Three Day Fiancee (Animal Attraction)

by Marissa Clarke

  Him. Yeah, it was definitely him and not the circumstances. Crap.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Taylor pulled off one of Caitlin’s boots and then the other, loving the sound of her heavy breathing as she came down from her orgasm. Once her socks, pants, and mind-blowingly sexy thong were off, he removed her bra and sat next to her on the bed, tracing lazy circles around her nipples as her body came back to earth—and to life.

  Responsive, beautiful Caitlin was everything he’d hoped. Which in more ways than one was his worst-case scenario. He was leaving. His still-hammering heart constricted at the thought.

  “You have on way too many clothes,” she said in a sleepy, raspy voice.

  He brushed some hair from her face. “You have on the right amount.” Completely, totally, and fantastically naked.

  “Seriously.”

  “Seriously,” he repeated.

  With an adorable growl, she sat up and flung the bra at her elbow across the room to land, as luck would have it, on the knob of the dresser. Laughing, she stood to face where he sat on the end of the bed. “We’re going to fix this right now.”

  When she neared to unbutton his shirt, he took one of her nipples into his mouth, running his tongue over hard tip, then repeated it on her other breast. Between moans and frustrated growls, she managed to unbutton his shirt.

  “You’re not helping,” she said.

  “Sorry.” He gave her nipple one last slow circle and sat up straight so she could shove his shirt off of his shoulders before popping open the fly on his pants.

  “Stand, please,” she said, taking a step back.

  He didn’t want her to step back. He wanted her so close there wasn’t even room for air between them.

  When he stood, she unzipped his pants and began to shove them down, along with his boxer briefs.

  A sexy mmmm sound came from her when he sprang free. He remained still while she stood there, completely naked, checking him out. Her blond hair was still bed-rumpled from earlier. Perfect. She was absolutely perfect, which was…not perfect.

  His dick throbbed under her gaze.

  “You’re…beautiful,” she said. “Everything about you.”

  Well, that wasn’t exactly the word he was going for, but he’d take it. He sat on the bed and yanked off his boots and everything else in a matter of seconds. Just as quickly, she shoved him to his back on the bed and climbed up his body to kiss him senseless.

  The feel of her was unbelievable. Soft, smooth woman all the way down to where she straddled him. He couldn’t help but surge up against her at the feel of her slick heat against his swollen flesh. She moaned and slid forward and back, which made him moan back. He wanted to flip her beneath him, but he reigned himself in. They only had this one night together and he wanted it to be her night all the way.

  She broke the kiss and moved down his body, leaving kisses across his chest and abdomen, then hovered over his erection, her breath puffing over the sensitive skin, making him light-headed.

  “Caitlin…” He left it at that because his brain fogged up when she lowered her lips to him, tentatively ran her tongue over the head, and then down his hard length.

  “So, yeah?” she whispered.

  “Yeah.” He fisted the quilt at his sides as she took him in her mouth. Hot, wet. Fucking perfect. “Hell, yeah.”

  She wrapped her fingers around him and pumped in time with her mouth until he was about to lose it.

  “Stop.” His voice was a husky whisper. “Not yet.” He wanted tonight to be about her, and this was definitely not. He guided her back up his body, focusing on control so he could make this good for her. She deserved someone to make everything about her.

  Instead of stopping when she got level with him, she kept climbing toward the head of the bed and rolled onto her side, arms open, inviting him to her.

  Best invitation he’d ever had. When he reached her, she wrapped her leg over him, pulling their lower halves together as she ran a hand over his chest.

  “I really want to make love to you, Caitlin. Be inside you.”

  “I thought we’d already acknowledged that was the goal,” she teased. “For both of us.”

  He rolled on top of her, seating himself between her thighs. “A worthy goal.”

  “Totally attainable,” she said, adjusting to center herself beneath him.

