by Julie Kenner
Desire broadsided him and the bed loomed large before him. They were a mere five steps from that bed, five measly seconds away from heaven. He’d been waiting for hours to take her again, to lose himself in the welcoming tight heat of her sweet little body.
He didn’t have to wait any longer.
He felt Winnie’s hands come around his bare midriff and her lips pressed between his shoulder blades.
He quaked beneath that tiny kiss, felt it resonate to his very soul.
Unable to hold back, Adam turned around, scooped her up and carried her to that magnificent bed. He carefully laid her down, kissing her all the way, then aligned his body with hers.
She was still in the bikini top and bottoms, with only a matching skirt around her waist, so it took very little time and less effort to remove her clothing. His too, for that matter. He was getting better at this, Adam thought absently. He kissed her sun-warmed skin and the saltiness burst over his tongue. He savored it. Lapped it up. God, she tasted good. He laved a nipple and suckled deep. He felt her hand close around him, guiding him to her center and he’d just nudged those weeping folds when reality intruded.
“Condom,” he breathed against her mouth, going utterly still.
Winnie winced and lifted her hips, seeking his weight. “I’m safe and protected,” she told him, her pupils all but entirely edging out the blue. “Are you?”
“Completely,” he said, searching her gaze.
She rocked against him once more. “Then what are you waiting for? Come into me.” She framed his face with her hands, leaned up and kissed him.
Adam thrust forward and entered her in one smooth, sure stroke. Her tight heat fisted around him and the sensation was so unbelievably wonderful that he locked his knees and stayed still for a moment, relishing the feel of being completely enveloped—fully surrounded—by her.
Winnie’s breath leaked from her lungs as he’d pushed in and she seemed to be holding what was left of it as she stared deeply into his eyes. Hers were soft and melting and full of love and desire. He hoped she could see the same emotion reflected back at her.
He had never in his entire misbegotten life felt anything as wonderful as this. Had never felt more complete, more secure or more loved. More grounded.
Ever.
She was his anchor, he thought again.
And it was a good thing that she was holding him now, because he was in serious danger of just floating away on the cloud of sheer happiness he found himself on. It ought to be a crime to feel this good, Adam thought. To have someone love you the way she loved him.
Winnie tightened around him again and lifted her hips, pulling him in deeper. A slow cat in the cream pot smile slid over her beautifully carnal lips and the breath she’d been holding finally released. She slid her hands down his shoulders, along the fluted hollow of his spine, then over his ass. She gave a gentle, territorial squeeze—the same kind he’d treated her to last night—and that was all it took to send Adam racing for release.
He drew back and pushed again, harder and faster, harder, faster and she caught his rhythm and met him thrust for thrust. She let loose tiny moans of pleasure as she bent forward and licked his throat, then sank her small teeth into his shoulder.
The little nip did strange things to him, tripped a trigger he hadn’t known existed. Three delicious thrusts into her body later, the most forceful orgasm he’d ever experienced in his life exploded out of him.
Come into me, indeed, Adam thought as he quaked with the aftermath.
He’d filled that order, by God.
“YOU DIDN’T HAVE to choose a military movie,” Adam chided hours later as the final credits rolled.
Winnie snuggled against his side, more content than she could ever recall. After their impromptu sex in her bedroom, they’d shared a bath in her claw-foot tub and the orgasm she’d missed in the bedroom was given back to her twofold, along with the strong warning never to bite him again unless she wanted to end things prematurely. He’d been satisfied, but embarrassed that he’d lost control and left her hanging.
Of course, now that she knew this was an effective way to set him off, Winnie fully intended to press her advantage whenever the opportunity presented itself.
She leaned over and nipped at him now, enjoying hearing his breath leave in a strangled hiss.
“Winnie,” he warned.
She drew back and blinked innocently. “What?”
