by Robin Gianna
“I’d like to see that.” The image had her giggling again. “Maybe I’ll come punting with you again sometime after all.”
“No maybe about it.” He pressed his lips to hers and her humor faded as she clutched his wet sleeves, a part of her mind vaguely thinking that it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to be trapped on a boat with him for days on end. Not a bad thing at all.
The boat lurched again, banging their mouths together. “Ouch!” Hope pressed her fingers to her lips, and he pulled them away, peering with a frown.
“You okay?”
“Yes. You?” She pressed her fingers to his lips and he smiled against them before kissing each one.
“No blood. Which is unfortunate, since a man like me enjoys bragging about sporting injuries.” He stood and grabbed the pole, pushing them from the bank. “Even so, I’d better get this boat under control before we hit some wild rapids.”
“There are no wild rapids on the River Cam.”
“Are you sure? Because just being on it with you has felt like a wild ride, and I’m ready for more of it.”
A wild ride. Being with Aaron was definitely that. Even as he steered the boat, his eyes kept returning to hers, holding so much heat that her skin warmed without even his touch. She didn’t have to be a mind reader to know exactly what the man had “more of” in mind, and her breath caught.
Should she let herself have one more wild ride with him?
She watched his muscles bunch as he pushed the pole into the water, his wet sleeves outlining his forearms and biceps with every steady stroke. His gaze collided with hers, and she knew the answer.
Yes. This crazy attraction between them was like nothing she’d felt before. Aaron didn’t want a relationship, and she didn’t either. She’d spent her life being confident in what she wanted and acting on it, including her decision to get pregnant and start a family. She felt good about that. She did, except for those times she let the negative voices of her past drown out her optimism.
And right now, she felt good about Aaron Cartwright, too. She wanted him, and couldn’t think of a single reason why she shouldn’t act on it for one more doubtless amazing time.
Her future plans weren’t a factor. They weren’t his business or anyone else’s. He’d move on and she’d have her new life and all would be wonderful.
“You still have that brandy in your apartment you offered me before?”
“I do.” His brow arched over the super-heated gleam in his eyes. “You needing to be warmed up?”
“I am,” she said softly, resolutely throwing all caution overboard. “I find I’m needing it very much.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“HERE.” AARON WRAPPED Hope’s slender fingers around the snifter, his mouth already watering just thinking about how it would taste on her tongue when he kissed her. “Liquid warmth.”
“Mmm. Liquid warmth sounds nice.”
It sure did. His breath backed up in his lungs at the way she looked up at him beneath her lashes, a sexy smile on her lips as she sipped the brandy. The kind of liquid warmth he wanted to get his fingers on—her own special brand of liquid warmth that another part of his body couldn’t wait to enjoy again. A part currently throbbing so hard he could barely think.
He remembered to take a swallow of his own drink, thinking maybe he should chug it instead of sip it so they could move on fast to the next part of their evening together. It would burn his throat, but would doubtless be preferable to this burning desire for her that he could barely bank down.
“So tell me,” he asked, partly because he wanted to know, and partly because he needed to ratchet back his libido before he pounced on her like a Rottweiler on a filet mignon. “Why did you decide you wanted to come here tonight, when you told me after the gala that you could only offer me one time together?”
“Because I realized short-term fun doesn’t have to be limited to once.” She set her glass on the bar and stepped close to wrap her arms around his neck, a smile in her beautiful eyes. “Twice seems like a good plan when it’s you, which is why I decided to seduce you one last time.”
“Was that you seducing me?” A short laugh came from his chest, despite the disturbing feeling her words “one last time” gave him. And why they felt disturbing was a complete mystery, since women who didn’t want anything from him were exactly the kind he preferred to date. “Insulting a man’s skill at sport is how you seduce him?”
“Well, honestly, I don’t have a lot of experience in seduction, so I’m sorry if my technique was lacking.” Her lips came against his in a featherlight touch. “Asking to come here for brandy was about as forward as I get.”
“You don’t need a single seduction technique, Hope,” he whispered against the sweet lips touching his. “You seduced me the second I saw you at the gala. Hell, you seduced me every time I saw you at the hospital when we’d never even met.”
“Sounds like we’re on the same page, then. Mutual seduction for one more memorable night.”
He looked deep into the sincere blue of her eyes, realizing she really meant that she wanted this to be it for them, and wondered if the peculiar, off-balance sensation that gave him was from the shoe being on the other foot this time, or from something else.
He carefully set his snifter on the bar, but before he could analyze what he was feeling Hope pressed her soft breasts to his chest and kissed him.
His eyes closed as her tongue licked across his lower lip, then swept inside to dance with his. Just as he’d guessed, the taste of the brandy in both their mouths added one more layer of tingling heat to their kiss. A kiss that held the same intense chemistry he’d felt with her that very first night roared through his blood, leaving him feeling dazed and crazed and more than a little out of control.
