“Have I been a good father to Paige?” he demanded.
Wordlessly, she nodded. Two more tears escaped to trail down her cheeks, landing warm and wet on his skin.
“Say it, damn you.” Derek cupped the base of her skull. “Say it.”
“You’ve been a good father,” she finally managed, half sobbing. “And I want to believe you when you say you’ll never leave. I want to believe the three of us can be a family and you’ll be satisfied with staying here. But I can’t.”
“Why not, damn it?” He couldn’t help himself anymore. He dipped his head and kissed her, devouring her with his mouth and all the pent-up frustration roiling through him. She whimpered and opened to him. She tasted like the salt of her tears and the strawberry-flavored lip gloss that made her lips so seductive and smooth against his.
Desire slammed into him, charging through his veins. He had to have her. Right now. Right here. It was an endless litany in his mind. Now. Here.
More.
He yanked her against him, too emotionally charged to care about finesse. Wynne kissed him back with a desperation matching his own, hot, hungry, open-mouthed. Derek started tugging at the buttons on her shirt.
She stopped him with a hand, pulling back. “We can’t.” Wynne could barely catch her breath. “Paige.”
Derek wasn’t waiting another minute. “She’s sleeping,” he said tersely, pulling open her buttons to reveal a tantalizing amount of creamy skin. The tops of her breasts came into view.
“But what if she wakes up and sees us?”
Derek knew he had won. “We’ll go to your bedroom.”
He kissed her again and the fire between them was so hot, so explosive he swore he’d gotten burned.
“What if she comes into the bedroom?” Wynne murmured against his mouth.
“She won’t understand.” Derek kissed her yet again. “Do you think other parents stop having sex on the off-chance their child will walk in?”
“I don’t have any condoms.” She nipped his lower lip with her teeth.
“I have one in my wallet.”
She gave him a look. “Of course you do.”
Derek grimaced. Naturally, she wanted to think the worst of him. And in a way she was right. There had been a time in his life when he’d carried condoms just in case the opportunity for a one-night-stand arose. But he’d only recently reverted back to the condom-in-wallet stage because of Wynne. “I bought them when I met you,” he said truthfully.
“You planned this then?” She raised a brow.
“Not in this way, no.” He kissed her again for good measure. Derek really didn’t want her thinking too much, not before he had his wicked way with her, anyway. “But I haven’t made a secret of the fact that I want you desperately.”
Wynne kissed him back, slipping her arms around his neck. “Desperately?” she asked against his mouth.
So she liked having power over him, did she? Derek grinned, falling into her gaze. “Worse than desperately,” he admitted. Then, before she could offer any more protestations, he scooped her up in his arms and headed down the hall to her bedroom.
Wynne couldn’t believe that they were finally going to make love. It was surreal and yet so right. She knew it was time to consummate their relationship. She’d been wanting him for so long, so much.
He startled her by dropping her onto the bed. She landed with a surprised laugh. But she didn’t have time for humor. Instantly, he came over her, kneeling between her legs, bending down to fuse his mouth with hers. She tore his shirt up over his head and was rewarded by a delicious glimpse of golden, muscled chest. The word for him was mouthwatering. From head to toe.
His tongue tangled with hers as she sank her nails into his strong shoulders. Derek pulled back, leaving a breath between them. “Sweetheart, I want this so badly.” His dark gaze, molten with heat, met hers. “But I don’t want to pressure you into it. Are you sure this is what you want?”
He was being gentlemanly? God, the man was breaking her heart.
“One hundred percent sure,” she affirmed, tipping her head back to press their lips together. And she was sure. Suddenly she knew that regardless of what happened between them, this moment couldn’t be denied. This moment was meant to be.
“Thank God,” Derek groaned into her mouth.
His large hands glided over her skin, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. Her shirt disappeared and he made short order of her bra. His golden head bent to her breast. His hands, mouth and tongue were everywhere, making her body weak with pleasure. He flicked his tongue across her sensitized nipple again and again, then sucked it into his mouth. Wynne sank her fingers into his thick hair, moaning.
