You're All I Need (17 page)

He moaned, “You feel perfect,
chérie.
”

Smiling, Tia had to admit that he did, too.

They climbed the stairs to heaven together, giving and taking love, moving together, soaring together as one until Tia couldn't hold back any longer. Her legs began to tremble and her heart sped up. She held on to her composure until he reached between their bodies and stroked his finger along her slit. She exploded, crying out his name a second time.

He followed her lead, climbing a step or two higher and then crashing. They floated to earth together. Chris took her face between his hands and kissed her deeply. “I love you,
chérie.
Thank you for letting me love you.”

Caressing his cheek with her fingertips, Tia answered, “You're welcome. It was everything I expected and more.”

Chris settled down next to her, pulling her into his arms. She felt the warmth of perspiration on his chest against her breasts.
“Je t'aime.”

Tia threw an arm around his middle and snuggled close to his side. She inhaled the aroma of pure male and sex. “I'm going to take a nap, and then I want to do that again,” she told him.

Chuckling, he hugged her against his side. “We will,
chérie
. We will,” he promised.

Sighing, Tia shut her eyes and relaxed. “Good.”

The insistent ringing of the telephone pulled Tia from her wonderful cocoon of sleep. Partially awake, she fumbled for the receiver. What she encountered was warm, male flesh.

Tia opened her eyes in time to see Chris roll away and reach for the phone. She moaned in protest at losing the connection of warm, naked flesh against naked flesh.

“Bonjour? Bonjour?”
His brows bunched together as he waited for a response and then returned the phone to its cradle.

“Wrong number?” she asked.

Chris shook his head. “No. They hung up. They didn't like the accent.”

“Oh, well. I like the accent and everything else about you.” Tia shrugged, craving contact with his warm, solid frame and scooting closer to his side.

“Good morning,
chérie.
In case you've forgotten, I love you,” he whispered with a smile on his lips. Eyes twinkling, he leaned down to kiss her and caress her lips while stroking her face with the tips of his fingers.

Tia's smile turned into a full grin as she felt her body leap to life from his innocent touch. “Good morning to you, too. And in case you've forgotten, I love you, too.”

“Never!” he promised with another mind-altering kiss.

Stroking the long, lean line of his back with her fingertips, Tia returned his kiss. Her body quivered as his hand slid up her inner thigh, stopping inches from her hair-covered mound.

As he leaned down for another kiss, the phone rang again. Chris picked up the receiver. This time he switched to English. “'Ello?” He paused, listening to the person on the other end. “Just a moment.” Chris handed the receiver to Tia. “It's for you.”

Naturally,
Tia thought, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling.
After all, it is my town house.
She put the phone to her ear and said, “Hello?”

“Well, I didn't expect that.”

Tia's heart almost stopped. Heat burned her cheeks and raced up the back of her neck. She reached for the sheet and draped it over her body, turning a little away from Chris. Great! Of all the people to call her…Tia fought the urge to duck under the sheet. “Hello, Momma.”

Oh, man! This is so embarrassing. No! Stop this! I have nothing to be ashamed of. I'm an adult. This is my house,
she chastened.
I pay the cost to be the boss. Yeah, but she's still my mother. Momma knows I'm grown, and what I do in my bedroom isn't her business.

Frowning with concern, Chris settled on his elbows, stroking her cheek with his finger. “Something wrong?”

Tia shook off his hand and placed a quieting hand to her lips.

“It sounds like you have company. Did I catch you at a bad time?” Mrs. Edwards stated with a touch of sarcasm in her voice.

“No. Chris came over for breakfast. But I've got the stove on. Let me call you back a little later,” Tia improvised, crossing her fingers in a childhood gesture she used whenever she spun a tale.

“No can do,” her mother stated. “This will only take a minute. I won't be home for a good while. Your father and I are driving to Chicago for a couple of days, and we won't be back until late Sunday evening. So I'm going to say what I have to say and let you get back to your breakfast.”

“Okay. Go ahead.” All Tia wanted was to get off the phone and end this embarrassing moment.

“Yours and Nia's birthday is coming up. I'd like to have a birthday dinner for you at home with your brothers. Put it on your calendar.”

“Sure. When?”

Chris flipped onto his stomach next to her. He watched her with a sensual glimmer in his eyes. Suddenly, his expression changed from sated to mischievous. He grinned at her, lifted the sheet, and ducked under it.

