“This is Rico. A few things came up that I want you to check
out.” He spent the next twenty minutes bringing Martin up to date on what they’d
found out from Fanny Banks.
“And you’re actually questioning the honesty of a
one-hundred-year-old woman?”
“Yes.”
Martin moaned. “Ah, man, she’s one hundred.”
“I know.”
“All right. In that case, I’ll get on it right away. If the man
was an imposter then I’ll find out,” Martin said. “But we are looking back
during a time when people took on new identities all the time.”
That’s the last thing Rico wanted to hear.
After hanging up the phone he stared across the room at the
door separating him from Megan. Deciding to do something with his time, before
he opened the connecting door, he grabbed his jacket and left to get something
to eat.
* * *
An hour later, Megan had showered, slipped into a pair
of pajamas and was lounging across her bed when she heard the sound of Rico
returning next door. When she’d knocked on the connecting door earlier and
hadn’t gotten a response, she figured he had gone to get something to eat. She
had ordered room service and had wanted to know if he wanted to share since the
hotel had brought her plenty.
Now she felt fed and relaxed and more in control of her
emotions. And what she appreciated more than anything was that when she had
needed him the most, Rico had been there. Even while in the basement of the
newspaper office, going through microfilm of old newspapers and toiling over all
those books to locate the information they wanted, he had been there, ready to
give her a shoulder to cry on if she needed one. And when she had needed one,
after everything had gotten too emotional for her, she’d taken him up on his
offer.
He had been in his room for no more than ten minutes when she
heard a soft knock on the connecting door. “Come in.”
He slowly opened the door, and when he appeared in her room the
force of his presence was so powerful she had to snatch her gaze away from his
and train it back on the television screen.
“I was letting you know I had returned,” he said.
“I heard you moving around,” she said, her fingers tightening
around the remote.
“You’ve had dinner?” he asked her.
From out of the corner of her eye, she could see him leaning in
the doorway, nearly filling it completely. “Yes, and it was good.”
“What did you have?”
“A grilled chicken salad. It was huge.”
Just like you,
she thought and immediately felt the blush spread
into her features.
“Why are you blushing?”
Did the man not miss anything? “No reason.”
“Then why aren’t you looking at me?”
Yes, why wasn’t she looking at him? Forcing herself to look
away from the television, she slid her eyes over to his and immediately their
gazes clung. That was the moment she knew why it had been so easy to let her
guard down around him, why it had been so effortless to lose her control and
why, even now, she was filled with a deep longing and the kind of desire a woman
had for the man she loved.
She had fallen in love with
Rico
.
A part of her trembled inside with that admission. She hadn’t
known something like this could happen this way, so quickly, completely and
deeply. He had gotten to her in ways no other man had. Around him she had let go
of her control and had been willing to let emotions flow. Her love hadn’t
allowed her to hold anything back. And when she had needed his strength, he’d
given it. Unselfishly. He had an honorable and loyal spirit that had touched her
in ways she’d never been touched before. Yes, she loved him, with every part of
her being.
She sucked in a deep breath because she also knew that what she
saw in his eyes was nothing more than pent-up sexual energy that needed to be
released. And as she continued to watch him, his lips curved into a smile.
Now it was her time to ask all the questions. “Why are you
smiling?”
“I don’t think you want to know,” he said, doing away with his
Eastern accent and replacing it with a deep Texas drawl.
“Trust me, I do.” Tonight she needed to think about something
other than her grandfather’s guilt or innocence, something other than how, in
trying to find out about him, she might have exposed her family to the risk of
losing everything.
“Since you really want to know,” he said, straightening his
stance and slowly coming toward her. “I was thinking of all the things I’d just
love to do to you.”
His words made her nipples harden into peaks, and she felt them
press hard against her pajama top. “Why just think about it, Rico?”
He stopped at the edge of the bed. “Don’t tempt me, Megan.”
She tilted her head to gaze up at him. “And don’t tempt me,
Rico.”
“What do you know about temptation?”
She became caught up by the deep, sensuous look in his eyes. In
one instant, she felt the need to look away, and then, in another instant, she
felt the need to be the object of his stare. She decided to answer him the best
way she knew how. “I know it’s something I’ve just recently been introduced to,”
she said, remembering the first time she’d felt this powerful attraction, at
Micah’s wedding.
