Found (36 page)

“Oh, sorry!” The waitress tried to shoo the
dog away. “She’s been hanging around here for the past two weeks
begging for scraps. We try to keep her away but she’s really
persistent and none of us really has the heart to take her to the
pound.”

“Of course you shouldn’t take her to the
pound,” Lauren exclaimed. “Here girl.” She took a piece of bread
from the basket the waitress had brought and offered it to the dog
who took it eagerly. “Poor thing, she looks like she’s
starving.”

“We give her as much as we can but she’s
always hungry.” The waitress sighed. “We think she has a litter of
puppies around here somewhere but none of us can find them. Here
girl. Here Lola. That’s what we named her,” she explained a little
sheepishly.

“She needs a good home,” Lauren said. “But
unless you can find the puppies it would be cruel to take her
somewhere.”

“You’re right.” The waitress smiled at the
dog fondly. “We’ll probably look for them again tonight.” She shook
her head. “Well, let me go put that order in for you and get you a
new basket of bread.”

“Thanks.” Lauren smiled at her as she left.
“Here Lola,” she said, holding out another piece of bread to the
dog. This time the female dog took the bread but didn’t eat it.
Instead, she darted away down a back alley between two of the shops
and was gone. “Aww, I bet she’s taking it to her babies.” She
looked up at Xairn and frowned. “Hey, you’re awfully quiet? Are you
okay?”

“Fine. I’m…fine.” He shook his head, trying
to clear away the memories that threatened to drown him.
Sanja
as a puppy, so playful and eager to please. Her big brown eyes, her
soft fur, the way she always knew when I was upset. And the look in
her eyes when I had to give the last command. When I had to kill
her…

Gods, he didn’t need to be thinking about
this now. He hadn’t told Lauren about his pet or how he’d been
forced by his father to kill her. In fact, he hadn’t told her
hardly anything about his past although she seemed to have deduced
a great deal on her own.
She doesn’t need to know,
he
thought, looking down at his water glass.
Doesn’t need to hear
the things I went through. The things I did. It’s bad enough that
she knows about my people without knowing the specifics of my sad,
twisted life.

“You don’t seem fine.” Lauren sounded
doubtful.

“I am though.” Xairn made an effort to
straighten up and shake off the black mood that had come over him.
He even made favorable comments about the food when it arrived. His
approval and enjoyment seemed to please Lauren.

“I’ll make a foodie out of you yet.” She
grinned at him. “In fact, let’s stop by the store on the way back
to my shop. I’ll get the ingredients to make a batch of cupcakes
just for you.”

Xairn smiled at her. “You
did
promise
me some of your signature confection as I recall.”

“That’s right, I did. And I have a new recipe
I’ve been dying to try. Chocolate vanilla bean with strawberry jam
in the center—kind of a Neapolitan thing. Should be delicious if I
can keep the jam part from sinking to the bottom while the cupcakes
bake.”

As always, when she spoke about her chosen
profession, Lauren’s eyes lit up and she started to smile. It
reminded Xairn of how she had looked when she first told him about
the miniature cakes and described how they tasted when she was
still a prisoner on the Fathership. The passion in her voice and
the light in her warm amber eyes had drawn him like a magnet. He
thought it was then that he first began to love her, though he
hadn’t understood it at the time. It was Lauren who had introduced
him to the concept of love in the first place—a concept he feared
he was still far from mastering.

Gods, how I care for her,
he thought,
listening intently as she spoke about the recipe she wanted to try.
I wish I could show her how much without hurting her! If
only…

But there was no way. No way to express all
he felt and still keep control of his darker urges. With a sigh,
Xairn pushed the thought away and tried to concentrate on what
Lauren was saying instead of his growing desire for her. But it was
hard, Gods, so hard when he wanted her so badly. He could still
feel her pressed against him from the long hug they had shared back
at her shop. Her warm, curvy body, her smooth brown skin, her sweet
feminine scent—everything about her was appealing. Like a drug he
couldn’t get enough of.

I want her more every day,
he thought.
Every day it gets harder and harder not to take her, to bond her
to me. Gods, I should leave now before I hurt her, before I ruin
her life and put out the light in her beautiful eyes
forever.

