Gentle Control (10 page)

Urgency washing over her, she shoved off his shirt. Leaning forward, she pressed her mouth to his warm chest and tasted his slight saltiness. He grasped her hips and pulled her tight to him while she trailed kisses over his chest. His nipples were tight beneath her mouth. She took the pierced one between her lips. Humming with pleasure, she flicked the tiny ring with her tongue all the while sucking and pulling.

“Jesus, angel,” Josh swore. His cock thrust against her, hampered by their clothes.

Hurriedly, she reached for his fly, but he stilled her hands. “Not yet.”

“I need you.”

“You’ll have me.”

Her world tilted as Josh lowered her onto the mattress but she barely noticed. Josh was her world right now. Nothing else mattered when he sprawled over her. Hungrily, he feasted at her mouth, capturing her gasping breaths. Her fingers threaded into his hair, holding him as her lips widened for his questing tongue. Playfully, she prodded his piercing while he thrust inside.

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After a moment he slid a trail of open-mouth kisses across her jaw and down her neck. She whimpered as he sat up, straddling her thighs, and reached for the clasp at her jeans. Her temperature inched up as her zipper inched down. He lost no time pushing her clothing from her body. She reached for his pants as he tossed aside her clothes and returned to straddle her hips. Again, he pushed her hands away.

“Not yet,” he said. Reaching over to the table, he lifted the spoon and the sweet and sour sauce off the table. The lid popped as he twisted it off.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

He dipped the spoon into the apricot-colored liquid. “Eating lunch.” He lifted the utensil and drizzled the sauce between her breasts. She shivered as the cold puddle spread and crept toward her stomach. A moment later, he scraped a rangoon through the trail. He lifted it to her lips and popped it into her mouth.

“Some for you,” he murmured and leaned forward, laving his tongue through the sauce. “And some for me.”

She couldn’t help the “oh” that whispered past her lips. He lifted the spoon again.

“We’re gonna make a mess,” she gasped as he dribbled a twisting design down to her navel.

“I’ll make sure you’re not sticky,” Josh promised. He swirled his tongue over her.

“So sweet,” he murmured.

“I’m sure it’s the sugar in that stuff,” Tempest panted, the final words coming as a squeak when he smoothed the cool bowl of the spoon over one of her erect nipples.

Sauce drifted down the sides of her breast, looking like topping on a sundae. This time he didn’t bother with a fried morsel before his mouth dived on her.

He didn’t stop her this time when she worked on the clasp of his pants. His erection sprang forth into her hand. She encircled him, gently squeezing the heat. Her thumb smoothed over the ridges on the bottom, counting five barbells through the skin on the bottom of the shaft. No wonder he felt so good thrusting in and out of her. Who needed ribbed condoms when they had this?

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Josh pushed against her fingers, a movement that seemed somewhat involuntary as he lapped at her. She wasn’t the only one sighing in pleasure. He murmured her name.

He tossed the spoon to the side and poured sauce along the indentation of muscle leading to her belly. The sticky condiment coated her stomach, pooling in her belly button. She’d definitely need a shower. Hopefully, he’d join her.

Josh reached for a rangoon. “Still hungry?”

Hungry? What?

She nodded, watching as he split one open and squeezed so that the filling oozed from the opening. Grasping the end between his teeth, he dipped it in the sauce at her navel and dragged it lightly over her skin on the way to her mouth. He teased her with it before she snatched it away with her teeth. A moment later, her tongue darted out to lick away the remnants of sauce from his lips and chin.

“There’s another half,” he rasped, holding it up for her to see. The remaining two points of the rangoon rested in his palm. Taking it in his other hand, Josh scratched the points over her shoulder, then her arm to her hand but snapped it away before she could take it. Dragging it over her torso, he bent and lapped away some of the sweet and sour.

“You’re gonna have a huge sugar buzz,” Tempest laughed, as a tingle zinged to her toes.

“I already have a Tempest buzz, so I guess that’s okay.”

She bit her lip. Yeah, she had a Josh buzz, too. Coming down from it in a few days was going to be hell. God, it would hurt.