  “Mmmm.” He thrust forward and back, sliding his erection over her wet heat before taking her mouth in a long, slow kiss. Without a doubt the best kiss he’d ever had. Everything about her was the best he’d ever had. No doubt sex would be as well. But they could stop right now, and he’d still be in awe. Fortunately, she didn’t want to stop, and she made that perfectly clear by gripping his ass and encouraging him to grind against her.

  Breathless, she broke their kiss. “I sure hope you brought supplies.”

  He furrowed his brow, pretending to not understand what she was talking about, and she blushed, then gave an exasperated sigh. “A condom.”

  Fighting a grin, he asked seriously, “You don’t have one?”

  “No. I didn’t expect to… This wasn’t…” She gave a frustrated huff. “Dammit.”

  “I wasn’t expecting to either… But I hoped.” He made a long, slow surge forward and back.

  Her grip tightened on his ass. “Tell me you have one.”

  “I don’t have one.” When her body went limp beneath him, he added quickly. “I have three.”

  “Oh, thank God,” she said on a sigh, and then added, “Well, don’t just lie there doing nothing. Go get one!”

  Taylor Blankenship had one of the finest backsides Caitlin had ever seen—not that she’d seen a zillion, but enough to know his was prime. As were other parts of him. Especially one part. She bit her lip when he leaned over to rummage around in his backpack. Yep. Definitely the finest ass ever.

  With a cocky grin, he returned to the bed, brandishing the wrapped condom like a winning lotto ticket.

  “Stop waving it around and give it here,” she said, snatching it from his fingers. It was almost impossible to tear it open with him nipping and licking his way up her body, sending shivers down her spine and heat between her legs.

  He chuckled. “You in a hurry?”

  “A little bit, yeah.” Or a lot. And it was made much worse when he took her breast in his hot mouth, swirling his tongue around her nipple. Finally, she got the package open. Hallelujah.

  Taylor rose up on all fours and grinned down at her, which made her breath catch. Then, he took the condom and rolled it on, which she’d never imagined would be such a turn-on, but watching his muscles flex as he prepared himself for her was off-the-scale hot.

  In the next moment, though, the hotness scale was completely obliterated when he slid inside her with one long, fluid motion, filling her as she groaned with ecstasy and relief.

  This felt so right. Like his body was a perfect match for hers.

  “Caity,” he murmured in her ear. “So tight.”

  She gasped as he slid almost all the way out and groaned when he thrust back deep inside her again. He did this several more times in a slow, deliberate rhythm that had her gasping for air, as he stretched and filled her completely. “More,” she said, wrapping her legs around him. She’d never felt like this. Been like this. Overcome by need. “More, Taylor.”

  He laughed and pushed up on his arms to look down at her. “Yes, ma’am. See, I told you so. I love to follow orders.”

  And he did follow them, giving her more, just as she’d asked. In and out, he plunged. Harder and faster as she flattened her feet on the mattress to thrust up and meet him, which evidently worked for him, too, because his breathing became as ragged as hers. Their bodies slick with sweat.

  Reaching under the small of her back, he wrapped his arm around her, changing the angle of their bodies until they were grinding together, causing the most amazing friction in the perfect spot that sent lightning through her body. “Taylor,” she called out as the pressur
e built in her core.

  “Uh-huh,” he said. “Holy fuck, Caitlin. The way you move.”

  Only, she could hardly move at all because of the building orgasm. She could only feel. Again and again, he drove into her until her fingers and toes tingled and she couldn’t get enough air. “Taylor,” she screamed as she finally shattered, taking him right along with her, as he ground out her name through gritted teeth.

  It took a while before she caught her breath and her heart slowed to a non-fatal speed. Taylor kissed her slow and easy, as if he were savoring a fine wine. Something to remember me by, she thought, chest tightening. The melancholy didn’t last long, though, because he rolled off of her and grinned. Sex had never been a grinning matter with her before, but just like everything else, he made it fun and easy.

  Or maybe that was because this was a one-night fling, she told herself when he disappeared into the bathroom. There’s no need to get intense and serious when you’re never going to see each other again. Way to be intense and serious, Caitlin, she scolded herself.

