An Inconvenient Affair

by Catherine Mann

  “What kind of puppies?”

  Hillary’s breasts brushed his chest as they stood toe to toe. He would keep right on happy talking for this kind of result.

  “Pound puppies, of course. She told us a person’s worth isn’t measured by pedigree or looks. It’s not about what something costs.” She’d been a smart woman. He’d learned a lot from her, life lessons that stuck. “I picked a lab-bulldog mutt and my brother chose a shepherd mix.”

  Her smile faded. “You said you went to boarding schools, before the military school. What happened to the dogs? Did your nanny watch them?”

  The water chilled around him. “When I was eight and my brother was ten, our parents fired the nanny.”

  “Because you were going to boarding school?”

  His eyes closed. “Because they overheard us call her Mom.” Her gasp pushed him to add wryly. “At least we knew she would take care of our dogs.”

  “Your parents gave away your dogs, too?” There was no escaping the heartbreak in her voice with just the two of them, out here alone.

  He plastered on his best smile. “Damn, you asked for a happy memory. Sorry about the detour.”

  Sympathy shone in her eyes, along with a glint of something else. Determination. Her cool hands splayed on his chest as she stepped between his legs in a message of unmistakable seduction. “What do you say we make a great memory now?”

  What the hell?

  Now she wanted to make love? After he’d damn near opened a vein? Or because he’d opened that vein?

  Realization dawned. She was feeling sorry for the kid he’d been, and was probably acting out of stirred-up emotions. He should tell her no. Wait until she was thinking clearly.

  But then he’d never been particularly big on playing by the rules.

  Nine

  Hillary’s heart was in her throat. The revelations about Troy’s childhood had touched something deep inside her. She’d planned on being with him when they walked out here to the waterfall, but she’d underestimated how much he could move her. She’d deluded herself into thinking she could have a simple fling with him.

  Somehow, Troy had gotten under her skin in only a few days. A few days that felt like a lifetime. She splayed her hands across his hard muscled chest sheened with water.

  Troy cupped the back of her neck, his pupils dilating with arousal. “Are you seducing me?”

  “Are you seducible?” She trailed her fingers down his chest.

  “Totally.”

  He cupped her face and kissed her, openmouthed and without hesitation. She met him just as fully, wanting everything from him, determined to rock his foundation as surely as he did hers.

  The taste of morning coffee lingered on his tongue. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him right back, her mouth, her hands, her whole body in the moment. Finally, allowing herself to feel everything, no holding anything in reserve for later. There was no later. Everything inside her screamed now.

  The water swirled around her, around them both, each bold caress of his hand sending the fresh currents over her. Her feet slipped on the slick stone floor and he steadied her with his hands under her bottom. The strength of his hands thrilled her. The rasp of his callused fingertips along her skin doubled the pleasure of his touch. She sketched her foot up his calf, then hooked both her legs around his waist.

  The sun shone down on her head and her shoulders, but the sparks behind her eyelids had more to do with the man than the rays. And then they sank slowly underwater. Bubbles swirled around them as the rest of the shampoo left her hair. His mouth still over hers, he pumped his feet again and again, swimming backward until the suds stopped. For once, she surrendered control and let his strength carry them through the clear waters of the lagoon.

  He broke the surface and she gasped for air against his shoulder. Their bodies fit, their legs brushing underwater in tantalizing swipes. She leaned into him, sealing them skin to skin.

  His erection pressed against her, a solid welcome pressure against the ache building inside her. His hand braced between her shoulder blades, and she let her head fall back as he lavished attention along the exposed curves of her breasts. His mouth worked over her, teasing her through the swimsuit fabric until she reached a fever pitch.

  Her hands fell away from his shoulders, and she reached behind herself. She untied the bikini strings at her neck. He smiled against her skin and made fast work of untying the rest. The scraps of aqua fabric floated away. The rippling surface brought her nipples to even tauter peaks.

  He tucked an arm behind her back, tugging her hair gently until she arched farther for him, easing her breasts from the water. His mouth skimmed over one then the other, kissing and plucking as he bared her to the morning sun. He dipped his chin in the water and took her nipple lightly between his teeth, rolling and suckling, tugging just enough to send her writhing against him. Everything was brighter here, pristine when seen through the glistening droplets of water spraying from the falls. She felt like she was part of a fantasy or story or film.

  From the start, she’d been drawn to Troy. They’d been leading up to this moment. Regardless of what happened afterward, she would regret it if she didn’t experience today to the fullest. She wanted him inside her. Now.

  She grabbed his shoulders and raised herself up again, sliding her legs to the rocky floor, pressing her body flush against his. “Do you have birth control? A condom? Because if I’m not mistaken, we’re both one instant away from losing it.”

  “Back at the house,” he murmured against her mouth. “Condoms are back at the house, damn it.”

  “Then we need to get there. Come on…”

  He brushed his bristly, unshaven face against her cheek, whispering in her ear, “Or, we can take our time here, carefully, safely, still very pleasurably.”

