CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX #2
For as long as he’d known her, he’d never seen her this taken aback. Her comment had been a throwaway remark, but he’d meant his retort. It had obviously stunned her a little.
‘Raina, I like every bit of you. When you finally give over that last tiny part, I’ll love all of it.’
She froze on his lap. Still and scarcely breathing. He pulled her in closer for reassurance, knowing she felt caught. He could see her protecting some small, hidden part of herself and he was accepting of that. Of course, he wanted all of it. But he wanted her to show it willingly.
‘King of Cancel Culture,’ she finally said softly. ‘What are we doing here? These aren’t our kind of people.’
‘I’m only here because you’re here. I’m only ever anywhere now because you’re there.’
‘You’ve probably pissed off half the people in that room.’
‘Probably. I saw Mary Simms lurking about. Seb and Ottie will be pleased; they’re desperate for her to write up their engagement.’
Raina smirked. ‘She can be really biting. Just like you.’
‘Yep,’ he allowed sardonically. ‘We’ll both do anything for a story.’
Raina paused. Then, ‘Now that you’re not writing about me any more, you can scout Pepper’s guest list for a new target.’
Tom stilled. ‘I’m not sure—’
‘Your publishers still want that last story, right? Maybe it’s here. Not that I approve of your tactics, mind you. All of that sneaking around and showing up wherever I was.’
‘Raina, I actually wanted to explain all of that—’
‘You look so good in a tux,’ she sighed.
His hands moved from her face to her pinned-up hair. ‘Can I take this down.’
‘I’m hiding the pink.’
‘But I love the pink.’
Raina helped him to take down her hair, smiling wryly at how gentle he was.
She wanted him badly, and that wasn’t necessarily surprising to her.
What surprised her was how she always wanted him.
Physically, emotionally. He’d become so compulsory in her life.
Every memory before him seemed to be in black and white.
She knew somewhere in her bones that it was the same for him.
‘You smell so good,’ she told him.
She couldn’t say the words she wanted. The feelings were too loud in her own head; she couldn’t find a way to voice them without sounding crazed.
When he pulled her mouth to his, she made a soft sound of anguish, and he must have sensed what was happening to her because he kissed her harder and pulled her more tightly against him.
‘You make me feel really alive, but also safe,’ she said against his mouth, ‘all at the same time. I didn’t think that was possible.’
She was straddling his lap and he was pressing worshipful kisses to her face when ‘Wild is the Wind’ by Nina Simone started to filter into their private snug from the outer party. Raina froze.
Do you know that song? I want someone like that song. Unapologetic. Complicated. Real. Maybe not something everyone else gets. But I do.
She gasped a breath, and he caught it with his mouth, kissing her hungrily.
She moaned softly, draping her arms around his neck.
It was languid and sensual. In some ways, a fight for dominance.
She kissed him harder, so he retaliated by taking them both to the floor.
They both fought to pull her dress up over her hips, baring her stockings.
He slowly licked the tip of his middle finger before sliding it against her clit, making her jerk and cry out.
‘When I dream about you, it’s always like this,’ he breathed, leaning down to whisper in her ear as he stroked her with an even and deliberate rhythm.
Raina dug her fingers into the carpet beneath her and arched her back. When she spoke, it was a rasp as she tried to stay sane against his ministrations. ‘Like. What?’
‘Beautiful. Hair down. Red lips. Eyes wild. I fucking love that about you. That there’s still something wild in you. Too many people are tame.’
He replaced his fingers with his mouth and Raina’s head hit the floor hard.
The sound of the piano from the song bled into the room and she realized that’s what she felt like.
A piano. So many people had treated her body like an instrument.
One they had no idea how to play. They would just plonk out the one tune they knew, or attempt to run their hands along the right keys.
Tom Branimir was an artist. He played her to perfection, and for the first time in her life, someone other than herself was able to make beautiful music with her.
His tongue moved against her and she felt a tear slip free and slide down the side of her face and into her ear.
Cerebral sex that turned on her mind, not just her body.
There was no feeling of performing with him – for once she felt completely natural.
She dragged her fingers through his blue-black hair, and he made a deep sound of approval.
‘You taste so fucking sweet,’ he murmured against her, and she started to tremble. ‘Come for me, sweetheart.’
She grabbed his large hand, pulling it to her mouth and using it to muffle the sound of her scream. He smelled of soap and he made soft, soothing sounds as she came down from the enormous high he’d coaxed from her.
‘Tom,’ she half sobbed.
‘I’m here, sweetheart.’
She raised her head to look at him and she could see realization hit him as he met her eyes. He read in her face what she was feeling. What she was finally ready to feel.
‘Tom, I lo—’
There was a sudden knock on the door of the snug. Tom pulled Raina into his arms and she laughed at how his soft and loving face hardened into a protective scowl.
‘Occupied!’ he growled at whoever was on the other side.
‘I know you’ve got my sister in there,’ came Solana’s apologetic voice.
‘We’re busy,’ Raina called out.
The door to the snug was suddenly wrenched open and Solana materialized looking panicked and breathless. Raina had righted her dress, but she knew both she and Tom were sporting swollen lips and wild eyes.
‘What’s wrong?’ Raina asked, going into immediate older sister mode.
‘It’s Pep,’ Solana whispered. ‘She just bolted upstairs to hide. I don’t know why.’