Divine Desire: A Lotus House Novel: Book Three Read online

  “Fuck.” I pulled my hips back, groaning at the suction her body had on my manhood, and hammered into her, over and over. The sensation was too much. Just too fucking much. My balls pulled up tight, my groin and abdominal muscles locked into place, and my entire body became stiff. The base of my cock began to tighten with pleasure, making me dizzy, signifying that I was ready to release, and it was going to rip my dick in half.

  “Gonna come. Want you with me,” I growled, not recognizing my own voice.

  “It’s okay, just come,” she gasped, her own body clenching down sending me into a spiral of satisfaction.

  I shook my head and clenched my teeth. A fine mist of sweat had built up on both of us. Aerobic sex. Jesus, she didn’t realize how easily she could own me. Everything inside my mind and body was a ball of white-hot fire ready to explode.

  “Want. You. With. Me,” I grunted before pressing up her other leg, splitting her wide for each brutal lunge. I put my all into taking her, driving so deep her body moved up the bed with each thrust, and I lost hold of what little control I had.

  “Oh my, God. Atlas…Atlas…Atlas…” she chanted over and over with each plunge until her body spasmed under me, and her pussy locked down around my cock so tight I could have passed out. Instead, I breathed through it, taking what was mine.

  “So tight!” I roared, my hips pumping furiously. That was all it took, and my dick convulsed, and my seed shot from my balls straight up the column of my cock and into the waiting condom like a lightning bolt striking the ground. I held my eyes open, watching as her eyes closed tight, her mouth opened in a silent cry, and her body arched, those perfect tits pointing up as if being offered to me all over again.

  I wrapped my hand around her neck gently, a possessive as fuck move, but I didn’t care. My inner caveman was about to take charge as, with every thrust, a bit more ejaculate poured into the condom. I cupped her chin with my thumb and forefinger, leaned my head down, and smashed my lips over hers, forcing my tongue deep, mimicking our lower halves. I kept moving, wringing out every drop, letting her tight cunt milk me dry. I gripped the mattress as my body shook and trembled in gluttonous delight.

  Eventually, Mila’s body went lax, and she settled heavily against the mattress, her breath coming in labored puffs of air. The heat of her breath warmed my chest as the sweat started to chill on my skin. I buried my face against her neck and kissed every inch of skin I could find, needing her to feel how thankful I was that she’d let me in her body and hopefully would allow me to go there again. Shit, I’d just fucked the daylights out her, wrung my dick until there was nothing left, and I was already plotting out when I could take her again.

  I was a dirty scoundrel, but right then, I didn’t care. I’d pretty much sell my right arm for another round in the sack with my wildcat.

  My thoughts were all over the place, remembering everything we did, all that I still wanted to do while she lay limp, and I shifted us to the side. Some twisted and controlling side of me wanted to stay inside her as long as possible. Caress her silky skin with the tips of my fingers and feel her all around me. Her bra was still pushed under her tits expelling them up and over the cups. I nuzzled one breast licking and sucking the nub and playing with the other one. She sighed and mumbled her pleasure as my dick throbbed inside her.

  I ran my hands over her back, her skull, what I could reach, massaging away any tension that might have been left. I’d taken her hard and worked her over pretty good even though my hellion was a true soldier in the sack, ready for anything that I threw at her. Mila let me do what I felt like doing, while just lying there, allowing me to pet her.

  “You good?” I whispered in her ear while trailing a line of kisses down her neck to her clavicle.

  “So good. Let’s do that again sometime,” she purred sleepily and yawned.

  Secretly I wanted to jump up and down on the bed, lift my hands to the ceiling in a touchdown dance move, but instead, I chuckled under my breath, not wanting to rouse her. I pulled out and she moaned and winced. Fuck, I loved that sound. A moan followed by a wince meant I did my job. Score one for me and my johnson.

  “You okay?” A trickle of worry knotted my brow. What if I’d hurt her?

  She nodded. “Just liked you there,” she mumbled before snuggling into my chest.

  Thank God!

