As if suddenly uneasy, his hand seemed to unconsciously jerk on a switch. Lights dimmed, although he didnt seem aware of it. When she kept approaching him, he looked at her with a questioning expression.
Whats wrong? he said.
And then she kissed him.
Chapter 6
The minute Sophie roped her arms around him, she knew this was right.
Possibly, it was the scariest, stupidest, craziest thing shed done in years-especially for a woman who hated risk.
But it was still right.
Cord was breaking. She suspected he saw himself as a tough, strong loner, because he was. But this crisis with his brother had started seeping through the cracks, threatening foundations. Shed had her own foundations threatened. Shed gotten lost in her own darned cracks.
Thats why she had to do it. Kiss him and kiss him and kiss him.
When their lips first met, she felt the taste and smoothness and yielding of his mouth. Then, as if shed shocked him beyond belief, his hands suddenly clenched her shoulders. He yanked his head back with an Um, Sophie
She got the message from his gentle tone. She could get out of this. Hed make a gentle joke, and she could joke back, and theyd both be able to forget shed acted like a crazy fool.
Instead, she went back up on tiptoe and absconded with another kiss. This time she framed his head in her hands and pulled him down to her height-or close enough.
Years ago, when she was still half a baby, she remembered belting out the blues from her front porch in her moms high heels and a brush for a pretend microphone. That was before her world had broken. Before shed broken.
All this time, that Sophie had been buried so deep that shed never believed there was an inch of that wild girl left.
But it seemed there waswhen she kissed Cord.
But it seemed there waswhen she kissed Cord.
She still thought-knew-he wasnt being totally straight with her. She had no illusions or thoughts about a future or a capital-R relationship, or any of that nonsense.
Butsomehow they seemed to be sharing something vulnerable and raw because of Jon. Things were coming out of his woodwork. Out of hers.
It wasnt a choice. It was what had been forced on them by life, by fate. But reaching out to him was still as necessary to her as breathing. She felt as if a primal life force were burgeoning up from some dark, dusty corner, seeking light, needing warmth. Cord had no reason to know that she never did this, that it was just too hard.
Yet with himit was easy.
So, so, so easy.
He took over.
She should have known he would. Heaven knew, Cord wasnt a passive kind of guy. He may have been startled by that first kiss, particularly coming from herbut he turned on faster than whiplash.
Suddenly he wasnt just accepting her embrace, but doing the kissing, taking a whole lot of initiative. Long, sure hands stroked from her neck, down her spine, down to the swell of her fanny. He lifted her up, spun her, lips sealed, tongues finding each other like whispers in the night.
Her back thunked against a wallnot a hard thunk, but enough to make her exquisitely aware that Cord was losing control at rocket speeds. His keys definitely turned on her ignition. Her body instinctively arched against his. The heat of him enticed her heat; her breasts swelled for the rowdy desire now pulsing off him in waves.
I dont know whats going on here, he whispered thickly against her throat, but I know where its going if you dont say stop damned quick.
I dont want to stop. I want you.
Sophie knew she hadnt said that. Another woman in the room did. A stranger, a completely immoral, amoral stranger.
The same stranger pushed at his sweater, took his mouth as avidly, as hungrily, as he took hers. Beneath the wool was hair-roughened skin, the ripple of muscle and sinew, nothing soft. He was going to kill her, she figured. He was too big, at least for a woman her size, a woman who hadnt exactly done thismuch less in recent history.
Almost in recordable history. And here she was, still yanking off the sweater, demanding bare flesh, needing to touch him. Everywhere. Anywhere. When he started chaining kisses down her throat, she nipped at his shoulder. Just little bites.
He tasted damn good.
Jesus, where did all this come from? he muttered. I thought you were shy.
I was. For years and years and years, she was. With other men, she was.
She reached around, felt his adorable, irresistible tight butt. Sheesh, how could he have those huge broad shoulders and no butt? She squeezedwhich may have been a mistake, because one minute she was pressed up against the wall, and the next she was on the floor, her sweater being shoved over her head, his hands on his zipper before she could suggest
Well
Condoms.
As if Id risk you, he said. Theyre in my back pocket.
For a whole second she turned back into the real Sophie Campbell again and panicked. Always prepared, huh? You have a lot of women suddenly spring themselves on you?
No, Sophie. And if they did, I wouldnt jump into a yes. Im saying yes to you. Just you.
Well, hell She lost the careful, cautious, predictable Sophie and became that other woman again. She asked him other questions, but they were carnal questions, laced with teasing, spiced with enticement. Secrets. About what she was afraid was going to happen. About what she feared wouldnt.
