KellysWoman Page 6

  Sean laughed. “Have to keep you on your toes somehow, Kitty-Kat. Now, are you going to join me?”

  “Shave first.”

  She’d left his shaving foam and razor conveniently to hand. Sean lay calmly back while she applied the foam to his face and neck, turning the action into a tender caress. In silence she picked up the razor and began to draw it over his skin, her hand steady in spite of her nerves.

  Short of making love, Kate didn’t think there was anything more intimate that she could do for this man who meant so very much to her. The rasp of blades against bristle, two people breathing, the occasional splash of water—these were the only sounds that could be heard against the tapestry of romantic music. Kate didn’t want to shatter the mood by talking—neither, so it appeared, did Sean.

  When the job was done, Kate used a washcloth to clean the remaining streaks of foam from her lover’s face, her touch gentle as she checked on how well she’d done the job. Not bad for a first attempt. She hoped she’d get more practice.

  Sean’s eyes were on her as she stripped off. His arms welcomed her against his body when she joined him in the blissfully hot water. She almost felt as if she were floating as she cupped his now-smooth cheek with her hand, kissing him deeply while his arms supported her. She was melting with the need to surrender to him, to give him everything.

  Kate picked up the sponge from the side of the bath and began with great care to wash Sean’s body from the tips of his fingers, up his arm, across the top of his chest and down the other arm. Another dip of the sponge in the water and she bathed his chest and shoulders, her movements slow and deliberate, almost an act of worship.

  She wanted to say the words but she was so scared. He’d told her he cared, all but said the same three words that frightened her so much and there’d been no one else in his life since they’d last been together…but hearing a woman say those three words could change a man’s mind instantly—Kate knew that. Oh how she knew.

  She was terrified that if she said the words aloud, it would shatter this beautiful, perfect moment, so she said the words in her mind and communicated them through touch, knowing that Sean would simply enjoy the sensations without seeking and finding any hidden meaning.

  Beneath the water, she carried on cleansing his body. He moaned softly when she reached his genitals, head falling back again as he gave himself up to her touch. The blatant trust humbled her.

  Kate cast her mind back to the third picture of Sean she’d drawn that day. It had come straight from her imagination and at the time she’d had no idea what inspired it. In it, Sean was naked on his knees facing the viewer, his body completely exposed and vulnerable. His head was bowed slightly and his hands were resting, palms uppermost, on his thighs.

  Drawing the picture had aroused her to the point of needing a distraction to calm her racing desires. Her hands had been shaking as she made a fresh pot of coffee, hoping that by the time she took a mug over to Sean she’d be in control again.

  The symbolism of Sean’s posture in the piece of art didn’t escape her. She wasn’t into domination and submission and neither as far as she knew was Sean, but the position in which she’d drawn him screamed submission. She’d thought about it for quite some time afterward, until she realized that what she’d drawn was Sean silently asking her to take care of him. The art was a manifestation of her desire to look after him, to take temporary responsibility for that one aspect of his life.

  She wanted Sean to need her. She wanted to take care of him and protect him. He always seemed so self-sufficient and in control, not needing anyone—as if he could walk through life immune from the needs and wants that plagued mere mortals. The reality of it was, he was trying to be strong for everyone else, to be responsible for everyone else, but even he needed to let his guard down occasionally and let someone else take control.

  Sean’s body was screaming for the woman in his arms. Every part of him wanted to curl around her and protect her, to wrap her in cotton wool and keep her safe from the world beyond this cottage. For a wild moment he thought of the two of them spending the rest of their lives there, then dismissed the idea for the insanity it was. He loved the cottage, but he couldn’t live there full-time. And he certainly wouldn’t ask Kate to do that.

  But they could live together somewhere else. Anywhere else.

  There was something about this woman that brought out a desire to nurture that he’d never experienced before meeting Kate. First time around there had been something drastically wrong in her life, yet she’d resisted all his attempts to get her to share it with him. He’d ended up driving her away when all he’d wanted to do was care for her, support her and love her. That wasn’t going to happen again.

