Saving All My Lovin' (7 page)

“Y
ou have to let me help clean up,” Ann Marie said, picking up the dishes to take them into the kitchen. “It’s the least I can do after such a nice meal.”

“On one condition.”

She looked at him askance. “What condition?”

“That you let me take you out again.”

Ann Marie drew in a slow breath. Sterling’s words were so simple but the sincerity in his eyes and timbre of his voice elevated the simplicity to much higher implications.

“I’d like that very much.”

He pressed his lips together and nodded then started toward the kitchen. “I was thinking that you might want to take the next thing smoking after hearing my confession.” He glanced at her over his shoulder as he bent to open the dishwasher.

“Me don’t scare easy,” she said, slipping her accent back in place. “Got to come betta den ‘dat.

Besides what woman don’t really want a bad boy wrapped up in a good suit?” With her hand on her hip she looked him up and down.

Sterling laughed long and hard. “Woman, you are something else.”

“So I ‘ere.” She winked.

Sterling walked up close to her. “That’s what I like about you,” he said in a rough whisper.

“What’s that?”

He grinned. “That…something else.” His gaze held hers for an instant before he lowered his head to touch his lips gently to hers.

Ann Marie drew in a short, startled breath, the contact sending a shock through her body.

Sterling pressed closer, his arms snaked around her small waist. He let his tongue drift across her mouth until it opened ever so slightly and welcomed him inside.

Her tongue did a slow, tentative dance with his,
feeling her way, matching her step to his. She moved closer while his fingers played along the curve of her spine.

This was by no means her first kiss, Ann Marie thought as the warmth flowed through her veins. But everything about it was new, exciting and full of possibilities.

By degrees Sterling eased back. He brushed his thumb across her mouth. “That was nice.”

“Yeah, it was.” She lowered her gaze then looked up at him. “So…now what?”

“It can be whatever you want it to be.” He moved further away and leaned against the counter, looking at her. “I have to be honest with you.”

Her heart knocked against her chest. She didn’t know what to expect.

“I haven’t been in a serious relationship in a very long time, for a number of reasons.” He cleared his throat. “This isn’t going to be easy for me.”

“What isn’t going to be easy?” she asked, hesitation drawing out each word.

“Getting into a serious relationship.”

“Are you thinking about getting into a serious relationship with me?”

His mouth quirked into a semi-smile. “I think so.”

“Funny, I’d been thinking the same thing about you.”

He smiled full out. “Is that right?”

“Yes.” She suddenly felt like a young thing. “That’s right.”

Sterling reached out and stroked her cheek with the tip of his finger.

“Even with all you know about Terrance?” She held her breath.

“We’ll deal with it when the time comes. My gut feeling is that he wants to finally break ties—once and for all.”

Ann Marie looked up into his eyes, wishing that she could believe in what she saw there. She still held onto some secrets; the delivery of flowers, Terrance’s declaration of love and the heat she still felt deep in her belly for him.

She rose up on tiptoe and tenderly pressed her lips to Sterling’s. If she let him, if she let herself, she could push Terrance and all that he represented behind her.

Sterling held her close. There was less than a breath separating them. He lifted her ever so slightly off her feet so that each dip and every curve of their bodies melted into each other like pieces from a puzzle.

This was so unlike him, he thought as his arousal grew and pulsed, seeking release. He tread the relationship road with caution. Women came
in and out of his life as often as the mood hit him. There’d been no one to captivate his full attention. They were all either looking for a quick diamond ring or a sugar daddy with no strings. He wasn’t into playing either role. He was in love with the law and his music.

Slowly he put Ann Marie on her feet.

“Woman…” He smiled down at her. “You could make a man change his mind.”

Ann Marie cocked a brow. “Really? About what?”

“About slowing down and taking in the view.”

“What’s stopped you from slowing down before?”

He turned away, suddenly subdued. “Let’s go inside.”

