Paradise Lust (17 page)

She snapped the stretchy material of his shorts, slid one finger under the waistband, beckoned him down. He didn’t need any more than that.

He was on top of her, letting her silky skin cushion him. He wanted to be careful not to put too much weight on her, but she kept pulling him down, wanting more, and so finally he fully abandoned himself, letting every inch of his body press against every inch of hers, nothing held back. She wrapped her legs around him, pulling his pulsing erection closer to her, and they both seemed to suddenly realize that he still had his ridiculous yoga shorts on.

She used her feet—still strapped into snake-print stilettos, so unbearably sexy Danny could barely handle it—to hook around the spandex and tug the shorts down his legs, while he scrambled to do the same with his hands. She rose up, yanked his t-shirt off him, and lowered herself back down to the desk, letting her hands slide over the muscles of his stomach as she did so. She sighed, closed her eyes, then opened them. Looking down at her, Danny was struck with wonder at the fact that he still had so much to learn about this woman that he knew he loved.

“I understand why you waited two months to come here,” she said, running flat palms along the sides of his thighs. “But what the hell are you waiting for right now?” Her hands circled around back, gripped his ass, and pulled him toward her. He pulled one of her hands to his mouth and kissed it, and used his other hand to guide himself inside her. It almost seemed as though the build-up of desire had caused him to grow slightly; he moved slowly, gently, watching her face and listening to her breath for cues. It was the tightest fit he’d ever experienced, and despite the wave of intense pleasure washing over him, he fixed his eyes on her, concerned that she might be in pain. But her eyes were gently closed, one hand caressing his shoulder, the other trailing circles around her own breast, and both her breath and the soft noises from her mouth showed that she was just fine.

With that okay, he began thrusting, feeling her body shift to fit his every movement. He brought both hands down to join hers at her breasts, feeling her nipples between his fingertips. There were no crashing waves or ocean breezes this time, only the sounds of their moans, her sharp intakes of breath, his exhales, the papers shuffling under her body and flapping to the floor.

He began to move more slowly and not let himself fill her fully. It was partly a tease, but also because he knew that if he kept going as he had been, he would’ve been done in a matter of moments. She squirmed under the suspense, arched her back as if to try to get more of what he was withholding.

Her eyes were open now, her hands back on his ass. She guided his thrusts with her hands, moving his hips in an almost circular motion, slowly and rhythmically. Overpowering pleasure began to overtake him again—turns out slowness wasn’t a safeguard—and he closed his eyes, let his head drop back.

“No,” she murmured, her voice clear but soft. “Here.”

He knew exactly what she meant, and snapped his head back up, lowering his torso once again on top of hers so that their faces were close.

“Yes,” she whispered, and he began to thrust again, first with the rhythm she’d established, then faster, deeper. Fireworks were beginning to go off in his every nerve ending. He started to let out a deep moan, but Adele clapped a hand over his mouth; somehow, this made everything even sexier, and he couldn’t hold back anymore. Muffled by her hand, he abandoned himself to a body-shaking orgasm, the thunderous roar of pleasure throbbing outward from his pelvis to his fingertips. As the intensity began to taper, Adele began to arch her back more urgently, and her breathing quickened. She opened her mouth to make a sound, and this time he clapped a hand over her. She could feel her open mouth against his palm, her hot breath, a flick of her tongue. Underneath his body, she writhed and bucked, almost lifting herself off of the desk with the force of whatever was passing through her, and then, after one hanging moment of stillness, released back down, panting.

He took his hand off her mouth. She took her hand off of his. For the second time that day, they both burst out laughing.

Chapter 27

After their laughter had subsided and they’d put their clothes back on—Adele in a panicked frenzy when a secretary knocked on the door to deliver a message, while Danny crouched half-naked under the desk—they both perched on the desk, looking out the window at the city. By then, the sun hung low in the sky, dangling heavily at the world’s edge. The buildings were backlit by an orange glow.

