by Bella Andre
He could never get enough of his wife.
“With everyone showing up soon,” she said, “I wasn’t actually planning on getting naked. But what the heck, let’s walk on the wild side for once.”
“For once?”
His once was strangled by the out-and-out lust that seized him as she yanked her dress over her head and tossed it on the nearest twin bed. When they’d left the house this morning, he hadn’t realized she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath her dress. If he had, he wasn’t sure they would ever have made it out of their bedroom.
In fact, he thought with brain cells that were working at only half speed while his wife was standing in front of him in all her naked, glowing glory, at this point he wasn’t sure they’d be coming out of this bedroom any time soon. Lori’s family and friends would have to wait until he was done wringing every ounce of pleasure out of his beautiful wife.
“Gorgeous.”
Though he made sure to keep his hands gentle on her bare skin, he couldn’t help crushing her mouth under his in a passionate kiss. She moved against him with a catlike purr, working to get closer.
“I want to see you too,” she whispered breathlessly against his lips. Her fingers made short work of the buttons on his long-sleeved shirt, and she was soon shoving it off. As she ran her hands over his shoulders and then down his pectoral muscles, she gave a happy little sigh. “Talk about gorgeous. Maybe it’s shallow of me, but I never get tired of looking at you.” She grinned up at him. “Good thing I’ve never spent much time worrying about being shallow.”
“You’re the most giving person I know,” he reminded her. Lori was harder on herself than anyone else. Yes, she had spunk, and spark, and could be irritating as hell. But she was never cruel or hurtful. And she gave so much more of herself than she expected from anyone else.
“Funny you should say that, because I’m in the mood to give you something I think you’re really going to like. Scratch that—you’re going to love it.”
With that, she gracefully dropped to her knees, clad only in the heels he hadn’t been able to convince her to give up as her pregnancy progressed. The truth was, she really could dance across a tightrope in heels.
Still, that didn’t stop him from worrying. Hell, nothing could stop him from worrying. Nothing except—
The feel of her hands, and then her sweet mouth, on his erection instantly stole his thoughts away. All he could see, all he could feel was Lori. Her skin flushing with excitement and arousal, her tongue sliding up his hard length as though he was the most delicious treat she’d ever tasted.
On a groan that he barely remembered to muffle, he threaded his hands into her hair. Pleasure at her touch had him tightening his fingers in the strands. But instead of complaining about his rough touch, Lori only grew more excited.
He knew how much she loved to tempt him, to tease him, to break through his self-control. And it was the same for him—few things were better than when his spitfire of a wife fully let go while they were making love.
The raw sensuality of her mouth and hands on him had him nearly losing it right then and there. More than his own pleasure, however, he wanted to feel Lori’s heart beating against his chest, her skin slick as it slid against his, her mouth available for him to devour as she tumbled over the edge.
Withdrawing, he bent to lift her to her feet.
“Spoilsport,” was the only word he let her get out before he kissed her, claiming her mouth again with deep possessiveness.
“Later,” he promised her. “I’m going to play with you until your voice is hoarse from crying out.”
“Now,” she begged. “Do it now. Everyone at the party can wait.”
But he was already turning them around so that she was facing the door and he was behind her. Gently, he placed her hands flat against the wood on either side of her head.
“Stay exactly like this. Don’t move, or I’ll stop.”
“You’d have steam coming out of your ears, among other places, if you walked away from me now,” she countered.
But she stayed right where she was, causing his smile to widen.
Grayson knew better than to think that Lori would ever let him control her life, her decisions, her actions—and he would never want to steal away her independence. But they both loved these moments when she gave him her trust and let him guide their pleasure.
All because she knew that nothing was more important to him than her happiness.
Not one single thing mattered more to Grayson than Lori.
Stepping back to look at her, he appreciated the strength of her shoulders, the elegance of her spine, the sweet curve of her hips—and of course, those long, luscious legs that had taken his breath away from the start.
“I don’t know how you do it,” he murmured as he ran his hands slowly over her bare skin. “How you grow more and more beautiful with every day that passes.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but whatever words she’d been about to speak turned into a gratifying moan of pleasure when he slid one hand around from her hips to the vee between her thighs. She was so warm and so soft and so damned slick that she wasn’t the only one moaning as he caressed her.
“Take me, Grayson. Please.” Only Lori could sound so demanding while begging.
Instead, he deliberately lowered his voice to a growl. “Is this what you wanted to show me? How good it feels when you take me in your mouth until I can’t think straight, and then how good it sounds to hear you gasp and moan as you come wild and wet against my hand—”
His dirty talk had her inner muscles clenching against his fingers, tight enough that she stole the breath out from beneath the rest of his words. No longer able to tease either of them another second, he gently widened her stance with his hands on her thighs, then went down to his knees on the wooden floor.
When his mouth closed over her sex, she moaned his name, low and long. Knowing all it would take was one more swipe of his tongue, one tiny press of his thumb over her arousal, and she’d break apart, he held her just at the precipice of bliss. For a few heady moments, he paused to savor, to relish her taste, her scent, her heat.
