Читать книгу Secret Heirs Collection - Кейт Хьюит, Коллектив авторов - Страница 51

ZAC’S APARTMENT WAS subtly different from the other night as the setting sun bathed it in a golden light. Rose was breathing too rapidly and forced herself to slow down. She’d taken her hand out of Zac’s when they’d come into the apartment and walked over to one of the windows, suddenly jittery. Suddenly wondering again if she was being completely crazy—not to mention selfish.

She looked out and put a hand on the glass, as if that might help to anchor her in this fantastical space. He came to stand beside her and the air quivered between them. That damned breathlessness was back, along with a spurt of panic.

What was she doing here?

She gabbled words to try and fill the weighted silence. ‘It’s so beautiful up here. You’re very lucky.’

Zac’s voice was deep and low beside her. ‘I know how beautiful it is and, believe me, I know how lucky I am.’

She finally looked at him and he was leaning with his back against the glass, which suddenly looked totally flimsy to Rose. He’d removed his tie and taken off his waistcoat, and was staring at her assessingly.

She felt acutely self-conscious. She wore only a minimum amount of make-up, which had probably melted off by now, making her face shiny. Her hair was down and messy, thanks to him. She wore the blandest of clothes. As opposite as she could be from the woman he’d met a week ago.

Unbidden, she asked helplessly, ‘Why do you want me?’

His eyes rose from where they’d been making a lazy appraisal of her body and met hers, piercingly blue. ‘Because you’re more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen in my life.’

‘I’m not—really I’m not…’ Rose ducked her head and her hair slipped forward, covering her face.

Zac pushed it back behind one ear and tipped her face up with a finger under her chin. She couldn’t look anywhere but at him. He was standing in front of her now.

‘Yes, you are, Rose. And I want you because of that and also because I won’t be able to think again until I have you.’

She could feel herself slipping down a rabbit hole, with nothing to grab on to at the sides. Except for Zac.

He moved closer and closer, until their bodies were touching and she was drowning in his scent. She grabbed his shirt in order to stay standing, trying not to fall down the hole completely. And then he lowered his head and her world was reduced to this: yes.

His kisses were like nectar—but with a darkness that called to some alien dark part of her. That was why she was really there. She was weak and she wanted to taste the forbidden too much.

She moaned with a kind of angry self-despair into Zac’s mouth and he clearly took that as encouragement, sliding his tongue deep, dancing and duelling with hers. The kiss turned deeper and more lustful.

Zac’s hand dropped to her waist, and then further. He squeezed one buttock through the material of her skirt, his hand easily encompassing the firm flesh.

Rose ripped her mouth away, unable to think how to do more than one thing at once any more. She rested her forehead against his neck, breathing rapidly. Zac moved back slightly, but only so he could bring her over to a nearby couch. He sat down and on jelly legs Rose followed him, falling into his arms, sprawling across his lap.

She tried to sit up but he wouldn’t let her, saying, ‘I like you like this.’

Rose just looked at him, and he kissed her again, and she forgot to protest. He was smoothing a hand down over her chest, cupping a breast, squeezing gently. She gasped into his mouth.

And then his hand was untucking her shirt from her skirt so he could explore underneath, touching her skin, moving higher, cupping her breast again more intimately, finding her nipple under its lace covering and pinching it gently.

Rose tore her mouth from his again and looked at him, feeling feverish. Zac pulled down the lace of her bra and now his hand was on her bared breast. He looked feral, hungry.

‘Undo the buttons of your shirt. I want to see you.’

With shaking hands she did his bidding, like some kind of wanton robot. Her shirt fell open and Zac looked down. Colour scored his cheeks.

He muttered, ‘Just how I imagined…beautiful.’ And then he lowered his head and kissed her breast, tasting the hard bud of her nipple, licking the pouting flesh and sucking it into his mouth like a succulent morsel.

Zac bared her other breast and anointed that one with his hot mouth and rough tongue. She had to press her thighs together to try and contain the building tension deep in her core.

But, like a mind-reader, Zac was sliding his hand between her thighs now, forcing her to part them for him. She looked at him again, aware that her shirt was wide open, her breasts bared and upthrust, framed by her bra.

He pressed against her sex through her underwear. Fingers exploring, sliding up and down. One of Rose’s hands gripped his arm, as if that might keep her anchored. She couldn’t believe she was behaving so wantonly, letting him touch her so intimately, urging her to fall over a precipice that she’d only explored by herself before now.

But she couldn’t find a voice to tell him to stop.

