Through The Lens (Creative Hearts Book 1) (6 page)

“No, I’m not, but thank you,” she said softly.

At the sound of her voice, Ale stopped shooting as if coming out of a trance. “Yes, you are. So very beautiful.”

She watched, heart skittering, as he put the camera down at his feet and came toward her.
 

This kiss wasn’t punishing and it wasn’t wet and it wasn’t to shut her up. And this time Mika welcomed the whimper that escaped her lips. She was alive and whole and in his arms. She melted into him. He placed his hands on either side of her face and lifted her mouth to his, taking her in more fully. He hunched his shoulders, angling his body over hers and she lifted up to meet him, brushing her breasts across his chest, her already sensitive nipples hardening even more with the heated contact of his hard body. She thought she heard a low groan from him, and a thrill of power surged through her. With that, he ran his tongue across her lips, coaxing them open—as if they needed much persuasion. She was finally here, in the midst of the dream. There was no way she was not enjoying every moment of it.

Ale stood over her, tall and hot and so very powerful, surrounding her in every sense of the word. His tongue plunged in, challenging her to back away from its swift stroking. But she came back, raking him with her own firm strokes and pulling another groan of pleasure from the back of his throat that caused an intense rush of desire to flame through her body. Yes, to have that power for just one blissful moment…

One of Ale’s hands moved down to cup Mika’s behind and the other went to work running a thumb around her tightly pebbled nipple. The feeling almost sent her over the edge, and her eyes fluttered open, confirming the fact that yes, this was Ale—and yes, it was all real. She let out a small gasp and his eyes opened, too, meeting hers. For a moment they stopped, both breathing hard, lips swollen, eyes glazed and full of questions.
 

Mika stared. Wanting to say so much but not trusting herself to say anything and destroy the moment. Instead, she walked over with all the confidence she could muster on her unsteady legs to the equipment bag and pulled out a thin blanket.

Ale just looked on in clear shock. “Are you sure?” His voice was a hoarse whisper. “I- I don’t want to mess this up. I don’t want to mess us up.”

This time it was Mika who couldn’t help but grin at the ever-confident Alejandro’s uncertainty. “Of course I’m not sure. But don’t worry, this is just a fantasy. Consider it a dream for this magical place.” She spread the blanket on the ground under the tree.

Then Mika walked over, pushed gently at his chest and eased him to the soft ground.
 

She straddled Ale, coming down on his hard erection while kissing him fully and deeply. Moving down, she licked his corded neck then started a wicked trail down his chest until he stilled her.
 

He gently pulled her back up to look her deep in the eyes. “But are you really sure?”

Her eyes closed against his question, the unwanted chill of apprehension running through her body. Was she sure? Here he was, Alejandro. The man she had wanted for so long, finally here in her arms. This moment would change them and their relationship forever. She inwardly shuddered. But did it really matter? She would change the game once she told him about the job at
Stylist
. They would no longer be boss and employee. He wouldn’t have to feel guilty or bound to her in any way. And she wouldn’t have to be around to see the next woman come along. The chill threatened to become a full-blown storm. Mika locked her eyes with Ale’s.

“I’m very sure.”
 

His brows knit together as he looked at her way too closely. She then leaned back from him and let out a sigh, settling back to rest on his thighs. “Okay, let’s get this out in the open. I’m on the pill and I’m clean, having been fully tested since my last,” she rolled her eyes, “relationship.”
 

Mika couldn’t help but note the tenseness that came to his body and the tightening of his jaw. Hell, at the mention of Eric, she got tense too, but it was nice to see that Ale was sweet enough to take notice, though she wasn’t going to get all mushy and put much stock in it. She quirked a brow at him and continued. “And I know you are, too, because I book all your doctor appointments and thanks to our, um, open and frank relationship and your lack of shame, I know all your results. You’re nothing if not careful. Controlled. So am I.”
 

It was Ale’s turn to raise a brow but Mika kept talking, refusing to be intimidated by him. She was getting this out. “This is why we’ve lasted so long working together, if you ask me. Now, is that little background check good enough for you? Has the moment been suitably spoiled or would you like to go deeper into playing twenty questions as if we’re on some sort of jungle speed date type of thing?”
 

Ale looked at Mika for one beat, then another. Suddenly, she was afraid she had ruined the moment. Crap on her and her big mouth. Then his gaze went deeper into her eyes, his own darkening and turning more seductive. His gaze moved to her lips, then further down to her breasts, then back up. “Spoiled? If anything, I’m impressed and even more aroused. You really are perfect in your efficiency.”

“And as we both know,” she continued, “in the small bag’s inside compartment there’s a stash of condoms always kept there for locations shoots.”

Ale’s nostrils flared. “Must you always be so in control?”

She lowered her lashes. “No, I thought that was you.”

His arm snaked out quickly pulling her back down to him in a forceful jerk and kissing her deeply. The thrill of it sending immediate waves of pleasure from his lips to hers that radiated in waves throughout her limbs. “Yes, but look at who’s on top,” he growled into her mouth before quickly flipping her over onto her back.

His hands were strong and firm, but his lips were gentle and teasing, blazing a trail down her neck and between the valley of her breasts. He reached up and untied the strings of her bikini from around her neck, setting her breasts free and easing his way as his tongue started to explore. He lazily sucked at one nipple while teasing the other with his nimble fingers. Then he switched, bringing the other into his mouth with long, drawn-out strokes.

Mika gasped, running her hands through his dark hair, guiding his head back and forth from one breast to the other, enjoying the sweet torment from that clever tongue.
 

