Voyeur (12 page)

"I can't imagine what you must think of me by now," she said in a rush of honesty. "I guess I seem like I have a split personality. One minute I'm wil ing, the next I'm not. I probably seem like . . . someone in need of medication," she concluded with a giggle and wished she didn't sound so

nervous.

But he stayed cool, sexy, his voice coming low. "You just seem like a woman in need of a healthy dose of
me
.”
Then he lowered a short kiss to her waiting lips.

Only it became a lengthier kiss, because kissing him was so easy— and so simply intimate. After having communicated with him through a

computer for so long, just having his mouth move over hers was like the ultimate connection. Being naked with him in bed was, astonishingly, as

comfortable and cozy as it was wanton and thril ing.

Before she knew it, Braden was reaching for another condom, parting her legs beneath the sheets, and nailing her to the mattress. Like the

previous night, there was an adjustment period to being so very fil ed with him, and also like previously, she heard herself crying out with each thrust he so capably delivered. She wrapped her legs around him and held on tight as her body soaked up the glorious pummeling.

"Want to make you come," he told her and, in one smooth, sweeping move, slid his arms around her and scooped her upward until they both sat in the center of the bed in a close embrace—so close that it stole her breath. Adding that to the position that made him feel infinitely larger inside her, it was al she could do to maintain her composure.

She peered into his eyes—yes, they were brown, a rich, deep color like velvet—and saw him clearly for the first real time. Such passion brimmed in

his gaze that it made it
easy
to be the bad girl he so clearly adored. She buried her fingers in his hair and kissed him wildly, then rocked against him, seeking her release. Her pussy locked tight around his incredible shaft, and she suffered the impression of his cock stretching up inside her to

staggering lengths. "So big in me," she heard herself breathe over him. "So big."

His eyes glimmered wickedly. "Ride me, baby. Ride me hard. I want to watch you come for me again."

She didn't hesitate, yearning only to give him what he wanted. Somehow her cravings had become tied up in
his
desires. Nothing was more

exciting to her than pleasing him. So she moved her body on his, gyrating in energetic circles that made her breasts jiggle against his chest. She

arched, hard, harder, and leaned back to let him rain kisses across the sensitive skin of her neck. Inside her, the glorious fever rose, her breath

coming in frantic rasps, and though she'd not often had sex in the bright daylight, she understood that—as always with Braden— having his eyes on

her was the fuel, the impetus, that would take her to her final destination. It was as if his hot gaze physical y pushed her—higher, higher.

Until she once again came tumbling down with shrieks of sheer pleasure as the harsh sensations of orgasm jolted her. She dug her fingernails into

his shoulders, crying out, "God, I'm coming! I'm coming!"

And then Braden joined her, thrusting up into her harder, deeper, and like last night, lifting her from the bed with his majestic cock. "Me, too, baby—

ah yeah, me, too." She wafted down from the climax in time to watch the ecstasy sweep across his face, only she could see him so much clearer

this morning, and it amazed her to know she'd made him feel so much.

As soon as he opened his eyes, she kissed him spontaneously, then smiled, leaning her forehead against his. "I love watching you come," she

admitted.

He pul ed back slightly to look at her. "Now you see why I enjoyed our little game so much."

She conceded with a shrug. "But this is better—because now I get to watch you, too."

Another short kiss, and Laura's eyes landed on a desk clock across the room,
this
sight delivering her unpleasantly back to reality. "And I wish I could
keep
watching you, but I'm afraid duty cal s."

"Duty?"

"Books to write, deadlines to meet."

He lifted his chin lightly. "Ah." Then glanced down at their bodies, stil joined, before raising his eyes back to hers. "So you're wil ing to give up
this
for
that?"

"Not by choice. But if I don't turn in a book, I don't get paid. And not al of us own fabulous homes al over the map. Some of us only have one tiny apartment in Seattle, and the rent doesn't pay itself." With that, she reluctantly lifted off of him with a long sigh. She didn't like ending this, but she was determined to be practical, not let this man carry her
completely
away from real life.

