Submission Under the Mistletoe (7 page)

She needed to get away. She’d come here tonight
wanting to lose herself in the shadows, but she knew no solace
would be found here for her. Not tonight.

~YH~

Brad kept trying to convince himself to go back to
his hotel. He’d been sitting outside in his car, in the back
parking lot of Strong Blends for thirty minutes. Several people in
groups and couples had gone inside, dressed in black and other dark
colors. Some festively adorned as others had been the night he’d
come with the trio.

He should have taken Brian up on his offer of
finding a local jazz club and seeing if they could link up with
some available woman. He’d told his brother he was tired, hadn’t
been sleeping well and wanted an early night. The sleeping part was
true, because his mind had been flooded with dreams of the
woman.

However, it was the first time he’d lied outright to
his twin.

As soon as Brian’s door had closed down the hall,
he’d gone to the fire exit and taken the stairs back to the lobby
and went directly to the parking garage. He could blame his current
position outside the dungeon on his sister. Alesha making him talk
about the night he met China Doll, but he knew that wasn’t true. No
one else was responsible for where he sat, but himself. He needed
to see her.

Yes, he wanted to know if she was okay but there was
something else. Something about the petite black woman with big,
soulful, amber eyes and lips thick and wide that stretched into the
most captivating smile. What that something was he didn’t know.

Realizing he’d probably made a wasted trip all the
way to the outskirts of town, he grabbed at his key still in the
ignition prepared to start it back up.

The back door opened and as if walking from his
dream China Doll stepped out.

With the same force of running into a brick wall,
his heart beat hard and slammed into the back of his sternum at the
sight of her. Getting out of his car, he called to her.

“
China Doll.”

Four cars away, she appeared not to have heard him
then he saw her stop. She slowly turned and stared at him.

Space and time had no relevance as their gazes
locked. She blinked a few times, as if clearing her vision but
continued to look at him, unmoving.

She stood beneath one of the parking shoebox lights;
it seemed to illuminate her like a golden beam from heaven.

Tonight her hair was in classic waves down to her
shoulders, her bang was cut in the middle of her forehead and
revealed eyebrows arched and blackened. One side of her hair was
held away from her face with an emerald green flower. However even
from this distance it was her lips that drew his gaze. The bold,
vibrant red paint that showcased her thick, cupid bow shaped mouth
made him remember that kiss.

“
I was hoping to see you here,” he
confessed.

“
Why?” Her breath became winter
smoke in the air, floating up and dissipating.

Not moving, he remained by his car, allowing her to
come to him.

Setting the bag from her shoulder on the roof of the
car, she rounded the hood then continued to walk with purposeful
strides to him.

“
To make sure you were okay.” He
watched her closing the distance between them.

She didn’t stop until she was a foot away from him.
“Do I look okay?” Her voice was low, seductive.

Maybe, I just wanted it to be.

He realized he was breathing hard, his blood was
pumping in his veins like he’d just run a race. He could see the
cloud of both of their breaths mingling between them.

Traveling his gaze over her features and down her
coat clad form, he said, “I think you look beautiful. Like a
blazing fire in a winter storm.”

Shit, when did I become a poet?

Leaning toward him, she whispered, “Kiss me.”

Not hesitating. Not reasoning. Brad wrapped his arms
around the small framed woman before him and pulled her to him.
When her body pressed against his own he set his lips on hers. The
two other times they’d kissed, she’d been the one to initiate it.
He didn’t realize until he tasted those sweet lips that he desired
the feel of her mouth submitting beneath his own.

Raising his hand, he buried it deep into her hair
and held her in place for his kiss. He showed her his skill, his
control. He mastered her mouth. Oblivious to anyone else around
them, he didn’t care if the parking lot was empty or not. He just
wanted this woman in his arms.

Guiding his tongue inside, he commanded her mouth.
Only giving to her and making her the taker. A spiced orange is how
she tasted.

She wasn’t a bystander, her tongue swirled and
stroked his own, but he didn’t allow her to direct the kiss.
Keeping himself inside of her until he drew her tongue into his
mouth, pulling it between his lips and sucking it, then returning
both theirs to her. Brad made her take what he had to give.

Other woman he had dated would have pulled away,
possibly telling him he was being too aggressive, but not China
Doll. He felt her hands clutching the sleeves of his jacket.
Experienced the sound and feel of each moan that quivered up from
her throat.

Lowering his other hand, from her waist he cupped
her ass, feeling the round, plump flesh beneath her coat. Lifting
her slightly, he aligned their bodies so that her hips pressed
against the aroused area of his that desired her the most.

Grinding her hips, she bumped against his cock.

A growl broke from his throat. He didn’t know how
this woman could take him to such an ardent state of need so
quick.

When their lips parted, his breathing was harsh and
fast. Hers was just as rough.

“
I want you, now.” Her nails dug
deep, scrapping the material of his coat. Her voice was filled with
such need, urgency.

He searched her eyes, now dark with passion and
tried to find the secrets to this woman in his arms; what made her
click.

“
I’ve long since passed the age of
having sex in a car.” He squeezed the ass cheek still in his
hand.

“
Then take me to your
place.”

His mind told him to question her. Find out why she
was so eager to have sex with him. However, his body hijacked his
thoughts and showed him images of him and China Doll naked and
entwined on white sheets.

“
I’m here visiting my sister, is
my hotel all right?”

“
Even better.” She pulled back,
but didn’t put much space between them because he had a firm hold
on her.

If it was possible for her eyes to darken more, even
as they lit up, hers did. Flummoxed by the complexity of her gaze,
he stared down at her, trying to comprehend this complicated
woman.

She gave him a salacious smile, shattering his
investigative thoughts.

“
I think you have to release me or
have you changed your mind where you want to do this?”

