Improper English (15 page)

“Do you always cry when you find your pleasure?” his soft voice asked, accompanied by softer lips as they kissed away my tears.

“No,” I whispered, opening my eyes at last to look into his. They were dark and misted with passion and need. “Only you make me cry.”

His head dipped and he gave me another leisurely, thorough kiss. The fires he started within me burst into immediate flame.

“Is that a compliment or a complaint?”

I combed my hands through the silkiness of his hair
and pulled him back to my mouth. “No one has ever moved me the way you do, Alex. No one has ever made me feel the things you make me feel. You are…” I let myself drown within the depths of his emerald eyes. “You are everything I have ever wanted.”

He gazed back at me, the smile that quirked his lips fading as I stripped away every defense I had and let him see the real me, the Alix only he had touched, the woman who wanted him and who would never again be the same. Emotion so thick it was almost tangible wrapped around us, encasing us in a warm cocoon, bonding us together with silken threads of desire, yearning, need…and love.

Warning bells went off in my head, screaming that his expression was too serious. The emotions I was feeling were too much, too fast, too frightening in their intensity. I had to bring us both down to earth and fast, before he—or I—said something that shouldn’t be said yet, maybe never would be said.

I pushed on his chest, sliding to the side so he ended up on his back on the chaise with me lying halfway across his chest as I hastily undid his shirt buttons. “You have too many clothes on,” I told him.

“I do,” he agreed, tugging his soft linen shirttails from his trousers. I peeled off the garment and spent a moment admiring his chest.

“I really like your chest,” I said, wondering if he heard the odd little hitch in my throat. “It’s a lovely chest, nicely furred without being grossly hairy, and you’ve got the cutest little nipples I’ve ever seen on a man.”

“The feeling is mutual,” he said, reaching for me, but I scooted down the chaise out of his reach.

“Huh-uh, this time it’s my turn to make you crazed
with lust and wanting and everything you just gave me. My, my, my, what do we have here?” I put my hand on his fly and felt his hard length jump beneath my hand.

“Alix—”

“O-o-oh, I like it when you growl like that, it’s very sexy. I think we’ll just leave this little fellow alone for a few moments while I take care of some other business.”

“Little?” The word dripped outrage.

I grinned up his long body as I slipped off his shoes. “Sorry, figure of speech. No slurs intended. Are your feet ticklish?”

“Yes, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t touch—
ALIX!”

“Hee hee hee. Sorry, I won’t do that again. Well, maybe just on this foot—”

He cursed and jerked his leg back when I slid my fingers along the underside of his foot as I pulled his sock off. I made a mental note to investigate his ticklish spots later as I reached for his belt. He obliged by lifting his hips when I pulled the rest of his clothes off. His stallion wasn’t just ready and waiting at the door, it was champing at the bit, pulling at the traces, and waiting to be sprung. So to speak.

“Wow,” I breathed, staring at it. “You know, I’ve never thought this particular part of a man was at all attractive—functional, yes, but attractive? Not really—but I have to say, Alex”—I reached out and wrapped my fingers around the base—“yours is really, really nice.”

“Thank you,” he groaned, his hands clutching convulsively at the chaise cushions. “It reassures me to know my genitalia meet your exacting standards.”

I touched the very tip of him, spreading the bead of moisture around the sensitive underside of the head. He
groaned even louder, his eyes closed as I stroked down the long, hard length of him, teasing him with soft little squeezes of his taut balls. I raked my nails softly on them, then up along the underside of his shaft, wrapping my fingers around him, enjoying both the feel of hot, velvety skin sliding over the steel beneath and the soft little moans Alex was making as he thrust his hips upward, pushing himself through my hands. I didn’t stop to try and figure out why I was gaining so much pleasure by merely touching him, I just was, and since the look on his face bordered on blissful, I figured I was making him a happy camper as well.

“Let’s see how you like this,” I crooned as I leaned forward and licked a circle around one dark brown nipple that poked oh, so insouciantly up from the surrounding soft brown hairs. I gave his balls a friendly little squeeze when I bit down gently on his nipple, then giggled at his shout of surprise. His chest was heaving as he tried to catch his breath, a light sheen of sweat adding to the erotic sight of his body bucking beneath my hands. It was a heady moment, full of the power and the knowledge of generations of women, but Alex was yelling at me to stop before he lost control, so I reluctantly released my grip and instead kissed a line along his jaw.

