“Then that’s all the more reason for me to insist.”Her hands were resting lightly upon his waist, but she pushed them inside the fabric and slid both hands around to the front so that they lay flat on either side of his abs.It dipped his waistband low enough that it exposed what he might have preferred to have kept hidden.Well, until he saw the delight in her eyes.
“You are so fucking beautiful, Spook Mortensen.”
She was also making him blush.“You said that already.”
“I’m gonna keep saying it until it sinks in.”
She stroked him lightly with just her finger tips, making him gasp, eager for a firmer touch.
“One of these days, you’re going to let me feel every inch of this.”
“Mmm,” he agreed, enchanted by the spell she was weaving with her grip.Even the most stoic of men could be conquered by a woman this desperate to feel him.And he was no stoic.
“That time could be now?”She quirked a brow.
Nope.No.No way.
Abruptly, she threw her bra aside.Then shimmied out of both her skirt and panties.“I don’t want any barriers between us.Just skin against skin.”She stood before him, breath-taking in the moonlight.With a gentle tug upon the wrist she began to lead him towards one of the sun-loungers.
“Wait,” he insisted.“Alle, this is not a good idea.”
“We’re not doing anything either of us hasn’t done before.”
His mind might be addled, but his thoughts weren’t so jumbled to see how she was trying to manipulate him with words.They’d both had penetrative sex before.Her, likely with several former lovers.Him, a lifetime ago, but they’d never joined themselves together in that way.
“Alle, slow down, just let me kiss you.I’d rather not rush headlong into this.”
“Rush,” she chided.“I want you, Spook.You’ve said yourself, you’re prepared to let it happen, so why not now?The setting’s never going to be any finer.”
Spook stroked a hand through the thick waves of her hair.“The setting doesn’t matter.It’s irrelevant.I’m not ready for this, Alle.Especially not now, when it’s not about us.”
“Of course it’s about us.”
Sadly, he shook his head.“It’s not.It’s a reaction to the exchange you had with your brother, and I refuse to be wound up in family politics.I won’t be your means of escape.I can’t be.”
For a moment, tears glittered in her eyes, but she blinked and they were gone.“What are you saying?That I’m here because my brothers insist on trying to manipulate my life?I’m a big girl, Spook.The only reason I’m here is because it pleases me to be.Whatever words I exchanged with Flynn have nothing to do with what’s between you and me.”
“You say that, but—”
She silenced him, placing her index finger across his lips.“I say it because it’s true.”Slowly, looking at him all the while, she moved her finger and replaced the pressure with that of her lips.“Why is it so hard for you to give in to pleasure?Look at you, all taut as a bowstring, your body all ready for the love I’m eager to give.Is it that you think you don’t deserve it?I know that isn’t true.You’re one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I know, even if you do say wicked things about Ronnie.”
“He’s sweet, and he helped us out.We all owe him.”
“He was thrilled to be asked, and he enjoyed it.I don’t think it was any hardship.”
“It’s still a favour owing.But, I shall refrain from noticing his arse until he’s recompensed.”
Alle’s eyes gleamed.“When you speak like that, I can’t tell how serious you are.Nor whether you’re jealous or attracted to him.”
“He has a sort of freedom,” Spook said.One that he sometimes longed for, when the reality of being in a band wore him down.“And he does have a fantastic arse.I can see why you spent so much studio time admiring it.It’s not difficult to imagine it striped with a criss-crossing of line.”
“You want to spank him?”There was more than a little incredulity in her voice.She sucked in a breath that seemed to catch in her throat, leaving her voice husky.“Do you fancy him?”
“No,” he replied honestly.“It’s more that I recognise that he would make a fine canvas.”
“I didn’t think you even allowed yourself to think in those terms.”
It was almost impossible to stopper one’s thoughts.Spook knew how to distract himself.Shift his focus onto something else, but diversion tactics didn’t remove the drive that produced those desires.For years, he’d been foolishly telling himself he had things under control, but the truth was that he’d merely grown adept at lying to himself.Alle stood naked before him.His bodily response to her was a pure reflection of what he felt on the inside.He wanted her.Sex of any sort was sex.He’d been chanting that mantra-like for days, and it was a truth of sorts.However, there existed other truths too.That sliding inside her would be like forging a link he’d never be able to break.Other people slept around.He had a vast wealth of knowledge about such practices having watched his friends for years, but he had only ever willingly slept with those he cared deeply about, and it had always, always deepened that connection.
