Chapter 19
Nineteen
LUKA
D id she have any idea what she was doing? I doubted she knew the effect her body had on me. Her voice. Her long hair. The scent of her shampoo. The back of Amara’s legs hit the bed. I lowered her gently to the mattress, pulling the tie on her belt. It made a swish sound as I released it from her waist.
The fabric fell to the side of her chest. I growled, realizing she wasn’t wearing a bra. I quickly lowered my head to her right nipple. Lashing over it with my tongue. Teasing it with my teeth. Amara seized in air, gripping the back of my head. She pressed hard against the back of my head. I wanted to inhale her.
“Shit,” she murmured. “Luka.” I fucking loved it when she called my name.
I smiled with her tit in my mouth. I’d always loved her breasts. Perfect. Round. Full as I cupped them with my hands.
But she caught me off guard when suddenly she wiggled out from under me and was planted on top of my body.
“What the fuck?” I stared at her mischievous smile.
“Something wrong?” she purred.
“No,” I answered. “Not at all.” I folded my arms behind my head.
I watched in amazement as she shimmied out of the layers she wore. I finally realized it was a one-piece ensemble, wrapped and tethered to her body with a single band. It landed in a pool of fabric at the foot of the bed. I inhaled deeply, taking in the pure beauty of her naked body. She was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever been with. Nothing had changed.
“Amara,” I growled, but she hushed me with a single kiss before she began to slide along my body, dragging the athletic shorts she had given me with her to the floor. Shit. My cock bobbed forward. Hard and aching for her. There was no way to hide the want I had for her.
The woman was on a mission. Her eyes were hungry. Ravenous. She crawled toward me. I moved backward on the bed, giving her space to operate. I threaded the T-shirt over my head and tossed it across the room.
“Fuck, you’re perfect,” I groaned as her lips began to hover over my dick. It was throbbing. The vein along the side pulsed with the rhythm of her breath. She leaned forward, her tongue lightly caressing the tip, tasting, hesitating. Driving me fucking wild. She licked the full length from root to tip, like she owned me. Owned my fucking cock.
“Mmm.” She opened her mouth with a slow kiss.
I watched in awe as she assessed what she was dealing with. My shaft was wide, but Amara was ready for it. Her gorgeous lips opened as I fed her the width, pushing farther with each breath. She sucked, taking me deeper each time. There was a sexy determination in her eyes. She wasn’t intimidated. The storm raged on outside her bedroom.
My head rushed with blood as she swirled her tongue with precision, slowly building pressure. Sucking. Dragging me deeper in her throat. I grunted, knowing I was getting to a dangerous place on the scale. It wouldn’t take much to tip me toward coming in her mouth.
But I wanted to take my time. I wanted her. I wanted her body in new ways. Under mine. I wanted to see the fire in her eyes when I made her come. It couldn’t end this soon. I had to fight off the pleasure.
“Fuck,” I groaned as she pushed her lips over my full length, sucking on the rigid lines of my erection. I thrust upward in her mouth. Enjoying every second. Her throat relaxed and I found new depths. New ecstasy.
I grabbed the back of her hair, twisting it in my hands. I tugged against her as I pumped wildly, knowing I had a limit. A threshold I couldn’t break if I wanted the night to last. We could outlast the tropical depression. The power outage. The breaks in the dams and the levees. It was always supposed to be us against the world. What happened to those plans we made?
My spine began to tingle. She moved over me, taking me in and out. Was I at her mercy, or was she supposed to be at mine? The bullseye in my back told me I was running out of time to make that decision.
Our eyes locked and I watched her go wild with my cock in her mouth. Fuck me. She was gorgeous on her knees. I’d craved this for years. I’d dreamed it. Imagined what my cock would look like between her lips, sliding along her tongue, grazing her throat one thrust at a time. I gave her a few more seconds, before I took control of the situation. I had another objective.
She sputtered with shock as I repositioned her, popping my shaft from her mouth.
“Wh-what are you doing?” she questioned my motives as I pinned her beneath me on the bed.
I smiled. “You didn’t think the night was going to end like that?”
Her eyes betrayed her. That was exactly what she intended.
“I see. That was your plan?” She didn’t answer.
I laughed, kissing the crook of her neck. She shivered. “How could that make you cold?” I teased. “It was fucking hot,” I growled, teasing her nipple between my fingers. She arched toward me. I plucked her flesh until she was writhing under me.
My hands canvassed her body while my mouth explored the warmth of her lips. I spread her thighs. She let out a long sigh. My fingers sank into her flesh, pushing her knees wider until I settled between her legs.
Her breath was ragged. I ran a finger against her clit. Shit. She was soaking wet. So ready for me.
“Oh, God,” she hissed.
I kissed behind her ear, swirling the head of my cock against her heat. I felt the electricity surge between us at the contact. Amara whimpered as I pushed against her entrance, stretching her enough for us to feel the intense pressure our bodies created.
Her eyes flickered open, catching my gaze. I pressed my palm against hers as I eased inside her with a slow thrust. Her hips rocked forward, drawing me deeper. Fuck.
I wouldn’t let her close her eyes. I wanted her to watch what it meant when I took her body again. I meant it the other night at the Vieux Carre, and I meant it tonight—she was mine—she was always meant to be mine.