Zac pushed the gusset of her underwear aside and then he was touching her with expert precision, knowing exactly where she ached. Rose bit her lip. He kept looking at her as his fingers slipped through her slick folds, unlocking all her secrets, and then dipped inside her…gently at first and then with increasing pressure as he forged a deeper and deeper passage, rhythmically, remorselessly.

His thumb massaged her clitoris, and Rose tried valiantly to cling on to control of her own body, but it was impossible. She came apart in his arms, head thrown back as all her muscles locked tight. She could feel herself clenching and shuddering, completely defenceless against such a rush of pleasure.

It seemed to take an aeon for her to come back to earth, floating on a cloud of satisfaction she’d never experienced before. She lifted her heavy head, feeling dazed.

Zac was still looking at her, and he said with a touch of sensual approval, ‘You’re so responsive.’

And then Rose saw herself as he did—bared from the waist up and from the waist down. Legs spread. She went hot all over—hot with mortification. They’d been in the apartment for mere minutes and she was already writhing and moaning on his lap—a million miles from the sophisticated responses he was undoubtedly used to.

She scrambled free of his embrace and moved to the end of the couch, tugging her skirt down and pulling her shirt back together. She knew her legs wouldn’t hold her up without shaking.

Zac sat up. ‘Rose…what is it?’

She didn’t hear him. She was berating herself. She should have told him the truth before now. Hadn’t that been part of the bargain she’d made to herself to justify coming here with him? But she’d forgotten in the heat of the moment. She was meant to be trying to put him off—not lead him on.

‘Rose?’

Her whirling thoughts came to an abrupt halt and she looked at Zac, who was beside her now. Stubble was already marking his jawline. His hair flopped forward and the strong lines of his face were breathtakingly distracting, even now.

‘There’s something you need to know,’ she said in a husky voice. ‘I’m a virgin.’

Zac struggled to understand through the fog of lust clouding his brain. ‘What did you say?’

Her cheeks coloured dark red, and she said it again—starkly. ‘I’m a virgin.’

For the longest moment he could only look at her. She might as well have said that there was a unicorn on the other side of the room—that was how little he could understand what she was saying. Then her words slowly impacted and he thought of how responsive she’d just been, and he noticed how she was holding her clothes together…

He suddenly needed space. He stood up and asked a little hoarsely, ‘How old are you?’

‘Twenty-two.’

Zac shook his head, as if it might encourage his brain cells to start working properly again. ‘And you’ve never…?’

Rose stood now too, arms crossed over her shirt to try and hold it together. Her skirt was still ruched up over her thighs. She looked dishevelled…undone. Sexy as hell. And he could see that she didn’t have a clue how alluring she was.

Something inside him tightened.

She avoided his eyes. ‘I’ve never had a boyfriend—not like that. I never wanted to have sex with anyone… It’s just me and my father at home. He found it hard to cope after my mother died, so I never went out much…’

The tightening sensation in his chest increased and Zac reeled as this revelation of her innocence sank in fully. It struck him powerfully—especially after all the secrets and lies he’d found in his own family. The tragedy that had ensued as a result of them.

He knew he should be sending her away. He didn’t do virgins. Just as he didn’t do relationships. He was from a world that had stripped away any illusion that innocence or happy families existed a long time ago… And yet he found that he couldn’t make himself do what he knew he should.

He moved closer to Rose and reached out and put a finger under her chin, tipping her face up. As soon as their gazes met he knew that he was not letting her go. In spite of her innocence. He wanted to claim her for himself with a fierceness that shook him.

‘You said you’ve never wanted to have sex with anyone…do you now?’

After a long moment that had all Zac’s nerves stretched taut enough to snap, Rose nodded.

Honesty was something he prized now, above almost anything else, and right at that moment this woman in front of him stood for something he’d never experienced before. A kind of purity.

He closed the gap between them and pulled her closer, his thumb sliding across skin as soft as a rose petal. She’d been named well.

She looked at him, something swirling in those big green eyes. ‘You’re not…sending me away?’

The thought made Zac feel feral. He hid it. ‘Why would I do that?’

She swallowed. ‘Because I’m not experienced.’

Her expression of bravado mixed with something much more vulnerable made him feel inordinately protective. He shook his head. ‘No way, sweet Rose. You’re not going anywhere.’

Her eyes flared at that. She was hungry for him. And he was ravenous—even more so now.

He reached for her hand to lead her into his bedroom before he took her on the floor like an animal, but she squeezed his hand and he stopped to look at her. She was pale now…worried.

‘I’m not…on the pill. You need to protect us.’