Tia stared, lips pressed together.
What is he up to?
she silently wondered. His naked derriere sat exposed in the air. Suddenly, she understood what Chris had in mind. Tiny kisses began at her knees and moved closer and closer to her center. He palmed one of her breasts in one hand, toying with her nipple with his fingers. She gasped softly.

“You all right?” her mother asked.

“Yeah. The bacon grease popped on my hand,” Tia lied as an inferno caught fire in a different location. She grabbed Chris's wrist with her free hand and tried to pry it away from her body. He refused to budge.

“Be careful,” Mrs. Edwards warned. “You've got delicate skin. I don't want you hurting yourself.”

“I won't.”

She rolled onto her side in an attempt to dislodge his hand. Chris compensated by rolling toward her. He moved up her body, returning his attention to her breast. He stroked the other nipple with his tongue, licking it as if it were a sucker, starting under the sensitive flesh and slowly moving up and over until he'd tasted the complete bud. He circled it with his tongue, causing Tia to move restlessly as a flicker of heat burst into a flame. After a moment, he took the brown button into his mouth and sucked strongly on it. Instantly, her body responded and rose off the bed. Moaning, Tia cupped her hand over the mouthpiece as she twisted back and forth on the bed. She was so involved with what Chris was doing to her that she almost missed her mother's next comment.

“I've got to check with your twin,” Mrs. Edwards explained. “Dinner will probably be next weekend after she closes her shop for the night. You know, there's another way to do this. How does Sunday afternoon work for you? That way, we don't have to worry about that damn shop, and your brothers are always available on Sunday. I like that idea much better. How about you?”

She panted softly. This man was driving her crazy. No matter how she turned, he followed. The pleasure was excruciating. She wanted it to stop, and yet she didn't. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. “That'll work. Sounds good.”

“Good. We have a plan.”

Not sure if she could hold on any longer, she waited.
Please, Momma, hang up,
she begged silently. She couldn't take much more of Chris's taunting.

Without a word, Chris's physical assault ended. With a swift kiss to her belly button, he scooted from under the sheet, hopped off the bed, and started for the door. At the entrance, he turned, winked, and then disappeared down the hall.

With a sigh of relief, Tia fell back on the pillows. Thankful, but unfulfilled, she lay there with the phone to her ear. He had stopped. She was happy, right? Or was she?

“I'll get back with you once I've talked to your sister and brothers.”

“Okay.”

“And, young lady?”

Tia hated that tone. Throughout her childhood, nothing good ever followed that phrase. “Yes?”

“We'll talk about Mr. Frenchman real soon. It's time for a reality check,” Mrs. Edwards warned.

Dreading this conversation, Tia shut her eyes. “Yeah, we do need to talk. Give me a call when you get back. Have fun in Chicago. We haven't done lunch or gone shopping in a while.”

“We used to do something every weekend. I wonder what happened. Oh, I remember. Mr. Frenchman came along.”

“Bye, Momma. You and Daddy have a safe and fun trip.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Tia disconnected the call and returned the phone to the cradle. She really didn't want to talk with her mother about Chris. Life didn't always present a person with choices. Chris was part of her life now, and Momma needed to accept him. Hopefully, her dislike of Chris would change and she would accept him into the family.

The object of her thoughts strolled into the bedroom and scooped Tia into his arms.

“Hey!” she exclaimed. “Where are you taking me?”

“You'll see.”

He headed out of the bedroom and down the hall to the bathroom. As he pushed open the door with his foot, steam from the shower met their naked bodies.

“Oh!” she exclaimed as Chris strolled into the room, pushed back the shower curtain, and deposited her in the bathtub. The warm water sprinkled over her. He followed her into the shower and pulled the curtain closed, cocooning them in their own private little world.

Without uttering a word, he reached for her, pulling her against his body. His head dipped and he took her lips in an overwhelming kiss. Their tongues dueled as the water cascaded over them.

Chris moved away and grabbed the shower puff. He squeezed out a generous portion of shower gel and rubbed the puff to a frothy head. He stretched out her arm and ran the soapy puff up and down her wet skin, repeating the gesture with her other arm. Before long, he'd washed her entire body, paying close attention to the curly hair at the junction between her legs. With an encouraging hand, he moved her forward as the sprays of water rinsed away the soap.