He grasped her shapely butt cheeks in his palms and lifted her, achingly sliding her body up his until it was right where he needed it to be. At first, he felt beyond grateful she responded by wrapping her legs tightly around his waist, until the pressure of her pelvis against his rock-hard body nearly undid him. He groaned into her mouth, and took a few steps to his biggest armchair before his legs buckled under him, sitting with her knees on either side of his hips.
“Time to enjoy some more of that liquid warmth,” he managed to say as he found the elastic waist of her sweat pants and slid his hand inside.
“I left my brandy on the bar. I—oh, Aaron...”
He slipped his fingers farther inside her panties, loving the sound of his name on her lips. The sound of her moan. “This is the liquid warmth I’ve wanted all night. You, too?”
Her answer was unintelligible against his mouth, her breathing growing as ragged as his own. The soft slide of her mouth and tongue against his, the feel of her wet heat, was about to make him lose control, and he pulled his mouth from hers. Forced his hazy mind to focus on how he was touching her, on bringing her the pleasure she deserved. The pleasure he wanted so much to give.
The problem with that plan was that he was looking at her now. At her eyes, staring at him, slightly glassy but filled with desire, too. At her lips, moist, parted as she breathed. Just like that first night when he’d touched her like this, as his blood pounded through his veins and his heart drummed in his ears he was certain he’d never seen anything as beautiful as Hope Sanders about to climax.
He brought his other hand from her back to tunnel beneath her shirt and her bra, cupping her breast and caressing her nipple softly with his palm. “Come for me, Hope,” he whispered, because he wanted to see her face when it happened, and because he was afraid if she didn’t he damned well might and completely embarrass himself. “I want to be inside you, and—”
“I...we...oh...” Her voice trembled and shook with her body, and when she finally opened her eyes again, he expected that she might look a little self-conscious, just as s
he had their first night together. Instead she gave him a slow smile, then reached to press both palms to his beating heart, filling him with that sense of connection he kept feeling with her. Of belonging, which made no sense because he’d never really belonged anywhere. Had always known he never would.
“Aaron.” She leaned forward to kiss him and he sank into the pleasure of it, surprised that after the intense heat of the past minutes the sensation felt more sweet and intimate than lustful. He held her face between his hands and made love to her mouth. Tunneled his fingers into the silky soft, golden waves that had been the very first thing he’d noticed about her long ago.
He had a feeling they would have sat that way for a long, blissful, strangely content moment if Hope hadn’t broken the kiss to pull her shirt over her head. Slid from his lap to wriggle out of her athletic pants. She reached for his pants as she stood there, gorgeous and tantalizing, in only her bra and panties, and his breath got stuck in his lungs. “Time for these to come off, Dr. Cartwright. Ecstasy Street doesn’t go only one way.”
“You’re the driver.” Only too happy to strip fast, he had his clothes off in record time and pulled her underwear off, too. Picking her up to sit straddling his lap once more, he got distracted by the view. Her pink nipples on pert breasts, her smooth, pale shoulders, the slender curve of her waist and the moist triangle between her legs he’d had the privilege to touch only moments ago.
“You are so beautiful. I could look at you all night. Kiss you all night.” It was true, and the first thing he wanted to kiss was that taut bit of pink candy right in front of him. He lowered his head to take her nipple into his mouth, but to his surprise she jerked back.
“Uh-uh. You gave me the driver’s seat, remember?”
“Yeah. But the passenger’s allowed to touch the music dial, right?”
Her eyes laughed at the same time they smoldered. “Maybe later.” Her warm palms cupped his cheeks as she kissed him, then slid down to his chest and stomach, and every inch they traveled sent sparks across his flesh. He lifted his hands to her breasts, hoping like hell she wouldn’t object, because he wanted to touch her, too, wanted to feel every inch of her soft skin.
After long minutes of kissing and touching until both were more than ready to move to the next step, he stood, carrying her in his arms as he strode to the bathroom to grab a condom. She took it from him with a smile so sensuous, it stole what little breath he had left. He realized at that moment there was nothing in the world more seductive than a sweet, smart woman who knew what she wanted both outside and inside the bedroom.
He dropped back down into the chair and groaned as she took charge of the condom, then lifted herself onto him. They moved slowly together, and the connection between them changed. More intimate, more overwhelming, as she moved on him. The look that had been on her face when he’d touched her was there again, her eyes intensely fixed on his as they moved in a rhythm as perfect and fulfilling as what they’d shared before. As he grasped her hips and made her one with him. As they moved together, building speed, until they peaked and crested and rounded the corner, flying across the finish line together.
Her silky hair spreading across his chest, her breath came hot against his chest as she collapsed onto him. He slowly stroked her back and beautiful round bottom, trying to get his breathing under control, feeling as blissed-out as he’d ever felt in his life. Then a peculiar sensation permeated the fog and his eyes sprang open in horror.
“Jesus, Hope.” She lifted her head to look at him, clearly hearing the panic in his voice. “I think the condom broke.”
* * *
Hope practically fell off his lap, all post-lovemaking deliciousness obliterated as Aaron jumped up, and the truth of his statement was instantly all too obvious. She looked up from the offending condom to see alarm all over Aaron’s face.