But he couldn’t leave. No matter how much he
knew he ought to go, he couldn’t. He just
couldn’t
.

Lauren hummed happily to herself as she
stirred strawberry puree into a big bowl of homemade butter cream
frosting. They were back at the Sweet Spot and the cupcakes were in
the oven, filling the air with the warm, delicious scents of
chocolate and vanilla. The smells soothed her as nothing else could
and for the first time in weeks she felt at peace.

Baking always made Lauren her feel like
herself again. Considering all the stress she’d been under lately,
she didn’t understand why she hadn’t made anything before now.
She’d been concentrating on her relationship with Xairn to the
exclusion of almost everything else—leaving little time to try new
recipes. Now she admitted to herself that had been a mistake. Some
things couldn’t be forced. She needed to be patient—to let the
feelings flow naturally between them. Maybe if she just relaxed,
things would fall into place. She’d always been optimistic by
nature—it was good to feel her natural cheerfulness returning.

“That looks delicious,” Xairn murmured,
interrupting her train of thought. He was leaning against one of
the counters, watching as she worked at the island in the middle of
the kitchen. His deep voice was a low purr and his eyes were hot as
he watched her. “You use only fresh ingredients?”

Lauren felt her heart skip a beat at the way
he was watching at her. Looking down, she realized that the top two
buttons of her cotton Henley blouse had become unbuttoned, showing
a generous amount of cleavage. She must have been putting on a show
without knowing it. She started to button her blouse…and
stopped.

“All fresh everyday. That’s my motto.” She
smiled and dipped her finger into the sticky-sweet, ruby red puree.
“Fresh organic strawberries and pure cane sugar—that’s all. Want to
try some?”

He took a step toward her and then held back.
“I…shouldn’t.”

“Sure, you should.” Lauren’s heart began to
pound.
Let it flow,
she reminded herself.
Go with your
instinct.
Stepping toward him, she held her finger, still
dripping with the sticky puree, in front of his lips. “Say ahh,
baby,” she murmured.

Hesitantly, Xairn parted his lips and then
the tip of her finger was engulfed in his hot, wet mouth. Holding
her eyes with his own, he sucked the sweet mixture from her finger,
cleaning her skin slowly and thoroughly with his tongue. It
reminded Lauren of the way he had licked her pussy honey from her
fingers after she’d touched herself for him. Just the memory of
that made her feel hot and wet between her legs, made her whole
body tremble. God, she wanted him, wanted more…

But then, suddenly Xairn was releasing her
and it was over. “Delicious,” he said thickly, his eyes half-lidded
with lust. “But…I probably shouldn’t have any more.”

“Oh, yes you should!” Lauren’s heart was
racing but she wasn’t about to end this now. They were finally
getting somewhere and she didn’t want to stop. Reaching into the
strawberry puree again, she painted her bottom lip with it and
beckoned to Xairn. “Come here.”

She didn’t have to ask twice. A low growl
rose in his throat and then he was bending her over his arm,
ravaging her mouth with a hunger that left her breathless. He
sucked her bottom lip eagerly, lapping away all traces of
strawberry before demanding entrance to her mouth.

Lauren opened for him at once, moaning softly
as Xairn stroked her tongue with his own. God, he tasted
incredible! It wasn’t just the strawberry—his mouth tasted of some
hot, exotic spice she couldn’t name. Something intoxicating and
immediately addicting at the same time. She gripped his shirt,
wishing she could tear it off. She wanted to feel his skin under
her fingers, wanted to be naked with him…But then, suddenly, Xairn
was ending the kiss, pushing her gently but firmly away.

“I’m sorry, Lauren.” He shook his head as
though to clear it. “I…shouldn’t have done that. I’ll go now.”

“No!” she exclaimed, but he was already
turning away. “Wait,” Lauren implored him. He paused for a moment,
turning his head to see her.

“What?”

“This.” Taking a deep breath, she unbuttoned
her blouse and reached for the snap in her front-hook bra.

“Lauren…” Xairn’s deep voice sounded strained
but she ignored him.

