by Marie Force
But he’d gone slow. He’d been patient. He’d given her weeks to catch up. He drew her nipple into his mouth and sucked hard, loving the way her body molded to his and her fingers grasped his hair in a tight grip. Colton never would’ve described himself as a breast man before he caught sight of Lucy Mulvaney’s gorgeous breasts last weekend, and now they were all he could think about. He’d always been more of a leg and ass guy, but she’d changed him in more ways than one.
Speaking of her pert ass and smooth legs . . . He cupped a supple cheek and squeezed, making her squirm and moan. “I want you, Lucy. I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you standing there next to Cameron in our conference room.”
“I’m afraid that we keep getting in deeper.” Realizing what she’d said, she squeezed his lips together before he could make a predictable comment. However, even the tight pinch of her fingers couldn’t keep the smile from occupying the rest of his face. “You are such a little boy.”
He nibbled her fingers until she let go. “That is not true, and I can prove it.”
“Yes, it really is true,” she said with a sigh.
“I hear what you’re saying, Luce, and I get it. Believe me, I do, and I’m worried about a lot of the same things you are. But I absolutely refuse to ruin today by worrying about what might happen tomorrow or the next day.” He met her gaze and kissed her softly. “After I lost my twenty-eight-year-old brother-in-law, I promised myself I’d honor his memory by living my life to the absolute fullest extent possible. No regrets, no worries, no fears. That’s what I’ve tried to do ever since.”
Colton brushed his lips over her knuckles. “He was two years older than I am now when he died. This was all he got, and he had so much more to give.” He closed his eyes when the sadness threatened to derail him. When he’d gotten himself together, he opened them and looked directly at her. “I’m not trying to be dramatic or anything. But that changed me. It changed all of us. It made me realize this is all we’ve got. Right now. Today. And right now, today, I want to make love with you because that’s almost all I’ve thought about since the first time I kissed you.”
Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. “The first time you kissed me was the night we met.”
He shrugged. “That’s how long I’ve wanted you.” Why mince words? At this point, either she was in this thing or she wasn’t, but he was no longer interested in hiding how he felt about her. Under his watchful gaze, she processed what he’d said, all the while looking at him with those big blue eyes that gave away her every emotion. Did she think he couldn’t see how badly she wanted the same thing he did? Now it was only a matter of whether she would give herself permission to take what she wanted.
“I won’t hurt you, Luce. As long as you’re mine, I’ll take good care of whatever you choose to give me.”
A big tear rolled down her cheek, and he brushed it away. She caressed his face, and her touch electrified him the way it always did. “You are extremely irresistible, but of course you already know that.”
“No one has ever said that to me before, so I didn’t know. Not until you told me.” He held his breath, waiting to see what she would do next.
She flattened her hand on his chest and leaned in to kiss him, her lips soft but persuasive. Then the tip of her tongue began to trace the outline of his mouth, and he had to hold himself back from the need to absolutely devour her.
“Lucy,” he said in a strangled tone. “Tell me what you want.”
“You. I want you, as much as you want me.”
“And the rest of it?”
“I suppose we’ll figure it out. Eventually.”
As his mental traffic light switched from caution to green, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in tight against him. He nearly forgot how to breathe when her breasts pressed against his chest. Because he didn’t want to miss a thing, he kept his eyes open and focused on her as he lost himself in a deep, sensual kiss full of passion and promise.
He could feel her capitulation, her surrender to the inevitable pull they’d experienced from the first day they met. They’d been drawn to each other before they’d even been properly introduced, and had been heading for this moment ever since. Now that she’d confessed to wanting the same things he did, he was determined to make it unforgettable for her.
With that in mind, he broke the kiss and moved his attention to her neck and throat, nibbling and kissing her soft skin while breathing in the fragrance he’d come to know as hers. It wasn’t perfume or soap or anything easily identified. It was her, uniquely her.
“Relax, honey.” He left a trail of kisses along her collarbone. “Just relax and let me love you.”
Her arms curled over her head as she released a deep breath.
Sensing her complete surrender made him harder than he’d ever been in his life, but he refused to rush. Not after they’d waited so long to get here. He worshiped each breast with his lips and mouth and teeth while she writhed under him, arching against him until he was cross-eyed with lust. But still he didn’t rush. Rather, he took his time and didn’t move farther down until each nipple was standing at attention and her entire body was trembling in response to him.
Her belly quaked under his lips and her legs shook as he removed her shorts, leaving her covered only in a scrap of see-through lace. He bit his lip to keep from groaning out loud when his own needs threatened to trump hers. But this time was all about her, and he wanted to make sure her faith in him was amply rewarded.
With his palms flat against her knees, he encouraged her to open to him.
Her movements were tentative and almost uncertain.
Colton looked up to find her watching him intently. “Let me in, honey.” His voice sounded rough, even to his own ears. He moved his hands from her knees to her inner thighs, hoping he was encouraging her as he went.
She reached for him, but he shook his head. If she touched him now, he’d lose his composure.
