His nostril flared. "I think you're right."
"Now get over here and give me a kiss before you leave."
The corner of his mouth went up. "Yes, ma'am." Knee on the mattress, he crawled up the bed, pinning the sheet against her, forcing her legs apart. Damien brushed her hair off her face and descended over her, giving her a hot, deep kiss.
Marley gave herself into it, groaned, passed that control right back over to him. Or not necessarily control, but direction. This was what she wanted and he would give it to her. Damien buried his lips in her neck, back to her mouth, slipped his tongue into her ear, ran over the front of her sleep shirt. The sheet was yanked down, kicked out of the way, panties gone with fast hard jerks, his belt clanging as he undid it and his zipper.
No touching, no prepping, no easy, soft, coaxing words or teasing touches with his tongue. He just pushed into her, hard and demanding.
Marley fell back on the pillow, shocked, thighs falling open farther as the tight, thrilling pressure ripped a moan from her. Her body hadn't been ready, but now she moistened for him, growing slicker with each thrust, her hip caught by the sheet, her fingers digging into the mattress.
She meant to say something, to guide or praise or protest, but all she did was burst out with short exhalations of hot air with each powerful push, his body pounding against hers. Turning her head left and right, squirming, she looked toward the gallery, saw the sun was coming up, peeking through the silk draperies, and she gripped the sheet, mind empty and full and ferocious with the pleasure of his touch.
Damien cupped her cheek, forced her face back forward. "Look at me."
He was deep, so far inside she wasn't sure she could take it, the pleasure acute and agonizing, elemental. Heels slipping, arm up in the air, Marley was overwhelmed by the sensations, the intensity, the feeling that he was everywhere in her, from head to toe, taking her, stroking, electric. His breath blasted over her, and she returned it, their lips brushing but not kissing, his forehead resting on hers, pressing, eyes sinking into her as her own lost focus.
The entire world lost clarity, and in the hot cocoon of his body over hers, she climaxed, jerking up, silent, arching into him, a shudder sliding from shoulder to shoulder, her thighs clamping onto his.
Damien came right after her, with tight, gritted teeth, forehead grinding down into hers.
Then they were panting, sweat trickling between them, shirts rumpled and lips moist. He was heavy on top of her, but Marley didn't care. She stared up at him, with no words, but no awkwardness either.
If they both walked away right that minute and never spoke again, she would be content. That was the best sex she'd ever had in her life, primal and raw, and that was hers to keep forever.
"How was that for a kiss good-bye?" he asked, finally pulling back slightly. Whatever hesitation he'd been grappling with the night before, this was clearly his way of showing her he was over it.
"It worked for me."
"Good. Me too." Damien peeled himself off her, leaving her bare chest glistening, T-shirt shoved around her neck. "I'll be done around noon. Want to go to lunch with me?"
"Sure. Should I meet you somewhere?" Marley was impressed with herself. She sounded casual. Hell, she even felt casual. He was still in the process of disengaging his penis from her, and yet there she was having an utterly inane conversation like they did that every day, and it felt perfectly normal.
Damien kissed the right corner of her mouth. Then the left. "It seems a waste for you to drive in separately and then have to follow me right back home. Why don't you pack a bag and we'll spend the night in my city house."
"You have a city house?" Why did that surprise her? It shouldn't, yet it did.
"Yes. On Esplanade, the edge of the French Quarter. I don't go there as much as I used to."
Marley gripped his lapels and gave him a light kiss. "Sounds good. Just tell me where to meet you. And make sure you change your shirt before you leave."
"You don't think sex and sweat are good scents for a boardroom?" The corner of his mouth went up and he peeled the shirt off, pushing up on his knees.
"Probably not." He had an amazing chest, smooth and muscular. She indulged herself by squeezing his biceps a little. Nice, very nice.
"What are you going to do today?" he asked, getting out of bed and rubbing the back of his head.
"I'm going to stay in bed, just like this, for at least another hour. Then I'm going to move my right leg."
Damien laughed. "Perfect plan. You make me jealous."
If he had anything else to say, she didn't hear it, because Marley drifted back into sleep, a rich, thick sleep void of dreams and deeply satisfying.
Marley wondered if anyone looked at her and knew that she'd had earth-shattering sex just hours earlier. That she still felt that languid afterglow coursing through her. Did they know she was having an affair, that she was doing what she knew intellectually was morally wrong, a sin some would even say, yet what felt so right?
Is this what appealed to her sister, this secret satisfaction, this walking around knowing she'd been naughty, looking at people and thinking I had sex today. Did you ?
There was no future in these feelings, no way she and Damien could go beyond that morning, but for the day, Marley wanted to just enjoy it, to remember the feeling of him over her, in her. Her skin prickled in the hot sun as she strolled down the sidewalk, having haphazardly taken a parking spot she'd seen on St. Anne's, and walked toward the restaurant Damien had directed her to.
"Out for a stroll?" an older man asked her as he watered down the sidewalk in front of his tobacco shop.
"Yes. It's a beautiful day." And she was Snow White, birds singing, bunnies blinking, squirrels chattering around her feet. She smiled at the man, content. In the next few days, she was going home and she was going to start the adoption process. But until then she was Damien du Bourg's lover, and she was going to enjoy that.
Damien was standing outside, in front of the black awning, talking on his cell phone, hand in his pocket. When he saw her, he smiled. As she approached, he was hanging up. He leaned forward, slipping his phone into a pocket, and he kissed her.
"You look gorgeous," he murmured. "Like a woman well f**ked."
Marley let him nuzzle her ear, enjoying the hard, grizzly feeling of his unshaven chin on her soft flesh. "What a coincidence. Because I am."
"I should be ashamed of myself. I should feel bad for leading you into such base behavior. But I don't."
"I don't either." Marley laughed, moving out of his touch, feeling light and confident and desirable. "And I'm hoping you'll debase me again later in this city house of yours."