She hadn’t come back to judge him.
She was here for him.
He tilted her chin up and looked into those glimmering, lovely eyes. She loved him. “Rebecca,” he murmured, and slanted his lips against hers. She tasted like salvation, and redemption. She tasted like everything he’d ever needed, and he groaned as he lost himself in her. She yielded to him with a sweetness and surrender that consumed him, and his mouth mated with hers in a frenzy of yearning.
He could hardly breathe by the time they broke away, clinging to each other. Tony brushed her hair back from her face. “I need you to know this isn’t a game to me, Rebecca. I never meant to just use you and throw you away. I wanted to protect you and keep you with me forever. Not as a conquest. As the woman I love.”
“I believe you.” She tried to kiss him again, but he placed a finger over her lips. She sighed. “Not this again.”
His laughter bubbled through him in an effervescent rush, light as air and filling him until he thought he would dissolve. “No. I just want to make sure we’re clear on one thing. I mean forever, Rebecca. For you, for me, and for Miranda. I want us to be a family.”
“I want more than that.”
“Anything, Rebecca. Anything I can give you.”
“No. I don’t want you to give me things. I want to start my life over again. I want to make a life for myself, and do it right this time. I’ll…I’ll go back to school. I’ll get my degree in systems engineering, just like I always wanted. And I’ll be with you, and Miranda. Forever.” She looked up at him with a shy smile. “I think I know a thing or two about forever. I am an angel, after all.”
“No, you’re not,” he said. “But you are mine.”
This time, when she stretched up to kiss him, he let her—and didn’t stop until they’d dragged each other, between hotly breathless kisses and nips, into the bedroom. Tony barely managed to close the door before they fell to the bed together with Rebecca’s delicate weight pinning Tony to the sheets. He smiled up at her and brushed his fingers to her cheek.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” He couldn’t bear it if he rushed her, or pushed her into something she wasn’t ready for. “I can wait as long as you want, love.”
“Anthony Weis, if you make me wait any longer, I’ll break your other damned arm!”
He laughed and pulled her down to kiss her. Soft at first, shy, breathless, yet hunger took control and raw need consumed them with its ferocity. Their tongues sparred. Her hands dug into his shoulders. She straddled him, her sweet body pressing down against him until he groaned and rolled his hips up into her. She shuddered, hot and pliant against him. He caressed her side and traced the curve of her hip until he could grasp her close, clasping her to him and letting her feel his need with each slow thrust of his hips.
Her eyes were closed, her lips slack with passion, and he drank her in for a moment before his mouth traveled along her neck in a trail of hot kisses. She tasted delicious, and he ached to kiss every square inch of her pale, delectable skin. She dragged her fingers through his hair and captured his mouth again, intoxicating him with a torrid and gasping kiss, but he refused to be deterred.
While she was distracted, he captured both her wrists in his one good hand. She twisted and swore, but he grinned. She glowered at him.
“Not funny, Tony.”
“I’m not laughing. Be still. Let me look at you.”
And look he did. He rolled her beneath him and leaned back on his heels, taking her in as she lay panting against the sheets, flushed and beautiful. Her wildfire hair tangled around her upraised arms in snaking coils, bringing out the faint rosy undertones in her white skin. Her blush only darkened the quirky scattering of freckles across her nose. The way her shirt and jeans hugged her long, lanky curves only made him want to tear the clothing away to discover her for himself.
The longer he lingered, the more she squirmed, and her lashes lowered to her cheeks as her blush deepened. She started to speak, then stopped when he fixated on her mouth. Her lips were red and full, and he felt a possessive spark of need as he stroked them with a lingering look. He’d done that. He’d kissed her until her mouth ripened and turned that luscious, lovely color.
She was his.
“Please,” she whispered.
“Please what, little angel?”
“Love me.” She arched her back and tugged at her wrists.
“I do. And I will.” He released her wrists. His fingers skimmed down the undersides of her arms, and she shivered. “Let me see you, love. I can’t really undress you myself with only one hand.”
She shot him an uncertain look, then began to unbutton her shirt. Each inch of fragile skin revealed made his mouth go dry. The shirt slid over her freckled shoulders, and their smooth curve captivated him. Bit by bit she enthralled him, as she shyly revealed the soft swell of her br**sts, the taut dip of her waist. When her hips undulated as she slid her jeans off, he let out a rough sound as fire twisted in his gut and shot deeper, searing him with his need for her.
Her slender hands were torture against his skin when she helped him out of his slacks. Her eyes found his as she straddled him, their naked skin whispering together. Just the feel of her warm, supple flesh was enough to make his hips buck. He gritted his teeth and tried to restrain himself, but the little minx rubbed herself against him until he couldn’t breathe.
“Brat,” he gasped, clutching at her hip.
“I thought you knew that.” She grinned—then moaned and arched her back into a sensuous curve as he rocked into her, teasing against the heat between her thighs.
“I know,” he said. “And I love you for it.”
He curled his hands against her nape and drew her down to conquer her mouth. His tongue teased and caressed hers until she melted against him. He explored her body, stroking over her curves until she shuddered. When he cupped her breast and teased her nipple with his fingertips, she cried out softly and bit at his shoulder.
He relinquished his claim on her lips and claimed her body instead. He took the hardening peak of her breast into his mouth and traced her skin with his tongue. She whimpered and writhed against him. His fingers stroked over her side, and slipped between them to slide down the smooth curve of her stomach to thread into the soft curls below. Bright red, just as he’d imagined, and soft to the touch. He caressed her moist heat and savored each broken, shuddering cry as she opened for him.