Relief made Zac’s chest expand. For a moment he’d been afraid she’d changed her mind. But she was concerned about protection. And so was he. Zealously so. This should be the least of her worries.

He slid a hand around to the back of her head, under her hair, and pressed his mouth to hers. Already his body was responding with a carnal hunger that he knew wouldn’t wait.

He pulled back. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll make sure we’re protected—believe me.’

Her concern only made her honesty even more pronounced. Zac knew well that if she was more experienced she might see the knots he was tied in and take advantage of that. But she wasn’t.

He led her into his bedroom, anticipation coiling in his gut like a living thing. There was something incredibly raw and visceral about knowing that no other man had touched this woman. That he would be the first to mark her…brand her. She would be indelibly his.

He shook his head faintly, as if to try and dislodge these uncharacteristically primal flights of fancy. He associated animalistic feelings with the boardroom. Not the bedroom. Or he had up till now.

He let Rose’s hand go and turned to face her at the foot of his bed. Her eyes were huge. Her mouth was still swollen from his kisses. The hard tips of her breasts were evident under the material of her shirt.

He had to exert control. She was innocent. He was almost afraid to touch her. Not sure if he could control himself. He uttered a silent curse. He’d never felt on edge like this before.

‘Take off my shirt.’

When she moved forward her own shirt opened more, and the tantalising curves of her bare breasts were visible through the open material.

He had to curl his hands into fists to stop himself from reaching out. And then she was grappling with his buttons, painstakingly slowly, undoing them one by one. Her fingers brushed against his hot skin in tantalisingly fleeting caresses.

Zac gritted his jaw. When he saw the tip of her tongue dart out, and the way she bit her lower lip in concentration, a bead of sweat broke out on his forehead. Her small hands were near his belt now, and he couldn’t stand it any more. He took her hands in his and lifted them up, pressing a kiss to the centre of each palm.

Something in his chest squeezed tight again when he felt the slight roughness that told of her menial work. He felt incensed that she should have to do this, and hated himself in that moment for having always been with women who spent more money on their manicures than Rose probably saw in a year.

He dropped her hands and let them go, then yanked his shirt out of his trousers, pulling it off and letting it drop to the ground.

Her eyes were on his chest, wide and intent. Her cheeks flushed with colour. He could see her clench one hand into a fist, as if to stop herself from touching him, and he reached for it and brought it up, uncurling her fingers and placing it in the centre of his chest.

Her touch was cool, but it burned hotter than the most seductive caress. She looked up at him and he took his hand away, and hesitantly she started to explore. Tracing the muscles under his skin. When her nail scraped a nipple he sucked in a breath and his erection jerked in his pants. He’d never known how sensitive he was there.

‘Did I hurt you?’

He shook his head and marvelled at the genuinely concerned look on her face. ‘No—the opposite.’

The flush on her face deepened. Her hands were drifting down now, over his abdomen and lower. She was going to kill him. She reached for his belt and looked up, as if asking for permission.

He just nodded. Rendered speechless.

She undid it and then opened the button above the zip. Zac felt almost embarrassed at the prominent bulge in his pants.

Rose’s head was down, her bright hair falling forward. Wilder than the other night, it was the most unusual colour. Blonde but with russet tones. He wondered if the unusual colour was natural. He would know for sure when he saw—

He stifled a gasp of pure pleasure/pain. She was lowering his zip now, her knuckles brushing against the swell of his arousal.

She looked up again and he gently took her hands away, muttering, ‘I won’t last if you keep touching me like that.’

‘I’m sorry.’

Zac shook his head and cupped her jaw, tipping her face up. How could she not know what she was doing to him? Because she was innocent.

He grimaced slightly. ‘Don’t be.’

He let her go again to pull down his trousers, letting them drop to the floor. He stepped out of them and said, ‘I want to see you.’

She bit her lip again for a moment and then brought her hands to her shirt, peeling it off slowly until it fell to the ground. Her breasts were still bared, and erotically upthrust by the underwired frame of her bra. Zac marvelled that he’d seen far more debauched states of undress on women, but this was possibly the most sensual thing he’d ever experienced.

She brought her hands behind her and undid her bra, and it too fell to the ground. Her high, perfectly formed breasts were now bared completely to his ravenous gaze. A small, hard, pink nipple topped each one. The darker pink of her areolae was puckered. His mouth watered. He wanted to taste them again.

She brought her arms up to cover herself. Gently he pulled them down.

‘You are beautiful.’

‘No one’s ever seen me like this before.’

Blood thrummed in Zac’s body at this further confirmation that he was the first man who would know her intimately. He ignored the tiny dim cynical voice that mocked him for being so easily entranced. He was losing it.

