By the time he took her hand and led her inside, awareness and desire had all but overwhelmed her. But she had no reservations, no doubts. She was ready.
DESPITE THE COLD OUTSIDE, Colin burned. He watched as Rina shrugged off her jacket, revealing the sexy dress that had tied him up in knots all evening. He reached out for her coat then dropped it onto the couch beside his. "You know, if it wasn't for the snow on the ground, we'd never have made it inside."
"And why's that?" Mischief twinkled in her eyes.
Sexy mischief he couldn't resist. "As if you don't know. I want you so badly, the walk from the car to the house was pure torture."
She threw her shoulders back and strutted toward him. There was no other word for her deliberately provocative movements. She meant to inflame his senses and she accomplished her goal beautifully.
"Then what are we doing wasting time talking?"
"Damned if I know." She'd tasted delicious and he wanted more. Reaching for her shoulders, he brought her flush against him, sealing his lips against hers and sealing the inevitable outcome at the same time.
A purring sound rose from her throat and reached inside him. His lips traveled to her cheeks, following a moist path down her neck and pausing to nibble on her bare, luscious throat. He inhaled and smelled pure femininity, pure Rina, and a burst of desire shot through him.
A purring sound rose from her throat and reached inside him. His lips traveled to her cheeks, following a moist path down her neck and pausing to nibble on her bare, luscious throat. He inhaled and smelled pure femininity, pure Rina, and a burst of desire shot through him.
Her head tipped backward, affording him better access, and he took advantage, licking and nibbling at her flesh. "I want to feel you naked," she murmured. "Skin against skin, I need to know what your body feels like against mine."
He smiled. This was what he liked best about Rina, the surprises. Demure and quiet on the car ride home, tigress now.
Pulling her closer, he brought her against him. Chest to chest, groin to groin, until his hard erection pressed fully into the vee of her legs, he shut his eyes and savored the intense feeling. "You'll fit perfectly."
"Then let's get naked and see," she said impishly, a blush on her cheeks and a smile on her face.
He didn't need a second invitation. He reached for the short hem of her dress at the same time she did and together they pulled the garment up and off. She was a vision in red-red bra, red panties, all sinfully decadent. "I've died and gone to heaven."
"Care to take me with you?"
"Hell, yes." He was harder than he'd ever been and he gritted his teeth, unbuttoning his denim shirt. But before he could finish, she grabbed on to the material and ripped the shirt down and off his shoulders.
"Slow has its time and place, Colin. But now's not it."
He agreed and reached to unhook her bra. If he thought she was incredible in all that lace, she was even more superb without it. Her breasts were plump and enticing, her nipples peaked and ready as she stepped toward him. She let her fingers travel to the waistband of his pants, and next thing he knew, he was kicking the trousers aside.
"Boxers or briefs? I'd wondered." She bit her lip in intense concentration, gazing downward at his straining erection begging for relief, near to bursting against his boxer shorts.
When she deliberately let her hand graze over the bulge in his pants, Colin's restraint vanished. Moving quickly, he backed her to the couch, tossed the clothes onto the floor and came down on top of her on the black leather sofa. Her body was soft, supple and pliant beneath his; warm and wet where her damp, dewy essence cradled him in heat.
His mouth met hers, the kiss ravenous, a release of all the pent-up sexual tension they'd been creating all week. She tasted of wine and Rina and he couldn't get enough. His tongue thrust into her waiting mouth as he mimicked the movement with his hips, jerking forward, getting as close as possible without entering her willing body. That would come.
At the moment, their bodies were in sync, as well as their minds. He opened his eyes in time to see her watching him, eyes glazed with desire and a depth of emotion that would have shaken him if he wasn't feeling it himself. For days now they'd danced around each other, feeding the mutual need and teasing one another with erotic touches and silent promises. With foreplay.
His body shook with the need to keep those promises now.
Taking him off guard, she wrapped her legs around his back, lifting her feminine mound off the couch and grinding her body in an enticing circular motion against his. The wave beckoned slowly, building to a heated crescendo that could have but one resolution.
No way in hell was he coming without being inside her. Neither, he swore to himself, would she.
"Condoms are in the bedroom," he managed to say, hoping like hell he wasn't killing the mood.
"They're also in my purse on the floor next to you." Despite the intimacy of their position, a flush rose to her cheeks.