“Derek, please.” She didn’t know what she was pleading for, but then again, her mind had stopped functioning. No thought remained, only feeling.
Wynne didn’t remember it being like this the last time, so fierce and desperate. She didn’t recall feeling as if she would die if she didn’t have him inside her. But she felt that way now. Her fingers found the fly of his pants, tugging it down. Derek looked up from her breast, his eyes meeting hers with heady promise.
“I need you now,” she whispered. “I can’t wait.”
Her words were a catalyst. He removed the rest of his clothing with lightning speed, and they were suddenly bare skin to bare skin. It was delicious, potent, drugging. Wynne’s every pore seemed to soak up the sensual pleasure of Derek’s body pressing into hers. Her nipples grazed his hard chest, his muscled thighs pressed into hers, and his arousal jutted against her belly.
He kissed her again, voracious and hot. As their tongues clashed, Wynne ran her hands down his back, over the firmness of his ass. Mmm.
Derek tore his mouth from hers. “I almost forgot the condom.”
He disappeared for a moment as he retrieved it from his wallet. There was a snap of latex as he sheathed himself before he leaned over her. He took her hands and held them high over her head, pinning them gently to the bed. The effect was a natural arch in her back that made her breasts rise invitingly. With a growl, he laved first one nipple with his tongue, then another. His hands slid up her wrists until their hands lay palm to palm, fingers lacing together.
He trailed kisses up across her breasts, along the sensitive curve of her neck and jawline, before his mouth claimed hers again. As he tipped his head back slightly so their lips almost touched, their gazes met.
“I can’t wait another second, sweetheart.” Desire made his voice low and thick.
Wynne couldn’t manage a coherent sentence, so she nodded. “Now.”
In one swift, powerful thrust, he surged inside her, filling her body. She gasped and jerked into him, wanting more still. Then his mouth claimed hers, his tongue sinking into her mouth in a mimic of their entwined bodies. They began a maddening rhythm, meeting one another thrust for thrust. Wynne knew she wasn’t going to last very long. Her breath came in short gasps and the waves of pleasure rocking her body grew more and more intense. With another savage drive from Derek, she came, wildly, clutching him to her as she cried out. He reached his climax a breath later, throwing his head back and moaning as he pumped inside her. Wynne kissed the strong length of his neck, her tongue flicking out to taste the salt on his skin, feeling his wild pulse beating out of control.
He rolled to his back, pulling her atop him. She sprawled across his beautiful chest, sated and spent. She didn’t think she could move even if the building burned down around her.
“That was incredible, Wynne,” Derek said hoarsely. He ran a hand through her hair.
Still incapable of speech, she pressed a kiss to his flat nipple. She felt boneless. It hadn’t been this way the last time, she knew. It had been good, but this was different.
“Better than incredible.” Derek interrupted her thoughts. “It was unbelievable.”
She smiled into his eyes. “Mmm.”
A smug masculine smile curved his lips as he watched her. “I like seeing you this way. M
aybe I’ll have to tie you to the bedposts and keep you here.”
Wynne dropped another kiss on his chest. She was really, really fond of it. “Okay.”
Derek laughed, sifting through her hair with his fingers. It dropped onto her bare back, curl by curl. “We should have done this a long time ago.”
She sighed, nuzzling his chest. “Definitely.”
“Was it like this the last time?” he asked quietly. “I still don’t remember all of it.”
“It was good the last time,” she murmured, caressing his jaw. Having free reign of his body was definitely a perk she wasn’t going to miss out on. “But this was beyond my wildest imagination.”
Derek grimaced. “I’m sorry about that night. Not that it happened, but the way it happened. You deserved a hell of a lot better than a one-night-stand with a drunk who didn’t even remember you in the morning.”
She smiled wistfully. “It was a memorable first time. Not every woman gets to lose her virginity to Derek Shaw.”
He groaned. “I took your virginity and I got you pregnant all in one shot?”