  With one hand, I eased off the condom then tied it off, losing her warmth in the process. A huge sense of relief racked my lower half as the last physical barrier of our mating hit me with a small shiver. There was a box of tissues within arm’s reach, so I wadded it up in a tissue and then chucked it the few feet to the wastebasket, thrilled when it made it in. Score!

  I grinned, thinking that was the second time I’d scored tonight. Only the first was far, far better. While I was messing with the condom, she’d turned over facing away from me. Something about that hit me sideways like a tiny fist to the gut. Relax, man. She was probably used to sleeping alone but not tonight. I’d had my fair share of one-nighters, not too many, a solid couple handfuls over the last few years, but tonight was the first time I’d ever wanted to actually sleep next to a woman. Usually, I’d share the bed because I didn’t want to up and leave like an asshole, but I rarely wanted to sleep there. Right then, I curled my body around Mila’s much smaller one, her warmth invading my senses. I tagged her waist to make sure she was flush against me and planted my face right into her cinnamon flowery scent at the crux of her neck. Christ almighty, I could get lost in her scent, especially when it was mixed with the notes of sex still simmering in the air. I gripped the comforter and tugged it over both our bodies. Right there, tucked up tight into the most unlikely woman I’d ever known, I fell asleep, my arm never losing hold of the small beauty in front of me.

  MILA

  I woke to the smells of coffee brewing and bacon cooking. Not exactly an occurrence that had ever happened in my apartment before, unless Moe was visiting.

  Speak of the devil, my phone buzzed on the counter where I’d dropped my purse. The only person who ever called this early was Moe. Atlas’s curly head popped into view behind the bar of my kitchen. Without even asking, the bastard opened the phone and answered.

  “Yello, Mila’s phone. How can I be of service to you this fine Thursday morning?” he answered, chipper as hell.

  I groaned and pulled the comforter up and over my head, and I started counting.

  Ten…nine…

  He laughed. “Atlas Powers.”

  Eight…seven…

  “Yeah, she’s here.” His gravel-thick voice responded to whomever was on the phone.

  Six…five…

  “I think she’s still asleep.”

  Kill me now. Four…three…

  “Uh, I’m not sure that’s any of your business. Who is this?”

  Fuck my life. Two…

  “Looks like she’s awake and hiding under the covers. Hold on.”

  One.

  With both arms, I slapped the comforter down to my waist and sat up. “You”—I pointed an accusatory finger—“don’t answer my phone!” I grated through my teeth.

  He ignored my outburst. Of course he did. He was a total sexy hot bastard. Especially right then, standing in a pair of boxers and his T-shirt looking absolutely delicious and edible. Screw the food; I’d rather eat him. Again.

  “Jesus, you’re just as pretty in the morning.” He tossed the phone across the room to land on the bed about a foot from me. “Soup’s on in five.” He bit into a piece of bacon he must have just cooked and then turned back to the kitchen.

  I could hear the popping and sizzling across the room along with a gentle noise. What the hell was it? I strained to hear. Humming. The bastard was humming a tune while he cooked. Did he have to be so flippin’ cute? Cooking and humming. Oh hell. That had to be a cliché. Right out of one of those chick flicks Moe made me watch.

  Moe.

  A trickle of dread rippled against the tiny hairs at the back of my neck. I shoved my
hand through the knotted mass of curls falling into my face, pushed them back, and grabbed my phone. “Hello?” I waited for the shit to hit the fan.

  “Good morning, sunshine. Or did you even sleep?”

  I made a girlie type whine and flopped back to bed. “Did you have to call? Today? I mean, come on. Even bad teenagers skate by once or twice, Mom.”

  “Someone’s been bad.” Moe laughed heartily, loving every second of my embarrassment.

  “Don’t you have a job? People’s heads to shrink, a case to mediate. Where’s my niece? Where’s Lily?”

  “At preschool, as you well know. Now dish. Atlas answered your phone, and I hear the distinct sounds of breakfast being prepared in the background. You were still in bed, so I’m taking that to assume he spent the night.”

