The Captain of All Pleasures (Sutherland Brothers #1)(58)
Author: Kresley Cole

Nicole was on the verge of that overriding release, and now that she recognized the feeling and welcomed it, she did everything to hasten that end. She rode him in complete abandon, opening her knees wide to pull more of him inside her. The limits of their bodies became unclear as she found herself rushing closer to her climax. She wished she had untied him so that he could touch her swollen br**sts. He must have sensed what she wanted, because he commanded, “Arch your back more. Give them to me.”

As she did, he leaned up, his muscles straining against his bonds so that he could rub his tongue over the swollen peaks. When he lay back, her body obediently followed him, and she felt a strange, insistent urge to hand him her breast in offering. She could only lay her right hand across her torso under her breast as she dipped down over him, but he understood the gesture and hungrily latched onto her nipple, making it harden even more between his lips.

He moved from one to the other. As though suckling her excited him, he pressed his feet down and used the resistance to reach his hips up, slamming up into her, springing her up and down in a fury. Too much Her whole body stiffened then the wave crashed over her in a fiery pulsing of wetness and gripping spasms. He followed her, her breast against his mouth as he groaned and burst forward from his own throbbing eruption.

Derek lay unmoving. Nicole had fallen asleep after he’d climaxed, lying softly on his chest, her body on and wrapped around his.

As he delved through all the emotions and questions swirling inside him, one thought stood out—he could not lose her. The feeling of wanting her so totally was mysterious to him. And alarming.

With any other woman, the idea of being tied up and unable to extricate himself after sex would have been his undoing. He’d never stayed with a woman after he was done with her. He should be experiencing the familiar panic that always came when someone was getting too close. Instead, his position infuriated him because she could choose to get up and walk away, and he couldn’t prevent her. He’d never experienced anything like what continued to happen between them, and he knew in his bones he never would again without her.

How much longer would his men be ashore? Three hours? If he could keep her here until they got back, she might think it wiser not to leave. Then, with time, he could convince her to stay with him.

He could call the watch assigned to the ship, but imagining the betrayed look that would flash down on him as soon as she woke up, he hesitated. Worse, what if she didn’t move in time? He had, he thought with an inward smile, given her plenty to be worn out from.

His face tightened. The thought of his watch coming in and seeing her in the position they were in—No, he thought angrily, that wasn’t an option. So now his plan was simply to remain as still as possible and hope she wouldn’t wake up until his crew got back.

At least, that was the plan. Until he hardened inside her again.

She stirred in her sleep, murmuring something and lightly grasping his shoulder. Luckily she didn’t wake up; if only he could say that about his wayward member.

Think of something else. Anything else. But only impressions of the sleek, warm body lying over his, br**sts pressed into his chest, suffused him. He inhaled the scent of her thick hair spread over them, the smell of sex in the room. He waged a losing battle.

Struggling for an alternate plan, Derek decided he could keep her here by making love to her all night. After the second time, she might sleep again.

She moved, and all thoughts disappeared as a surge of hardness pounded below. In her sleep, Nicole squeezed his shoulder, gasping at the building pressure of him inside her. She soon awakened and wonderingly tilted her head up, blinking open her curious eyes.

She must have liked what she read in his expression, because her lips curled softly. Her upper body rubbed along his when she leisurely pressed down on him. He groaned again and lifted his head toward hers, taking her lips and tongue with his own, scalding her with a possessive kiss. She answered him, her mouth trembling and lush. As their tongues danced, her hips moved over him.

Chapter 21

Her daring in the face of Sutherland’s killing looks astonished even Nicole. She had left him. Left him with nothing but a partially loosened knot.

“Nicole, don’t you dare,” he’d commanded, his voice low and menacing.

She’d explained that she had responsibilities to others. That it was her greatest wish to be with him for the time being. If she only had to look out for herself, she would stay, she’d told him, but she couldn’t afford to trust him completely.

When she’d seen his reaction, seen his obvious difficulty masking his rage, she’d become afraid.

He bit out, “Where will you go? Who will take care of you?”

Take care of her? His questions had provoked her just enough for her courage to return. “With your money, I’ll be able to take care of myself. Besides, I have friends in port who will give me a place to stay. Don’t look for me. You’ll never find me, and I believe it’s for the best . What good could come of this?”

That last comment angered him even more. His eyes had mocked her. “What good? Damn it, Nicole, what takes place between us doesn’t happen with just anyone. If that’s why you’re leaving—because no good can come of this—then you’re blind.”

She’d told him in a small voice, “No, honestly, that’s not the reason. Even though it’s wrong, I very much want to be with you again. I think spending the next few weeks in your bed would be like heaven.”

He seemed to soften at her admission; she took that moment to run out the door.

The next two days of her life were as miserable as that last night had been incredible. Her nervousness that he or his crew might find her never relented. Worse, her undertaking forced her to walk among the rowdy sailors mingling on the docks. It was too warm to wear her bulky cloak, so she’d gone without. She didn’t want to alarm herself, but it seemed as though men stared at her. She foolishly wondered if they could sense what she’d done. Could they see the change in her?

For all her discomfort, the time had been productive. She’d been successful in contracting with a captain to drop off a bank draft at the Cape. He would get it to a contact she had there, and she would, she hoped, have all their bets hedged. She’d also scratched off several letters to her father and Maria—even to her grandmother—and sent them through half a dozen different channels.

Nicole sat on the back of a dusty wagon, absently eating an apple she’d bought, trying to decide what to do. She’d reached a point where she didn’t know if she could stay away from him much longer. Thinking about the night she left, the things they’d done the things she’d done to him she wanted more.

But it wasn’t fair to herself or to him. He had no place in her future. It would have to end right when it began, and she didn’t know if she could ever willfully walk away from him again.