Icing on the Cake (7 page)

She folded her arms. “If you had a good time, why can’t we keep it going? Why are you running?”

“I’m not running.”

“You’re ready to bolt into your car and speed home. Sounds like
fleeing
to me.” She shrugged indifferently.

He knew she meant to bait him into coming inside. That was clear. And damn her, everything in him told him to head on home, to extinguish the burning fire before it consumed him. Like a moth to a flame, he hovered before the woman he desired.

“So, what’s it going to be, Mr. Difficult?” Aerial looked seductively over her shoulder. “I thought you were man enough to take me.”

Brice quirked an eyebrow. A challenge.

“I
can
take you.”

“We’ll see. Won’t we?”

She rolled her eyes and started for the door to the house. The dress’s fabric pulled seductively as she walked, and damn her for looking so delicious and sexy. All good judgment ordered him home, but Aerial had issued a challenge—one he didn’t dare vacate. Besides, he liked how good she felt in his arms. Liked how she worked her sexuality out front, not hiding it, but also not depending on it to get her what she wanted. Confident and strong, Aerial’s loveliness didn’t stop at how much of her body she revealed, but rather in how much it didn’t embody
all
of her. Mysteries remained about her despite her openness.

She stopped at the door.

“You coming?”

Brice stood there, on the brink of either risking it all or playing it safe. For years now he’d kept his heart clear of danger, free from heartbreak. More than that, he’d kept everyone at bay. Far enough out of reach. If he didn’t love them, they couldn’t use it to abuse him, injure him or betray him. He’d grown used to his numb existence. Over time, he’d grown calluses on his emotions. They protected him from feeling much of anything. Blunted, his feelings hadn’t really mattered—until Aerial came like a hurricane, raining down her good-natured cheer onto everything around her—including him.

And all within the span of one damn week.

Now he couldn’t stop feeling.

For sure, there was one emotion he definitely wanted to experience again.

Aerial smiled seductively at him as if she knew exactly what feeling he meant. With a wink and a chuckle, she opened the front door.

“See you in five minutes,” she said before going inside.

Oh yes. She would.

Chapter
Eight

Aerial’s heart hammered with pure anxiousness. More often than not, she went with the flow, but now she’d totally poked the tiger. Brice turned off his car. She heard Brice’s footsteps on the old Victorian’s wood floors as he walked up onto the porch. The front door opened and she turned around to see him, face set to serious, brooding and bold, walk to her. Blinking her eyes as if she couldn’t believe what she saw, she tried to battle back her glee. Primal hunger burned in his eyes, his hands in his pockets. Smirking and walking in long strides, he reached her spot.

“You made it,” she quipped and turned her key in the lock.

Pushing through the door, she entered her studio apartment. The old Victorian house had been jigsawed into a series of miniature apartments. Brice followed her in and she switched on the wall light. The soft light illuminated the rectangular space. Sweet vanilla sugar cookie aroma hung in the air. Thankfully, she’d made up the king-sized bed and washed the dishes. The bed consumed most of the space in her apartment, but she didn’t do much here except sleep.

Brice shut the door. “I didn’t know they made stoves that small.”

“You travel a lot, so you must’ve seen one in a kitchenette of a hotel suite or something,” Aerial remarked, unhooking the choker. She turned to face him. Noting the grin on his face, she knew that Brice was teasing her.

He didn’t move from his spot just inside the entranceway, but instead took in her place. “This is a studio apartment.”

“I am an actress.”

“Yes, that is obvious by the scores of movie posters.”

Aerial smiled. She laid the choker on her nightstand—a gray plastic tub, and removed her big hoop earrings. Brice looked wonderfully out of place in her apartment. Overdressed for sure, but most importantly, too professional. The artist in her had melded different motives and designs into an eclectic mixture of patterns and décor that was Aerial Tina Gibson. Her hoops dropped to the nightstand and clinked against the choker.

It caught Brice’s attention. His eyes returned to hers. A slow, self-assured grin emerged on his face. Standing beside her bed, Aerial watched as his eyes trailed down her neck, across the v-neck of her dress and down her torso. He still hadn’t moved, but the scorching heat of his gaze weighed on her like his touch. Shuddering at the look, she braced herself for the sexing to come. She’d baited him in the parking lot, and he’d let her. When they kissed, she’d felt his erection and knew he wanted her just as much as she wanted him, but Brice needed a reason, a gentle nudge so to speak. So, she’d given him just the incentive he needed.

