Daring Time (28 page)

"I was thinking perhaps we could get to know one another better."

"If it's something you're feeling up to," Ryan muttered gruffly. Her heartbeat skipped into overtime when his magnificent eyes lowered once again to her lips and his nostrils flared slightly. Beneath her layers of clothing she felt the tension grow in his body and the stiffening of his member along her hip.

He remained unmoving, however, and Hope found herself uncertain as to how to proceed. She stared fixedly at his firm, sensual mouth and realized he looked unblinkingly at the same place on her anatomy.

She leaned down and softly placed her mouth on his, fitting her lower lip into the closed seam. Her eyes fluttered closed. She turned her head just a tad, letting their textures rub together, luxuriating in the pleasurable sensations that coursed through her body. They molded their mouths together, discovering textures. After a spellbound moment Hope realized he didn't breathe as she learned the nuances of his lips with her own.

She shyly slid the tip of her tongue between his lips and his hold on her tightened.

Feeling encouraged by his reaction, she tilted her head and explored his mouth ...

tentatively at first, but then with growing eagerness as she registered his familiar taste and he began to participate, rubbing his tongue sensually against her own.

Their kiss continued, exploratory, languid ... more delicious than she could begin to describe. Liquid heat swelled at her sex, and she pressed against his hard chest to alleviate the throb in her nipples. His hand opened along her ribs inches below her armpit, his palm lightly caressing the sides of her breasts. His other hand came up to twine in her unbound hair. He tugged gently and broke the magical kiss.

She saw that he watched her with hawk-like intensity.

"So this is how you would like to spend the evening, witch?"

She met his gaze solemnly and nodded. "If you would find that agreeable."

His low laughter caused the back of her neck to roughen. She couldn't resist leaning down and touching his curving lips with her own.

"Agreeable
seems like a pretty lukewarm description to describe how I feel at the prospect of making love to you."

Hope swallowed. "I was hoping that.. ."

"Yes?" he asked when she faded off in rising discomfort.

"I was hoping that you would allow me to make love to
you,
Ryan."

"It's always a mutual endeavor, honey."

"Yes, but last night.. . you ... you made me feel good again and again, and yet you .. ."

"Only came once? Is that what you mean?"

She stared at his chest and nodded.

"Hope, look at me. It's true that I can come more than once, but in general women have shorter refractory periods between orgasms." Her puzzlement must have been clear because he continued, "A man usually can't come as frequently as a woman in the same amount of time."

"Oh, I see."

His mouth quirked. "I'm not so sure that you do, but you will soon enough given the amount of time I plan on making love to you."

Warmth spread into her cheeks and downward from her belly to her sex when she heard he intended to make love to her often. Didn't that imply he wanted to spend a considerable amount of time with her?

"So may I now?"

"May you what?"

This time instead of a gentle warmth, heat scalded her cheeks. "Make you .. . come?" she asked tentatively, trying out the word in this new context for the first time.

He gave her a slow smile that made her clamp her thighs together to still the dull throb between them.

"Be my guest, witch."

TWENTY-ONE

Hope's heart began to throb in her ears as she leaned on her elbow and reached for the hem of Ryan's shirt. She slowly drew it up over his torso. When the shirt reached his chest he obligingly shrugged out of it with a fascinating flex of ridged muscle and tossed it on the floor. She looked down at the breathtaking male landscape just inches away from her face.

She ran her hand over the delineated muscles of his abdomen and up over his ribs. They shivered in tandem.

"I've never seduced a man before."

"You're wrong."

She glanced up at him in surprise even as her hand continued to discover the fascinating sensation of dense muscle gloved in smooth skin. Ryan watched her hand fixedly as she slid it down his arm and palmed a bulging bicep.

"You've been successfully seducing me ever since I first saw you in that mirror."

"But I wasn't really
doing
anything, then," Hope whispered distractedly. Most of her attention was focused on the manner in which Ryan's small brown nipples pulled into erection the more she touched him. She experimentally flicked her fingernail over the stiffened flesh.

