Explaining that he pretty much lived out of his truck while working at Heartskeep, Bram went back out to get his shaving kit and a change of clothing. He set clean clothes on the bed closest to the door and went to take a shower before lying down on clean sheets.
The water soothed his muscles, but not his mind. He’d started to care entirely too much about Hayley. She was stirring to life dormant emotions that terrified him. He’d known from the start that she wasn’t the sort of woman he could have a casual affair with. Hayley was the type who would insist on the whole package—love, marriage…children.
His mind balked. He couldn’t go through that again. Yet he didn’t see how he was going to walk away from her now. Hayley had chipped away the edges of the barrier he’d erected to keep people at a distance. There was a connection between them as tangible as a touch and as deep as his heart.
He kept telling himself it was sex. And sex was definitely part of the draw. Wanting her was becoming a physical ache. She’d brought a zest and exuberance to the life he’d kept wrapped in regret for so long. The energy that poured from her infused him with all sorts of long-buried emotions. He wanted her, but he knew they’d both be hurt when he had to let her go.
Wrapping a towel around his waist, Bram left the bathroom, relieved to find the hall empty.
His assigned bedroom was not.
Chapter Ten
Hayley sat perched on the edge of the far bed, looking nervous but determined. Her hair spilled naturally over one shoulder, touching the peak of her breast. It wasn’t a pose, and that only made the effect more erotic. The satin gown of deep pink that Emily had lent her had been an unfortunate choice because the material molded to the generous curves it covered. Already half-aroused from thinking about Hayley, Bram found his body reacting instantly.
“What are you doing in here?”
“Waiting for you.”
A light blush highlighted her cheeks. She looked incredibly soft and utterly feminine—a woman waiting for her lover. But he wasn’t her lover even though the temptation was becoming harder and harder to deny.
Her eyes changed to smoke. Such expressive eyes. Yearning passion simmered there, barely concealed. Bram didn’t need words; he knew exactly what she was thinking.
The same blasted thing he was.
“You shouldn’t be in here.” His gruff response wasn’t as firm as he would have liked.
He could see she was nervous, but the tiny muscles at the corners of her lips lifted them into a smile. Even an angel would be moved by that smile, and those muscles weren’t the only things lifting. Bram ignored the stirring under his towel.
“Why shouldn’t I be in here?”
Her softly voiced question hummed in his head, blotting out other, more rational thoughts. Anticipation stirred his blood. The top of her gown shifted, sliding over her skin with the barest trace of sound. Bram desperately wanted to follow that shift with his hands and mouth, to glide over her skin exactly as that material was doing.
“Cut it out, Hayley. I’m not going to make love to you.” He might die from wanting her, but Bram was resolute on that point.
“All right.”
All right? It was anything but all right. His body strained with the fierce longing to touch and caress her. He hadn’t even really kissed her yet!
But he wanted to.
Badly.
“Then I’ll make love to you,” she said quietly.
His heart stuttered to a stop while his mind went to work anticipating every shiver, every silken touch, every erotic taste, until there was no oxygen left in his lungs.
“Later,” she added.
Only the slight tremor of her hands belied her calm, and she clasped them together. “Believe it or not, that isn’t why I came in here.”
“It isn’t?” He tore his gaze from the press of her nipples against the thin, pink material as she fidgeted.
“Not entirely. But if you keep looking at me like that, I could change my mind.”
So could he. They were on treacherous ground. His fingers were already curled in an effort to resist the craving to stroke the delicate curve of her neck, and to follow that curve to where the lace rested against the slope of her breasts. He longed to trace her skin above that bit of lace. To dip his finger below the line of her gown and discover if her breasts were as responsive to his touch as he suspected they’d be.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said unsteadily.
“Where you’re concerned, that’s a bad idea.” His voice wasn’t supposed to come out sounding coated with desire.
“Thanks a lot. I don’t know if it was the sandwich Emily made me eat after the doctor left, or that vitamin B shot he gave me, but something seems to have energized me.” A mischievous smile curved Hayley’s lips. “Did he give you one, too?”
His gaze followed hers to where his towel clearly displayed his reaction.
“This is a bedroom, Hayley. You’re a desirable woman sitting there in a provocative nightgown. I’m a man.”
“Yes, you certainly are,” she agreed pertly. “I’m glad you want me, Bram. I want you, too.”
Bram cursed under his breath. He told himself to stay where he was and keep the other bed between them, but somehow, his intentions never made it to his brain. He was across the room, towering above her, close enough to touch the tempting spill of her hair.
“I told you before I was too old for games, Hayley.”
“Not all games, I hope,” she whispered.
He stopped her hand when it reached out toward the knotted towel at his waist. “Don’t.” If she touched his skin it was all over. His resolve went only so far.
Her hand dropped to her lap. “Sorry. I’ve never tried to seduce a man before.”
She couldn’t have come up with anything that would have inflamed his senses more. Bram held on to his slipping control with effort.
“When I make love to you, Hayley, I want to know it’s completely your decision and not some chemical reaction you have no control over.”