Now, she wanted him to make good on it.

But damn, apparently, he meant to take his time.

“You done inspecting the premises?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“I see you have a very large bed.”

“I’m not a small woman.”

“Thank God for that,” he said and came at her so fast, it took her breath away.

She blinked and Brice had her pinned to the wall beside the nightstand. His firm body kept hers in place, and each of his hands held her wrists, keeping her from touching him or moving them at all. She so hadn’t seen this coming. Before she could utter a single comment, his lips greedily claimed hers. Releasing her hands, Brice’s own slid down the sides of her body, his knee gently parted her thighs.  His questing fingers glided across her thighs, sending chills through her.  She moaned in the midst of his kiss, his tongue tangoed with hers and the sheer force of his need made her sigh into him even more. Her body melted into his. His scent invaded her sense, blotting out everything, but his hard, firm muscles, soft lips, prickly new growth along this jaw and the stony cock pressing impatiently against her inner thigh.

His heart pounded against her breasts. His strength and his craving clawed at her and she knew Brice had let go of whatever fear he’d had before. Her head swam at the kiss, at the sheer raging hunger and for a brief moment, Aerial wondered if she could feed him what he so desperately needed.

When he broke the kiss, he gazed into her eyes as his hands slowly lifted the hem of her dress higher until it rested at her waist. Her black satin panties ripped when he snatched them off. The swift jerk and tearing of fabric surprised her and she squeaked. Brice frowned, cupping her face.

“I would never hurt you, Aerial,” he said, and kissed her still tender lips. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“It was just…sudden. I liked that pair,” she said, heart racing and clit throbbing.

As he talked, Brice’s fingers parted her nether lips, and stroked them tenderly. Alternating between gentle stroking and caressing her nubbin with his thumb, Brice watched her closely.

“I will get you more, whatever you want, Aerial, I’ll provide,” he promised, the whisper of his voice streaked with desire. “Just tell me. I’ll get it.”

Something about the sincerity in those words caused her to arch her back in longing. Suddenly, she wanted out of the dress, out of the shoes and onto Brice’s hard cock. More than his touching, what he said had set her on fire. Simple words, but what turned her dial was the honesty and sincerity. Brice had pushed open the door, and dammit, she was coming in.

Speaking of coming, Brice’s fingers increased their pressure and speed across her love button. He cupped her ass with one hand and teased her clit with the other. Squeezing her butt, he continued to stare intently at her, gauging her responses to his teasing. Aerial closed her eyes and tossed her head to the side.

“No, Aerial, look at me,” Brice said, all his movements stopped.

Huffing out a sigh, she turned her head back to him and opened her eyes. Damn him. With her legs wide open and braced against the wall, her pelvis thrust forward, hungrily for him. His fingers weren’t enough, not nearly enough for what she needed, what she wanted. “Brice, please…”

He kissed her again, with eyes open. Quick. Fast. And then, his finger-caressing continued, ramping up in speed. “Gimme what I want, Aerial.”

She could feel her orgasm coming. Mounting inside her, the pressure piled. Her body trembled at the approaching emotions, and when she tried to close her eyes, to brace for the wonderful wave of pleasure, he stopped.

“Look. At. Me.”

She obeyed, and bit her lip to keep from screaming at him to fuck her. At that moment, she would’ve done whatever he wanted. When she met his gaze this time, his questing fingers began again, but instead of simply teasing her clit, he took his other hand and inserted three fingers into her wet heat. She pressed against his fingers faster and deeper, but she wanted so much more than his digits.

“You want me, Aerial?” Brice asked, his gaze burning into her like wheat on fire.

“Yes! God, yes!”

“Then come for me, real hard,” he said softly, his breath gentle against her face. He leaned in and kissed her again. This time, he didn’t relent when she closed her eyes. His lips parted and his tongue licked her bottom lip a second before he nibbled on it. The sharp sting of his nip pushed her over the edge and the orgasm exploded inside her, forcing her to shriek as it bowled through her.

