Mississippi Twilight Page 4

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  Madeline sighed, every nerve high on sensitivity. The heat of the evening added to the heat radiating from her body. The hot breeze reminded her of a desert, the way it blew between her thighs, lapping at the dampness. She had missed someone who could take charge. Someone who knew how to be the glue that put her out of control life back together. It helped her confidence to hear him dictate her moves and position her, directing a way to quiet the burning needs inside. The lilt and timbre of his voice filtered out the darkness she’d been shrouded in for so long. Madeline didn’t mind giving up control to him because to her, he was safe. The guardian of her body. And the man who ignited enough fire to singe the baby fine hairs along her skin.

  She rested her elbows on the cushion and waited for the next paddle. She felt it more than the first one, but still it had little weight behind it. She used to beg to feel his hand come down on her ass, knowing full well he wouldn’t ever go too far.

  “Do you like the paddlewheel, Maddy?”

  “Yes, master,” she whispered, afraid to like it too much.

  Her river view from the bench gave the sensation of flying while being fucked. It was the most amazing trip she’d ever taken. Out a little farther, a heron dipped its wings into the water before landing on the other side of the bank.

  “If you’re real good, I’m going to fuck you.”

  “Yes, master.” Every nerve ending tingled. She loved the way he said fuck and how her body responded.

  Tiny explosions started up again as the paddles made contact faster, harder, his fingers plunging inside her center, two and three at a time. Her legs shook around his head when he thrilled her clit between his lips, the paddles striking rapidly, bringing her ever closer to the brink of ecstasy. Pleasurable stings grew not from the paddlewheel but from the intense yearning to climax. Waves of liquid heat lapped at the edge in dire need of release.

  Madeline bit her lip and tried to quiet her needy moans.

  “Master, I need to come. Please, let me come.”

  His fingers slid from her pussy, making her sorry she’d allowed the words out. His hair tickled her thighs as he stood, his cock thick, hard and ready to penetrate if she behaved.

  She watched him remove the paddlewheel, his hand smoothing along the scintillating pain.

  “Tell your master, do you deserve my cock inside your hot pussy?”

  Her body bucked three times before the words, “yes, oh yes, master,” released from her lips.

  “Hmm, I’m not certain. You almost climaxed and you know the rules.”

  His erection drummed against the back of her thigh, torturing her slowly.

  “Please, master.”

  “One moment while I slip on some protection.” The wait was pure agony. “There we go.”

  The tip of his sheathed cock rested against her slit. Madeline shuddered, so close, too close. She slid back into him, hoping to make him push inside her, only to find a hard smack to her ass for an answer.

  “Patience or I’ll stop altogether.”

  Panic drew her apology out in a hurry. “I’m sorry, master.”

  The decadent sting reverberated until he eased inside, pushing back the soaked layers, stretching her open with his width. A guttural cry of relief passed from her lips as he filled her up.

  “You’re so tight, Maddy.”

  Her body convulsed as his cock tortured her pussy in the most divine way. His sinuous movements like beautiful poison, in and out, slow, defiant in his want to bring her to the edge. And that’s exactly where she was. Eyelids fluttering, she could hardly see the river anymore.

  “Reinaldo, oh god, please, I need to come. I beg you.”

  Another smack across her ass and she moaned from deep inside her belly.

  “No, and you’ll address me as master.”

  She bit her lip hard, tasting blood, metallic, anything to get her mind off the orgasm waiting, ready to boil over at his words.

  He thrust faster and she risked disobeying. The deal they’d made in their role-playing was that if she didn’t wait for permission, she’d wait a whole day more before her pussy tasted his cock again. To wait wasn’t an option.

  “The years have done you justice. You’ve grown into quite a woman, my beautiful Maddy. I’ve never stopped wanting you. I would have come anytime you called just to be near you.”

  She tensed. The muffled whines begging to come were accompanied by tears. So racked with emotion she could barely think straight.

