Chapter 10 Getting Closer #3
He could play this any number of ways, but he was going for the truth. “With you. I want to be with you, Sydney.”
She pushed onto her toes, dropped a tender kiss on his lips. “In we go.”
“I like the way you think.”
He set his duffle and computer bags on the floor.
“I’m a woman of action.” With hands on her hips, she looked him squarely in the eyes. “Whatcha got, Tank?”
In three seconds, he could have her splayed on the king bed, trapped beneath him, but where’s the fun in that? He was gonna make her wait. Make her sweat, then beg for him.
“Trust me?” he asked.
She peered into his eyes for longer than he’d expected… or liked. “Yes. I. Do.”
He clasped her hand, drew her close, and kissed her finger.
Then, instead of doing what she expected, he led her down the hall, stopping in front of a closed door.
After he opened it, she glanced inside, her eyes lit up, and she shot him an approving smile before entering the room. Leaving the door open, he followed.
“This is great,” she said.
“Ever boxed before?” he asked.
“My training included hand-to-hand combat only.”
He helped her find a pair of boxing gloves, then he found her a mouthguard.
“You sure you want to use these?” she asked.
“Gotta protect your teeth.”
“Are they clean?”
“Clean enough,” he replied.
He slipped a mouthguard into his mouth, held one out for her. She fitted it into her mouth. On went the boxing gloves before he brought her over to one of the bags, hanging on a chain from the ceiling.
He demonstrated stance, positioning of the hands, then he pounded that bag like every damn terrorist in the Haqazzii cell was standing in front of him.
An explosive energy that had been building and building and building until he unleashed it in a maelstrom of rage and fury and frustration.
Breathing hard, he jabbed, kicked, spun, and punched while he grunted through each release.
Normally, he kept his anger in check, but once he opened Pandora’s box, he turned into a maniac. As sweat trickled down his back, he wailed on the black bag until he caught Sydney’s shocked expression.
Slowing to a stop, he walked off the rush of adrenaline until he started calming down. Truth was, he had a lot more anger, but he’d step away. Give her a chance to try out the bag herself.
Bending over, he rested his gloved hands on his knees, breathed deep, and waited for his heart rate to slow. When he lifted his gaze to hers, she was waiting. The hunger in her eyes set his insides on fire.
“You’ve got dark energy I can’t unsee,” she murmured. “And I’ve never seen anything so sexy in my life. God, help me.”
He straightened up. “You want a go?”
She peered into his eyes while the frenetic air swirled around them. Then, she stepped right up to him, tilted her face to his. “A kiss for beginner’s luck.”
The second she pressed her lips to his, he came alive, kissing her with a passion that had her groaning into him. When he finished, she stared with blinking eyes, her breathing coming fast, her eyes black as night.
“Okay,” she panted. “That’ll work.”
When he let go, she wobbled ever-so-slightly. Lightning fast, he steadied her with his gloved hands before bringing her over to the hanging bag.
Rather than offer detailed instruction, he simply said, “Breathe and go easy to start.”
One deep inhale before she broke eye contact to focus on the bag.
Slow, reserved cross jabs that yielded to faster, sharper ones while she homed in on her target.
She was strong, but it was her speed and agility that impressed him the most. Her grunts were filled with controlled rage as she pounded the bag. Over and over and over again.
When she slowed to a stop, she inhaled another deep breath. “That was different. What a great workout.”
“You like?” he asked.
“I like.” After a beat, she stepped back. “Your turn.”
They went twice more, each sparring more intensely than the time before. The boxing provided Teddy the perfect outlet to exorcise his fury.
And he had so damn much of it.
When they finished, he asked, “How was that for you?”
Off came her gloves. Out came the mouthguard. With her eyes drilling into him, she made her way over.
“I’m ready to eat you alive.” Her voice had dropped, the raspy ache taking their evening to a whole new level.
He tore off the gloves, dropped them on the floor, removed the mouthguard. Seconds later, he had her pinned against the padded wall, his mouth on hers while she raked her fingers down his back, pressed her tongue against his.
It was a frenzy of lust, their wild embrace sending him flying high.
The harder she kissed him, the harder he kissed back.
The blinding, deafening need to drive himself inside her, fill her to completeness, then drive her again and again until she surrendered to the pleasure had turned him into a savage beast.
“I gotta have you,” he growled in her ear. “All of you, all of me.”
They left, moving with intention toward her suite. As soon as they were inside, she shut and locked the bedroom door.
He set his Glock on the chest of drawers. His heart pounded in his chest like a bass drum while she unbuttoned her oversized shirt revealing her sexy, black sports bra. He moved behind her, met her searing gaze in the wall mirror.
“Do you want me?” he asked.
She offered a nonchalant shrug. “Meh. I could take you or leave you.” Then, she winked.
“Yeah, you want me,” he said. “You want me bad.”
“Cocky, cocky Santini.”
He slid the garment off her shoulders, let it fall to the floor. When he reached around, she leaned into him while he unfastened and unzipped her jeans, their gazes locked on each other’s reflections.
“You’re extraordinarily beautiful,” he murmured before he kissed the side of her neck, then dotted her shoulder with kisses.
He removed her belly band holster—with her SIG still in it—and set it on the dresser. Then, he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her cheek. When his gaze found hers, the tension in her eyes was gone.
Only passion and confidence remained.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “You make me feel like a woman… not one of the guys.”
Still standing behind her, he knelt to remove her boots before tugging down her pants and helping her step out. Then, he removed her black panties, kissed her rounded backside, and stood.
Turning her to face him, he said, “I’m dying for you, but you set the pace.”