“You know what. You’ve been nibbling on me all through the movie. Do you know how disconcerting it is to be watching Gene Hackman and get a hard on?” He grinned, outraged. “Please, woman. You’re killing me.”
Winnie chuckled. “S-sorry,” she said. “But I like it.”
“I like it, too,” he said, sounding surprised. “All the same, there is a time and a place for everything, and when Gene and Denzel are on the flat screen isn’t it.”
She laughed again and slapped his thigh. He hadn’t been the least bit self-conscious about his leg today, even when they’d negotiated the bathtub, which had surprised her. All the same, she’d given him some privacy, covertly watching from the mirror. It still hurt her when she saw the angry scars on his leg, but the fact that she was so thankful that he’d adjusted so well assuaged most of the regret.
“I don’t mind watching military movies,” she said. She gave him a quick smile. “Besides, after Natalie made you sit through Steel Magnolias, I didn’t have the heart to petition for a chick flick.” She slid him a sly glance. “Is it true you cried?”
He glared at her, but his smile lessened the effect. God, how she loved that grin. It did things to her insides that ought to be a criminal offense. Made her thighs quake and her belly go all warm and melting.
“I did not cry, dammit. I’m going to kill her for that. I don’t cry,” he insisted. “It’s ridiculous.”
Her antennae twitched. “What do you mean you don’t cry?”
He blinked and looked away, then fiddled with the remote control until he found the ten o’clock news. “I don’t cry,” he said simply. The muscles in his throat worked as he swallowed a bit of the tension that tightened his jaw. “Couldn’t tell you the last time I shed a tear.”
Wow, Winnie thought, torn between being impressed and unsettled. She managed a shaky laugh. “I’m a weeper,” she confessed. “I cry when I see sad commercials, when I finish a hard-won race, when I stub my pinkie toe,” she said, gesturing wearily. “I’m a wuss.”
Her gaze inexplicably slid to his leg, back to the scars that puckered his flesh. What sort of willpower did it take not to cry when something like that happened? When you woke up from surgery and part of your leg was gone? When you realized that your career—your very way of life—was over?
He hadn’t cried?
Seemingly unsettled by her silence, Adam turned to look at her and released a small breath. He swallowed. Passed a hand over his face. She hated when he looked like this, so unsure. It was so out of character it was heartbreaking.
“It’s not that I’m some sort of heartless badass, Winnie,” he said. “But…what I’ve gone through is nothing—nothing—compared to what I’ve seen others endure. It would be a disservice to them to weep for myself.”
Ah… Noble again, her wounded warrior, but his thinking was flawed. “You could always weep for them, too.”
He blinked, seemingly startled at her suggestion.
“I do,” she said. “It’s one of the few things that I can actually do, if that makes sense. Tears are the truest form of compassion.” She looked away, picked at a lose thread on her shorts. “I hope no one ever thinks my tears are a disservice,” she said. “Because they certainly aren’t meant that way. They’re shed in gratitude—” her voice broke “—but never pity. Pity would be a disservice.”
Adam threaded his fingers through hers and was silent for a moment. She got the impression that he was considering her opinion, which made her feel slightly encouraged. She sincerely hoped she’d gotten through to him, co
rrected a bit of that faulty thinking.
Rather than push her point, she leaned over and pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go to bed.”
This was her one and only shot of waking up in Adam’s arms. Initially, Winnie had thought of setting a grand seduction, of trying to round up lingerie and candles and turning on mood music. She’d wanted to make the night memorable somehow, commemorate their one and only full night together. But then something profound had occurred to her.
They didn’t need it.
The beauty in this night would be found in the simplicity—in the normality—of it instead.
When she thought about the fact that Adam would walk out of her life tomorrow, it was all she could do to hold it together. To pretend for his sake that this was going to be enough. That this little slice of heaven was all she wanted when in truth she wanted the whole thing—marriage and a family, making love and making up, holidays and every days, clambakes and picnics and long runs at sunset. She wanted to build more sand castles and hold his hand, feel the warmth of his mouth against her temple.
