Perfectly Broken (9 page)

Tomas tried to chill, but he was annoyed.

“So tell me how it went,” he said.

“Haven’t you figured it out? I went to the
funeral parlor and saw you. I was attracted to you. You nearly
caught me, but I escaped down the hall.”

Tomas stared at her.

“Then I rode with some of your relatives to the
church.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “They didn’t
question who you were?”

She shrugged. “A friend of the family.”

Tomas looked at her, at how innocent and sweet
she appeared. Of course one of his distant relatives, not knowing
any better, would give her a ride. “Go on.”

“Well, I saw you walk down the aisle to the
front of the church. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw you look
back at me. You are handsome, you know.”

He held up his hand. “Don’t try to butter me up.
What happened then?”

She lifted her wine glass from the wooden table.
“I knew you had your eye on me, and would come after me, so I made
sure to get out of the church just before the ceremony ended. I was
respectful at the gravesite and didn’t come too close. I watched
you from a distance.”

“And you saw me look back for you when I got to
the limo?”

She nodded and took a sip of her wine.

Tomas had caught on. “So you rushed back to the
procession in time to catch a ride back to the church. Discreetly,
you caught a cab and followed me back to the hotel.”

Susanna batted her eyelashes. “And while you
parked, I went in. It was a guess that you’d head to the bar.”

He completed the story. “By the time I got
there, you had your drink and waited at a back table.”

“Are you mad?” she said.

He clenched his jaw. “It’s dishonest.”

Her eyes softened. “It worked out okay.”

“Because you got me up to the hotel room?”

She nodded. “And you said yourself that it was
good.”

Tomas shook his head. “You are one weird
chick.”

“Should I leave?” She pushed her plate back. “I
tried to tell you this wouldn’t work out.”

“Forget about leaving. You don’t get off that
easy.” Tomas took a big gulp of wine. “I’m just pissed that you put
me through hell. Do you know how I felt that day, having you taunt
me and then disappear?”

“I guess.” Susanna brushed her hair back over
her shoulder. “But if I had come up to you and been direct, it
wouldn’t have been the same, would it?”

He pondered that. “You mean like, ‘Hello, I’m
hot for you and I think right after your grandfather’s funeral we
should go to your hotel room and fuck.’ Something like that?”

“Would you have preferred it?”

Tomas let out a heavy breath. “You are
exasperating.”

“And now should I leave?”

“Stop talking about leaving.” Tomas took her
hand. “Dinner is not over yet. There is still dessert.”

Susanna bit her lip. “You said
just
dinner
.”

Tomas grinned. “Got ya.”

She looked confused.

“I meant the sweet confection type of
dessert.”

She smiled. “Oh.”

“And I know just the place.”

Tomas paid the bill, and they left. He intended
to extend their evening together, still trying to figure her out.
Though he didn’t like the idea that she had picked him up the day
of the funeral, it wasn’t a deterrent to wanting to feel her body
next to his again.

What got under his skin the most was that he
wasn’t the first. Susanna had said it outright. She made a habit of
hanging around funerals and picking up guys she wanted. Could it be
that Tomas was jealous? He had met her only days before.

And in that time, she had come on to him more
aggressively than any woman he had known. Then she proceeded to run
from him. And was still keen on leaving. There was no commitment
between them, and with a woman like Susanna, anything more than a
couple of intimate interludes would be asking for trouble.

The fact that she was honest about it was a
point in her favor. She said:
I’m not a one-man woman
. There
it was, stated in a few words. It was a crazy idea to think he
could win her over. Did he have the right to ask her to change her
lifestyle? For him?

Did he even want to? Where was this going? But
Tomas knew one thing: he wasn’t ready to part from her. He took her
arm and guided her out of the restaurant, heading for Butlers
Chocolate Café. It was cold outside and he put his arm around her,
quite liking the feel of her close.

“Do you like chocolate?”

“Is there any woman who doesn’t?”

They walked briskly toward the café. Tomas
spotted it and went directly for the door. Once inside, they rubbed
the sleeves of their coats and stamped their feet to warm up.

