Honor Bound (9 page)

I stared at him, suddenly wanting to kiss him again, fighting a compulsion to reach out and touch his chest, his face. “So why did you?”

He seemed to be distracted by our shared gaze too. He blinked at my question. “Why did I what?”

“Why did you help me?”

“Oh.” The corner of his mouth quirked up briefly. “I make a point of rescuing beautiful women whenever I can.”

“Oh.” It was nice to be called beautiful, but the words were somehow disappointing. I’d thought he’d helped me for
me
, but maybe he would just help anyone who needed it.

I liked that he had a good heart, but I wanted him to feel like I was someone special. I looked down at the floor, realizing there was no reason for me to assume he would think anything of the kind, that he would treat me differently than anyone else.

He reached over and cupped my face, raising it so I was looking at him again. His expression had changed. It wasn’t amused anymore. It looked deep, meaningful, and it took my breath away. “I didn’t want you to get in trouble, Ali. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to you. I feel this urge to take care of you, and I have no idea where it’s come from.”

I swallowed hard, a rush of emotion drowning any rational thoughts I might have had. “I’m glad,” I said, very softly, my hands lifting of their own accord to flatten against his strong chest. I couldn’t seem to look away from him.

“So am I.”

I couldn’t exactly follow his words, but it didn’t really matter. I knew exactly what he meant, what he was feeling. I could see it in the blaze that suddenly consumed his eyes, his expression. He leaned down toward me at the same time I was stretching up toward him.

Then his lips claimed mine, moving against them gently at first—his tongue playing along the line of my mouth—and then a little harder, deeper. I responded eagerly, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my body into his. He was big and strong and hot, and his heart was so kind.

I wanted him. All of him.

My head was spinning when he finally pulled away, a little smile on his mouth. “That was a very nice surprise to have show up on my doorstep.”

I blushed and dropped my eyes, although I was still clinging to his shirt. “I just came here to thank you. Not to kiss you.”

“Well, I for one have no objection to the change of plans.”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Me either.”

“Do you want to come in? I’d like to hear more about what you’ve been doing at the house.”

I nodded, trusting him intuitively, despite the fact that he was a Maxwell.

It didn’t matter that he was a Maxwell. He was Sebastian, and that was more important.

He fixed some coffee on the little machine in his room, and we sat down on the little couch.

“So tell me what’s been going on,” he said, looking like he genuinely wanted to know.

So I told him. Everything. All about what his family’s company had done to my dad. What the consequences were to my family. How the Gentry job had fallen in my lap and what had come to me as a possible plan—a way to finally seek justice.

I never talked so much. I literally couldn’t remember ever talking so much in my life. But it all came spilling out, and, whenever he asked a question, I ended up saying even more.

He was listening. I could see that. And his face seemed to be full of understanding and a kind of thoughtful sympathy.

When I finally finished my story, we sat in silence for a minute. I felt exhausted and wound up at the same time, and an excitement I’d never experienced before was simmering inside me at the connection I felt with Sebastian.

He didn’t say anything immediately. Instead, he pulled me against him and wrapped both arms around me.

I clung to him, feeling safe and understood and
known
.

“I’m sorry all that happened,” he murmured against my hair.

“It’s not your fault.” I pulled away enough to look up at him. “It’s not your fault, Sebastian. And I’m so sorry I tried to paint you with the same brush.”

He gave a half-shrug. “You wouldn’t be the first. They’re my family. I feel like I spent most of my life trying to be my own man, rather than just a Maxwell.”

“You are your own man. You’re an amazing man.” I couldn’t believe I’d said something so revealing, but I didn’t regret it, especially when I saw the expression on his face.

“Not nearly as amazing as you,” he said hoarsely, cupping the back of my head. Then he kissed me again, and it was even better this time—deeper, nothing held back.

I twined my arms around his neck and opened myself fully to him. His mouth was hard, eager, and skillful, and wave after wave of sensation and emotion washed over me as the embrace deepened.

Soon, he had me pushed back against the arm of the couch, his weight hot and heavy on top of me. I was arching against him, digging my fingernails into his back, my body and my heart both seeking something they wanted desperately. In him.

Finally, he tore his mouth away from mine, panting raggedly. I could feel that he was hard against my hip, his gym shorts hiding very little. “Ali,” he said thickly, leaning his forehead against mine briefly. “Sweetheart, if you don’t want to take this further, I think now would be a good time to leave.”

For some reason, the hoarse words sent my heart soaring. They were so much like him—thoughtful and genuine and passionate, with just a little hint of irony. I grabbed his head in both hands so he couldn’t pull away. “I don’t want to leave.”

