Seven Nights Read online

  “I told you,” she whispered as she leaned over him and let her hair tickle his chest. “Tonight’s fantasy is about your sense of control. I plan to make you lose it entirely.”

  “You think so, huh?” He shut his eyes as he tried to maintain what she was trying to take. The front he was putting up for her benefit was rapidly crumbling. “Are you sure you won’t lose control first?”

  She leaned closer until her breath heated his lips. “Absolutely sure. You’ll beg me long before I’ll beg you.”

  He arched an eyebrow even as his already rock hard cock stiffened to an almost painful degree. “That’s a challenge I’m willing to take.”

  She shook her head with a smile as she looked him up and down. Her eyes caressed, captured, owned as she took in every inch of him. Then she met his gaze again and slowly and deliberately licked her lips.

  Before Sean could groan, she crawled up onto the bed, pushing his legs apart so she could kneel between them. Once she had herself in position, she leaned forward for a long, hot kiss. Just as he’d settled himself into it, she moved her mouth away, trailing it ever so slowly down the muscled column of his neck and to his shoulders. She licked and nipped his skin as her fingers played a teasing game with his chest.

  “I love your shoulders,” she said with a sigh. “I love how broad they are. And I love how you look like a normal man, a totally hot man, but normal, until I get you naked. And then it’s like… pow! Superman.”

  She accentuated her statement by taking one nipple between her lips. She rolled her tongue around the ridge, flicking it with the tip until desire was coursing through Sean’s body at an out of control rate. Then she sucked him and blood surged hot to every place that turned Sean on, even ones he hadn’t known existed.

  “Leah,” he whispered, longing to plunge his fingers into her hair, to suckle her nipples until she was as wild with need as he was.

  Her eyes came up with a flicker of triumph. “Are you begging me, Mr. Dalton?”

  He pursed his lips though he couldn’t control the half smile her comment elicited. “No, ma’am. Just thinking how I’d like to do the same to you.”

  “Well, you can’t,” she said softly as she returned to her work. “Not yet.”

  He arched a little under her exploring mouth, but managed to find enough of his voice to say, “It’s too bad. Because your nipples taste like ripe berries. And when I run my tongue between your breasts and you moan, it’s like heaven.”

  With a shiver, her eyes came up again, this time in alarm. “Am I going to have to gag you, as well?”

  Sean smiled. “Can’t take it? Because I could describe making love to you all night. Like the way it feels when I plunge inside you. Feel you flex hot and wet around my-”

  He would have gone on, but she halted him by throwing herself onto his body and kissing him until he couldn’t remember any words but ‘yes’. A word he used copiously as she rocked against him.

  “Is that called losing control?” he asked with a smile when she finally pulled back.

  “No, it’s called shutting you up,” she murmured as she slid back down his body, dragging her tongue down his stomach as she went. His muscles twitched of their own accord. “And if you try seducing me with dirty talk again, I will get a gag.”

  A retort was on the tip of his tongue, but he never got to voice it. Before he could, she brought her mouth a few inches lower and suddenly took his cock into her mouth. Sean sank his teeth into his lower lip to hold back a gasp of pleasure, but couldn’t keep his hips from raising up, from pushing his erection further between her lips.

  She held him in her mouth for a brief moment, staring up at him with wicked green eyes that were so dark with passion that they were almost black. Then she moved, working her mouth all the way to the hilt then sliding her way back up as she swirled her tongue around him in slow, tight circle.

  “You’re mine,” she whispered as she pulled her mouth off him with a soft pop of suction. “Say it.”

  He glared down at her, his cock tingling with a need for her to continue. To be inside of her wherever she chose to put him.

  “I’m yours,” he ground out.

  “And whatever happens next,” she said softly as she brushed her hair back and forth over the swollen head of his penis. “You’ll always be mine, right?”

  Sean smiled and it wasn’t forced. Didn’t she get it? “Honey, I’ve always been yours. Can’t change the facts.”

  The wicked taunting in her stare faded, softened in the pale glow of candlelight and moonlight that streamed through her open window. With a smile, she dropped her mouth back on him and he knew she wouldn’t taunt him anymore. What happened next would be give more than take.

  And it was going to rock his world.

  He was right. Leah built him to a fever pitch, but she did it slowly, easing her mouth up and down until he could hardly hold back the explosion that already had him on the edge of blacking out with pleasure.

  “Leah,” he warned, pulling against the ties. “You’ve got it. My control. I surrender. Just please, please-”

  She smiled and he saw her triumph. She’d made him beg like he’d made her beg so many times. And he couldn’t have been happier to throw himself on her mercy.

  Without a word, she reached up and pulled one of his hands free from the velvet restraints. He had the other loose with lightning speed and before she could say anything, he delved his hands into her hair and pulled her up his body for a kiss. As he made love to her mouth, darting his tongue in and out between her lips as he wanted to do with his cock, she moaned, grinding her hips against his so that the silky fabric of her teddy rubbed against him.

  He stopped kissing her just long enough to push his fingers under the delicate straps of the black lace. He met her eyes while he pulled them down, following the path they took with his mouth until finally his teeth nipped at her nipple and she tilted her head back with a sigh.

