Page 32 of Cursed

“The bank owns it, but I’m paying the mortgage. In the spirit of full disclosure, I got a great deal on it.” He paused before the door, waving his card in front of the keypad, and then keying in a secondary code. The reassuring click of disengaging locks managed to calm Edeena’s nerves. It was an apartment, nothing more. She’d been in plenty of apartments before.

Then Vince opened the door, and she saw straight through the tidy space to the winking harbor beyond.

“Oh!” she said, entering the space. “Please, don’t turn on the lights yet.”

He laughed softly but the room stayed dark. The effect allowed the floor to ceiling windows to truly reflect the beauty of the harbor—strung with lights, filled with people, the trees along the waterfront swaying gently in the breeze. It was quite possibly the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

Almost without realizing it, Edeena moved forward until she stood directly before the window, her eyes unable to go wide enough for her to take in the scene. “You look at this every day,” she murmured, “all times of the year.”

“When I’m not on assignment, yes,” Vince said. She heard him drop his keys and phone on the counter, place the box of food his mother had given him to the side. Then he slowly padded toward her—not quickly enough to startle her, she thought distantly. He knew her well enough after these few weeks to go gently, quietly, to let her be in control.

Only, she didn’t want to be in control right now. She wanted to be in his arms.

Blushing against the unexpected thought, Edeena kept her gaze fixed on the astounding view. She barely jumped when Vince came up behind her, his arms going around her as if he’d read her mind. The move was so natural, it felt like he’d been doing it for years. They stood like that for several long moments, her back to his chest, his powerful arms to either side of her shoulders, his hands intertwined with hers as they rested against her chest. “It really is beautiful,” she murmured at last, unsure of what else to say that truly captured her wonder.

“Yes,” he said, drifting his lips over her hair. “You certainly are.”

Vince breathed in the perfume of lilies and honeysuckle that still hung in Edeena’s hair and reveled in the moment of having her in his arms. She was warm, her body supple as she leaned against him, and there was nothing in her manner that expressed fear or hesitation of any sort. She wanted this, wanted him.

And he planned on enjoying every last second of it.

First, however, he needed to make doubly sure that his impressions of her actions weren’t simply his own wishful thinking.

“Hey,” he said, dropping his head further until his mouth was even with her delicate ear. “Before this goes any further, I need to ask. . .”

“Mm?” Edeena turned in his arms until she faced him, her eyes dark and flashing in the reflected light from the street. “You want to know if I want to make love to you tonight, Mr. Rallis?”

He smiled a lopsided grin. “I think under the circumstances, you should call me Vince.”

“Would that I could call you Prince,” she said, so softly that he wondered if he’d misheard her. Must have, since she smiled with sudden intensity and lifted up on her toes to kiss him firmly on the lips.

“I very much would like to make love to you, Vince Rallis. Here. Tonight. Now.”

She didn’t have to tell him twice. He drew her away from the windows, but not too far. There would be time later for the large bed that stood next to another wall of windows, despite the blackout curtains he employed to keep the place as dark as possible so he could sleep. Time later for sleep with their legs and arms entwined. At this moment though, he wanted the full display of the city to imprint in Edeena’s brain, so that she could never think of Charleston without thinking about him, about this.

He pulled her to the deeply-cushioned couch and she slid easily onto it, half sitting, half reclining as he joined her. He swept his hand up her leg, catching the fabric of her dress and scrunching it up as he went.

“I’ll take you to shop tomorrow morning. You can get a new . . . dress, or whatever.”

Her lips parted in a soft laugh. “Or whatever,” she murmured, and the blatant encouragement in her voice had him moving the hem of her dress higher and higher still, until his fingers drew along the silk perfection of her high cut underwear. He followed the line around the toned curve of her hip and realized the panties were thongs.

As if he wasn’t hard enough, already.

“I think these are going to have to go,” he said, leaning in for a kiss as she turned her face into his.

“I was hoping you’d say that.” Without a further word, she pressed her own hand against his, urging him to curl his fingers around the scrap of cloth that served as her underwear, and pushed her hand down. He followed her lead and pulled the thin band free of her hips, sliding it down her legs in one long movement. Though the need to kiss a trail back up her legs was strong, leading him to where she practically pulsed with heat, he wasn’t going to do that. Everything about this moment was going to be as perfect as he could make it, even if he was going to be in serious physical pain by the time he was done.

Edeena sighed as he moved back up the couch, half carrying her further back into its plush softness. When the sales rep had sold him the too-deep piece as a third bedding option without the need for a sofa bed, he’d rolled his eyes, knowing he’d never have more guests than his two spare bedrooms could manage. Now he could have kissed the man. Edeena lay before him, her hair spread out on a throw pillow, her gaze on his face curious, almost wondering. A long chenille wrap was draped over the couch, and her fingers swiped at it, curling it against her for warmth or some measure of safety, he wasn’t sure which. But she didn’t turn away when he dropped his mouth to hers again. She leaned up, meeting his kiss with a pressure and urgency that was undeniable. She didn’t know what he was going to do next, but she was giving herself over to his care.

She wouldn’t regret it.

With murmured guidance and assurance as she responded with nervous hands, Vince helped her slip out of her dress, then tossed it over the nearest chair. Edeena lay framed by his body and the throw, pressed up against the couch cushions. She was naked except for the silky fabric of her bra, now straining as her full breasts rose and fell in time to her stuttering breathing. Vince lifted a hand to her arm, drifting it over the pebbled skin until he touched the softness of her waist, then the curve of her left breast. She let out a strangled moan as he closed his hand around the weight of it, his own body jacking with desire. Even his calves had gone stiff as a board at this point.

He leaned forward and kissed Edeena, long and sure, massaging her body with his fingers as his mouth explored hers—tasting, touching, savoring. Her breathing evened out and her body seemed to lengthen beneath him as he moved from her mouth, drawing a line of kisses down her neck, nestling his head in the hollow of her throat as he licked his way along her collarbone. She groaned when he moved back up toward her chin, but the heat lifting now from her body told a different tale. She was getting as wound up as he was, and the slow trail down her body was as much the reward as the journey.

Breathing a murmured “beautiful” against her sensitive skin, Vince moved down to her breasts, now able to frame both at once in his hands, lifting them up and capturing the pebbled nipples with his fingers as he raised his gaze to Edeena. There in the reflected light of the Charleston harbor, she was easily the most captivating woman he’d ever seen. She stared at him, her eyes half-lidded, her mouth slightly open, and her expression hazed over with a desire that drove him to focus once more on bringing her pleasure, relief, satisfaction.

He took the tip of one breast in his mouth and sucked gently, reveling in the sharp pleasure that snaked through him as Edeena nearly arched off the couch. She dropped her hand to his shoulder, consciously or unconsciously pushing him down, but he wasn’t going to hurry. He lavished attention on her other breast as well, kneading them both, grinning as her startled breaths shifted to deep, whispered moans of pleasure.

---