Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
I t was after three a.m. by the time the cleanup crew finished their work and departed. After seeing them off, Michael returned to the backyard for a final inspection. Since his father had been generous enough to allow his home to be commandeered by Asha, Michael had given the old man his word that everything would be restored to perfect order after the party.
After walking the landscaped grounds and satisfying himself that his father would find nothing to complain about, Michael started back toward the house. As he reached the veranda, he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye.
He turned, his pulse thudding when he saw Reese’s shadowy silhouette in the gazebo.
He started down the flagstone path, strolling at a leisurely pace when all he really wanted to do was run to her like the lovesick fool he was. To distract himself, he admired the gazebo that was painted white with a redbrick roof to match the main house. Surrounded by lush garden beds and draped with a twinkling canopy of fairy lights, it was the perfect spot for a romantic rendezvous.
When he reached it, he found Reese lounging on the wraparound bench, her head tucked into her hand and her legs curled under her. Her feet were bare; the ice-pick stilettos she’d worn earlier now lay on the floor. Michael was pleased to see that she hadn’t changed out of the siren’s dress, though something would have to be done about her pinned-up hair.
All in good time.
Leaning in the entrance to the gazebo, he dipped his hands into his pockets and gazed at her. “It’s late.”
“I know.”
“Couldn’t sleep?”
“Haven’t tried.”
“Why not?”
Those sultry eyes held his. “I was waiting for you.”
His heart went into overdrive.
She sat up slowly, patting the bench beside her. “Come. Sit.”
He didn’t have to be told twice.
He’d barely sat down before she reached for his tuxedo jacket and began dragging it off his shoulders. He helped her, shrugging out of the jacket and tossing it to the floor.
“Take off your shirt.” Her voice was calm.
“Why?” His was not.
“I want to give you a massage.” She smiled. “I think you’ve earned one.”
Michael wasn’t about to argue. Hurriedly he unbuttoned his shirt, removed his platinum cufflinks and cast them aside with no regard to where they landed. Reese helped him tug his shirt from his waistband and shrug out of it.
When her warm fingers settled over his bare skin, he groaned and closed his eyes.
“Look at all these knots you have,” she crooned, massaging the cramped muscles. “You poor baby.”
“It’s been a long day,” he mumbled, his head falling limply forward.
“Of course. And you’ve been working so hard.” Her soft, firm hands moved over his shoulders and back, locating and kneading pressure points until he thought he’d melt into a puddle.
“You amaze me, Michael,” she murmured. “A man in your position can just sit back and let the people you’ve hired do all the work. I certainly can’t imagine any other celebrity chef helping with kitchen duty at his restaurant, especially after a long, grueling day.”
“How do you know…” Michael’s brain felt so sluggish he had to stop an d try again. “How do you know I didn’t do that because you were helping?”
She chuckled. “Because one of your waitresses told me you always pitch in. That’s one of the many things they admire and respect about you. You never hesitate to get in the trenches with your soldiers.”
Speaking of his “soldiers,” the heat of her fingertips had need throbbing in his groin as currents of electric sensation sizzled through his veins. Before he knew it, he had a monster of an erection.
He let out another deep, satisfied groan as her skilled fingers worked at a stubborn knot in his back. “ God , that feels good. Where’d you learn to give such incredible massages?”
“My sister taught me. She owns a day spa.”
“Yeah?” Michael smiled hazily. “I have a friend whose wife runs a day spa in Houston. What’s your sister’s called?”
“Touch of Heaven.”
“Hmm.” Something clicked in his lethargic brain. His eyes flew open, and he swung his head around to stare at Reese. “Wait a minute. St. James...Is your sister married to Warrick Mayne?”
Reese smiled. “Yes, she is.”
“Get outta here! Are you serious?”
“Um, yeah.” She giggled.
“What a small world,” Michael marveled, shaking his head in disbelief. “Warrick and I have known each other for years.”
“I know. I just found out the other day when I spoke to my sister.”
“Raina, right?”
“Right.” Reese shifted, her soft breasts grazing his shoulder as she resumed massaging him. “Apparently, Raina and Warrick were planning to surprise me when you showed up at their wedding. But you ruined everything by being a no-show,” she said, giving him a teasing poke in the back.
Michael grinned ruefully. “I was really bummed about that. But I’d already committed to judging a competition months before I received their wedding invitation.”
“Too bad.” She sighed. “We could have met sooner.”
He gazed at her. “Better late than never,” he said softly.
She met his eyes, her hands stilling on his shoulders. “Michael?—”
He leaned close and kissed her. Hard. He didn’t know what she’d been about to say. He wasn’t taking any chances. He wanted her, needed her more than his next breath, and he wasn’t about to give her a chance to tell him no.
She responded eagerly, her arms banding around his neck. Her warm, fruity taste filled his mouth as his tongue invaded hers.
He was desperate for her, but he held it in check, trying to express with his kiss everything that mere words couldn’t describe. He told her with his lips, with every stroke of his tongue, just how much she meant to him, how completely lost he’d be without her. And she kissed him back with enough hunger to scorch the breath in his lungs.
He worked her dress up her luscious thighs and then lifted her onto his lap so she was straddling him on the bench. Seizing her mouth again in a hot, demanding kiss, he reached up and pulled out the jeweled hair combs securing her elaborate twist. He didn’t know where they landed, but when she shook her hair free, he groaned in approval and sifted his fingers through the thick dark tresses.
Her hands roamed appreciatively over his bare chest, tracing his hard pecs with a teasing brush of fingertips that puckered his nipples. When she leaned down to flick her wet tongue over one and then the other, a violent shudder ripped through him.
