LAINA WAS DREAMING.
She was lying on a bed in the middle of a room filled with lavender roses, and James was trailing kisses up her leg. From her ankle all the way to her thigh, his heavenly tongue teased her with what was to come. Her entire body was already throbbing with want, her pussy so wet as she waited for that delicious first sweep of his tongue. It made her cry out when she finally felt it. His fingers went inside her, massaging that magical spot while he sucked her clit softly, firmly, softly, firmly until she was rushing toward her climax so fast, so hard. She buried her hands in James’s soft hair, not daring to look down at him. Knowing that if their eyes met while he had her under his power in this beautifully intimate moment, she would come apart.
“Laina, you taste so sweet,” he murmured, opening his mouth wide so she could feel his warm tongue pressed flat to her. Her hips bucked up, a silent plea for more. More pressure, more of that slippery sensation, more of those perfect, intoxicating words that filled her body and heart with a feeling she was helpless to describe. So much more than lust, so much more than love. The most soul-saturating, passionate, excruciatingly beautiful emotion that existed. “I’m going to taste you like this forever. I’ll always be with you. I love you so much I can’t even see straight.”
She had to see him. Had to look at him between her legs, worshiping her like that, loving her like that. His eyes fastened on hers, and her groin fluttered with the emotion of connection so intense it stole her breath. She reached for his hands and entwined them together, squeezing his tightly as the heat built to an inferno.
She fell over the edge, rocking her hips back and forth on the mattress, every muscle in her body tensed toward her pleasure, her pussy contracting sweetly on his fingers, crying his name over and over again. When she came back into her body, he was straddling her hips. His beautiful, rock-hard cock was straining upward, aching with desire for her. The fire that had just been sated inside her relit, hotter than ever, desperate for the feel of him inside her.
Her swollen lips were already open when James’s mouth came down on hers, his tongue slashing her wide as an animal sound ripped from his throat. “Everything,” he said fiercely into her mouth. “Every part of me belongs to you. Feel it. Feel it. Feel how much I need you.”
He entered her with a thrust so deep and sweet it turned her body to liquid. Paralyzed with exquisite sensation from her head to her toes, Laina lay helplessly under him as he drove into her. His breath turned ragged as he grabbed her thighs and shoved them upward mercilessly, laying her bare. Claiming her. His mouth coming down on her neck, on her breast, biting her there until she cried out from the perfect blend of pain and pleasure. She thrust herself into his mouth, wanting more of it, more of him, more of that savage need. She was already spiraling upward, the heat in her clit growing again.
His eyes fluttered shut with sheer ecstasy as he quickened his pace even more, and then he opened them and fixed them on hers. “I’m so close,” he panted. “So close because I love you so damn much.”
Then the bed shook with the power of their combined climax, her shattering moan mingling with his guttural release, both of them lost in a moment so perfect it could never be repeated. Could only lie alongside all the others before and after, each a unique expression of an eternal bonding love for each other, made so much more exquisite from the power of knowing all they had almost lost.
It was real. So real, and Laina was crying.
As she emerged from the intimate space that had contained only the two of them, her surroundings returned to her. The only piece of furniture in the room a gorgeous four-poster, the sheets tangled on the floor from the intensity of their passion. The floor carpeted in a sea of vases containing an entire garden of lavender roses, James’s re-creation of the night eight months ago that they’d never had together. The walls plastered and ready for paint. And the view beyond their window of the calabash trees backdropping a partially framed cottage, alongside a massive hole in the ground that would soon be a saltwater pool.
Laina buried her face in James’s neck as he stroked her back. She knew he didn’t need to ask her why she was crying. Even months after they’d reunited in his Atlanta hotel room with the fierceness of two colliding trains, these moments still came upon her. The idea that this could have never happened. That they could both be leading their separate lives right now, scorched by the pain of indescribable loss, moving through the world like zombies.
She pulled away to look at James’s face, and he traced her tears with his thumb. “I wish there were better words,” she whispered. “I can’t...”
“Shhh... I know,” he said soothingly. “I know everything.” He locked his eyes on hers as he cupped a hand around her cheek. “I want to show you something.”
She stirred. “Does that mean I have to get dressed?”
“Absolutely not.” He reached down to the floor and picked up two sheets, which they wrapped around themselves. Then James plucked a single rose out of a vase and reached for her hand. “Follow me.”
He led her down the stairs with the sheets trailing behind them. As the burning intensity of her experience receded, real life returned. Laina walked through the living room with a critical eye, observing the new hardwood flooring, the stained-glass windows with the original owner’s initials in them that had been installed just yesterday. It was going to be perfect. Not just because it had been James’s idea, and not just because their collaborative effort was bringing her beloved crumbling house back to life. Because it, along with the six guest cottages built on the property, would be shared with the people who needed it most: those with limited incomes dealing with a terminal illness in their family. The project honored James’s mother, Laina’s passion for social justice, even the house’s former owners with its final completion after all these decades. House of Dreams, her and James’s castle in the sky.
As they walked across the newly restored front porch, James pulled Laina close and covered her eyes.
“What are you doing?” she laughed.
“The sign was installed today. I wanted to surprise you with it.”
Laina’s heart leaped. She’d put her heart and soul into redesigning this place, using all of her skill to create the lowest environmental impact possible, and each new detail that came to life was cause for her celebration. She felt James stop beside her and turn her back toward the house. “Are you ready?” he asked.
“So ready.” She smiled. He moved his hand away from her eyes.
All Laina could do was stare. Her mouth fell open as the impact of what she was seeing hit her fully, and a bubble of emotion burst out of her in a gasp. “Oh my God! James, what—”
He took her hands. She looked from him back to the sign, unable to believe her eyes.
Instead of the words House of Dreams in the font she’d chosen, Will you marry me? had been printed across the arched wooden slab.
And now Laina could hardly breathe, because James was dropping to one knee and looking up at her rapturously. She brought a hand up to fan her face, so overcome with emotion she couldn’t think straight. Was this really happening? Was she dreaming?
“Laina,” James began as his eyes filled with tears. “My life is nothing without you. You are my heart, my breath, my everything.”
Laina’s eyes welled up as James held the single lavender rose up to her. “I asked you once what this symbolizes. It’s love at first sight. And I know now that I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you on that stupid cliff in those damn cutoffs.”
Laina was laughing and crying at the same time, shaking her head and nodding all at once. James opened his hand to reveal a diamond ring. Her breath hitched as he took her left hand, holding the ring at her fingertip. “Make me the happiest man alive, Laina. Tell me you’ll love me forever.”
“I—of course! Oh, my God! Yes yes yes!” She was vibrating with excitement, her body too full to contain any of it—him, their dreams, their future, the indescribable love she had for this man. He slipped the ring onto her finger and stood up to take her in his arms. Both of their sheets fell away and pooled on the ground as James lifted her off her feet and buried his face in her neck.
She loved him eternally, intensely, madly.
He was a dream come true.
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Sin City Seduction
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Burn My Hart
by Clare Connelly
Sexy Beast
by Jackie Ashenden
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Keep reading for an excerpt from Sin City Seduction by Margot Radcliffe.