Carabella Ch. 03

Her hand behind his head, bringing him once again to her starving mouth cut the cord to his common sense, and he devoured her, pressing her into the cushions of the sofa, rolling his hips between her spread legs, feeling her heat. He could feel her heartbeat against his mouth and hands, and he was sure she could feel his, too. He struggled to think through the heat of her, through the sweet taste of her, and failed utterly.

"Does this mean I can stay all night?" he whispered harshly against her throat, having dragged his hungry mouth from hers a moment ago.

He felt her still against him, and looked into her eyes.

"I take it that's a no, love!"

He saw the answer in her eyes, and pressed a tender kiss on her cheek, before pushing off her and rising to his feet. Pushing a shaking hand through his hair, tousling it irrevocably, he watched her as she sat up, straightening her clothes, and putting a hand to her lips. He could almost hear her thinking. Part of him wanted to seduce her and take what he had been longing for for three months. The other part, the reasonable, calm adult, recognized the need for patience.

"Bella, I'm sorry!" He pushed his hands through his hair again and turned away from the sight of her, as rumpled as he, as needy, and he wished he could hold her and tell her what he was really feeling. He wished he could assure her that he would never hurt her, but he knew if he took more than she was ready to give him, he would hurt her irrevocably.

She stood up and faced him bravely, even though he could see the uncertainty in her eyes, before she shuttered them and presented a cool front.

"I think maybe you were right, Rick." She cast a rueful smile his way. "I'm sorry I forgot myself there for a minute."

She walked past him, studiously avoiding touching him, and went into the kitchen, but sure what she wanted to do, but knowing she needed to put some distance between them. She might want his kisses, might even need them, but they hadn't said two words to each other of any kind to allow them to jump in the sack together. There was a limit to how modern she was prepared to be. For now...

"Would you like something to drink?" she asked.

Rick turned to look at her, and bit back the answer that came first to his lips. Satisfying himself with a nod, he swallowed against the desire to taste her, to drink from her, and followed her to the kitchen, where he sat at the table and watched her reach down a bottle of wine. He could feel the fine tension in the room, and saw by the set of her shoulders, and the slight trembling she fought to hide from him, that she was still as tightly wound as he was. It thrilled him to know that all he had to do was touch her, and she would fall apart.

"Merlot?" she asked, turning to him. "It's not my favorite, but guests seem to like it."

"I'll only drink what you enjoy, Bella!" He smiled at her, wanting to defuse the tension and help her relax. "I'm not fussy!"

"Are you sure?"

Her eyes never left his face, and he saw when they slid down to take in his mouth. He smiled again, and watched her blink to clear the arousal from her gaze. His cock jerked. Well damn! Seemed all she had to do was look at him with hunger in her eyes and he was a goner!

"I'm sure!" he answered. "What do you like to drink?"

"I really feel like a glass of sherry," she said, and reached to replace the bottle she held with sherry.

Harvey's Bristol Crème, he noticed. He watched her pour two generous glasses, and accepted the one she handed him with another smile.

"Cheers!" she said, tipping her glass to his.

"Skol!" he replied, gently touching his glass to hers.

She took a generous swallow, and Rick had to restrain the grin that fought to crease his cheeks. Liquid courage, he knew, and sipped his own. He may not intend to make love to her tonight, but he sure as hell wasn't about to leave any time soon. He was driving, so he had to make sure to remain clear-headed. He chuckled at the thought. Bella made him completely befuddled. She dazzled him and shook his control. He blinked when he heard his name, and focused on her.

"Sorry, what?"

"I asked what was funny!" she said sharply.

"Nothing! Just a thought!" He took another sip and watched her wrap her fingers around her own glass. His mental screen saw that hand wrapped around his cock and he had to smother the groan that brought to his throat.

"Bella, you have to know that you are always on my mind! You're my first thought when I wake up, and my last before I fall asleep. It doesn't take anything to distract me from my routines these days. All I have to do is think of you, and I'm lost."

He sipped his sherry again, then put the glass down and reached for her, circling her wrists where they rested on the table. He could feel her pulse beating heavily in them, and the motion echoed the pulsing of his own. He caressed the insides of her wrists tenderly with his thumbs, and heard her catch her breath. The caress was seductive and erotic, stirring his blood more. He let her go, not willing to push her any further, and waited for her response.

"I can't imagine why," she answered with a small smile. "Surely there is some woman your age waiting in the wings for you to look at her? Don't ask me to believe you've been blind to all the attention the women in oyur classes give you, and I don't mean your lectures either!"

They chuckled together at that, and Rick said,

"I feel about them the way you used to feel about me." He stopped and looked into her eyes, putting a finger under her chin when she lowered her gaze, and forcing her to look at him again. "You HAVE stopped thinking like that, haven't you, beautiful?"