  Possibilities swirled through her mind like the spiraling whirlpools rippling around the jutting rocks. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

  He swiped his hand through the water, stirring the current between her legs until finally he cupped her. “I could touch you here.” He clasped her wrist. “And if you’re so inclined, you could—”

  She palmed the length of his erection, stroking down, down, down and then up again, learning the thick, impressive length of him. “Is that what you mean?”

  “Uh…” His head fell back and his throat moved with a slow gulp. “Yep, you’re right on target.”

  With a deft hand, he untied the strings along her hips and the rest of her swimsuit floated away. She reached to grab it and he clasped her hand.

  “I’ll get you another suit just like it if you want, but right now I have more ideas for us.”

  His fingers slid between her legs, searching, teasing, finding the right places and pressure against the nub of nerves. Pleasure coiled tighter inside her, building. The buoyancy of the water held her up, and good thing it did, as her knees were quickly turning to jelly.

  She tugged at the waistband of his trunks, her hands clumsier than she would have liked, but he was wreaking havoc with her equilibrium right now. He slid two fingers inside, crooking them just enough to send sparks exploding behind her eyelids….

  To hell with taking off his shorts, she reached inside and found him, thick and long, all for her. She explored him with her hands, stroking his throbbing erection until he growled primitively in her ear. She gripped him a bit more firmly, the water slicking her hand as she worked him every bit as intensely as he tormented her. He took her to the edge, so close to fulfillment, then shifted his hands away deliberately, sipping along her neck, whispering against her skin how much he wanted her. How desperately he wanted to make her come apart, until she cried out and sank her teeth into his shoulder from the burning ache to finish.

  He scooped an arm under her bottom and lifted her, walking with her toward the shore and she thought, yes, finally they would go inside and make love on his bed. Or the sofa.

  Or hell, a sturdy table would suffice righ
t now.

  He kissed her, his tongue thrusting and sweeping until her eyes closed and she lost herself in the bliss of him. Step by step, he moved closer to the shoreline, until they were waist-deep in the water. His hands spanned her waist and he lifted her. She opened her eyes, disoriented, confused.

  The water dripped from her skin as he set her on a moss-covered stone outcropping. He pressed her backward until she lay along the smooth, earthy rock with her legs draped over his shoulders while he still stood in the water. His intent became very clear a second before he closed his mouth over the core of her.

  Her arms flung wide and dug into the mossy carpet. His tongue stroked and soothed, circling and pressing. His hands glided up her hips then over her breasts, doubling the sensation as he toyed with her. Still, she squirmed to get closer, closer still as she burned for him to finish even as she wanted the liquid fire to continue forever. Each thrum of her heart accented the pulsing pleasure growing stronger and stronger until she couldn’t hold it back any longer.

  She cried out her release, no holds barred. Their complete isolation gave her the freedom to ride the orgasm through each blissful aftershock. Her fingers scraped deeper into the moss, her back bowing upward as Troy laved every last sensation from her body until she collapsed, her bones all but melting into the stony outcropping.

  A light breeze whispered over her bared flesh, bringing her back gust by gust. Troy lifted her off the rock and into the water again, body to body.

  “Hmm…” She hummed her pleasure at this most perfect moment, but had to ask. “What about you?”

  “We’ll get there.” Sliding an arm under her legs, he cradled her against his chest and started toward the shore. “I’m not worried.”

  “Where are we going?” She leaned into him, resting in his arms. Her body was all but a muscleless mass after the explosive orgasm he’d just given her.

  “Back to the house before you’re too sunburned to enjoy the rest of what I have planned for you.”

  “Smart man.” She threaded her fingers through his hair, loving the length, enjoying everything about this unbelievably unique and special man.

  Something insanely out of control was happening to her, and as much as she’d told herself she had crummy judgment in men, right now she felt like she’d merely been passing time until this man came into her life.

  * * *

  Troy carried Hillary up the winding stairs, back to the sprawling pool area. Every step he prayed for the self-control to wait until they made it back to the house. The press of her naked curves against him was damn near driving him insane with the urge to drop to the ground right here, right now and thrust inside her, out here in the open air, on the lush earth, with the scent of crushed foliage and flowers all around them.

  Except he needed protection. He couldn’t forget about keeping her safe in all realms. He’d stocked condoms everywhere in the house and on the patio, but he hadn’t thought to pack them in their picnic lunch.

  But honest to God, she’d caught him unaware down there. He’d planned to swim with her, wow her with his home. Except she’d been the one to wow him with how she’d melted over a lame story about his brother and puppies.

  But then Hillary had been surprising him from the start. The only predictable thing about Hillary was her unpredictability, and for a smart guy used to figuring things out at least twenty-five steps ahead of the rest of the world, he was enjoying the hell out of the unending surprises she doled out.

  And if she kept that up with her mouth on his chest, he was in danger of losing his footing, sending them both crashing down. If he rolled on the ground with her for even a second, he would lose control. Totally. Damned, though, if he could bring himself to tell her to stop what she was doing with her tongue.

  Finally—thank heaven—he reached the pool area built into the balcony. He set Hillary down on a lounger, double-sized and covered by a gauzy cabana.

