Seven Nights (5 page)

God, she was naked under it. Gloriously, delectably naked. Sean’s knees turned to the consistency of jelly. It took every ounce of strength and control he had to keep from stepping inside and sliding his hands into the folds of terrycloth.

Instead, he gave her what he hoped was a dashing smile. “Leah, can I do something for you?”

Her lips tightened into a frown. “What the hell is this, Sean?” She motioned behind her and he took that as an invitation to enter.

Big mistake. The bedroom had already taken on her captivating scent. He inhaled the fragrance of lilies before he looked to where she was pointing. The open closet.

Let the games begin.

“Um, it looks like clothing.” He turned back to her with a grin. “Do I get a prize?”

There was only one prize worth winning at the moment. Sean struggled to keep his mind out of his increasingly tight pants.

“Oh, you think you’re so charming,” she muttered as she slammed the villa door.

“Thank you.” He took a step toward her. Even from a few feet away, he could feel her body heat. Practically taste her kiss.

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t move. “I wasn’t finished. I was going to say, you
think
you’re so charming, but you aren’t. Where are
my
clothes?”

Sean shrugged while he inched ever closer. “How are you going to have a fantasy when you’re draped in the kind of safari-wear you packed for this trip?”

She fought a shiver, but failed. Sean’s whole body rippled with triumph and desire.

“How can I get it through your thick skull that I don’t
want
a fantasy.”  She spun on her heel to hurry away from him to the dresser. One by one, she pulled out bikinis and sexy tops. “Short shorts? Tank tops? Cocktail dresses?”

“I’ve seen them.” Sean leaned back against the corner of the television table. “In fact, I picked out every one of them.”

That stopped her. A pair of lacy, black underwear slipped from her fingers and fluttered to the floor, but she didn’t seem to notice as she searched his face with wide, green eyes. “You did?”

He started his careful hunt of her all over again. One step forward, slowly. Stop. Another. She watched his every move with the cautious expression of a deer in headlights. Except there was a flicker of wanting in her eyes. A deep desire she was fighting.

But it was there.

“I want you to escape,” he said softly. “I knew you wouldn’t do that if you were wearing your clothing. You’d be a reporter like you tried to be in my office earlier today. I want more.”

She shook her head, but couldn’t seem to bring herself to look into his eyes. “I am a reporter.”

“Not here.” Gently, he reached out and touched her stiffly clenched fist. “Look at the clothes, Leah. Really look at them.”

Reluctantly, she glanced down at the things in her hands, then her gaze flickered to the closet. He could see her fighting to stay pissed.

Finally, she shrugged. “The blue dress is nice.”

“Good.” He smiled with the knowledge that he’d won a crucial battle. “Wear it tonight.”

“Tonight?” she repeated.

With a slowness that made him ache, Sean splayed his fingers across her cheek, reveling in the difference between his rough fingertips and her soft skin. He could smell her shampoo, a fruity scent that mixed with her natural floral one, creating a tropical bliss that had nothing to do with his island.

“I promised you a fantasy.” His voice trembled. “Tonight, that fantasy begins.”

“Sean…”

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. “I’d almost forgotten. So gorgeous without makeup. Without pretense. Without… clothes.”

Her eyes fluttered shut with a strangled moan and Sean couldn’t hold back anymore. His mouth came down, crushing against hers in the primal act of claiming. She didn’t resist. If anything, her response was as instant and heated as his own. Her hands clamped around his back, clutching at the planes of muscles there, pulling him closer, closer.

She murmured something unintelligible, but Sean knew instinctively that it was encouragement. He took it like a man hungry, cupping the back of her neck and slanting his mouth to deepen the kiss. Slowly, they backed up, heading toward the bed by sense. Sean was no longer sure who was in the lead anymore. It seemed like they were thinking in tandem, for when they tumbled backward across the bed, she didn’t seem any more surprised than he was.

Leah arched up, dragging her fingers down the front of his shirt before she started yanking at his buttons. She lost patience by the third one and starting pulling the shirt over his head. With a tug and a small assist from him, she succeeded, tossing it aside before her hot hands came back to his now naked flesh.

Sean hissed out a breath as her fingers brushed his bare chest, gently, then with more passion and firmness.

“Leah, Leah, Leah,” he groaned, claiming her mouth again as his fingers found her robe tie. It pulled apart, enabling him to push his hands inside where her searing body heat was trapped. Where her skin was so soft and smooth that he had to hold back a loud, telling groan of desire.

“Sean,” she protested as he pulled back from her mouth, breaking their intense kiss.

“Shhh.” He smoothed a long strand of tangled blonde hair away from her eyes. “I want to look at you. It’s been so long since I just looked at you.”

Then he shoved the robe open and look he did. In all his dreams, as hot and needy as they’d become over the years, none had ever done her justice. Not memory or imagining could prepare him for the sight of her, splayed back on the bed, her robe folded back and her body so gloriously revealed to him.

Her breasts lifted on each panting breath, their peaks a dusty rose that was darkening and hardening with each passing second his eyes lingered on them. Her stomach was flat, with just the slightest sexy hint of abs. She’d been working out since they were last together. Her thighs were slightly spread, with dark blonde curls that marked the apex. A bead of moisture poised there that Sean guessed had very little to do with her recent shower.

“Is your fantasy to just look?” Leah whispered. Her face flushed darker and her breathing increased when his gaze found its way back to hers.

“No,” he admitted, rising up for a gentle kiss on her lips before he trailed down in an exploration of every curve and valley of her body. “I’d just forgotten. How could I have forgotten how perfect you are when I thought about you every day?”