“I’m so sorry. Damn it, this is...” He stopped and shook his head, his voice tight as he strode off to the bathroom to take care of the problem.
She wished she could reassure him that he didn’t need to worry, but was afraid any conversation about her fertility issues would lead to things she didn’t want to talk about. Like her plans for IVF and why, which were no one’s business but hers.
But she could tell him she was at the wrong time of her cycle, which was the truth. Except standing there naked with the bloom completely off the rose, so to speak, wasn’t the time to have a conversation about anything. She grabbed up her underwear and bra, getting them on in record time before Aaron came back. He’d somehow donned his sweatpants again, and had a big navy blue robe in his hands that he held open for her.
“I don’t know what to say,” he said, a deep frown between his brows. “I just bought the damned things, so how that could have happened, I don’t know.”
She slipped into the robe and tugged it tightly around her, figuring she’d feel better if she covered up now and finished dressing later in private. “Well, the good news is I keep careful track of my cycle, and this isn’t the time for anything to happen, so I’m positive we don’t need to be worried about that.”
“You’re sure?” He looked at her from his bar where he’d picked up their brandy snifters again, placing them on a table next to the chair.
“I’m sure.” Poor man was finally looking more normal, thank goodness. He’d blanched so white she’d thought he might pass out. Obviously, he was a man who had zero interest in being a father, but then again, nobody wanted an unexpected pregnancy from a fling, anyway, right? But his distress was the perfect reason to emphasize again that they couldn’t go out anymore, and she had a feeling that this time he’d agree.
She couldn’t allow that thought to make her feel slightly blue.
“I probably should head on home now. I assume you’re willing to give me a lift? Or do I need to ride my bike home?” she said jokingly, resolutely squashing the inconvenient regret suddenly poking at her heart over never seeing him again.
“Funny.” He closed the gap between them to grasp her elbows. A fairly loud breath of obvious relief whooshed from his lungs as he kissed her forehead. “Sorry I freaked out, but I figured you’d be upset, too. If you’re not worried, though, that’s good.”
Not worried about the broken condom, but about him finding out about her IVF plans? For whatever reason, the thought still made her very uncomfortable, no matter how confident and good she felt about that decision.
“No worries. Honest.” She tugged loose from his hold and leaned over to pick up her clothes again, squeaking in surprise when he swept her up into his arms and sat back down in the chair.
“I’ll take you home soon, but I want to feel your warm body curved in my lap just a little longer,” he said, touching his lips to her forehead and folding her close against him. “All right?”
“All right.” And it was. More than all right. His firm chest and soft skin felt like the perfect place to rest her head, and she let herself relax into the rare comfort of being held like this. “So tell me more about your adoption foundation,” Hope murmured, since she’d been wondering but hadn’t asked yet. Apparently too distracted by all the kissing and lovemaking they’d done since practically the moment they’d met. “I heard you’ve got another Christmas party scheduled for it?”
“Next Wednesday. The hotel where we held the fund-raising gala is giving me a good price on one of their meeting rooms, and my office staff is decorating it.”
“More fund-raising with a different crowd?”
“No. This one is to give parents wanting to adopt a chance to meet children in a casual, fun environment. And for the kids to meet them, too, without the pressure and nervousness that can come with one-on-one introductions.”
His hands slowly moved on her, up and down her arm, stroking her neck, cupping her jaw, twining his fingers with hers, and a fuzzy tenderness filled her heart. She’d been touched
before. She was thirty-four-years old, for heaven’s sake. Why did it feel so different, so overwhelming, with this man?
Probably because her plans to have a baby, to change her life, had given her a reason to relax around him. To not worry about what she could or couldn’t give. A sense of freedom, she supposed, since all the usual dynamics of dating didn’t apply anymore.
“That’s such a great idea,” she said, trying to focus on the conversation without getting distracted. Impressed all over again at how caring he was, how multifaceted. “Really wonderful—I can just picture all the children and adults enjoying spending time together, but with an important purpose, too.”
“It works well. Everyone eats together and plays games, and with any luck find a good fit they want to pursue.”
“Do you need some help? I did a lot of babysitting as a teen—babies are so adorable, it’s what made me decide to become a midwife. But I enjoy all children, and I know quite a few games that would be fun to play.”
“That would be great.” He smiled down at her, pressing his lips to her nose. “I’m jealous I never had a babysitter like you. I can easily picture you as the cutest, most popular babysitter a kid could want.”
Why did everything he said make her heart feel absurdly warm and squishy? They were just words, the kind a man like Aaron flirted and teased with, but she couldn’t help but like hearing them anyway. “I’ll plan on it, then.”
The second the words were out of her mouth, she froze. Tonight was clear evidence that she couldn’t resist his charms whenever they spent time together, even when she planned to. What was she thinking? She was about to start her fertility treatments. Any more time with him was out of the question.
Panic welled up as her mind spun, trying to find a plausible excuse to back out of her ill-thought-out commitment, at the same time wishing she could help such a great cause. Then grinned at the “eureka” solution that struck her. Unwitting chaperones.