She placed her soft hands on his cheeks. Desire shone from her half-hooded eyes. Add in her wild head of hair and her rockin’-hot body, and he was a man on fire, consumed with a need that only she could satisfy.
“Have your way with me,” she said, the ache in her voice turning him harder still. “No holding back.”
He wanted to love her for hours, pleasure her for days.
They broke away, both fishing condoms from their bags. She tore off his clothes in seconds, shoved him back on the bed. He lay on his back, his cock shooting straight to the moon.
With a twinkle in her eye, she climbed on the bed, nestled between his thighs, and stroked him. Gentle caresses that sent a rush of excitement oozing out of him.
When she leaned over and gobbled it up, he said, “Fuck, Sydney, you are so damn sexy.”
With a hunger in her eyes, she stilled, her gaze on him, his cock in her mouth. His world shifted, the power she held was like nothing he’d ever felt. She could lift him or she could destroy him.
She continued to take him in, roll her tongue around the head, slowly pull him out. Streaks of euphoria shot through every cell in his body, stealing his thoughts and his mind.
“Mmm, you taste good,” she said before she refocused her full attention on his shaft, pumping him with a light touch that had him pushing up on his elbows to watch her suck the juices out of him.
And then, just as quickly as she’d devoured him, she pulled off.
“I’m so close to coming,” she said, her breathy voice husky with need.
She tore open the condom packet, rolled it over his stiffness, and positioned herself over him. And she sunk onto him, the shock of pleasure careening through him as her throaty moans filled his ears with her delight.
“Ohgod,” she blurted. “I gotta kiss you.”
She moved over him, biting his chin, finding her way to his mouth. Tongues thrashing, teeth against teeth. And then, she began to glide. Slowly, to her end, then she’d stop. The constant flow of ecstasy had hijacked his entire being, but he had to see her. When he opened his eyes, she was waiting.
They were going at it like two feral animals, but she felt like the connection he’d been searching for.
“Grab my hips,” she said, “and fuck me good.”
With his hands anchored to the sides of her body, he controlled her movement. Their collective sounds—moans, groans, and garbled words—had him soaring toward an orgasm. But he wanted to take his cues from her.
“Talk to me, Sydney.”
“Talk dirty?”
“Come together,” was all he said.
Her smile sent another streak of energy through him, only this time the zing landed in his heart.
She repositioned so she was sitting up. She placed his thumb on her clit, and she started moving on him. With heavy eyelids, they kept their gazes locked on each other, his mounting orgasm threatening to escape.
“Tank, I’m gonna come,” she murmured.
As her pussy tightened around him, she glided faster while she shook through her release. He exploded inside her, the ecstasy shooting out of him while he drowned in everything Sydney.
“Fuck,” he growled when the orgasm ended. “Holy fucking hell.”
She stilled his thumb, lay boneless over him, and sighed. “You are so sexy. All you have to do is show up, and I want to mount you.”
He nuzzled her, moved her hair away from her shoulder, and kissed her neck, then her shoulder. “You look at me, and I’m a goner.”
She lifted her face. “I don’t want to move. Ever.”
A just-sexed Sydney was very different from the badass one he was getting to know. He placed his hands on her back, and she inhaled a lung-filled breath.
“You calm me,” she murmured. “And you excite me. I’m don’t know if I’m coming or going with you.”
He chuckled. “Definitely coming. I would hate for you to go.”
“You’re good with words. I love that about you.”
He caressed her back for several quiet seconds. “Are you comfortable?”
“I just had an orgasm with the sexiest man I’ve ever known. I left comfortable in the dust.”
He loved touching her, loved feeling their bodies pressed together, how he was still nestled inside her. How they fit so perfectly together.
Tell her.
More silence.
Be bold. Put it out there.
Sydney, I’m just gonna say it.” He took a calming breath. “I really like you.”
She raised her head. Soft eyes and a hint of a smile danced across her face.
With a tender touch, she ran her index finger over his eyebrows, down his nose, over his lips.
“I really like you too.” After a long beat, she said, “I’m thirty-one and I don’t want to spend my time with someone who’s just looking for a fun time. I want to find my person. So, if—”
“I’m not hanging with you for the sex,” he said. “I like you, Sydney.”
Her smile was like the sun bursting through on a stormy day.
Tell her.
“You can laugh if you want,” he said. “I want to find a life partner that’s the foundation for everything. Family is the most important thing to me.”
“Not laughing.”
“I turn thirty in January,” he said. “Does that bother you?”
“Why would it? Because I’m older?”
He nodded.
“I don’t care. Do you?”
“Hell, no.” He stroked her long hair, letting it trail between his fingers. “What we’ve got is different.”
“Why do you think that?”
“I’m myself around you. I want you safe. I’m staying at Creepy Secret Zone. That, alone, should tell you how I feel.”
She smiled. “How do you feel?”
He felt like she could be the one, but he wasn’t telling her that.
He liked how she looked at him. Her expressive eyes told him a lot.
He could see the lust, loved watching it build.
He loved how her smile danced in her eyes, how she stared into his all the time.
Their sexual energy was spot-on, but it was much more than their physical connection.
He respected her. He liked being around her and he wanted to learn more about her.
The more he got to know about her, the more reasons he wanted to continue down that path.
He rolled them over, peered down at her. “I feel like you do.”
“How do I feel?”
“Like the luckiest woman on the planet.”
She laughed. “What is it about you Santini men? I swear to God, you are the cockiest brothers I have ever met.”
“You think?”
“Gabriel is one of my closest friends, and Grey is living in my condo. And then there’s you. My one-in-a-million man. I’d say I’m spot-on when it comes to the Santinis.”
He kissed her, letting his tongue tangle with hers. When he ended the kiss, he murmured, “I’m luckier… because of you.”