Chris smiled, running an admiring gaze over her body. Tia grew warm as his eyes stopped at her breasts and lingered. He moved close and took her face between his hands, and then he nibbled along her jawline until he reached her mouth. He parted her lips with his tongue and took another kiss. His tongue swept across hers, tasting and touching. Tia couldn't get enough. She moved closer, rubbing her body against his. After a moment, Chris smiled and said, “You know what I really want to do?”

Panting, she answered, “No. What?”

“I want to taste you.”

Tia's eyes grew large. All the air rushed out of her. This had never happened to her before. Worried, she studied Chris.
Was he serious?
she wondered. Tia had her doubts, but Chris had been such a wonderful, sensual lover that she couldn't refuse him.

“Trust me,” he said, nipping at the sensitive cord of her neck. He made a trail of damp, openmouthed kisses down her shoulder to her breast. Like earlier, he licked her nipple, circling the brown nub with his tongue before taking it into his mouth.

His hand moved lower, cupping her warmth and slipping a finger between the lips. Chris took the bud between his fingers and rubbed. Tia almost lifted off the ground.

“Hold on,” he warned. Chris wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping her on her feet.

Tia sighed as her legs quivered. She became seriously concerned that her legs wouldn't support her.

His tongue was doing wonderful things: caressing, kissing, and sucking her breast. He let her nipple slip from his lips before dropping to his knees. The spray from the shower head flattened his blond locks against his skull.

Focused on his goal, Chris ignored the water and circled her navel with his tongue. He hovered near her feminine core. His hand stroked her rear cheeks, cupping the flesh as he urged her forward. Tia tensed, feeling the heat, considering what Chris was about to do. He gently parted her legs and moved between them. Chris drew in a deep breath. “You smell wonderful.”

Ever so lightly, he flicked his tongue across her bud.

Tia trembled against his tongue.
Oh, man!
Her hands curled into his hair. She wasn't sure she could handle this type of intimacy.

Chris gazed up at her and smiled. “Excellent. You taste so sweet. But I want more,” he said. “Much more.” He proceeded to latch on to her nub and drink from her essence. He held her firmly as the onslaught from his tongue began, making it almost impossible for Tia to stand. She leaned against the tile wall, resting her head as the sensations overtook her.

Tia's hips rose to meet Chris's lips. The sensations were so intense that she found it difficult to concentrate on anything but the feel of his tongue as it swept across her clit and then surrounded the bud. He sucked long and hard on her flesh, making Tia wish for a sweet release but loving every minute as it continued.

Fighting against the coming orgasm, her legs shook uncontrollably as her fingers dug into his shoulders. She moaned appreciatively at his non-stop assault on her body. “Chris!” she cried, certain she wouldn't be able to stand much longer. Tia felt his smile against her thighs, and she took great pleasure in knowing that Chris was enjoying touching her this way as much as she was loving being touched.

Chris took her higher and higher as his tongue did its magic, making this one of the most unforgettable experiences of her life. Her interior walls quivered, about to shatter. Chris was making her feel so good. She didn't know how long she could hold out.

Unable to hold back, she cried out his name, “Chris!” Drained, sated, and completely limp, Tia fell into Chris's arms.

Getting to his feet, Chris caught her. “Wrap your legs around me,
chérie,”
he directed.

Tia did as she was told and was rewarded with the joining of their bodies. They moaned together. The hot length of his flesh filled her. She clenched her canal muscles around his shaft. A fierce growl escaped Chris's mouth.

With an arm wrapped around her, he pressed her against the cool walls of the shower tiles and pumped into her with renewed energy. They came together in a fierce, loving dance that Tia didn't want to end.

Tia folded her legs at the ankle around his waist and greeted each downward thrust with an upward lift of her body. Chris was wonderful. She loved the feel of him moving in and out of her. She felt like a part of him.

Rotating his hip as he thrust inside her, Chris moved faster, harder, creating a new wave of sensations within her. Suddenly, it was all too much; she couldn't hold back anymore. Her interior walls shook with the force of his movements. The tempo of his loving changed. Chris stroked her with his flesh. Her blood pounded. Tia exploded. Seconds later, Chris moaned out her name and she felt the warm, wet release of his orgasm.

Tia's legs released him and slid downward. Her feet touched the bathtub and Chris slipped his arms under her legs and lifted her off her feet. He strolled out of the bathroom with Tia in his arms. After placing Tia in the center of the bed, he kissed her and said, “I'll be right back. I'm going to turn off the water.”

Minutes later, Chris returned with a huge towel in his hand. He dried her skin and then dropped the towel on the floor. Chris snuggled against her.