“Alix,” he gasped, his body as taut as a bowstring.

“Yes, my pet?”

“You were right. There is a time for foreplay, and this isn’t it.”

I gave a little scream as he lunged forward at the last couple of words, grabbing me around the waist and hauling me over the top of him. I squirmed off him, explaining, “Raincoats! I’ve got special raincoats my sister gave me. Hold on a minute, you’ll like this!”

The box of condoms had been moved over to a small wicker end table next to the window. I grabbed them and, shaking the box at Alex, did a few bossa nova steps back to where he lay sprawled on the chaise. “We have cherry and banana and mint and grape—take your pick!”

His gorgeous, lust-muddled eyes narrowed as I placed the condoms on his chest and leaned down to nip his chin. “What are you talking about?”

I smiled brightly and prodded the box toward him. “Raincoats! Flavored condoms! You just tell me what flavor you want, and we’ll get you all gussied up and ready to play.”

He peered down suspiciously. “Your sister gave these to you?”

“Yep. Cait’s a firm believer in everyone having raincoats. These are special ones. You like grape?”

One chestnut eyebrow arched as I plucked the protection from his chest. “I don’t believe my preference is the deciding factor, Alix. There’s no physical way I can…erm…appreciate its…uh…flavor.”

I rooted around in the container, blinked a couple of times as I acknowledged the truth in his statement, then found what I was looking for and flourished a tiny gold and purple packet. “Grape! No, it’s mine.” I pulled my hand back when he tried to grab for it. “I get to put it on you. It’s erotic that way. I read that in a magazine.”

“Alix, if you do anything else erotic to me, I won’t be needing a condom,” he warned.

I smiled. “It’s OK, I’ll be careful. I don’t want you grabbing the brass ring before the carousel has stopped. Let’s just see if this has any instructions.”

“Instructions?”

My smile deepened. “Well, you never know. I might
have to lick something to enhance the grapeness.”

Alex groaned and closed his eyes, his hands fisted next to his hips. “Just put the bloody thing on me before I expire.”

“OK. Um…” I opened the package and pulled out the lavender condom. It smelled grapey, but something the label said made me curious. I consulted the directions, then eyed Alex, trying to measure that part of him with my eyes, wondering where Stephanie would keep a ruler.

“What the devil are you doing?”

I glanced back at where he was frowning at me. “How big are you?”

“What?”

“How big are you? You know, how long?”

Alex stared at me in open-mouthed surprise. “Do I take it you suddenly don’t like what you see?”

I gave him a couple of strokes just to reassure him that I was more than happy with his meat and two veg. “On the contrary, I think you’re a little on the oofy side, but I’m sure everything will work out just fine.”

“Oofy?”

“Big.”

“Ah. Then why do you want to know—”

I held the box out to him and pointed to the big red letters emblazoned there. “This says the raincoats are extra-extra long. They call it ‘Gladiator-length, for the barbarian in your life.’ I was just wondering if you are gladiator material.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, Alix, just—”

“OK, OK.” I pushed him back down from where he was trying to get up and turned around to apply the
grape condom to the appropriate body part. “No need to get up in arms, I’ll put it on you.”

He growled low in his chest.

“Um…hang on, there seems to be…blast, I think it’s stuck…no, wait, there it goes. I guess it sat in the sun too long, it’s kinda sticky, but”—I looked up with a reassuring smile—“really, really grapey. Oh, hell.”

Alex sighed, his eyes closed, his face resigned. “It broke?”

I pursed my lips and looked at his purple-covered manly bits. “Um…no. Evidently you’re not gladiator-length. There’s a bit extra left over, but it doesn’t matter, I’ll just leave it rolled up there.” I patted the extra rolledup bit of condom firmly into place at the base of his penis, and looked up and gave him another smile. “All done. So, you ready to rumble?”

One eye opened and looked at me.

“Oh, come on, Alex, don’t look so cranky. I know that was a bit of a bother, but now you’re all suited up and we can get down to business.”