From this moment on, we weren’t going to be on different teams. We weren’t going to be enemies. We were going to have to find a way to build on this. To let the magic that existed between us be the tie that bound us whether we were in bed or in the office.
Our mouths met and I kissed her wildly. Our tongues thrashed as the frenzy built.
I moved to my knees. She questioned my every move, but I flipped her quickly on her stomach.
“Oomph,” she squealed, but I pressed her into the expensive sheets, lifting her hips just enough to thrust my cock deep inside.
“Oh, God,” she moaned, her head falling back. I caught her lips, lowering my chest to her back. There wasn’t much space, but I worked my hand between the covers and her navel, navigating my way over her silky skin to her clit.
Amara sighed, when I began to circle her sensitive nub, drawing more sensation and pleasure from her body. Her hips began to lift and rock. The higher she lifted off the bed, the deeper I slammed inside her. I kissed the soft skin at the nape of her neck, brushing the hair off her shoulders. I kissed her back, licking, sucking, imprinting my way across her body.
She begged for release. “Please,” she whimpered. “I’m so close.”
I smiled, nipping at her lips, biting her ear. “Feels good when you’re being such a good girl.” I thrust roughly, matching her pants with grunts of my own.
“Luka, say it again.”
“Good girl,” I growled.
Our bodies were slick with sweat. I wasn’t exhausted. I could never be tired of Amara’s body. The lines. The curves. The sounds she made. I’d waited for her for years. And again, when I thought I had fucked up every chance we had. I’d never tell her I’d wait another five years if I had to, but I would. I was that in love with her. I probably always had been.
Now? This? There was power running between us. Surging in the energy we created. I lashed behind her ear with my tongue.
“Luka.” She gasped for air. My fingers continued to play with her clit. Her hips moved at a feverish pace. As the strokes from my cock slowed, so did her pleas. I calmed her. Tamed her. I moved deeper each time, binding us together. Our bodies rocked, slowly, intentionally, until we were on the same plane. I curled my hand under her chest, gripping her breasts.
I grunted, knowing the moments were numbered. Amara turned her cheek toward me, and I kissed her. Our tongues lashed and our lips melted together. The orgasms weren’t independent, but one long, explosive climax vibrating between her body and mine. I hilted myself inside her, letting the release take control. I felt the tightening in my spine finally subside with the final thrust. One. Two. Three. I howled at the ceiling and the world faded to black. She was my light. My nirvana.
Despite all the misunderstandings and hurt, we were still us. Still able to love each other back together. Able to be whole. To heal. To share an incredible fire.
“You’re still mine, Amara,” I gasped as our bodies quieted.
“Yours,” she breathed before she went silent.
Her eyes closed. Her fingers tightened around my knuckles.
I wasn’t ready to move. I wanted to sleep inside her. To tell her I loved her. I just didn’t know how.
It could have been twenty minutes or an hour before we stirred. Our muscles started to cool.
I kissed her temple. “I think the storm is letting up.”
She nodded.
I rolled on my side, drawing her back against my chest, but she spun to face me. Her palm flattening against my chest, right over my heart. She traced the outline of the ink on my bicep. I drew the sheet to our shoulders. The candle wax had dripped to the mantle. A few of the wicks sputtered for air. That damn shutter had finally stopped banging against the house.
“Is this how it’s going to be?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” I searched her eyes, brushing a damp tendril from her forehead. God, she was even more beautiful now.
“We fight. We have sex. We wake up and destroy each other tomorrow.”
I shook my head. “No. That’s not the new normal.”
“It seems like it is.” Her lashes lowered.
I tilted her chin toward me, kissing her, long and hard. Our tongues twined. We finally broke for air.
“It can’t be like that. I don’t want that. Do you?”
“No.” She winced. “It seems like a pattern. Like something we’re falling into.”
I gave her a half-smile. “We are the ones who determine the patterns now. It’s all us. No one else. Everything that happened between our families ends now. We can decide that once and for all.”
Amara shook her head. “You really have been gone a long time.”
“Hey, there’s no one standing in our way. I’m not going back to France.” I could feel the heat rolling in waves off her body. I moved my hand to the curve of her hip. “I’m here. That means we have to deal with this together. No one else has a say. No one else has power. It’s you and me. That’s it.”
“Then I need to ask you something,” she responded quietly.
“All right.” I ran my thumb against her cheek. “Ask me whatever you want. What is it?” I had hoped this would happen. I needed her help, but I wasn’t going to ask for it. She had to offer it. To come to me on her own.
“I know you’ve been meeting with my assistant, Enzo. Tell me what you two have been meeting about. And why is Katya involved? I want the truth. No more secrets, or I call Ciro.”
I rolled her on her back. She gasped. “I’m serious, Luka.”
I smiled. “I’ve been waiting for that question all night.”
“You have?” Her eyes darted back and forth.
I dragged my lips over hers. “Mmmhmm. If only you had asked that first.”
She inhaled deeply. “Are you going to tell me?”
“I am. The entire story,” I admitted. I wouldn’t leave out any of the details.
I hooked my arm under her knee. She gasped.
“But first…”
She bit her lower lip. “You’re that confident I’m going to like the answer?”
I laughed. “I am.” I lowered myself over her body, ready to love her until the last drop of rain fell from the sky tonight.