Secrets and Seduction: 5 Romance Novels (16 page)

They dried each other in a hurry. Nick had another hard-on, so Marisa knew they were heading back for the bed and another bout of lovemaking.

Nick dragged the chocolate-coated sheet of Visqueen from the bed and piled it in a corner. But instead of reaching for her, he reached inside the drug store bag. Pulling out a little box, he removed two items. One was a condom.

“Do you want to do the honors?” He offered it to her.

Marisa wanted to know what the other item was, but she took the condom and smoothed it on him, caressing him as she did so.

As soon as he was sheathed, Nick carried her down to the bed and covered her mouth with his. She was hungry for the taste of him without chocolate, the taste that was singularly him. His mouth was hot and demanding. He kissed her again and again until she felt lightheaded. Her legs tangled with his, his hot erection pressed tightly against her lower belly.

She couldn’t get enough of kissing him, but one of his hands reached between them to caress her nipple. She gasped. Nick had spent a long time sucking the chocolate off her nipples and they were still tender. Her open mouth allowed his tongue to penetrate. He touched her tongue, caressing it as he caressed her breast. She stroked him too, his tongue, his back, and his tight round buttocks. His body was a work of art with every lean muscle delineated.

Nick freed a second hand to caress both her breasts. Marisa rubbed her lower lips against his condom-coated cock. Her body was slick against the latex. As much as she liked the preliminaries, Nick hadn’t entered her body during their last bout of lovemaking, and she ached to be filled with him.

“Nick, please, I need you inside me.”

“Don’t you like this?” He pulled on her nipples and she groaned.

“I like everything you do to me, but I like it best when you’re inside me.”

“You’ve got to be ready for me.”

“I am.”

“I’m going to take a long time.”

“How long?” A thrill ran through her vagina.

“A
long
time.”

“Do it.”

He reached around her to the nightstand for the other packet.

“What is it?”

“You’ll see.”

Then Nick kissed her so she couldn’t see, but she felt him adjust his cock, and then he shoved inside her.

It felt good, he felt right. Marisa adjusted her body to accept him fully.

“How’s that feel.” He sounded happy.

“Good. Really good.”

“Do you want better?”

She pictured herself with her legs up on his shoulders and him driving hard. “Yes.”

He reached between them, and then he thrust deeply into her. Something between them vibrated across her clitoris. Marisa jerked and shrieked her pleasure.

But Nick gathered her close to him as he made love, pressing into her clitoris and holding her to him. His thrusts and the vibration made her tighten inside. The pleasure wound around her lower body, drawing ever tighter, until orgasm arced through her. Marisa bucked against Nick. He pressed the vibrator tight to her widely spread legs.

Suddenly a second orgasm swept her away. She gasped and clung to him, milking his pistoning cock.

But Nick didn’t come. He did pull out of her and rolled her over on her stomach. Then he raised her buttocks and thrust home. Marisa groaned. The vibrator touched a sensitive spot between her vagina and anus. It was too much stimulation. She tried to wriggle away, but Nick’s strong hands held her hips firmly in place.

She cried out over and over, until finally orgasm consumed her again. Her entire lower body tingled. She lifted her hips to receive Nick inside again and again.

He was breathing hard as he pulled out of her. She couldn’t help her protest. But he climbed off the bed, pulled her back to him, and thrust inside of her once more. Marisa groaned deeply.

Nick pulled her hard against his pubic bone over and over, filling every part of her as deeply as he could. She convulsed again, deep inside.

Then he rolled her to her back and plunged deep. The vibrator hit her clitoris once more and she screamed as orgasm overtook her. As sated as she felt, she was glad when Nick raised her heels to his shoulders. He crouched over her, plunging fiercely inside. Helpless, Marisa rode yet another orgasm. Her body felt aflame with pleasure.

Their lovemaking seemed to go on and on. Her body took everything Nick offered, every deep and penetrating thrust. Her body was Nick’s plaything to make dance with orgasm.

Suddenly the vibration stopped.

Nick dragged in a breath. “Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.”

Three urgent thrusts later, he came with violent intensity. Collapsing onto her, he lay gasping. Marisa’s legs slid to the bed.

She’d never made love like that before. When she caught her breath, she asked, “What was that?”

“Stimulator ring.” She felt him smile against her cheek. “Even men like vibrators, you know.”

