Seductive Illusion Read online

  The only sound in the room was the rasping of their breathing. Sonia could feel the thudding of Evan’s heart against her breast, mingled with the beating of hers. After what seemed like forever, Evan lifted his head and kissed her, a gentle yet passionate kiss, with as much emotion as lust in it. Finally he lowered her legs and massaged the muscles.

  When he withdrew from her, Sonia tried to hold him in place longer.

  “I have to take care of business,” he whispered. “I’ll be right back.”

  He returned with a warm cloth, carefully wiping the perspiration from every part of her body and cleaning every inch of her cunt. Then he climbed into bed beside her and wrapped his arms around her.

  “I’ll leave the blindfold on if you promise to be good and not try to peek.”

  “Mm hmm,” she murmured, nestling against him.

  “Sleep, angel. I’ll get you up and masked in time to get back to your cabin.”

  The last thing she remembered was a warm kiss brushed against her temple before she fell into a dreamless sated sleep.

  Chapter Five

  Sonia barely remembered the early morning trip back to her cabin. Drowsy with pleasure and limp with satisfaction, she allowed Evan to carry her without a word of protest. Of course that could also have something to do with the creative and erotic way he’d woken her up.

  Still lost in dreams and darkness when she surfaced from sleep, arousal and need slammed into her. Evan slid his condom-covered cock through the slick, needy folds of her pussy. His penetrating hardness wound the coil of desperate need inside her tighter and tighter until she couldn’t stand it any longer.

  “Evan, please,” she begged into the darkness as his hard chest rubbed against her back.

  “Shhh,” he whispered. “Just let me…feel so damn good, angel.” He took her leg and drew it back over his thigh before slipping his warm hand down the smooth softness of her stomach to cover the pulsing flesh of her cunt.

  Lying on her side with Evan spooned behind her, Sonia couldn’t arch or move against him as she was urgently driven to. One strong, hair-roughened arm wrapped around her chest, holding her arms in place while his talented fingers teased and pinched her nipples. His other hand circled and stroked her clit in time to his slow thrust.

  “Now, Evan,” she demanded and tried to buck her body to take more of him. Instead he firmed his hold on her and changed his strokes to soft shallow ones that left her on the verge of madness.

  “Wanted you too long and too much.” He breathed low in her ear. “Need to have you, claim you. Fuck! Feels too good.”

  “Yes,” she screamed, wanting—no, needing—him to lose control. To take her hard with deep strokes as fast as he could.

  “No,” he growled, need and something darker lacing his rough tone as he pinched one of her aching nipples, “I won’t let you rush me. Been dreaming of this…”

  It seemed to go on forever. Evan’s ability to orchestrate her orgasms one right after the other left her mind blind, her body unable to do anything other than follow his lead.

  Finally, minutes after he roared his own completion, he rose from the bed, gently replaced her mask and headed for the bathroom. When he came back fully dressed in his red mask, creased chinos and a polo shirt, Sonia wondered how she’d get back to her suite. With legs of jelly and every muscle on strike or in a pleasure-induced coma, walking—hell, even moving—felt way beyond her ability.

  “My poor angel, you’re really worn out.” His pride was evident in his tone.

  Lacking even the energy to speak, Sonia weakly nodded her head and closed her eyes. Almost asleep, she jerked her lids open when two strong arms scooped her up and cradled her against an even stronger chest.

  “I did warn you about no sleep, remember?” Evan chuckled. “Now let’s get you back to the safety of your cabin before I lose the tight grip I have on my control and take you all over again.”

  He couldn’t be serious, but one look into his eyes—all that was visible of his face—assured her he was. “But…” she stammered, “you… I mean we… For hours. How can you…” Sonia felt her cheeks heat beneath her mask as she stumbled over the question.

  Evan didn’t laugh at her. Instead he pressed a gentle kiss to her neck and carried her through his suite.

  “I feel like I’ll always want you, beautiful Sonia with your luscious curves. If I had my way I’d set you on my cock and never let you leave. Just spend the rest of my days fucking you and making you come.”

  When he stopped she was surprised to see her cabin door. She didn’t remember leaving his rooms or riding the elevator. Geez, anytime this man was around her brain sailed south for a holiday.

  Gently Sonia pushed against his chest, silently willing him to let her go. “Thank you, Evan, for everything.”

  Slowly he lowered her until her feet hit the thickly carpeted floor of the hallway. Unsure what to do, she backed up against her closed door.

  Invading her personal space, Evan pressed both hands on either side of her head, effectively caging her in. “Don’t.” He leaned in to press a soft kiss against her swollen lips. “Don’t try to blow me off. You promised me the remainder of the cruise. Remember?”

  That he could still want her after taking her so completely and so often just a few hours ago blew Sonia’s mind and did wonders for her confidence.

  “I’m not backing away,” she assured him, reaching one hand up to gently stroke his unshaven jaw, then said with complete honesty, “I’m just not sure what you want from me.”

  “Everything,” he whispered back, his arms dropping down to fall on her shoulders as he drew her tightly into her arms. “For now give me everything and maybe it can satisfy me later.”