Of course, he should have known that was when she’d take back control by rocking her hips against his mouth, a movement so small he might have missed it if he wasn’t so attuned to her every breath, each throb of her heartbeat.
He lifted his mouth from her skin at the same moment that he gripped her hips. Not so hard that he’d leave marks, but firmly enough that she was yet again compelled to follow his sensual lead.
“Not so fast.” He thought he heard her muffle a curse. “What was that, my darling wife?”
Though his heart was practically beating through his chest, and he was as hard as stone, he grinned when she let loose a string of curses, making it abundantly clear what she was going to do to him if he didn’t make her come right this very second!
Another time, he might have teased her longer, knowing it would only make her release better when he finally let it come. But today was their baby shower, so he supposed he could give her one of her presents a little early.
Without warning, he slid his finger inside her slick heat at the same moment that he played his tongue over her sex. Her orgasm came hard and raw and perfect as her hips rocked helplessly against his mouth.
He was so desperate for her that he was barely aware of getting up from the floor to press his chest against her back and put his hands over her glorious breasts to play with her extremely sensitive skin while she rubbed the curve of her bottom against his erection.
“Don’t hold back,” she urged him over her shoulder. “I need you, Grayson. All of you.”
Though he was nearly as far gone as he could remember ever being, there was no way he would forget that he needed to be careful with Lori. There would be plenty of time for wild and crazy sex again in the future.
“I don’t want to hurt you or the baby.” He must have said it to her a hundred times during the past few mo
nths.
“You know what the doctor said,” she reminded him, as she had so many times before. “As long as nothing hurts, it’s fine to continue ‘normal intimate relations.’”
She mimicked the doctor’s voice, which usually made him laugh despite himself. But now that they were only weeks away from her due date, he couldn’t laugh about it anymore.
She turned her head to capture his gaze over her shoulder. “I promise everything’s going to be okay, for both me and the baby.” She paused, searching his face. “When have I ever broken a promise to you?”
He blew out a harsh breath. “Never.”
“And I’m not going to start today. Not even when I need you so bad that I feel like I’ll detonate soon if you don’t just take me already.”
“It’s how I feel too.”
“Then take me, Grayson. Love me.”
Between one heartbeat and the next, he was covering her mouth with his and he was taking her. Loving her.
“Lori.” Her name on his lips was a vow. A promise. A prayer.
“I love you, cowboy.”
The smile on her lips, in her voice, in her eyes, sent his body rocketing over the edge, while her words of love brought his heart tumbling toward the kind of ecstasy he’d never known was possible.
Until Lori.
CHAPTER THREE
“I’ve never seen a pregnant woman look so good.” Valentina gave Lori a big hug. “You’re positively glowing.”
Valentina was married to Lori’s movie-star brother, Smith. During the past year, Valentina and Smith had married at Summer Lake in upstate New York, honeymooned in Maine, where they adopted their dog Magoo, then opened Sullivan Studios in San Francisco to produce movies and TV shows. Lori was thrilled that Valentina and Smith had decided to settle full time in the Bay Area. She’d missed her brother so much over the years when he’d been on sets all over the world filming his iconic movie roles.
“I’ve never felt better.” As Lori said it, she couldn’t keep from turning to moon over her husband, whose very sexy moves and loving words were wholly responsible for the current exceptional state of her glow.
Grayson was across the room chatting with Lori’s brother Zach and his pregnant wife, Heather. Zach and Heather were due to have their first child in six weeks. The two couples had discussed having a double baby shower, but given that Zach and Heather had already shared their wedding day, Lori didn’t think it was fair for them to share their baby shower too. The Sullivans would all be getting together again next month to fête them.
Valentina elbowed Smith in the ribs when he remained silent and somewhat scowly. “Doesn’t your sister look great?”
“You really do.” Smith brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her forehead, the same big-brother kiss he’d been giving her since she was two years old. When she was a little girl, he would always watch over her while she played in the backyard to make sure she didn’t hurt herself as she constantly tested her own limits. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that your pregnancy is going so well.”
Though Smith was considered to be one of the best actors of his generation, and should have been able to school his features, he couldn’t quite prevent himself from shooting another scowl in her husband’s direction.
Lori knew how much her brother liked Grayson. Still, Smith had never been particularly good at controlling his protective urges, especially when his little sister had just been drooling over her husband.
She loved few things more than razzing her brother. “In case you missed the day they did sex education in high school,” Lori said in her sweetest tones, “the way a girl and a boy make a baby is—”
When Smith’s hand shot out to cover her mouth, she burst out laughing. She also couldn’t resist pretending to bite his fingers, which had him dropping his hand with alacrity.
“I don’t know why all of my brothers have to be so predictable,” she said to her cousin Cassie, who had just joined the group. “I’m clearly not a virgin anymore.” Lori rubbed her belly to further emphasize her statement.
“Honestly,” Cassie said, picking up the thread of the conversation, “I find it’s easier if my four brothers still think I’m a virgin, even though that ship sailed a long, long time ago.”