Everything seemed slow and peaceful. Adele had forgotten that she could induce this feeling with something besides yoga. Now it all came back to her—love, sex, blissful exhaustion—that was another source of peace. Another source of knowing yourself.

Of course, she’d never felt it with such intensity before. The thrill of seeing Danny’s face in her office, in her yoga class, still coursed through her veins, but she knew that this feeling was more than a passing novelty. She was trying to pinpoint the reasons behind her certainty, but her thoughts were slippery.

“Hey,” Danny’s voice cut into her musings. He put a hand on top of hers, both resting on the desk between them. “Where’d you go?”

“Sorry,” she laughed, shook her head. “Just thinking. Or trying to think. Failing.”

“Thinking’s overrated,” he said. He smiled serenely and looked back out the window at the show the sky was putting on.

“Agreed,” she said, nodding. But then her relentless right brain cut in, rapping on her peaceful moment with the question that she hadn’t asked before, the question she was afraid of having answered.

“You just tensed up,” he said. He lifted his hand from on top of hers and squeezed her shoulder. “You okay?”

“Where are you staying?” She asked, keeping her eyes fixed on one building straight ahead. She was dancing around it.

“The Hilton,” he said. “Pretty fancy. Room service and everything. If you play your cards right, I might let you come back and see it.”

“Mmhmm,” she nodded. “So what’s the new job?”

“Well, I might have made it sound too grandiose earlier. It’s not like I’m saving the world or anything, but it is kinda cool,” he said, becoming animated. It was adorable; her stomach clenched. “So basically I’ll be using the skills I was using before—trend prediction, market analysis, all that jazz—but for a travel startup. They want to be on the leading edge of every new travel innovation, and I’ll basically be their forecaster to help make that happen.”

“That’s great,” she said. It actually did sound great. As if somebody had designed a position specifically for him. She wanted to ask him more, but needed to ask the question that was poisoning this perfect moment with doubt. She took a deep breath and asked, “Where’s it based?”

“Oh that’s what’s so cool about it,” he said. “Because it’s just these couple dudes right now working out of their apartment, there’s no office. Plus it’s all about travel, right? So they’re very into having their employees—aka me and one other person—‘in the field’ as they say. Meaning I can work from anywhere with an internet connection.”

Her heart fluttered. The clouds in her head began to clear. But she still didn’t feel on fully solid ground. She needed to just make sure, really, one hundred percent sure, before she let herself go to the feeling. She squinted, inhaled once more, and asked it, the question she’d been circling around: “So how long will you be in Seattle?”

Danny paused. He pulled his head back a bit, scrutinized her profile for a moment. She stared straight ahead, the building her beacon of sanity.

“Is that why you just got weird?” he asked. She could hear the smile in his voice.

Her face snapped toward him. “I didn’t get weird!”

He laughed. “No?”

In spite of her nerves, a smile forced its way onto her lips. “Maybe a little. But come
on
, have pity on a girl! Just answer the question!”

He gripped both her shoulders, turned her to face him, looked into her eyes. “Indefinitely,” he said.

The clouds cleared, the doubt was banished, and she fell forward to kiss him with everything she had. He was real, he was here, and he was staying. This wouldn’t be taken away from her.

After some time, they pulled away from each other. She felt a reluctance doing so, but then remembered that he wasn’t going anywhere; she didn’t need to drink him in all at once. She could savor him slowly, take her time.

The sun had finally finished its descent, the clouds from earlier in the day had cleared, and the sky blazed with the afterglow of a perfect West Coast sunset. Sure, there weren’t white sand beaches and swaying palm trees, but nobody could deny the beauty of the scene. The entire city stretched out below them, suddenly new and thrilling.

“So what should we do now, m’lady?” Danny asked.

“I’d like to go to the Marina, maybe,” she said after a moment’s pause. “Just look at the ocean.”

“Great thing to do,” he said, taking her hand. “Great place to do it.”

She looked at him and smiled. A great adventure was about to unfold.

Don’t let your adventure stop here. Follow Jocelyn Kates on Facebook and Twitter for steamy stories and updates on her next novel.

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