“And I know just how strong it was the first time I saw you.
Something new for me. Then I remember our first kiss, and how the temptation to
explore more was the reason I hadn’t wanted it to end,” she whispered
softly.
“But I really discovered what temptation was the night you used
your mouth on me,” she said, not believing they were having this sort of
conversation or that she was actually saying these things. “I’ve never known
that kind of pleasure before, or the kind of satisfaction I experienced when you
were finished, and it tempted me to do some things to you, to touch you and
taste you.”
She saw the darkening of his eyes, and the very air became
heated, sensuously so. He reached out, extending his hand to hers, and she took
it. He gently pulled her up off the bed. The feel of the hard, masculine body
pressed against hers, especially the outline of his arousal through his khakis,
made her shiver with desire. When his hand began roaming all over her, she drew
in a deep breath.
“I want to make love to you, Megan,” he said, lowering his head
to whisper in her ear. “I’ve never wanted a woman as much as I want you.”
For some reason she believed him. Maybe it was because she
wanted to believe. Or it could be that she wanted the feeling of being in his
arms. The feeling of him inside her while making love. She wanted to be the
woman who could satisfy him as much as he could satisfy her.
He tilted her chin up so their gazes could meet again. She was
getting caught up in every sexy thing about him, even his chin, which looked
like it needed a shave, and his hair, which seemed to have grown an inch and
touched his shoulders. And then he leaned down and captured her mouth in one
long, drugging kiss. Pleasure shot to all parts of her body, and her nerve
endings were bombarded with all sorts of sensations while he feasted on her
mouth like it was the last morsel he would ever taste.
At that moment, she knew what she wanted. She wanted to lose
control in a way she’d never lost it before. She wanted to get downright wild
with it.
She pulled back from the kiss and immediately went for his
shirt, nearly tearing off the buttons in her haste. “Easy, baby. What are you
doing?”
“I need to touch you,” she said softly.
“Then here, let me help,” he said, easing his shirt from his
shoulders. A breathless moan slipped from her throat. The man was so perfectly
made she could feel her womb convulsing, clinching with a need she was beginning
to understand.
Her hand went to his belt buckle and within seconds she had
slid it out of the loops to toss it on the floor. On instinct, she practically
licked her lips as she eased down his zipper. Never had she been this bold with
a man, never this brazen. But something was driving her to touch him, to taste
him, the same way he had done to her last night.
All she could register in her mind was that this scenario was
one she had played out several times in her dreams. The only thing was, all the
other times she would wake up. But this was reality at its best.
“Let me help you with this, as well,” he whispered.
And then she watched as he eased his jeans and briefs down his
legs and revealed an engorged erection. He was huge, and on instinct, her hand
reached out and her fingers curled around the head. She heard how his breathing
changed. How he was forcing air into his lungs.
When she began moving her fingers, getting to know this part of
him, she felt rippling muscles on every inch of him. The thick length of his
aroused shaft filled her hand and then some. This was definitely a fine work of
art. Perfect in every way. Thick. Hard. With large veins running along the
side.
“Do you have what you want?” he asked in a deep, husky
tone.
“Almost.” And that was the last word she spoke before easing
down to her knees and taking him into her mouth.
* * *
A breathless groan escaped from between Rico’s lips. He
gripped the curls on Megan’s head and threw his head back as her mouth did a
number on him. He felt his muscles rippling as her tongue tortured him in ways
he didn’t know were possible. Her head, resting against his belly, shifted each
time her mouth moved and sent pleasurable quivers all through him.
He felt his brain shutting down as she licked him from one end
to the other, but before it did, he had to know something. “Who taught you
this?”
The words were wrenched from his throat, and he had to breathe
hard. She paused a moment to look up at him. “I’ll tell you later.”
She then returned to what she was doing, killing him softly and
thoroughly. What was she trying to do? Lick him dry and swallow him whole? Damn,
it felt like it. Every lick of her tongue was causing him to inhale, and every
long powerful suck was forcing him to exhale. Over and over again. He felt on
the edge of exploding, but forced himself not to. He wanted it to be just like
in his dreams. He wanted to spill inside of her.