“
Haven’t changed my mind, I want
you in my bed, tonight.” Slacking his hold, he allowed her to slide
down his body. When he was sure she was standing firm on the
ground, he let her go.

Taking one step then another away from him, she
said, “I’ll see you there.”

In a blink, she was back at the vehicle beside the
light and snatched her bag from the top. Once he was sure she was
in safely, he got into his car and started it up.

When he pulled out of the parking lot with her
headlights shining behind him, he turned the radio up in the car.
He wasn’t going to analyze the whats and whys going around in his
mind. Later he would ask questions of himself and her, but right
now he just wanted to lose himself in her body.

As base as that may seem, going by the single erotic
leading of his body, he was going to do it. He hasn’t been a
foreigner to one night stands since his college day. If he didn’t
look at it that way, then he would have to examine his own motives
and the impact of seeing her kneeling before him the other night
had truly had on him. Like why when he was at Leathered Dragonz
seeing the different custom-made instruments of pain/pleasure he
thought about seeing China Doll cuffed like the people in the
dungeon he was pulling away from.

Damn it. Shit.
Fuck
. He pressed the button on the
steering wheel that controlled the volume of the radio up and
accelerated.

chapter six

He was happy to see China Doll’s car keeping up with
him. He reduced his speed before the exit to the hotel, not wanting
to place her in harms way by his own emotional recklessness.

Ten minutes later, she pulled alongside his car at
the hotel. He quickly, got out and went to her door. When she
opened it, he offered her his hand.

Wordless, she slipped her smaller hand in his.
Trust.

That small act rocked him back on his heels more
than even her kiss had done.

Inside the hotel, he took the service elevator up to
his floor. Just like when he left he was attempting to stay away
from running into Brian. At this moment, there would be too many
questions asked. Also, he didn’t want anything that would break the
tenuous thread of connection he had with China Doll.

At his room, he pulled his key card from his pocket
and swiped the lock gaining entrance for them inside.

When the door slammed shut, he pressed her back
against the wall. Holding her face between his hands, he gazed into
her beautiful eyes. “Tell me if you still don’t want this. Last
chance.”

Turning her mouth into his hand she sucked one of
his thumbs into her mouth. Sucking the digit into the warm recesses
between lips and circled it with her silken tongue.

“
Damn.” Each draw of her mouth,
shot heat down his body into his cock as if she pulled on
it.

Moving away slowly, she said, “I want you.”

His mouth took position of hers, as his hands worked
the buttons of her coat. When it fell away, he stepped back to get
a look at her; reacquaint himself with her body.

She stood there looking like a 1940’s pin-up girl.
Tonight she was dressed in some kind of vintage green mini corset
dress with black satin ribbons and lace around the edges; a
matching color to the flower in her hair. The sheer black stockings
and red and green floral print heels made his palms itch with
thoughts of sliding his hands up her legs.

“
You look like a fantasy come
true, but I have no experience in how to get you out of it,” he
confessed.

“
I can help you with that while
you get out of your jacket.”

Brad shucked his out garment and allowed it to drop
to their feet.

Smiling, she reached up and grabbed the material by
her breast that had the plump flesh pushed up high. With ease she
twisted and pulled. In seconds the top popped open from hidden
hooks. Next thing he knew the whole outfit was fluttering to the
floor and she stood before him in retro black panties, a contrast
to the bright color of her lipstick and heels.

Her bare breasts, sat up high and proud with sable
colored nipples, darker than her sienna skin tone. Her nipples were
drawn tight, taunting his mouth for a taste. Not willing to deny
himself, he lowered his head and pulled the tight peak into his
mouth.

The taste of her sweet skin, was better than any
desert. Her licked across her skin, swirling the tip of his tongue
around her nipple. She cried out, arched her back and held his
head, keeping his mouth pressed against her.

He loved it; loved the sound of her pleasure. As he
pulled away he grazed the pebbled skin with his teeth and felt her
shiver.

“
Delicious, I can’t wait to taste
more of you.” He licked the other nipple before he stepped
back.

“
May I undress you,
Si—”

He heard the small slip. She’d almost called him
sir. He’d also seen the cloud of uncertainty dim the glow of
passion in her eyes. Not wanting anything to interfere with what
was happening between them; he answered her, “If you want to.”

“
It would please me very much.”
The full light returned to her eyes, and her feature relaxed,
gratitude.

Taking his hand, she led him over to the bed. He was
able to see the seam of her stocking that traveled up the back of
her legs. Very sexy.

She paused at the side of the bed. He kept his hands
at the side of his body as she unbuttoned his shirt. Pulling it
from his pants and shoving it over his shoulder and down his arms.
His t-shirt was next, up and over his head it soon fell to the
floor.

“
You are big and extremely
handsome.” Leaning forward, she licked the center of his chest and
continued a titillating trail to one of his pecs. There she drew
his nipple into her mouth.

Sucking in a breath, he stared down at the sensual
sight of her mouth on him. Moving to the other one, she performed
the same act.

His cock was now rock hard and they had barely
gotten started.

Her hands went to his belt and released it, then his
zipper was down and his pants open. All while she never stopped
laving her hot tongue over his chest. When her hand slipped into
his pants and slid along his dick, he pulled her mouth to his.

Kissing her, he feasted on her mouth as she wrapped
her delicate fingers around his shaft and pumped his length.
Fisting her hair, he matched the rhythm of her hand as he thrust
into her grip and plunged in and out of her mouth with his
tongue.

As she moaned and her body quivered against him, he
reveled in how responsive she was and he only loved her mouth.

Ending the kiss, he moved her back some as he took
hold of her panties and pulled them down her legs. Sitting on the
bed before her, he could not only smell her arousal he could see
her wetness coating her smooth bare sex. It thrilled him to know
that she was just as turned on as he was.