Sshh...I'm redoing my website. And as I am making book pages for each title, I'm finding the strangest things. Like I never offered up an excerpt of Her Cinderella Complex! What the what?
I'm feeling so guilty, I might have to post two!
HER CINDERELLA COMPLEX
The water lapped at her body like a hypnotic haze, soothing her desire, drawing out her every sensual reaction. Nearly weightless in the water, she stared up at him, his light eyes shining an intense aquamarine that punctuated the hunger in his gaze. He stood above her, so big, male and mesmerizing that she couldn’t take her eyes off him. His defined chest with a fine spray of dark hair trailing over his flat stomach and lower… She dragged her gaze back up his body, meeting his eyes once more.
The only thing that would make him look better would to be dripping wet.
She floated back a little to cooler water. She was deep under the spell of the sensations of the currents pushing around her, reacting to her every movement, luxuriating in the arousal.
“You should join me.”
“I will.” He looked at the far end of the pool, then back at her.
“What are you waiting for?”
“I’m trying to think of the best way to get in.”
“What is it? Can’t you swim?” She splashed at him playfully, slightly worried she might have hit the mark.
“Oh, that’s how it is?” He smiled down at her, warm and wicked. He took one step back, then cannonballed into the pool, sending water flying everywhere. Heather ducked down to avoid the spray, but Curtis beat her beneath the surface, his hands on either side of her face as he pulled her to him, their lips meeting in an underwater kiss.
She gave herself over to the exhilaration, parting her lips slightly as he kissed her, their bodies floating together as their lips met without friction. Breaking the lip lock, he released her, leaving her alone to break the surface.
Stunned by the kiss, she treaded to where she could anchor her feet on the pool floor, her head and neck above water. She’d made a silly list of fifty things to do in her life back in college, and kissing underwater was right below skinny-dipping in the moonlight. She hadn’t thought of the list in years, until he was kissing her, making her wishes come true. Two for two on the day.
Water slid off her hair, across her face, as she tried to find her bearings. This felt real, yet maybe it was a vivid dream. The items on the list sped through her mind.
Fall madly in love. She was crazy to be in love with him, that’s for sure.
Have a fairy tale wedding. Almost got that one too.
Water rippled behind her, warning her before Curtis was there, sliding up her body so close she could feel the heat coming off him without him even touching her. One large hand snaked around her middle, pulling her back against him, so near she felt every muscle of his hard body, including the straining erection at the small of her back.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he whispered against her ear, nuzzling her neck.
“You didn’t.” Her hand drifted down, against his firm thigh, the sparse hair the only friction between them. “I just remembered something.”
“What?” He peppered her neck and shoulder with hot kisses, the warmth moving down her body, anticipation building between her thighs.
“I made a list of things I want to do.”
“Am I on it?”
She couldn’t help but laugh, looking through the water to watch his hands drift up her body until they palmed her breasts. Having his hands there eased the ache, until he started to caress her and it began to build again.
“I wrote it before we met, in college. I haven’t thought of it since. Skinny dipping in the moonlight was on the list, but I didn’t think of it until you kissed me underwater.”
She couldn’t stifle a moan as he expertly caressed her breasts, his fingers attending to her beaded nipples. She rested her head back against his shoulder, letting him support her before she continued.
“I didn’t think it would take my breath away.” One of his hands snaked lower, cupping her mound. “Forget everything. It will be there tomorrow.”
He was right. Reality never left, but fantasy was fleeting. “I wanted to kiss in the rain too, and beneath a waterfall.”
She turned easily in his embrace, the water making her slippery and slick. Her arms went naturally around his neck, his chest hair teasing her tight nipples as she pressed against him. He took her lips between his, capturing them in a heated, promising kiss. She barely noticed as he lifted her up, her feet drifting as he moved them to the side of the pool, pressing her up against the wall. He pulled his lips away, taking her breasts in his hands.
“I wanted to make love in a pool.”
He grinned, wicked and dark, before dipping his head to run his tongue around the hardened bud of her nipple.
“And on the beach.”
He flicked his tongue across the peak, his other hand attending to her other breast.
“And in the rain.”
Again he rewarded her with more attentions, more pleasure.
“A bed of roses.”
She tried desperately to remember the list, to keep the pleasure coming at a steady stream. “On a train. Under the stars.” She writhed against his onslaught. “A rooftop. On the grass.”
Oh sweet heaven, he switched to the other breast and she was done with that part of her list. She closed her eyes and envisioned all the places she’d ever wanted to knock him to the ground and take him.
“On your desk.” The moaning need in her voice must belong to someone else.
“Is that all?” he asked, barely letting up. “Because we can have that done before the end of the week.”
Think. It was nearly impossible when she was about to come undone. “On the kitchen table.”
“In every room of that house.”
“The house is huge.” She undulated against him, fighting the urge to wrap her leg around his back and grind against him to find her release.
“It will barely take the edge off.” His hand slithered down her body, cupping her bottom and pressing his erection against her.
He had a point. She had nearly a year of frustration to work out. The house was just the beginning.
“On a trampoline.”
He released her breast, straightening up. “Where do we get a trampoline?”
She was not thinking logically just now. “I was fantasizing.”
He shook his head. “This is a planning session. You want love, Heather, we’ll make it.”
He caught her mouth, trapping her in a kiss before she could explain that wasn’t what she’d meant by love. But she knew it was the best he had to offer, the closest she’d come to having him love her. And while it wasn’t nearly enough for a lifetime, it was enough for a night.
Copyright © 2008 Jenna Bayley-Burke
All rights reserved — a Samhain Publishing, Ltd. publication
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