"I hardly own houses al over the map. This is the only one besides my place in L.A."

"Which is where exactly? Beverly Hil s or something?"

He smirked teasingly. "No, not Beverly Hil s"

"Where then?"

"Malibu," he replied softly but didn’t look even remotely sheepish.

She sighed longingly. "Right on the beach, I’m guessing."

He shrugged. "Hey, if you’re gonna live in Malibu . .."

She laughed, shocked that she'd ended up fucking such a wealthy playboy type. It
so
wasn't her. But then, she'd decided not to
be
her, hadn't she?

Just for now, just for as long as he was here. And she didn't ask how long he planned to stay, not only because she didn't want to appear anxious,

but because decadent, sexual y-free-wheeling Laura didn't need to know. She'd take it as it came, for what it was worth. When it was over, no big

deal. She'd just chalk it up as another life experience. A big one.

She dug beneath the covers, searching for the panties that had been shoved off with such abandon in the night.

"So how's the book going? You never told me."

She glanced over her shoulder to see him stretched out perfect and naked in the bed—the condom long since disposed of in a wastebasket

nearby. She couldn't quite look away from him.

"Good," she said simply. She didn't mention that his entry into her life had somehow kick-started her creativity.

"So your writer's block is gone?"

She nodded. "I guess this .. . change in scenery was just what I needed." Having found her discarded underwear, she slid the bikini panties on, stil in bed.

"Glad I could help. By lending you the house, I mean." He added a wink, and she wondered if he somehow knew her success was about more than

a new view out the window.

"So," she said, "I guess you high-rol er investor types can just flit about the country whenever you feel like it?" She was actual y wondering how it was possible for him to leave behind such high-profile work on a moments notice.

"Nothing happening right now that I can't handle via phone or computer."

She pointed vaguely down toward the first floor. "If you need the computer I’ve been using, I can . . ." What
could
she do? Use the one in her back pocket? "Stop working." She'd hate to do that with her deadline pending and her story zooming along now, but she had to make the offer.

"No worries, snowflake. I brought a laptop. Anything I need to do can be accomplished from there."

"That was thoughtful of you," she said, probably too softly.

"What can I say? I'm a thoughtful kinda guy." They both laughed when she met his wicked gaze, since it seemed clear that his thoughtfulness

definitely fel within the parameters of him also being deadly seductive and slightly domineering.

"So you'l spend your day toppling empires from here?"

He gave his head an easy shake. "Nah, I might have to do a little work, but this trip is mostly pleasure. When you're busy, I'l hit the slopes." She pictured him swooshing down a black diamond like a pro—he seemed like the kind of guy who was probably skil ed at everything he did. "I'l give

my friend Tommy a cal and see if he can tear himself away from his work for a few hours. He lives here year-round in the next house up the

mountain"—he motioned in that direction—"and the guy's always looking for an excuse to ski, so he won't turn me down."

It was good to hit the snow—and prime time, too, smack in the middle of February. A little cold—Braden sometimes preferred spring skiing more—

but the day was bright and clear, the runs wel groomed, and he felt ful of energy as they boarded the Highline lift to the top of Vail Mountain.

"You're serious?" Tommy said as soon as the lift chair left the ground. "You came here to seduce some chick you never met before just because she's staying at your house?"

It was the last thing Braden had had a chance to tel him before heading down the Blue Ox run, a kil er double-black that led straight back to the lift.

"And because she's hot," Braden clarified.

"How did you know she was hot?"

"Webcam."

"You watched her on the fucking webcam?"

Braden turned to face his friend. Tufts of Tommy's blond hair stuck out beneath his hat at different angles, framing an expression brimming with

accusation. Put like that, it sounded pretty heinous.

He answered truthful y. Sort of. "I was just checking in to make sure she got there okay. You know I do that sometimes." He left out the part about her touching herself. Not so much because he was a nice guy, but because he thought it possible Tommy and Laura could meet before this little soiree

came to an end, and he was
at least
nice enough not to embarrass her like that. Some girls he'd known wouldn't mind if Braden told another guy every detail of their sex, but Laura would
definitely
mind, and despite stil wanting to draw her even further out of her conservative little shel , he could respect an unspoken desire for some privacy.

