Wishes and Kisses Read online

  I stepped around Burke and paused at the side of bed, stroked the smooth coverlet. I was tempted to lie down and pull Burke down with me but tamped down the urge. It was my birthday. I might be ‘hard up’ but I still had my pride. Stephanie was paying him well. I’d make damned sure he had to work for every penny and making the first move was not the way to do it.

  I felt Burke’s eyes on me, guessing he was staring at my ass. Mine is memorable, according to the men in my past. Most said it was my best asset, second to my eyes.

  Heaving a huge sigh, I sank down on the bed. Burke came closer and the hair on my arms stood at attention. He was stunning and while I wanted to jump him and not let him out of bed for a long, long time, I kept cool. Guys always thought that about me; that I was cool and calm, unaffected by things but I was the complete opposite. I just held everything inside and camouflaged my feelings—like I was doing now.

  Burke brushed by me then, giving me a sweet, lopsided smile that I knew was genuine. I just knew that everything about this guy was the real thing, nothing phony about him. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when he started unbuttoning his shirt.

  His smile widened. He had that oh so confident look men get when they’re pretty sure they’ll be scoring. Scoring. Damn but my panties felt damp again. Then a throbbing began between my thighs and I realized I was in huge trouble. This would be a first for me; having an orgasm without being touched. Believe me, this is a big thing for me because I don’t ‘come’ easily.

  He was humming the Miller-light song as he shrugged out of his shirt, mixed with a bump and grind routine.

  “Uh, no real tunes tonight?” I asked with a giggle. Those mudslides were sticking with me. “What guy seduces a woman without tunes?”

  Burke rolled his eyes and paused in his delicious dance. “Geez, Angel-baby, give me a break. They’ve got a sound-system hooked up. What would you like to hear?”

  “Well,” I began but he broke in.

  “On second thought no music would be best. I like it nice and quiet when I make love to a woman. That way I can hear every breath, every sigh, every scream and other signs that my woman’s getting off, you know?”

  My woman? I gulped. Burke was unlike any male I’d ever met. His seduction was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. He was mine for the night. How lucky could I get?

  He started moving again, slower, sensuous. Jealousy rolled through me then. I was an abysmal dancer. Then he swung his shirt in a full circle a few times and released it. It sailed across the room and landed on a vacant leather chair.

  I laughed and my hair floated around my shoulders. I saw how his eyes focused on my tresses and was glad I’d washed it in a coconut-scented shampoo before leaving the house tonight.

  He stripped off his belt, which I’d noticed back at Schwietz’s. It was narrow, round and shiny black. It didn’t have a buckle but some kind of metal catch on the end. His jeans sunk a bit, revealing his navel and the mat of fine black hair down the middle of his broad chest. He snapped the belt against the Italian tiled floor and I jumped, startled by the sharp noise. I saw the wicked gleam in his eyes when he snapped it again as he sauntered toward me. Then, with a quick flick of his wrist it passed over my body. I shrank back in horror, my back flattening on the bed when I realized the belt was actually some sort of whip.

  “I’m a pro at this,” he said, “Just lie still and I won’t hurt you.”

  I didn’t move. I stopped breathing and I closed my eyes tight. I was scared but I trusted him. I was hesitant yet I wanted him to strike again. He did. I gasped. My eyes opened. That last time I’d felt just the tiniest of stings across my stomach. I saw the devilish smile on his lips then followed the direction of his gaze. He’d untied my blouse with that last snap, a truly amazing feat.

  “Where in the hell did you learn that trick?” I whispered, knowing my eyes had gone wide as saucers.

  He laughed. “I used to wield whips—just as a hobby.”

  Wield whips? Suddenly I thought of cowboys and thought his voice had a slight twang to it. “Where are you from?”

  “I was born in Mexico, to American missionary parents. Until the age of sixteen I’d lived most of my life there, then we moved to Arkansas. Now, then,” he murmured, dropping the belt on the floor, “It’s time for another present.”

  * * * *

  “I love presents,” I whispered. “So how about you come on down and join me?”

