Winner Takes All (A Full Length Erotic Romance Novel) (16 page)

“She’s my
ex
-wife. And I did. Very much.”

She swallowed hard, not sure if she should continue with the
question she wanted to ask. But she did anyway. “Do you still love her?”

“No. Definitely not. Five years and all her betrayals cured me of
that sickness for good. I like to think that I’ve even gotten past all the bad
things that happened between her and me.”

“Are you sure?” She bit her lip, watching his eyes for any flicker
of deception.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything else in my life. That woman
is the past.”

Sasha felt the color climb in her cheeks at his simple yet
powerful statement. At his eyes staring meaningfully into hers. “That’s good to
know.”

A past marriage revealed and dismissed in one conversation. How
efficient. A smile touched the corner of Sasha’s mouth. How very Damien Taylor.

“What’s making you smile like that?” He paused with his knife and
fork held over his plate.

“You, of course.”

“Wonderful. I was hoping you’d say that.” He sliced a piece of
chicken and forked it into his mouth.

“Just wanting me to say the obvious, huh?” she grinned at him.

“Sometimes the obvious still needs to be said.”

They smiled at each other across the table as their silverware
made music with their plates. A desperate sort of happiness bloomed in Sasha’s
chest. She put her knife and fork down. For a moment, she had to just sit and
sip the iced tea while the warm feeling for Damien washed over her. She’d never
felt this way about anyone before, but she knew without a doubt what it was.
The feeling was miraculous.

After lunch, Sasha left the kitchen with Damien to go for a walk
in the gardens of the large 19th century stone house. They didn’t hold hands as
they made their way through the lush grounds, but anyone seeing them together
couldn’t mistake them for being other than what they were. A couple. Sasha felt
like she was on parade, on display. But she understood the necessity of it.

Her eyes flickered to Damien who walked quietly at her side, his
gaze on the green vastness ahead of them. The sun turned his hair to gold,
gilding his handsome features, and filtered light through his pale eyes. This
was her man. Hers. How had she gotten so lucky?

“Have I ever shown you my mother’s maze at the back of the house?”
Damien suddenly asked.

He lifted his gaze from the rolling green hills in front of them
and turned the full power of his intense gaze on her. Sasha quietly caught her
breath.

“No. You haven’t.”

“I’ve been remiss, indeed,” he said. He took her hand and draped
it over his arm. “This way.” He grinned.

They walked along the paved path of the large house, through a
rose garden with a sweet and moist smell, around the side of the tall and
massive old stone house that showed signs of its age but stood as firm and
strong as ever. They walked for what felt like at least a half a mile, Damien
telling her how his mother had loved the maze that his father had built for
her. How she always went there whenever she had a lot on her mind. It had been
her sanctuary right up until she had to leave the house and move into the city
where she could be close to hospitals and her doctor who could see to her
fragile health.

Then, they finally stood at the entrance to the maze. Sasha has
expected a box of hedges, cold and English, like she’d often seen on
television. Those mazes had never appealed to her and had been frankly a little
creepy. But maze was very different. It was colorful and pretty; even
welcoming. At the entrance was a babbling fountain, the water trickling down
into an artificial stone pond with brightly colored koi swimming lazily under
the afternoon sun.

“They look delicious,” she said to him with laughter in her voice.

“Sacrilege!” He chuckled. “My mother loves these damn fish.”

They stepped through the entrance of the maze that, even in the
heat of summer, flowered with brilliantly flowering crepe myrtle trees. White.
Lavender. Pink. Unlike a traditional English maze, which Sasha had no
experience with in real life, the walls of the Taylor maze was made of
flowering bushes. Bright purple overflowed into lush blues, exciting yellows
interconnected with sensual reds. Not creepy or frightening at all.

Overhead, flowering trees and vines grew toward each other,
forming thin canopies the sun filtered through. The air smelled sweet and an
afternoon breeze whispered over them, stirring Sasha’s hair around her
shoulders. She drew in a deep breath and smiled.

