The Satin Sash (19 page)

“Do you want me again?” he asked, circling her shoulder with that finger, listening to the increase of her breath.

She opened her mouth but nothing came out. She was panting, aroused.Then she said, “Maybe.”

He sounded as breathless as she now. “Maybe yes or maybe no?”

She raised her hand and set a single finger on his mouth, feathering the tip across his bottom lip. “Maybe yes.”

The whisper-light touch combined with the
yes
kicked him in the gut so hard that his legs nearly buckled. Her lips were parted, and he could see she expected him to bend his head and tangle his tongue with hers. Damn it. He’d never longed for a kiss until this moment, when he’d promised not to want it, not to take it.

His tongue felt restless in his mouth, wanting to swirl around her finger, her tongue. When she lowered her hand, his pulse thrummed inside him, his dick engorged to the point of pain.

The pitiful groan was his. “Touch me.”

He craved to ram her back against the wall and sink inside her, pound her, but her mood seemed so fragile, he forced himself to be gentle as he reached for her hand.

“Put your hand on me.”

She did. She had no other choice when he flattened her hand to the bulge in his jeans. And she swallowed up his cock with that hand. God. He wanted her to squeeze, to tug, jerk him fast. He wanted her to lower the zipper, delve in deep, grab him, make him blow.

Gentleness wasn’t his forte, but he was gentle as he cradled her cheeks in hands that almost engulfed her face, cocked his head to one side and kissed her eyelids, the tip of her nose. Not her lips. Not those. But anywhere else, he could kiss . . .

“Tell me you’d like my hands on you again.” He sounded desperate; he felt desperate. Twenty-seven. Twenty-seven women he’d fucked while thinking of Toni. There would be more after, he knew. He would fantasize about this weekend, of her cat eyes and her warm smile . . . how she looked when Grey was petting her . . . when Heath was plunging into her . . .

“Heath . . .” She didn’t move her hand over him, but it trembled against the denim. Her neck was craned way back so her neck curved along the backrest.

He gave a circle of his hips, meaning it to be coaxing, but the move was fast and demanding. “It’s okay. Do you know I made a deal with Grey? I’m allowed to fuck you with or without him present. Any time you want it.You can lift that dress for me and before you know it, I’m inside you.”

A telling ripple went down her body, tangible in the air, in the center of his being.

“Grey wouldn’t agree to that,” she whispered.

“He did. He’s repressed, that man is. He’s a sex bomb behind the suit and he’d love for me to fuck you.We could do it right here, right now.”

She wanted to. Yes. She trembled with the urge to. She licked her lips once, twice. She could almost taste his cock in her mouth, and Heath could almost smell her pussy.
Those
big lips, he was allowed to taste, and he would kiss there for hours. All day. All night. Grey or no Grey.

“You’re lying,” she finally said, dropping her hand to her lap.

“What you hear from me, always, that’s the truth.” He raised his voice, but did not take his eyes off her. “Isn’t that right, Grey?”

At the edge of the living room, Grey stood with his arms clasped behind his back, his expression inscrutable. “Having a special time?”

Heath straightened. “We were.”

Grey came forward, dropping his arms. “Baby, I’m sorry. I couldn’t hang up; it was one thing after another.” When she nodded grudgingly, he addressed Heath.“I was thinking we could have some horses brought up and we could ride down the coast near San José. There’s a new resort, the Latin Blue? I want to show you something.”

Heath perked up. “The spread?”

“Yes. It’s rather interesting.” He glanced at Toni and smiled warmly. “And there’s a restaurant by the beach that Toni likes.”

Bowing his head in agreement, Heath bent to whisper in her ear, “I’ll have you riding my cock.” He was cruelly pleased when she shuddered.

They were dressed in khaki shorts and shades; aviators for Grey, Heath in a sleek blue- lens pair. Heath’s torso was draped in a plain cotton T-shirt, Grey’s in a sexy navy blue polo with the little alligator on his chest. Toni wanted them in the bedroom, not out here in the sun, in front of this swarthy, wrinkled old man holding the two huge horses. But the men wanted to see land, so they
would
see land. And she, well, she would be checking out some nice, innovative hotel logos.

Striding across the sand in a pair of soft terry cloth capris and a ribbed white tank top she’d changed into, she sidled up next to Grey, cautious to maintain a good distance from the two large animals; she had developed a healthy respect for those beasts.

She’d dreamed of riding a horse on the beach ever since she was a girl. Naturally, Grey had made her dream come true. He’d asked if she could trot, and in her stubbornly determined, I-can-do-anything-
you
-can role,Toni had insisted,
But of course!

She’d bounced like a Ping- Pong ball on the saddle, panicked, and pulled back the reins so hard the horse reared and went bronco on her. In the space of a second, she’d been tossed onto her ass in the sand, precisely a second before the horse planted a hoof a hairsbreadth away from her ringing right ear.

In those seconds of horror and shock and fear—of the hoof falling on her face, the horse trampling her—the only positive thing she could remember was Grey bounding off his horse, checking her for injuries, clutching her face, growling like a bear, demanding things while she was too stunned to speak.
Are you hurt? Damn it, are you hurt? Toni, answer me!

Still, she hated to admit she was a coward and swallowed back her protest when she was swept up to the large chestnut mare by Grey’s powerful arms. “Up you go, Miss Kearny,” he said before he swung up behind her.

Of course, Grey
knew
she would be too cowardly to ride one by herself; he hadn’t rented three horses, after all.

“Juicy.”

His teeth gleamed white behind his smile when she swiveled her head and shot him a puzzled glance. “What?”

He peered down at her bosom and ran a finger across the logo arching up like a rainbow over her breasts. “Your shirt says Juicy.”