“When we make love? Well, that’s promising, anyhow. But I feel compelled to point out that our response to one another is basically a chemical reaction whether you like it or not. Pheromones have nothing to do with what may or may not be in that bottled water.”
“Cute. No wonder some men think education is wasted on women.”
“Ha, ha. Bram, I know I’ve been coming on pretty strong, but I can’t seem to help it with you. I look at you and I want to touch you. I touch you and I want to kiss you. I’d like to blame it on the drug, because believe it or not, this is totally out of character for me, but the truth is, I’ve felt this way since the moment I saw you standing over your forge in the woods. I felt hotter than your fire that night.”
Bram gritted his teeth. He was holding on to his sanity by a thread.
“We’re guests in the Walkens’ house,” he said thickly. “They showed us to separate bedrooms, Hayley. I doubt they’d approve of all the things I’d like to do to you right now.”
She shivered. Bram felt that shiver to the soles of his feet. That look of total trust was back in her expression. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it was mixed with a look of molten desire that nearly scrambled his determination right along with his mind.
Hayley tossed her head. Bram couldn’t take his eyes from the ripples in her hair. She was so lovely.
“You’re wrong, you know.”
Her words washed over him, penetrating slowly.
“Their guest wing is on the other side of the house near their bedroom. They put us together over here so I could have a choice. I’ve made my choice, Bram. I don’t want to sleep alone tonight. May I stay with you?”
Bram closed his eyes. His body was taut with a craving only she could satisfy. He was tired of playing the martyr. He swore silently as his resolve ebbed away.
“If you came in here expecting more than a quick tumble between the sheets, you’d better change your mind right now, Hayley,” he said
hoarsely. “I’m not marriage material.”
Hayley rose in one fluid, graceful motion that set his heart pounding. “Oh, you’re not that bad, but I don’t remember proposing anything beyond a night together.”
Inflamed by the trembling expectancy revealed in her expression, Bram slid his fingers under the silken river of her hair and cupped the back of her head, drawing her mouth to his. He brushed her lips with agonizing gentleness, despite the pulsing need throbbing inside him.
Her delicate hands moved over his bare chest with painful slowness before clasping the back of his neck, leaving every inch of skin they’d touched on fire. Hayley nipped at his bottom lip. Bram stilled. He opened his mouth to tell one of them not to be a fool, and she deepened the kiss with insistent demand.
Rational thought fled. He returned her kiss with a fierce hunger she matched, until their teeth accidentally clicked together. Bram seized on a dangling thread of control. “Stop, Hayley.”
“I don’t want to stop.”
Neither did he. He pulled her against his naked chest, letting her feel the powerful need she’d created. She leaned into him in answer and he covered her lips with his once more. Hayley turned softly pliant in his arms, spurring him on with tiny sounds of pleasure. His body hardened, more firm than the metal he shaped.
“Still think I’m too young?” she whispered shakily against his mouth.
The breathless tremor of her voice ignited every heightened nerve ending in his body. Bram stopped thinking altogether. He lowered her onto the bed and followed her down, feeling her tremble.
Or was he the one who was shaking?
A wild, hot hunger had taken control. He didn’t remember ever wanting anyone like this. Holding back even a little bit was a supreme effort. He covered her lips in a soul-destroying kiss, plunging into the hot depths of her mouth to explore and taste at will. Without breaking that contact, he restlessly roamed the satin covering her body with his hands, finding the tight bead of a nipple and rubbing gently until she mewed in pleasure.
He nipped at her earlobe. Found the sensitive spot behind her ear, reveling in the soft sounds of excitement she made and the sensual stirring of her body under his.
When he kissed a path down her throat to the exposed flesh above the lace, she shuddered, staring up at him through passion-clouded eyes. He held her gaze as his finger slipped beneath the edge of lace. Lightly, he skimmed the soft skin of her breast. She inhaled sharply when his fingers shaped, then gently pinched and tugged on the tender bud of her nipple.
“Oh!”
Her eyes closed and she arched her back to give him better access. Bram shoved aside the slippery pink fabric, tugging it down so his lips could close over one rosy tip. Hayley cried out in pleasure. She was going to be a noisy lover. He realized he didn’t mind a bit.
Satisfaction sizzled through him as his mouth moved to the other nipple, drawing on it hard. Her hands threaded his hair and she thrashed back and forth, spurring him on. The slick contact of skin against skin was driving him mad.
Sliding his hand beneath the hem of her nightgown, Bram was startled to find her totally naked. The shock sent a wave of intense heat through him as he traced a path along the soft skin of her inner thigh with the flat of his palm. His fingers stopped at her damp passageway.
He cupped her there and Hayley rocked against his hand.
“Bram, please!”
“I intend to please,” he promised. He crushed her to him, sealing her lips while he traced a pattern through her wiry curls with a finger. She moaned softly, straining against his hand.
Mesmerized by her frank desire, he kissed her hard, dueling with her tongue, the taste of her more heady than any drink he’d ever taken.
“Still want to play games, little girl?” he asked thickly.
“Yes,” she whispered urgently into his mouth.
