Page 50 of Second Time Around
She shrugged. “I wanted to leave it behind me when I was at college. I could become someone else. Actually, I felt like I was more truly myself at Brunell than at home. I didn’t have to hide my brains because everyone at college was smart. I didn’t have to hide my aspirations because everyone aspired, generally much higher than I did. I felt like I could unfurl myself there.”
“‘Unfurl yourself.’ That’s a good way of describing it. I thought of it more as throwing off the shackles but we both experienced a sense of freedom.”
“I guess you can never go back.” Kyra knew she sounded wistful. “It wouldn’t be the same now. We’re older and so much more experienced. The world no longer offers endless possibilities like it did then.”
“Christ, we’re not that old,” Will said.
“Sometimes I feel ancient.”
He took her shoulders and gave her the tiniest shake. “You have too much to offer the world to give up already.”
She shook her head. “There’s a lot you don’t know.”
“So tell me.”
“My stories don’t belong in Fairyland,” she said. “There’s no magic in them. Not even black magic.”
“Kyra.” His grip on her turned into a caress, his palms warm as they stroked up and down her bare upper arms. “Youare magic, an enchantress.”
“Back to Circe again, are we?”
“You see, that’s what enchants me about you. Or one of the many things.” He ran his hands up to frame her face as he bent to touch her lips with his. “This is another,” he whispered against her mouth.
She was happy to avoid talking about her dingy home in industrial Pennsylvania, especially if the alternative was being kissed by Will. She threaded her hands through his hair at the nape of his neck, feeling the silky waves curling around her fingers. She rubbed her thumbs against the skin just above his collar, loving the soft, vulnerable texture as it curved over his muscles. She leaned into him, loving the pressure of him against her breasts, the contrast of hard and soft sparking little thrills that raced through her.
Then he was pulling her back into his house, striding into the hallway to a sliding wooden panel that revealed an elevator, the inside of which was embellished with the same wood. “My bedroom is on the fourth floor,” he said, gesturing for her to precede him.
“Have you ever done it in the elevator?” Kyra asked with a grin as the car lifted upward.
“I’ll take the Fifth on that,” he said. And then the door was sliding open again.
“You’d have to be quick,” she said, stepping onto the velvety carpeting of another hallway.
“There’s always the emergency stop button. But I have something different in mind.” He took her hand and led her into an enormous bedroom done in soft taupes and creams with rich, glossy brown wood furniture and trim. On one wall, flames flickered in a rectangular fireplace set in a surround of polished chocolate-colored granite. A king-size bed, covered in taupe linens so wrinkle free they looked almost military, backed up against a wall padded in a soft, slubby fabric. The bed faced a wall of glass that looked out onto a softly lit terrace.
“You keep a fire going all the time?” Kyra asked, although she loved the sense of cozy warmth it brought into the room.
“No, my watch told it I was coming, so it turned itself on.”
“Can your watch turn down the bed?”
“I prefer to do that myself. Let me show you.” He took her wrist and walked backward toward the bed, his thumb circling warm and firm in the center of her palm while his eyes picked up little gleams from the fire.
She went willingly, his touch on her palm setting up an echo between her legs. When they made it to the bed, he reached down with his free hand and ripped the coverlet and top sheet to nearly the foot. A wide expanse of cream linen invited her to hurl herself onto it.
“Turn around,” he said. She did and felt his fingers at the zipper of her dress. It sang downward, and air brushed against her back. When he drew a line down her spine with his fingertip, she gasped and arched. He slipped his hands under the shoulders of her dress and eased it down over her arms and her hips where she gave a quick shimmy so it dropped to her feet.
His lips were on the side of her neck, and his hands were on her hips, pulling her bottom against him so she could feel the ridge of his erection. Then his hand was gliding over her stomach and underneath the front of her panties. He slipped between her thighs and slid a fingerinto the wet center of her. “Ahh,” he said, his breath moist against her skin while he stroked in and out of her. That sent more heat and liquid around his questing finger, and she began to flex her hips in rhythm with him, making his erection swell harder.
She reached behind her, pushing her hand between them to massage his cock.
“Kyra,” he breathed beside her ear and inserted a second finger inside her. The extra stretch and pressure made her moan in ecstasy and pushed her yearning higher.
“Not yet,” he said, withdrawing his fingers and leaving her empty and wanting.
She let her head fall back against his shoulder. “It had better be soon.”
He turned her in his arms, a feral smile baring his teeth. “Undress me like you did on the sailboat.”
