Defying Desire. A.C. Arthur
he’d sucked in a breath. She’d looked up at him with those startling alert eyes and had the audacity to smile as she stretched the latex over him.
Her fingers lingered as she licked her lips and Trent had to resist guiding her to pleasure him. Instead he gently pushed her back so that she was resting against the pillows. He lifted her legs up onto his shoulders, positioned himself between her thighs and said, “Hold on.”
Chapter 5
Tia did just that, grasping handfuls of the comforter between her fingers as Trent sank his length deeper and deeper inside of her.
Her eyes closed even though she’d wanted to watch him. If she could keep her focus on Trent, on the here and now, the past couldn’t hurt her. But as her lids fluttered and finally closed Tia realized the past wasn’t hurting her. Sure, her heart was heavy with the weight of what she’d lost two years ago. But her body was also filled with what she had right now.
And what she had was two hundred–plus pounds of gorgeously muscled, virile man who knew just the way to touch her, kiss her, stroke her. Tilting her head back against the pillows she felt her own teeth sinking into her bottom lip as Trent settled himself snugly inside of her.
“Look at me,” he commanded.
Her eyes flew open to find his face only inches from hers, his dark eyes boring into her.
“It’s just you and me, Tia. Tonight. Just you and me.”
His voice was stern and Tia nodded her head, acknowledging what he was saying to her even as he pulled out of her, sinking blissfully back into her heat.
Trent didn’t know what was going on in her mind but he’d be damned if she would think of anyone or anything else besides him tonight. If he had to use every ounce of sexual expertise he possessed he would make certain of that.
Leaning forward he kissed the corner of her lip she’d been biting down on, stroking his tongue over the plumped section before sucking it gently into his mouth. She moaned and he circled his hips, pressing her farther into the mattress. Her thighs tightened and clasped around his waist. He was trapped inside of her, not that he was complaining. His mouth was locked with hers, their tongues mating the same way as their sex.
That’s when he felt it. The first inkling of something different. Yes, this was Tia St. Claire he was making love to. And, yes, he’d already adjusted his mind to the fact that for some odd reason she was different from the other women he’d known. But this feeling, circling and swirling in his chest as he moved over her wasn’t explainable. And what Trent couldn’t explain he either ignored or pounded until his understanding was clear.
At this moment he didn’t feel like doing, either.
Instead he tore his mouth away from hers, then reached behind to uncurl her legs. Hooking the backs of each of her knees in the crook of his arms, he lifted them higher, until only the upper half of her body was on the bed. With quick thrusts he moved inside of her watching the sensual play of emotions on her face.
She was gorgeous, her small braids spread across the pillow like a golden halo. Her eyes were half closed, but the hazel orbs shone brightly with desire. Her lips were parted as she panted, lifting her hips to match his rhythm. As lovers went, Tia was scoring more than average marks with him. She matched his intensity and desire every step of the way, challenging him with a look, a shift of her hips, a touch of her hands.
Dammit, that feeling in his chest seemed to magnify with this position. He stopped mid-stroke, closing his eyes in an attempt to get his thoughts together.
And she reacted.
Lifting up from the bed she managed to slip her legs out of his grip so that she was sitting and he was kneeling. Her hands flattened on his chest and she applied pressure as if to tell him to lay down. Trent’s eyes opened, finding hers glaring at him in challenge.
“My turn,” she said before stroking her tongue over his lips.
Every sane thought ran directly to his erection, making it harder, more determined than ever to find its release. He was lying back now, without a word, smiling up at her as she situated herself above him. Her long legs held her steady as she gripped his sex leading him to her waiting cove. She lowered herself ever so slowly, taking in one excruciating inch at a time. Her braids cascaded over her shoulders in a sexy curtain. Trent lifted his hands grasping handfuls of her hair pushing it back from her face.
Her features were concentrated as she lowered farther and when their bodies touched and he was completely impaled in her she looked at him. “Ready?” she asked.
Trent shifted his hips, settling himself, then grinned. “Ready and waiting. Show me what you’ve got.”
And that she did. With what seemed to be choreographed movements she rotated her hips, lifted slightly upward, then came down over him repeatedly. Trent’s mind had gone blank several times as his fingers gripped her hips. With her head thrown back, her breasts jutting forward and moans slipping from her lips Tia rode him like a woman possessed.
Or a woman trying desperately to lose herself in the moment.
Trent continued to watch her, taking her movements and matching them with his own. When she stiffened above him he lifted up from the bed, driving his sex deeper into her while wrapping his arms securely around her back. When her release came she went limp in his arms, her forehead falling forward to rest on his shoulder.
Continuing to work himself inside of her, Trent found his own explosive relief and groaned as her fingernails pressed into the skin of his shoulders. They sat there a moment, both of them trying to catch their breath. Then she shifted, trying to get free of his grasp but he held firm.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” she said in a slightly irritated voice that just about shattered any thoughts of intimacy.
Trent released her because, after all, he wasn’t the cuddling sort of guy. The room grew instantly chilly as she slipped away from him and walked unashamedly naked across the floor to the bathroom. With a sigh Trent lay back on the bed wondering what the hell had just happened.
They’d had sex, that part he knew, and felt, as his breathing was just getting back to normal. But he was no fool. In fact, he was smarter than most people gave him credit for. Still, he admitted that it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to know that something wasn’t totally right about what had just happened.
When Tia came back into the room Trent had already pulled the comforter and sheets down. He stood as she approached the bed, put her hair up and slipped on a nightgown, lifting her feet as she sat on the end, then he tucked her in, but that didn’t matter. He’d seen her gorgeous body naked. Now, no matter what she wore, he’d always have that picture emblazoned in his mind, just the way he liked it.
He was about to move away when she grabbed his wrist. “Are you leaving?” she asked.
Trent couldn’t help but frown. This woman was a bundle of contradictions. One minute she was feisty and telling him to get lost, the next she was cuddling in his arms and feeling on him seductively. She’d moaned and just about broke the skin on his back when she came then bit his head off when he tried to hold on to her afterwards. What the hell was up with that?
“I’m going to the bathroom,” he said when he should have told her yes he was leaving because he was getting tired of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act.
But as he moved into the bathroom Trent had a sinking suspicion that Tia had needed him tonight. Not “him” specifically but someone. She didn’t want to be alone—of that he was certain—and he wasn’t complaining about being the one to end up in bed with her.
Still he wondered as he wiped the warm washcloth over his face and down his chest, what was really going on with her.
Tia stepped onto the treadmill the next morning with one goal in mind: walk until her mind was completely clear. Of the anniversary. Of Jake and Jessica. And definitely of Trent Donovan.
When