The Spider

19

We turned a corner and hurried down the hallway, holding hands like a couple of kids. At the far end, Sebastian risked a quick glance around. Satisfied that we were alone, he put his champagne flute down on a nearby table, then backed me up against the closest wall and kissed me, hot and hard, so hard that I almost dropped my own glass.

He drew back and frowned. “You haven’t drunk any of your champagne.”

“Later,” I whispered. “I’d rather taste you right now.”

I pulled his head down to mine and kissed him as deeply as he had kissed me. By the time he finally pulled back, we were both panting for breath.

He grinned. “I know the feeling.”

Sebastian scooped me up in his arms, glass and all, and headed for the nearest staircase. I wrapped my hand around his shoulder and nipped at the side of his neck with my teeth.

“You keep doing that, and we won’t make it to where I want to go,” he rasped.

“Mmm.” I nipped his neck again.

I didn’t care where we went as long as I was with him. I wanted to make tonight count. I needed to make tonight count.

Because I wouldn’t have a tomorrow with him.

I kept kissing his neck, while Sebastian carried me up to the third floor, to a room that was at the opposite end of the hall from the library and his father’s office. He nudged the door open with his shoulder, stepped through to the other side, then kicked the wood shut again with his foot. Sebastian strode forward and set me down on my feet in the middle of the room.

It wasn’t just any room—it was his bedroom. A king-size bed dominated much of the space, the white silk sheets on it standing out in stark contrast to the ebony wooden frame. More ebony tables were scattered throughout the room, along with a matching armoire, while the thick rugs underfoot were a mix of black, white, and gold patterns. Despite all the times I’d been to the estate over the past two weeks, Sebastian hadn’t shown me his room before. It was dark and utterly masculine, like him.

I loved it—and I loved him too.

Sebastian plucked the champagne glass from my hand and set it on the nightstand beside the bed. I tossed my purse down onto the settee at the foot of the bed.

Then, with one thought, we came together.

I unknotted his black bow tie, loosened it from around his neck, and tossed it aside, not caring where it landed. Then I carefully undid the top button of his shirt, exposing his luscious tan skin. I kissed his neck again, feeling his pulse against my lips. Racing, racing, racing, just like mine was.

Sebastian captured my chin with his hand, raised my head, and kissed me again, even harder than he had downstairs. There was nothing soft and sweet about his kisses tonight. Good. I didn’t want there to be, because this, tonight, now, was about how we could make each other feel.

We stood there, rocking back and forth, our tongues dueling, even as our hands began to creep inside each other’s clothes. I helped him shrug off his jacket and undid the rest of the buttons on his shirt, exposing his muscled chest and flat stomach. He slid down the straps that held up the bodice of my dress, then unzipped the back of it. I shrugged out of the silk, let it fall to the floor, and then kicked it out of the way, standing there in only a pair of black lace panties. Sebastian’s eyes trailed up and down my body, his gaze darkening in appreciation.

“So beautiful,” he whispered. “So sexy.”

A thrill went through me at his words, and I stepped back into the warm circle of his arms. He bent down and touched his lips to my neck, lightly nibbling at the skin there with his teeth, just as I’d done to him before, then kissing his way down to my right breast. His tongue circled first one of my nipples, then the other, licking, nipping, and sucking in a quick, needy rhythm, even as his hand dipped lower and started sliding under the edge of my panties.

“Condom?” I rasped, even as I arched back to give him better access. I took my little white pills, but extra protection never hurt.

Sebastian scraped his teeth against my right nipple, then my left. It was several seconds before he spoke again. “In my wallet.”

I reached around, fumbling in his back pocket. He kept distracting me, kissing me, caressing me, both of his hands now sliding lower and lower, but I eventually pulled his wallet from his pants and found a condom tucked inside. I grabbed it and tossed the wallet away like I had done with his bow tie.

In the meantime, Sebastian had hooked his fingers into my panties and pushed them down. I stepped out of them, kicking the silk away, and Sebastian went down on his knees before me. He slowly smoothed his hands down my thighs, making me shudder with anticipation. His hands trailed back up my legs. I thought he might tease me some more, but he quickly slid a finger inside me, rubbing slow circles and ratcheting up my desire.

My nails dug into his shoulders, and I had trouble holding on to the condom. I had trouble focusing on anything but what he was doing to me and how much I enjoyed it.

“Do you like that, Gin?” he murmured. “How about this?”

He pumped his finger inside me again, and it was all I could do to keep standing.

Sebastian kept talking to me, telling me all the things that he was going to do to me, all the ways that he was going to please me, all the things that he was going to make me feel. Every word he said, every naughty promise and sly stroke, made me ache more for him.