She wanted to be loved. To be adored. By him. Until they drew their last breath.
Was that so much to ask? Winnie wondered.
Adam turned to her and smiled and the simple rearrangement of his mouth into that grin made something in her belly flutter, her breath catch. “Bed sounds nice,” he murmured. “I’m ready when you are.”
The promise in his low voice made her heart pound.
And there was absolutely nothing ordinary about that.
11
ADAM WATCHED WINNIE go about the routine of readying for bed and something about the mundane task, knowing that she did this every night, made him feel privy to a secret part of her only he was allowed to see. She hadn’t told him that he was the only man who’d ever spent the night in her bed—who’d been invited and welcomed into her private domain—but he knew it all the same.
The mere idea made him want to beat his chest and roar, then go outside, walk around her house and piss in every corner of the yard. He shook his head wryly. That would certainly give her neighbors something to talk about.
She quickly loaded their popcorn bowls and glasses into the dishwasher, made sure Fido had water, locked the doors and finally turned off the television. She shot him a hesitant smile. “You want the bathroom first?” she asked.
Adam shook his head. “You go ahead.”
She released a small breath. “I’ll only be a minute.”
While she was otherwise engaged, Adam took the opportunity to gather his toiletries from his bag and smiled when he encountered the condoms. I’m safe and I’m protected.
Hands down, those had to be some of the most beautiful words he’d ever heard in his life. Sliding into her, feeling her hot, feminine muscles clamping around him…
Sweet God, the sensation had shaken him to his very soul.
Unparalleled and completely perfect, it had rendered every other pleasurable memory obsolete.
Winnie chose that moment to come walking into the bedroom. Her face was scrubbed clean, her nose shiny, and she brought the scent of mint and something else—that floral scent he’d never been able to get out of his head—with her. She wore a pair of tiny white cotton panties with hot-pink polka dots and a matching tank.
His breath caught in his throat. She was sexy and fresh and good—utterly and completely good—and God help him, he was leaving her tomorrow night.
The weight of that realization bore down on him like a Mac truck and it was all he could do to force his mouth into a smile and nod at her as he made his way to the bathroom. Adam shut the door, then braced either side of his hands on the sink and stared at his wretched reflection.
He could get through this, Adam thought, drawing on the last of his reserves. It was the only way. He’d known it when he surrendered. Known that he was leaving, that he would have to walk away from her.
No, he was leaving Bethel Bay, going back to a job he loved, one that defined him. One that had been his purpose since he was old enough to have one.
Winnie… Winnie deserved so much more. She deserved a man who would be here for her…and he would despise and envy that lucky bastard, whomever he turned out to be.
He could not be hers. He could not have her, dammit.
Beyond this last little bit of time they had left, at any rate.
And he was wasting it, chasing the only conclusion around in a circle in his mind when she was waiting for him in bed.
Winnie had waited for him long enough.
Resolved, Adam quickly washed up and brushed his teeth. Thirty seconds later he was standing in the doorway to her room and the sight she made would forever be indelibly printed on his brain. Purple velvet, bare shoulders, wild black curls. She was laying on her side and had turned the covers down for him in open invitation.
Every care in the world rolled off his shoulders at that wanton look and a sigh of contentment suddenly welled from somewhere deep within. He stripped off his shirt, then sidled forward, sank onto the edge of the bed and started to remove his prosthesis. He’d done it several times in her presence now and, though it had felt a bit odd at first, Adam had to admit that, other than the vaguest sense of insecurity—which came every time he took it off—it didn’t signify anymore. He leaned it against her bedside table, then carefully stripped away the sock, leaving himself bare.
Winnie pressed a kiss to his back and her arm snaked around his middle, rolling him to her.
And that was all it took to lose himself in her.
