“I’ve been thinking about this—you, here in my bed—for almost two weeks,” he admitted, bending over her as she unsnapped her jeans then pulled the zipper down. He pulled the jeans and her panties off, pausing only long enough to tear her shoes off and toss them aside as well.
“I have, too,” she admitted, though if she were going to be completely honest with him—which she wasn’t—she’d have to say she had been thinking about this moment for three years. Since the moment her brother had introduced them and then metaphorically hung a No Trespassing sign over her head.
“Wait’s over,” he grumbled and peeled out of his own clothes in a heartbeat of time.
“Thank goodness,” she whispered. Her gaze moved over him in a blink and everything hot and needy inside her stirred into frantic life. His body was amazing. She couldn’t wait to feel it moving within her.
She lifted her arms in welcome and he bent over her, joining her on the wide bed, sliding his hands up and down her body, exploring every curve, learning every line. His breath came hot and fast against her neck, her br**sts, as he took first one nipple then the other into his mouth, lavishing each of them with attention. His teeth scraped across the sensitive tips, and his tongue worked her until she was whimpering beneath the onslaught of feelings. He suckled her and it felt as though he were drawing her essence into his mouth. She clung to him, holding his head in place while her body arched and shifted on the cool sheets, looking blindly for release.
He fed off her response, ramping up his touch, his kisses. As if he felt everything she was experiencing, Lucas seemed to know just how to touch her. How to stroke and caress until she was babbling helplessly.
She writhed beneath him, h*ps rocking, back arching, moving into him, wanting, needing. Her mind shut down to everything but the incredible sensations he brought her. His hands seemed to be everywhere at once. Her br**sts, her ni**les, her abdomen, her… “Lucas—”
His big hand cupped her core and she gasped his name again, louder this time. Finally, her body seemed to shout. At last. What she needed. His thumb rubbed that small, sensitive bud at her center as he dipped first one finger and then two into her heated depths.
“Lucas, please,” she whispered brokenly, h*ps moving into his hand, her head turning from side to side on the bed as she fought for breath, fought for completion.
Spirals of tension coiled inside her with every stroke of his fingers. He dipped his head to claim one of her ni**les again and as he suckled her, he rubbed even harder at her center and the two sensations combined made Rose absolutely mindless with craving.
She moaned his name and fisted her hands in the sheet beneath her, trying to keep her grip on her unsteady world. Feet planted on the mattress, she rocked her h*ps ceaselessly, hungering for a release that remained tantalizingly out of reach. She worked for it, practically wept for it as each breath she drew grew shallower, more desperate.
He lifted his head, looked at her and in his eyes she saw the same frantic need she was feeling. “Fast and hard, that’s how I want you, Rose.”
“Yes. Be inside me. Now. Please,” she whispered, twisting beneath him, parting her thighs even wider, her body issuing the invitation she couldn’t find the breath to speak.
He reached over to the bedside table, yanked open the drawer and pulled out a condom. He tore the wrapping open, grabbed the latex and sheathed himself in one quick move.
“A careful man,” she whispered, echoing the words he’d once said to her.
“You make me crazy, Rose,” he muttered darkly, moving to cover her body with his.
She smiled, stupidly pleased by that remark. “I do?”
“Yeah. Hell, I almost forgot to grab a condom,” he admitted, taking her mouth in a long kiss as his body slid into her heat.
“Oh, my…” She arched into him, lifting her hands to his shoulders, clinging to him as if she needed his strength to hold her onto the planet.
“Rose…” He groaned and held perfectly still for one heart-stopping moment. “Can’t wait. Have to have you,” he said on a sigh and, almost instantly, set a fast, hard rhythm that had Rose’s heart racing. Again and again, he entered and withdrew. Their bodies moved together in the moonlight, each of them reaching for completion. Each of them clinging to the other.
And as the last, taut coil of tension inside her suddenly exploded, Rose called out his name and looked up into his eyes as the rest of the world fell away. A crashing wave of staggering pleasure washed through her, leaving her shaken and vulnerable.
She was still holding him, still meeting that passion-fueled gaze, when his body erupted into hers and, cradling him, Rose rode the wave of his release as fully as she had her own.
Seven
Lucas felt as though he’d just run a marathon.
His body still locked inside hers, his cl**ax still rippling through his body, he hardened for her again. Rocking into her, he heard her sigh and felt her hook her legs at the small of his back.
“Mmm…” Her satisfied sigh rattled him, and at the same time fed the burgeoning hunger that was refueling itself inside him.
He groaned again and knew they weren’t finished. A part of him wondered if they would ever be finished.
She flattened her palms against his chest and stroked his skin—her touch was like silk. He looked into her eyes and saw the passion-glazed stare of a woman completely undone and should have felt a jolt of satisfaction for a plan that was coming together all too well.
Instead, all he felt was more want. More need.
Her blue eyes were shining with every ounce of passion that was flaring inside him. She wanted him again every bit as much as he wanted her. The smoldering fire between them leaped into life like an inferno. Her short, neat fingernails scratched at his skin and every single touch was like the lick of flames. She thumbed one of his ni**les and he felt the jolt of renewed passion zip through him like a lightning strike.
Heartbeat pounding, he took her mouth again. Their tongues tangled together, breath sliding from one to the other of them. Each of them fought their own need and offered it up to the other. Each of them hungered and Lucas did the only thing he could. He moved inside her again and heard her groan of satisfaction as his reward.
This wasn’t seduction anymore.
This was need. Crashing, burning desperation—and it wouldn’t be denied.
Easing up a bit, he unhooked her legs from his waist and draped them over his shoulders. She licked her lips and rocked her body on his, sliding him in even deeper than he had been.