  Not sure what he meant, but somehow unable to find the words to deny him, Sonia pressed a quick kiss to the base of his throat. “For this cruise and for this time, I’ll give you everything.” She wanted to demand the same promise from him, but years of no second dates and cold stares sapped what sexual confidence she had.

  Evan tilted her chin up to tease the seam of her lips with his tongue. “Why don’t you ask me?” he questioned while sliding his hand down to the vee of her thighs.

  “Ask you what?”

  “One of these days you’ll ask,” he promised as he seduced a response from her body. One heated touch at her pussy had moisture gathering there and they both moaned as Evan’s finger slid through the swollen folds. “What I wouldn’t give to take you here, right now. Just shove these sexy little shorts off your ass and fuck you hard against the door.”

  Sonia jerked her head back at the words. Raw need filled her. “Yes, Evan.” She thrust her hips harder against his hand, needing a stronger touch. “Fuck me, please.”

  Breathing heavily, his palm still stroking her heated flesh, Evan leaned his forehead against hers. “Angel, as much as I want you I won’t take you someplace this public. I won’t allow another man to see what’s mine.” The last came out as a feral growl that sent erotic shivers down her spine.

  “Then let me open the door,” she encouraged, forgetting about her sore pussy and overused thigh muscles. “You can fuck me against the other side of the door,” she promised, fumbling in her pockets to find the electronic key card.

  It sprang from her pocket and she waved the plastic card in triumph. “Come on, Evan.”

  With a quick swipe her door light flashed green and Sonia opened the door with a flourish and stepped quickly inside. “Let’s go.”

  Instead of following her into the room and ravishing her against the wall as she expected, Evan stepped back from her, shaking his head. “I can’t, Sonia. I told myself I’d not overwhelm you. You need time to think, time alone to sort your thoughts.”

  Baffled, she stared at him. Anger rose at the easy way Evan seemed to turn his passion on and off. “What if I don’t want to think?”

  “Angel, please believe me. The last thing I want to do is walk away knowing how wet and ready you are for me. But
I owe you some time alone and you will take it even if it kills me.” He took a few steps away from the door. “But if you need me, after you’ve refreshed yourself I’ll probably by in the gym or taking a cold shower.”

  Quickly he leaned in, pressed a passionate but quick kiss on her lips, then left. By the time her lust-heavy eyes forced themselves open the hallway stood empty.

  “Shit,” she cursed and slammed the door shut.

  * * * * *

  Evan ducked his head and struck out through the water. He’d tipped the attendant heavily for the privilege of having the indoor pool to himself for one hour. Maybe, he thought wearily, if he swam enough laps his body would be too exhausted to react to Sonia. And maybe—he turned his head to suck in a lungful of air—purple monkeys would fly out of the captain’s ass at dinner tonight. Between the two, Evan thought the monkey scenario more likely to happen. Even with the cold water surrounding him, with his muscles screaming in protest and his lungs starved for oxygen, his cock hung heavy and hot between his thighs. Not a situation likely to change in the next thirty or forty years as long as Sonia was around.

  Which he hoped she would be.

  Reaching the solid wall of the pool, Evan neatly flipped and started back through the churning water. Walking away from Sonia this morning had taken every bit of his self-control while he mentally recited all the reasons why not to fuck her senseless against the wall.

  Time, he repeated to himself. She needed time to recover physically from their lovemaking and in her mind accept what he’d demanded of her. Evan knew he’d have her wet, grasping pussy tightening around him again before the night was through. For some stupid reason he’d gotten it into his head to play gentleman with the one woman capable of bringing him to his knees.

  He counted the hours until dinner, then broke it down to minutes and seconds. Surely an intelligent male could think of something to occupy himself for the next five hundred and forty minutes—he stopped to briefly tread the water and glanced at his watch—and fifty-seven seconds.

  * * * * *

  After a long hot shower and an even longer nap, Sonia lay awake on her luxurious oversized bed. She didn’t let her mind wander to a certain dark-haired gentleman or at least she tried not to, but after spending twenty minutes entranced by her toes she gave up and let thoughts of Evan fill her mind.

  Pleasure poured through her at the very thought of him. The perfect lover, he’d been kind, gentle and considerate at the same time he demanded, cajoled and forced her body to respond. She’d never felt more wanted in her life.

  Evan had asked her to give him everything last night and she had. Happily she’d let him take command of her body, bringing her to peak after peak until pleasure and Evan became the center of her world.

  Then he told her to rest and think.

  “Think about what?” she yelled at the silent cream-colored ceiling. “That I loved everything he did to me? That I can’t wait to feel his cock fucking me again? What the hell does he want from me?”

  Turning to her side, Sonia beat her fist into the defenseless feather pillow. Wishing she’d never slept with Evan. Wishing she’d never met Chase and most of all wishing for someone in her life who would love her just as she was.

  “If wishes were horses,” she muttered, disgusted with herself, Evan and Chase. Even though he wasn’t there, she silently berated Chase because he was the one who arranged the stupid cruise in the first place. When this “Valentine’s Cruise to Nowhere” ended, she’d have to go back to the office. Everyone would demand to know the details and if Evan kept her coming like he’d done last night, the answers would be written all over her face.