Greedily he cupped her breasts, transfixed by the way she closed her eyes and arched her head back, her pebbled nipples thrusting into his palms. He thumbed them as she ground against him, her soft, throaty cries ratcheting up his need.
She looked like a fucking goddess in her white dress, which glowed in the moonlight and gave her an ethereal sensuality. Last time he’d just wanted to rip off her clothes and feast on her glorious body—and later he would. But for now, he was enjoying the exquisitely erotic vision she made with the tops of her breasts spilling out over the low neckline, her nipples jutting through the silk. It was a dress made for sex.
When she reached behind her to unfasten it, he stopped her. “Keep it on,” he whispered thickly. “I wanna make love to you wearing it.”
She moaned and undulated against him.
Sliding his hands under her dress, he groaned at the discovery that she wore a silk thong. He cupped her lush, curvy ass cheeks and let out another appreciative rumble. “I’ve been dying to get under here all night.”
“It took you long enough,” she murmured, making his dick throb.
His hands snaked between her trembling thighs, pushed aside the damp strip of silk shielding her core and slid his middle finger inside. She bucked, her back arching like a bow as her muscles clamped hotly around him. He slid his finger in and out of her wetness, pressing and probing as she mewled her pleasure. When he found the spongy little spot at the back of her pussy, he tweaked it, then curved his finger forward.
Bingo .
Her eyes flew wide, and he crushed his mouth to hers to muffle her loud cry.
She rode out the orgasm, her thighs shaking on his lap, her fingers digging into his shoulders so hard he knew she’d leave scratches.
Gradually her eyes opened and settled on his face. She stared at him, looking both stunned and fascinated. “No one’s ever found my G-spot before,” she whispered.
His chest swelled. Even in the heat of passion, his male ego wasn’t immune to being stroked. “Maybe you’ve been with the wrong men,” he murmured, nibbling her plush lower lip.
She let out a slow, shaky breath. “Maybe.”
No maybe about it , Michael thought.
Closing her eyes, Reese kissed him softly while her hand reached between their bodies to cup his erection. She stroked him, wringing a long groan from deep in his throat.
She unzipped his fly, reached inside his boxer briefs and grasped his hard shaft. “Mmm,” she purred in throaty delight.
His dick swelled even more, if that were possible.
“I want to taste you,” she murmured seductively.
Pulse hammering like a drum, Michael stared in heavy-lidded arousal as she slid off his lap with a soft swish of silk. Holding his gaze, she knelt between his legs, gripped the base of his shaft and took him deep into her mouth. He sucked in a sharp breath as his head fell back, eyes rolling closed.
“Watch me, Michael,” she commanded in that sexy, throaty voice. “I want to see your face while I suck you dry.”
He groaned, and nearly came right then and there.
His gaze returned to her luscious, suckling mouth, watching as she licked over the wide head of his cock before sealing her lips around him. He shuddered and fisted one hand in her hair, the other curling around the bench’s armrest.
She sucked his crown, swallowing drops of precum, and they both groaned in response. Staring up at his face, she began moving her mouth up and down on him, hollowing her cheeks to increase the suction.
His gut clenched and he bit his bottom lip hard, eyes slitting in ecstasy. He’d received many enjoyable blowjobs in his life, but he couldn’t remember any other woman giving him such excruciatingly intense pleasure.
He swore gutturally as Reese cupped and squeezed his balls while her hot mouth pulled at him, tongue swirling sensually before she took him to the back of her throat, swallowing him down.
He couldn’t take it anymore.
She lifted her head, releasing him with a wet pop as he dug into his pocket and impatiently yanked out his wallet. He retrieved a condom and fitted it over himself with unsteady hands, then tossed the wallet aside and reached for her.
She stood and straddled his legs, lowering herself onto his lap. At the first touch of his cock, she gasped and arched her back.
Michael’s entire body shook with the ferocious, overwhelming primal urge to drive himself deep inside her, to fuck her hard and fast. But he resisted, stroking the head of his shaft up and down her slick seam in a slow, controlled caress that defied the raw lust roaring through his body.
Her hips ground eagerly against him, but he gripped her plump ass in both palms and held her still. Staring right into her eyes, he suckled her lower lip while he circled her clit with his burning cock, making her squirm and whimper until they were both completely sure she wanted this as much as he did. He wanted there to be absolutely no doubt, no room for silly denials later.
“Do you want me, sweetheart?” he whispered softly.
“You know I do,” she panted, her eyes glazed with desire.
He slid his tongue into her mouth, imitating the shallow, taunting thrusts he was making with his hips. “Then say it, Reese,” he demanded. “Say you want me.”
She choked out a frustrated sob. “Why are you?—”
“ Say it .”
“I want you, Michael. I want you. Want you, want you, want you.”
He smiled with dark triumph. “Good. Then you can have me.”
He thrust himself inside her with one deep, hard stroke and captured her mouth to swallow her scream as she pulsed and clenched around him .
“Michael… oh my God …” Thighs quivering uncontrollably, she clutched his shoulders and rocked her hips against him as he began pumping in and out of her. But they were both already so aroused that a few hard thrusts later, they exploded together.
Reese flung back her head with a strangled cry, the walls of her tight pussy gripping him like a fist. He closed his eyes and groaned harshly, thick cum spurting into the condom long after he’d stopped pumping.
They clung to each other for a long time, his hands stroking the silky dampness of her back as he murmured endearments to her.
At some point she lifted her head from his shoulder and gazed into his eyes with searching tenderness. His foolish heart constricted.
He leaned close, kissing her deeply and possessively.
She belonged to him now.
The sooner she stopped fighting it, the better off they’d both be.