His praise makes me bloom like a hothouse flower. “You’re not too bad yourself, Mr. Ransom.”
We stay in that position until he softens and pulls slowly out of me. A hot gush of semen trickles down between my thighs until I’m lying in a puddle.
“Holy shit,” I breathe. “That’s a lotof jizz.”
His husky laugh caresses my shoulder as he palms one cheek of my ass and squeezes gently. Then he stretches out next to me on the lounger and tucks me into his side. I close my eyes, a drowsy smile curving my lips.
I don’t know how long we lay there under the moon. I’m boneless, sex drunk. I doze off and wake to him picking me up like a bride, my slick naked skin sliding against his.
“Where’re we going?” I mumble dazedly.
“I’m going to give you a warm bath,” he murmurs against my temple. “It was your first time and you were such a good girl. You deserve some TLC.”
Chapter Twenty-One
marlowe
In the middle of the night, Gunner receives an overseas business call.
Whispering an apology to me, he slides out of bed and pulls on his pajama bottoms, then slips out of the room to take the call in his study. I’m thoroughly exhausted from our sexploits on the balcony. But I miss the warmth of his body so much that I can’t go back to sleep.
So I get up and put on his silk pajama top. It engulfs me, hanging down to my knees. I roll the sleeves back several times until my hands and wrists are exposed. Then I creep silently downstairs, stopping in the kitchen for a glass of water before wandering down the hall to the library.
Even after a month of living with Gunner, I remain awed by the grandeur of his library. An enormous picture window flanked by leather armchairs overlooks the lake. Row after row of books line the walls, with rolling mahogany ladders providing access to the upper shelves. There’s a Chesterfield couch withmatching chairs, plush rugs and a corner fireplace—perfect for curling up with a book on a cold winter night.
Though I love every square inch of the mansion, the library is my favorite room. This is where I spend most of my lunch breaks, wheeling a ladder from shelf to shelf as I explore the vast collection of titles, plucking out a book here and there to read random passages.
I always feel like Belle inBeauty and the Beast, and tonight is no exception as I roam along the bookshelves, running my finger over leatherbound spines of all colors and sizes. There are first editions of everything from Plato to Poe, Aristotle to Nietzsche, Descartes to Voltaire. There’s even a mint copy ofJustineby the Marquis de Sade. The thought of Gunner reading the erotic novel makes me grin.
“You’re in librarian heaven right now, aren’t you?”
I turn to see him leaning against the doorframe, eating from a carton of double fudge ice cream.
I raise an eyebrow. “Ice cream? In the middle of the night?”
“I had a craving for chocolate.” As he saunters toward me, the combination of his messy hair, washboard abs and sexy bare feet scrambles my brain. I watch dazedly as he spoons up some ice cream and brings it to my lips. “Have a taste.”
“I’d better n?—”
“C’mon, darlin’. Be bad with me.” The man could entice a whole convent of nuns to break their vow of chastity. What chance do I possibly have?
I open my mouth, letting him slide the spoonful of ice cream between my lips. I moan as the decadent chocolate melts on my tongue and slides down my throat.
“Atta girl,” he murmurs, licking the spoon after me.
I sigh. “I’m gonna pay for that tomorrow when I have to run twenty miles to burn off all those extra calories.”
He gives me a dirty grin. “I can think of several creative ways to help you burn calories. Just say the word.”
I chuckle. “I think we’ve burned enough calories for one night, don’t you?”
“There’s no such thing as enough when it comes to me fucking you.”
“Oh my.” I watch transfixed as he licks chocolate off the back of the spoon, turns it over and licks the inside with a slow curl of his tongue.
As the muscles between my thighs clench, I bite my bottom lip.
His eyes glitter as if he knows the effect he has on me. “I’m too wired to go back to bed. Let’s hang out for a while.”