Overnight Cinderella (9 page)

 

Duke took Cami's arm, leading her down the plush hallway to his room at the Seashore Mansion. She radiated energy, teasing him with small touches. He couldn't wait to possess her and at the same time was reluctant. Not physically, but emotionally. He wanted her so badly he could hardly walk. He knew that once he let Cami past his guard it would be hard to keep her out in the future.

“Nice buns, Merchon,” she said, her hand lingering on his backside.

He reached around her and touched her firm
backside. Cupping her rounded cheeks, he tested the resilience of her flesh. “Not bad yourself, Jones.”

“Thirty minutes, twice a day on the Stair-Master,” she said.

“Five miles through the city every night,” he returned.

“Ah, the big macho man.”

“Ah, the little feminine woman.”

“Aren't you glad we're different?” she asked. Her eyes radiant with all she felt, she stroked his buttocks. Slowly, she moved closer to him until her breasts brushed his chest with each breath she took.

Unable to resist another minute, he pulled her into his arms. Cami was every lust-filled fantasy he'd ever had come to life. Her mouth moved hotly over his, taking his tongue deep inside her and then giving back her own with teasing forays that made him ache.

“Want to get the key for me?” he asked.

She smiled and slid her hand into his pocket. Her fingers spread as she searched for the flat electronic key. She searched close to his inseam, and Duke felt himself harden more.

“Cami, get the key or your first experience will be in this hall.”

She withdrew her hand quickly and passed the key to him. Her hand trembled as he took it from her. He inserted the key and opened the door only a crack. This hotel had an air of Old World elegance that made it perfect for the charming lady who'd been blossoming in the past few months
they'd spent together. She looked like a sexy siren tonight. Yet she still had the luster of innocence.

An elemental man comfortable with his base instincts, Duke rejoiced that he'd be able to end the physical aching he'd felt since first seeing her long legs encased in fragile silk. He opened the door and peered inside.

Everything had been left as he'd ordered. Candles flickered on all the surfaces of the desk, dresser and small coffee table. The bed was turned down and a red rose lay on one of the pillows. A silk peignoir lay on the armchair, and Vivaldi played quietly in the background. The balcony doors were open and the ocean breeze ruffled the curtains.

“Do I get to come inside or have you changed your mind about the hallway?” she asked.

“In a minute. You've been waiting this long, what are a few more moments?”

“I feel like I'm going to explode and that usually means something klutzy and embarrassing will be happening.”

“Nothing embarrassing will happen. Trust me?”

He realized as he asked the question he really did want her trust. He wanted it completely and on every level there was between a man and woman. He wanted her to be his completely so he could cherish her and at the same time ravage her. He wanted her his willing concubine and his loving mate. Love—God, no. He wouldn't be that weak ever again. He wouldn't be that foolish.

He turned to leave but couldn't. Standing in the doorway, backlit by the hall sconces, was a fragile
woman. A woman he'd taunted and teased with his body. A woman he'd wanted from the moment he'd seen her moving with electric grace. A woman who'd put her trust in him already or she wouldn't be here.

Putting his own doubts and fears out of his mind, he gestured for her to enter. She stepped into the room and stopped. Her breath caught and her fingers went to her throat.

“Oh, Duke…”

Had he found the perfect element of her fantasy or failed? Was this what she needed or had he missed the mark? By being here with him tonight, she'd given him something he'd thought never to find and he wanted to repay her in a small way by making her fantasy reality.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Thank you for making this more than a one-night stand.”

Her voice was husky and low and held the wonder of the unexpected in it. He wanted this to be the first of many unexpected joys she'd find tonight. She spun around on her heel, as if to take in the ambience of the room. Duke had never set a room before; he preferred the stark tranquillity of Japanese interior design. But Cami preferred a busy room filled with items, so he'd tried to find a comfort zone for her.

“I wish it could be more but this is all I have to offer you, Cami. I'm a cold man who never knew love and it's too late now. I want you but if this isn't right for you, it's not too late to say no.”