“Beautiful! You’re so beautiful when you come,” Brice whispered.

She thrashed about and slumped forward, but Brice caught her in his arms. Smiling, he carried her to the bed and laid her down on it. He rolled her onto her stomach. The bed gave as he knelt beside her. Fighting to breathe, Aerial waited for the room to stop spinning. If a little fingering could blow her mind like that, what would sex with him do?

 “You have on too many clothes,” she said, and tugged on his slacks.

“So do you,” he said with a smirk. “Let’s fix that.”

The soft buzz of her dress’s zipper filled the air and the cool air touched her now exposed skin. She pushed herself up to her knees, and the dress fell down. Aerial liked the dress because the dress didn’t need a bra and it was strapless. A built-in bra had kept her ‘ladies’ secure. But, no longer contained, her full breasts bounced free. Swollen and aching for Brice’s touch, she cupped them. Nipples hard and throbbing, her breasts awaited his mouth, his hands—hell, his fingers at this point.

Brice replaced her hand with his and cupped one of her breasts. Dropping kisses across her back, he rolled her pebbled peak between his thumb and forefinger, making her moan. Kiss. Kiss. Pinch. Pinch. A flood of sensations spilled through her. Aerial moaned. Brice positioned himself behind her, throwing his knees on either side of hers. With her back to his front, he could now cup both breasts and he did so, kneading them before teasing her tight nipples. He nibbled along her jaw and down her neck to her collar bone and back again.

“Damn Brice,” she whispered, pushing back into the stone-hardness of his cock. Her nude butt made contact with the fabric of his trousers, but beneath the thin material a hard rod awaited. She wanted that and she cursed him for taking so long. “Stop teasing.”

“You think I’m teasing?” he asked, amused. His hand released one of her breasts and traced a path down to the apex of her pussy. There, he parted her lips once more, and slipped his finger into her wetness. “So, wet for me.”

Aerial couldn’t find words, so she shifted into action. She unwedged herself and turned to face him. Brice hadn’t been ready for her to move and so, he fell to the bed. Seeing her moment, she pounced on him, pinning him to the mattress. Straddling him, she lay on top of him, pinning his hands to his side. She saw the broad smirk on his face.

“Turnabout is fair play.”

“Indeed,” he said, smiling. “Impatient, aren’t we?”

“Fuck. Yes.”

She released his hands and sat up, still straddling him. With quick hands she unbuttoned the peach shirt. Brice’s well developed body gave her pause. Holy Christmas! Those abs were real?! She ran her fingers across them to be sure, and he moaned as she did it. His cock bobbed at the action.
Oh, yes, very real.
His long legs were lean and muscular and she couldn’t wait to bounce on them with him buried deep inside her. 

But Brice had tensed. Her eyes drifted up from his abdomen to his chest, the area over his heart contained scar tissue, twisted with old lacerations and hallmarks of staples, stitches or something. She reached for them, to touch the lighter colored skin, but he stayed her hand.

“Don’t.”

She looked up at his face and saw him struggle. A million questions zipped through her, but Brice’s eyes begged her not to ask, not to pry, but to simply accept him—like this. She nodded and he relaxed, lying back down on the bed. He sighed and patted her outer thigh. Avoiding the twisted lumps of flesh around his heart, she did notice how he didn’t have any tan lines. She dropped a kiss along his shoulder and leaned down to kiss his mouth.

“You’re so beautiful,” she whispered before kissing him.

He grunted and shifted her while maintaining the kiss. His hand stroked her cheek. When the kiss parted, he said, “Thank you for that.”

“I meant it.”

“I know.”

Chapter
Nine

Brice couldn’t believe Aerial didn’t question him about his scars. She moved on, seemingly unable to wait, she undid his belt, and unbuttoned his slacks. Easing down the zipper, she looked at Brice. He folded his arms behind his head, enjoying watching her undress him. With her shoes still on, she technically was still dressed—just not as much as him. When she climbed off the bed, he lifted his butt and slid his boxer-briefs and slacks together down to his ankles. When she grabbed the pants’ legs and pulled, he ended up wearing only his navy socks. He removed the rest of his shirt and sat up. Nude down to his ankles, Brice relaxed.