Chapter 4
Chapter Four
AHOT WOMAN IN HIS LAP wasn’t what he’d anticipated tonight but to be honest there was nothing he wanted more.
He was high on the exhilaration of the dish he’d created.
He felt as if everything inside of him had been pushing toward this interlude.
He didn’t have all the answers he’d been seeking but thanks in part to Staci he’d found a few of them.
Sliding his arms up and down her back, she shifted to accommodate him, her hands still framing his face. Her fingers were delicate and cool against his beard-stubbled chin; he rubbed his face against her hands breaking the contact with her mouth.
She exhaled a long drawn out sigh as she shifted her weight to settle back on her ankles.
“What am I going to do with you?” she asked.
But he could tell she wasn’t really expecting an answer from him.
It was more of a question that he’d bet she wasn’t even aware she’d muttered out loud.
He smoothed his hands over her back, she felt so ethereal in his arms. Like the fairies his little sister collected when they’d been children.
Staci didn’t belong in this world, yet there was something very real about her.
He felt like the wrong move would send her skittering back into the house and into a permanent retreat.
He wasn’t much for being tentative. It went against his hot-blooded Cajun nature. But he was willing to do what was necessary to keep Staci here tonight. He needed her. He wasn’t sure how or why but he knew that she’d inspired him tonight and he wanted to keep that energy going.
“Kiss me again,” he said as the breeze off the Pacific stirred around them.
She tipped her head to the side. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Hell, yes, I’m a guy after all.”
She smiled at him but the expression didn’t reach her eyes and he sensed there was a feeling of sadness in her. He remembered the boy she’d mentioned who’d believed he’d been in love with her.
Remy wanted to know more about Staci. He needed to, yet at the same time he recognized that if he was going to win, and prove to himself what needed proving, he couldn’t let her be the first one to make him back down from a challenge.
Yet that very action was impossible. There had been other women in his life but none of them had ever inspired him to cook the way he had tonight. There was no denying it. He could only hope that he’d be able to control his need for Staci. He knew that men who played with fire did get burned.
“But you’d also like it because we’re competitors and you saw the way that you threw me in the kitchen tonight,” she said.
He didn’t have to feign surprise. He genuinely had no idea that their embrace had rattled her. But now that he did, he filed that information away for later. “No, I didn’t.”
“Truly?” she asked, tracing her fingers along his five o’clock shadow.
He closed his eyes and tipped his head to the side enjoying her touch as sensation spread throughout his body. His blood seemed to flow heavier in his veins before pooling between his legs. His erection hardened and he almost canted his hips forward.
“Yes. I was inspired by our kiss. There was something so hot in that embrace with you I thought I’d explode right there in Chef Ramone’s kitchen but then I channeled it into the dish...I’ve never done that before. I always cook from a place of history. Dishes made the way they’ve always been made.”
“Why?” she asked, running her hands down his neck and over his shoulders and warmth started to flow through him.
Not unlike what he’d felt earlier in Ramone’s kitchen.
This woman—Staci—made him feel things that he knew would complement their situation.
He should put her from his lap and walk away.
..but he knew he wasn’t going to do that.
He took her wrist and drew her hand lower, rubbing it over his chest and pectorals.
Her hands were small and petite as she was.
Staci called to the wildness in his soul and he was powerless to ignore it.
He wanted her, but more than that, he wanted to be the man who chased the shadows from her eyes.
She stretched her fingers out and then he felt the bite of her nails through the fabric of his shirt.
He reached around her, she was as hot as the spiciest pepper in his garden and one taste was simply not enough.
He held her hips, bringing her down into contact with his erection. She sighed. The sound of his name on her lips made him shudder. He liked it. He wanted to hear it again when she was breathy and on the cusp of pleasure.
He thrust up against her as her fingers continued to caress him. How he wanted this woman.
Tonight, with only the moon and the sea as his witnesses, he felt free to give in to his desires.
He needed to claim her—his muse. He tangled one hand in her short hair and drew her mouth back to his.
Her kisses were addictive and he was hungry for more of them.