Ann Marie wasn’t sure what had happened as she followed him into the living room. That’s when she noticed a saxophone resting in a stand against the wall.

“You play?” she asked pointing to the sax.

The smile returned to his face. “As often as I can.”

“You keep surprising me. First you cook and now you play.” Her eyes ran over him. She drew in a breath and let out her question. “What just happened back there? Just like that,” she snapped her fingers, “you…changed.”

Sterling strolled over to the floor to ceiling windows and stared out onto Central Park. “I guess you could say I have a tug of war going on.”

Ann Marie lowered herself onto the loveseat, preparing for anything. She folded her hands in her lap and waited.

He turned to face her, slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “When we met,” he shrugged, “I figured it would be something casual. You know.” He tugged on his full bottom lip with his teeth for a moment. “Getting all serious was not on the docket. But then spending time with you, getting to know you, all the rules are starting to change. And then there’s the issue about your husband.”

Her mouth pinched. She lowered her head then looked directly at him. “I can’t give you any guarantees. I have a lot of baggage. Some I can leave at the door, then some I have to drag in the house with me.”

He flashed a crooked grin. “All I’m saying is that as much as I want to jump feet first into this thing with us I know that if I do I’m going to be all tied up in you woman.”

She rose slowly from her seat and crossed the room to stand in front of him. “When we met, you know the thing that struck me about you? You said you liked a challenge.”

“I did, didn’t I?” He brushed his thumb across her lips and she captured it in her mouth. “You are definitely that and more.” He lowered his head and kissed her, tenderly at first and then with more urgency.

Ann Marie rose up on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around his neck, sinking into the warmth and security of him.

“Are you sure?” he whispered against her mouth.

“Can one ever be fully sure about anything,” she whispered back.

He took her by the hand and led her to his bedroom.

Once inside Sterling dimmed the lights then took her in his arms once again. He knew making love with Ann Marie could only lead to trouble but he didn’t care. All he cared about at the moment was possessing her, feeling her wrapped around him, succumbing to her island fire.

He unbuttoned her blouse and pushed it down over her arms then tossed it on a chair by the window. Then he unfastened her jeans.

Ann Marie stepped out of her shoes and took off her jeans. Her lime green ensemble was near iridescent against her rich brown skin.

She was a perfect little package, Sterling thought taking in her delicate curves. And her skin felt like silk as he ran his hands along her exposed flesh. He
slipped his hands behind her knees and around her waist and picked her up then carried her to the king-sized bed. He gently put her down and lay beside her taking in every inch of her with his eyes.

Ann Marie felt suddenly shy, as if this was her first time, hoping and praying that he liked what he saw. She’d never before second-guessed her effect on a man. This time she did. This time it mattered.

He pushed one strap down off her shoulder then the other. His fingers caressed the crest of her breasts. She shuddered beneath his touch. He stroked her cheek. “You’re beautiful you know.”

“Am I?”

“Yes…you are.”

His hands trailed across her stomach and he felt the muscle quiver. He let his fingers run beneath the band of her panties…teasing.

She worked to unfasten the buttons of his shirt then played with the hard muscles of his chest. But what she wanted to touch was below, pulsing against her thigh. She reached down and massaged the bulge in his slacks. He drew in a sharp breath.

“Look at me,” she whispered as she stroked him.

Sterling looked into her eyes, his own hot and needy.

Ann Marie unzipped his pants and released him into her hand. Sterling groaned with pleasure as
her warm palm wrapped around him. She stroked him, up and down, slow and deliberate. Sterling’s eyes squeezed shut as the rippling sensation rushed through him.

He pushed her bra aside and captured a rising nipple in his mouth. Ann Marie gasped with pleasure, cupping his head to draw him even closer. She stroked him harder and felt the beginnings of his eruption dribble across her hand. He grew even harder and longer if that were possible.

She had to have him. Damn the consequences. Damn tomorrow and damn Terrance. She pushed his hand deeper into her panties and he fingered her until her body was a mass of shudders.