She stiffened slightly and Sean thought he might have overplayed his hand, but when his lips brushed one rosy nipple, her husky sigh told him he hadn’t. Her fingers came down to tangle in his hair, kneading him closer, urging him to take the nub into his mouth fully and suckle.

“You remember more than enough,” she said on a gasp and Sean smiled.

He might have forgotten just how beautiful Leah was, but he hadn’t forgotten how responsive. Or that when he flicked his tongue between the valley of her breasts like… so… she would rise up with a cry.

Which she did.

Sean’s cock seemed to double in size as her cry trailed off to a husky, wanton moan. He switched to the opposite breast and spent what felt like a blissful eternity tasting and taunting her with his tongue. By the time he dragged his mouth down her stomach, she was quivering.

Sean’s erection throbbed, aching to fill her heat, to surround himself in her wet willingness until he was lost in her. Until the past no longer mattered, or even the future.

“Leah, it’s been so long,” he groaned against her belly and felt his words reverberate against her skin and her hips flex up uncontrollably.

His trailed his lips lower, only to have her hands come down on his shoulders and give him a gentle shove. But not down, not closer to her core where he wanted to taste, to tease, to make her scream in completion.

No, she pushed him away.

Sean complied with reluctance, rolling off of her a fraction and raising his eyes. Eyes he knew were full of questions and a niggling sense of desperation that he hated above all else.

“What’s wrong?”

Though her gaze was clouded, the intense emotions she was feeling were clear. Yes, there was desire, but also hurt. Even anger. Then all those things were gone. For the first time since he’d met her, Sean realized he was looking at her reporter’s face. Stoic and unemotional.

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I realize I let things go too far. I led you to believe that I could… but I can’t. Please, Sean. This isn’t why I called you to my room.”

She rolled off the bed and pulled her robe around her. She fumbled with the tie for a moment, hindered by the long sleeves, but managed to create a knot that Sean knew was locking him away from more than her body.

He tried desperately to regain his breath as he got to his feet and grabbed his wrinkled shirt from the floor where it had landed in a heap.

“You can’t pretend you didn’t want this. Not when your nipples were like pebbles on my tongue. Not when I could smell your desire like perfumed heat.” She moaned and he reached for her. “But I know you, Leah. I remember what you’re like when you want- when you
need
me inside you.”

Her eyes flashed up, needy once more, but she backed away. “You’re right, Sean. And I won’t pretend that I didn’t want you. That I don’t still want you.”

He took a step forward, but she held up a hand to ward him off.

“But I can’t give in to those desires. I can’t lose control. Not with you.”

Her words echoed in the room around him. Lose control. That was what had happened, wasn’t it? Sean hadn’t come to her villa to make love to her. He’d made plans to press her boundaries, but not to end up sprawled out on the bed with her, inching toward heaven and making her cry out with pleasure.

He’d lost control, too. The careful control he valued so much. The plans he’d laid for months had been forgotten the moment he drew her lips to his.

If anyone had to regain equilibrium, he did.

“Fine.” He barely managed to get his shirt on without tearing the fabric in his tense hands. “You aren’t convinced. But will you still meet me in the dining room at seven-thirty?”

She hesitated and he held his breath, hoping he hadn’t pushed her too hard, too fast. Hoping he hadn’t destroyed all his hard work in one lusty moment.

“I-I will.”

“Good.” He sighed in relief and turned to go.

“Wait, Sean?”

Turning back, he nodded. “Yeah?”

She sank her teeth into her lip and for a moment she looked so much like she had when he’d first met her so long ago. His heart ached at the sight.

“If it doesn’t go well, I want my clothes back,” she said softly.

He considered that. If it didn’t go well, he was going to have to give up a lot more than her luggage.

“That seems fair. I’ll see you tonight.”

With that, he opened the door and stepped outside. The island humidity hit him like a wall and he leaned back against her door with a sigh. After his stunning lack of control a moment before, he’d put a lot of pressure on himself. All he could do was put the finishing touches on his plans for tonight and hope Leah would be able to surrender to the fantasies he so wanted to fulfill with her.

***

The dining room was empty. Leah tugged on the hem of her ultra-short cocktail dress and glanced around in confusion. This was the place she’d been told to meet Sean, but it was totally empty.

Had she set her watch improperly when they’d landed? Maybe set it an hour or two fast or slow? It said seven-thirty, but by that time the dining room should have at least a few other couples waiting to be served their supper.

Instead, the other tables weren’t even set, save for one in the middle of the room. Candles glowed on it and the chairs were turned out in invitation. Soft jazz music began to play in the background and the main lights in the room slowly turned down.

Leah’s hands started to tremble. She had a strong urge to turn tail and run, but bit her lip and stood her ground as Sean entered the room from another door. For a moment, he stood in the doorway, framed by the dim light. Her heart just about stopped.

He wore a suit rather than the more casual fare he’d been in earlier. It was cut perfectly for him. The black jacket accentuated his broad shoulders and muscular physique in a way that made Leah’s mouth go dry. His dark hair was slicked back, but the light still caught a few coppery highlights. It seemed like he didn’t notice her for a brief moment as he looked over the room with a wide smile. It was a proprietary expression. One that made Leah’s chest swell with pleasure.

Sean had done this. He’d used his vision and his intelligence to build this place. From the look on his face, he knew it and was so proud of it. She was proud of him, too.

Then the gray steel of his gaze came to rest on her. The look of possession in his stare didn’t lessen, just changed to something much more sexual.

His lips parted as he dragged his stare from her head to her toes. She felt naked beneath his perusal, like he’d touched her all over rather than just looked at her. Her knees trembled as he started across the large, empty room toward her.