She glanced up into his face to gauge his reaction when he made a hissing sound. The rigid set of his features made her lightly scrape his nipple again.

"So you want to do more? Is that it, witch?" he asked gruffly.

Hope nodded eagerly.

"You might consider taking off your clothes for a start then."

"Oh. Of course." She rolled on top of him, making him grunt in surprise, and clambered off the bed. "I suppose you want me to take off my clothing here ... not in the bathroom?"

"That's right." Her eyes widened when he put his hands behind his head and stretched on the bed, as though he were getting comfortable for some sort of spectacle. She saw the long ridge of his erection pressing against the cotton material of his pants and realized her undressing before him
was
the spectacle. The knowledge made her hands tremble a little in nervous excitement as she unbuttoned her shirtwaist and then reached around to do the same to her skirt. Once she'd removed both garments and placed them neatly over the bottom railing of the bed she drew down her petticoat.

She found it increasingly difficult to meet Ryan's stare as more and more garments were added to the pile of clothing.

"Hope."

She glanced over at him through lowered lashes, all too aware of how hot her cheeks were. He leaned up on one elbow, his expression tense as he stared at her breasts encased in an ivory, lace-trimmed, strapless corset. His hot stare lowered over her, making her skin feel prickly wherever it touched. She'd just removed her pantaloons. She had to resist a strong urge to cover herself when his gaze fixed between her naked thighs.

"That will do. Leave the rest on."

"But. .. I'm still wearing a corset and my garter," she mumbled as she came toward him awkwardly.

"A lot of guys fantasize about having a woman undress for them and seeing that she's wearing stuff like a garter belt and hose, Hope."

"Are you one of them?" Hope asked in dawning amazement. What else would a woman wear beneath her clothing?

He dragged his eyes up to her face. "I like it all right. But something about the fact that it's not a getup in your case—not contrived to be sexy, but just the way you dress all the time ... I don't know. It's more of a turn-on than I'd ever thought it'd be. Come here."

He reached for her and she came onto the bed. He settled her in his lap and drew up his knees. Hope straddled him in a sitting position, her back comfortably supported by his hard thighs.

"Ryan," Hope whispered when he ran both hands over her corset-encased breasts. She moaned softly when his fingers trailed down her lace garters and down over her pale hose. A shudder of excitement went through her body.

"These are silk," he said, amazement flavoring his tone.

" Yes. What else would they be ?"

"Nylon. It's a synthetic fabric. That's usually what hose are made of in this day and age."

He opened his big hand and caressed the length of her leg. She clearly felt the column of his penis surge beneath her bottom.

"So soft," he murmured. He looked up at her face. "You're unbelievably beautiful."

Her lower lip dropped at the stark compliment.

"You're unbelievably beautiful as well. And ... and I'm the one who is supposed to be seducing you, Ryan," she reminded him with difficulty. Most of her attention was on his long finger as it moved over the top of her breasts where they swelled over her corset. His light touch made her nipples prickle and pinch against the tight material.

He blinked and took a deep breath before he dropped his hand to the bed. "The seduction was complete long ago, but if you want to touch me, go ahead, honey."

She smiled happily and once again began her exploration of his magnificent body. He didn't speak but just watched her as she delved her fingers through his crisp chest hair and ran her hands along the tantalizing slant that ran from his narrow waist up to his wide chest. She felt his skin roughen when she lightly scratched him with her fingernails just inches below his armpit. That physical reaction along with the feeling of his erection throbbing against her bare bottom informed her that he liked having his skin lightly scraped.

She once again focused her attention on his nipples, using both her fingertips and fingernails to stimulate him. She grew so excited by how stiff they became that she leaned down to feel how the hard little button felt pressed against her tongue.

"Hope."

Her eyelids flashed open in alarm. She glanced up at Ryan with the tip of her tongue still savoring his nipple. Why had his voice sounded so hard?