  Patience, Kelly.

  She was stirring in his embrace. “Sean?”

  “Yes, a chuisle?

  “Your surprise isn’t over yet—when you’re ready for the next part, just let me know.”

  There was more? What was this woman up to?

  Sean’s mouth curved in a small smile. Contentment—as an emotion it was vastly underrated, he thought. Contentment was what he had right now, his soul at peace for the first time in a long time. Contentment was what Kate gave him every moment she was around him, a gift without price. With her like this, he could leave behind his real life and all its responsibilities, just for a short while, reduce the world to him and the woman who held his heart in her hands. Give everything to her.

  Time passed. How much Sean had no idea, but eventually the cooling of the water began to intrude on his dreamlike state.

  “Time to move, a chuisle.”

  He felt her stretch, her foot stroking down his leg under the water before she climbed out of the bath. She wrapped one of the large towels around her body before she turned back to him, a second towel ready for him.

  “No, Sean.” She kept the towel away from him when he would have taken it from her. “My job.”

  So he simply stood quietly, his mind slipping into a place he didn’t really understand as she dried him with the warm towel. She was taking care of him as if he were a prized possession.

  Sean’s mind flipped back to that morning when he’d watched Kate dancing round the kitchen and the moment when she’d smiled at him. That was when he’d first wanted to kneel in front of her and beg her to forgive him for making it impossible for her to stay with him, but he now recognized that there was more to it than that. He wanted to be her possession—again, something he’d never experienced with any other woman, not even the first time he’d been with Kate. The implications of that were something he needed to deal with, but not right now.

  Her touch was gentle but effective and dried off every part of his body…every part. When she came back around to face him again, he touched her shoulder, his fingertip tracing the droplets of water that still adorned her skin. “You need to dry off too. Will you let me do that for you?”

  Her response wasn’t immediate—he had the feeling that she was weighing his request against whatever else she was planning. “All right.”

  With the same tenderness she’d shown him, Sean unwrapped the towel from around Kate’s body, tossed it aside and picked up a fresh one. He fought down the urge to wrap her in the towel as if he were wrapping her in his love, pick her up and carry her off to the bedroom to make love to her. That wasn’t what this was all about.

  He began to caress her skin with the soft fabric, soaking up the crystal drops of water with slow, deliberate movements. Across her shoulders, down her back, going down on one knee to attend to the flare of her hips and then her legs. She widened her stance, giving him unspoken permission to access her pussy. She trembled as he dried the sensitive flesh—unable to resist, he pressed his lips to each lush globe of her bottom.

  In front of her again, he took a moment to touch more gentle kisses to her eyes and her mouth, then he took the towel and began to dry the front of her, her arms, her breasts, her abdomen, before dropping to his knees to take care of
her mound and the front of her legs. Task completed, he remained on his knees—he discarded the towel and framed her hips with his hands, holding her still so that he could kiss her belly and rest his forehead against her.

  Eyes closed, for the first time in as long as he could remember, Sean Kelly prayed.

  Please, God, let me keep her this time. Let her want to keep me.

  Her hands were stroking his head, the gesture comforting, as if she understood that he was being torn apart by the fear that he might lose her again. She couldn’t possibly know that, but Sean took reassurance from her touch, from every caress of her gentle hands on his body, from the finger that lifted his head to receive her kiss. She left him briefly to blow out the candles and switch off the music, then turned back to him and offered him her hand.

  “Sean, come with me, baby.”

  She’d never called him that before. He let her take his hand in hers and he followed her across the passage to the bedroom.

  He stood by the bed while she went round and lit the candles and started the MP3 player. Soft, romantic music filled the room, washing around them. With the light switched off, the bedroom became as intimate as the bathroom had been. Kate came back to him. Her hands rested on his chest and she stood on tiptoe to kiss him on each cheek.

