Caress Part Two (Arcadia) (3 page)

 “And what is that, exactly?” I asked, as calmly as I could
manage.

Her attitude provoked me for reasons that I didn’t care to
examine too closely. In the past, I’d gone out of my way to avoid women who expected
too much. Why was I annoyed and more that Emma was so different?

I’d have to consider that at another time. Right then all I
could think about was the dangerous combination of desire and anger igniting
inside me.

“A casual hook up?” I asked. “A little friendly fucking?
That’s not your style, Miss Whittaker, so why pretend that it is?”

She flushed at the reference to her recent virginity but she
didn’t back down. Looking right at me, she said, “I’m not pretending. I want
you, Lucas, you know that. I certainly haven’t made any secret of it. But life
is fragile. Nothing is necessarily what it seems and everything can change in
an instant.”

Dropping her voice a little, she added, “It’s safer by far
to just live in the moment.”

The realization of how little she expected from other
people, including me, made my chest tighten. I wanted to tell her that she was
wrong. I was better than that. We were.

But I knew that she wouldn’t believe me, not yet at least.

Which wasn’t to say that I couldn’t show her instead.

“Fine,” I said. The sunset was peaking in a glory of reds
and oranges, turning the western sky to fire, as I stood and held out my hand.

“If all we have is the moment, then let’s make the most of
it.”

I stared at Lucas’ outstretched hand, the palm roughened by
calluses, the fingers long and sinewy. Distantly, I heard the hammer beat of my
heart and felt the tightness of my breathing.

I’d been honest with him about my expectations. Why did that
make me feel so hollow inside? As though a void existed that might suddenly be
filled by a rush of tears?

Better by far that it be filled by him.

Hoping that my legs would hold me, I stood and put my hand
in his. At once, his grip tightened, not painfully but letting me feel his
strength. He drew me to him, his other arm wrapping around my waist.

I felt his erection against my belly and something loosened
inside me. Hardly aware of what I was doing, I leaned my head against his chest
and sighed.

He didn’t like what I’d said, I saw that clearly. Yet he
still wanted me. I needed somehow to make that enough for him.

Yearning flowered deep inside me. Raising myself on tiptoe,
I touched my mouth to his. He was stiff and unyielding at first but I refused
to be discouraged.

I raised my hand, my fingers gently stroking the curve of
his jaw, tracing the stubble I found there, tantalizingly rough against my skin.
“Lucas—”

My tongue traced the seam of his lips and probed tentatively.
His lips parted the slightest bit. Pleasure shimmered along my spine, radiating
out to every cell in my body. I marveled at how easily he turned me into a
carnal creature that I scarcely recognized but couldn’t deny.

A groan broke from him. He took hold of my shoulders, turned
us both so that my back was toward the wall, and pressed me against it. I felt
the rough stone rubbing against my back and shivered.

“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” Lucas demanded in
the instant before his mouth took mine.

I could have returned the question but speech was beyond me.
Instead, I clung to him, drinking in his taste and scent. Our tongues touched,
stroked, dancing over each other. My nipples hardened painfully, pressing
through the thin cotton bra and shirt. Between my thighs, I felt myself growing
wet.

Passion sang in my veins. I was ravenous for him. I wanted
to savor every inch of his magnificent body, pleasure him in every possible
way, and feel him come apart for me.

But Lucas had other ideas. Still holding me against the
wall, he slipped a hand down between my legs and stroked me through my slacks
and panties. Despite what we had shared just hours before, the boldness of his
move startled me. Instinctively, I started to draw my legs together but he wasn’t
having any of that.

“Don’t,” he ordered, then added, “Unless you want to stop.”

And do what? Just live with the sexual tension he’d
unleashed? Give myself another of the pallid little orgasms I’d been used to?

No!

“I don’t,” I murmured. “Want you to stop that is. Please
don’t.”

A grin slashed across his face. “I love how polite you are,
Miss Whittaker.” Unless I was very much mistaken, his gray eyes hardened just a
little. “But what I’d really like is to hear you beg.”

I was fairly sure that I’d done at least some of that a few
hours before, and I certainly wasn’t averse to doing it again given the proper
incentive. But all that male arrogance was a challenge I wasn’t about to
ignore.