  A fire pit burned in her belly, burning stronger as his speed increased, packing her sex with his thick force, delving into her center. Her fingers gripped the side of the bench, hanging on for dear life. She feared if she let it go she’d go against her master’s wishes.

  “Should I slow down?”

  “No, master, no,” she cried. Her muscles tensed.

  His voice deepened. “How do you want it?”

  “Faster,” she pled.

  One hand tightened around her hip, the other delivered a series of sharp stings to her ass.

  “What else, Maddy? You’ve gotta earn your orgasm.”

  “Harder. Faster and harder.”

  She wailed, the momentum and intensity pulling her in and out of a euphoric state.

  “What do you really want, my little spitfire. Tell me now,” he growled.

  In a manic whimper, she answered him. “I want you to fuck me until I come, master.”

  “Very well. I’m going to make you come hard, right now. I give you permission.”

  A blast of sensations rocketed through her body.

  Madeline let loose cries of release and triumph. Locked in a cadence of incessant spasms, her body took on a life of its own. Barely aware of anything around her, she didn’t care who heard or watched.

  Reinaldo pulled her up to her knees, her back against his chest as he breathed into her neck, kissing her shoulders.

  “I’m not done with you yet, my sweet.” Each word like a rough and tumble caress.

  His hand slid down her trembling belly, between her writhing thighs and snagged her moist clit between his fingertips. She was still sensitive and it took only minutes to send her back to the edge. Soft lips nestled by her earlobe, his voice her only lifeline. “Drench my fingers with your come.”

  She bucked as another orgasm took possession of her.

  Chapter Four

  Faint clouds of blue and pink swarmed in the sky as the sun sank below the horizon. Melodious calls of birds sang their own Mississippi lullabies as her body stilled and she came down from her high. Reinaldo carried her to a lounge chair and pulled her on top of him. She pressed her head against his chest and listened to the steady pounding of his heart. The primitive feel of lying naked with her man added to the satisfied vibrations inside. A serene calm blanketed her.

  “I could stay this way forever,” she whispered.

  He kissed the top of her head and snuggled her closer. “Remember how we talked this way every night in each other’s arms? How we’d travel and stay in exotic places. Sleep in hammocks, hike the rainforests, make love as the sun set and again under a starry sky.”

  “You have a good memory,” Madeline whispered, her lips still quivering.

  His fingers circled her arm. “I remember everything we said, and I meant every word.”

  “I did too but we weren’t ready, or at least I wasn’t. The timing thing, it’s hard to explain. Believe me, we wouldn’t have made it right after my mom died. All the good pieces inside me were ripped out and things got ugly. It messed with my mind and how I viewed the world. I would have only pushed you away.”

  She basked against his warm body, slick with sweat from their rendezvous in the sun. “I wouldn’t have wanted to.”

  His lips brushed the side of her face like wisps of a feather as he spoke. “I can’t know what you’re going through, Maddy. I’m not close to my parents but I’d have been there to take care of you. Being alone doesn’t heal wounds—reaching out does. T
here will always be obstacles to face and brave at all stages of our life.”

  “If you’re trying to make me feel guilty it won’t work. I got scared. I’m not sorry I broke it off, only the way I did it.”

  Instinctively she readied herself for a fight.

  He sighed. “I promise there’s no guilt trip. I’m sorry I didn’t fight to hold on to our love. I never stopped thinking about you. Your sheer vulnerability and evocative ways aren’t replaceable by another.”

  Madeline mentally put away her boxing gloves. They were adults and could talk through the problems. “So basically you missed the hot sweaty sex, is that it?”

  “No, dammit. I missed you.” The crack in his voice almost moved her to tears.

  “I meant it in a light-hearted way.”

  He drew her close. “This isn’t about a summer fling. It’s my chance to prove I can be the man you want and need.”

  Stunned by his words she struggled to say something in reassurance. “It had nothing to do with you not being man enough. Don’t ever think otherwise, please.”

  “I took it real personally and sported a bruised ego for a long time.”