Josh stalled her thought by continuing the path of the rangoon to her hip then to her sensitive inner thigh. When she thought he’d stop, he teased the back of her knee and then he popped the morsel into his mouth, wagging his eyebrows playfully.

Reaching for another piece, he pushed the cream cheese filling out onto two of his fingers. “Want some?” he whispered, holding it up to her lips.

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She opened and darted her tongue over his fingers as he slowly moved them inside.

Her teeth came down, firm but gentle, holding him still as she flicked at his fingertips.

Josh’s eyes widened in surprise before darkening on a new rush of desire. Relishing her power, Tempest sucked at the digits, pulling and releasing while he stared, entranced, at his hand and her mouth. His erection throbbed against the top of her mound and begged for her attention. She smiled smugly as she pulled away and freed him.

Now it was time. Now. Tempest held out her arms to him. “Josh, please…” she whispered.

He shook his head, his gaze intense.

“I haven’t finished yet.” Reaching up, he covered his fingers in the sauce remaining on her stomach and painted lines on her legs. His fingers arrowed toward her pussy, never quite touching. He reached for the spoon beside them. Tempest closed her eyes, wondering where he’d dollop the sweet next. She jolted in surprise when the cool of the metal patted her clit and sent streams of wild sensation jolting through her.

Her fingers clenched the sheets as she arched into the Morse code he tapped out against the aroused bud. Small, choked cries erupted from her lips, a mix of pleasure and torture as she burned for deliverance and completion. His mouth closing on her was sweet relief.

“Yes,” she sighed. This new game, however, was worse than the last. Josh brought her to the edge of release over and over but never allowed her to tumble into her orgasm. Her entire being desired him and cried out for fulfillment.

Pushing Josh from her, she sat up and slid her hands through the remainder of the condiment on her stomach. If he wouldn’t complete her voluntarily, she’d make him wild enough to do it. She scrambled to the end of the bed on her knees while Josh sat up, a confused look on his face. Before he could question her, she leapt to the floor. He swung around to follow, freezing when she knelt between his spread knees. Slowly, she pushed her coated hands over his legs and up his cock. He reared up, grunting when 73

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she covered him with her mouth. His sticky fingers pushed into her hair. Clamping her lips tighter, she worked up and down his thick shaft.

“Take it,” he said through his teeth. “Yeah, take it.” He shoved toward the back of her throat while she massaged his heavy balls, pressing her thumb into the base of his cock. “God, your mouth feels good.”

His fingertips dug into her scalp as he neared his peak. Finally, when she suspected he couldn’t take more, she sat back on her heels and looked up at him. Very slowly, she leaned forward, watching him and lapped a droplet of cum from him.

Josh immediately clasped her upper arms and dragged her onto the bed with him, rolling over her. The head of his cock poised against the opening of her channel.

“Vixen,” he rasped.

“Master,” she whispered, batting her eyelashes at him while he jerked on a condom.

“Don’t punish me…”

“You’d like it too much. I have better ideas.”

Her retort died on her lips as he surged inside her. Her cries filled the room. The world shrank to just the two of them, their pulsing heartbeats, their bodies rocking together. Problems, imperfections, faults…they all ceased to exist. In Josh’s arms, she was perfection. He was perfection.

She grasped his shoulders, holding on while he drove inside her. Josh cupped the back of her head, drawing her up for a mind-numbing kiss. Almost at once, her body began to tremble beneath his as their personal universe exploded into a world of color before her eyes. She went soaring and with a gruff cry, he went with her.

He collapsed on top of her. He stroked the inside of her elbow, whispering Shakespeare to her while she smoothed her fingers in a lazy motion over his sweat-slicked back. She could get used to this. A sudden need to cry wrung through her and her stomach dropped. This would be gone before she knew it. She pressed her cheek to his damp shoulder, looking away from him, and blinked back the tears burning her eyes.

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“I think we’re stuck together,” she sniffled, hoping she sounded more breathless than sad. Josh’s chest shuddered above her as he silently laughed.

“Well, I did promise that I would make sure you’re not sticky. Maybe we should shower.”

“We?”

He got up, lifted her into his arms and dropped a kiss onto her shoulder. “Of course we.” His eyes traveled over her naked body covered only by what remained of the sweet and sour sauce. “You know, you’re a messy eater.”