  Maybe Chase would see exactly how desperately some other man had wanted her. How desperate another’s hands were to touch and caress her. How eagerly and easily she’d parted her thighs for a man she didn’t know, but one who continually reminded her of the man she couldn’t have.

  With a jolt Sonia sat straight up, her thoughts narrowing down to one thread.

  If Chase knows I’m desirable to another man, will that make him notice me?

  Unable to sit still any longer, she slid from the bed and paced the suite with impatient strides while continuing to talk to herself.

  Men always want what someone else has. If Chase thinks Evan has me then maybe he’ll want me too. Of course, he’d have to know about Evan. Unless he just sees it written all over my face.

  The idea, as well as this conversation, was asinine. Just because one man responded didn’t mean Chase would. And some part of her heart cried out, “What about Evan?”

  Her brain responded without question.

  He’s in it for the sex.

  One very big question remained—would she still want Chase after spending all her nights in Evan’s arms and bed?

  “Augh,” Sonia pulled at her hair before finally admitting to herself she was getting nowhere. She needed out of her cabin before the walls closed in.

  Grabbing her new swimsuit, she stalked to the opulent bathroom and slammed the door. Ten minutes later she was sitting by the pool under the cool shade of a striped umbrella watching various couples play in the shallow pool, while more serious fitness buffs swam laps in the larger pool farther from the deck chairs, or in the indoor pool one deck below.

  With her mask firmly in place, drink in hand, Sonia settled into the thick cushions of her chaise lounge. Several moments passed in peaceful silence before a shadow blocked the warmth of the sun.

  When she opened her eyes a man’s big body stood beside her chair, looming over her. “Hello?”

  “Did you have a nice nap?” Evan’s hoarse voice asked from behind his mask.

  She watched the rapid rise and fall of his chest and had to tear her eyes away from his toned body. Reaching for the sarong lying on the deck beside her, she draped it over herself, feeling far too exposed to Evan’s probing eyes.

  “Um… yes, thank you. What about you?” Squinting, she held one hand up to shield her eyes from the bright light.

  “I’ve been doing laps since I left your cabin. Downstairs.”

  “What?” She was stunned. “That’s been hours, Evan.” She reached up to pull his trembling body down. “Tell me you haven’t been actually swimming all that time.”

  He took the towel from around his neck and wrapped it around his waist to absorb the water dripping from his blue and white swim shorts. “What else would I do in a pool except swim?”

  “Play volleyball, float and relax.”

  He looked at her as if those ideas had never occurred to him. Strange how she could read so much from his expression even with more than half his face hidden by his mask. “I needed the laps to tire myself out.”

  “Did it work?”

  When he looked down at his lap, Sonia followed his gaze and swallowed…hard. Tenting both his swim shorts and towel and pushing the limits of the seams of the fabric was an erection that made her mouth water.

  “Um…guess not.” She licked her lips, remembering the salty flavor of him on her tongue and the strong feel of his hands digging through her hair as he whispered naughty encouragements to her.

  “Don’t,” he whispered, his voice lower than usual. “Don’t look at me that way. It’s taking everything I’ve got not to bend you over this chair and fuck you senseless from behind.”

  Sonia gulped at the mental image. Wondered exactly how difficult it would be to accomplish.

  “Don’t go there, please, angel.”

  Tearing her coveting eyes away from his lap, she looked up and drew in a sharp breath. “You look so…” She didn’t know or didn’t have the words to describe the pain and yearning in his eyes.

  “Yeah,” he swept one hand through his dark hair, “I’m trying to remind myself why I can’t do any of the things I want to do.”

  “Would you mind refreshing my memory as well?” she half teased.

  “It sounds stupid, I know, especially after everything that happened last night. I just wanted you to
know this is about more than sex for me. I mean, yeah, I want to fuck you six ways to Sunday, although I think I’d be okay if I could just have my cock balls-deep inside you. Yeah,” he nodded, “that would be okay too. And I want us to talk. Really talk.”

  Sonia looked at him and kept looking until he shifted under her gaze.

  “What?”

  “You think I’ll be able to carry on a conversation with you inside my body?” Did the man use his brain at all?

  Evan rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking adorably confused. “Well it wouldn’t be the first or second time we fucked, nor likely the third, but somewhere in between the fourth and sixth I think we could manage a quick conversation.”

  “You are nuts.” She laughed before reaching up to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. “But I like the way you think.”

  “Good. Okay then. Feel up to exploring some of the ship with me?”

  “I’d love it.” She clasped his hand when he stood and offered, holding the sarong against her body. With a deft twist of her hands she had it wound around her and knotted just at her cleavage.

  Evan’s eyes dropped to the valley of her breasts. “I was going to tell you to forget that thing but now I’m not so sure. It helps to show off your…um…assets.”

  She swallowed a smile. “Does that mean you’ll still have trouble keeping your hands off me?”

  “I’m sure there are plenty of other people to keep us distracted from each other.”

  Sonia flinched and pulled her hand away.

  Evan tried to grab her arm, but she ducked away from his touch.

  “I didn’t mean it like that, Sonia. Shit, you have to know how much I’m dying to get inside you.”