  He arched one eyebrow. “Hmm, you know, I’d originally promised Stephanie I’d give you anything you desired, but I’ve changed my mind.”

  I sat up and growled, “You what!”

  Laughing, he sank down beside me, put an arm around my shoulders and held me close. Then he started nibbling on my earlobe and his hand reached over and dug inside my bra. He tweaked my nipple and I thought that’s more like it.

  “Don’t worry, sweetheart, I aim to satisfy. But that’s just it; I need to be the one in control here; I need you to trust me to give you the best birthday ever.” His smile slipped. “Do you trust me?”

  The guy was a stranger. Of course I didn’t trust him! Yet I found myself unable to do anything but nod. The next thing I realized I was flat on my back, legs hanging over the bed’s edge, feet planted flat on the floor.

  Burke spread my thighs. “Keep them like that.”

  He moved toward his duffle bag, rummaged around inside a bit. Then he turned and faced me with a gigantic vibrator in his hand.

  Grinning, he said, “New batteries, sweetheart. You’re going to love this.”

  I closed my legs. “Uh, what in the hell is that?”

  “By the look on your face you know what it is,” he said as he nudged his legs between mine then widened his stance, spreading my thighs.

  “Where did you find one so—”

  “—big?” he inserted with a laugh. “I know all the right places to purchase the best tools of my trade.”

  “But I still have on my jeans.”

  “A good thing you do,” he said and proceeded to show me why.

  Burke sat beside me on the bed and set the vibrator against the center of my desire. My cheeks turned hot when I noticed the devilish look in his eyes as he met mine. I gulped, looked at the ceiling then closed my eyes, concentrating on the exquisite sensations pouring through my body. He rubbed it up and down, then in circles, firmer, then softer, blowing my mind. Sweat poured from my body when he pressed harder— until I was a mass of quivering arousal.

  “Ah! Oh lord, but that feels...incredible!”

  He kept the vibrator against me and leaned over my body, bracing one hand on the other side of my body on the mattress. His lips touched mine, then they slide down the side of my neck and he murmured, “Mmm, like that then? How about a bit harder?”

  I clutched his arm. “No!”

  My grip on his arm tightened when he kicked it up higher and the droning grew louder. Within seconds I was arching off the bed, shrieking out my release, shuddering with the after-effects.

  Burke was good. He knew precisely the right moment to remove the vibrator.

  I lay there, panting as though I’d run a marathon. I also felt as if I’d left this world and moved on to bigger and better places. I opened my eyes and found Burke above me, gazing down at me with this look—if I didn’t know better I’d say it was almost loving. Then the gentleness in his eyes dissipated and a smug, satisfied expression came over him. He appeared as though he’d just been the recipient of a mind-boggling climax.

  I turned to one side, reached up and covered my eyes with my forearm. I couldn’t look at him, didn’t want him to see the satisfaction on my face. Thoughts of how he hadn’t dimmed the lights crowded my brain; I’d allowed this stranger to see my wantonness. I’d never done anything like this in my life. No, you can’t include those ball players I told you about earlier; I knew every one of them, personally. We’d grown up together. Besides, I’d only had sex with one of them and he’d turned out to be a bigger prude than me.


  “Hey, hey,” he whispered.

  kept my eyes closed beneath my arm. When he pulled my forearm away from my face I still kept my eyes shut. I couldn’t look at him.

  “Why so shy now? You were fantastic, Angel,” he enthused.

  I opened one eye. “I was?”

  “Why do I get the feeling you regret climaxing?”

  “Because usually the lights are turned off when I do, and, most times, I’ve been by myself, if you get my drift.”

  He threw back his head and laughed, then sobered as he stared at me. Reaching out, he swiped a stray lock of hair off my forehead. Oh, his touch was soft and gentle and I found myself leaning toward him.

  “I see. The ‘I don’t want my feelings bared to this stranger’ feeling has hit you, hmm?”

  Now I glared at him.

  He wagged his finger in my face. “Don’t deny it. You enjoyed yourself and I enjoyed you. There’s no crime in that.”