Lord help her, but she was quickly growing to love that tongue of his, she thought, as he came back up and kissed her so deeply she felt like she was falling into a trance, becoming one with the trees and the earth. Her legs widened beneath him, and he lowered his lips once again. His tongue teased her skin with tantalizing strokes, moving from her ear to the side of her neck to her collarbone. The thrills it sent through her body made her writhe beneath him. And there was something else, like whimpering, that she’d never recalled doing before. Then his perfect fingers started to trail down.
 

Almost instinctively, she started to close her legs, but she let out a slow breath as Ale grumbled in her ear, “No, baby, open for me.”
 

With the rumble of his voice, her legs seemed to spread on their own as he moved her bikini bottom aside and dipped one long finger between her already wet folds. He swirled it around her hard peak, causing her to shudder with need. Then he shifted, positioning himself over her, and in a quick motion, her bikini bottom was off. She watched with rapt anticipation while he leaned back and took off his own shorts, and she licked her lips.
 

Ale grinned.
 

Damn him for noticing, but he was even more, well,
everything
than she had imagined. He came back down on her gently, but like the forest surrounding them, his lips and hands were everywhere. Mika already knew this would be too much, but there was no turning back now. This was Alejandro, and she would have him. She wrapped her hands around him and felt him shiver. He was so full and thick. Almost impossibly so. But she was ready for him and had been for quite some time. Years? She clamped down on her mind and threw that thought to the back of her brain. She must stay in the here and now. And in the here and now, Ale was about to give her all she’d ever wanted.

But to her frustration, he made her wait a little longer. She arched her back and stretched out her hands, filling her fingers with the grass at her sides as she felt Ale’s warm tongue suddenly between her thighs. Yes, he was everywhere. Flicking, teasing, sucking, swirling. Suddenly she was cresting higher and higher, hitting that peak. She let out a cry she didn’t know she had in her as wave upon wave took over her body.

“It’s all right,” Ale said, his voice floating through the air. “I’ve got you.”

Her hands moved across his wide muscular back, down to his well-toned backside as he now hovered over her, holding her tightly while she came. Her breathing slowed, and she looked up, seeing him over her with the hazy sunlight silhouetting his perfect form, the huge tree protecting their moment. The eyes she’d seen and known for the past three years—dark, purposeful and intense—now latched onto hers and held the promise of something more. Something Mika dared not even dream slipped into her fantasy. It was then that he wrapped one arm around her waist, lifted her slightly and plunged deep into her.
 

Her head arched back, and she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist as he filled her to the hilt, not even giving her a chance to get over the first wave of ecstasy that crashed into her before he began to come at her for another round of pleasure.

He moved slow and easy at first, the two of them getting used to each other, but only moments after she caught the rhythm, he licked at her lips and flipped them both around.

Mika gasped. Though she was on top again, Ale was the one still controlling the momentum. Reaching his body up, he brought her into a deep and powerful kiss, sending spirals of pleasure to her core as he rocked below her. He pulled back, teased at her breasts with gentle strokes, continuing his soft torment and causing desire to spool once again low in her belly.

He thrust deeper and deeper, forcing her to hold on tighter to make her strokes match his own. Suddenly he grabbed her hips hard and pulled her down on him, somehow impossibly filling her even more. And like a dam breaking, she was exploding in a rush once again, but this time he was there too, breaking with her just as forcefully.
 

Mika couldn’t believe it. She collapsed on his chest breathing hard, the thump of his heartbeat a drum against her ears. There she was, an animal in the middle of a jungle with this man, this beast, just as she’d dreamed she would be.
 

Good thing, she told herself, it was just a fantasy.

Chapter 4

As Mika’s eyelids fluttered open, she realized the sun had shifted and was no longer high overhead. It now streamed down on them through the lower hanging branches of what she would forever think of as the most beautiful tree on the planet.
 

She stayed quiet, careful not to break the spell and stir Ale. Did that really just happen? She mentally snorted. Clearly it did, judging by the very naked man who currently had her in a full body hold. Her head was resting on Alejandro’s solid but soft arm. He was behind her back but still partially covering her with the weight of his body. The feel of his thickness against her thigh was an erotic confirmation of what they had done.

“You’re awake.” His voice came out in a low tumble, the vibration sending a thrill through her body.

She had trouble finding her voice. How does a person speak normally after such an episode? One that you know changed everything forever. “Yes,” she finally croaked out, annoyed with the tinge of nervousness that escaped.
 

Alejandro ran his hand up her thigh and planted a soft kiss on her shoulder. “Good, because as wonderful as this is...” he replaced his lips with his tongue and gave her a lazy lick, making her shiver... “and delicious as you are, I think we should head back. I wouldn’t want us to get stuck out here once it gets dark. The next time I’ll come more prepared. Maybe have Tong pack us a tent.”

She stilled. Next time? She let the thought wander a moment. But then a breeze ran across her body and she looked around. For the first time, she became fully aware of the fact that she was laying completely naked outside in the open air with Alejandro. She felt something brush across her exposed thigh and shot up without warning, shaking her body and running her hands though her already disheveled hair. This may look like Eden, but it wasn’t. Real life was just around the corner. “Ew, you’re right. Anything could be crawling on us.”

Alejandro was grinning up at her with a look of complete amusement.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, not bothering to hide her growing annoyance.

“You are. Jumping around, looking so cute in all your glory.”

Heat instantly flamed throughout her body as embarrassment took over, and she got a mental image of herself flapping around in the nude like some sort of naked walrus. She used one hand to cover her naked bottom and the other to cover her breasts as she spun around, looking for her bikini.

Ale started to chuckle, as if she was putting on this show for his pleasure.
Great.
She turned to give him an admonishing look then stopped short, noticing the sparkle in his eyes. The easy, intimate way he looked at her. She couldn’t help but warm under his gaze. He got up with a long stretch, completely unfazed by the jungle or his own nakedness. Mika felt her blood rush to her head. Where were her damned clothes?