  She turned into him, stroking his arm. “I truly am sorry. We were young. I don’t think I was ready for love. Lust yes, love¾it’s more complicated.”

  “I can openly admit that I’m in love and lust with you.”

  Madeline grinned. “Same here. The nice thing about history is that it shapes us and we learn from it. We don’t have to repeat the same mistakes.”

  Reinaldo scooped his arm beneath her legs and brought her in nearer. An embrace she craved.

  “I’m sorry about your mom. I know you two were close. She was an amazing woman with a lot of love to give. My own mother never nurtured me the way yours did.”

  “For what it’s worth, she adored you. She always said to hurry up and marry you, so that when she died, she’d know I was in good hands. I’ll never forget the way she scolded me when I told her I broke it off.”

  He stroked her hair and it helped soothe her. “You both had the same smile, same mischievousness.”

  Her nose tingled as her eyes filled with tears, her grief never far away. “She was my best friend.”

  “It’s no wonder you’re hurting.”

  She stroked his chest and broad shoulders. “I don’t even know what I feel anymore. It changes every hour, I swear. One minute I’m mad, the next I’m bawling my eyes out, then I hate everyone and want to tear everything apart. I want others to be as miserable as I am, and then the emptiness, it frightens me. I want to punish myself and feel guilty whenever I smile or laugh.”

  Reinaldo grasped her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing each fingertip. Ripples of electricity ignited new flames. “It pains me to hear how much you’ve been suffering. Why do you punish yourself for something you had no control over?”

  Her breath hitched. “For not doing what it took to make her better. It sounds crazy I know and I can’t go back in time. So much of my life I spent researching the history of people who were influential in their times, so much time in the past. In books you can go back and relive those times.”

  “You can in your head too, through your memories.”

  Madeline shook her head. “I don’t think I deserve it. She didn’t deserve to die—there was so much life left in her. I fear I let her down and that she was never happy.”

  He reached out and tapped her nose. “It’s because of you that she was happy—she told me that once. You can’t blame yourself for everything. It’s not like you knew. No one knew. We’re all racing against time. You have to stop beating yourself up over it. As for your mom, she’ll be well remembered through you.”

  “I sure hope so.” She wiped at her eyes and buried her face further into his chest, inhaling his manly scent. “How about you? What have you been doing to keep yourself busy?”

  His chest expanded as he took a deep breath, making her head move with it. “My adventures all happen close to home. I help maintain boats. Sometimes I do crabbing and fishing where it’s needed. I do odd jobs, pretty much whatever pays the bills.”

  The simplicity of his life was a breath of fresh air. She was confined to her personal chains. Even the sound of someone else’s freedom was foreign. She lived her life under a strict set of rules, and he could come and go as he pleased. “So you make sure that you aren’t stuck anywhere.”

  His laugh reverberated against her cheek. “Yeah, you’ve got me all figured out. I don’t want something to hold me back if the notion to take off suddenly hits me. The only problem is, I haven’t had the want to go anywhere.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Doesn’t sound like you.”

  “No, no it doesn’t.”

  “Especially after all those nights we lay beneath the moon and talked about where we would go. Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Egypt, France, pretty much anywhere. What is keeping you from traveling and seeing the world? You have no one to hold you back.”

  His deep sigh sounded regretful. “It’s because I envisioned going to all those places with you. Once you were gone the desire went with it.”

  He stirred and slid out from beneath her. At first Madeline worried he’d taken something she said wrong. She was about to ask when he spoke. “Where are my manners? You’re probably getting hungry. I know I am. I couldn’t eat this morning because I was nervous about you coming.”

  As if in answer, her stomach grumbled. “Now that you mention it I’m hungry too.”

  She watched him pull on his pants and grab something from a side door with the word STAFF on the sign. Something soft and blue landed in her lap.

  “Your very own robe, but you don’t have to wear it. I’ve no problem with you dining naked.”

