“Do you want to go inside?” he asked.
“I think so.”
Just as the words left Kyra’s lips, the sky opened up and raindrops came at them like bullets from the sky.
Using his body to shield hers as best he could, Marcus ushered Kyra back toward the house, but they both were soaking wet by the time they got inside.
Kyra was shaking so badly she could hardly see straight. Even now that she was inside the house with Marcus, she still didn’t feel quite safe. Her hands trembled as she gripped the granite countertop in the kitchen and watched Marcus shake the rain from his dark mane of wet hair. Marcus had shielded her head from the rain with the nylon jacket he’d been wearing, but the rest of her was soaked through from the shoulders of her button-down shirt to the hem of the denim skirt she’d put on before dinner. She slipped out of her damp shoes and kicked them aside as lightning flashed through the kitchen windows, shaking her once more. She leaned into the counter and set her head in her hands, grossed out by the feel of wetness on her toes and frustrated with the phobia that had haunted her all these years.
After wiping his face dry with a kitchen towel, Marcus looked at her. “Kyra, it’s okay,” he said and rushed to wrap his arms around her. “We’re safe. It’s just a little thunderstorm, I promise.”
“I’m alright,” she lied.
Just then, another boom of thunder shook the walls. Kyra flinched, and Marcus held her close. “You’re freezing,” he said. “Let me find some bath towels, so we can dry off.”
Kyra’s teeth chattered as she followed him silently. Even though she was frightened of the lightning, she liked being so close to him. She hated the idea of depending on any man coming to her rescue, but Marcus did soothe her anxiety. It was a strange but good feeling to allow him to hold her in the face of her fear. She wasn’t used to letting anyone get that close or to see her in her weakness.
She turned the corner behind him into the bedroom just as he called out to her from the guest bath beyond.
“I found the towels.”
A bolt of lightning lit up the dim room, and Kyra gasped.
Damn it. Why was she so jumpy? It was just a thunderstorm, not a tornado.
Marcus hurried back into the bedroom with a pile of towels in his hands, looking ready to hand them off, but when his eyes met hers from across the room, he stopped dead. Thunder crashed in the distance, and a jolt of electricity seemed to pass between them. She felt the temperature in the room rise as he approached her. Slowly, with what looked to Kyra like a decision in his eyes, he closed the distance between them until he was only an arm’s length away. Kyra stepped a few inches nearer to him to let him know she’d made her decision as well.
Marcus set all but one towel down on the bed beside them then used the one in his hands to pat Kyra’s face dry, all the while his eyes never leaving hers. He moved the towel slowly to her shoulders, carefully dabbing each droplet of rain that was there, treating her as if she were a precious work of art. Kyra sighed as he brought the towel to her neck and down the center of her torso. She let her head drop back and closed her eyes as he worked over her breasts and down her back.
The feel of his fingertips teased her. She wished they would tear through the terrycloth of the towel and even through her clothes. She ached to feel his hands on her fiery skin. With painstaking care, Marcus lowered himself and smoothed the towel down each of Kyra’s legs, stopping on the second one to kiss the sensitive flesh at the back of her knee. She heard herself moan as his lips touched her bare flesh.
As Marcus stood and faced her, she felt her lips fall open with longing. He accepted the invitation and crushed them with a kiss so passionate, there was no question as to what would happen next. His hands found her waist and pulled her body into his, as he continued to kiss her hungrily on her mouth, her neck. Circling behind her, he continued trailing kisses on the back of her neck, sending shivers of pleasure down her arms. Kyra felt her body respond to him like it had never responded to anyone before. She leaned back into his chest as he unbuttoned her wet shirt and slid his fingers beneath the silk of her bra. When his thumbs began to circle over her hard nipples, she had to bite her lip to stop from crying out.
She wiggled out of her shirt and bra as she turned to face him again, then pulled his wet T-shirt over his head. As before, Kyra was turned on by his chiseled body. She ran her hands over his ripped abs then pressed her body into his, kissing his hard chest.
They fell onto the queen-size bed together, and Kyra slid out of her skirt then helped Marcus out of his shorts. They lay next to each other, their hands and mouths exploring. She thought she’d die with need when Marcus ran his hands up and down her thighs, tickling the flesh at the top of her legs then back toward her knee. She angled herself into him and nearly cried when his fingers snuck beneath the lace of her panties. He took a moment to play his fingers along the folds of sensitive flesh, driving her crazy, then slipped her underwear off.
A moment later, he slid his body over hers. She could feel him—rock hard—against her thigh and wanted nothing more than to be filled up with him. She pushed her body up into his, to tell him without words that she was more than ready for him.
“Not yet,” he whispered and kissed her lips gently. He massaged her breasts with both hands then kissed her neck and chest, then her belly button.
As Marcus worked his way slowly down Kyra’s body, he left a path of kisses at each swatch of skin. He kissed her inner thigh then placed his warm mouth on the spot that caused fireworks to go off behind her eyes. As he moved, ever so slowly, his tongue drew circles over her flesh. He nibbled and licked as she arched her back. He used his finger to trace lines where his tongue had been. When his finger entered her, she couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Please Marcus,” she said. “I want to feel you inside me.”
And, finally, he gave her what she wanted.
When they came together, both cried out with satisfaction and joy, their cries only intensifying as they worked each other higher and higher until they reached their peaks.
Fully satisfied, Kyra curled her body into Marcus’s. As she drifted off to sleep in his solid arms, a flash of lightning illuminated the room. It wasn’t until that moment before sleep that Kyra realized she’d forgotten all about the storm.
9
“I love pancakes!” Ava exclaimed and slapped her open palms on the kitchen table. Her cheeks were rosy with joy and plumped in a wide grin. Kyra couldn’t help but catch her mood. She smiled at her adorable niece, as Ava shoveled another forkful of breakfast through her lips and then continued her proclamation with a mouthful of food. “I love pancakes and syrup and strawberries and chocolate milk and—”
“Okay, okay, Ava, we get it. You approve of your breakfast.” Kyra held a hand up to quiet Ava. “Stop talking with your mouth full.”
Kyra sipped her coffee and let her mind wander for a quiet moment as Ava finished her breakfast and Marcus packed up his things. Two days at the estate had flown by, and she found herself wishing they had more time here. It was almost as if they were removed from reality out here in the country. Even though they were technically working, the time she and Marcus had spent together had been like a fairy tale. She didn’t want it to end, but reality was calling.