“Hands above your head. Grab the slats if you need something to hold on to.”
“I want to hold on to you.”
“You can. Later.”
Lucy did as he asked, wrapping her hands around the wooden slats in the headboard. Her trust overwhelmed him and fired his desire to give her everything.
He ran his hands over her incredibly soft skin as he continued to ease her legs farther apart.
“Colton,” she whispered, lifting her hips off the bed.
“Hmm?”
“You’re making me nuts, and you know it.”
“Now how could I possibly know that?” He smiled as he replaced his hands with his lips, kissing from her right knee, up her thigh and stopping at the place where her leg met her body.
“Colton!”
“Is this what you want?” He pressed his mouth against her core, tonguing her through the lace that covered her.
“Yes! God, yes. There. Don’t stop.”
He kept up the steady pressure of his tongue, while watching the full-body blush that he’d grown to love so much color her soft pale skin. More than anything, he loved that he could do that to her. When he was certain she was past the point of paying attention, he pushed her panties aside and resumed his efforts with nothing between his tongue and her pleasure. They’d never done this before, and the flavor of her on his tongue was like the sweetest honey he’d ever tasted. One taste, and he was already addicted.
She screamed from the new sensations.
He slid two fingers into her and sucked on the heart of her desire, tripping her release, which was about the sexiest thing he’d ever experienced. How in the world could she say she wasn’t hot?
While she came down from the release, he removed her panties, leaving her completely naked before him for the first time. The hair that covered her mound was a darker shade of red than the hair on her head. When she saw him taking a greedy look at her, she tried to cover herself.
He took her hands and pinned them to the mattress next to her hips. “Don’t
hide from me. I love looking at you.”
“Colton,” she whispered. “I want to touch you.”
“In a minute.” He bent to kiss her belly. “Do we need protection?”
She shook her head. “I’m on long-term birth control.”
“I had a physical a month ago. I’m clean, and I can prove it if you want me to.”
“I believe you.” She tugged her hands free from his hold and held out her arms to him.
He took a second to remove his shorts before he stretched out on top of her. “God, you feel so good, Luce. Nothing has ever felt this good.”
“For me either. I had no idea it could be like this.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” he said with a grin, hoping to get rid of the line of tension that had formed between her brows.
She smiled up at him. “Show me what you’ve got.”
Never one to back away from a challenge, he took himself in hand and pressed into her, slowing when she gasped. “Does it hurt?”
“No. I’m just . . . sensitive. And it’s been a while. A long while.”
“Mmm,” he said, his lips pressed against her neck. “We’ll have to take it slow then.” Taking it slow would surely kill him, but he’d do it for her.
“Not too slow, I hope.” To make her point, she lifted her hips, taking more of him. “God, you’re big all over, aren’t you?”
That made him laugh, which caused his control to falter, leading to a stronger thrust than he’d intended.
She gasped again and pressed her fingertips into the muscles on his back. Other women had done that, but never before had such an insignificant thing set off an almost electrical current of desire in him. Everything about this—about her—was different and had been from the beginning.
“Luce,” he said on a long deep breath. “I can’t . . .”
“What?”
“I can’t hold back anymore.”
“Don’t. Don’t hold back.”
When he heard the desire in her voice, something inside him snapped, shredding what was left of his control. As it was happening, he knew in the back of his mind that he might regret later that he had failed to be gentle, that he’d failed to show restraint or finesse, but in the moment, he could only take and take and take what she gave so willingly.
Her legs curled around his back, her arms encircled his neck and her tongue tangled with his as she took him somewhere he’d never been before. Her shout of pleasure finished him off, and he collapsed into her embrace in a trembling mass of limbs and sweat.
Jesus, he thought. What the hell just happened? As the haze of desire lifted, he winced at how rough he’d been with her. He was almost afraid to look at her for fear of seeing shock or horror. Marshaling the courage, he raised his head off her chest and looked down to find her eyes closed and her lips curved into a satisfied little smile. She didn’t look the slightest bit shocked or horrified.
“Are you okay?” he asked. His throat was dry, and his lips were sore.
She kept her eyes closed. “Mmm. Hmmm.”
“Sorry . . . I was rough. I didn’t mean to be.”
Her arm encircled his neck, drawing him into a kiss. “You were amazing.” She kissed him again. “I get it now.”
“What do you get?”
Lucy opened her eyes and looked up at him. “If that’s how it is for Cameron with Will, I get now why she ditched her whole life to be with him.”
Colton curled up his lip with disgust. “I don’t want to talk about how it is for Cameron with Will, if you don’t mind.”
She laughed until she had tears in her eyes, which made her tighten around his hardening cock.
“You know,” he said as he rolled her earlobe between his teeth, “we might need to do it again, just to make sure that wasn’t a one-off.”
“I think we owe it to ourselves to find out.”
“I really do like how you think.”
CHAPTER 5
Overcast, temps just above freezing. No sap. Worked on main lines, setting up the vacuum pump and scouring sap tanks with wet snow.