He growled again, but hauled me over his chest, swinging around until I was underneath him. To tell the truth, I was a bit relieved that the condom interlude had shattered the strangely charged, emotional moment that had overtaken us earlier. If I wasn’t sure before, I was now. I was falling in love with Alex, and I was fairly certain he could see the depth of my feelings mirrored in my eyes, but it wasn’t something I wanted to talk about. I needed some time to get a grip on my emotions before I faced the issues of love, separation, and the resulting heartbreak.

The breather had done much to lighten Alex’s mood as well. He was positively playful as he nibbled and
nipped me, teaching me just how sensitive the skin at the back of my knees was, moving quickly to assault my belly with tongue and teeth, kindling the fires of desire until I swore I was going to spontaneously combust. I did my best to drive him into the same inferno that consumed me, raking my nails up and down, nipping and kissing him, making him pant and groan his pleasure at my touch.

“Enough!” I cried, desperate to feel all of him. Curving my hands around his wonderfully smooth behind, I begged, “Alex, stop teasing me, stop tormenting me. I’m going to go up in flames if I don’t have you inside of me. Now, Alex, please, now!”

He made a soft, seductive noise deep in his chest that made me wild with need. I wrapped my legs around his and flexed my fingers into his behind as he pushed slowly into me. He was big and hard and hot and fit oh, so perfectly. He sank into me, filling every crevice, burrowing deeper, making room for himself within my core, my center, the part of me that needed him most. All of those marvelous little muscles that lay dormant down there just waiting for this moment suddenly went to work, gripping him, tightening and releasing, flexing around him as he moved even farther into me. I tossed my head back and groaned with the soul-deep satisfaction of joining with him.

“Are you all right, sweetheart? I’m not hurting you?”

“No,” I panted, pulling my knees up higher to take him in deeper. If he pushed in just a little more, I was sure he would touch my heart and our bonding would be complete.

“Can you take more?”

“Yes, oh, yes, Alex, more.” The inevitable tears started
behind my eyes, tears of utter and complete joy as he filled me to completion, then began rocking his hips in a rhythm so instinctive it beat in my blood, demanding an answering rhythm.

“Open your eyes, love.”

My hips thrust up at him as he increased his movements, no longer gentle and tentative, now demanding as he pounded into me, the age-old dance holding us firmly in its thrall, one being, one body, one soul. I opened my eyes.

Green so pure it could outshine the finest emeralds blazed back at me as he thrust into me, his breath as ragged as mine, his back slick with sweat. I bit his shoulder, crying wordless words of wanting, praying I could hold out until he was ready to find nirvana.

“Alex, please, I don’t think I can wait…” The words died in my throat as his hoarse shout of completion thrummed deep in my blood.

“Now, Alix, now. Come with me now, love.”

The acid, coppery taste of his blood was on my tongue as I bit his shoulder again, unable to speak, able only to feel as the wave of rapture broke over us, carrying us higher and higher, until Alex yelled his exultation against my neck as we were transported beyond elation into euphoria.

I drifted lazily back down to earth, conscious of his weight on me but comfortable bearing it, as if I had been made solely for that purpose. I stroked his back, reveling in the rasping of his breath next to my ear, proof that he was as affected as I. Common sense went out the window as I lay there, feeling him still deep within me, tasting him, smelling that wonderful spicy scent that was Alex mingled with the baser, more earthy scent of our lovemaking
, knowing in my heart of hearts that parting with this man would mean my destruction. I turned my face away from that knowledge, determined only to hold on to the present and not worry about the future.

Alex stirred, then levered himself up on one elbow and gave me a look of profound masculine satisfaction before he hauled me on top of him as he rolled onto his back.

“Christ,” he breathed, his eyes closed, a smile curving those fabulous lips.

“Not quite, but I’d say you’re damned close to godhood.”

“Mmm.” He pulled me closer. We lay like that for some time, my legs entwined with his, our breathing perfectly synchronized. I was halfway asleep when he slid out from under me.

“Come to bed?” I asked, getting up and stretching. I went over to fluff up the pillows on the daybed.

Alex sat on the chaise with his back to me, hunched over and muttering to himself.

“Alex? Are you OK?” I stood clutching a pillow to my chest, worried about this reaction to our lovemaking. I’ve had guys tell me I wasn’t any good at putting out, but I’ve never actually made one ill as a result. “Alex?”