  “He spent the night.” I ripped off the Band-Aid as quickly and painlessly as I could.

  Her voice came softly when she continued her grilling. “And will he be staying more often?”

  “Ugh.” I turned over onto my side and stared out the window, the phone pressed to my ear. The sky was gray and overcast, unlike someone’s mood in this apartment. Mine, I didn’t know yet. “Yes. No. I don’t know. Is that a good enough answer?”

  I heard the ecstatic sound of clapping through the phone. “I can’t believe it. I prayed for this day.”

  “You prayed for me to have sex?” I shot back quickly.

  “No, brat! For you to find someone worthy of even a full night’s sleepover. Don’t think I’m not aware of your preference for one-nighters.”

  A cold chill ran through my entire body. “Moe…” My voice was uncertain with anxiety. I never wanted my best friend to know how loose I’d been in the past. “I can explain.”

  “Hey, everyone needs to take care of business once in a while.”

  Once in a while. She thought I had them once in a while, not a couple times a month for the last few years. Okay, that’s fine. Let her think I was a ho only some of the time.

  “Yeah,” I said noncommittally.

  “It’s okay. Besides, I’d never judge you. You’re a grown woman, but I do worry about you. I want you to have someone and maybe this Atlas—”

  “Don’t start, Moe. I don’t yet know what’s going on, so give me a little time to figure that out,” I whispered quickly into the phone and glanced over my shoulder.

  Mr. Hum had turned into Mr. Whistle, completely oblivious to my conversation. Thank God for small favors.

  “Look, Atlas and I are just having a bit of fun for now. Okay?”

  “But he spent the night. Have you ever had a man spend the night before? All night?”

  I didn’t want to admit that I’d never even had sex in my bed before last night, let alone allowed a man to fuck me and sleep with me and now cook me breakfast. “No. There’s a first for everything.” I sighed. “Can we talk later? As in never?” I groaned.

  She laughed again. “All right. I just wanted to remind you about this weekend. You promised to start moving in.”

  Stop the presses. “Excuse me?”

  “The other day you said you’d move in. I’m holding you to it.”

  “Moe, you were mad. Giving me the silent treatment. I had to say something.”

  She sighed. “I’ve already told Lily. She’s expecting you. She wants to discuss what color she thinks you should paint on your walls. And get this…you’re gonna love it.” The tone she used made it very clear I was not, in fact, going to love it.

  “If you say a frozen landscape, I’ll puke. Straight out blow chunks. Can’t you burn that Frozen DVD? Every time she wants to watch it, I want to say…let it go…let it gooooooo. And toss the damn thing in the trash. You’re her mother; you can make things disappear.”

  “She loves it!”

  “And I love pizza, doesn’t mean that I’m going to eat it every day and talk about it incessantly.”

  Moe laughed again. “You’ll understand when you have children.”

  Fat chance. If I had a child, it would be an evil demon spawn with two heads and a tail. Not happening.

  “All righty then, I’ll let her offer her suggestion directly. When shall I expect you?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll text you later.”

  “Breakfast, wildcat!” Atlas called.

  Fuck.

  “Wildcat? Is that a direct reference to your abilities and talents in the bedroom?” Moe did not miss a beat. Not even one. If I didn’t love her so much, I’d hate her guts.

  “Hanging up now…”

  “Joking, joking. Wildcat!” she quipped and then hung up first.

  Atlas strutted over with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. “I didn’t know what you liked, but since I found French vanilla creamer in the fridge but no sugar to speak of in your cupboards, I figured you preferred just the cream.”

  He handed me heaven in a cup, and for a brief moment, I thought I could get used to this. Someone bringing me coffee in bed and making me breakfast after a night of some pretty stellar fucking. Yeah, I could get very used to this.

  “Thank you.”

  Atlas caged my body by placing one fist on each side of my hips. He dipped his head and rubbed his nose against mine before kissing me softly. He tasted of bacon and coffee, and I wanted to gobble him up for breakfast instead of whatever he’d made.