—Colton Abbott’s sugaring journal, February 24
Waking early on Saturday morning, Will Abbott took advantage of the opportunity to watch Cameron sleep. Since she was almost always awake before him, he rarely had the chance to study her in all her gorgeousness without her knowing he was looking.
He focused on the dark circles that had formed under her eyes as she worked long, grueling hours on the website for the store all the while helping Hannah with her plan to turn her home into a bed-and-breakfast for women who’d lost spouses to war. On top of all of that, Hannah had asked Cameron to be a bridesmaid in her wedding to Nolan later this summer.
Unable to resist touching her, Will stroked her fine blonde hair and let the silky strands slide through his fingers. In the weeks that she’d been living with him in his cabin in the woods, she’d also taken to life among the Abbotts like a bee to the sweetest of honey. She’d flitted from one family obligation to another until his parents and siblings were almost as in love with her as he was.
The bruised circles under her eyes told the true story though. She was wearing herself out. He hadn’t yet asked what she had planned for the weekend, but inevitably she would work for much of it.
She needed some time away from the computer, and he needed some time completely alone with her. The idea took root as he watched her sleep. He got out of bed slowly so he wouldn’t wake her. After letting the dogs out, he filled their bowls with food and then headed for the shower. By the time he was dressed, the dogs were scratching at the door to get in. He wrote Cameron a note to let her know he’d gone to do a quick errand but would be right back and left it on his pillow so she’d see it the minute she woke up.
Will whispered to the dogs to take care of Cameron and he’d be right back. Sensing they weren’t invited to join him, Trevor and Tanner went to the bedroom and got in bed with Cam.
He drove his truck into town and across the one-lane covered bridge that led to his parents’ home on Hells Peak Road. They still lived in the converted red barn in which they’d raised ten children, who loved to tell outsiders they’d been raised in a barn. His brother Landon liked to add that their upbringing explained their bad behavior. Except none of them were all that badly behaved. Their parents wouldn’t have stood for it then, and they certainly wouldn’t stand for it now that all ten of their children were adults.
Even Max, the youngest of them, was now officially an adult and had the first Abbott grandchild on the way. Months after hearing that Max and his girlfriend, Chloe, were expecting a baby together, Will was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that the youngest of them would be the first to become a parent.
They’d all expected Hannah to be the first parent as she’d married Caleb right after college. But they’d yet to have children when Caleb died six years later in Iraq. The rest of them were late bloomers in the marriage and family department. Since he’d met Cameron, Will had begun to think more about the next steps for them. As eager as he was to spend forever with her, they weren’t in any rush. Still, it was on his mind.
Will entered the mudroom at his parents’ house and was greeted by their yellow labs, George the third and Ringo the third, named for members of his father’s favorite band of all time.
His parents were exactly where he expected them to be at that hour—at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and reading the morning paper the way they had every morning for as long as Will could remember.
He bent to kiss his mother and stole a croissant out of a basket on the table.
“To what do we owe this unexpected honor?” Molly Abbott asked as she turned her cheek up to receive his kiss.
“What? A guy can’t come by to see his parents without a good reason?”
Lincoln looked over the half glasses that were perched on the end of his nose. “We haven’t seen much of you lately.”
“I’ve been busy.”
“
Busy,” Molly said with a chuckle. “Is that what you call it these days?”
“Happy,” Will said. “Is that better?”
“That’s lovely, and no one deserves it more.”
“I don’t mean to neglect you guys though.”
“You haven’t,” Molly said. “We’re teasing you.”
“If you’re happy,” Lincoln added, “we’re happy.”
That was the simple truth his parents had always lived by, and it was how he hoped to raise his own kids someday.
Molly got up to refill her mug and poured one for Will, putting the cream and sugar on the table in front of him. “So what brings you by, and where’s Cam this morning?”
“Thanks.” Will stirred cream into his coffee. “She’s sleeping in, but she’s why I’m here. I was thinking about taking her over to the lake for a couple of nights. She’s been working nonstop for weeks and could use a break.”
“Sounds like a great idea,” Lincoln said after a short pause. “I’ll get you the key.” He jumped up from the table and left the room, the dogs in hot pursuit. Where his father went, the dogs went, too.
Molly twisted her gray braid around her finger as she eyed him. “I’ve noticed Cam seems sort of worn out lately. I wondered if something else might be afoot.”
“Such as?”
Molly shrugged but sent him a devilish grin. “You should ask Max about how tired Chloe has been.”
Will felt like he’d been electrocuted as he stared at his mother. “Cameron isn’t pregnant, Mom.”
“And you’re sure of that?”
“Of course I am.” Of course he was. Despite his certainty, however, a bolt of panic shot through him.
“Then a few nights away ought to perk her right up.”
He downed the last of his coffee, surprised he could get it past the huge lump in his throat. “That’s the idea.”
Lincoln returned and held out the key to Will. “Have a nice time.”
“We will. Thanks.” He stood and put his mug in the sink. “I’d better get home and see if I can talk Cameron into a getaway.”
