Читать книгу Muse - Sommer Marsden - Страница 17

Buck’s apartment was a huge studio on the top floor of a building in the city. The décor didn’t reek of money but the fact that this space was what he called home did. It was in a part of the city that the newcomers were breathing life back into. Refashioning the neighbourhood with small boutique businesses, renovations and community efforts. She stood at the foot of his bed and looked through the wall of glass at the harbour lights. From here the shadow skeletons of the big ships were visible. The line of restaurants with their neon shone like beacons.

‘Pretty nice view, huh?’ He walked in behind her with two glasses of wine and handed her one.

‘It’s amazing.’

‘It’s why I took this place. I had a small place closer to the school a while back and I was perfectly content. But my folks bought this building and another one a block or so away. They showed me this place and I was all set to say no and put my foot down. My place was much smaller but I’d made it home.’ He put his arms around her waist from behind, pulled her against him so that her back was nestled against his chest, and kissed the back of her neck.

‘But?’ Dani asked, laughing softly. ‘There’s a but in there.’

He subtly pressed himself against her so that he was fitted flush against her ass. When he chuckled, all the fine hairs along her nape tingled.

‘There’s definitely a butt …’ Another laugh and he kissed her shoulder this time. Goosebumps peppered the skin of her upper arms and she barely managed to tamp down a shiver. ‘But my mother is clever. She knows what buttons to push. So when they brought me here to see the place, she made sure they brought me at night. One look out at that and I was toast. I lost all my will power, forgot all my arguments and caved to their desire to have someone inhabiting this building until the lower floors could be redone.’

‘I think you got a sweet deal, to be honest,’ she whispered. A small light, possibly a police boat or a lighted buoy, bobbed in the harbour water. The whole thing reminded her of Christmas, invoking a warm and cosy feeling.

‘I think so too.’ Buck released her and turned her slowly so they were face to face. ‘Sweeter still now that you’re here.’

She hummed softly as he kissed her. His mouth pressed to hers, his tongue slipping softly between her lips. That big hand was on the back of her head again, tethering her to earth, keeping her from floating away. Buck was a good kisser and then some.

Her nipples stiffened and, when his fingers brushed slowly over the bodice of her dress, they sought out the lace of her bra. Dani pressed her body to his. Leaving not a lick of space between them. She felt his cock, hard and eager, pressing against her. Her stomach took on that tumbling, free-fall feeling so when he took a step back she sucked in a breath.

‘Can I just …’ He let the sentence peter out as he unbuttoned her dress. She felt the cool kiss of air, and then the warm kisses his lips dropped on her skin as he bared it. His fingers were deft as he popped the front clasp of her bra and let the lace fall free of her breasts. Then his mouth was on her and her eyes drifted shut, her mind’s eye supplying the fairy lights of the still awake city below this sky-top studio.

He sucked her nipple hard, drawing on it so that she felt the pressure from her breast down to her pelvis. It was the feeling of excitement. The feeling of anticipation that bordered on sickness but stopped just short of it.

She opened her eyes as he moved to the other breast, his tongue dragging a hot wet trail across her chest.

‘Can I just …’ She smiled slightly as she mimicked his words. He looked up at her, straightening. Dani reached up and pushed her fingers into his dark bun. The hair an artfully tousled mess. She found the elastic that held it and tugged until it uncoiled and set his dark hair tumbling free.

Dark hair, smooth and silken under her fingers, fell around his rugged face, brushing the top of his wide shoulders. He was a Viking warrior, a hero, a wild man.

‘You have gorgeous hair,’ she said.

‘You have gorgeous everything,’ Buck countered, drawing her back to him. This time as he kissed her that soft hair brushed her cheeks.

He tugged the tie on her dress, spread it wide, and hooked his fingers in the sides of her panties. When he slid them down her thighs and then her calves, she lifted one foot at a time to ease the removal. Next he pulled off her thigh-high stockings. He tossed all her clothes in a pile and arranged her on the bed. His bedding was simple. Definitely didn’t scream money, but, when her body touched down on the duvet, she felt that it was indeed expensive. It was the softest bedding she’d ever laid on. ‘What is this, a million thread-count?’ she murmured as he studied her.

He cocked an eyebrow. ‘Don’t know. Don’t care. I’m too busy looking at the work of art splayed out on it.’

She felt herself blush, her body wriggling slightly at the praise as if she couldn’t stay still, couldn’t bear to hear the words in stillness.

She opened her mouth to protest. To brush off the compliment. Something small and new in the centre of her whispered, Don’t … So she shut her mouth and reached her hand up to him. When he took it, she drew him down.

His mouth began a slow tour of her throat. Teeth nipped her ear and her body tensed before letting go. A lazy kind of pleasure filled her. Dani laughed when he whispered directly into her ear, ‘I really thought you were going to smack me when I asked you out right after staring at your naked body for an hour.’

‘Why would I do that?’ His clothes were still on. Annoying but somehow adding to the excitement. Just like in class, he was dressed, she was bared.

‘Because … you’d think I’m a pervert.’

Dani shook her head, accepted another searing kiss. His hands tangled in her hair, his big body pressed down against hers. She could feel his heartbeat, steady and banging against her breast.

‘No. Not a pervert. If I thought people who drew naked people were perverts, I’d be a hypocrite, wouldn’t I? Given that I’m the naked person.’

He braced himself on his forearms and looked down at the narrow passage that had opened between their bodies. ‘Yes, yes, you are. And I’m grateful to whatever boredom gods decided that fate for me. It’s hard to draw you.’