“Megan.” He gently tugged on a section of her hair, while
backing up to pull out of her mouth.
And before she could say anything, he had whipped her from her
knees and placed her on the bed, while removing her pajama top and bottoms in
the process. He wanted her, and he wanted her now.
Picking up his jeans off the floor, he retrieved a condom
packet from his wallet and didn’t waste any time while putting it on. He glanced
at her, saw her watching and saw how her gaze roamed over his entire body. “Got
another question for you, Megan, and you can’t put off the answer until later. I
need to know now.”
She shifted her gaze from below his waist up to face. “All
right. What’s your question?”
“How is your energy level?”
She lifted a brow. “My energy level?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because,” he said, slowly moving toward the bed. “I plan to
make love to you all night.”
Twelve
A
ll night?
Before Megan had time to digest Rico’s proclamation, he had
crawled on the bed with her and proceeded to pull her into his arms and seize
her mouth. They needed to talk. There were other things he needed to know
besides her energy level; things she wanted to tell him. She wanted to share
with him what was in her heart but considering what they were sharing was only
temporary, it wouldn’t be a good idea. The last thing she wanted was for him to
feel guilty about not reciprocating her feelings. And then there was the issue
of her virginity. He didn’t have a clue right now, but pretty soon he would, she
thought as he slid his tongue between her lips.
His skin, pressed next to hers, felt warm, intoxicating, and he
was kissing her with a passion and greed that surpassed anything she’d ever
known. There was no time for talking. Just time to absorb this, take it all in
and enjoy. A shiver ran through her when he released her mouth and lowered his
head to aim for her breasts, sucking a nipple.
He really thought they could survive an all-nighter? she asked
herself. No way. And when he reached down to slide his fingers between her legs
and stroked her there, she moaned out his name. “Rico.”
He paid her no mind, but continued to let his mouth lick her
hardened nipple, while his hand massaged her clit, arousing her to the point
where jolts of pleasure were running through her body.
She knew from his earlier question that he assumed she was
experienced with this sort of thing. Little did he know she was as green as a
cucumber. Again she thought, he needed to be told, but not now. Instead, she
reached out to grip his shoulders as his fingers circled inside of her, teasing
her mercilessly and spreading her scent in the air.
Then he leaned up, leaving her breasts. Grabbing a lock of her
hair with his free hand, he tugged, pulling her face to his and kissing her hard
on the mouth, sending her passion skyrocketing while shock waves of pleasure
rammed through her.
He pulled his mouth from hers and whispered against her moist
lips. “You’re ready for me now. You’re so wet I can’t wait any longer,” he said,
nibbling on her earlobe and running his tongue around the rim of her ear, so
close that she could feel his hot breath.
He moved to slide between her legs and straddle her thighs,
looked down at her and whispered, “I’m going to make it good for you, baby. The
best you’ve ever had.”
She opened her mouth to tell him not only would it be the best,
but that it would also be the first she ever had when his tongue again slid
between her lips. That’s when she felt him pressing hard against her, trying to
make an entry into her.
“You’re tight, baby. Relax,” he whispered against her cheek as
he reached down and grabbed his penis, guiding it into her. He let the head
stroke back and forth along her folds. She started moaning and couldn’t stop.
“There, you’re letting go. Now I can get inside you,” he whispered huskily.
“It’s not going to be easy,” she whispered back.
He glanced down at her. “Why do you say that?” he asked as he
continued to stroke her gently, sliding back and forth through her wetness.
Megan knew he deserved an answer. “I’m tight down there for a
reason, Rico.”
“What reason is that?”
“Because I’ve never made love with a man before.”
His hand went still. “Are you saying—”
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying. But I’ve never wanted any man
before.”
Never loved one before you,
she wanted to
say, but didn’t. “Don’t let that stop you from making love to me tonight,
Rico.”
He leaned in and gently kissed her lips. “Nothing can stop me
from making love to you, sweetheart. I couldn’t stop making love to you tonight
even if my life depended on it.”