That he hadn’t realized didn’t surprise her. She nodded, trailing her fingers across his lips now. Derek kissed them.
“No wonder you hate me.” His words were self-derisive.
“I don’t hate you anymore,” she pointed out. “Like you said, you’re a completely different man now.”
Derek’s eyes were serious on hers. “I can’t blame you for not believing in me. But I really intend to do my best as a father.”
“I know.” She kissed him. “And I believe that you only want what’s best for Paige.”
She just hoped it wouldn’t come back to haunt them one day.
Derek and Wynne decided to stay in for the evening after the recent bout of paparazzi intrusions. They’d gotten dressed just in the nick of time to avoid being caught red-handed by Paige, who woke groggily from her nap when the two ventured back into the living room. After several rounds of tea party, dress-up and a never-ending game of Monopoly in which Derek blatantly cheated so Paige could finally win, the three of them curled up on the couch, eating popcorn and watching—unfortunately—one of Paige’s princess movies.
But Wynne didn’t mind the movie so much since she was cuddled up against Derek’s side with his arm wrapped around her waist. Paige sat between them, partially on his lap and partially on Wynne’s. From time to time, Derek’s hand performed wicked migrations, sliding up the back of her shirt, onto her thigh, “accidentally” brushing the curve of her breast. She tried to summon up some indignation, but there just wasn’t any. She enjoyed his touch, enjoyed him.
Maybe too much.
But Wynne wasn’t dwelling on that right now. She was too happy to allow anything as deflating as common sense to butt its way into the picture. Common sense told her to run screaming in the opposite direction. Common sense told her she was a fool for sleeping with Derek Shaw yet again. Common sense told her lots of things, but she was currently choosing not to listen to any of them.
Derek’s hand crept up the back of her shirt, caressing the small of her back. She shivered and leaned into his side, his yummy scent drifting over her. The only thing, she decided, better than cuddling up against Derek Shaw was making love with him. Because making love with him had blown her wildest fantasies right out of the water.
His fingers trailed upward, finding the clasp of her bra. Feeling suspicion bubble up inside her, she slanted him a look beneath her lashes. Derek faced the television, presenting her with his profile. If she didn’t know his hand was currently up her shirt, she’d swear he was a rapt audience.
“Watch this part, Daddy,” Paige ordered. “This is where the prince finds the princess and then they kiss. Kissin’s yucky, but I like when he rescues her from the sorsor.”
“Sorcerer,” Wynne corrected softly.
There was a tiny, barely audible snap as Derek pulled her bra open. She felt it loosen instantly. “Derek,” she chastised, shooting him an annoyed look.
He feigned ignorance, but his fingers moved along her back, around her side, grazing her bare breast. “Derek,” she protested again.
She gasped when his index finger toyed with her nipple. The man was insatiable. Not that she was complaining, of course. It was actually rather flattering, impossible to believe even, that a man as beautiful and famous as Derek Shaw, a man who could get any woman in the world that he wanted, was attracted to Wynne Carter, florist and single mom from Atlantic, Maryland, population four thousand. Yet here he was, unable to keep his hands to himself.
Her conscience stepped in then. It reminded her Derek was a man who liked to have women in his life, a red-blooded man who liked to have sex. Maybe it wasn’t necessarily her. Maybe he would feel the same attraction to any available woman.
That was a rather deflating thought. Then again, a conscience could do that to a girl, knock her down just when she was feeling up.
“The sorsor is mean,” Paige chattered, oblivious to what was going on. “One time, I got a ulsor. It was ouchie.”
“Sorcerer,” Wynne corrected again. “And it’s not an ulsor, sweetie. It’s an ulcer.”
Paige, in full four-year-old mode, ignored her completely. “Look, Daddy!”
“I see,” Derek offered mildly, still doing things he shouldn’t be doing and showing not an outward sign of it.
Wynne decided it was time to get up and avoid the roaming hand. She stood abruptly, shooting Derek a venomous look he matched with one of complete innocence.
“Where’re ya goin’ Mama?” Paige asked.