Yes, it is, he thought. He held his breath, hoping she wouldn't call his bluff and change her mind. Hoping she wouldn't smile sweetly and sashay out the door with those fabulous hips swinging.

She cupped her hand around his jaw and stood on her tiptoes to brush a kiss against his mouth. The very mouth that had been wicked in the hall was soft and sensual. The embrace that had been laced with carnality before was now laced with emotion.

She wasn't leaving.

Didn't she see whatever it was that drove others away from him? Didn't she understand emotions scared him and made him want to hide? But hiding wasn't the manly thing to do, so he countered with the only weapon in his arsenal.
Desire.

He took control of the kiss, nibbling at her lower lip before taking it between his teeth and sucking on her flesh. She tasted sweeter than the first taste of ice cream on a hot summer's day. She tasted like hot cherry pie on a holiday. She tasted like every dish he'd ever craved and as a child had done without.

She melted against him. Her body completely boneless as she clung to his shoulders for support, her fingers clutching at him frantically. He reveled in her greed. Wanted to bare himself to her and let her take whatever she wanted from him. Whatever she needed that only he could supply, he'd willingly give.

He slid his mouth down her jaw to her neck and bit gently into the skin there. She squirmed closer
to him, rubbing her mouth across the fabric of his tuxedo jacket. He wished he were naked so he could experience the warmth of her mouth on his flesh.

He tugged on the lobe of her ear and felt her breasts brush his chest. Her breathing changed again, catching and then a long exhale. Searching for every response he could wring from her, he wanted to conquer her.

To show her he was a warrior, her warrior. A man who could slay her demons. He needed her naked and he needed her now. Though he knew he should take it slowly with Cami tonight, he suddenly felt he couldn't.

His blood pounded through his body in a rhythm that demanded he move quickly. He wanted to see her creamy body spread out in front of him like a gourmet feast in front of a starving man. He wanted to taste and sample and gorge himself on her. And then he wanted to let her do the same to him.

He unclasped her dress and pushed it off her shoulders, letting it pool at her feet. Stepping back, he held her wrists in his hands. She blushed and in the flickering light of the candles, Duke had never,
never
seen any woman who was lovelier.

Words weren't easy for him when his emotions were involved, though he knew he should talk to Cami and set her fears at ease, he couldn't. So he used his body to tell her what he wanted her to know.

He slid the thin rayon slip from her body and then used his lips to teach her how exquisite she
was to him. He lingered over her pink-tipped breasts. Teasing her nipples first with his fingers then with his teeth until they were hard little berries. Then he bent and took her into his mouth, scraping his teeth along the mound of her breast. She gasped.

“Like that?”

“It's…please do that again.”

He scraped his teeth against her aroused flesh another time and then suckled her as he'd longed to do the night of the Braves' game. Tasting her as he'd wanted to from their first embrace in the elevator. Soothing the untamed part of him that needed more from her than mere sex.

She moaned and clutched his head to her breast. Her fingers tight against his head making him feel as if he were the most powerful man in the world. He pushed her backward until she landed gently on the bed. He stepped back and removed his clothes with a haste that belied his age and experience.

Part of him acknowledged the fear she'd change her mind. The fear she'd realize where she was and what she was doing and leave. But he knew her better. Cami wouldn't be here with him unless making love to him was what she wanted.

He tossed his shirt in the direction of the armchair and made himself slow down. This was her first time and she deserved better than a quickie.

“Slide up on the pillow,” he instructed her.

She nervously brought her arms up over her breasts and Duke realized that though he'd gotten her hot, she wasn't ready to make love with him.

He reached for the red rose. He brushed the pet
als across her face, tracing the fine line of her eyebrows. Smoothing the length of her cheekbones and teasing the full lower lip of her mouth. The lip he'd tasted earlier.

He stroked the rose from her shoulder down her left arm to her hand where it rested against the plump flesh of her right breast. The nipple puckered again this time from the stimulation of the rose.