She hadn’t known. In fact, she hadn’t even considered how it felt to him. “So it feels good to you?”

He rose up on his elbow and smiled at her. Her stomach flipped over. “Damn good. Especially when I’m inside you.”

She licked her lips and noted, “It really increases your stamina.”

“It’s hard to come with that damn ring squeezing me.”

Marisa smiled. “How many of those did you buy?”

He pursed his lips in a mock pout. “What, that wasn’t a good enough performance for you?”

She laughed and reassured him. “I loved it.”

His face smoothed into seriousness. “I bought four of them. The vibrator lasts twenty minutes.”

My God, they’d made love for twenty minutes? “Come here.” She opened her arms and he eased down into them. Their lips met, clung.

She never wanted this time with Nick to end.

“Marisa! Fire!”

Nick’s shout tore Marisa from sleep. Smoke clogged her throat and made her cough. She felt lethargic with tiredness. Then Nick dragged her from the bed and onto her feet where she stood shivering.

“Get dressed. We’ve got to get out of here.” He left her side and she heard rustling as he searched for his clothes.

Her brain felt mushy. Where had she left her clothes and why didn’t Nick turn on the lights? She turned toward the nightstand, but the numbers on her electric clock weren’t visible. How strange.

“Marisa, move!” Nick filled her arms with clothes.

She struggled with her bra for a moment, and then gave up. She tugged on her shirt and shorts. Before she could slip on her sneakers, Nick grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the bedroom into the hall. The smoke seemed thicker here.

“Stay low.”

Coughing bent her over anyway. She couldn’t get a lungful of clean air.

“Lower.” Nick pushed her into a crouch. He kept his hands against her sides, guiding her through a doorway.

Furniture loomed out of the darkness, startling her. She hadn’t thought her apartment was this big, but it seemed to take forever to reach the living room. There a bright light bathed the scene in the reddish colors of hell. Flames licked at her drapes.

Nick spat a blistering curse.

“The house is on fire!” How had Marisa not connected smoke with the possibility her home would be consumed. “My things!”

“Forget them.” Nick reached the door and placed his palm on it. He hissed and snatched it away. “Is there another way out?”

Marisa choked on the smoke and her fear as she watched the voracious flames crawling up her walls.

“Marisa!”

She tore her gaze from the tongues of flame. “There’s a back staircase through the kitchen.”

He shoved her in that direction. “Show me.”

They made their way through the dining room. As they entered the kitchen, a loud whoosh behind them jerked Marisa’s head around. Flame ran up her dining room wall. She shrieked, drawing in a lungful of smoke.

As she coughed, Nick dragged her through the kitchen. He yanked on the doorknob, but the door wouldn’t come open.

“It’s locked,” Marisa said.

“Then unlock it.”

“I need the key.” Where did she keep it? It seemed so hard to think.

“We don’t have time for this.” Nick took a step back and lashed his foot at the door. The boom sounded loud in the room. He kicked the door again.

The door might be a hundred years old, but it was of sturdy construction. It would take too long to break it down. Then Marisa remembered where she kept the key. She darted away from Nick.

“Marisa, come back here!”

But the roaring sounds coming from the other rooms terrified her. They needed to get out fast. She felt for the key in the wall pot and thrust herself between Nick and the door. Inserting the key, she wrenched the door open. Nick pushed her down into the stygian depths of the stairwell.

“Keep a hand on the wall,” he said.

They met someone on the landing. “The house is on fire!” Dinah Briner’s voice quavered. She had a second floor apartment too.

Nick prodded them. “Down the stairs.”

The outer door opened onto cool, clean night air that slapped Marisa in the face. Another figure stumbled out of the door behind them, gasping. Jeremy Scrynecki — who had the third-floor apartment — fell to his knees, coughing hard.

“Jeremy!” Dinah rushed to his assistance.

“Who else lives here?” Nick asked.

Now that she could breathe, she could think, too. “Mr. and Mrs. Loboschefski have the first floor apartment on the right. They’re elderly. Arlene Jarzabek has the other, but she works nights.”

“Stay here, all of you, but move back from the house,” Nick said. “I’ll see if the others got out.”

Dinah had gotten Jeremy to his feet. Now she tugged the younger man away from the house.