And then he was kissing her again, this time with a furor that
had her trembling. Using his knees, he spread her legs wider, and she felt the
soft fabric against her skin when he grabbed a pillow to ease under her
backside. He pulled back from the kiss. “I wish I could tell you it’s not going
to hurt. But…”
“Don’t worry about it. Just do it.”
He looked down at her. “Just do it?”
“Yes, and please do it now. I can’t wait any longer. I’ve
waited twenty-seven years for this, Rico.”
And for
you
.
She looked dead center into his eyes. She felt the head of him
right there at her mound. He reached out and gently stroked the side of her face
and whispered, “I want to be looking at you when I go inside of you.”
Their gazes locked. She felt the pressure of him entering her
and then he grabbed her hips, whispered for her to hold on and pushed deeper
with a powerful thrust.
“Rico!” she cried out, but he was there, lowering his head and
taking her mouth while he pushed even farther inside her, not stopping until he
was buried deep. And then, as if on instinct, her inner muscles began clenching
him hard.
He threw his head back and released a guttural moan. “What are
you doing to me?”
He would ask her that
. “I don’t
know. It just feels right” was the only reply she could give him. In response,
he kissed her again while his lower body began moving. Slowly at first, as if
giving her body time to adjust. And then he changed the rhythm, while leaning
down to suck on her tongue.
Megan thought she was going to go out of her mind. Never had
she thought, assumed, believed—until now. He was moving at a vigorous pace, and
she cried out, not in pain but in sensations so pleasurable they made her
respond out loud.
Her insides quivered, and she went after his tongue with speed
and hunger. She cried out, screamed, just like she’d done that night at the
south ridge. That only made him thrust harder and penetrate deeper. Then they
both ignited in one hell of an explosion that sent sparks flying all through her
body, and especially to the area where their bodies were joined.
He shook, she shook and the bed shook almost off the hinges as
he continued to pound into her…making her first time a time she would always
remember. It seemed as if it took forever for them to come down off their
orgasmic high. When they did, he shifted his weight off hers and pulled her to
him.
“We’ll rest up a bit,” he said silkily. “How do you feel?”
She knew her eyes were filled with wonderment at what they’d
done. “I feel good.” And she meant it.
Her heart was beating fast, and her pulse was off the charts.
She had totally and completely lost control. But all that was fine because she
had gotten the one thing she’d wanted. A piece of Rico Claiborne.
* * *
Rico pulled her closer to him, tucked her body into the
curve of his while he stroked a finger across her cheek. He’d only left the bed
to dispose of the condom and get another. Now he was back and needed the feel of
her in his arms. She had slept for a while, but now she was awake and he had
questions.
“I think it’s time to tell me how someone who can work their
mouth on a man the way you do has managed to remain a virgin. I can think of one
possibility, but I want to hear it from you.”
She smiled up at him. “What? That I prefer oral sex to the real
thing?” She shook her head. “That’s not it, and just to set the record straight,
I’ve never gone down on a man until you.”
He leaned back and lifted a brow. “Are you saying that—”
“Yes. What I did to you tonight was another first for me.”
He chuckled. “Hell, you could have fooled me.”
Excitement danced in her eyes. “Really? I was that good?”
“Yeah,” he said, running a finger across her cheek again.
“Baby, you were that good. So, if I was your first, how did you know what to
do?”
She snuggled closer to him. “I was snooping over at Zane’s
place one day, looking for a pair of shoes I figured I’d left there, and came
across this box under his bed. I was curious enough to look inside and
discovered a bunch of DVDs marked with
X
s. So of
course I had to see what was on them.”
Rico chuckled again. “Is that the box he mentioned he would get
from you after dinner the other night?”
She smiled. “No, that’s another box altogether, a lock box. So
he would know if I had tampered with it. Those videos were in a shoe box, and to
this day I’ve never told Zane about it. I was only seventeen at the time, but I
found watching them pretty darn fascinating. I was curious about how a woman
could give a man pleasure that way, with her mouth.”
“But not curious enough to try it on anyone until now?”
There was amusement in his voice, but to her it wasn’t amusing,
not even a little bit, because what he’d said was true. She hadn’t had any
desire to try it out on any other man but him. “Yes.”
“I’m glad. I’m also surprised you’ve never been curious enough
to sleep with anyone.”