“It’s freezing out there,” Tomas said.

She smiled. “Get used to it. This is winter in
Dublin.”

Tomas found an empty table and handed her one of
the small menus. “What’s your pleasure?”

She bit her lower lip and gazed over his body.
“Well, when you put it like that…”

He rubbed her ankle under the table. “Don’t
tempt me.”

Susanna studied the menu for a moment. “I’ll
have the hot chocolate and milk chocolate honeycomb crunch
bar.”

“Same thing my sister, Alaina, ordered when she
brought me here.” He grinned. “Decadent.”

She smiled. “That’s me.”

A tingle ran through his body, but Tomas tried
to still his reaction. He wasn’t sure how the night would progress.
“I’ll have the whiskey truffle bar and coffee.”

The orders were placed and quickly delivered. If
Susanna’s enjoyment of dinner had been a sight to see, the vision
of her letting the milk chocolate melt in her mouth was even
better. In between bites, she sipped her hot chocolate. Tomas was
sorry to see her push the plate aside with the treat half
eaten.

He took the last bite of his and looked into her
blue eyes. The next words out of her mouth were unexpected. He
cringed to think that she would say goodnight and the evening would
be over. It had been
just dinner
, after all.

While he struggled to come up with something to
delay the inevitable, Susanna smiled. “Want to get high?”

Around her? Yes
. The thought of what it
would lead to had him hard and ready. “We can go to my hotel
room.”

She nodded.

Walking toward the Ashling Hotel, Tomas wasn’t
cold at all. He was heated to his core. The prospect of having
Susanna alone, even if only once more, made him hot. There were all
kinds of reasons not to take her to his room. But he had never been
one to play the sure thing, or take the safe route.

As he had said, the thrill of high risk was an
adrenaline rush. But never more so than with Susanna. He was taking
a chance with her, and the odds of the results being disastrous
were high. But the promise of having her in his arms pushed him
toward the precipice. Tomas would take his chances. He was a
gambler at heart.

* * * * *

At the hotel room, Tomas put the
Do Not
Disturb
sign out and secured the door. It was dark out and the
lights of the city glimmered below. Stepping over to look out,
Susanna admired the view she had seen many times, but somehow it
looked better that evening.

It wasn’t the smartest thing to be alone with a
man for the second time in one week, considering the power of the
attraction. Abstinence was not her strength.

He stood behind her, and Susanna could feel his
breath against her cheek. She leaned back with her head on his
shoulder, and he put his arms around her waist. His embrace felt
strong and possessive. Admittedly, she liked it. Being with Tomas
was different.

Tomas lifted her hair and kissed the back of her
neck and under her jaw, making her body tingle. If he was affected
by her as much as Susanna was by him, it was going to be quite a
night. He tipped her face up and she turned to kiss him.

The touch of his lips was masculine and feral.
He didn’t have to do more to command her body. Susanna melted into
the kiss, wanting him. That she would have him was exciting. A
second time with Tomas. She was going to enjoy this.

Breaking free of his embrace, Susanna kicked off
her shoes and reached up under her dress to pull off her black
tights. Then she hopped up onto the bed with her back to the fluffy
pillow against headboard, and grabbed her purse from the table.

Tomas stood barefoot before her, and as she
watched, he let his pants drop to the floor. His shirt hung long,
covering the bulge in his briefs she knew was there. He slipped his
iPod in the dock of the radio and started music playing.

The sound was deep with heavy bass, a rock tune.
He sat next to her and rubbed his foot against hers. Susanna
reached in her purse and pulled out a tiny bottle. She offered it
to him.

He raised his eyebrows.

“You didn’t expect me to roll a joint, did you?
The smell might escape to the hallway, and we don’t want the Gardai
to come and arrest us, do we?”

Tomas shook his head. “I’m not interested in
meeting the Irish police or any other law enforcement tonight.” He
paused. “Where did you get this?”

“I get them in Temple Bar. I know someone. The
tinctures are used for medicinal purposes, and give the benefits of
cannabis without having to smoke it. It is fast acting, a good way
to get high. And don’t worry, it’s not the stuff that puts you to
sleep. You’ll like this.”