"What do you think?" Cara hedged, and he chuckled at her avoidance.

"What if I say I don't know?" he asked, holding her gaze with eyes grown dark with suppressed desires. "Would you tell me, or hide it from me?"

Rick saw her struggle, and added, "I should warn you that should you choose to prevaricate, or refuse to tell me what I want to know, I have deliciously torturous ways to punish you!"

Cara raised the glass to her lips and gulped again. "What if I chose to hide because I want to see what you'll do to me?"

Rick's eyes narrowed, and he watched the color slide up her neck to her cheeks with amused intensity. Damn if she wasn't making a pass at him! He liked it! So much he couldn't stop himself from moving around the table, taking the glass gently from her fingers, placing it on the table, and pulling her to him.

"We both know you'll enjoy anything I do to you," he said, his voice hoarse. "And I'd enjoy doing it. It would turn me on. Wanna turn me on, baby?"

"I believe you're already in a state, Rick!" she pointed out. "Seems my job is done!" she added reasonably, a sexy smile curving her lips. "Thank you!" she ended facetiously, and slipped from his hands, walking away to the hallway leading to the back of her home.

Rick followed her and caught her as she opened the door to her bathroom.

"You can't run away anymore, you know?" he said, grabbing her wrist.

"Can't a girl take a bathroom break?" she asked innocently, peeking out at him from under flirtatious lashes.

Rick laughed, suddenly lighthearted. If she had relaxed enough to flirt with him, things were definitely looking up.

"A girl can, if she doesn't take too long!" he answered. "Otherwise, a guy might think she's hiding, and come in to get her!"

Cara raised startled eyes to his face at that, and he added, "So hurry up!" He dropped a hard kiss on her softly parted lips, and when she opened for him, he deepened it, drawing her tongue into his mouth, loving the silky feel of her on his tongue, and the way she leaned into him. When she pulled away from him, he felt the loss immediately.

"If you don't want to help me clean up the puddles, you'd better let me go!" she said, her own voice husky with lust and laughter. "I'll hurry, I promise!" Then she closed the door in his face.

When she opened the door again, he was nowhere in sight. She walked back into the front hall and found him kneeling in front of her DVD collection.

"What are you looking for?" she asked, walking over to where he was on the floor.

"A chick flick," he answered immediately. "We can have popcorn and watch a sappy love story, and I can cuddle with you and drive us both crazy with lust."

He looked up as he stopped speaking and caught the raw desire in her eyes before she shuttered them and turned away.

"I'll get the popcorn," she said, and he knew she was avoiding the final moment when she had to sit next to him and let him take her away from all the fears and worries that had her dropping the packages she pulled from her kitchen cabinet.

"Need some help?" he asked, coming over to her, two DVD's in his hand.

"No, I'm fine!" She whirled to face him, her cheeks flushed, and looked at the discs in his hand. "What do you have there?"

"Pretty Woman and Pride and prejudice. Which one would you like to see?"

"That's so not fair, Rick! Elizabeth and Vivian? They're not in the same league at all!" She chuckled as she placed a packet of popcorn into the microwave and started it. "You choose!"

She tried to move away form him, but this time, he didn't let her pass. He held her with his body against the counter.

"Personally, Elizabeth is my kind of girl! I watched that movie again the weekend after we met for the first time, and she made me think of you." He bent his head and trailed his warm lips over her cheeks. "I got so hard, a cold shower did me no good!" He pressed a hard kiss to her lips, slipping his tongue between them and making her open to him.

"Elizabeth is a girl! I'm grown!" She arched a brow at him, and tiptoed up to kiss his cheek. "And how bad is it when a character in a story makes you hard?" she teased.

"Which is why," he whispered, "you're not gonna escape me again! All that lovely energy wasted!" He grinned at the look on her face, and kissed her again.

"So it's Elizabeth, then?" she asked, as he let her go to get the popcorn from the microwave, and put in another.

"Mmhmmm!" he mumbled, dropping the DVDs and wrapping his arms around her. "I'd personally like to start at the point where she tells Darcy she loves him, and extemporize from there!" Another deep kiss. "What do you say, hmmm? Are you game?" Another kiss, this time on the cloth-covered breasts that pushed against his chest.

"Sounds...delightful!" Cara managed, breathing heavily when he pushed her shirt up and caressed her bare back.

"Jesus, Bella, you're so warm and soft!" He bent to eat at her mouth again, and the microwave beeped.

Cara turned in his arms and took the popcorn out of the microwave.

"Movie time, Rick!" she whispered, turning back to face him.

His arms still held her loosely, and he said, "What I wouldn't give for some of what Edward gives Vivian right now!" He looked deeply into her eyes, and told her,

"I want you, Bella! More than I can explain." He pushed his straining erection against her by way of corroborating evidence, and when she groaned, he kissed her hard.

"Let's go get hard together, baby!"