‘Thank you for trusting me.’

Something flashed in her eyes then, but it was gone so quickly he thought he must have imagined it. Because it had almost looked like guilt. And why would she be guilty?

Rose undid her skirt and pushed it over her hips, and then she was standing in front of him in nothing but sensible white underwear—which, again, seemed to Zac to be the height of eroticism after years of seeing women parade in front of him in all sorts of complicated diaphanous concoctions.

Words and thoughts fused into white heat. She was all long, slim limbs and pale skin. Delicate curves. High waist. Freckles dusting her upper arms and her chest.

Curbing the beast inside him, Zac took her hand and led her over to the bed. ‘Lie down, sweetheart.’ The endearment tripped easily off his tongue, when he was usually much more circumspect. But he hardly noticed.

She sat on the bed and scooted back, her breasts bouncing with her movement. Zac yanked down his underwear and kicked it off, watching how Rose stopped, her eyes fixated on him. He brought a hand to himself, as if that might calm the heat a little, but her eyes widened and he could feel a drop of moisture dewing the head of his erection.

He reached for the protection he kept in a drawer nearby. He’d never had to have it ready like this before. Almost as if he might forget. Rose tracked his movements as she sat on her hands on the bed, legs tightly together, drawn up.

‘Lie back.’

Slowly she lay down, eyes still on him, hair around her head like a cloud of red-gold. He came down alongside her on the massive bed, very aware of how dark his skin was next to hers.

He put a hand on her belly, stretched it out, almost encompassing all of it with the span. Her muscles jerked against him.

‘I’m going to make this good for you…but it might hurt a little at first. Just trust me, okay?’

She nodded jerkily. He dipped his head and kissed her, long and luxuriously, drawing her as close to his body as he could without exploding. She was soft and silky, but quivering like a taut bow under his touch.

She gave herself to him with sweetly innocent abandon, but then suddenly drew back, going tense. She looked over his shoulder at the huge windows in his room. ‘Won’t people be able to see in?’

Zac recalled how one of his previous lovers had specifically wanted him to make love to her up against the glass, for that very reason. It left a bitter taste in his mouth now.

‘No, it’s specially tinted glass…’

‘Oh…okay.’

She relaxed against him again and Zac smoothed a hand down from her neck to her breast, cupping it and squeezing the firm flesh, seeing how her nipple protruded like a sharp berry. Her breathing quickened—an untutored and totally sexy response. Zac prided himself on being a good lover, but right now he felt as if everything he knew was unravelling.

He bent and put his mouth to Rose’s sweet offering, lights exploding behind his eyes as he ran his tongue over her tight flesh and then sucked it into his mouth. He could feast on her breasts for days, he thought, his erection growing even harder at the sounds of her soft, breathy moans and the way her hands found his head and her fingers tightened in his hair.

He slid the hand on her belly down to where her legs were pressed tight together. Gently he encouraged her to relax them, and she opened up. The musky smell of her arousal hit his nostrils and he had to lift his head for a second to clear it.

Her hands were still in his hair and she was looking up at him, flushed and dazed, green eyes huge. Mouth plump and pink. The tips of her breasts wet from his mouth.

His penis twitched at her look and he knew he couldn’t hold on for much longer. He explored through the soft curls that hid the seam of her body and he almost groaned aloud when he felt how plumped and wet she was. Ready for him again.

He looked down as he efficiently pulled off her underwear. Soft golden curls hid her sex, and he couldn’t resist the temptation to taste her. He moved down the bed and hooked her legs over his shoulders.

She lifted her head, eyes wide. ‘Zac…?’

He just said, ‘Shh, lie back.’

She did, and he pressed kisses to her soft inner thighs before exploring her more intimately. Her smell was more intoxicating than the most expensive perfume in the world. He licked his way through her secret folds and thrust his tongue into that tight channel.

Her hands were on his head, fingers digging in painfully, but not even that could distract him. He was getting drunk on her, flicking her clitoris, then thrusting deep again, fighting the urge to grind his hips to the bed and find his own relief.

She was pushing her body at him now and he reached up a hand to cup her breast, squeezing it hard just as she came—her body convulsing as powerfully as it had before.

A fractured thought occurred to him that he could never lose his hunger for this woman and her swift responses, but it was drowned out by his need to bury himself inside her or go mad.

He reared up to see a dreamy smile on her face. Perspiration sheened her skin, making it even more luminous.

Sheathing himself with the protection, Zac positioned himself between her legs. ‘Ready?’ He sounded coarse, guttural. Desperate.