All of them laughed, except for Smith, who was still looking a little grumpy, probably because he had guessed why Lori and Grayson had been late to their own party. They’d emerged breathless from her bedroom down the hall with their hair and clothes slightly askew.
“Trust me, Cassie. Even your male cousins want to think that.” Valentina gave Smith a little nudge. “In fact, if we’re going to get any good girl talk in, maybe you should go check that Magoo isn’t tearing up your mom’s backyard.” Almost completely blind, Smith and Valentina’s dog was as handsome and lovable a fellow as they came.
As soon as Smith was out of hearing, Valentina turned back to Lori. “From the gleam in your eyes whenever you look at Grayson, I take it everything I’ve heard about pregnancy hormones and increased libido is true?”
“And then some,” Lori confirmed with a quintessentially naughty grin. “Take it from me, every baby shower should start with a hot quickie.”
“You had sex with Grayson before the party began?” Cassie looked partly shocked. But mostly intrigued. And possibly a tiny bit envious. “Where?”
“My old bedroom.”
Cassie’s eyes grew even bigger. “Have I mentioned recently how much I adore you just for being you, Lori?”
“A girl can never hear it enough.” Lori gave her cousin a big hug. “Just like I can never thank you enough for that ridiculously cool cake. My Instagram feed has been lighting up like the Fourth of July ever since I posted a picture of it—even now I can hear my phone in my purse, dinging away with notifications.”
For their shower, Cassie had made a cake in the shape of a dancing baby girl in a cowboy hat, with cute little pigs and sheep and horses all around her. It was positively brilliant. For the millionth time, Lori wished her cousin didn’t live all the way over on the other coast. Thankfully, over the years Lori had been in so many dance shows along the Eastern Seaboard that she’d been able to visit with Cassie, her other six Maine cousins, and Uncle Ethan and Aunt Beth, quite a lot.
Both Ethan and Beth were here today—they were currently chatting with Lori’s mom, Uncle Max and Aunt Claudia from Seattle, and Uncle William from New York. Her cousin Hudson, a landscape architect, and Brandon, a luxury hotel mogul, hadn’t been able to make it, however. Neither had Ashley, who had stayed in Maine with her son to keep watch over the family business. Lori loved the Irish cafés and gift stores that Ethan and Beth had opened throughout Maine. Time and time again, she had told them that she thought their business would do just as well on the West Coast, in the hopes that they’d expand the family business this way soon.
Fortunately, Cassie’s other siblings were here. Turner was a brilliant animator who had worked on several fantastic movies and TV shows. Rory was an incredibly talented furniture maker who had made the driftwood coffee table in Lori and Grayson’s living room. And Lola not only designed knockout textiles, she was also a knockout bombshell. Thankfully, she was also one of the nicest women on the planet.
Lori was endlessly proud of her cousins. Grayson liked to joke about how many there were. Truth be told, even Lori tended to lose count once she started adding in her second and third cousins in Europe and Australia and Asia. No matter where she went in the world, family was never far away.
Lori put her hand over the spot on her belly where the baby was kicking up a storm, safe in the knowledge that her daughter would always be surrounded by people who loved her.
Realizing she must have drifted off inside her head for a few moments—something that never used to happen before she became pregnant—Lori turned back to Cassie. “When I first saw your cake, I thought it looked too good to eat. But we pregnant women are always hungry. And your cake is so good.” So delicious that she couldn
’t resist snagging another bite from Cassie’s own plate.
“I had a lot of fun coming up with the ideas for it,” Cassie said with smile.
“Anything else—or anyone—you’re having fun with recently?”
“Candy and pastry, yes. Men?” She shook her head. “Nope, not a one.”
Lori raised an eyebrow. “You’re not holding out on any dirty details, are you?”
“Trust me, if I had dirty details to share, you’d be one of the first people I’d tell them to. After all, no one appreciates TMI more than you.”
“I’m going to hold you to that promise. In fact, there are a couple of cowboys Grayson and I know that we could—”
“No!” Cassie held up her hands, clearly horrified by what Lori was about to suggest. “I can’t do setups. They always go terribly, embarrassingly wrong. Besides, you’ve already snagged the best cowboy around.”
“I really have,” Lori agreed, going all dreamy again as she looked over at her husband.
“How has Grayson been holding up during your pregnancy?” Chloe asked, joining the conversation. Married to Lori’s brother Chase and mother to four-year-old Emma and two-year-old Julia, Chloe was a masterful fiber artist who had been the perfect addition to the Sullivan family from day one.
“Fortunately, my pregnancy has been perfect,” Lori replied. “I haven’t been sick. I haven’t had any red flags. I’ve taken my prenatal vitamins and eaten all the right food. Apart from wearing these five-inch spikes—” She lifted up one heeled foot. “—I’m doing everything by the book. Still…” She hadn’t forgotten how tense Grayson had seemed earlier. Nor had she forgotten the look of panic on his face after the dog nearly knocked her over in the kitchen. “Right after we got here, while we were saying hi to Mom, he seemed worried.”
“Though sweet and wonderful, husbands aren’t always rational,” Chloe noted. “In fact, even though they don’t mean to be, sometimes they’re downright out of their minds.”