  “I know!” I snapped. “Still, it’s humiliating that you watched me get off. We don’t know each other.”

  “I’d say that was the case ten minutes ago, but not anymore. We’re off to a great start. Don’t you think?”

  What could I do? What could I say in response to his candidness? I found my doldrums lifting, and my humiliation, and I laughed. Then I punched him in the chest. He feigned injury, which only made me laugh harder. Then he shot off the bed and danced and hummed that beer song again as he made his way to his duffel bag.

  I swiped sweat from my brow. “Do you think it’s really hot in here?”

  My question was completely honest and innocent and he arched one eyebrow at me and chuckled. He reached the duffle bag and started pushing things around inside it. “Yeah, as a matter of fact I do. At first I thought it was just the two of us making the heat but I don’t hear any air ventilation. I think the air-conditioning stopped working.”

  “It’s got to be a hundred degrees outside and the air shut down?” I said incredulously.

  With a shrug he said, “If it did the generators should kick in any time.”

  I hadn’t been able to see what he was doing since his back had been turned to me but now he whirled around, executing this fantastic break-dance step, holding a red heart-shaped paddle in one hand.

  I gulped as I stared at the paddle; stared as every fantasy of being the ‘victim’ of a spanking hit me square in the eye. My ass tingled at the thought of how it would feel.

  He cleared his throat. “Stephanie said you’d never had a birthday spanking and that you’d always wanted one so chuck those jeans, sweetheart. You’ll be receiving your heart’s desire; twenty-one on your bare, sweet ass.”

  I pulled my fascinated gaze from the paddle and met his full-fledged grin.

  “Uh, Stephanie knows I was just kidding.” I heard the desperation in my voice as I made excuses.

  Burke gave me a long, steady look. “No, you weren’t. People don’t talk about something like this or even jest about it unless they mean it.” He walked toward me, hitting the palm of his hand with the flat of the paddle, stopping right in front of me.

  “Don’t think about this too much,” he said as he grabbed a chair by the desk and planted it facing the end of the bed. He sat down and propped one foot up on a wooden rung of the bed. “Drop the jeans and get over my knee.”

  He was right to say don’t think too much. I found myself involuntarily rising from the bed. I unsnapped my jeans and slowly pulled them down over my hips, hooked my fingers in the waistband at my back to ease them over my full ass.

  His words interrupted my thoughts.

  “Leave your panties on.”

  I stared at him, heard the rough tone of his words and knew he was aroused. I kicked my jeans aside and stood beside him, staring blindly at the paddle.

  “Over my knees now,” he encouraged.

  I bit my lip and said, “I can’t.”

  He sighed. “You know, we don’t have to do this at all. It’s your birthday. You can call the shots if you want but I thought we’d agreed earlier I’d be doing that and that you’d trust my judgment.”

  Put like that, he was right. Why I trusted him I couldn’t fathom, I just did.

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  He smiled, then took my hands and pulled me over his thighs. My ass was elevated due to the position of his propped foot. “Hands on the floor,” he ordered.

  His voice but rough, hard, firm as any dominant I’d ever imagined in my wildest imagination. I squirmed forward with his help and reached the floor with the palms of my hands. Blood rushed to my face, which I already knew was aflame in embarrassment. Also, I noticed the generators hadn’t kicked in and stifling heat filled the suite. It was a muggy summer evening but the heat didn’t bother me for once; it somehow enhanced this night of erotic play. Made me feel sexier, hornier than I’d ever felt before.

  “Excellent. Spread your legs a bit.”

  I had to think about that a moment—like a nano-second or so. I spread them, giving him complete access to my vulva.

  He pulled on the waistband of my thong panty until the minute scrap of fabric disappeared between my ass cheeks. Holding onto the twisted nylon, his fist positioned at the center of my back, he proceeded to wield the paddle, counting out each smack. The paddle was made of leather, no wood inside, so it was flexible as it cracked against my ass noisily, first one cheek, then the other. Within moments I was feeling the sting but it wasn’t intolerable as he’d started with a gentle touch. With my clit positioned over his sinewy thigh and rubbing against him with each smack it started throbbing.