  She reached up to cup his face. “Please say you have condoms here.”

  “I do.” In the table by the lounger. He stretched out over her.

  She skimmed her foot up and down his calf, which brought the heat of her more fully against his erection straining like hell to get out of his boxers.

  “You sure were confident in your plan, Troy.”

  “Confident in how damned hot we both get the second you walk into the room, or into my thoughts.”

  “That’s actually pretty romantic.”

  “I’m trying.” Now probably wasn’t the time to tell her he’d taken the edge off in the shower the night before. But he was grateful he’d done so, because no way in hell was he going to waste this chance with her on some quick trigger finish. He would be in control, damn it. Holding himself in check at the waterfall had been worth it. “And as for being confident about today? Not exactly. I’m never certain of anything around you. You surprise me on a regular basis. So while you were changing, I stored condoms in about a dozen different places.”

  “Why not by the waterfall—or in a beach bag for when we went to the lagoon?”

  “You surprised me.” And they’d improvised well.

  He had no complaints about the appeal of carrying this fiery-haired beauty—his fiery-haired beauty—up to his lair. He was damn glad for the privacy and security that allowed him to roam the grounds freely with her. The couple who serviced the home lived five miles away, and they never came unless he called. No one would get past the wired gates without his say-so.

  He and Hillary had free run to do whatever, whenever they wanted here.

  “I surprised you?” She tugged the hair along his neck gently. “Very cool. Because you’ve been surprising the hell out of me since the second you talked your way into the seat beside me on the plane.”

  “Any objections?” He slipped his hand between them, gently rolling her nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

  “Only that you’re talking a lot, and I have better plans for your mouth right now, like using those teeth to tear into a condom wrapper.”

  He pressed his thigh between her legs until she moaned. “I do like a woman who knows what she wants.”

  “In that case, this time, I want control.”

  Power plays were cool by him since they were both going to be winners here. “I’m all yours.”

  “Well, we can start by getting rid of your board shorts.” She tugged at his waistband and together they sent his swim trunks flying into the pool.

  Her eyes and hands went to his hips, then curved around his arousal. He passed her one of the condoms, and she sheathed him with torturously slow precision that threatened to send him over the edge, here and now, with the monkeys laughing at his lack of restraint. But then she’d vowed this was about her turn to be in control.

  Rolling with her, he shifted to his back, bringing her on top of him. She straddled his hips and lowered herself onto him inch by inch, stretching, accepting him into her body. He guided her with his hands on her hips, thrusting into her over and over as they found their rhythm. Her husky purrs of pleasure spurred him on, made him want to bring her over the edge again. He cradled her breasts, and she rewarded him with a breathy gasp. He couldn’t take his eyes off the beauty of her. The way her hair slithered over her shoulders as she rode him. How her breasts moved in his hands.

  The pleasure on her face.

  With each stroke, he claimed her as his, again and again. Or maybe she was claiming him. Right now, all he cared about was that he had her. And he would have her over and over this week. The thought of losing this, of losing her, ripped through him, and his fingers dug into her hips, guiding her harder and faster, watching for the signals that she was close to completion, as well.

  A flush rose up her chest.

  The pulse in her neck throbbed faster.

  Her head flung back, auburn hair streaming as she—

  Yes. He thrust into her a final time, the silken vise of her body pulsing around him as he came, powerfully and completely. He pumped into her
one last time and wrung yet another cry of pleasure from her. His arms went around her, gathering her as she melted onto his chest. He kissed her forehead, tasting the salty dots of perspiration along her brow. Their sweat-slicked bodies sealed and holy hell, he was in trouble.

  For the past seventeen years he’d told himself he was done with family. Only claiming a group of brothers equally as cynical and world-weary as he was.

  Today, with Hillary, he wanted more.

  * * *

  Three days later, Hillary reclined against Troy in the bubbling hot tub, mint leaves floating around them and scenting the night air. She’d had more sex since arriving here than she’d had in her entire life.

  Okay, perhaps a slight exaggeration, but she certainly had never been this satisfied. Troy’s meticulous attention to detail, his determination to study every possible way to make her come was mighty enticing. She’d never had a man this devoted to giving at least as much pleasure as he received. Sagging back against his chest, she let the pulsing jets work their magic on her well-loved muscles.

  She tipped her head back to look at him, taking in his now-familiar face. “Thank you for my cow towel.”

  “You already thanked me,” his voice rumbled against her.

  “And for the big fuzzy cow slippers.”

  “Wouldn’t want your feet to get cold at night.” His hands slid just under her breasts, massaging her ribs, her stomach, soothing and arousing even though her body was too exhausted to comply.

  “Coffee definitely tastes better in a cow mug.” She twisted to kiss his shoulder, right over the spot where she’d nipped a little too hard earlier. He had a way of driving her crazy like that. “Although the hula cow by my toothbrush was a little strange, but it made me laugh.”

  “Then I’ve done my job well.”

  She’d laughed herself sore when she’d realized all the computers—and there were many in his house—had Holstein cow screen savers.

  “You’ve been very generous and thoughtful—and fascinatingly original.”