He answered her with whisper, with touch. At the same time, he was peeling off the rest of her clothes, one garment at a time. Once the sweater was gone, he stroked his soft tongue down her throat, to the swell of her breasts, to the rim of a pink-and-black bra.
Not what I expected, he murmured. But then nothing Im finding is what I expected about you, Sophie Campbell.
The black lace bra disappeared, replaced by his mouth, testing and tasting and exploring the territory revealed. Her nipples tightened until they hurt. The roomwasnt dark enough. Not for this. Not for the exotic road of his tongue, down to her navel, down, as his hands chased her slacks off, as if the silky heat of his tongue could cover where she was being uncovered.
She started shivering then, but not from cold. The look in his eyes was intent, intense, cherishing. She had an old fantasy about a lover who stole into her room in the night, who weaved a spell, seduced her, forced her to do brazen, abandoned things. It was her favorite fantasy.
This was better.
He was better. Better than a dream. Better than any lover shed ever conjured up. He inspired her to feelneed. Desire, like an avalanche. Her own power and sensuality, as if she were meeting up with her own Armageddon. Or his.
He peeled her off the wall, scooped her up. Say no, he whispered.
Yes.
A kiss, swift, sure. God knew where he was walking with her. He didnt seem to know, either. The hall was dark. He never switched on a light, stumbled once-she thought theyd both crash and tumble. Instead, his knees connected with something, and then she bounced on the bedand he bounced on her.
Say no, he advised her, urged her, one more time.
Yes. She twisted, until she was on top, bare. The mattress was hard, big as a room, the textures of down and chill-cool percale under her knees. But his body was warm, when she swooped down with hands and lips. His body, truth to tell, threatened to burn.
They roller-coastered together, playing tease, hide-and-seek, double dare. The room had no more light than charcoal dust-but his eyes picked up light, picked up her. Her laughter belled in the darkness, throaty, brazen and his gruff chuckle turned into a roar when she accidentally tickled him.
Shed never heard him laugh before not really laugh, not belly laugh. She couldnt remember the last time shed let loose with abandoned laughter before, either. At that moment, though, she just wasnt Sophie. She was that wild girl that had been lost so long ago, never really gone, but just waiting for someone to turn the key on the rusty lock.
Cord had the key.
Cord was the key. Laughter died, the last time he knelt over her. She touched his face, invited with the shine of her eyes, and then arched her back helplessly when she felt his slow, deep intrusion. He filled her up, she wrapped her legs tight around him, and there it was, the gallop off into the sunset, on a ride as primal as heartbeats, as hope, as love.
Yes, he whispered, just as he felt her last climb, her last spin of a climax. He was only a blink behind.
She wasnt aware of falling asleep, but the next time she opened her eyes, someone had transported her from Oz to reality. Defibrillators couldnt compete with this kind of jolt. She seemed to be snoozing on the cushy carpet in Jons hall-how impossible was that? She also seemed to be naked as a jaybird-another shock. And most impossible of all, Cord was awake, lying just as naked as she was, balanced up on an elbow. Studying her.
The ambient light from some other room barely dented the dark hall. Still, there was enough for her to see Cords expression. The look in his eyes made Sophie want to glance behind her, certain there must be another woman in the room somewhere-the one he was studying with that tender, mystified, intense gaze.
I fell asleep?
Just for the last few minutes. I dont doubt you needed a nap to recover. Soph?
Hmm? For just a moment, she forgot to be appalled and shocked at herself. He was so luscious naked. Not soft. Not pretty. But all those long, sinewy muscles and angles, all that rough hair, all thatwhew. Her eyes shot back up to his. Hed caught where she was staring. His smile was full of male ego.
Still, he seemed determined to say a few serious things. He touched her cheek. Do you have a clue what this was all about?
Well, I think its called making love. Its been a while since I read the book my adopted mother gave me in fifth grade, but really, Im pretty sure-
A kiss shut her up, but he lifted his head immediately. Or almost immediately. If you knew we were going to end up making loveI sure as hell didnt. I knew I was attracted. I knew the kick of hormones was damn hard to ignore. But I wouldnt have pounced, Soph, because I figured the last couple weeks were seriously traumatic for you. I dont like the idea of taking advantage of your vulnerability.
Youre not vulnerable?
Guys arent vulnerable, didnt you know? Besides, for us, sex cures everything.
Who knew? she teased. But then she stopped kidding around and gave him a straight answer. I didnt plan this. I didnt know or dream it was going to happen. And if you dont want it to happen again, it wont.