I lifted a brow and deliberately directed my gaze out over
his shoulder beyond the edge of the terrace. “Oh, look, a pig just flew by.”

He was startled for a moment, then laughed. A full,
deep-throated laugh that warmed me all the way through.

“That unlikely, is it? Well, we’ll have to see.”

Somehow he made the words sound like both a promise and a
threat. Anticipation speared straight to my groin. A flush spread over my skin.

Lucas’ eyes narrowed. He studied me carefully. Whatever he
saw must have pleased him because the corners of his mouth quirked.

“Maybe later,” he said. “For now…”

His hand slipped under the waistband of my cotton pants and
below the rim of my lace undies. I gasped as he cupped my sex and squeezed
lightly.

“Oh, sweetheart, you’re so hot,” he murmured. His fingers
parted my labia, the tip of one tracing my slit. A low grunt came from him. “And
so wet.”

I swallowed a moan. “It must be the curry. It heats the
blood.” I could taste the flavors on us both—the medley of ginger, coriander,
cinnamon mingling with the hint of apricot in the Pouilly Fuissé, heightening
my senses yet further.

“Really?” he asked in a tone that made it clear he wasn’t
buying it. “Then it won’t have any effect on you if I do this—”

His devilish finger pressed a little harder, circling around
my opening, tantalizing me before slipping inside. He stroked me first lightly,
then more firmly, the pressure driving me remorselessly higher with every beat
of my heart.

 The heel of his palm massaged my clit at the same time he
circled the inner walls of my vagina. I cried out and clutched his shoulders
greedily. I wanted so much more of him but this would do—for the moment.

The way he handled me, so intimately and with the sense that
he had every right to do so, only stoked the raging fire inside me. My head
fell back. I held onto him for dear life as the world condensed into pure
sensation.

Holding me against the wall, his big, hard body surging
against mine, Lucas finger fucked me thoroughly. I was on the very edge of
orgasm when he suddenly stopped.

Withdrawing his hand, he raked his teeth along my arched
neck and nipped the sensitive skin between the base of my throat and my
shoulder.

“You come when I say,” he informed me.

What? Right off the bat, I could see a few problems with
that. To start with, how on earth was I supposed to
not
come?

The very idea roused my rebellious side, until now as
sensually dazzled as all the rest of me.

Softly, under my breath, I hummed, “It’s my body and I’ll
come when I want to.”

If I did say so myself, I did a pretty good job of putting
that to the tune of “My Boyfriend’s Back.” Not that I was missing BOB,
definitely not.

In the interest of leaving no doubts about that, I slipped
my hand down and cupped Lucas’s erection, tracing the considerable length of
him before squeezing lightly.

His breath sucked in.

“You’re sure that you know what you’re asking for?” he
demanded harshly.

After our mid-day tryst, I thought that I had a fairly good
idea. At least, I hoped so.

Leaning forward, I caught the lobe of his ear between my
teeth and nipped lightly. “I want your cock inside me,” I whispered. “Deep
inside, thrusting hard.”

A groan broke from him. In the next instant, I got what
fortunately I was well prepared for.

With a single yank, he pulled my pants and panties
completely off. Suddenly naked from the waist down, I could only gasp as he
unzipped his jeans and freed his cock. A condom materialized in his hand. The
man really was always prepared.

He ripped the foil and sheathed himself in record time.
Almost as swiftly, he lifted me and wrapped my legs around his lean hips.
Holding me with one arm, he positioned himself.

Remembering his advice of earlier in the day, I took a quick
breath. Before my lungs could fill, he thrust into me completely, driving just
as I had asked, hard and deep, stretching me almost unbearably.

I gasped, my fingers digging into his shoulders. The sense
of fullness was overwhelming. The walls of my vagina, already so sensitized,
spasmed around him.

He withdrew almost all the way and slammed back into me
again and again.

“Is this what you want?” he demanded as he thrust. “Like
this!”

A keening moan broke from me. “Oh, god, yes!”

 The friction against my swollen clit stoked the fire
licking through my veins. I cried out, my eyes opening wide, as over his broad
shoulder, I saw the sky turning to flame.