Her eyes fell on her top, then returned to him. “You like it?”

A smile still curving his lips, he gave a slight inclination of his head.

She grinned. “You bought it for me,” she reminded him.

Their ears almost brushed as he bowed his head.“Did I get you this, too?” His fingers played with the tinkling charm bracelet on her wrist, where he thumbed each of the charms as she twirled it around.

“You did. And some slippers and a bathrobe and a necklace and a sexy velour tracksuit in flashy neon pink. Don’t you remember? You whipped out your black credit card, and I clearly remember the saleslady being as delighted as I was.” She was smiling to herself, their heads bent as both their fingers investigated the enameled charms. “We have a purse here,” she told him, aware that he had become distracted by a spot behind her ear he was brushing his lips up against, “and a lipstick and a bathing suit, a dog and a . . . a diamond ring.”

Suddenly pensive, Toni fingered the tiny ring charm, the small zircon sparkling prettily in the sunlight. An awful pressure gathered in her chest at the realization that might be the only diamond ring she’d ever see from Grey.

“All right, kidlets, we’re set to go.”

Dispatching the Mexican man with a slap on his shoulder and an
adios
, Heath bounded up on the black gelding. The horse made to go, but Heath expertly yanked at the reins and shushed him, running a tanned, calming hand down the side of its gleaming black neck.

The instant Grey clucked the horse forward,Toni went ramrod straight in her seat, her clammy hands grasping at the pommel. He tightened his arm around her waist. “Relax. I’ve got you. I’m not trotting this baby—I’ll just walk her, all right?” Her hesitation made him add meaningfully in her ear, “I won’t let you fall,Toni, I promise you.”

She nodded, and as the horses headed down the beach at the very edge of the ocean, precisely where the sea foam crawled up to the sand, she began to relax. The blue horizon was dotted with yachts. The chestnut’s head swung easily, almost lazily, sideways, its ears resting behind its head. Toni’s body rocked along with Grey’s, and she was surprised to find how erotic that soothing motion felt.

Grey held the reins in one hand; the other was splayed under her top, flat against her navel. Her thoughts weren’t so peaceful, though. She couldn’t banish Heath’s words from her mind.

She scowled at the memory as Heath, who had bounded out ahead, turned the glossy-coated black horse back toward them, smiling one of his
Die, girls
smiles. He looked one with the horse, and he looked damned, damned good riding. But it was still no wonder Heath didn’t have any friends. Didn’t he trust anybody? Louisa was her friend!

She was also very pretty. Prettier than Toni, or at least sexier. Blond and blue-eyed, with a flirty Marilyn Monroe voice and very ample boobs.What if Grey noticed?
Damn
.

Was this what Grey had felt when she admitted she found Heath attractive?

Now she quietly decided it would be best to plead a headache tonight and not go through with any more wicked threesomes. She could pull out a board game or . . . suggest cards . . . or just say flat out,
No, guys. Thank you, anyway.

Because it felt horrible. She felt horrible to have admitted this to Grey.To even consider he might want or think of someone else was
torture.

She shuddered at the mere possibility, and quietly, so that Heath wouldn’t overhear, asked, “Would you ever want to do this the other way? With a woman?”

Immediately, she wished she could bite back the words. There was just no way on this earth that she could watch Grey touch a woman’s—

“Do
you
?” He sounded incredulous.

But she was dead serious. “I asked you first,” she insisted.

He laughed behind her, and she didn’t know if she should feel relieved or foolish.“I don’t want another woman.Why are you asking me this?”

She shrugged, her eyes fixed straight ahead. “Maybe this weekend will start giving you ideas.”

He bent to cuddle his nose into her ear. Her skin warmed at the erotic touch of his breath against her. “The ideas in my head are all about you.”

Her lashes became heavy and her entire being went supple, moistening for him. Her lungs tasted the scent of ocean and his morning shampoo, and she found the back of her head neatly contoured by his neck and chin as she sagged against him. He’d made love to her last night. The memory of those stolen, breathtaking moments stirred her lust to wakefulness.

She’d been so rattled by their threesome. While Grey wasn’t regarded as the most approachable human being on earth, he was always warmest with her.Yet last night with Heath, his touch had been distant, perfunctory, no matter how exquisite his hands still felt.

She’d thought she would drive him out of his mind for her this weekend, but she feared that in agreeing to a threesome, she’d just become one of
those
women. Women he screwed with his partner and dumped within the month.

The thought that they’d made a terrible mistake tortured her, and worse was having Heath parading himself around the house with those challenging words and even more challenging black eyes. She couldn’t sleep last night.

Even in her tired, groggy state, she’d needed Grey more than sleep.They’d lain tangled together for what felt like hours, and then it was as if they both knew they wouldn’t sleep without being together. She’d turned in his arms, staring up at his shadowed features. The tone in his voice—thick, hoarse, full of emotion—still haunted her. “What is it?”

Before she could answer, he was shifting her, knowing instinctively what she craved. He’d sought her out with two fingers and eased them into her cunt lazily, tiredly, with a slumberous quality to his eyes. His voice made his chest vibrate against her breasts. “Do you want me?”

With all my heart
, she thought yearningly as she coiled her arms around his shoulders. “Make love to me.”

“How? Tell me how.”

“I . . .”

“With this?” He held her hips and put his cock gently in her, and she cried out in ecstasy as though he’d rammed it to the depths of her. He moved slowly, but she writhed as though he were pounding her full force, she needed it so much. “How do I make love to you,Toni?” he demanded. “With my cock?”

“With all of you.”

And his face was on her breasts, turning to nip at one peak, then the other. “With my eyes?” he asked silkily.

She pulled his head up by the hair and kissed his eyelids. “Yes.”