She nodded, still looking a little drugged. He slid in carefully, just the head breaching her body first. She was still slick, but tight.

Her hands came to his arms, holding tight. ‘I’m okay…keep going.’

Zac reached under her body and shifted her slightly, coming up on his knees, widening her thighs even further. She gasped as he slid in a little more. He wrapped her legs around his hips.

He bent over her and put his mouth on hers, sucking her tongue deep, and then he thrust again…hard. He swallowed her gasp and met it with a rough gasp of his own. He was embedded deep in her hot, tight embrace.

He drew back. She was panting, nails digging into his muscles. His insides curdled when he saw how pale she was. ‘Are you okay?’

She took a minute and then nodded. ‘I…I think so.’

Zac reached down between them and found her sensitised bud. He massaged her gently, feeling a quiver of reaction along his length. He gritted his jaw, trying to stay in control of his bodily functions when all he wanted to do was pull out and thrust back in so hard and deep he’d see stars for a week.

He moved slowly, inexorably, out and then in again, feeling Rose’s body relax its tighter-than-tight grip. Testosterone flooded him at the thought that he was the first man to experience this with her.

His arms wrapped tight around her as his powerful body struck up a rhythm, moving in and out. Any last vestiges of control were fast fraying at the edges as Rose’s body responded, her legs squeezing tighter around him. Her nipples scraped against his chest.

And then, when her hips started to circle in small movements, he couldn’t hold on. He thrust deep and long inside her, and somehow—miraculously—felt the telltale contractions of her own climax squeezing him just before he tipped over into a place of extreme pleasure so intense that he was aware of nothing for long moments but the frantic beating of his heart.

When he finally floated back to earth he realised he was crushing Rose into the bed, his body heavy on hers. His head was locked into the space between her neck and shoulder. Little weak pulsations rippled along his length every few seconds. His body responded. He raised his head to look down incredulously. Sex had never had this effect on him before.

Rose’s head was turned to the side; her eyes were closed. She was no longer holding his arms and something cold gripped him, dousing his desire. He pulled free of her body and saw her wince slightly.

He’d felt her body react—he’d been sure she’d been okay… But had he taken his pleasure with no regard for her well-being? He moved down beside her and saw her legs close together—saw also the telltale sign of blood on his sheets. He felt as if someone had just punched him in the gut.

He pulled up a sheet, covering her body. His voice sounded unbearably rough to his ears. ‘Rose…are you okay? Did I hurt you?’

Rose knew she couldn’t avoid Zac’s question forever. She could feel the weight of his gaze almost as tangibly as she’d felt the weight of his body. Deliciously. Surrounding her with his musky heat and hard muscles. Until a few moments ago he’d been inside her, a heavy thick weight. Still hard.

Slowly she turned to face him and saw his eyes widen with shock as he reared back.

‘You’re crying. I hurt you—but I thought—’

She hadn’t even realised till then that she was crying, but she shook her head and wiped at a tear, feeling raw and exposed. ‘No…’ When she saw the blatant disbelief on his face and the start of something like self-recrimination, she came up on one arm, the sheet slipping down. ‘No. You didn’t hurt me.’ Her voice felt rough. Different.

He shook his head. ‘Then…?’

Rose had never been so comprehensively laid bare, so she said honestly, ‘I never knew it could be like that. It was…beautiful.’

She winced inwardly. ‘Beautiful’ was an ineffectual word for what had just happened. It had been brutal, searing…pain and pleasure all bound up in pure sensation and incandescence. And pleasure like she’d never known. Too much, surely?

Zac reached out and touched her jaw as if she might break. ‘Are you sure?’

She nodded, turning her face into his hand, breathing him in deep. She looked back. ‘At first…when you…’ She blushed, stupidly. ‘It hurt. But it didn’t last…it became something else.’

Zac came down on his back and pulled Rose with him so she half fell across his chest, hair tumbling around her shoulders, breasts pressed against him. She thought of his mouth between her legs and blushed all over again.

He touched her burning cheek and half smiled, ‘What are you thinking of?’

She ducked her head, embarrassed by how hungry she was for him again—already. In spite of tender muscles. ‘Nothing.’

‘Liar,’ he said. and she could hear the smile in his voice.

Her gut curdled. The truth was that this whole evening was a lie. But at least he used protection, she thought with relief, recalling all too easily how those big hands had deftly rolled the latex over his impressive erection.

And then Zac was pressing her closer and saying, ‘Rest now.’

She knew that this was it—her time was up and she should leave—but her body was so full and heavy with a delicious afterglow that she just…clung to the dream for a little longer and slept.