Marisa was thankful Arlene was at work. Then she remembered Arlene’s toy poodle, inherited when her mother died last year. Peaches was her pride and joy. The poor little dog!

A whoosh made them all gasp and look upwards. Flames licked the outside of the second floor. Dinah sobbed and Jeremy patted the older woman with an awkward attempt at sympathy.

Marisa looked at Arlene’s apartment where flames danced in one window. Her stomach twisted as she pictured the poor, terrified animal.

Sprinting for the front of the house, Marisa ignored the others’ cries to stay back. Nick was busy with the elderly Loboschefskis. He didn’t have time for little Peaches.

The front door hung askew. Smoke choked the hall and boiled out onto the porch. She thought she heard Peaches’ terrified barking. Arlene’s door was unlocked. Her living room was engulfed in flames. In the dining room, poor Peaches cowered near the window, barking frantically, her fur bathed in scarlet light. Her barks were terrified and they tore at Marisa’s heart.

She coughed hard trying to draw a lungful of air. “Peaches, come here!”

The little dog whined in terror.

“Peaches, come!”

The poodle paced, looking wild.

Marisa would have to cross the flames to her. There was no way the old, arthritic dog could jump over the sill if Marisa broke the window from the outside.

Marisa bent as low as possible and dragged in as much air as she could. She studied the flames. There was just enough room to get to the dog if she ran a zigzag path.

Suddenly Peaches yelped. A piece of the ceiling had dropped, curling up into ashes as Marisa watched.

It was run now or condemn Peaches to a horrible death. Marisa rose to a crouch and ran the gauntlet of fire. Her lungs burned. Her eyes stung. Pain seared across her forearm.

She got within an arm’s length of Peaches and reached out and grabbed whatever fur she could. Peaches yelped, but Marisa swung the little dog up into her arms, turning as she did.

Thick smoke boiled between her and the door. Her heart seized with fear. But Peaches wriggled and Marisa gathered her courage and ran. Flames reached for her, singed her. Marisa leaped the last few feet. Strong arms jerked her out of the burning apartment and pushed her toward fresh air.

As she bent over in the yard, coughing, hands beat hard on her back.

“Stop it,” she said.

“You’re on fire.” Nick sounded angry.

Peaches whined and she loosened her painful grip on the dog. The poodle began to shiver.

“What the hell did you go in there for? You said the woman was at work. Are you crazy?”

As the sound of sirens split the night, Marisa straightened to face him. Nick’s wild eyes reflected the orange flames.

“I’m the professional, Marisa. It’s my job to rescue people.”

“What about dogs?”

His gaze dropped to Peaches and widened. The dog’s shaking had finally lessened. Her fur reeked of smoke. It was a miracle she hadn’t been overcome by it.

“I didn’t think you had time for Peaches.”

“You risked your life for a dog?”

“Peaches is all Arlene has left of her mother. I couldn’t let her burn to death. Did you get the Loboschefskis out?”

He didn’t answer for a moment. “Yes. Mr. Loboschefski will need to go to the hospital to be checked out.”

The town’s fire engine pulled up in front of the house, followed closely by the paramedics and two sheriff’s cars.

Nick gripped her forearm and Marisa gasped. He jerked his hand away and studied her injury. “That burn’s going to need treatment.” Anger laced his words.

He wrapped his arm around her waist instead and pulled her out of the way. They joined the other tenants huddled in a group. The white-haired Mr. Loboschefski sat on the ground with a blanket around him.

“Everything I own is in there.” Dinah was in her forties and recently divorced.

“My sketches.” Jeremy’s voice caught.

“My photos of Carolyn,” Marisa said. “I was going to use them for the wake.” To her surprise, a tear slid down her cheek.

“You saved Peaches.” Mr. Loboschefski surrendered to a coughing fit.

The paramedics approached them. “Is anyone hurt?”

Nick gave them a rundown of everyone’s injuries. The medics got Mr. Loboschefski on oxygen. When Mrs. Loboschefski collapsed into the grass, they immediately went to work on her.

Marisa handed Peaches to Dinah. The little dog whimpered in distress, but Marisa’s arm and shoulder had begun to burn and her body to shake. Nick wrapped his arms around her, but even his fierce heat couldn’t warm her. They could have died if they hadn’t woken.