The man sat back casually and crossed his legs at the ankles, the way James used to do. Same posture and everything. Slone wasn’t sure if he wanted to hug the guy or throw up the empty contents of his stomach.
“The thing is, no matter what happens we can’t stop living our lives because of a few bad calls. We can’t give up on our dreams, even when we question ourselves or wonder at the outcome.”
Christ, was he sitting next to Tony Robbins? Of all the crap luck. And he had to resemble James on top of it.
But as his mind digested the man’s words, Slone stared at the print on the page without seeing it. Sliding his hand into his pocket, he clutched the warm metal, his brother’s name imprinting on his palm.
James had always possessed the ability to know just what to say at the right moment. Slone had teased his little brother, calling him an arm chair philosopher, but the kid had spooky insight into people. Since James had died, Slone had done exactly what the guy next to him warned about. He’d stopped living, and just…existed. No purpose. No point. Few dreams, and little hope.
Would James have wanted that for him? For him to let Lindsey and the future he saw with her pass him by?
Hell no, came the knee-jerk response. James would narrow his eyes at him and tell him that just because he’d died didn’t mean Slone should stop living. Or hoping. Or wanting for himself what James had left behind.
Damn it.
Couldn’t this revelation have come last week?
Slone stuck out his hand. “Thanks, man. I owe you.”
“No problem,” the guy said as they shook hands, his blue-gray eyes hauntingly familiar. “It’s important to keep hope alive.”
“It’s even better when you can give it to someone else.”
Shoulders squared, he tossed aside the magazine and strutted past the check-in window. He heard papers shuffle. “Sir, wait. You can’t go in there.”
Ignoring the woman, he walked through the door and faced a hall of rooms. “Lindsey,” he bellowed.
A door near the center of the hall cracked open. She peered out. “Slone?”
He marched toward her. “Get dressed, sweetheart. We’re out of here.”
*
“My God, what’s going on? What happened?” Lindsey exclaimed, out of breath.
Though she tried to dig in her heels, she couldn’t manage to tug her hand free from Slone’s iron grip. He continued barreling down the hall toward the elevators.
Once he’d slapped the down button, he finally came to a halt. “I changed my mind.”
Confused and exasperated, she blinked at him. “Um…care to clue me in on that? And why you had to drag me away from my appointment? The timing is so critical, and—”
“You don’t need an appointment anymore.”
As if that answered anything. “It’s a crucial component of the whole plan, Slone.”
“Plans change.” He caught her against him and crushed her lips beneath his.
Shocked, she moaned at the sweet, violent suddenness of his actions. He swallowed the sound she made, his tongue delving into her open mouth. The long searching strokes left her boneless in his arms, surrendering to the urgent need overpowering them both.
The elevator dinged. The doors parted behind her.
Struggling in his grasp, she pushed at him until he reluctantly released her. “We’re in the middle of a hospital,” she said, dazed and a little unsteady on her feet.
“Don’t mind us,” Slone told the couple exiting the elevator. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “The reproductive center is back that way.”
Inside the elevator, he clamped his lips on hers once more. The woman said to her partner on the way out, “Wow, this fertility doctor must be really good.”
As the doors closed, Lindsey couldn’t deny the sensual sparks igniting in her core. The steam of breath from his nostrils struck her cheek in hot bursts. He ate at her mouth, consuming her. He lifted her off her feet to press their chests together. She wanted to drown in the beautiful sensations thrumming across her nerve endings.
Slone wanted her.
He wants me. Can I get an Amen?
But what about the clinic, her appointment, all the prep work that had gone toward today’s procedure?
Jerking her mouth from his, she took choppy breaths. “Slone, does this mean what I think it means?”
He nodded. “We’re going to go make a baby. The old fashioned way.”
The thought of him making love to her sent nervousness rushing through her body, chased by thrills knowing she didn’t have to deny herself the pleasure of him or the end result of a baby. The best of both words, right?