She was obviously embarrassed that she'd been so anxious, and the fact that she wasn't proficient at this made her all the more endearing. He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, wanting her to know she was special.
"Colin?"
"Mmm?"
"I'm on the Pill and haven't been with a man since my husband." She paused, then shook her head. "What I'm trying to say isI'm safe."
He inhaled deep. He'd never made love to a woman without protection, never wanted the responsibility a mistake could cause. He'd contemplated the notion with his wife. Marriage had him thinking of family in the traditional sense, but Julie hadn't been eager to lose her figure. Another thing they should have discussed before tying the knot. After her departure, he'd applauded her selfishness since it left him with no permanent ties to a woman he considered nothing more than a mistake.
Rina was different. In every way. "I'm safe, too," he admitted.
"You don't feel safe," she said, squeezing her thighs tighter, intensifying the spiraling sensations. She lay her head back and moaned, and the thought of being inside her with no barriers between them, nothing except melding flesh, made him burn hotter. To hell with the consequences, with the problems lying ahead of them.
To hell with everything but this. He pulled the thin string holding her panties until the material tore in two, and when the panties joined the growing pile on the floor, Colin saw perfection. Glistening, dewy perfection surrounded by creamy white thighs with a triangle of dark hair on top.
"Sweet heaven," he muttered. He moved aside long enough to pull off his boxers and drop them to the floor, then noticed she'd changed positions. Against the black sofa, she lay, legs spread wide, waiting. For him.
He came over her, his hands grasping her thighs at the same time his thumbs caressed and parted her silken, damp flesh. Her breath caught in her throat, her pleasure unmistakable.
"This works for you?" He ran a finger over her slick heat, slipping inside.
"Oh, yes." Her hips jerked upward in silent acknowledgment, taking him in deeper.
At the simulation of sex, a shudder wracked his body, making him feel as out of control as he'd been when he was a teenager. But no, he thought. This was far worse, because no other woman had ever affected him this way.
And Rina hadn't been with anyone since her husband. The thought both sobered and humbled him. He wanted to give her perfection. He wanted to give her everything he had.
Nudging his erection at her engorged opening, he thrust fast and deep, giving her what he needed, what he sensed, hoped she needed, as well. From her satisfied cry that shook the silent house, he'd been right.
He wanted to savor the moment that had been so long in coming, but they were both too far gone. Her hips gyrated, seeking release, and his body thrust of its own volition, only too happy to comply. Harder, hotter, the slick, synchronized movement between them created not just intense sensation but a swell of emotion he hadn't been prepared to face.
Though he'd known he and Rina wouldn't just have sex, the perfection of the moment completely overwhelmed him. But as she repeated her earlier motion, wrapping her legs around his back and nearly lifting herself off the couch, she brought him so deep into her he didn't know where he left off and she began. And he didn't want to know.
He only wanted to feel, and when she dug her nails into his flesh and let go completely, Colin felt set free.
CHAPTER EIGHT
COLIN STRETCHED OUT beside Rina, every inch of his lean, hard male body coming into delicious contact with her skin. His fingers tangled in her hair and he pulled her close. After their encounter on the couch they'd moved to his bed, where she'd slept more deeply than she'd ever remembered. Making love to him had been a mind-altering experience, one she was all too ready to repeat this morning.
But not yet. "Tell me about Julie." Logan had planted the seeds of her curiosity surrounding Colin's past and Rina wanted to explore them. To know more about this enigmatic man who made her come apart so easily.
But not yet. "Tell me about Julie." Logan had planted the seeds of her curiosity surrounding Colin's past and Rina wanted to explore them. To know more about this enigmatic man who made her come apart so easily.
He groaned. "Hell of a way to start the day," he muttered.
Okay, so it wasn't the best question first thing the morning after, but she'd spent the night in his arms. He'd spent it inside her body. She figured that allowed her some leeway.
"She's my ex-wife." He rolled over and propped up on one arm.
The sheet pulled low on his chest and the urge to press her breasts against him and drop this whole conversation was strong. Unfortunately, her curiosity was stronger. "And?"
He met her gaze. "She's in the past."
"A painful past?" She probed deeper.
He shrugged. "It only hurts if you care. I'm over it."
"I should hope so, considering where we are."
He exhaled hard, and she knew he was going through that frustrating process of male withdrawal. "So why do I have the feeling that knowing Julie's in the past isn't enough?"