Bram swallowed her sounds of shocked pleasure as his finger slowly probed the soft, wet folds. He should slow this wild pace before he exploded, but Hayley would have none of it. Her fingers slid down over his abdomen, making him inhale as she released the knotted towel at his waist.
“Oh!”
Bram smiled. He was going to have to work on her limited vocabulary.
Later.
Much later.
Her stare tested the limits of his control. Timidly, she traced him with her fingertips. The butterfly caress was exquisite torture. He had to stop her when she took him in her hands.
“My control isn’t what it should be, Hayley. I want you too much.”
“Yes.”
Her simple, breathy acceptance was all he needed to hear. He tugged her gown down and off. Lying back, he pulled her on top of him. Her eyes went wide at the full contact of their naked bodies.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” she asked tremulously.
Bram chuckled low in his throat as he slipped first one, and then a second finger inside her, watching her reaction as she clenched around him.
“It’ll work,” he promised.
“Oh. Oh, yes.”
He smiled and she nipped his shoulder playfully, soothing the spot with her tongue.
“I’ve never done this before.”
“Pretend I’m a horse you’re going to ride.”
“Yes, I saw the similarities,” she whispered, eliciting another chuckle.
He positioned her, trying to preserve a core of sanity. She was so tight. The sensations went beyond fantasy—beyond anything he knew as she began to encase him with exquisite slowness.
Bram claimed her mouth, certain he was glowing as brightly as one of his works in progress. He was close to the edge when she wriggled. Bram surrendered to his body’s demand and surged the rest of the way inside her.
The momentary barrier was so unexpected that it shocked him into stillness—much too late. He’d swallowed her startled cry. Now he gripped her shoulders tightly.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I just did.”
“You knew I thought you meant you’d never tried this position before—not that you’d never done it at all.”
“Does it matter?” she whispered. “I wanted you. I still do.”
Suffocated by emotions he could barely keep straight, Bram found a single arrogant word dominating his thoughts.
Mine.
Hayley kissed the corner of his mouth lightly. “Please don’t tell me this is all there is after that incredible buildup.”
He choked, not sure if he wanted to strangle her or kiss her. She clenched around him, taking away the choice. “I’ll see if I can’t take you to the grand finale.”
But as she began to move over him, it was difficult not to surrender to the urge to plunder what she had so willingly offered. Instead, he cupped her face and kissed her with mind-numbing intensity. She squirmed in pleasure, moving against him with insistent demand—tight, hot, wet.
Bringing her back to fever pitch proved to be an intensely enjoyable task. When her hands began tracing erotic patterns against his skin, he tried to slow the pace once more, but Hayley took the lead until mere thought was no longer an option. He rolled her beneath him quickly, feeling her legs wrap around him eagerly.
Bram kissed her hard, setting free the searing hunger. The bed rocked with the force of each thrust. The sensations were too intense. He couldn’t last, but he was determined not to plunge into that abyss of surrender alone. Inserting his finger between their bodies, he watched her expression when he touched her where they joined, barely covering her cry of release in time. Her body clenched around him, and he tumbled over the edge with her.
For a long time, neither one of them moved. Bram was content to listen to the rhythm of her heart as the sweat cooled on their bodies and the scent of their lovemaking lingered in the air.
With a contented sigh, Hayley rested her head against his shoulder. Once again he noticed how comfortably she fit there—as if she belonged.
Holding her seemed too precious a gift to spo
il with words, so he kissed her forehead, brushing back the strands of hair. But eventually, contentedness yielded to the recriminations chasing through his head. “Why, Hayley?”
The soft question punctured the quiet of the room.
She turned her face and kissed his chest lightly. “Because there’s never been anyone else I wanted the way I want you.”
Her frankness undid him. Bram suddenly understood the urge to beat his chest and shout his satisfaction to the world. Inner demons he wasn’t ready to face lay in wait, but for this minute, all he could think was that Hayley belonged to him as she had never belonged to anyone else.
She peered up at him through those long, thick lashes and smiled. “And if you ever say one more word about being too old for me, I promise I’ll hurt you.”
“Too late. I think you just killed me.”
“Good. Death becomes you.” She snuggled against him. “This is nice.”
A serious understatement. A drowsy, contented sort of lethargy stole over him. Bram wished they could lie like this forever, but even as he had the thought, his brain began listing a litany of problems.
“You know what would be even nicer?” she asked. “If we could magically conjure a sheet to cover us.”
“Are you cold?”
“After all that heat? Hardly. I just like to have something over me when I’m lying down.”
“We’ll have to get up.”
“I know, darn it.” She kissed him lightly and rolled over. “I need to use the bathroom, anyhow. What happened to the nightgown? Oh, there it is.”
Bram watched it settle into place over the sweet curves of her body. “Are you okay?”
She flashed him a brilliant smile. “I’ve never felt this good in all my life. I think we just found an antidote for that drug. I’ll be right back.”
Bram rose and tugged down the covers. Hayley had a way of keeping a man on his toes. It was frightening to discover how little he minded. But he’d once felt a similar passion for Helen, and look how that had ended.
Hayley was humming when she returned. “Shall I turn off the light?”
“I’ll get it after you come to bed.”
The Firstborn Page 16