On the way home, he kept one hand fastened on her thigh, as though if he let go she’d fly out the window or something. Then without warning he slammed on the brake, pulled off to the side of the road, and made out with her for five hot and heavy minutes. Their mouths displayed desperate passion. His fingers alternated between tangling in her hair and cupping her breasts greedily. She welcomed his touch.
Coming to his senses after a series of car horns honked at them, he pulled back in his seat, firmed his grip on the steering wheel, and shifted his truck into drive. He punched the gas pedal to the floor. They made it home in record time, lucky they weren’t pulled over for a speeding ticket.
“Upstairs,” he ordered like a drill sergeant. “My bed.”
Yes, sir. She nearly tripped up the steps in her haste. Fitting his hands around her hips, he guided her directly to his room. Like she had plans to go anywhere else?
Inside his bedroom, he kicked off his boots and prowled toward her. As if she was his own personal mission he intended to conquer thoroughly.
His gray eyes smoldered. “Take off your clothes, sweetheart. If you let me do it, I’ll rip them to shreds to get to you.” He undressed with the same restless speed as she did. “God, I want to feel your naked body under me,” he snarled softly.
Fully nude, she managed to slide under the covers before he pounced. Lips against her throat, he growled like a ravenous wolf, kissing hungrily along her jaw as he settled his hips between her open thighs.
“I want you so bad, it hurts to touch you.” The outline of his huge erection burned against her inner thigh. “But it hurts worse not touching you.”
A giggle escaped her lips, a response to his bristle tickling her neck and his outright ravishing of her.
He nipped her earlobe. “What?”
“When you put your mind to something, you go full force, all in.”
He grinned. “Is there any other way?”
“Apparently not for you.”
His smile faded. “I’m going to try like hell, but if I don’t last long this first time, I’ll spend the rest of the night making it up to you. I swear. Any way you want it.”
“I’m not worried,” she said on a sigh as he moved lower.
He cupped and kissed her breasts, nuzzling into her cleavage. “You have the most amazing body.”
“No, I don’t.” Definitely not compared to him, and she knew it. He was hard and muscular and perfect. She was too soft, too curvy, nothing slim or flat to be found.
Arching an eyebrow, he glanced up at her. “You’re insane.” He shook his head. “You have no clue what you do to me.”
“Show me?” she whispered.
“All night,” he said. His tongue flicked one nipple. “And tomorrow morning.” He moved to her other breast, delivering a light stinging bite. “And tomorrow night.” He blew a cool stream of air and her nipple hardened. “So get comfortable. Because you’re pretty much never leaving my bed.”
His tongue made lapping sweeps along the outer and inner plumpness like he intended to stay there all day.
“What if I want to change it up and go to my bedroom?” she asked.
Pretending to give it serious consideration, he tensed his features. “I’ll think about it.” Then he grinned. “Only if we can do it front of the fire, too. And on the kitchen counter.
”
Sexual excitement coursed in her veins. “What about the dining room table?”
“Right. Hope you cleared your calendar. I plan to keep you very busy.”
She ran her fingers through his hair. “Don’t forget we’re trying to make a baby.”
A dimple appeared in his cheek. “This is my first try at that. It’s going to take a lot of practice. And I mean a lot.”
She laughed, then sank her teeth into her bottom lip as he resumed his downward path. “Mmm, you’re off to a good start.”
When he shifted his torso down her body, her knees dropped open to accommodate his big shoulders. His tongue drew lazy circles around her navel. Then he glided his hand from her inner thigh to her center, teasing her opening. He eased one finger inside, and her slickness coated his back-and-forth caress.
“Damn, you’re so wet.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to bury my face between your thighs?”
Oh, my God. She grabbed the sheets in anticipation.
“Some things can’t be rushed.”