“It’s very pretty in here,” she said.

“You say it like you’re surprised.” He looked down at her smiling.
In that moment, Damien seemed as if he belonged among all these beautiful
flowers, a fae lord.

“It’s always a surprise to see beauty in this world,” she said.

Sasha shrugged, pulled away from him to walk in front of him. The
stone path crunched beneath her boots. Up ahead, nearly a dozen butterflies
fluttered through the air, landing then winging from a cluster of purple, star
shaped blooms. Sasha stopped, watching them. Amazed.

When had she ever taken the time to appreciate something so small
and so beautiful? As a girl growing up in group homes and other compromised
environments, she heard other girls talking about going to butterfly gardens or
to see flowers in the park or even fireworks, but those things had never
interested her. She thought they were stupid, not for people like her who had
only gotten harder and uglier things from life. But looking at the butterflies
and feeling Damien’s warm presence behind her, she realized that these soft and
pretty things were for her too. She could appreciate and love them as well as a
pampered princess.

But, she would never have done this on her own. Sasha turned to
face her lover.

“Thank you for suggesting this,” she said, tilting her face up to
him.

“You’re welcome,” he said softly. “But you know I had an ulterior
motive.”

The corner of her mouth quirked up. “Really? What’s that?”

Instead of answering, he reached for her. Kissed her. She
surrendered to his easy passion and the joy bubbling in her blood. Under the
hot sun, his mouth pressed firmly and sweetly against hers. She stood on her
tip-toes, twined her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply in return. Her
head spun from the pleasure of his touch.

Damien lifted his mouth from hers, leaving a breath of space
between their lips. “It’s a must, isn’t it? Celebrating our brand new and out
in the open relationship with an open air fuck.” His mouth against hers, took
the sting of the profanity away. Then his hips pressed into hers and she forgot
about everything but his warmth. How she felt. How much more of him she wanted
to feel.

Their kiss built slowly. A leisurely stroke of tongues and lips
and breath that grew into heat and passion and fingers clenched desperately
into skin. Damien’s cock pressed against her. His hands dropped down to grab
her butt through her jeans. She sighed, bit his lips, raked her fingers through
his already wild hair. Her nipples hardened under her shirt, rubbing against
his chest through the layers of clothes of between them. She wanted his hands
on her skin. She wanted his mouth on her. His cock inside her. She drew back from
him, her breath coming heavily.

“Wait,” she said.

Without rushing, Sasha unbuttoned her shirt, unhooked her bra, and
got completely undressed for Damien. His eyes were hot on her body, almost
black with desire for her. Suddenly, under the sun and the intensity of his
gaze, she felt shy. New to loving. They’d never done this before. Loved in the
open where anyone could find them and it would be all right. Here, there was no
secret. No one to be careful of. No one to say she couldn’t have Damien, or that
he couldn’t have her. They were together and now everyone knew.

The breath trembled from her mouth. She felt... vulnerable because
of this new openness.

Although she’d been naked before him dozens of time, had had his
body inside hers, his mouth kissing her everyone, suddenly she felt shy. A
blush climbed into her cheeks and she hunched her shoulders, hiding her
nipples, used her hands to cover her mound.

He watched her for a moment with an indecipherable expression. “Do
you regret this?” he asked, not coming closer.

His erection pressed against his jeans. But he made no move to
touch her, no move to find relief from the confining trousers. Instead his eyes
were soft on hers, questioning. Understanding.

“No,” Sasha said softly. “But I am a little scared.”

“Don’t be,” he said. “Everything will be okay. You are an
amazingly strong woman. We are even stronger together. We’ll protect each other
from anything potentially dangerous coming our way. Don’t be frightened. Just
be with me.”

Then he reached out for her, a hand touching her face, stroking
her cheek, down her throat. Her protective hands fell away from her crotch, her
shoulders dipped, and she felt herself become soft again, ready to love him
again in all the ways that she wanted to and that they both deserved.