Sterling flipped her fully onto her back. He looked down into her wide eyes as he pulled her panties down. She wiggled out of them and spread her legs bending them at the knees. He settled himself between her tight thighs, bracing his weight on his forearms. His tongue licked across her mouth, nibbled her bottom lips. She arched her hips. He pushed against her feeling her wet heat but didn’t move inside her, just teased her with the tip of his penis. She whimpered with need.

He reached across to his nightstand and took out a condom then reared back on his knees and slowly
put it on. As Ann Marie watched, that moment was suddenly the most erotic thing she’d witnessed.

Sterling tossed the empty packet to the floor. He reached forward and cupped her breasts in each hand and gently squeezed. She shut her eyes but they flew open when she felt the pressure of him opening her up as he pressed inside her—slow, determined, harder than steel.

Ann Marie drew in a breath that she couldn’t release when she felt him fully inside her. My God it felt so good, so right, so complete.

He grabbed her apple bottom and pulled her upward, impaling himself so deeply inside her not even air separated them.

And then they found that beat, that perfect rhythm that was like no other dance. It was purely theirs, something that could not be imitated or duplicated. They refined their step, created new ones without losing a beat.

Sterling didn’t just do the sex thing, he made love to her entire body with his hands, his mouth, with whispers of endearment, words of encouragement, telling her what he wanted, asking what he could give her until it was more than either of them could stand.

They moved faster, rotating hips and locking lips, picking up the beat until they both erupted to
an explosion of tribal drums that pounded and vibrated through every muscle of their bodies.

Ann Marie trembled as Sterling held her tight, burying his face in her neck. He placed tender kisses there even as her insides still quivered, released and contracted around the fullness of him.

Sterling was stunned. He’d lost count of the number of women he’d bedded over the years. For the most part one blended into the other until they all seemed the same. Ann Marie didn’t fit into that category. He’d expected their lovemaking to be a great experience, but this…this was something else. It was exactly what he’d been afraid of all these years. What was he going to do now?

Ann Marie sighed softly. She could still feel him inside her and not only in the physical sense but that place deep inside her soul. The only other person who’d touched her there had been Terrance.

Since the day she walked out on him, she only dreamed that some other man would be able to make her feel the way that Terrance had. She’d come close on occasion and thought for sure that she would finally be able to exorcise Terrance from her mind and body. It had never happened—until tonight. But she dare not cling to this feeling or else fall victim once again to that kind of power.

Slowly she released her legs from around his waist and wiggled from beneath him.

“Are you okay?”

“Mmm, hmm,” she murmured.

Sterling reached over and pushed the damp hair away from her face. Briefly she turned to look at him then glanced away.

Sterling rose up on his elbow and stared down at her profile. “What is it Ann Marie?”

She pushed up from the bed, grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around her diminutive body. “Nothing. Really.”

She walked toward the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Sterling flipped onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. What had just happened? Where had the woman gone that was so hot for him? He almost felt as if she was going to toss some money on the dresser and wish him goodnight. He clenched his jaw.

Maybe it was all for the best, he reasoned. It was never his intention to get involved in the first place. It was just one of those things. Nothing more. But if that’s all it was why did he feel like he wanted so much more?

His gaze shifted in the direction of the bathroom when he heard the shower come on. He sat up in bed, wrapped his arms around his drawn up knees. She
was washing him off her body, but something deep in his gut let him know she would not be able to wash him out of her soul, at least not without a fight.

When Ann Marie emerged from the bathroom she had a towel wrapped around her. She looked everywhere in the room except at Sterling, but that didn’t keep him from watching her. She silently gathered up her clothes and took them to the far side of the spacious bedroom. She kept her back to him as she got dressed.

Sterling watched the scene unfold with disbelief clouding his vision. Was she actually going to walk out—just like that? That was his routine.

Ann Marie stepped into her shoes, still without a word.

“Is this your usual M.O.?” Sterling finally asked.