He rubbed his lips over hers until her mouth parted and he slipped his tongue inside her mouth.
He was desperate to find that elusive taste that had so intrigued him earlier.
She shifted again, her tongue toying with his. He couldn’t get enough of her. He wondered if she’d be both his savior and his downfall. But pushed the thought aside. Only a fool dwelled on thoughts when he had a woman like Staci in his arms.
For tonight she was a gift sent from the gods to inspire him and there was no step he could take that would be out of line. She was his, he thought. Just another element of the new knowledge he had gained on the first step of his journey.
He found the hem of her shirt and slid his hands underneath and up her back.
She wasn’t wearing a bra, which made him even harder than he already was.
Her skin was so smooth he just kept stroking her as he devoured her mouth.
She was rocking on his lap, her own hands finding the hem of his shirt and pushing it up under his armpits.
The first brush of her fingers against his bare skin made him burn for more.
He pushed her shirt up and she lifted her mouth from his, staring down at him.
She pulled her shirt up and off tossing it on the ground next to their chair.
He did the same with his shirt and adjusted her on the lounge chair so that he could pull her closer to him.
Her center was nestled close to his groin, the tips of her firm breasts brushed against his chest.
Her nipples were hard and pointed, pushing against him and he kept his hand on her back right between her shoulder blades so that he could enjoy that feeling. She lifted her head toward his and her hands were on his face again, pulling him down until their mouths met.
The kiss this time was blatantly carnal and he wanted it to never end. He let his hands explore her body the way his tongue did her mouth. Slowly, with long languid sweeps. It felt as if they had all the time in the world. As if this moment would last forever.
He brought one hand to her backside and urged her to brush her pelvis against him.
She did. The slow movement echoed their tongues.
He felt a feathering of sensation down his back, surprised at how quickly she was getting to him.
He hadn’t felt this near to the edge from a little petting since he’d been a randy teenager.
She rubbed her breasts against his chest and he brought his hand from her back around to cup her and tease her nipple with his thumb. She gripped the back of his head, pressing her mouth passionately, fervently to his.
Her hips started to move more rapidly on him and he knew she was on the cusp of orgasm. He scraped his nail around her areola and felt the goose bumps spread, then suddenly she stilled.
She jerked her hips forward and he grabbed her butt as he lifted his hips and held her, his erection right against her center, until she groaned. He was sure she came as she collapsed against his chest, resting her head on his shoulder.
He hugged her in his arms, wanting more but happy for this moment just to hold her. To pretend that he’d captured his muse and that she’d never leave him. His senses were alive as he stroked her hair and whispered softly into her ear.
STACI FELT TOO LANGUID to move and yet she still wanted more.
That orgasm had been nice but nothing would truly satisfy her until she felt his hard, hot length inside of her.
His hand rested on the crown of her head, her back, then her waist. His fingers dipped beneath the waistband of her pajama pants.
She rubbed his chest, tracing the line of hair that tapered slowly down his midriff disappearing beneath the waistband of his jeans. She mirrored his movement, her fingers beneath his waistband and felt the tip of his erection.
“I’m guessing you liked that.”
“Not as much as you did,” he said with a wicked grin. “But yes, I definitely liked it.”
She shifted around on his lap until she could undo his jeans. He shifted his hips and his cock was thrusting up at her. She wrapped her hand around him and began stroking from root to tip. He shivered and she tightened her grip.
He ran his hands over her torso and rekindled the fires that had been merely banked but not extinguished by her first orgasm. He cupped both of her breasts but she kept her grip in place, moving so that he could touch her the way she liked it.
She extended her shoulders back and watched as he leaned forward. She felt the warmth of his breath against her skin, then the sweep of his tongue. He circled her nipple once, twice, closed his mouth over her and suckled her deeply.
She stroked him slowly, then sped up until she felt his hips lift toward her in counterpoint to her hand.
He groaned and his mouth left her breast. He held the back of her neck and brought her mouth to his this time his tongue thrusting so deeply into her that she thought they’d be joined together forever.