Chapter 59 59
Her hair was piled on her crown, and a mountain of frothy bubbles surrounded her shoulders. The lights were off and each candle was lit, flickering around her. Steam rose from the surface. Her eyes were closed.
"You're letting in a draft," she whispered.
"Do you know what you do to me looking like that?"
Her eyes flashed open and across the short distance he felt electrified.
She smiled. "I have an idea. This was very sweet of you, Stefan." She reached for her wineglass, sipping. "It's just what I needed."
"I figured some downtime would make you sleep better."
"All you had in mind was sleep, huh?"
He gave her an innocent look. "Of course."
"Liar. Wanna get naked and wet with me?"
He smiled, stepping inside and leaving the baby monitor on the sink. He stripped and she watched him, loving the jump and flex of his muscles. Hottest body on the planet, she thought, delighted that he was hers. She shifted and he slid into the tub. Water rose to the rim. She was grateful for the garden-style tub, she thought, although she'd never had a man with her in a tub. She'd never had a man this deep in her life, she realized.
She offered him a sip of wine, but he shook his head, sinking back and just staring at her. She slid her foot up his leg, the water and slick oils in the bath making her dainty foot feel like silk passing over his skin. Stefan felt himself grow harder, and when her foot slid higher, he caught it.
"Are you inviting me to play?" His look was dark and sly. “Hmmmm, sugar?”
Her smile was devilish. "Talk is cheap, detective."
He leaned forward, his big shoulders glistening with water, slick with bath oil as he slid his hands up her thighs, across her belly to cup her breasts.
She let out a telltale moan.
His touch was a force to be reckoned with, addicting. She always wanted him, wanted to feel his arms and his kiss and be soothed by his strength. Then he went and touched her heart by drawing a bath for her. How lucky could one woman get? And when he stepped through the door and looked at her as if he was going to eat her alive, she was helpless. With Stefan she never had much resistance, and when his lips came into play, his tongue sliding luxuriously over her nipple before his mouth latched on, passion coiled around her in heat and steam and man.
"You know, there is some of my training that comes in handy sometimes."
"Oh, really? What's that?" she said, her voice a little slurred as his thumbs slickly circled her nipples, deeper with each stroke. She couldn't think of a thing beyond the stamina the man possessed, which would be beneficial right now.
"I can hold my breath for nearly two minutes."
"Really?"
A second later he was under the water tasting her, and Alana shrieked.
"Oh, my goodness, my goodness!" she said, as pleasure slathered over her in hot thick waves.
He gripped her hips, refusing to let her move as he tortured her, her mind struck between amazement and the erotic pleasure ricocheting through her body. Her heartbeat was like a sledgehammer in her chest. Her legs went numb and trembled, her breathing wouldn't catch up with her need, and she grabbed at the side of the tub as he played her like an instrument.
Her body was singing to him; Stefan was so in tune with her that he could tell when she was near, when she liked something. This she liked and he tormented her for a while longer, until he was certain she was struggling to hold back her climax.
"Stefan…Stefan!"
He straightened, smiling, raking his wet hair back off his face.
Instantly she climbed onto his lap. "Come here. I'm…I'm going to—"
"Yeah, I know. Mission accomplished, then,'' he growled, pushing into her, filling her in one stroke.
She groaned deep in the back of her throat, grabbing onto his slick shoulders and thrusting. Her mouth mashed over his, her tongue spearing between his lips, and he felt devoured. She rocked and her pleasure made him harder, pulled him nearer to satisfaction. Her uninhibited desire pushed water to the trim of the tub, extinguishing candles. Slick muscles clamped him and she trapped his face in her palms as her climax spread through her like molten fire. The sight of it made him come unhinged, and he bucked, thrusting deeper and deeper, and feeling her body claw his in a velvet fist. Squeezing, flexing. Seething.
She leaned back, bowing, and his fingertips dug into her hips as convulsions beat a wild song through them. She fell onto him, her lips molding over his hungrily as her pleasure and his floated away on soft waves.
Stefan let out a long breath, his hands smoothing her back as he laid back in the tub. Occasionally he cupped water and poured it over her spine.
"I am a contented man."
"Oh, yeah. Can I join the club?"
"Are you content, Alana?"
"Yes." She snuggled in his arms, hating that the water was cooling so quickly.
"I know this is going to sound really stupid, but is it the sex?"
She snickered and leaned up to look at him. "You're kidding, right?" Once she got a close look at his expression, her smile fell. "Oh, darling," she said, cupping his face and staring deeply into his eyes. "No, it's not. It's a plus. It's amazing, and I'm very content,” Her eyes teared. "I'm your wife, Stefan. For better or worse, I am. With you here or not, I'm still your wife." The words spilled from her, but she was too scared to speak right now of the feelings of fear locked deep inside. "I want that. I cherish that. I love you and I want to be with you. I and Juliana are with you. Right by your side." She kissed him lightly. "I can't believe you asked that."
"That's how we started, and you were the one who insisted that great sex didn't mean we were meant for a lifetime."
"That was before I got to really know you. And we're doing that now, aren't we? Shooting for the lifetime?"
His smile was slow in coming. "Oh, yeah."
"You have to be the gentlest man I've ever known, which contradicts your profession, you know. Your former profession at least."