His eyes held mine for a long moment. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Oh, yeah. I want you so much, Sebastian.” I wasn’t even embarrassed about the blunt statement. I was safe here. With him. I could be completely honest.

His eyes blazed with heat just before he kissed me again, and soon we were rocking together in the rhythm our bodies were seeking. My hands lowered to his ass, and I was clawing at the firm muscles, trying to get his groin closer to the pulsing need between my thighs.

“Damn,” he gasped, pulling out of the kiss abruptly. “We better move this to the bed or I’m going to lose it before it even starts.”

I giggled, touched by his naked desire for me. I straightened up when he pulled his weight off me, and my gaze crawled over his gorgeous body as he stood before me, tense, damp with perspiration, and visibly aroused.

“I think I have a condom around here somewhere,” he muttered, going over to his luggage on the other side of the bed.

Since I didn’t have anything else to do, I moved to the bed, turning off the light beside it. In less than a minute, Sebastian joined me, and he was smiling when he moved over me, the condom in his hand.

His kiss was a little slower this time, as the pause seemed to have given him more control, and his touch was gentle and leisurely as he slowly took off my clothes and caressed my body. I’d already been aroused, and by the time I was naked beneath him, I was squirming with need, my entire body hot and throbbing.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured. “So sweet. So beautiful.” I’d never really felt beautiful until I saw it in his eyes, by the light that was still on across the room. But he was staring down at my face, my breasts, my belly, and there was no way to doubt that he liked what he saw.

Really liked what he saw.

He lowered his face to my breasts and took my nipple in his mouth, and the pleasure spiraled up helplessly as he twirled his tongue.

“Sebastian,” I gasped, arching up into his mouth and clutching at the bedding.

He made a wordless murmur as he suckled.

“Sebastian!” My need had become a sensual torment, and I couldn’t seem to hold my hips still beneath him.

He made another murmur, the vibrations adding to the stimulation. Then he edged his hand between my legs until he was stroking me intimately.

I made a choked sound at the intensity of the pleasure, and my body rocked beneath him as he built up the pleasure between his mouth at my breast and his hand between my legs.

I shook and cried out uninhibitedly as my orgasm finally broke. He murmured words that felt like encouragement as the pulses of pleasure overwhelmed me, but I couldn’t really identify what he said.

Finally, I slumped back on the bed, flooded with sated languor. I smiled up at him. “Thank you,” I said. “Oh, thank you.”

He laughed and adjusted his body so he could kiss my lips. “You’re welcome. But I enjoyed it too, you know.”

We just smiled at each other for a long moment. Then I said, “I’m glad.” I reached down and found his erection in his shorts, caressing it gently through the fabric. “Now maybe we can do something for you.”

Sebastian

I still couldn’t believe that she was here. Honestly and truly here. And that I wasn’t just imagining it. The hand that was caressing me told me that she was real and that if I didn’t slow her down, I was going to embarrass myself. And fast.

Reaching down, I put my hand on top of hers to still it. A little sound of protest escaped her lips. I silenced it with my mouth as I kissed her. Slow. Deep. Sweet. God, I could kiss her forever, and it still wouldn’t feel like enough. I was never one that really found kissing to be more than a way to get to the good stuff, but right now, I was finding that kissing Ali was essential.

Her lips were so soft, and her sighs and little sounds that she was making were so erotic that I could easily lose my mind. Unable to help myself, I raised my head and just looked at her. Her eyes were a bit dazed, her skin was flushed, and I had an overwhelming need to just cradle her in my arms and cherish her.

It was so out of character for me that I hoped she couldn’t see the confusion on my face. Just in case she could, I went back to kissing her, and I could feel her smile against my lips. God, I loved that. The honesty. The innocence. The pure joy that she seemed to have at just the simplest of touches. I had never been with a woman like Ali. Never. Shallow as it sounds, I knew why most women wanted to be with me, and I was never looking for much more than finding my own release. I was good at pleasing women—really good at it—but with Ali, it was on a whole other level.

I wanted more than just pleasure.

I wanted more than to just go at it until we came.

I wanted this to be something that neither of us would ever be able to describe, and I never wanted it to end.

Shit
.

Ali’s hands were at my waist, and she was trying to nudge my shorts off. It was kind of cool that she was fumbling with them. That told me that she didn’t make it a habit of seducing guys and getting them into bed. I didn’t think she was a virgin, but the fact that her actions didn’t seem practiced made me feel good.

Her squirming and wiggling beneath me had me at my breaking point. Taking pity on the both of us, I quickly rolled away and stripped. In a flash, I’d gotten the condom in my hands, and I watched Ali as she watched me roll it on. Her breathing was heavy, and a small smile played at her lips, and all I could think was that I’d do anything to make sure that she always smiled.

