Breaking the Limits: Rafe & Nicole Book 2 (28 page)

‘Do you know what Isabelle and I talked about most?’

That tone of voice in a woman made him automatically wary. ‘I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.’

‘We talked about how you might find someone else and not even come to San Francisco,’ Nicole said, as if he’d not spoken. ‘How you viewed women as entertainment, how a man like you isn’t likely to change, how everything’s happened so fast maybe we’ll both realize we’ve made a mistake. What do you think? You’re the poster boy for unreliable; should I be pissed too?’

His hesitation was minute, then he asked, ‘Have you? Made a mistake?’ She didn’t answer for so long, he was thinking about getting up and locking the bedroom door.

Finally, she said very softly, ‘No.’

His eyes drilled into hers. ‘Louder.’

‘No,’ she repeated sharply, as sullen and moody as the man watching her intently. ‘Satisfied now?’

He drew in a very slow, deep breath, then exhaled. ‘You can’t ever leave me,’ he said, bluntly. ‘I won’t let you.’ He shut his eyes for a moment and when he opened them a flicker of anger still shimmered in the amber depths. ‘Look, I wish I was better at this, more reasonable, conciliatory. I
am
sorry for being such a dickhead but . . .’ He shrugged. ‘I love you so much – too much, I think sometimes. My jealousy borders on manic. So I can apologize but I can’t change how I feel. I’m obsessive about you in a seriously fucked-up way.’ He blew out a breath, opened his mouth to speak, shut it again, then said, ‘What the hell, I might as well say it. If someone had told me I’d feel this way about a woman, about you in particular, that I’d be married soon, not a decade or two from now, but soon, I would have asked them what they were on. So give me a little slack when I’m struggling with the . . .’ He stopped and spread his hands.

‘Scary-as-hell future with me?’ she contributed with a grin.

‘You’re such a bitch,’ he said with an answering grin. ‘But yeah, you nailed it. Jealous, crazy in love and not a clue.’

‘Same.’ She gave him a considering look from under her lashes, then smiled. ‘We’re lucky though. Lots of people never have the crazy in love.’

‘The luck I understand. As for the rest,’ he said, thinking her smile alone was reason for living, ‘we’ll just have to work at it till we get it right. Now, please,’ he added with great gentleness, ‘come closer and tell me what I can do for you.’

Even had she not been deep in love, his charming offer and breathtaking beauty would have been enough to overwhelm her with longing. He was smiling faintly, leaning back with a careless grace, his weight resting on his hands, his legs slightly spread, his colourful, inked dick arched high against his stomach. ‘That’s mine,’ she said on a small caught breath, moving toward him, pointing at her all-time favourite Hokusai reproduction tattooed on Rafe’s rampant erection. ‘Nothing on this planet is hotter and I want it.’

He smiled at her breathy fervour. ‘Any special place?’

‘I’ll show you,’ she whispered, starting to slide her fingers under the blue lace of her panties.

‘Come here,’ he said, quietly, sitting up and pointing at the floor between his legs.

She crossed the small distance that separated them, restive, hot-blooded, mesmerized by the tossing boats and foam-flecked blue waves undulating on Rafe’s massive, surging dick. ‘And I don’t want to wait.’ A heated flutter slid up her spine. ‘You hear?’

‘Just a little longer, Pussycat,’ he replied, calmly, slipping her tiny lace panties down her thighs and letting them drop to the floor. Leaning over, he lifted one of her feet, then the other, tossed the bit of blue lace aside, then sat up and smiled. ‘Comfortable?’

‘I’m not looking for comfort,’ she said on a suffocated breath.

‘Come on,’ he murmured, running his hands up the outside of her thighs. ‘It’s always better if you don’t rush.’

‘I’m not interested in patience either.’

He laughed. ‘You’re so fucking adorable. Seriously, you have no sense of recall.’

She glared at him. ‘I haven’t had as much practice.’

True that.
He smiled faintly. ‘How about we practise together?’ Taking her hips in his hands, he pulled her close, dipped his head, slid his tongue into her slick heat, gave the little nub of her clit his full attention until it was rock hard, then sat back and watched her shiver under his hands. ‘Actually, we have all the time in the world now,’ he said, issuing his fiat in a silken murmur, his demons never completely locked away, ‘because I’m never letting you go.’

‘Do that again,’ she whispered, immune to fiats with flame-hot bliss strumming through her body, and the focus of her world centred on the jolting rapture pulsing through her clit.