Her legs moved restlessly on the bed, pressing frantically together then shifting, searching for release. Duke put his hand on her thigh and settled her legs a slight distance apart. Her feminine flesh covered only in the black lace thong he'd given her brought him to the flash point.

He swirled the rose across her flat abdomen to her navel. Twisting against her indented flesh. Goose bumps spread out from the rose petal and her hips lifted from the bed.

“What are you doing to me, Duke?”

“Fulfilling your fantasy,” he said.

“My white knight is naked, and I get to touch him,” she said bluntly.

He stood and stripped out of his pants, thrusting his boxers off at the same time. Standing before her naked, he held out his arms and spun around for her. “Will I do?”

“Yes,” she said. Reaching out, she hesitantly touched him. His member flexed in response, and she pulled away. He took her hand back and acquainted her with the part of him that ached to know her most.

Her touch inflamed him. Pushed him to the outer
limits of his control, so he refused to give in to the desire he craved. Refused to let this woman sneak in where he didn't want her. He was in control here, he reminded himself as he bent over her on the bed.

He cupped her feminine mound and felt her betraying warmth through the thin layer. He'd done this. Brought the sweet elegant lady with the frenetic energy to this moment. He slid his fingers under the waistband of her thong and pushed it down her incredible thighs. Tossing the small scrap of silk away, he looked at her.

“Gorgeous,” he said.

She blushed, sliding her hands across his chest to tease his flat nipples. The touch of her fingers on him sent tingles through him. He didn't know how much longer he could wait to have her.

He brought his touch back to her throbbing flesh and combed his fingers through the curly hair there. He bent his head and tasted the wet proof of her desire, tasted the elemental woman she was. He heard her gasp and felt her hips retreat from his mouth.

“Let me,” he said. He'd never shared this with anyone else. Never had he wanted to taste a woman entirely before and he wouldn't give up easily. But this wasn't any woman.
This was Cami.

The one woman who'd listened to the story of the sad ending of his marriage and comforted him. Cami, who'd brought him lunch when he retreated to the cave of his office. Cami, who'd brought light into his life. And she needed everything he had to give. Just for tonight, he reassured himself.

She bit her lip and nodded and he tasted her again and again until he brought her to the brink. Her heels dug into the mattress, and she thrust her hips at him. He cupped her buttocks in his hands and let his fingers brush the crease between her bottom cheeks. Her hands traveled from his head to the bed and back again. She grabbed a pillow and held it over her face as she moaned loudly. Finally, he felt her climax.

He smiled but she couldn't see it, hidden as she was. He took the pillow away and she turned her face to the side. He forced her gaze back to him.

This was the Cami he wanted to see. Her face flushed with sexual satisfaction, her eyes wide and appreciative as they swept down his body, her smile wicked and beckoning.

He shoved the pillow under her hips. Grabbing a foil packet from the nightstand, he sheathed himself before joining their fingers together. “Ready?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, and lifted her body to his.

Duke slowly entered her. Pushing past the weak barrier of her virginity, he made her his. He set a rhythm she could follow. As passion swept through her, he let the pace increase and then he stopped thinking, stopped controlling, and reacted.

He freed his hands and held her hips higher as he thrust harder and faster until he felt her body tighten around him and his own release surge through him. He plummeted from the heights he'd reached in her arms, resting at last against her breast. Though he didn't acknowledge it, he knew
he'd found the home he'd been searching for—forever.

 

Cami awoke to the blissful feeling of self-discovery. She'd been transformed into Cinderella overnight. She'd coordinated and managed a successful large event with more media coverage than anytime in Pryce's history. She'd faced down her fears about herself as a woman and emerged the victor. She'd made love with the man she loved, and it had been glorious.

Rolling onto her side, Cami saw that the balcony doors were still open and the breeze stirred the filmy curtains. Where was Duke? Listening carefully, she couldn't hear the shower running. Wrapping herself in the sheet, she toured the room. The lacey peignoir draped over the armchair, made her breath catch.