  “Amazing,” Taylor said when he returned, still smiling. “Like, wow.”

  She couldn’t agree more. Wow. She wiggled her toes and stretched, loving the feel of her post-lovemaking body with its aches in all the right places. Taylor evidently loved it too, because he was already getting hard again. Now it was her turn to grin.

  “I’m thinking three might not have been enough,” he said, pulling another foil packet from his backpack.

  He slid into bed next to her and trailed his fingertips over her skin with a touch as light as a butterfly. “I’ve never enjoyed being with anyone this much.”

  And while that sentiment should have made her feel fantastic, it caused a deep, thudding ache to bloom in her chest. No. She wouldn’t give in to this ridiculousness. She didn’t want a relationship. She wanted this moment. She wanted fun. And, man, oh, man was this fun. The most fun she’d ever had. And as she rose up to straddle him, she made up her mind to enjoy this night to the fullest.

  The grin on Taylor’s face indicated he was totally down with this plan.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Taylor yawned and stretched, feeling better than he had in a long time. Better than he’d ever felt, probably. Faint sunlight glowed around the edges of the curtains. His watch showed two minutes to six, which meant this party was over. And a hell of a party it had been, as evidenced by the three empty condom wrappers on the nightstand and the warm, sleeping woman whose legs were tangled with his.

  For a moment, he just stared at her peaceful face, which a few hours ago had been flushed pink with exertion and pleasure. They say the third time’s a charm. What, then, he wondered, would the fourth time be? He hoped to hell he’d get to find out. He had a week before he moved to Boston. Six more nights with Caitlin, if he was lucky—and at that moment, he felt pretty lucky as she snuggled in closer and draped her arm over his chest.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  Damn it all. Did no one in his family know how to text?

  Caitlin came awake with a grumble, and he smiled at her.

  “Hey,” she said in a sleepy voice that made him hard again.

  “Hey yourself.”

  Knock, knock, knock. “Thirty minutes until your chauffeur leaves for the train station,” his father called through the closed door.

  “Got it. Thanks,” Taylor answered back.

  Caitlin rubbed her eyes and stretched. “Thirty minutes?”

  “Yep.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “They’ve got a long drive in the opposite direction after they drop us off. You can shower first, if you want.”

  “No, go ahead. I’ll pack up and stuff.”

  He leaned over and gave her a kiss that turned into something way more than he’d intended when she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back onto the bed.

  “Thirty minutes,” he reminded her, breaking away. “Probably more like twenty-five now.”

  Groaning, she pulled the covers over her head.

  He opened the door so Beau could go out and do his business. “I took you for a morning person.” Fortunately, Beau finished quickly and rushed back inside and leapt up on the bed, leaving snowy paw prints.

  Her voice was muffled by the quilt. “I’m a morning person when I’ve slept more than a couple of hours.”

  Beau rooted under the covers and licked her face.

  “We can sleep on the train.” Taylor scooped up the wrappers on the nightstand, pitched them in the bathroom trash can, and turned on the water in the shower. With a sigh, he stepped under the warm spray. What a night. What a fucking awesome night. He turned to face the spray and lathered his hair with shampoo, loving the stiffness and aches in his body from the workout Caitlin had given him.

  He stuck his head under the shower to rinse and stopped short when soft hands wrapped around his waist, and a curvy body pressed into him from behind.

  “I thought we could save some time and water if we showered together,” Caitlin whispered in his ear before nipping his shoulder.

  “I like the way you think.” He turned to face her, and her eyes dropped to his erection. “Sorry I only brought three,” he said.

  “We have other options.” Her hands drifted lower.

  “I’ll say it again. I like the way you think.”

  …

  Goodbyes sucked. Caitlin hated them. And she also hated the fact she’d become so attached to Taylor and his family in such a short amount of time. They’d all been so sweet and promised they’d get together soon, as if that would make things better. It only made it worse. There wouldn’t be a soon. Not even a not soon. She’d never see them again.