The sun was setting in glory as night fell over the city and
a crescent moon rose, silvering the edges of billowing clouds in one of
Nature’s more extravagant displays of beauty. But none of it meant anything. There
was only Lucas, the relentless force of his body, and the peak of release to
which he was driving us both.

His head bent, the rough silk of his stubble rubbing over my
nipples. The sensation tipped me over the edge even before he suckled me hard. I
came in a rush, crying his name. He followed almost at once, pulsating deep
inside me, our bodies locked together through long, seemingly endless moments
that I wished with all my being might never end.

They did, of course, inevitably as we returned, however
reluctantly to earth. Lucas inhaled deeply, the powerful muscles of his torso
pressing against my breasts, and gently set me on my feet. He kept an arm
around me until I could stand on my own, then took a step back.
Matter-of-factly, he removed the condom, tied a knot in the top, and slipped it
into his pocket.

As he tucked himself back into the jeans and zipped up, he
said quietly, “Are you all right?”

Aside from the fact that I was leaning against the wall, naked
from the waist down, still trembling with the impact of the orgasm he had given
me, my enflamed pussy kissed by the cooling breeze and the insides of my thighs
wet with my own juices, how could I not be?

Even so, the sheer carnality of what we had just done
stunned me. Granted, we had an unimpeded view out over the Hudson River and far
beyond, all the way to a horizon so distant it might as well have been Iowa.
But that didn’t change the fact that there were other buildings around us. If
someone had happened to aim a high-powered telescope at the terrace at just the
right moment—

Well, then, they got an eyeful but it would mainly have been
of Lucas’ glorious ass flexing as he pumped into me.

There had been no pretense of seduction or love making; we’d
simply fucked. Lucas had given me exactly what I asked him for. Why then did I
feel in some way still wanting despite the rampant satisfaction of my body?

Suddenly self-conscious, I reached for my clothes.

 “Don’t bother,” Lucas said and scooped me into his arms.

Before I could think to protest, he carried me into the
living room and kept going, not stopping until he set me down in the bathroom
of the master bedroom suite. He turned the taps on in the tub, then turned his
attention back to me.

I was still wearing only a shirt and he made short work of
that, easing it off over my head before gesturing to the rapidly filling tub.

“Get in.”

I had to admit, the idea was appealing I was sore in places
I never had been before. Even so, I hesitated.

Looking at him, the sweep of his shoulders and the powerful
arc of his chest muscles hugged by the snug black T-shirt he wore, I licked my
lips.

“Join me?” I asked.

His eyes followed the motion of my tongue. He was tempted, I
could tell, but he shook his head.

I thought that meant he was going to leave me alone to bath.
Hiding my disappointment, I stepped into the tub and sank down at once into the
steaming water. It stung at first but the heat quickly soothed me. With a sigh,
I laid back, resting my head against the padded rim.

By modern standards, the tub wasn’t big, although I couldn’t
help noticing that two people would have fit in it comfortably. I was about to
point that out to Lucas in a last ditch effort to get him to stay when he knelt
suddenly.

 “I need to take care of you,” he said as he plucked a wash
cloth from a stack on a small table nearby and dipped it into the water.

Oh.

Ooohhh.

At the touch of the nubby cloth against my skin my nipples,
barely softened after our escapade on the terrace, hardened again. Distantly, I
marveled at how helpless I was to do anything other than respond to this man’s
slightest touch.

But as aroused as I was, I was also apprehensive. No one had
taken care of me in a very long time. I wasn’t at all sure how I felt about
Lucas doing so.

“Relax,” he said softly.

I tried, without much success. My body remained stiff and
unyielding despite my best efforts. But he refused to give up. His touch was firm
but gentle as he slowly moved the cloth over my body from the nape of my neck
that he massaged lightly down over my arms and chest, across my abdomen and
between my legs.

I flinched as he touched me there, still so hyper-sensitive.

“Easy,” he murmured as he cleaned me with consummate care.

Gradually, I felt myself becoming pliant under his hands. When
he indicated that he wanted me to sit up, I didn’t hesitate.

I heard his breath suck in and saw his eyes narrow.