“I couldn’t see myself sharing a bed with a man just for the
sake of curiosity. Had I been in a serious relationship things might have been
different, but most of my life has been filled with either going to school or
working. I never had time for serious relationships. And the few times that a
man wanted to make it serious, I just wasn’t feeling it.”
But she hadn’t had a problem feeling him. She had wanted him.
Had wanted to taste him the way he had tasted her. Had wanted to put her mouth
on him the same way he’d put his on her. And she didn’t regret doing so.
But nothing had prepared her for when he had shed his pants and
briefs and shown his body to her. He was so magnificently made, with a masculine
torso and rippling muscles. What had captured her attention more than anything
else was the engorged erection he had revealed. Seeing it had aroused her senses
and escalated her desires.
But for her, last night had been about more than just sex. She
loved him. She wasn’t certain just how she felt being in a one-sided love
affair, but she wouldn’t worry about it for now. She had let her hair down and
was enjoying the situation tremendously. She had been in control of her emotions
for so long, and she’d thought that was the best way to be, but now she was
seeing a more positive side of being out of control. She knew what it felt like
to be filled with a need that only one man could take care of. She knew how it
felt to be wild.
And she wanted to experience more of it.
She pulled away from Rico and shifted her body to straddle
his.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” he asked, trying to pull
her back into his arms.
She shook her head. “Taking care of this,” she whispered. “You
said I can have control so I’m claiming ownership. You also told me you wanted
me, and you told me what would happen if we were together. It did happen, and
now I want to show you how much I want you.”
“But you’re sore.”
She chuckled. “And I’ll probably be sore for a long time. You
aren’t a small man, you know. But I can handle it, and I can handle you. I want
to handle you, Rico, so let me.”
He held her gaze, and the heat radiating between them filled
the room with desire. His hands lifted and stroked her face, touched her lips
that had covered his shaft, and she understood the degree of hunger reflected in
his eyes. There was no fighting the intense passion they seemed to generate. No
fighting it, and no excusing it.
“Then you are going to handle it, baby. You are the only woman
who can,” she heard him whisper.
Pleased by what he said, she lowered her head, and he snagged
her mouth by nibbling at her lips, stroking them with his tongue. She gripped
his shoulders, and his erection stood straight up, aimed right for her womanly
core like it had a mind of its own and knew what it wanted.
The need to play around with his mouth drove her to allow his
tongue inside her lips. And then she toyed with his tongue, sucked on it and
explored every aspect of his mouth. The way his hand was digging into her scalp
made her tongue lash out even more, and she felt him tremble beneath her. The
thought that she could make him feel this way, give him this much pleasure, sent
her blood rushing through her veins.
She eased the lower part of her body down but deliberately did
it in a way that had his penis under her and not inside of her. Then she moved
her thighs to grind herself against his pubic bone.
“Oh, hell.” The words rushed from his lips, and she closed her
eyes, liking the feel of giving him such an intimate massage. Moving back and
forth, around in circular motions, christening his flesh with her feminine
essence.
“I need you now, Megan. I can’t take any more.” His voice was
filled with torment. Deciding to put him out of his misery, she leaned up and
positioned her body so he could slide inside of her.
Megan shuddered when she felt the head of his shaft pierce
through her wetness, pushing all the way until it could go no more. She held his
gaze as she began to ride him. She’d always heard that she was good at riding a
horse, and she figured riding a man couldn’t be much different. So she rode him.
Easing lower then easing back up, she repeated the steps until they became a
sensual cycle. She heard his growl of pleasure, and the sound drove her to ride
him hard.
Grabbing her hips, he lifted his own off the bed to push deeper
inside of her. “Aw, hell, you feel so damn good, Megan.” His shaft got even
larger inside of her, burying deeper.
His words triggered a need within her, a need that was followed
by satisfaction when her body exploded. She screamed and continued coming apart
until she felt his body explode, as well. Pleasure was ripping through her,
making it hard to breathe. He was rock-solid, engorged, even after releasing
inside of her. He wouldn’t go down. It was as if he wasn’t through with her
yet.
He shifted their bodies, pulling her beneath him with her back
to him. “Let me get inside you this way, baby. I want to ride you from
behind.”