The Awakening of Nina Fontaine Page 15

  As much as she cared about Liam, she wanted to be sure — for herself and for him. She didn’t want to be right back where she’d started by making the same mistakes she’d made with Peter, and she didn’t want to hurt Liam — and she would hurt him if she ignored the cravings that had roared to life in Jack’s bed.

  “You’re not trying anything on are you?” Karen said from outside the door.

  “No,” Nina said. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize, Just move your ass. I’m starving and I need a drink.”

  Nina laughed and reached for another dress.

  29

  “Are you sure you’re not gay?” Nina asked, sprawled out on Liam’s worn leather sofa.

  He laughed from the kitchen. “I’m sure. Why do you ask?”

  “Karen says all the best guys are gay, and after that meal, I think you definitely qualify,” Nina said.

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  She sighed and looked around the loft apartment while Liam put the leftovers away. He’d made an amazing dinner of mushroom risotto, caesar salad with homemade dressing — she’d watched him mix in the anchovies — and crusty garlic bread hot from the oven. They’d eaten at the rustic table next to the old factory windows that ran almost floor-to-ceiling throughout Liam’s apartment, each one offering a gritty view of Brooklyn, and one offering a view of the city across the river.

  She’d offered to help clean up, but like Jack, Liam insisted on doing it himself, adding to the feeling Nina had had recently that she’d stepped through a portal into a fairytale where gorgeous men were eager to bed her after stuffing her full of amazing food.

  The days were growing longer as they inched toward summer, and the loft was bathed in golden light, turning the old brick, concrete, and wood into a work of art.

  She loved Liam’s place. It had none of the grandeur of Jack’s apartment, but what it lacked in luxury, it more than made up for in warmth and comfort. Books lined an entire wall of shelves and photographs took up residence on the floors, stacked in frames four and five deep wherever there was room.

  She’d asked him once why there weren’t any pictures on the wall and he’d said the walls were his blank canvas, that he needed mental space to see the composition of pictures not yet taken.

  She hadn’t realized she’d closed her eyes until she heard the scratch of the record player. Nina Simone’s Lilac Wine erupted from the speakers placed around the apartment, her voice smoky and sorrowful.

  Liam crossed the room and eased onto the couch next to her, pulling her into his arms.

  “This song always makes me sad,” she said softly, rubbing her cheek against the his T-shirt.

  It was the kind of revelation she never would have made to Jack. He seemed to know exactly what he wanted from her — what he wanted to do to her body, what he wanted to know about her past, about her mind.

  Forcing him to know things about her felt dangerous.

  “It’s okay to be sad,” Liam said. “But I can change it if you want.”

  “No, you’re right,” she said. “We’re human. Sometimes we’re just sad.”

  It was something she’d only recently come to accept, something she’d only recently felt safe admitting: she was human, she had feelings, some of those feelings were messy and complicated.

  Maybe it was because Peter had a tendency to use her moments of vulnerability when things disintegrated between them, but she’d stopped admitting them in her marriage a long time ago.

  Liam nuzzled her head until she looked up at him. He lowered his mouth to hers in a kiss that quickly turned passionate.

  “Nina… Nina…” he murmured, rubbing his cheek against hers, the scratch of his stubble soft and sensual. “I want so much to make love to you.”

  She touched his cheek, slipped her hand into his hair. In the fading light, his blue eyes were as deep and fathomless as the ocean. When she looked into them, they seemed to stretch all the way to the horizon.

  She swallowed hard. Now or never. “I’d like that.”

  He kissed her again, and this time there was no buildup to their passion. It was all there in the way he swept her mouth with his tongue, taking possession of it without hesitation.

  Her nervousness disappeared as they gasped and groped, their hands traveling over each other’s bodies, exploring with a fervency they’d obviously been holding back during the previous weeks.

  She was trying to get his shirt off when he broke their kiss. He was breathing fast and heavy as he stood and looked down at her.

  “Not like this.” His voice, gruff and commanding, was almost unfamiliar. “I want to see you — all of you — and I want to take my time.”

  He scooped her off the couch like she weighed nothing at all. There was no time to protest, no time to worry about being too heavy or tell him all the things she’d meant to tell him.

  There was just his strong arms around her, his mouth on hers as he carried her across the open expanse of the apartment to a door she’d only peeked through on her way to the bathroom.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and let everything else fall away.

  He set her down next to the bed. “Don’t move.”

  He walked to the nightstand and retrieved a box of matches, then lit candles on the nightstands and in front of the window.

  She glanced around the room long enough to get a series of impressions — it was large, the furniture crafted of rough wood and dark steel, the bed piled high with blankets and pillows in exotic fabrics. Books rested next to the candles on the nightstands. The window was smaller in this room than in the living room, the setting sun barely leaking through the glass.

  When the room was awash in the flicker of candles, Liam tossed the box and returned to stand in front of her. He was even more beautiful in the candlelight, the shadows making his jaw more pronounced, his eyes molten.

  He held her face in his hands and lowered his mouth to hers in a slow, sensual kiss. She felt his restraint in the tautness of his movements and the jut of his cock against her stomach.