Tomas took the bottle and squeezed three drops
under his tongue. Susanna did the same.

“It absorbs rapidly,” she said.

Even as she spoke, Susanna already felt
different, but was a bit slowed down, so didn’t realize it
immediately. She liked the tincture for the uplifting effect, and
felt more alert on it. The white comforter stretched over the bed
caught her attention, and she fingered the quilted material. At one
end was a maroon strip, and she touched it with her toes.

Tomas pulled back the comforter as she watched,
and lifted her to draw it back so they were sitting on the sheets.
Seeing his biceps flex with the motion, Susanna reached out and put
her palms over them, loving the feel. Then she grabbed the hem of
his shirt and pulled it off over his head.

She stared at his buff chest, and he let her
look. With her palms flat on his chest, Susanna leaned in and
licked across his nipples, watching them stiffen. She bit and
licked them, listening to Tomas breathing heavy.

He pulled up the hem of her stretchy dress and
lifted it off of her. Then he stopped, drinking in the sight,
making her nipples hard. Tomas reached behind and undid her bra,
freeing her breasts. The air against them felt good.

Tomas cupped her breasts and slid his tongue
over the crests. The hot feel of his tongue on her skin made her
whole body warm. “It feels so good,” she whispered. He covered one
nipple with his mouth and sucked, sending sensation deep into her
core.

She clawed at his shoulders and raked her nails
down his arms. Desire seeped into her slowly and with intensity.
Tomas took her hands to kiss her palms, the soft bristle of his
goatee scratching and exciting her. The feeling radiated through
her and started a sustained glow from the inside out.

Tomas pushed her onto her back with his hands on
her wrists, pinning her arms over her head. He continued to caress
her breasts with his tongue, as if her skin was a sweet treat. Then
he flicked over her nipples until they ached. Then he blew on them
softly, before nipping at them with his teeth.

Looking into his eyes, Susanna saw a rawness she
wasn’t used to. There was something there that intrigued her.
Leaning down, Tomas covered her mouth with his and kissed her for
what seemed like minutes. It was a long, slow, deep kiss that bound
them together.

When he pulled away, Susanna gasped. She reached
out and grabbed the waistband of his briefs and pulled them off to
let his erection spring free. Staring unabashedly, she relished the
sight of his gorgeous cock. He was thick and ready.

He straddled her, and Susanna put her hands
around his hips to pull herself upright with her legs between his.
Pressing her face into him, the male scent of arousal made her
giddy. She breathed deeply and then kissed his cock several
times.

With one hand, she gripped the base and angled
the knob to her mouth. Tomas tasted so good, a little salty, and so
masculine. At her leisure, Susanna sucked, taking her time. And he
made no move to stop her. Rolling her tongue under the thick rim,
she heard a deep moan and knew Tomas liked what she was doing.

In no rush, Susanna cupped his balls, the feel
of them in her hand driving her crazy. She raked her tongue along
the sides of his velvet skin, lost in his beauty. Pressing one hand
on his belly, she felt his steel abs and realized how wet she was.
And how much she needed him.

Then he had her on the bed. Susanna was on her
back and his hands were all over her. It felt amazing. His palms
rubbed down her arms and along her ribs. She wanted him to touch
her everywhere and not stop. Tomas felt her inner thighs and
squeezed her calves.

Every inch of skin was on fire for him. “Don’t
stop,” she begged. Her voice sounded far away and the words came
out slowly, as if poured out of a syrup bottle. Tomas put his hands
at the top of her hips and held her there.

He slipped down and, pulling aside the crotch of
her panties, drew his tongue along her slit. The sound of her own
panting echoed in her ears, matched with the deep, fast breathing
of her lover. Susanna spread her legs a little more, wanting his
touch. With the tip of his tongue, Tomas flicked over her clit just
once.

“Ahh,” she groaned.

“Like that?” he whispered.

“More. I need more.”

Tomas took her wrists again and lifted her arms
over her head. “Keep them there,” he said.