Starting now.

Slowly—painstakingly slow—I eased into her. She let out a low moan and then bit her lip. She was killing me, and she didn’t even know it. “Ali,” I whispered, and when she looked up at me, I knew that she was not really focused on my face, but on what my body was doing to hers. “Ali, sweetheart, look at me.” She tried to focus, I could tell, but she was wiggling again and trying to take me all the way in.

“Sebastian, please,” she cried softly and I couldn’t hold back. Taking her hands in mine, I pinned them over her head as I sank all the way in. She was so tight and felt so incredible that I couldn’t help but cry out with her. Together we began to move, her legs wrapping around my waist, and I swear that I’d died and gone to heaven.

We moved together as if we’d done this a million times before, and where I’d normally be thrusting hard and fast, I was taking my time and savoring the feel of her and watching the expressions on her face.

Every time I withdrew and then slowly move back in to her, she smiled.

Each time I leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips or her cheek, she practically purred.

This wasn’t just sex. This wasn’t just two people giving in to a mutual attraction. This was like coming home to that one place that meant the most to you—that one place where you knew that you were accepted for who and what you were and loved for it.

This was making love.

And it scared the shit out of me.

I couldn’t let myself delve too deeply into all of that at the moment, though. I wanted to go on feeling Ali, pleasing Ali. Over and over our hips met up, and the only sounds in the room were our own whispered sighs of pleasure and the rustling of the bed.

Suddenly, Ali’s legs tightened around me, and her breathing became a little more erratic. I knew that she was going to come again, and I found that I wanted that more than my own release. Reaching down between the two of us, I let my hand linger at her breasts. She cried out my name as her head thrashed from side to side, but she wasn’t quite there yet.

Further down, I let my hand come to rest just shy of where our bodies were joined. “Tell me what you want, Ali,” I growled against her ear. Her head continued to thrash slowly as her hands came up and clutched my shoulders. “Whatever you want,” I urged, “is yours.” My hand moved just an inch and yet still shy of where I knew she wanted it.

“Touch me,” she said breathlessly. “Please touch me.”

It would be cruel to play with her right now, even though the thought crossed my mind. I enjoyed that aspect of our relationship. But right now, it was not her laughter that I wanted. I wanted to send her soaring while crying out my name. I honed in on that one sweet spot that was aching for my touch. One light brush of my finger, and Ali nearly bucked off the bed.

With my name on her lips.

Yeah, that pretty much did me in, and it didn’t take long for me to come.

With her name on my lips.

My breathing was ragged, and I was beginning to wonder if we’d been here in my bed for minutes, hours, or days. All I knew as I carefully rolled over, took care of the condom, and tucked Ali in beside me was that, however long it was, it wasn’t enough.

With my arms around her, I hugged her close to me and smiled as I felt her gently kiss my chest. It was a nice feeling. Without a word, Ali made me feel like I was the one that was being cherished.

It was a completely new experience.

For all of her words to me over the last couple of days, and knowing exactly how it is that she felt about me because of who I was related to, she obviously saw something in me that told her that I was different than them.

Better.

Another completely new experience.

There were so many things that I wanted to say to her, and yet I had no idea where to begin. How did I tell her that she was different than every other woman I’d ever slept with? Then again, what woman wanted to hear about the other women you’d slept with immediately after you’d both orgasmed?

Better to keep that one to myself for a while.

Gently, I kissed the top of her head. “You okay?”

“Mmm…” she murmured, and that made me smile. “Definitely.” Raising her head, her dark eyes met mine. “And you?”

She was smiling, but there was a hint of uncertainty in her eyes and in her voice, and I wasn’t sure how to respond to it except with the truth. “Yeah, I’m good,” I said. My voice was gruff, almost to the point that I didn’t recognize it.

“Good,” she said with a little nod of her head. “That’s…good.”

I knew it shouldn’t make me feel good that she was nervous, but it did. It reinforced my earlier thoughts that she was not that experienced, and that meant that I wouldn’t have to kill too many other guys. Because just the thought of any other man touching her the way I just did made me see red. How unreasonable is that?

I reached out and skimmed a hand down her cheek and watched as her eyes slowly flutter closed. “I’m really glad you came here tonight, Ali. So many times I wanted to try and find a way to be alone with you, but I didn’t want it to be at Gentry’s house.” At the mention of Ken’s name, she tried to withdraw, but I held her close. Placing a kiss on her sweet lips I said, “Thank you for being brave enough to seek me out.”