  As he suckled her nipples, switching back and forth between the two until she was shivering with desire, he glided his hand down the apex of her body. When he reached the area between her thighs he found wet heat waiting there for him. With little pretense, he shoved the tiny scrap of satin aside and pressed his thumb against her clit.

  Her sighs changed as he massaged her, from long and satisfied to short and breathless. She gripped at his upper arms, clawing at him to go faster or slower. He knew which one by instinct, by judging the way a soft flush began between her breasts and worked its way up her neck.

  Finally, with a cry, her body clenched and she wailed out an orgasm. Before she could finish, he guided her above his cock and thrust up, allowing the last of her body’s spasms to massage his throbbing erection.

  She rocked against him, her motions erratic and animal as she clung to his neck and rode him out. Only when he kissed her did her movements settle down and she found a softer, slower rhythm that he felt he could share with her forever. For a lifetime.

  Sean lifted into her thrusts, holding himself as steady and calmly as he could when she was staring down into his eyes and taking him all the way inside her, then slowly out. Though she was still trying to torture him, he could see the torture was just as difficult for her. Her eyes began to glaze and her pace faltered as she neared the edge a second time. He stroked hair off her face and watched her expression change as she went from being at the brink to falling.

  Her face contracted with pleasure and he felt his own do the same. With a primal yell, he allowed his release to join with hers until she collapsed onto his chest in a sweaty, panting heap.

  It was a long time before she moved, which was more than fine with Sean. He knew there was something special about the way they’d made love this time. And it had nothing to do with velvet restraints or Leah’s new turn as the one in control. There was something more there. He’d seen the depth of Leah’s emotions in her eyes. He’d felt it in her touch.

  He was pretty damn sure she still loved him.

&nbs
p; And he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he had never stopped loving her.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Leah traced the muscular lines of Sean’s chest, weaving her fingers in the wiry curls and letting them brush across his flat nipples. She breathed in every moment of their time together, memorizing each second because she knew one undeniable truth:

  Her time on the island was nearly over.

  What she planned to do after that was still unclear. All she knew was that she couldn’t lose Sean again. She had to find a way that they could continue to build up what they’d found during the last few days.

  “Are you asleep?” She pressed a kiss on the flat plane of his stomach and felt his abs ripple beneath her lips.

  “No. More like comatose.” He laughed and the sound reverberated through his chest. “If that’s what you call taking control, you can have it any time you like.”

  She smiled even as she wondered if he understood the full ramifications of that statement.

  “Control really was an issue for us.” She glanced up at him as she took his hand. “It was part of why we broke up.”

  There was a long pause as he examined their intertwined fingers. He raised their hands up and brushed a gentle kiss against her knuckles.

  “I’d agree with that.”

  She stiffened at that unexpected response. He was admitting it? That was a first.

  He snuggled her closer. “But I’d say our control problem really stemmed from both sides, wouldn’t you?”

  Pushing up to lean on her elbow, Leah tried to keep herself from following through on her instinct, which was to snap at Sean. That wouldn’t do anything but ruin what had been a wonderful night.

  Besides, in her heart she had a suspicion he was right.

  “What do you mean?”

  He shrugged as he pushed a lock of hair away from her face. Her heart softened at the gentleness of the action and the look on his face. He didn’t accuse, he just seemed to want to get things out in the open. And if that wasn’t a step forward, she didn’t know what was.

  “I’ll admit I was obsessed with succeeding.” He frowned. “And obsessed with proving my worth to people like your parents. I think I lost track of you along the way, lost track of us. I was so focused on getting what I wanted, controlling-” He winked at her and she smiled. “Controlling my own future that I forgot I was planning a future that involved someone else.”

  Stunned he’d summed everything up so perfectly, she nodded. “Those were things that bothered me, yes. And part of the reason why I left.”

  He smiled sadly. “And your leaving is where your control came in.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Honey, you never talked to me about any of that stuff. I figured it out on my own over the years I spent obsessing over you and what had happened to make you go.” He sat up so that their eyes were on the same level and pinned her with a stare that held her in place no matter how much she wanted to run. “You took control by just bolting. And never looking back.”

  She shrugged. “I thought talking to you wouldn’t help.”

  Man, did that ever sound lame.

  There was no anger in his eyes, no censure. In fact, he actually smiled, albeit sadly. “But you never gave me the chance to prove you wrong.”

  Leah she sat up in the middle of the bed. Sean was right. She had exerted control by taking herself away instead of standing her ground. By not telling him what she felt and what she needed.

  But things had changed. She had changed. She was no longer a twenty year-old girl who was scared of fighting for the life she wanted to build. She was more afraid of losing it.

  Now she just had to find a way to explain that fact to Sean.

  “In my family, we didn’t talk about problems. We just pretended they weren’t there.” She sighed as she pulled her knees up and hugged them against her bare chest. “I wanted things to be different with you. But old habits die hard, I guess, because when things started to go wrong, I couldn’t talk to you. Instead of bringing our issues out in the open, I just left.” The harsh sting of tears started behind her eyes as she realized what a fool she’d been. “I was wrong, Sean. I was stupid and wrong.”