  Bethany and Taylor’s mom had asked for her number so they could keep in touch. She entered their contacts, too, so she’d know not to answer their calls or text back.

  Like a big black hole, her chest seemed to collapse in on itself as she stared out the train window at the snowy trees whizzing by. The train was not nearly as crowded as the one on the way in had been, and they had the row to themselves. Nobody was even seated near them this time. At her feet, Beau was sound asleep, but surprisingly, Taylor was not.

  “Tell me about him,” he said, placing his hand on her thigh.

  “Who?”

  “Your ex.”

  Caitlin’s stomach dropped, and she squeezed her eyes shut. Why now, when they only had a little while left before they parted ways forever, did he choose to dredge this up? She gave a noncommittal shrug. “Not much to tell. ‘Ex’ says it all.”

  But it didn’t say it all, and no doubt he knew it, because he did that thing where he stared at her as if he could read her mind. Suddenly, her seat became super uncomfortable. She shifted and stared out the window, hoping he’d drop it.

  “Jane said it was bad,” he said.

  “Jane needs to not gossip.” Her voice came out harsher than she’d intended.

  “She’s worried about you. She cares. So do I.”

  Gritting her teeth, she tried to focus on the trees whipping by outside the train and not on the ache spreading through her chest. She’d made peace with Taylor leaving. She didn’t need this complication of his caring.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Tell me.”

  The trees outside the window blurred as her heart pounded painfully. No one had ever pressed her about the details of her failed marriage, not even Jane and Fiona. God knew her mom had never asked, and she hadn’t seen or spoken with her dad since early high school. She clasped her hands together to keep from fidgeting. There was no way to spin it any way other than she’d been incredibly naive and gullible.

  His voice was calm. “Please, Caitlin.”

  She took a deep breath and met his gaze. Okay. CliffsNotes version. “Gary was a jerk. He told me if I loved him, I’d drop out of college when he graduated and marry him. So, like a fool, I did.”

  Taylor shifted in his seat to angle toward her more. “And then?”

  Of course, h
e wouldn’t let it go. Her cheeks flushed hot from embarrassment. “And then, he moved me halfway across the country to a farm where I couldn’t meet people and friends easily, which made me dependent on him for everything.” She shrugged and stared out the window again. “Let’s just say he wasn’t a good person to depend on.”

  “You were young.”

  “I was twenty-one. Old enough to know better.” At least she should have known better. Everyone had warned her, but she refused to listen. Gary had made her feel special and wanted, something her parents had skipped, and she fell for it. It wasn’t until she’d dropped out and moved away with him that she realized it had all been an act.

  “Did you love him?”

  His question surprised her. A quick glance confirmed he was sincere. She relaxed the tense muscles in her shoulders, then took a deep breath and released it before she answered. “I thought so at the time. I think I was simply in love with the idea of being in love.”

  For a while, they stared out the window in silence. The warmth from his palm seeping through the fabric of her jeans was calming. It surprised her when she continued without prompting. Talking to Taylor was easy. He was a good listener and didn’t seem judgmental. “Gary systematically isolated me from everyone from the moment we met at a college bar, and I didn’t see it until it was too late. Jane and Fiona told me he was controlling me, but I refused to see it. He was charming and made me feel like he needed me, so when he wanted to hang out alone, just the two of us, I was cool with it.”

  Taylor didn’t say anything, he just rubbed her thigh slowly. Talking to him about it didn’t make her feel the shame she’d expected. Maybe that was because he was leaving, so there was no reason to hold back. Maybe it was because he genuinely cared. Or both.

  She glanced at him, then continued, “After he got me to his family’s farm, he changed. They owned a business in town that manufactured small yard equipment, and he’d gone to college to prepare himself to take it over from his dad. His parents hated me right from the start. I evidently wasn’t good enough for their son.” …which was so different than Taylor’s family, who made her feel like she belonged. She blinked back the tears threatening to escape. “It was a terrible few years. He’d go to work, and I’d be stuck in the middle of nowhere with his mom, who criticized everything I did, until he got home and took up where she left off.”