“Love me,” she said softly.

He put his arms around her waist and drew her to him. He dropped
kisses on her shoulder, down her arms, onto her sun-warmed chest. “It would be
my pleasure.”

She melted as he pressed his lips to her skin, nibbled at her, sucked,
and then smoothed the sharp pricks of sensation with his tongue. They stood in
the middle of the maze with the sounds of nature around them, the sun filtering
down through the wild canopy of honeysuckle and jasmine vines above. His
clothed body against her sleek nakedness felt deliciously decadent, sensual.
Soft noises left her throat as he caressed her back, the bare flesh of her ass,
her breasts. Her sex plumped between her thighs, her nipples tingled.

Damien twisted a hand in her hair, pulling her head back, sucked
on her throat. The pain plumped the lips of her pussy even more. She moaned and
widened her legs to his seeking hands.

Wetness. Sweet. Aching. Hot. His fingers circling her clit,
teasing, pushing her desire higher. Then the fingers plunged inside her.

“Damien....”

Her hands latched onto the lapels of his blazer, clutching fast as
her entire body heated for him. She leaned into him and he took her
passion-drunk weight effortlessly. His fingers exploring between her legs,
playing in her pussy. More teasing, the wet sucking sounds of his fingers
inside her, fucking her. Sasha felt the orgasm rising in her, plucking hard at
her sensitive skin. His palm pressed up against her clit with each deep thrust
of his fingers. She moaned his name.

“Yes.” She clung harder to him. “Yes….”

A fierce fire claimed her. Then she was crying out his name,
sagging in his arms.

“Already, love?” He looked down at her with heavy-lidded eyes,
teasing. Pleased.

“It’s not my fault you’re good at this.” She felt drunk on his
touch, on the sun.

He lifted her in his arms and she squealed at the suddenness of
being suspended in the air. Damien found a stone bench, sank down into it, and
settled her onto his lap. His cock was large and firm under her ass, demanding
its own satisfaction. She straddled him, her bare feet on either side of him on
the bench, her bare pussy smearing the denim pressed tightly over his cock.
Sasha pressed into him deliberately this time, bumping her clit against the
rough denim again and again, biting her lip as the electric sensations tripped
through her.

“You’re trying to drive me crazy,” he murmured, his eyes
fever-bright with desire.

She chuckled. “The car hasn’t even started yet, baby.”

Sasha reached for his back pocket and he eased up slightly in the
bench to allow her the access to his wallet that she wanted. She took out a
condom, dropped the wallet on the bench. He watched her intently, no impatience
in his gaze, just wanting to see what she would do. In that moment, she loved
him even more. Sasha kissed him. She tasted the remnants of ice tea on his
tongue, the faint smokiness from the chicken they’d shared. His hands settled
on her waist, his hips moved in the bench, making needful circles under her.
His breath quickened. As she kissed him, she ripped open the condom package.
Unbuckled, unbuttoned, and unzipped him. Damien made a rough sound into her
mouth as his cock sprang free. Sasha leaned back to look at it, to admire the
thick length of him in the sun, the hectic pink cock against the blue denim.
She stroked him, a long and leisurely movement of her hand that made him
swallow hard and buck in her grip.

“You’re definitely trying to drive me crazy,” he grated.

His fingers gripped her butt tight, released, and then clenched
her skin again. Pain. Release. Pain again. As he watched, she slowly rolled the
condom over his penis, the full crown already weeping for her, over the thick
length that she longed to feel inside her. With the latex on him, she eased up
in the bench, kneeling with her thighs spread wide on either side of his hips.
She met his eyes. Gripped the tender stalk of him.

Then slowly lowered herself onto his cock. Her eyes fluttered shut
as his smooth heat slid inside her. Filling her. When she opened her eyes
again, his were already open and watching her. Sasha’s heart knocked almost
painfully in her chest. The desire throbbed low in her. The pressure of his
cock inside her dripping pussy feeding it. Making her heart beat even faster.