  Madeline laughed and slipped her arms inside the soft velvet fabric. “I’ll bet you don’t. Actually, I’d almost forgotten I was naked. It’s so warm out.”

  “I think it would be sexy to watch you eat without any clothes on.”

  She pointed her finger toward the stairs. “Go.”

  A sheepish grin bowed his lips. “Hey, I thought it was worth a shot. I’ll be right back. I’ve prepared a feast for us.”

  Madeline remembered his culinary skills in the dorm kitchen and knew better than that. “In other words you told someone else to prepare it, right? Because you are the captain after all.”

  His sexy gaze turned her on all over again.

  “I can’t get anything past you can I?”

  “Nope. Now shoo, let me enjoy myself watching you walk away.”

  He swiveled his hips a little and then disappeared down the stairs. Her cheeks actually ached from smiling so much, something she refused to complain about.

  Reinaldo returned, balancing a tray with two plates of spaghetti, glasses and a bottle of red wine. Aromas of oregano, basil and a rich tomato sauce filled her nose.

  “Damn that smells heavenly.”

  “Lee’s wife is a gourmet chef, so you’ll have to thank her later. She spent all day preparing this. Hope you still like pasta.”

  Madeline slid over another chair and dragged a long table over. The herbs in the sauce were only making her hungrier. “Are you kidding? It’s my favorite.” As he put the plates down, she chuckled. “Meatballs, yum.”

  “Made special for you.”

  Unsure what he meant, she brushed it off, her body reaching starving status. She sat across from him and unfolded a napkin, laying it across her lap. Like a server in a fancy restaurant, he placed things neatly, including a small tea light candle in the middle. He drew a lighter out from his pocket and lit the virgin wick.

  “Ambiance.”

  Touched by his attention to detail, she smiled. “I’m beyond impressed.”

  Once he was seated she twirled the noodles around her fork until they resembled a cocoon. Set with mouth open, ready to take a bite she glanced up and noticed Reinaldo watching her, head resting on his hand, a wicked smile streaked across his face.

&nb
sp; “Can I help you?”

  “I believe I’ve developed some weird pasta fetish.”

  Madeline almost dropped her fork. “I’m sorry, what did you say? Wait, I’m not sure I want to know.”

  “It’s your fault. When I eat spaghetti, I always think of our first Italian dinner out. I never knew I could get a hard-on watching someone slurp noodles and fondle meatballs.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t slurp.”

  “Sure you do, in a lady-like manner of course.”

  He was having far too much fun at her expense. “And I don’t fondle meatballs, either.”

  His eyes widened in horror. “I could hardly sit still because my erection almost burst my zipper. I kid you not. You knew exactly what you were doing.”

  Just when she thought him irresistible, he opened his mouth and ruined it. An impish thought crossed her mind and she went with it. Madeline stabbed her fork in a meatball and put it to her lips. Imagining his cock, she ran her tongue all along the sauce-covered beef, suckling it, eyes fluttering, moaning aloud. Proud of herself, she stuck it in her mouth and rolled it around a moment before glimpsing his flushed face.

  “You’re going to swallow a bug with your mouth open that wide. Are you okay?”

  Reinaldo stood and pointed to a significant bulge outlined in his pants. “Does this answer your question?” He sat down and wiped at his forehead with a napkin. “You’re killing me here.”

  Thoughts of her tongue running along his cock weren’t doing her any favors either judging by the moisture between her thighs. “Sorry. You egged me on.”

  “Okay, maybe a little. If you ever need to fall back on a skill, consider making sexy movies with meatballs.”

  Madeline snickered loud enough to create an echo. “I’ll keep it in mind, thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it. Happy to help.”

  He picked up the wine bottle and tilted it in both hands, presenting it to her the way she’d seen sommeliers do. “I chose this one special. Do you recognize it?”

  Aware of the pressure she peered hard, scrambling for the slightest hint of resemblance. Tests were never her thing. “Sorry, I’m afraid I don’t.”