And then he stepped back and held out his hand, his eyes glittering in the dark. “Shall we make ourselves more comfortable?”
Without hesitation she slipped her hand in his, happy to follow him wherever he led.
They stopped briefly to check on their daughter, who thankfully continued to sleep peacefully, and they smiled at each other with deep connection.
Then they went into his room and shut the door behind them, tucking themselves away, fully aware there was no need to hurry their lovemaking this time.
He held her in front of him. “You’re gorgeous,” he said huskily, his eyes going over her from the top of her head, down over her satiny bathrobe, to her bare feet. Then his eyes rose upward. “God. I almost don’t want to take your clothes off you.”
She became fascinated by the vein that pulsed in his neck. “You don’t?”
“I’m lying.”
She moistened her lips. “I’m glad.”
“So am I,” he murmured, undoing the sash at her waist and peeling the robe off her shoulders, leaving her standing there in her pearl-colored chemise. “Oh yeah, sweetheart. I’m…so…glad.”
He pulled her close and started kissing her again.
Deeply, this time.
Deeper than any other time, not so much in touch but in intensity.
And intimacy.
This time it wasn’t about two people making love together, but about two people being intimate.
And then he reached down to her hem and lifted the nightgown over her head, leaving her naked.
She gasped as his hands slow-traced her hips…her derriere…brushing over the bare skin of her back…exploring her body from behind.
And then those wonderful hands moved up and around to her front, touching her br**sts, circling the sensitive skin before cupping them as he weighed and measured them in his palms, before lowering his head and fitting one of the brown nubs in his mouth.
“Oh my heaven,” was all she could manage, her mind reeling as he gently nipped and licked her body to life…a life that had her clutching his bare shoulders, wanting to touch him as he was touching her.
She was almost ready to sink to the floor by the time he moved back, but she somehow managed to speak. “Please, Matt. My turn.”
A light smoldered in his eyes. “Go ahead.”
A flash of heat washed over her and suddenly her hands shook, but that didn’t stop her from sliding her palms over his hair-roughened chest, reveling in the hot feel of him beneath her palms.
He shuddered and her head spun and she grew more daring, her hands sliding down over the tight muscles of his stomach, over the front of his pajama pants to where he felt hard and demanding.
“Stop,” he rasped.
She stood her ground. “No.” She pushed his pants down until they reached his feet.
Swearing softly, he stepped out of them and kicked them aside and she made her way up his na**d flesh, running her hands up along his flanks, across to his powerful erection, where she fondled him, loving the sound of his groan and the shudder of his body before she stood back to fully admire him for the first time ever.
He was fully exposed.
There was nothing left but him.
The utterly perfect male.
She reached for him again, but he put his hand over hers. “No.” His gaze dropped down to her thighs, then shot back up. “Do you realize I’ve never tasted you? Not once.”
His words sent electrifying shivers down her spine. “Then don’t let me stop you.”
Growling satisfaction, he dropped to his knees.
Her legs shook as he began kissing her in a more intimate way. She was acutely aware of his dark head at the junction of her thighs, doing marvelous things to her, his tongue warm and smooth, enticingly so.
She trembled, verging on the edge of discovery.
She was almost ready to topple.
“Not yet,” he muttered, and the next thing she knew he was lowering her onto the bed, her body still one big ache, craving that joyous feeling just out of reach.
He opened the bedside drawer and took out a foil packet, and instantly her mind cleared even as her body still hungered for release.
“Matt, stop.”
He paused, looking at her with a question in his eyes.
“You don’t need those.”
“I don’t?”
“I’m protected.” She saw him wince and the past came back to haunt her. At the Christmas party it had been over before they knew it, and afterward she’d lied about protection so he wouldn’t worry about her becoming pregnant. “I’m telling the truth this time, Matt.”
She held his gaze.
If he didn’t believe her she couldn’t proceed.
He stared hard for a couple of loaded seconds, then dropped the foil back in the drawer. The mattress lurched as he joined her, just as her heart was lurching in her chest. He stretched out on top of her, his arms pure steel, holding him up to look down at her from above.
His eyes trapped hers for a heart-stopping moment.
And he grew rigid between her legs.
“Thank you for trusting me,” she said sincerely.
“No, thank you for giving me our daughter.”
Her vision blurred as tender warmth entered her heart. Then she took a ragged breath. “I’m yours tonight, Matt,” she murmured, and let her thighs fall open so that he could find his way.
He entered her and she moved to meet him. Soon after, she cried out his name, delicious contractions hitting her until she abandoned herself to a spine-tingling fusion to become one with him.
One body.
One heartbeat.
Her one true love.
“Are you okay?”
Lana heard the words in her ear but couldn’t reply. How had it happened? How had she tumbled headlong into love with him? She was staggered by the revelation.
Oh Lord.
He stayed inside her and looked down into her eyes. “Lana?”
She thought fast.
“Just catching my breath,” she said with a smile, her fingers itching to run lovingly along his jaw.
She daren’t.
He studied her without giving anything away himself. “No regrets?”
Could she regret that she loved him?
She shook her head. “Not this time.”
His face relaxed. “Me either.” Leaning down, he gave her a long, soft kiss that made her want to stay in his arms for the rest of her life.
Eventually he lifted his head. “I’ve never made love to any other woman without a condom.”