  “Time to eat. Then I’d like to shower with you, but then I’ve got to hit my house and get ready for class. I believe you do, too.”

  I nodded, not sure what to say. Seriously, he’d stunned me with the simple gesture of making me coffee, acting like nothing between us was strange, planning out my morning unabashedly, and telling me his schedule. Why did I care what he had to do today? Then again, the showering together did not sound unappealing. Having all his sexiness slick and wet? Yep. Not a bad idea at all.

  “Okay,” I found myself answering.

  “I’ll lay out the plates on the bar.” He smiled, kissed me once more and then set about plating the food.

  What the hell had I gotten myself into? This scenario positively reeked of domesticity.

  I spent a moment sucking back more blessings from the coffee gods before finding a pair of panties and a tank top and tugging them on. As much as it would be fun to walk into the kitchen naked, I was hungry, and I didn’t think I’d last long if I poked the beast. Besides, I wanted the beast poking me.

  When I reached the bar and perched my bum on a stool, he set down a huge plate. Three fried eggs, four pieces of bacon, and two slices of toast.

  “Were you planning on sharing?” I looked down at all the food.

  He came over to me with a plate of his own, a frown in place. “No, why?”

  I laughed. “This is a ton of food!”

  He put down his plate, and I practically fell off my chair. He had five eggs, at least double the amount of bacon, and three pieces of toast. “You think so?”

  “Uh, yeah. Do you always eat like that?”

  He shifted to my side and kissed the ball of my shoulder. “After a night like last night, yes. Now eat up. I plan on burning off a lot of those calories with you before I teach today. And I recall you demolishing over half a pizza on your own.”

  “You’re insane,” I grumbled, knowing he was right.

  “Why? Because I bedded you? I know. I’ll probably get shit for it from all the other guys at Lotus House,” he deadpanned.

  A white-hot poker couldn’t have wounded me more. I held my fork in the air, unmoving, staring into his eyes trying to find the man I’d gone to bed with last night. The man I’d willingly given my body and evening to.

  He bumped me playfully with his shoulder. “Relax. Kidding, babe, I’m kidding. Wow, you need to lighten up. What happened to my snarky, sassy wildcat? The girl that didn’t let anything get past her?”

  A basketful of hand weights left my shoulders, and I scowled at him before biting into a piece of bacon. “Bastard,” I got out before the flavor of maple, thick-cut bacon hit my taste buds.
Oh hell yes. I moaned.

  Atlas watched, seemingly fascinated by my response. “Now you’re talking.”

  “I didn’t say anything.” I shoved the rest of the piece into my mouth. When was the last time I’d had bacon? Why didn’t I have it more often? So damned good.

  “I know. I like you better when your mouth is occupied.” He winked and put most of an entire half piece of toast in his mouth.

  “Gross. Did your mother teach you to eat like that?”

  And now we were back to normal. I breathed a sigh of relief. Sex hadn’t changed us—if anything, it made our relationship better. We were still the volatile duo with barbs ready to fly. With our priorities still intact, I tucked in to eat as much of his village-sized breakfast as I could, content in the knowledge that Atlas was still an ass and I was still the woman who would serve up the sass on a platter. Only this time, the platter had a heaping serving of bacon and eggs.

  Chapter Eleven

  A manipura couple will value family traditions and treat each other politely. Their biggest challenge within relationships with the opposite sex is to achieve trust. They know how to act trusting, but they do not know how to truly trust, or be truly trustworthy. Wondering whether or not the other will keep their word and commitment is a constant battle they are not always willing to fight.

  ATLAS

  I went to work with a skip in my step and a lightness I hadn’t felt in a long damn time. Not only did I find out that Mila fucked as well as she fought, but I’d also slept worry-free and sated. Waking up with her this morning had been the highlight of a tough year, second only to what happened at the club after my set, right before we went to her pad.

  Silas McKnight wants a meeting with me. Knight & Day Productions. I shook my head and entered Lotus House all smiles and good vibes ready to rock a hot Vin Flow class.