  She slid her hands up his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, letting loose her own restraint.

  She’d wanted him forever.

  She pressed her body to his, molding herself to the hard planes of his chest, his flat stomach, the erection that made it clear she wasn’t alone in her hunger.

  He pulled away, biting his lip like he wanted another taste of her. It made her want to take his lip between her teeth and bite it herself, made her want to straddle him and nip at his skin while he moaned in pleasure.

  He touched her cheek with the back of his knuckles and ran his hand slowly to the base of her neck, across her shoulder, down her arms. Then he reached for the hem of her shirt and lifted it over her head, his gaze locked with hers as she mimicked the motion to remove his shirt.

  She sucked in a breath at his perfection. She’d felt his body when they’d cuddled on her sofa or his, had touched his skin when their petting got heated and she allowed her hand to creep under his shirt.

  But seeing his bare chest in all its glory was altogether different. Now she could take in the perfect definition of his muscled arms, lean and tan, the sculpted peaks and valleys of his pecs.

  She lifted a hand to touch him, let it trail across his chest and over his upper arms, back down to the ridges of his abs. She was almost to the waistband of his jeans when he gently took her hand.

  “I want to see you first.”

  He slipped her bra straps off her shoulders and lowered his head to kiss one of them as he reached around to unhook the bra. He worked his way toward her neck as he pulled the fabric out from between them.

  She almost gasped at the feel of his smooth skin against hers, the shock and heat of it like a battery jump her body didn’t need, extra voltage that only set her on fire.

  He breathed against her skin. “Nina…”

  She sighed as her head fell back.

  He kissed his way a
long her jaw and returned to her mouth, took his time exploring it, as if it was the first time he’d kissed her.

  She was throbbing for him, her underwear damp between her thighs. She mapped him with her hands, lost in the kiss as she traversed every inch of smooth skin available to her.

  It wasn’t enough. She wanted more.

  He broke their kiss and gave her a gentle shove back onto the bed.

  His smile was wicked as he stared down at her. “I want you naked, Nina.”

  “I want you naked,” she said, her eyelids heavy.

  “Why didn’t you say so?” He reached for his waistband and stripped off his jeans.

  Her mind raced as his perfection was revealed: the “V” below his waist that led to a magnificent cock, as smooth and perfectly formed as the rest of him, muscular thighs that could have belonged to a Greek god.

  She was filled with unexpected emotion as she looked up at him. It blew through her body like a rogue wave, stole her breath, forced her under the water of his blue, blue eyes.

  He leaned over, unbuttoned her jeans, and slid them from her hips along with her underwear. Her feet were already bare, a testament to the comfort she felt in his apartment.

  The comfort she felt with him.

  She felt no need to cover herself, to hide, as he stared down at her.

  She felt safe. Cherished.

  “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, Nina.” His voice was low and hoarse. “I’m going to learn every inch of you. And then I’m going to fuck you until you scream.”

  She lifted an arm. “I’m ready.”

  He took her hand and she pulled him on top of her. The glide of his bare skin on hers after so many weeks with clothes between them, so many fevered make out sessions, blew breath into the orgasm that had been lurking in her stomach since she’d felt the press of his cock against it.

  He ran a hand down her body while he kissed her, trailing his lips across her cheeks and eyelids, back down to her neck.

  She arched her back as he made his way to her breasts. He was nestled between her thighs, his erect staff sliding against her pulsing sex, so close she could almost feel the push of him into her.

  “Liam…”

  He took one of her nipples in his mouth and she cried out, grabbing a handful of his hair as he sucked. She pulled her knees up around his hips, her body instinctively positioning itself for his penetration.

  He alternated lapping and sucking her nipples, massaging one while he tended to the other with his mouth. She stroked his back, opening her eyes long enough to get flashes of his body: the candles flickering gold against the broad expanse of his shoulders, his hands closing around her breasts as he trailed kisses down her belly.

  He kneeled between her legs, lifting one of them to stroke her thigh, her calf, her foot, his mouth traveling in the wake of his fingers.

  She moaned aloud when he kissed the tender skin on the arch of her foot.

  He let his mouth travel up her other leg on his way to the cleft between her thighs. He placed her ankle on his shoulder, then bent to kiss the inside of her thigh, giving it a bite for good measure.

  Her eyes flickered open to find a teasing smile on his face.

  “Having fun?” she asked, returning his smile, marveling that she was naked with Liam McAlister, that she was relaxed, that she was comfortable enough to be enjoying herself.

  “So much fun,” he said. “And I’m just getting started.”

  He lifted her other leg onto his shoulder and lowered his head between her thighs.

  30

  She felt his breath first and she closed her eyes, giving herself over to whatever would come next.

  She flinched when he ran his thumb over her folds. Her sex was so highly aroused, so sensitive, that even his touch sent a shudder through her body.

  He pressed his thumb down on her clit and made slow circles as he worked his tongue slowly through the petals of her pussy.

  She moaned and reached for his head, her fingers closing around his hair as he flicked the tip of his tongue against her clit.