Her scent, the silken feel of her skin. Crisp sheets and sleek velvet, the rustle of both fabrics as she climbed smoothly on top of him. Her hot mouth on his neck, his cheek, sighing into his ear.
Adam groaned. “A novel change, doing this in bed,” he murmured, dragging her shirt over her head and tossing it aside. He suckled her breast and had the pleasure of feeling a shudder move through her. He loved those little sounds, those little markers that he was doing something right.
“I’ve dreamed about doing this in this bed more times than I can count,” Winnie confided in a breathless gasp. The admission made his chest fill with masculine satisfaction.
Adam flipped her over, then kissed his way down her belly, licked a lazy swirl around her belly button, then made a determined trek toward the heart of her sex.
Winnie shuddered as he parted her dark curls. “A-Adam,” she said brokenly.
He blew against her and smiled as she lifted her hips in anticipation.
“Do you know what I’ve dreamed about, Winnie? What’s haunted my dreams for the past fifteen months?” He touched the tip of his tongue to the little nub nestled at the top of her sex and her taste washed over his palate, all musk and woman, drugging him with its potency.
“N-no,” she said, fisting her hands in her sheets. “Tell m-me.”
He smiled and licked her fully. “Better yet, I’ll show you.” Then he settled in and feasted on her, lapped and laved and suckled. “This and this and this,” he said, between tastes. He pushed a finger deep inside her incredibly tight channel and hooked it around, searching for that one place—
She bucked against him and he smiled.
Found it.
Adam tented his tongue and worked it against her while massaging that tiny patch of sensitive skin hidden deep within. Winnie’s breath came in hard little puffs and her thighs alternately went rigid and quaked.
“Adam—If you don’t—I can’t take—” Then she moaned low and a scream of pure ecstasy ripped from her throat.
Adam slowed his assault, licking her lazily.
She melted into the mattress. “That was—I’ve never—” Breathing hard, she pushed her hands through her hair. She laughed shakily. “Wow. That was impressive.”
Adam crawled up the length of her body and smiled down at her. “Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
IF HE ADDED ANY more wickedness to that lethal smile of his
, she’d be nothing more than a puddle of goo.
Oh, wait. She already was.
Still spent, tingling and trying to recover, Winnie bent forward and nipped at Adam’s shoulder. She could feel him nudging the inside of her thigh, but was curiously consumed with the desire to taste him, as well. Hadn’t she wanted to feel the silken heat of him in her mouth?
He bent and nuzzled the underside of her breast, sending another delicious shiver through her. Her eyes fluttered shut, absorbing the pleasure until she decided that there was no time like the present to do something she wanted to do.
Oh, yeah.
Tugging at her nipple with his teeth now, Winnie framed his face and drew him away. “Turnabout’s fair play, right?”
He blinked, seemingly dazed. Those clear eyes were heavy-lidded and darkened with desire and the idea that she’d done this to him sent a little thrill straight into her heart.
Before he could sort it out, Winnie twisted herself around, took him in hand…then in her mouth.
Adam swore hotly and that little release of self-control made her inordinately pleased. Emboldened, she swirled her tongue around the engorged head, then licked him slowly from root to tip. She cupped his balls and heard another word—one she didn’t think she’d ever heard come from his mouth before—leave his lips in a hiss of haste.
“Winnie,” he said warningly.
She took him fully in her mouth, working her tongue along his shaft and relished the feel of his hot, slippery skin against her lips. Her body went all limp and languid again and an answering tingle buzzed through her weeping sex. She upped the tempo, licking, laving, sucking and worked him against her palm, her mouth chasing her own hand.
Adam locked his muscles, his thighs went rigid. She felt him harden against her mouth and tasted the salty essence leaking from the tip.
“Winnie,” he choked out again. “If you don’t stop—”
She laughed against him. “You’ll what?”
A maniacal chuckle bubbled from his chest and she could feel him twitch, could sense the orgasm building in his loins, could taste the impending release.