His long lashes drifted upward and Rafe gazed at her from under their dark fringe. ‘Let’s give this a try first.’ Sliding his hand between her legs, he parted her pouty folds, slipped one finger inside her velvety, soaking-wet pussy, then a second, reaching deep into her sleek heat, gently stroking the slippery flesh, the rough little patch of her G-spot, the hard, swollen length of her clit until she was squirming, panting, desperate, until his fingers were drenched.

‘Please, please, I can’t wait,’ she panted, her body on fire, her skin flushed, ravenous desire scorching her brain.

‘Ready to move on?’ he murmured, not really expecting an answer. Cupping one of her ass cheeks with his free hand, he hauled her close, bent low, gave the tender skin of her inner thigh a quick nip, marking his territory. Then, fractionally easing aside his two fingers sunk palm deep in her melting hot pussy, he shoved his tongue way the hell up her silky wetness and hit her G-spot. Pow.

She whimpered, her knees went weak. Rafe caught her weight with his hand spread wide on her ass and glancing up, checked to see whether she’d reached the point of no return. Not yet, he decided, adept at reading female arousal. With her firmly in his grasp, he returned to the molten heat beneath his tongue, measuring her throbbing clit with slow, leisurely licks, up and down, around and around while she moaned and quivered. And when his lips finally closed over her hard clit and he gently sucked, she grabbed his head and frantically whispered, ‘Please, please, please.’

Leaving his fingers in place, he shook his head free and looked up. ‘I have a request.’ he said, continuing to massage her slick tissue with casual expertise. He waited for what he considered a polite interval as she trembled under his touch, eyes shut and whimpering, then withdrew his fingers.

Her eyes snapped open. ‘What are you doing?’ Feverish, shuddering, so damned close she could see nirvana, she grabbed his wrist and tried to jerk his hand back.

‘I have a request,’ he repeated, peeling her fingers off his wrist.

‘Could it wait?’ she snapped, planning vengeance for this torture right
after
she came.

‘No.’

‘God, Rafe!’ she wailed, squirming, impatient, overwhelming lust spiking through her senses. ‘Don’t
do
this. I don’t
want
to wait.’

‘You never do,’ he said. ‘Show me your breasts.’

She froze, struggling to understand, her frenzied desires at odds with his cool demand. ‘Jesus,’ she exploded, frustration blazing in her eyes. ‘Here, dammit!’ She swung her arms open wide. ‘Take a good look!’

He sucked in a breath, the word ‘opulent’ always completely inadequate when it came to Nicole’s tits. The blueberry lace bra – two scant half-cups held up by ribbons – was filled to overflowing with her pale mounded breasts, the ribbon straps barely supporting the sumptuous weight.

With considerable effort, Rafe tamped down the jealous fiend inside him that regarded both her and her tits as his personal property and spoke, softly. ‘Now I want to see your nipples.’

She shivered, blew out a shaky breath. ‘If I do this, do I get your dick?’

‘Here’s what I need you to do,’ he said, ignoring her question. Sliding one finger under the scalloped border of one lacy half-cup, he pushed up her nipple so it was visible above the lace. ‘This little baby is stiff,’ he murmured, stroking the distended crest, taking the tip between his thumb and forefinger, squeezing gently. ‘But then you’re always ready to fuck, aren’t you?’

A piercing sensation raced downward from the pressure of his fingers on her nipple, further ignited the fierce throbbing between her legs, and she whimpered in soft, breathless appeal.

‘Uh-uh,’ he said, running his palm over the swell of her breast. ‘Show me your other nipple first.’ He pinched her exposed jewel-hard crest hard, watched it swell, watched her quiver under the rough treatment. ‘Do it now,’ he said, a sudden harshness in the voice, ‘or you won’t get my dick.’

The distinct threat of withdrawal, the bitterness in his tone jerked her out of her carnal haze as effectively as an ice-cold shower. ‘How much longer am I going to have to pay for that stupid kiss?’ she hissed.

He dropped his hand, sat motionless. ‘I don’t know.’ He took a deep breath because he’d never experienced such uncompromising feelings. ‘I wish I did. It would make the next fifty years a helluva lot easier.’

Suddenly aware of the huge changes he’d made in his life for her, ashamed of what she’d so thoughtlessly done, even more frightened he might decide to stop loving her, she whispered, ‘Oh God, I’m so sorry. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.’ She readjusted her bra, covering herself, as though niceties of decorum mattered. Then she searched his face, wanting to know his thoughts, so she could make him understand how much she regretted her actions. What she’d naïvely viewed as casual, was of marked significance to him.