True to his word, he took his sweet time during his first taste of her. His face disappeared up to his nose. The first brush of his tongue made her hips buck. He curved his large hands around her thighs, pressing down on her hip bones to keep her still for his devouring. Using his thumbs he parted the soft lips, revealing the swollen vulnerable peak. He sucked and lapped and stroked her with his tongue.
Writhing, she didn’t know where to focus her attention. On the sexy movements of his muscles as he pleasured her, or his fingers playing inside her, or his mouth licking her toward her first orgasm in ages?
Giving up, she lay back and let the tides of pleasure build and build toward the final crash. Lights glittered behind her closed lids like the sparkling bubbles in champagne. Lighter, higher, floating up, up, up… Then they all burst at once.
“Slone!” she screamed.
The swelling, shattering, swelling, shattering friction shook her until she begged him to stop, too sensitive to take any more.
Lifting his head, he sent her a lazy grin. “I like the sound of my name on your lips when you come.”
“I want you inside me so bad I’m going to scream again,” she half-gasped, half-sobbed.
“Your enthusiasm is appreciated, sweetheart. I’ll make sure I earn it.”
A devilish glint in his gray eyes, he moved his sexy body up to cover her, muscles rippling as he went.
With terrifying urgency, her body craved him. The brush of his skin against hers, rocking above her as he made love to her. She needed to be consumed by him more than she needed air.
“Why did we wait so long to do this?” she asked, still surrounded by the weightless haze of bliss.
“I would’ve volunteered on day one. And you would’ve told me to go to hell.”
“I’m an idiot.”
He gave a light laugh. “No, just self-preserving. You had it all figured out, and I didn’t fit into your equation.”
“You fit now.”
He tossed her a sexy grin. “We’re about to find out.”
It seemed strange not using a condom, since she always had before. Tightness ringed her throat. Once they did this, there was no going back. She flattened her palms against his shoulders. “Are you sure?”
Bracing himself on his forearms, he pressed his arousal against her opening. “Absolutely. You?”
When she glanced up at him, her first instinct was to look away from his penetrating gaze. Incomprehensible desire lingered in the depths, so intimate, so intense.
“Yes,” she whispered.
He lowered his head and pressed a soft, tender kiss to her lips. In contrast his hips lunged forward in a powerful thrust, embedding himself fully inside her.
Heavy. Hot. Hard.
Claiming her completely.
Leaving no doubt their lives were forever entwined from this moment on.
Her lungs squeezed at the finality of it, and she gasped for breath.
“You okay?”
“So good,” she murmured.
Nothing felt more right. She couldn’t imagine ever looking back and regretting her choice to make a baby with this man.
Crossing her fingers and wishing on stars, she closed her eyes, letting the mysterious pull of sensual ecstasy sweep her away. Except the reality of Slone’s body cascading against hers, gliding inside, became too potent to disregard.
Their bodies synced instantly, and she welcomed him with each tilt of her hips, beckoning him to give her more. She lifted herself to meet his thrusts. Their joining, pulling away, joining again created an intense friction they both responded to, his groans matching her moans.
The sounds of their lovemaking echoed in the quiet room. Nothing else existed but them, together, pushing, pulling. He dragged his mouth along her skin. She raked her nails across his back. And his muscles were highly responsive to her every touch.
She’d never made love in broad daylight with the curtains open and the shades up. A self-conscious predicament for her, but it came with a glorious view of him.
When he rose up above her, rocking his hips against hers, she ran her hands up his arms. They were hard and chiseled with raw power. Her palms coasted around the heavy curves of his shoulders, gliding across the trimmed hair on his chest, meeting at the center and trailing down his washboard abs that contracted with each plunge.
Using one hand, he grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head. “Keep touching me, and this won’t last much longer.”
“I can’t help it.” She sighed. “You’re too gorgeous to keep my hands to myself. Besides it doesn’t have to last. We have all day—and all night.”
“Yeah, but we only have one first time. I want to leave a good impression.” He winked. “So you’re confident in my abilities.”