“What’s wrong?”

He didn’t answer at once, only continued staring at my back
until I wondered what on earth he could be seeing.

“What’s the matter?” I demanded, twisting my head around in
an effort to discover whatever it was that so riveted him.

“You have marks on you,” he said finally. His voice was low
and husky. He let the cloth drop into the water and lightly touched a fingertip
to my back. “Here, here, and here.”

“I don’t see anything—” But I did, finally. There were
several small abrasions from where my back must have rubbed against the stone
wall of the terrace.

“That’s nothing,” I said quickly but it was too late. Lucas’
eyes were suddenly bleak.

Very low, he said, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

At the thought that he could believe himself capable of
doing so, a dark coil of shock rippled through me.

“Have you ever done that?” I blurted. “Hurt a woman?”

“No!” The single word, uttered with horror and disgust, told
me everything that I needed to know.

“You won’t,” I said quickly. “You can’t.”

He raised his head and met my worried gaze. The look in his
eyes made the muscles deep inside me clench.

“Don’t be so sure,” he said. “You have no idea what I’m
capable of. Hell, I’m not sure of that, not any more. I only know what you make
me want.”

“What is that?” I asked, proud that my voice only shook a
little.

Without hesitation, he said, “You, all of you, in every way.
The things I want to do to you…”

A dark, delicious excitement curled deep inside me.

“But you’re so new to this,” he went on. “I don’t want to
push too hard and risk losing you.”

His concern and the simple, honest decency behind it drove
out any hesitation that I might have felt.

“I can say ‘no’,” I reminded him.

A shadow moved behind his eyes. For just an instant, I
wondered if he was weighing the possibility that he might not respect my
choice. I waited, scarcely breathing, for him to find what he needed to in
himself.

“Yes, you can,” he affirmed. “Promise me that you won’t forget
that.”

With all due solemnity, I said, “I promise.”

A moment passed. I held my breath, wondering if we were over
that sudden flash of darkness hinting at unknown dangers for us both. Finally,
he smiled, a genuinely boyish look of relief.

“So, about dinner tomorrow—”

I laughed without understanding exactly why. There was
something about the circumstances, me naked in the tub, him bathing me, the
seriousness of our conversation a moment ago, and now this. Just a guy asking a
girl out on a date.

“I’m not really up on the latest restaurants,” I said. My
reluctance fell away. I found myself matching his grin. “How about you pick the
place?”

“It’s a deal,” he said and got smoothly to his feet. Holding
out an oversized bath towel for me, he added, “Time for bed, Miss Whittaker.”

He must have seen the gleam of anticipation in my eye
because he turned suddenly stern. “You need to rest.”

What I needed was to be with him, whatever that meant. The
realization was a punch to my psyche. For all my bravado, the thought of
withdrawing to the guest room upstairs, away from him, threatened to reopen the
void inside me.

I regretted not accepting his ‘invitation’, however bluntly
he had phrased it, to move into the master bedroom. But I needn’t have worried.
When he was finished patting me dry, a process that made me regret my fatigue
even more, Lucas carried me into the bedroom and set me down beside the bed.

Unwrapping the towel from around me, he smiled and said, “In
you go.”

I never slept naked but all my night clothes—really just
camis and boy shorts—were upstairs. Besides, I simply wasn’t inclined to argue
with him.

Rather than puzzle over my uncharacteristic passivity, I did
as he asked, then laid back and watched him undress.

He made quick work of it before joining me in the bed, but
not before I saw that he was aroused once again.

While I considered what a shame it would be to let such an
impressive erection go to waste, he gathered me into his arms and said firmly,
“Sleep.”

It was scarcely ten p.m. and we’d slept most of the day
away. All the same, between the wild sex and the soothing bath, I was having
trouble keeping my eyes open.

 “Yes, sir.” I thought I was being sarcastic but it didn’t
quite come out that way. Even to my own ears, I sounded uncharacteristically compliant.

Lucas went very still. I felt the rise and fall of his chest
but nothing more. Sleep beckoned. In the moments before I succumbed to it, I
thought I heard a faint, rueful chuckle and a few murmured words.

“Whatever am I going to do with you, Miss Whittaker?”