CHAPTER 17
Ian
Ian shook his head, watching in admiration as Claire belted out a Disney tune with the aplomb of a professional.
Karaoke had revealed yet another surprise: the woman had an impressive set of pipes.
He already knew she had a beautiful voice and a melodic laugh, but, damn, she sure could carry a tune.
Claire drew out the last note to thunderous applause, then grinned at Ian, her green eyes shining as she stepped off the stage. She headed straight into his arms and turned, leaning into his body and pressing her backside to his front in a way that had his nerves firing on all synapses.
Hooking a hand behind his neck, she urged him down.
“Actually, I don’t need to make a man out of you at all,” she murmured in his ear. “You’re plenty man already.”
“Do you always sing songs from Mulan when you’re drunk?”
“I’m not drunk. A little happy, maybe.”
“Happy as in tipsy?”
“Happy as in I’m ready to take you to bed.” Claire peered up at him, unbridled desire in her beautiful eyes. “Can we go now?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
They made their way to Samantha and Daniel, who were in a corner sucking face, their hands on each other in an almost inappropriate display.
“We’re going to go now,” Claire announced over the din.
Samantha gave Daniel one last peck before disengaging from his embrace. “OK.” She smiled at Ian. “Take care of her.”
“I will.” Ian smiled back as he shook hands with Daniel. “Congratulations again. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yup!” Daniel’s grin was as wide as the Cheshire cat’s. “Gonna be a good day.”
After some final pleasantries to several others, they left the karaoke bar and entered the lobby through the courtyard.
Claire tugged on his hand. “Walk faster. I’ve been waiting all day to take your clothes off.”
Ian quickened his pace, and Claire slid her arm around him as they made their way to the elevator.
“Wanna know a secret?” she asked with a sly smile.
“Tell me.”
“I tossed my panties overboard.”
“Oh?”
She nodded. “I had to. They got really wet from those dirty things you said to me. So, I whipped them off and chucked ’em.
” She studied his face. “You don’t even need to say those things.
All I need to do is see you, and it happens.
I don’t know what it is about you. Maybe it’s the way you smell. And of course, the way you look.”
Penny, with a few drinks in her, was proving to be quite the talker. “You don’t look too bad, yourself,” he told her, pushing the up button on the elevator panel.
“I always wished I looked like Mom. Blonde and tall and with those blue eyes. Kind of like yours. Except yours are darker. You did well tonight. All of them liked you.” She frowned. “Wait, no, not all of them.”
The elevator doors parted, and he followed her inside. “Alexis didn’t like me.”
“How did you know?”
“Just a feeling.”
“She doesn’t like the way you look.”
“The way I look?” He raised a brow. Ian had never met a woman who didn’t like the way he looked.
“Yeah. She doesn’t like good-looking men. She says every single one she’s met was an arrogant prick who thought he was God’s gift and fucked everything that moved.”
Ian tensed a little. That hit quite close to home. And he had never heard that word come from Claire’s pretty lips.
“She disapproves of what I’m doing. She thinks I should pick one.”
He frowned. “Pick one.”
“She says I should sleep with both guys or neither of them.”
Ah, yes. The doctor. Ian gritted his teeth so hard, he heard them grind.
Fuck that guy. Initially, he hadn’t had a problem with her dating him. But now, the mere thought of another man anywhere near her made his vision blur red.
Jesus, was Claire sleeping with him too?
“Come here.” He pulled her close, taking her lips in a kiss that bordered on rough. She didn’t seem to mind, gripping his forearms and responding with a passion that matched his and then some, sucking on his tongue in a way that made his pants grow tighter.
The elevator doors finally opened, and he led her to their room in swift, purposeful strides. He slammed the door behind them, amped with the knowledge that she wore nothing underneath her dress.
No sooner had they stepped inside the suite than he bent down, scooping her up and carrying her to bed, taking her in as she scooted up the sheets with a sexy come-hither gesture.
He didn’t bother with his clothes. The need to taste her, to have her on his lips and tongue, overrode all else. He dove onto the mattress, shoved his hands under her dress, then gripped her knees and pushed her thighs wide open.
He hummed in approval. No matter how many times he viewed her this way, the beauty of her stirred his blood.
“What did I say I was going to do to you?” he asked in a gravelly voice.