  “And young,” he said as he caught one of her bitter tears and brushed it aside. “We were both young and didn’t realize what we had. Well, I realize now what I lost when I lost you.”

  “And so do I.” She smiled at him through her tears. Tears that faded away when he cupped her neck and bent his head for a gentle kiss that melted all her barriers, all her memories, everything except for him and the love she felt burning inside of her.

  She had so much she wanted to say. She wanted to talk to him about her one last worry, about him not letting her be a part of his problems. And most of all, she wanted to tell him she loved him. She wanted to express the feelings she’d shown him by making love to him.

  Now.

  “Sean,” she whispered as she traced the line of his cheek with her fingertip. “I-”

  Before she could get another word out, the shrill buzz of Sean’s cell phone echoed from his discarded pants.

  “Shit.” He shut his eyes. “It’s deja vu all over again.” He looked at her with an apologetic frown. “I’m so sorry, honey. I’d ignore it if we weren’t in the middle of this problem, but…”

  He didn’t finish as he rolled out of bed and caught his pants in one hand. He flipped open the phone.

  “Yes?” His face hardened as he listened to the person on the other end of the line. Before he spoke again, he turned his back on her, but by the way his shoulders tightened she knew the news wasn’t good. “Are you kidding me, Will?” There was a long, ominous pause. “Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

  He flipped the phone shut and let loose with the longest, filthiest string of curse words Leah had ever heard put together. After he’d stood leaning against her table for a moment to regain his composure, he turned back to her with a contrite smile.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You have to go?”

  “Yeah, all hell’s breaking loose.” He rubbed his temples. “Will needs me in the office right away.”

  She climbed out of bed and wrapped her robe around her waist loosely. “Look, are you sure I can’t help-”

  He cut her off with a wave of his hand as he pulled his trousers back on. “I already told you, I’ve got to handle this myself. This bullshit with the Alexander Midler Corporation is spreading. I have to take care of it.”

  He turned back, but she could see that he hardly saw her anymore. With a distracted kiss on her forehead, he grabbed his shirt and shoes and headed for the door.

  “But I really want to-” The door shut in her face to cut her off. “Help.” She sank down in one of her dining chairs with a sigh. “Well, so much for that tender moment.”

  She stood back up and crossed to the bed to dismantle the elaborate system of velvet bindings and remove the satin sheets. But as she popped the sheet out from under the mattress, she stopped.

  Sean had been distracted when he left. So distracted he’d actually given her some of the information he was so loathe to part with. The name he’d said was one she knew very well. Alexander Midler.

  Midler was her father’s age and had built an empire on the established wealth of his family. He was old money and he knew it, but he liked to invest in risky ventures. Ventures like a fantasy resort in the middle of the Caribbean.

  Only she knew from her overheard conversation in Sean’s office that afternoon that the Alexander Midler Corporation was suddenly pulling its backing, even though Escapades Resort was doing well. Even though the expansion could only bring more fortune and prestige to the burgeoning vacation spot.

  Midler and his staff weren’t stupid enough to do that unless he had an insider tip. And only one man would have given him such bad information.

  With trembling hands, Leah picked up the phone on her bedside table and dialed her parents’ number. She prayed her hunch was
wrong. Because if her father had interfered in Sean’s business just to settle some kind of vendetta he held against her former fiancé, there was going to be all kinds of hell to pay. And she was going to have to do some serious damage control, whether Sean wanted her interference or not.

  ***

  “Oh, Daddy,” Leah sighed into the receiver as she rubbed her stinging eyes. It took all her willpower not to sob into the phone. “How could you?”

  “Making a few calls to tip off Sean Dalton’s investors to the kind of man he is was the least I could do after he practically kidnapped you,” her father said with no remorse in his tone.

  “You had no right,” she hissed low as she paced around the room in an angry circle. “No right to interfere in my life or Sean’s business.”

  “And what right did he have to trick you?”

  God, even his voice was high and mighty. No wonder Sean had struggled with her parents. They hadn’t even bothered to give him a chance.

  “I tried to call your cell phone at least ten times,” her father continued and Leah winced. She hadn’t exactly been checking messages. “When you didn’t return my calls, I had no other choice but to intercede.”

  “You had plenty of choices!” She finally lost her cool and yelled into the receiver. “You could have let me be an adult and talked to me about your opinion when I returned home. There are no circumstances where sabotaging another man’s business is considered a reasonable option to get your daughter back. You and I both know you never liked Sean from the first moment you and Mom met him. And this is your way of getting back at him.”

  Her father was quiet for a moment and she knew he wouldn’t deny her accusation. Just like he hadn’t bothered to deny he was the man behind Sean’s current business woes.

  “He was never good enough for you, Leah. And he’ll never be good enough, no matter how many resorts he builds or good suits he buys. He’s beneath you.”

  For a brief moment, Leah wanted to inform her father just how much she liked the way Sean felt beneath her, but she knew that just might drive her old man over the edge. Instead, she cleared her throat and prepared to incur her father’s wrath.