered against her throat. “I swear you’re the first person I know who’s sorry for Heath.”

“We should set him up with someone, Grey.”

He suppressed the urge to laugh.“And who would you suggest, that wacky cousin of yours?”

“I don’t know. My friends are pretty.”

“Heath hates dates.”

“Well, he shouldn’t!” she chastised. Then, running lazy figure eights on the back of his arm,“Nobody should be that alone, Grey.”

He kissed her, let his lips enjoy hers; no tongue now, just their lips molding and absorbing the feel of the other. “I agree.” He plowed into her mouth, and her sweet, hot cavern was a welcoming heaven to his tongue.

Her thigh slipped in between his as their tongues curled. Her hands linked behind his head, and her breath seeped into him, “Grey.”

“Darling.” He covered a whimper with his mouth when he deepened the kiss, and his lungs closed. He wanted her again. To make her his, just his, remind her she was
his
. He couldn’t imagine being without her—without the mischief she got into sometimes, the smiles, the laughter, the love she gave him.

He wanted to give her the stars. He wanted to fight with her and have hot makeup sex with her. He wanted to shower her with gifts and love and devotion. He wanted to marry her.

The desire had been strengthening, gathering courage. Conviction. They’d laughed about marriage together, criticized the institution, had gone on and on about not needing it. It had all been Grey, trying to convince himself he didn’t need her, love her, want her more than anything or anyone.

Now nothing would give him more joy than making her his wife. Slipping his ring on her.Vowing the world to her.Waking up every morning to the irrefutable fact that she belonged to him . . . and he to her.

After Cabo . . .

“Thank you for this weekend,” she whispered, stretching under him and raising her arms behind her head in languor.

He palmed the sides of her thrusting breasts and pushed them together to run his tongue down the cleavage they created.“Hmm. You’re welcome.”The mounds brushed his cheeks, and his thumbs slid up to her nipples. They were soft at first touch, but responded after a second pass.

He heard her yawn, say something in a murmur. He lifted his head, giving a nibble on her chin as he came up. “Sleepy?”

“Deliciously, utterly sleepy, but please don’t stop. You’re heavenly.”

He chuckled and fell on his back, dragging her against him, where she snuggled her womanly curves against his side. She brushed a kiss across his cheek. “I love you.”

She didn’t seem to expect a reply any longer. She was already settled, a cheek to his chest, her breasts rising and dipping evenly against his ribs.

He skimmed his mouth across her forehead, his arms unrelenting around her.

“Don’t ever stop,” he hoarsely whispered.

“Hmm? Stop what?”

Loving me.
“Telling me.”

She laughed softly. “I won’t.”

“I like hearing it.”

She surprised him, kissing his chest right above his nipple—the place nearest to where she rested her head—and whispered, “I know you do.”

Chapter Seven

Heath was moving around the guest bedroom the next morning, searching his duffel for a fresh T- shirt, when he spotted her out on the long, sprawling terrace. Straightening, he moved closer to the sunlit window, taking in that delectable rear as she leaned on the stone ledge. Her chestnut hair flew in tangles behind her as she took in the ocean view.The sun brought out the shades of red and a hint of gold in her hair, and he wanted to run a hand through it and inspect it up close.

Her profile was exquisite; her nose tipped up at the end, and her lips pouted beguilingly. Without makeup, her skin had a fresh peachy hue that appealed to him. Her small, curvy body appealed to him. Crap,
everything
of hers appealed to him.

Her dress today was emerald green and shaped like a tube. Heath was liking that tube. Seemed easy enough to pull down, or up, to reveal what Heath most wanted to see.

After a moment he realized she was mumbling, shaking her head, creasing that cute face into a frown.When he realized she was cursing Grey, Heath chuckled. God, he wanted to fuck her.

His jeans felt tight and his dick kept expanding. He was so primed for her, so
full
of hot, needy cum for her. And he knew she ate it—oh yes, she liked eating him up. And he’d heard her and Grey last night.... Had it been around three a.m.? Maybe four a.m. He wasn’t sure, but he heard the cry she gave. He’d bucked up in bed from that sound alone.

She rounded with a stomp of a pink-toed foot and her head jerked back when she spotted him. She absorbed his gaze for a sizzling second, her chest rising and falling in hungry little pants.
Are you thinking of me fucking you, kitten? Do you want my hands on you, my hard dick inside you?

He crooked his finger at her, watched her lips part in surprise, and then he reached out to slide open the door. He almost groaned when she pulled her eyes away and stormed back inside. He was just not used to this pain. A boner was something to be taken care of fast, and this one wouldn’t cease. He’d had it for days. Weeks. His need was so great that all he could think of was spreading her legs again. He had been thinking of her hair last night, her shoulders; now it was just what lay between her legs that overwhelmed his mind, promising him ease. When would he get there,
be
there again? Damn.

He knew Grey was somewhere in the house, even if he hadn’t understood what the fuck the Mexican guy had said this morning about Sir Richards. Apparently, Grey was royalty around these parts. But Heath wasn’t caging himself in this big white room. He enjoyed being alone, but not when he knew Toni was somewhere in the halls and rooms of this immense house.

He came down the hall and found her cuddled on a couch, a magazine open on her lap. Her emotions flickered across her face when she spotted him; she was shocked, delighted, wary.

The living room was—surprise, surprise—white like everything in the house. Grey knew how to spend his money, though; with its solid dark woods and light fabrics, windows that spread from top to bottom and side to side, this room and the woman sitting motionless at its center made Heath think of paradise. Eve and the apple. His eternal doom. All that shit.