  “Let me take care of you, Sean.”

  Emotion blocking his throat, all he could do was nod and obey when she told him to lie facedown on the bed, his head at the foot of the bed. She’d arranged pillows and cushions in a wedge shape, so that he could lie with his torso supported by the downward slope with no strain on his neck and shoulders. He was aware of her moving around the room, then the bed gave and he felt her hands on his thighs, gently guiding his legs apart. Genitals exposed and vulnerable, his buttocks clenched automatically.

  “It’s all right, baby,” she crooned, stroking his back. “I’ll keep you safe.”

  She must have been kneeling between his legs. Oil-slick hands began to stroke his left leg, starting at his arse, going down his thigh, to his calf, his ankle, his heel and the sole of his foot. The hands stroked again and again, varying the route slightly each time to avoid irritation and then she lifted his foot, bending his leg at the knee, to concentrate on easing the tension out of his arch and instep, occasionally straying down his calf.

  His right leg received the same treatment and one at a time, his thighs received a firmer massage. He could feel thumbs stroking firmly up the muscles, moving from left to right and back again, easing away the tightness.

  “Trust me, Sean.”

  His hands grabbed fistfuls of the sheets. Slim fingers were sliding between his arse cheeks, over his anus, a caress so intimate it was turning him inside out. The same hand continued the caress to his scrotum, touching him with such care that he could hardly bear it. She was holding him as if he were the most precious thing in the world.

  “Relax, Sean.” Her voice wrapped itself around him like warmest cashmere. “This is for you.”

  And then her hands were stroking firmly up his back on either side of his spine to ease the knots from his shoulders. The bath had started to help him unwind and now this…he grunted in pure pleasure.

  The strokes varied in length, speed and depth, relieving all the stress and strain that had accumulated in his body over the last few months. Her hands traveled over his back, shoulders and arms, down to his buttocks and thighs, turning his limbs to something with all the structural integrity of a half-baked soufflé. If it hadn’t been for the cushions and pillows, he’d be a puddle on the bed.

  He was vaguely aware of Kate moving away. She appeared in front of him, on her knees so that she could look into his eyes. She was stroking his hair, her touch one of comfort and…ownership. Sean smiled briefly, letting his head rest against her hand, knowing his thought processes were falling into complete disarray, judging by the crazy ideas swirling round in his mind.

  “Baby, I think we need to turn you over now.”

  He nodded—somehow he’d do it, if he could just coordinate the disjointed bits of his body that were in danger of making their escape. He was dimly aware of the cushions and pillows being removed and some of them being arranged under his head as he managed to get everything working at the same time and execute a somewhat clumsy roll onto his back.

  Kate helped him to straighten up and then her hands were cradling his neck, easing away the tension there before moving on to his shoulders, her touch especially careful around his healing injury.

  “Do you have to do this, Sean?”

  “Wassat?” He opened his eyes. Kate looked just as pretty upside down.

  She was trying not to smile, he could tell. He didn’t care—he liked to see her laughing and smiling.

  At that precise moment, he had about three functioning brain cells left and two of them were handling breathing and talking, which left his ability to think seriously underpowered.

  “Work in the field. Put yourself in danger. You’re the man in charge—shouldn’t you be directing operations from an office somewhere?”

  “Do, most of the time.” Oh he just wanted to relax. This talking business was too much. “Needed specialist knowledge. Had to go.”

  Oh fuck. Now she was sitting on him. His cock stirred into life, completely unaware of the enervated condition of the body to which it was attached. He tried to think of buckets of ice-cold water as her hands moved with deliberation over his pectorals—he didn’t have an ounce of energy left in his body apart from his cock. His other head seemed to have cornered the market.

  It didn’t help when her fingers gravitated toward his breasts, rolling over the hard nubs.