  Midway through my ‘present’ he started whipping the flexible leather harder and I found myself gasping after each spank.

  He paused. “Too much?”

  I had to think about this before replying. I hated the spanking yet I found I loved it, too, and asked, “How many more?”

  “Nine.”

  “Go ahead,” I said, guessing I could handle the stinging pain, yet feeling sad it would soon be over. I’d always had this infatuation—to have someone deal out a birthday spanking—but now I realized just this once would never be enough. Call me a masochist if you want, but there’s just something about allowing a caveman like Burke to have complete control over my person.

  “You sure?”

  I caught the hesitancy in his voice but nodded again. “Yes.”

  He snapped off nine more smacks, alternating cheeks until I was squirming on his lap and tears filled my eyes. Not that it truly hurt all that much, it’s just that this was my fantasy-come-true for several years. I found it hard to believe it was actually happening.

  He released me and sat me up. I cringed when my hot, stinging ass made contact with his thigh. He kissed my temple and murmured, “So, I imagine this means I won’t get to second base with you now, hmm?”

  I pulled out of his arms and stood before him. “Now why would you say such a thing?”

  Burke shrugged. “I’ve done this entire birthday routine with other women. After I’d given them this treatment, which by the way they asked for, they threw me out. The worst of it was I only got paid half the amount due me.”

  My scowl turned into a smile and then I started laughing—gut-aching laughter. He looked like a thwarted little boy at the moment with his pouting lips and sulky expression.

  “You’re staying?” he asked, his voice hopeful.

  “You’re damned right I am. Stephanie paid big bucks for you, didn’t she?”

  “A grand.”

  I gulped. A thousand dollars for Burke to entertain me for a night? No wonder he was so agreeable about showing me a good time. I sank down on his lap, straddling him with my thighs over his. Then I wound my arms around his strong, smooth neck and kissed him. I mean really kissed him; kissed him so hard that I somehow managed to knock the chair over. He wound his arms around my waist as we fell backwards. He landed on his back, one hand once again fisting the fabric of my thong. I flinched when he starte
d spanking my cheeks with his big, firm hand with me on top of him. I was still kissing him and laughing against his lips—and flinching with each smack—but didn’t want him to stop.

  Burke had turned me on and I meant for him to keep it that way over the next twenty-four hours.

  * * * *

  I don’t usually kiss a guy on a date because most of them just don’t know how to do it. Burke’s lips were strong, sensuous and dry—nothing worse than wet kisses. I detest them. And oh, he knew how to use his tongue as he swiped it around inside my mouth. After a while he shoved me off him and came to his feet. He hauled me into his arms and I stared into his eyes that flared with excitement, saw the tightness in his jaw and knew he wanted me.

  Burke dropped me on the bed, sat beside me and proceeded to remove my top and bra which left me with only my thong panty. With his eyes on mine he hooked his thumbs into the sides of my thong and slowly slid them over my hips and down my legs. I lay there naked and hot and wanting—him—with a desperation I’d never felt before.

  My eyes widened on him when he stood up and removed his jeans and jockies, revealing his magnificent maleness. He was Zeus, Casanova, Valentino, Romeo, Rhett Butler and Brad Pitt rolled into one. And he was mine for the night. A momentary sadness overwhelmed me, to think that, after tomorrow, I wouldn’t be.

  He joined me on the bed and stroked me from shoulder to breast, to my waist then down to my vulva. Over and over he stroked until I was a steaming mass of blubbering womanhood, begging for release. He reached over to the night table, opened a drawer and pulled out a condom. I didn’t care why or how it got in that drawer. With his teeth he ripped it open then kneeled back, his legs straddling my thighs. Reaching down, his eyes on mine the entire time, he shielded his burgeoning cock.

  Slipping down my steaming body he lay between my legs. As soon as he’d hooked my thighs over his shoulders I knew what I was in for and my heart raced at the thought of my imminent arousal.