The low couch she sat on, with its stunning beach backdrop, was wide enough to sleep two people comfortably, and accented with plump pillows in a green that was almost as striking as the eyes that were now watching him.That couch had been specially made for a man to fuck on it.

His shoes made no sound when they hit the carpet.“Aren’t you going to say good morning,Toni?” he asked.

She seemed ready to bolt. “Hi, Heath.”

His eyebrows flew up. This was not the merry welcome in the morning he’d fantasized about. “You don’t sound so enthusiastic. Am I not wanted here anymore?”

Leave. His specialty. School, foster parents, friends. Before anyone could even ask him to, he left. He had never been wanted, and he’d never cared. But today he cared.Today he cared to be wanted. He remembered being inside her body, sucking those breasts, all of his cock massaged by those tight, wrenching ripples in her pussy. By her tongue, her lips, her mouth.

But maybe she wanted him to leave. “Do you want me to go, Toni?”

“We invited you here, didn’t we?” Ah, she was surly. Well. He’d take care of that easily.

“Where’s God?” he asked, taking a seat.

Her lips curved into a smile.
Ahh
. She’d liked his joke. “On the phone.”

“He pissed you off?”

She shrugged. Okay, so she wasn’t in the mood to confide. He got the message. He snatched up a magazine and flipped through the pages, pretending to be as interested in kitchen decoration as she was. He peered at her through his lashes.

“He’s been on the phone all morning, and it drives me insane. The man doesn’t know how to unwind.Why can’t he just disconnect?” She studied him with narrowed eyes. “You don’t seem to have that vice.”

“I’ve got plenty of others.” At her inquisitive gaze, he offered, “The only thing I like about phones is smashing them.”

She smiled fleetingly.

“Maybe Grey wouldn’t need to be on the phone so much if your friend were a better assistant,” he told her.

She sighed. “She’s just new to it, that’s all. She’s eager to please, and she needs that job.” Then, face brightening, “Would you like to meet her? My friend? She’s very pretty, and Grey and I were discussing the possibility of setting you up on a—”

“I’ve already met Grey’s secretary,” he said, frowning over the fact that Grey and Toni had been discussing Heath’s future like they were lords of it.“And I don’t do dates. But thank you.To know you both thought of me last night in your love nest makes my heart flutter.”

Her eyebrows pulled low over her nose. “For your information, she’s his assistant, not his secretary,” she corrected. “And this wouldn’t be just a date. She’s very beautiful and dedicated and—”

“And she wants Grey to fold her over his office desk with her ass up in the air,” Heath bluntly finished, propping his feet up and crossing his ankles atop the coffee table.

Toni met his gaze with a blank expression.

Heath quirked an eyebrow.“She wants to fuck your man,Toni.”

She seemed incredulous at first, then shot him a furious scowl that made him smile. He could tell she didn’t believe him, but he knew what he’d seen. Whatever-her-name-was wanted Grey to ram her against the wall and spill his guts into her. She’d been panting all over the place that time Heath had been at the office, looking down at her boobs to see if she had enough cleavage going on, swinging her butt when she walked away.

“You think everyone wants to have sex,” Toni grumbled, slapping the magazine shut. “You have a dirty mind.”

He folded his legs and straightened. “And in this case, I’m correct as usual.”

Impatiently, she pushed back a strand of her hair.This particular way she wore it—loose and artfully framing her face—was by far his favorite. She just made his dick itch so bad.

“Grey and I . . . ,” she began, lowering the magazine to her lap. “We have a good thing going.”

Her eyes flicked up to his and away, and her shyness endeared her to him. Her skin was flawless. He could almost feel it on his finger tips. Silk. Like that red sash he’d stroked along his cock, down his balls—the sash that still smelled of her.

He set the magazine back on the table. “I’m not taking you from Grey.”

He just wanted to rip that tube thing off her body and fuck her until she screamed, and he wanted to cup her softly and fuck her slowly, too.

The breath shuddered out of her with a heave of her breasts. “I love him.”

“Grey’s crazy about you.”
And so am I, crazy with wanting you.
“He loves you,” he added.

She couldn’t have stiffened faster if he’d slapped her. “What do you mean?”

“He hasn’t told you.” Grey was such an idiot.

She squirmed and pushed her hair behind one shoulder, looking unsure whether or not to admit it. “What makes you think he hasn’t?”

“I know my people.”When she continued to stare in quiet expectancy, he sensed a tangible anxiety in her; she wanted to hear it. She
hadn’t
heard it.“I know he’d do anything for you,Toni,” he said truthfully. “I’ve never seen a man so devoted to his woman.”

Grey was a good, solid, fair, dependable man.Which, of course, was why
he
had himself a Toni.

And her eyes were so pretty. So green. So very, very shiny.There was hunger there. Lust for him. For Grey.

She held her breath as he rose to approach. He caged her in with his arms, planting one hand on the back of the couch. His free hand ventured along a creamy, rounded bare shoulder.The tip of his middle finger traced the gentle curve, and as he caressed her, their noses almost touched. “Do you think of me?”

Her breathing gave her away; she had. Of course she had. She was getting wet just having him like this. And his cock was pushing into his jeans, throbbing to get into her.

“Is there a reason I should?” she asked.

Sassy. He liked that. “Oh yes, plenty. Do you want me to be specific?”

“Please. Enlighten me.”

How about he shock her instead? Wipe that smug smile off her face? “How about you coming like a rocket whenever I put my hands on you?”

She smiled. “You’re full of yourself.”

Her lips as they smiled were a feast for his eyes. Shit, he wanted that mouth.