Her eyes opened, and part of her finally looked relaxed and relieved. “You completely saved me today. From Ken Gentry…and from myself. I need my job too much to take such crazy risks.” I could tell that she wanted to say more, but I didn’t want to go there right now. I had no idea how long she could stay, and I didn’t want to waste it talking about work, the Gentrys, or vendettas.

Actually, I didn’t want to talk at all.

Carefully, so as to not alarm her, I rolled her over until she was under me. “Well, this is one crazy risk that I’m glad that you took,” I teased as I lowered my head to the slender column of her throat and licked my way from collar bone to earlobe. “Feel free to do it again anytime.”

Her back arched, and the feel of her breasts pressed up against my chest was amazing. “Really? Anytime?”

I nodded and kissed my way all the way down until I had one perfect nipple in my mouth. “Mm-hmm.” Slowly I lifted my head and looked Ali right in the eye. “I promise to make it worth the trip.”

And then I was done talking.

For a really long time.

****

Two days later, I really needed to talk.

Not to Ali, but to someone. One of the guys. I ended up with Declan. The knock at my hotel room door didn’t surprise me, but seeing Declan on the other side did. He took one look at the confusion on my face and laughed.

“You sounded weird on the conference call earlier—distracted and whatnot—I had some free time so I figured I’d drive up and see what was going on.” He took a look around my hotel suite and grinned. “It’s nice seeing how the other half lives.”

“Fuck you,” I muttered and shut the door. Luckily, Ali and I didn’t have plans tonight, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that it wasn’t her here with me. I tried playing the polite host and offered Declan a drink, but he just shrugged. To hell with it. I needed a drink. Opening up the mini fridge, I pulled out a beer and then sat down and waited to hear what he was thinking.

It didn’t take long for him to cut to the chase.

“Is your old man still giving you shit?” he asked as he pulled my desk chair out and sat down to face me.

“No. He’s been fairly quiet for a few days now.” I took a pull of my beer. “Then again, I haven’t made an attempts to see or talk to him either.”

“Okay,” Dec said with a nod. “And the Gentry job? Everything is going smoothly there?”

I gave him a recap on how everything was coming together. “Honestly, I still don’t see what the problem is. The protestors—and I use that term lightly—are fairly peaceful. Not once has any of them caused a problem or a scene. There have been no direct threats to Ken or his family. There’s a lot of negative press about him, but nothing that screams problem.” I leaned back on the couch and slouched down. “I’m stumped. What am I missing?”

Declan stared at me until I started to squirm. “What?” I demanded.

“Are you sure that you’re on top of everything?”

I couldn’t help the eye roll. “Dude, I’m on this guy like white on rice most days. If anything, he overshares with me. I’ve talked to everyone working on the property at least a dozen times a day. I’m telling you, there is no big threat here. The press is going to print what it wants to print, and from what I can tell, they’re not exaggerating anything. Everything that I’ve read is spot on. It’s negative because what he and my father have done is fairly negative. We can’t go after someone for printing the truth.”

“True,” Declan said, but he continued to stare.

“Now what?” I hate when he used that tactic.

“You’re distracted.”

“Like hell I am. I’m here every freaking day dealing with this crap.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, but you’re not into it. I think that maybe you’re not looking close enough because you don’t give a shit.”

Damn, he had a point. I know that I zoned out a time or two when talking with Ken. “Okay, maybe,” I said begrudgingly. “I still don’t think that this is all that big of a deal. I think that the night of the gala there may be an actual scene, but for now, it’s a whole lot of nothing.”

“It’s not really our place to judge on what a client considers to be important, even when it is nothing. We’re being paid to do a job, and every client—including ones that are friends with your parents—deserve our undivided attention.”

“They’ve had it. Day in and day fucking out, I’ve been there. Even when I didn’t want to be, and even when I knew it was a waste of damn time. I’m doing the best that I can in a crappy situation and making sure that no one gets into trouble. Satisfied?” I realized that I was the only one raising my voice. I glared at Declan who merely arched a brow at me.

“Care to tell me what caused your little outburst?”

Not really, but maybe he was the perfect one to sound this off of. My head was spinning at the change of events lately, and my heart was in knots over Ali. I didn’t want to deal with Gentry or the damn gala. I wanted to spend time with her. We’d snuck off a couple of times to be alone, but it was never enough. If anything, it only served to frustrate me more.

I didn’t want stolen moments.

I didn’t want to have to wait until late at night when she could sneak away from her family.

Images of last night crept into my brain of how Ali had looked in the shower, up against the wall, as I’d made love to her. She’d been so quiet and reserved because she didn’t want her voice to echo too loudly that it had become my mission to make her scream.

And she did.