“Here.” Pealing back the pink lacy cups, she
bared her breasts to him. Then, reaching behind her, she dipped
into the bowl of sticky-sweet puree. Biting back a gasp as the cool
liquid hit her hot skin, she painted it liberally over one tight
nipple. “I think you’ll find it tastes even better this way,” she
said, trying to keep her voice steady. “Come back and take another
taste.”

“Lauren,” he whispered again and there was a
warning in his voice she deliberately ignored.

“It’s all right, baby,” she assured him,
painting the other nipple with the cool, sticky puree as well.
“You’ve done this before, remember?”

“As if I could forget,” he growled. And then
he was on her, gathering her into his arms and sucking her right
nipple deeply into his mouth.

Lauren gave a breathless moan as he worked on
her, lapping and sucking, taking as much of her breast between his
lips as he could at one time. She was dying, exploding, drowning in
lust, overwhelmed by the need that had been growing between them
for so long.

Xairn switched to her other nipple and she
buried her fingers in his thick black hair and urged him on,
thrusting her breasts up and out, offering herself to him, letting
him know that she wanted everything he was giving and more. She
vaguely remembered that he hadn’t wanted her to move this way the
first time he’d touched her sexually but she no longer cared. She
couldn’t be still as a statue when he was sucking and licking her
breasts so fiercely. Couldn’t keep herself from moaning and
pressing against him when he was finally giving her what she so
desperately wanted. Couldn’t—

“No!” Xairn pulled away, breaking her train
of thought with his hoarse gasp. “I can’t.” He was almost panting,
his big hands curled into fists at his sides. “Cant’ do this. It
will lead to more, to other things.”

“That’s what I’m hoping.” Lauren was filled
with a mixture of lust, love, and frustration. Her nipples
throbbed, swollen and sensitive from his delicious, wild sucking
and her pussy was so hot she felt like she was on fire from the
waist down. God, she needed him! And she wasn’t about to let him
get away. She tugged at Xairn’s hair, trying to pull him close
again. “Come on, baby, it’s going to be okay,” she coaxed.

But Xairn shook his head and started backing
away. “We should stop now, before things go too far. Before I hurt
you.”

“You won’t hurt me,” Lauren insisted. “In
fact,” she added, with a sudden burst of inspiration, “You can help
me.”

“What do you mean?” He frowned at her
warily.

“I mean I’m
dying
over here, Xairn.
Not literally,” she added hastily when his eyes widened with
concern. “But sexually, you’re
killing
me. Just look…”
Biting her lip, she unbuttoned her jeans and pushed them down her
thighs. It was against her nature to be an exhibitionist but in
this case, she didn’t think she had a choice if she wanted to keep
him here with her. “Look how hot and wet you’re making me.” She
gestured to her pink silk panties which were nearly soaked through
with her cunt honey. The outline of her pussy lips was clearly
visibly through the thin fabric, swollen with need and desire.

“Lauren…” Xairn’s voice was rough and his
eyes had begun to flicker, changing from ocean blue to red-on-black
but at least he was still here—for now.

“Just look.” Heart pounding, Lauren slipped
her thumbs into the waistband of her panties and pushed them down,
baring her pussy completely. God, she felt like some kind of a porn
star, coming on to him this way, but if this was what it took to
keep him with her she was willing to do it, willing to do
anything
.

“I’m looking.” Xairn’s red-on-black eyes
roamed over her body hungrily. “But I shouldn’t. And I don’t see
how I can help you.”

“You can stay with me. Touch me,” Lauren gave
him pleading look. “I
need
you Xairn.”

A low groan was torn from his lips. “Lauren,
please, you don’t understand what you’re doing to me. What kind of
events you might put into action…”

“Oh, yes I do—I might get you to finally
touch me!” Reaching into the bowl of puree one more time, she got a
dripping finger full of the sticky-sweet mixture. Then, her hand
trembling, she parted her pussy lips and stroked the inside of her
sex, coating her inner folds with the strawberry puree. “You made
this mess,” she said, popping her finger into her mouth and sucking
the rest of the strawberry off. “Come clean it up.”

“Lauren, don’t do this!” The warning was
clear in his voice but he was already kneeling on the floor before
her and stripping her jeans and panties the rest of the way
off.

“I’m not doing anything but giving you what
we both want,” she told him breathlessly. “What we both
need.”