What she saw in his rigid features emboldened her. She flicked her tongue rapidly over the stiff disc, letting him watch.

"Unbutton my jeans and touch my cock," he ordered.

But she recalled all too well the way he'd set the pace for her when she'd begged him while he suckled her breasts last night. This tense, coiled excitement that built and built was the
true
meaning of seduction, Hope decided.

So instead of doing what Ryan demanded she smiled and pulled her long hair over to one side, out of her way. She placed her mouth over his nipple. He groaned when she applied suction and scraped her front teeth over the sensitive flesh, just as he'd done to her last night. She thought he might chastise her for not doing what he ordered, but he remained silent and tense as she used her lips and tongue to explore his chest and abdomen. As she nibbled her way down his body he slowly lowered his legs so she could move downward more easily, so Hope expected he liked her explorations even though she wasn't doing precisely what he asked.

Yet, anyway.

She cradled his ribs in her hands and spread kisses over his stomach. When she moved up slightly, the tips of her breasts slid across his belly just above the pants that he'd called
jeans.
He groaned and she glanced up into his face. She saw where he stared so fixedly and looked down to see the flesh of her breasts spilling abundantly over the edge of her tight corset.

Her smile up at him was a tad devilish before she planted a kiss on his belly button and dragged her tongue down the strip of dark brown hair just beneath it.

"You're buying yourself a one-way ticket right over my knee, witch."

She glanced up at him in trepidation but then snorted softly with laughter when she saw the grin curving his handsome mouth. Still—when she saw how hot his stare was, she wondered for a moment if he hadn't been at least partially serious in his threat.

"You make it sound like I'd never come back," she told him archly before she lightly licked the skin just above his jeans. He started at the caress.

"You'll come back all right—with one very sore butt."

"All right. I'll do what you asked."

He gave an exasperated grunt. "I'll believe that when I see it."

She sat up and narrowed her eyelids at him before she scooted her bottom down his thighs, pressing against his clearly defined erection in the process. He gritted his teeth and drew his breath in sharply. Hope pulled on the fly of his pants, practically ripping the metal buttons through the holes.

"Hold
on
a second," Ryan muttered when she started yanking on his jeans frantically. He leaned up from his reclining position to try to help her. His tone had sounded surprised.

Well, what did he expect? Did he think he was the only one here who was eager for her to touch him?

He lifted his hips and between the two of them they wrestled his jeans and starkly white underwear down to his thighs. When Hope saw his cock lying erect along his belly, however, she gave up trying to help him and lowered down to inspect him more closely.

Her long hair fell forward and slithered across his stomach, partially obscuring his penis.

Hope pushed it back impatiently.

Ryan went still as she studied him just inches away from his erect member. Several blue veins distended along the length of the staff. The head was shaped like the cap of a paddy straw mushroom, smooth and succulent in appearance. She inhaled and caught his musky, male scent.

Liquid heat surged between her thighs.

"I can't believe you put that inside me," she whispered. Her wide-eyed fascination only mounted when his cock slid an inch on his belly as though drawn to her warm breath.

"Well, believe it. I'm going to
put it inside of you
more times than you'll ever be able to count."

She shifted up on him slightly. He gasped and fell back on the bed.

"Christ,
Hope."

"What?" she asked, alarmed that something was wrong.

"Your hair," he grated out. Hope noticed perspiration dampening his brow. "It's like .. .

coiled silk."

She glanced down and saw a swatch of her dark hair had spilled again over his belly and cock. She instinctively moved her head, swooshing it back and forth.

"You really do want a spanking, don't you?" . She grinned. "It feels good, doesn't it?"

He swallowed thickly and nodded. Hope gathered some of the hair in her hand and wrapped her fingers around the girth of his penis, lifting the weight off his belly. When she moved her hand up and down, sliding his cock amongst a dense thicket of curls, he clenched his eyes shut tightly.

"Oh
yeah."