“Oh, you exceeded my expectations in the first thirty seconds.”
He grinned. “Good to know. But I can’t come until after you do.”
“I never have except when I’m on top.”
He arched an eyebrow, and she couldn’t decide if his expression held arrogance or confidence. “There’s a first time for everything, sweetheart.”
Then she decided she didn’t care if it was both, as long as he didn’t stop the amazing sensations he delivered with every firm stroke. He lowered onto her, tucking his hands behind her spine to cup her backside. His fingers gripped the curves and pressed her tight to him. The thick base of his shaft embedded deep, stretched her to the point of pleasure-pain.
“You’re so tight, honey.”
She drew a shuddering breath. “It’s been awhile.”
He smiled against her neck. “Lucky me.”
Their bodies molded to each other, striving in perfect rhythm. She had no idea sex could be this great the first time with a man.
Despite her best efforts she couldn’t stop herself from touching him. She scraped her nails along his broad back, around the bobbing globes of his well-shaped butt cheeks. God, he was divine.
As he increased his tempo to shorter, harder drives, she at first dismissed the trembling in her core. Then the sensation intensified, rippling along his shaft.
Shocked, she blurted out, “Oh, my God.”
“You going to come for me, baby?”
“I think so.” She gasped. Oh, wow. Grasping his shoulders, she curled her legs up alongside his torso. “Feels so good…”
“Uh-huh.” His breath struck her skin in rapid bursts of steam. “Oh, yeah. That’s it. God, I can feel you coming.” His body turned as hard as an ice sculpture, hotter than desert sand.
“Yes.” She tensed all over, seized by racking shudders as she climaxed. “Yes!”
Slone wondered if he’d self-destruct when he came inside her.
But the more he pushed and receded, the more he needed her. Goddamn it, he needed her more than life itself. “Lindsey,” he said, her name searing his throat.
<
br /> “Yes,” she encouraged, digging her nails into his ass.
He bellowed a curse. Bucked his hips. And came inside her.
He released a long, low groan and collapsed in her arms.
They lay together for a long time, catching their breath, indulging in the sated pleasure of uncontrollable attraction.
“That was really good,” she said, as he lifted his head and stared down at her with an unfocused gaze.
“Next time, it’ll be really, really good.”
Her eyes rounded. “I’m not sure it can get any better.”
He sent her a wicked grin. “You know I love a challenge.”
Already, he was growing hard inside her.
“A-again?” she stammered.
“Honey, I’m just warming up.”
Their lips sealed in a sizzling kiss, a promise of the hours of sensual bliss that lay in store.
Chapter 8
As Lindsey talked to him about her upcoming job at the school, and dipped the colorful bell peppers she’d sliced into ranch dip, he stood at the stove. In one pan, he turned two seasoned chicken breasts, in the other he moved around chunks of tofu into vegetable stir fry. Yet he couldn’t think of one smartass comment about her choice of a main dish. He was too distracted by the sight of her out of the corner of his eye, sitting on the kitchen counter wearing his shirt that reached her thighs, while she swung her legs casually. Thinking he’d like to scoot her to the edge of the counter and take her again right there.
So he did.
He snapped off the gas to both burners, spun around, and wedged himself between her legs. “Stop talking,” he said against her lips. “I want you again.”
She gave an exaggerated sigh. “I can’t believe you’re not enthralled in me comparing the advantages versus disadvantages of SmartBoards in the classroom.”
With a swift tug he brought her juncture flush against his hips. Her bare legs twined around his waist. Her mouth tantalized him. “The only thing I’m interested in is you.”
Kissing a path along her jaw, he nibbled and sucked her neck, drawing on her skin. He wanted her taste far more than dinner.
She dropped her head back. “What about our food?”
“It can wait,” he said, sliding a finger inside her, finding her wet and ready.
The Bodyguard's Baby (Billionaire Bodyguard Series) Page 9