Finally, he kissed his way back up my body to my mouth. Once again, our tongues stroked back and forth before I pulled back.

I handed Sebastian the condom and gave him a wicked grin. “My turn to play.”

I shoved his shirt off his shoulders, exposing his chest. I took my time, kissing his neck again and following the faint trail of dark hair down to his pants. I undid his belt, unzipped his pants, and pushed them down, along with the black silk briefs that he wore. Sebastian stepped out of his shoes and clothes. Then I took his hard length in my hand, stroking, caressing, and teasing, just as he’d done to me.

“That’s enough of that,” he finally growled.

Sebastian kissed me again, his tongue thrusting against mine as his hips rocked forward. He picked me up and put me down on the bed, before drawing back, ripping the foil packet open with his teeth, and covering himself with the condom. Then he laid his body down on top of mine, wrapped my legs around his waist, and slid into me with one smooth motion. I dug my nails into his back, groaning at how good he felt inside me.

“Oh, sugar,” he murmured. “If you think that feels good, how about this?”

Sebastian withdrew a bit, then surged back up inside me, deeper and harder than before. I groaned again, clutching at his shoulders. He grinned and drove himself into me again and again. I met him thrust for thrust, our moans shattering the silence, until I finally screamed from the pleasure of it all and let myself go as I never had before. Sebastian shuddered against me, finding his own release.

And when the world fell away, and the stars flashed before my eyes, and I finally came back to myself, I almost wanted to weep, knowing that this would be the first—and only—time that we would ever be together.

When we finished, Sebastian collapsed on the sheets beside me. For several minutes, the two of us lay there, panting and coming down from the intense high that we’d reached. Finally, I turned to face him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and started to draw his mouth back down to mine for another kiss, but Sebastian put his finger against my lips, stopping me.

“Let’s have a drink.”

He got up, grabbed my glass from the nightstand, and handed it to me. Then, still naked, he walked over to a cabinet on the far side of the room, pulled out a bottle, and poured himself a tumbler of Scotch. He came back over to the bed, sat down next to me, and clinked his glass against mine.

“To us.”

“To us,” I whispered back, my heart clenching, knowing that there wouldn’t be an us.

Not after tonight.

Sebastian threw back half of his Scotch, but I only took a small sip of champagne, grimacing at the taste. He noticed my sour face.

“You don’t like it?”

I shook my head. “Too sweet for me.”

“Take another couple of sips,” he urged. “You might discover that you like it after all.”

He polished off his Scotch. I brought the glass to my lips again, but I didn’t take another drink.

“Mmm,” I said, not wanting to hurt his feelings. “It does taste better than before.”

I quickly set the glass on the nightstand, sliding it behind the lamp so he wouldn’t notice how little I’d drunk. Then I reached up and pulled the few remaining pins out of my hair, since most of it had come undone already.

I lay back on the bed, thinking that Sebastian would come back over to my side, but instead, he moved around the room, getting rid of the used condom and cleaning himself up. When that was done, he grabbed his clothes from where they had fallen on the floor and started putting them back on.

One second, Sebastian was as naked as I was. The next, he was fully clothed again. I blinked, wondering where the last two minutes had gone and why I suddenly felt so tired. Sebastian had been an intense lover, but I wasn’t ready to conk out on him just yet—not when I’d have to leave him for good in the morning. But try as I might, I couldn’t make myself find the energy to get up off the bed. Instead, my elbows slid out from under me, and I hugged a pillow to my chest, even as I stared at Sebastian.

“Where are you going?” I finally asked, my voice sounding weak and far away to my own ears.

“Don’t you worry, sugar,” Sebastian said, shrugging back into his tuxedo jacket. “I’ve got a bit of last-minute business to attend to, and I have to make sure that all of the guests leave, but then I’ll come back for you, and we’ll spend the rest of the night together in bed. Okay?”

“Okay,” I mumbled, even though I knew that I needed to get up, put my clothes back on, go to the library, and search for the file while Sebastian was distracted with his other business.

But I couldn’t move. Every single part of me felt heavy and languid, as though it would take the greatest effort that I’d ever summoned simply to get off the bed.

Sebastian started to leave, but I made a small noise of protest, and he came back over to the bed. He let out an annoyed sigh, as if I was keeping him from something important, but he leaned down and started kissing my neck, his hands sliding over my breasts again, and I forgot about everything else. But after another minute, I couldn’t even concentrate on that, and my body grew slack and still under his.

“That’s right, sugar,” Sebastian murmured, his voice sounding strangely smug to my ears. “You stay put until I get back.”

“Okay,” I mumbled again.

And that was all that I remembered before the world went black.