Stars exploded as she sank fully on him, his manhood deep inside her quivering flesh, their groans now mingling together.
Tremors continued racing through his body long after the last of his release. What she did to him was criminal. In that instant, he knew he couldn’t let her go — not ever.
Rafe held her tight as their bodies relaxed against each other, her moist heat holding him safely inside her. Even telling himself they needed to get up, needed to move, he couldn’t force his body to respond.
He didn’t want to let her go — didn’t want to put the distance between them that he always insisted on after sex. He wanted to hold her in his arms and fall asleep so they could wake in the morning and start all over again.
Rafe didn’t know what was happening to him — but the longer he was around this woman, the more he didn’t care.
He felt Ari slump against him and a smile flitted across his lips. Though the night was quickly cooling and their bodies were still fused together, she was so comfortable with him, she had fallen asleep in his arms.
He hated to disturb her, but he had no choice.
“Ari, we need to go out front and get the car. I’m ready to take you home.”
“Mmm” was her only response.
With great reluctance, Rafe lifted her from his body, feeling an unaccustomed emptiness as he pulled out of her. She grumbled as she half awoke, but didn’t put up further protest.
Rafe straightened their clothing, then led her through a trail to the front of the clubhouse. It took less than a minute for his driver to arrive and for Rafe to step inside the back of the limo. He pulled Ari onto his lap and held her while she fell back to sleep, her head resting on his shoulder.
As he leaned his head back, he didn’t know what he was going to do. He was in way over his head with his mistress — his feelings for her were becoming too much of a burden for him to want to deal with.
Chapter Seventeen
Shane
Shane looked around his favorite club and felt nothing but boredom. He needed to get back down to South America, but he had too much going on here to leave right now. The fact that Lia was still in the U.S. wasn’t helping him deal with his vow of keeping their relationship platonic.
After she’d been released from the hospital, it had taken all his restraint not to check on her in person, but he didn’t trust himself enough to go to her place.
Her parents had come and gone again and Rachel was in and out. If he showed up at her home and she was all alone, he could hardly be held responsible for his actions. For him to be thirty years old and out of control over one woman —that just didn’t compute.
“Hey, gorgeous, you haven’t been here for a while.”
Shane turned up his megawatt smile without a thought. Flirting, to him, was as natural as breathing — he didn’t even think about it.
“Hi, Gwen. I’ve been working a lot lately, sad to say. Don’t tell me you’re here all alone.”
“My date turned out to be a total snooze fest. But the night just got a whole lot better since I spotted you. How long am I going to stand here looking beyond fabulous before you buy me a drink?” she asked with an exaggerated pout.
Shane held up his hand and the waiter practically tripped over himself to get to Shane’s table. Tipping insane amounts of money, Shane had found, was a very rational tactic.
“My lady friend will have a Manhattan, and I’ll have a refill.”
The man scurried away toward the bar while Gwen sat down, pressing her panting chest against Shane’s arm. On some other night he might have been happy to take her home and relieve the ache that was a constant in his life now. But since his kiss with Lia, he just couldn’t seem to psych himself up for one of his normal one-night stands. At this rate, he might never have sex again… That thought jolted him into turning to face Gwen, who was practically in his lap.
“I’ve missed you, Shane. Since sharing your bed, I haven’t been properly satisfied — not even once,” she said as she traced his chest with one of her long red fingernails. She didn’t stop when she reached his pants, and he found himself grabbing her hand before she grabbed hold of him.
“You’re not holding anything back tonight, are you, Gwen?”
“I’m extremely aroused, doll; just looking at you always gets my motor humming. Why play coy? You’re the best lover I’ve had in ages and I want a repeat.”
Shane heard a gasp and looked up to see his waiter sweating and shaking as he placed their drinks on the table. The poor kid was barely of drinking age, and right now his eyes were directed at Gwen’s overflowing cle**age. Shane couldn’t blame the kid. She certainly wasn't trying to hide them.
“I’ve always appreciated your honesty, Gwen, but it’s not going to happen tonight,” he warned her as he picked up his drink.
“Never say never,” she purred, not in the least put off as she lifted her own drink.
While Gwen rubbed up against him, Shane’s eyes traveled over the dance floor. Maybe he was just getting too old to play the games he’d once enjoyed so much, over and over and over. Whatever. But he couldn’t find even a spark of interest in his old flame.
Gwen continued rubbing against him and just as something like annoyance was starting to set in, Shane’s eyes connected with Lia’s. He’d almost passed her by in the throng of people on the dance floor, but then his gaze zeroed in and he suddenly felt some excitement in an otherwise dull evening, some emotion to rouse him from his apathy — unfortunately, that emotion was anger.
When did she get there, and what in the hell was she wearing?
Shane’s eyes narrowed as they traveled across her skin-tight black dress. If the skirt had been any shorter, the entire club would have seen what color panties she was wearing. Her brother would have killed her if he’d known what she was doing.
She was currently pressed up against some jerk who had his hands all over her. Shane was trying to decide whether to pound the guy in the face, or simply to throw Lia over his shoulder and drag her home kicking and screaming, when he was jostled, his drink spilling from his glass.
“Hey, handsome. Boy, am I glad to see you here. Lia dragged me out tonight and then she hooked up with some hot banker and now I’m just a third wheel.”
“Honey, you’re a third wheel here, too,” Gwen snarled.
“Nice to see you, Rachel,” Shane replied.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Am I interrupting something? It’s just that I didn’t want to be all by myself in this club, where the only thing thicker than the smoke is the sex hormones oozing through the air,” Rachel said with big, innocent eyes and a pouty lip.