He didn’t speak for a long time and when he finally did, he said, simply, ‘You can’t kiss anyone but me. If you do, I can’t promise I’ll be sensible.’

‘I won’t, not ever. And I’m not just saying it because you not being sensible is supposed to frighten me.’

‘It should,’ he said, darkly.

‘I understand. But I love you and you love me and that can’t just stop – can it – because I did something thoughtless?’ Her voice was grave, intent, as though this was a test she dare not fail; she wasn’t sure he might not get up and walk away. ‘I didn’t know how much my kissing that guy bothered you but now
—
’

A blazing amber stare hit her so hard she flinched.

‘Now that you know,’ Rafe said, finishing her sentence, each word raw-edged and gritty, ‘we’ll have to find some salvageable area of agreement because, gun to my head, I’ll never love you sweetly. I love you gut deep and burning hot with a mammoth side of crazy and that’s never going to change.’ He pinned her with his gaze. ‘So take it or leave it.’

‘I’ll take it,’ Nicole said, her smile breaking like sunshine after a storm now that she knew he was going to stay. ‘But on that same street of crazy love, I have a ground rule or two myself. If I ever find you with a woman, I won’t wait for some bullshit explanation about we’re just friends, or I bumped into her at the grocery store. I’ll do violence to the bitch first, then to you. Kate’s going to teach me to shoot. So you better be scared.’

Rafe laughed. ‘Goddamn you’re high maintenance, Pussycat, but worth every second of angst. I don’t go to grocery stores though.’

‘Then I’ll have to take you, show you how the rest of the world lives.’ She smiled. ‘At least we’ll never be bored, right?’ Taking his face in her hands, she leaned over and taking charge, crowded in close and kissed him, teeth and tongue, hard and deep.

Her fine, lace-wrapped tits pressed into his shoulders were a fucking bonus and he was smiling when she relinquished his mouth. ‘I’m guessing it’ll be pretty tough being bored with the mind-blowing, breath-stealing, world-shattering sex.’ Pulling her down on his lap, he unhooked her bra. ‘Now, one last question before my focus goes all to hell – when do you want to get married? I have to tell some people in Geneva I might be taking off a few days.’

‘Depends on how nice you are to me now.’

‘Tomorrow then. I intend to be excessively nice to you tonight.’ Dropping the bra on the floor, he lifted her up, repositioned her on his lap so she was straddling his thighs, facing him, and gave her butt a little slap. ‘Up a little.’ But he helped her to her knees, smoothly eased his dick into place, circled her waist with his hands and kept her from taking a kamikaze dive.

‘Hey,’ she pouted, fighting against his restrictive hold. ‘Are we ever doing it my way?’

‘Sure,’ he murmured, forcing her to descend slowly.

‘Liar.’

‘I just have a better memory than you. There now,’ he said as she finally settled on his thighs, completely impaled on his dick and uttered a blissful sigh. ‘Admit it, every sensation is purer, sharper when you slow things down.’

She raised her lashes enough to take in his smile. ‘At the risk of augmenting your considerable ego, you might be right this once. Although it could just be your really huge cock that makes it so goddamn good.’ She moved her hips in a slow undulation, shut her eyes and softly groaned.

Closing his fist around her braid, Rafe tugged, forcing her head back so his gaze was full on her face. ‘Tell me it’s not just sex,’ he whispered, when a good deal of his life had been about sex, when he had more reason than anyone to be sceptical, because he’d never been in love before and it mattered. ‘Hey, look at me.’ Whether he was testing her single-minded focus or his control, he flexed his hips, thrust solidly, powerfully upward.

She gasped at the fierce, stabbing pleasure, the dizzying sensation brought the world to a stop and, a moment later, when Rafe said, ‘Answer me,’ she panted, ‘What?’

Clearly she wasn’t capable of an extended conversation right now. ‘Simple question. Are you mine?’ Maintaining the tension on her plait, he rocked gently from side to side, slowly, slowly, magnifying the taut, blissful pressure, casually eliciting the answer he wanted. ‘Say it.’

The riveting sensation of his erection cramming her full, her distended flesh pulsing and throbbing under Rafe’s delicate shifting movement, obliterated all but a sliver of rational thought. ‘Yes – is that right?’ she breathed.