  He loved Kate’s nipples. He could imagine the taste of them right now. But it wasn’t just the flavor of Kate—it was their size and texture. She had beautiful breasts. He was feasting his eyes on them, enjoying their soft curves while she rocked back and forth, caring for his body with her hands.

  He reached up, aiming to touch her cheek, but she ducked out of the way and caught his hand with hers, sliding her oily fingers between his.

  “Relax,” she whispered. “I want you—“

  “I want you, too.”

  “I want you,” she repeated, “so relaxed that you can’t even think.”

  He smiled. This was a lady who achieved her objectives. “I’m there.”

  From her vantage point, Kate was in an ideal position to appreciate the masculine perfection of the man whose cock was stirring to life in front of her pussy.

  Her hands were on his pecs, first one side, then the other, easing the tension away. The feathering of chest hair, gleaming with oil, looked darker and would draw any appreciative eye straight down, to the smudge of slightly thicker hair round his navel and the much more luxuriant triangular patch that pointed straight at his dick.

  He looked totally relaxed as she applied a gentle pressure to his external oblique muscles, first on one side of his body then the other, alternating her hands. Kate had known she’d enjoy this but what pleased her even more than touching Sean was seeing how much the experience was giving him in terms of pleasure and relaxation. It would be so tempting to start making love to him.

  Not on the agenda tonight, Travers.

  “A chuisle.” His eyes opened to lazy slits. “I can’t move a muscle.”

  She made a point of looking straight down her body at his burgeoning erection. “I beg to differ.”

  He chuckled. “That’s blood, not muscle.”

  Kate gave a delicate snort. “Stop tempting me.”

  “Tempting you? Me?”

  He was good at playing the innocent, she had to give him that. “Shut up and relax. You’re thinking too much.”

  He grinned. “I’ll try not to.”

  “Shh. Or I’ll tie you to the bloody bed and keep this up until you can’t take any more.”

  Electricity flashed between them as their eyes met. Kate’s even strokes faltered, she swallowed hard, trying to banish the picture of Sean in restr
aints, wondering where the hell the ideas were coming from…

  “Language, Miss Travers.”

  The comically stern tone helped to shatter the erotically charged image. Kate stuck her tongue out at the man beneath her and resumed her task.

  Sean’s erection became more prominent and Kate couldn’t help but notice the way his hands were grasping the sheet beneath him and trying to twist it. There was no doubting his growing arousal and while she longed to have that cock inside her, that wasn’t the plan. It was supposed to be no sex, just pampering and relaxation, but with the way things were developing, it looked as if that wasn’t going to work.

  “Kate.”

  This time, her name was a groan of need. His erection lay thick and hard on his belly, his hips undulating slightly beneath her.

  “It’s all right, Sean,” she said softly. “Do you want to come, baby?”

  His back arched off the bed as he let loose a guttural growl. He was getting lost, she realized, lost in the pleasure she was wrapping around him. She moved smoothly to his side, one hand gently stroking back the hair that was clinging to his forehead. She leaned down, her mouth a whisper away from the side of his face.

  “This time is for you, Sean,” she told him. “Your pleasure.”

  “Let me fuck you, a chuisle. Need to be inside you—please.”

  A man dying of thirst and begging for water. What else could she do?

  Kate lowered herself slowly onto his shaft, unable to prevent the low moan of pleasure as he thrust upward. Hands braced on his chest for support, she threw her head back, giving herself up to the infinite sensuality of having Sean between her thighs.

  His hand on her cheek made her look down at him—in that moment, her breath caught in her throat. It seemed that Sean was finding his strength again.

  “You’re mine, Kate,” he said, his voice ragged, burning with intensity.

  “I know.”

  His fingers bit into her hips, holding her in place while he drove into her with a power she’d never felt from him before and hadn’t imagined he would be capable of now, given his former debilitated state. It seemed that his powers of recuperation were truly remarkable. Every stroke stretched her and filled her, made her feel more and more that she belonged to Sean body, heart, mind and soul. She was Sean’s woman, always had been, always would be.