  He chuckled, the vibration sending shockwaves through her body. “Oh, Nina… I’m going to have so much fun with you.”

  Her knees were locked around his muscled shoulders, spreading her out for him as he made slow circles around her clit with his tongue. He slid his fingers inside her and she lifted her hips off the bed, seeking as much penetration as she could get.

  “Fuck, you’re wet.” He spoke in between licks. Each time he pulled away she only wanted — needed — his mouth more. “So fucking wet.”

  “Please…” she gasped.

  He hooked his fingers inside her and she was hit with a jolt of pleasure-pain as he clamped down on her clit, flattening his tongue against it until she thrust her pelvis against his face in an effort to get more.

  She moved her hips to his rhythm. It was instinctual, his mouth and her body moving in time as she climbed closer to the peak promised by his hands and mouth. There was nothing but the darkness behind her eyelids, the clenching of her body, the focused lapping of Liam’s tongue, his fingers working magic in all the hidden corners of her body.

  She was almost there, almost ready to step off the edge, when the warmth of his mouth disappeared from her center.

  She opened her eyes to find him stretching himself over her.

  He smoothed her hair back from her face. “I’m sorry, beautiful. I can’t let you come without me. Not the first time.”

  He kissed her long and slow, then rolled under her so fast she was hardly aware it had happened until she was straddling his hips, his cock nestled into her soaking folds.

  She leaned over to kiss him as the sound of Feeling Good drifting from the record player in the living room. Slipping her tongue in his mouth, she took her time as she savored the sensations brought on by this new position: the lurch of his cock as he grew longer and harder under her, the smooth expanse of his chest under her bare breasts, his hands solid on her ass.

  He reached for the nightstand, trying not to break their kiss until they both laughed as his mouth slid out from under hers.

  She lay her head on his chest, marveling that sex could be so natural, so fun, so erotic, all at the same time.

  She lifted her head, her chin resting on his chest. For a long moment, she was lost in his eyes, in the way he seemed to see every part of her, all the way to her soul. There was something more than naked lust there, something weighty and unnamable, something that might change her life forever.

  “I could stare at you all night, Nina.” He handed her a foil wrapped packet. “But I really need to fuck you now.”

  She smiled and leaned back to open the packet, her knees still on either side of him. It had been ages since she’d put a condom on a man — since before she and Peter had started trying to have children. She’d forgotten how powerful it felt to hold a man’s cock in her hand as she slid the latex down the shaft, his eyes hooded and heavy with need.

  When she was done, she rose up over him. He sat up to meet her, wrapping his hands around her lower back, and this time she took his head in her hands, marveling at the beauty of his face, at the adoration in his eyes that she knew without a doubt was meant only for her.

  She positioned herself over his thick head, hesitating at the torture of having him so close, of knowing that he would soon complete her.

  He groaned as she lowered herself onto him, his arms tightening around her waist as he buried his face in her chest.

  “Jesus christ, Nina…”

  She lifted her hips, dragged herself off him as he sucked and licked her nipples. Her knees were locked around his hips, his legs stretched out under her, his arms pressing her tightly to his body. Energy flowed through them, making it impossible to know where she ended and he began.

  His hands were under her ass, spreading her open as she moved on his shaft, moaning as he grew bigger, filling her wall to wall. The friction on her clit was intense, the little b
ud grinding against his stomach every time she moved, her body an inferno of sensation — his mouth sucking her aroused nipples, his fingers so close to the rosebud of her ass that she was almost desperate for him to impale her there too, his cock bumping against her cervix every time she lowered herself onto him.

  “My god, you feel good,” he murmured. “Like you were made for me."

  She lowered her mouth to his, the penetration of his tongue a mimic to the one bringing her closer to orgasm. She moved faster as their kiss grew more frenzied, lost in her need for release.

  His finger pressed against her asshole and pleasure shot through her body like a rocket.

  She gasped. “I’m going to come, Liam.”

  “Fuck yes, you are,” he growled. “And you’re going to look at me while you do it.”

  The words, the guttural tone with which they were wrenched from his mouth, were like kerosene on the raging fire of her body.

  She fell into the ocean of his eyes as she moved faster, the grinding of her clit combining with the deep penetration of his cock, the pressure of his finger on her ass, the erotism of their entwined bodies, until she couldn’t contain it anymore.

  Her orgasm was an earthquake that had been building for ages, a shift in the tectonic plates of her reality. It shook her body to its core, ripping through her until she screamed into the room, her cries a match to Liam’s guttural groan as he let go too.

  She forced herself to keep her eyes open, watching the ecstasy wash over his face, a mirror to the pure pleasure coursing through her body as she rocked against his hips, wanting to sustain the friction, her channel clamping down on his shaft as the contractions rolled through her body one after the other.

  When the tremors subsided she showered his face with kisses, collapsed onto his shoulder, and closed her eyes. His arms tightened around her, their bodies still intertwined as she fought to bring her breathing under control.

  Eventually he pulled her back on the bed, tucking her into his arms.

  She sighed, and he nuzzled her head.