“Take a look at yourself.”

“I’d rather look at you.”

The ringing of her cell phone interrupted her response. A very familiar ring tone split the air. Tempted as she was to ignore it, she knew she couldn’t.

“Let me down,” she said. Her father beckoned.

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“Dad…” she answered while Josh stared at her. She couldn’t ignore the call, as much as she wanted to. She hadn’t told her father she was going away or told anyone where she planned to travel. If she didn’t explain her whereabouts her father, the head of a powerful conglomerate would have an APB put out on her.

“Where are you?” he demanded. She crossed her arms over her chest as she faced the wall, her back to Josh’s anger. The voice across the line brought back all her insecurities. She wanted to pull the blanket from the bed over herself, but it was already sticky enough.

“I’m with a friend. On a trip,” she hedged. Behind her Josh grunted. What did he want from her? Her father would go ballistic if he knew who she was with. Eventually, she’d have to deal with his reaction to Josh, but she didn’t want to taint her time with Josh any more than this phone call already would.

“Where? How dare you disappear without telling anyone,” her father railed.

“Dad…”

“Where are you? I’ll come and get you.”

“No,” she exclaimed. She’d been through that before. She wouldn’t be dragged from Josh’s presence by her father again. No one needed to live through a scene like that more than once. Besides, she wasn’t a teenager anymore. She’d outgrown the necessity of obeying him. He just didn’t get that.

“Why not? Who are you with?”

“It’s…Dad, it’s not really your business.”

“Not my business?” he repeated, his tone taking on a lethal edge that could cut his adversaries to the bone. “Young lady—”

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Oh great…

“What has gotten into you—”

She almost giggled hysterically at the thought of what exactly had gotten into her.

“You haven’t behaved this way since…that boy,” he continued, unaware of her irreverent thoughts. “Tempest, who exactly are you with?”

Uh-oh.

“You’re with him, aren’t you?” her father continued before she could answer.

Bingo.

“It doesn’t matter,” she defended herself. She turned back to Josh. He leaned against the headboard of the bed, one leg bent up, the other dangling to the floor. He’d thrown an arm across his eye. His displeasure over this call couldn’t be any more evident. His silence spoke to her far louder than if he had a fit right now. Strength and confidence emanated from him. He knew that eventually he’d win this battle.

“Look, I’m a grown up, not a kid,” she muttered into the phone.

“How could you? You’re marrying Phillip—”

“No, I’m not,” she protested vehemently. “I’ve told you both that. Over and over.

I’m not marrying him.”

Josh’s arm dropped from his face and his eyes narrowed. Tension revved within him, evident from the suddenly taut cords in his neck and the throb of a tiny muscle high on his cheekbone. His lips turned white around the edges. He didn’t like the talk of another man. The hand on the arm draped over his thigh fisted. He looked away without a word.

She had a feeling she’d hear a whole lot of words about this later. Or perhaps just one. Mine.

“Tempest—”

“No! I’m safe. I’m healthy. I’ll call you when I get home—”

“I need you home now,” her father interrupted.

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“What?”

“The Miracles and Hope benefit is the day after tomorrow. You’re the company’s liaison. I need you home. I need you to be there.”

She sighed, irritated with his apparent helplessness when it came to the company’s charity work. He’d agreed to field anything that came up until she returned later this month. “Dad, we’ve talked about this.”

“This last time, Tempest. Please.”

She sighed, some of her anger dissipating. She wasn’t returning to Grand Rapids early. “You’ll need to do it.”

“I need you to,” he insisted, taking on a much softer tone.

Her brows drew together at his about-face. “Why?”

“I don’t want to worry you while you’re away from home.” He cleared his throat.

“It’s a little thing. I’m sure my doctor will schedule some sort of procedure and…” His voice cracked and he trailed off, too emotional to go on. “Just…I need you to do this.”

“Fine. Fine. Okay.” Guilt racked her. He’d told her he was going to the cardiologist and she’d never thought another thing about it, sure he was fine. She’d been wrong and now he needed her. His health wasn’t a reason for him to run her life, but she’d do this charity thing for him. Afterward, she’d gently set him straight about her plans and his unwelcome control over her life.