“Yes,” Derek echoed. “Where are you going?”
“To get more popcorn,” she lied, still glaring daggers at him.
“But we got lotsa popcorn,” Paige protested, clearly not wanting anyone to miss even a minute of her movie. She was forgetting Wynne had seen the movie so many times she knew all the dialogue by heart. Wynne had even found herself singing the theme song one Saturday morning while doing laundry.
“I’ll get more anyway,” she said, hastily retreating to the kitchen before she could add that she wouldn’t have to leave the room if Daddy could keep his hands to himself.
Besides, thanks to his underhanded ministrations, she needed to re-hook her bra. In Wynne’s book, there were few things worse than floppy bra straps sliding down her arms. Not to mention that she needed a few minutes to catch her breath and collect herself. And try to steel herself against Derek.
She flipped on the light switch in the kitchen, pulled open the fridge and scanned its inventory for a diet soda. Okay, so she acknowledged it was probably way too late to play the what-have-I-done game, but her rational brain had finally started to pierce the delirious haze of lust fogging her brain. What if making love with Derek this afternoon had been a colossal mistake after all? She wanted too much from him already. And already, her emotions had gotten involved. It hadn’t been casual sex for her—it had been something more. But what about Derek?
Grimacing, she hooked her bra back together before grabbing the soda from the refrigerator. The telephone rang. It was—darn it—her other conscience, her mother.
“Hi, Mom,” she murmured, doing her best not to sound dismayed as she juggled the cordless phone and attempted to open the soda at the same time.
“Hi, honey.” Her mother sighed. Not a good sign. “I was wondering if I could come over.”
Wynne almost dropped the phone. To cover her shock, she coughed. “It’s pretty late, Mom.” Actually, it was only a few minutes past seven, but Paige’s bedtime was eight, and her mother’s bedtime didn’t fall far behind that.
“I know, but I need to talk to you about your brother.” An underlying edge of worry laced her mother’s tone.
It was Wynne’s turn to sigh. “What did Kieran do now?” He was thirty years old, but Wynne didn’t think he’d ever grow up. Hockey and women consumed his life, in exactly that order. For as long as Wynne could recall, Kieran had been nothing but trouble. As a
teenager, he’d been expelled from two schools and arrested more times than she could count for either disorderly conduct or underage drinking. If it hadn’t been for hockey, his sole motivating force, she didn’t doubt he would have ended up doing time in prison instead of zipping around Dallas in a car that cost more money than Wynne’s house had.
“He didn’t do anything yet,” her mother said. “It’s what I’m afraid he’ll do.”
Wynne frowned. “What do you mean?”
“The Stars traded him to the Baltimore Sea Dogs yesterday.”
She was shocked. Kieran had played for the Stars for almost his entire pro career. He’d built a multimillion-dollar home there that Wynne had only seen in the pictures her mother had shown her. And while she and Kieran weren’t exactly close anymore, Wynne knew he’d been planning to remain with the Stars for the long haul.
“He’s probably furious,” Wynne said, apprehension dawning.
“Exactly.” Her mother sighed again. “He’s worse than furious, and he won’t return any of my phone calls. I think it might be nice if we all go there and help him to pack up his things.”
Wynne instantly scoffed. “I’m not helping him pack anything. Kieran’s a big boy and he can do it on his own. Maybe being traded will bring him back down to earth with the rest of us mere mortals and he’ll remember what it’s like to be a human instead of a sports god.”
“I knew that would be your reaction, which is why I wanted to come over. I’ll only stay for a couple minutes. He’s your brother. Don’t you think he deserves a second chance?”
“I’ve given him second, third and fourth chances. I don’t have any more to give him. He blew them all. He may be my brother, but that’s as far as our relationship goes at this point.”
Derek came up behind her and slid an arm around her waist, anchoring her against him. “What’s the matter?” he asked in her ear softly.
“Who’s there with you?” her mother demanded.
Win My Love (Love's Second Chance Book 3) Page 12
