Page 73 of Reflex
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Spook didn’t linger in getting them back to the hotel.They caught a cab that dropped them at the door.It was a beautiful evening, but he couldn’t risk the possibility of talking himself out of this.Crazy, but when you’d lived with the notion of the sky falling down for as long as he had, your ability to change your mind on a whim was well-developed.As it was, the walk through the hotel foyer and the interminably slow ride up in the lift meant that when they finally reached the room, his first port of call was the mini-bar.
Three miniatures, one after the other, provided the Dutch courage required.He finished with the warmly spiced rum.Only when Alle turned the lamp on did he realise he’d done so in the dark.The lamp light caught in the bright wavy strands of her hair as she walked towards him.Quietly confident, she took the last of the three empties from his hand.“You’re cute when you’re nervous.Relax Spook, I’ve no expectations.”
Somehow, he doubted it.
“Spook.”She linked their fingers, folding her smaller digits over the top of his.“Sometimes I forget the things you’ve said; that you’re a mess, and that this is no easy matter for you, no matter how put together you seem when you’re smiling.I know I’m pushy, but I’m not wholly selfish, or lacking a heart.I get that this is probably more difficult after the other night too.”
“What happened in Genoa has no bearing on us.”
Clearly she disagreed, for her touch skimmed over the marks still evident on his skin.He took her point.If they still weren’t healed, how could the internal hurt possibly be?
“I’ve no intention of going back on my word, Alle.I’m just quieting the monsters.”
“With alcohol.Isn’t that more likely to make them riot?Or are you trying to tame what’s rattling the bars down here?”She sunk a hand down towards the line of his fly.Spook stopped the descent, holding tight to her hand.He lifted it to his lips and kissed their still entwined fingers.“It’d take more than a few measures to fell that beast.”
She peeped at him, tongue twitching between her pink lips as her cheeks lifted in a barely suppressed grin.“Are you going to kiss me, Mr Mortensen?”
“It’s possible,” he teased.“Is that something you want to happen?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Just establishing consent.”
“I consent to whatever naughtiness your mind can come up with.”
“Ooh!”He blew a stream of rum infused air between her gently parted lips.“Careful.You’ve no idea what sort of hot water that might land you in.”Except, maybe she did.She wasn’t entirely oblivious to his kinks.Certainly, the thought of him doing dirty things to her was clearly titillating.It wasn’t cold in the room, especially not after the chill of the night breeze, but the peaks of her nipples were clearly visible against the line of her sundress.
“Let me help you.”
Her gaze stayed on his fingers as he unfastened her dress and slid the straps from her shoulders.Thicker patches of freckles interlaced over her milky skin where the sun had kissed her.He didn’t waste any time in relieving her of her bra, too.This lady was gorgeous.He rapidly followed up with a whisper light caress of her throat and shoulders, followed by slower sweeping circles around her nipples.
Alle shivered.He pinched.
Her gasp at the little explosion of pain, he caught as he kissed her.He pinched again, harder, as he breathed the combined fire of whisky and rum into her eager mouth.
“Mm,” she groaned, opening to him like a flower, head turned to the sun.Spook scooted them both backwards to the bed, and tipped her onto it.It was a task of a moment to free her of fabric.He turned her naked upon the sheets and licked a long trail up the indents of her spine, before rolling her again and reclaiming her nipples.
Alle groaned, her hands clawing his shirt.Each sound goaded him to greater effort.Each determined press of her body into his unravelled a little more of his restraint.
It wasn’t long before her nipples were fiercely red, and her cries a combination of hisses and deep needy sighs.When he lifted his head to blow on them to cool their fever, that’s when she struck, ripping his shirt over his head before he had the opportunity to prevent it.
He didn’t even protest its descent onto the carpet.
“You’re too damn gorgeous to stay covered up.Besides, I want your skin against mine.”
Gorgeous?She was the one that moniker ought to be attached to.She’d intoxicated him from the first moment he’d seen her.Made him want, when he never desired or expected to feel that pull again.
Alle wriggled against him, her hands sliding over his back and then squeezing his arse.“Are you gonna take these things off too?”She tugged on the back pockets of his jeans.
“Maybe.”Not immediately.Not until he’d shown her considerably more of a good time.Also, maintaining a few barriers between them meant his mind wasn’t settled upon how close he was to holding her down and screwing her.“You’ll get what you want eventually.A little patience now, Allegra.”
Patience was not her middle name.Too bad, because delayed gratification was definitely his.
“Hands above your head.”
“But I like them where they are,” she protested.His arse was subjected to another vicious squeeze.The bite of her fingers turned him on more than he cared to admit, which was all the more reason to restrain her.