"And she was hot enough for you to get on a plane and come knocking on her door?" Tommy asked

"My door," he clarified again, this time leaving out that he hadn't knocked.

"Stil , though, dude, you promised the girl your house and you just show up like that?"

Braden flashed him a look. "Since when did you become the morality police?" Usual y, Tommy was al about good sex and would go to extreme

lengths to get it.

His ski buddy shrugged in his parka. "Since I figured out I'm a jerk most of the time, I guess."

Braden blinked. What the hel ? "What are you talking about?"

Tommy sighed. "You remember Marianne?"

A pretty little ski bunny Tommy had met on the slopes at Copper Mountain last winter. When Braden had come for a month in the summer, Tommy

had stil been dating her, but given how quickly he typical y blew through women, Braden had actual y forgotten about her. "Yeah, sure."

"I cheated on her." Tommy kept his eyes straight ahead as he spoke.

"Oh." He'd never condemn a friend for that, but he thought it a stupid move. As a rule, Braden
didn't
cheat. Because Braden also didn't commit.

He'd figured out by the time he'd graduated from col ege that it wasn't for him—he didn't like feeling obligated to anyone, and he didn't especial y

believe in monogamy. He did believe that if you chose to be monogamous, you should damn wel stay that way, but he'd never put himself in that

particular position. "Let me guess. She found out."

"Yep. And it hurt her—bad." Tommy shook his head helplessly. "I don't even know why I did it—the other girl wasn't even al that hot. It was almost like . . . out of habit or something. Which was idiotic."

Braden had never heard Tommy be self-deprecating before—the guy was normal y confident and carefree. He hardly knew what to make of it. "And

the moral of the story is?"

"It was a huge mistake. I
loved
Marianne. I mean, I was real y in love with her, dude."

Braden's jaw dropped. Like him, Tommy didn't "fal in love." "You? In love? With a girl?"

Tommy shrugged. "The end of an era, I know. But the point is—I fel for her, I did something dumb, and I lost her. And I regret it like hel . Happened six months ago, and I can't seem to shake it. Haven't looked at another woman since."

"You're kidding me." Ladies' man Tommy hadn't looked at a woman in six months? The sky should start fal ing any minute now.

"I wish. Sometimes chicks try to pick me up in bars, or if I'm hanging out in a lodge at the end of a ski day, and my dick wants me to pay attention, but I just feel too shitty about what I did to Marianne."

"And she won’t forgive you? I mean, maybe if she knew you were stil missing her six months later, it would change her mind."

Tommy gave his head a short, decisive shake. "She's moved on. Got a new guy. Engaged and everything. Ran into her sister at the Mexican

restaurant down in Edwards last week, and she told me."

"Then she's over you, over the hurt. Doesn't that mean you can move on, too?"

"It
should
mean that, I guess. So far, though, I stil feel shitty."

Braden let out a sigh. "Who
are
you? I don’t even know you, man."

Tommy remained despondent. "I guess I just never realized how much a girl could hurt over something like that until I saw the way she reacted. And until I ended up getting hurt, too."

"And al this has
what
to do with me showing up here?" Braden asked. Shocked as he'd been by Tommy's confession, he'd been waiting to get to that particular point for the whole lift ride, which was nearing an end. The lift chair was fast approaching the departure point at the top of the hil .

"Wel , it’s none of my business, but... I guess I'm just thinking more about girls' feelings than I used to. And it seems pretty presumptuous to just show up unannounced when she came here for privacy. I mean, for Christ's sake, what did she do when she saw you?"

"She fucked my brains out," Braden said smoothly as he stood from the moving chair to glide down the exit ramp, ready for the next run.

Part of Laura wanted to kil herself for letting him go. She'd had him here, in bed with her, naked—the most physical y perfect man she'd ever known