Her green eyes flashed with heat as she watched him lean in. He kissed her there, then nudged her with his nose and gave her a gentle swipe of his tongue.
She gave a little moan, stoking his fire to five-alarm. She was always so quiet, her cues so faint that sometimes he asked her if she liked what he was doing, even though his every instinct told him that she did.
“That’s it, Penny. Let me hear you,” he urged, feathering a kiss on her inner thigh.
“Ian.” Her soft voice was raw, bordering on desperate.
He looked into her deep-green eyes, and what he read there made his chest squeeze.
“Ian, please.”
He couldn’t take the way she looked at him. He wrenched his gaze away, dove in, and sealed his mouth over her, pulling hard.
She spread her legs wider, gripping his hair, tugging, grinding into his face.
Cupping her backside, Ian lifted her and began working her with such fervor that he didn’t even recognize himself.
It was as if he wanted to claim her, brand her, make her come so hard and from such a depth that she could never even fathom having anyone else’s name on her lips but his.
She gasped. “Oh God!”
He tongued her harder, then slid his finger inside her and twisted, curling, rubbing the spot he knew would send her. “Come for me, Penny.”
A little sound sailed from her lips, making his head spin and his entire body hard.
His heart hammered, his breaths came in short bursts, and when she finally came undone, he was right there with each roll of her hips, each breath, drawing out her pleasure for so long, he thought he’d follow her over the edge just from doing this to her.
He recognized this. Sex with emotion was something he’d rejected a long time ago. It had led to such pain that a part of him had shut down for years.
On his fingers, lips, and tongue, Claire still pulsed, his name sailing from her lips again. He tried to disconnect, not sure he could handle the resurrection of this type of sex.
He failed.
At last, she stilled and looked down at him with an expression so bewildered, he had to look away.
“Come here.” Her voice was hoarse as she reached for him, her arms shaking.
He made short work of peeling off his clothes, watching her do the same, then covered her beautiful body with his.
She felt so good. He’d missed this. Missed her.
“Finally.” She gripped his shoulders and buried her face in his neck, inhaling deeply.
He reached under the pillow, where he had stashed the condoms before they’d left to attend the cruise.
“Wait.” She gripped his wrist. “I don’t want …” Her voice was breathy. “Can you not … ?
Jesus.
Eyes widening, he looked into hers, now glazed with desire and something he couldn’t define.
“I want you.”
He turned his head to kiss her fingertips. “You’ve got me.”
“Like this.” She reached down to grip him, and he felt a spasm rack his whole body as her hand wrapped firmly around his length and stroked.
He exhaled on a hiss.
“Just like this,” she whispered, “please.”
Breathing was suddenly a struggle. He closed his eyes for a moment. “Penny, I—”
She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him toward her, bringing him into tantalizing contact.
And Ian’s last restraint shattered.
He groaned, pulled back his hips, and plunged into her so hard and fast and deep that he swiftly bottomed out.
She gasped. “Oh God!”
Panting, he stayed like that, seeking his bearings, his body trembling with the exquisite feel of her, sheathing him with silken heat.
He’d never done it like this.
Ever.
And it felt … indescribable.
She murmured in his ear as he seized her hips and took her, but what she said, he didn’t know because the roar in his ears got louder and louder as he pumped. The room filled with the sound of the headboard rattling, his grunts, and her soft cries.
Alexis had called it fucking.
This wasn’t fucking.
He’d done that enough that he could tell the difference.
And never like this. Never with this level of closeness and sensation. He knew there was no way he would last long. He canted forward, shifting so he could hit just the right spot for her with every thrust.
“Yes … yes …”
Her soft voice sent him higher. She gazed up at him with shimmering green eyes that seemed to see into his soul.
His fingers intertwined with hers. They did that every time, he realized.
He’d never done that with anyone else, not needing a deeper connection, yet with Claire, it seemed like he had to.
He felt the beginnings of his release deep in his belly and forced himself to slow his pace, not wanting it to end.
“Don’t,” she breathed. “Faster.”
He gripped her fingers tighter. “But I’m close.”
“Kiss me.”
He took her lips, and she responded so passionately that he could barely breathe.
“Come for me,” she murmured against his mouth.
Fuck.
A moment later, the inevitable ripped through him, and he emptied himself into her, dimly wondering if he was ever going to be the same.
·
Ian lay with Claire in his arms, content to feel her naked body draped over his.