by Andre, Bella
Fortunately, like last week’s hotel, theirs was the only penthouse suite, so all they needed to do was make it out of the elevator and in the door. And then he would tear off her clothes and devour every inch of her.
But he couldn’t make himself move away from her. Not yet. Not when she was rocking her hips into him and he knew how close she was. So ready for him that all it would take was the barest brush of his hand inside silk to take her over the edge.
From the moment he’d left her house on Saturday morning, he’d wanted this. Wanted to have her in his arms. Wanted to lick across her skin. Wanted to hear the sweet sounds she made when she came apart. Wanted to be inside of her more than he needed to take his next breath.
Tearing his mouth from hers on a rough curse, he yanked the key card out of the elevator, then covered the open seam at the back of her hips with his hands so that the security guys couldn’t ogle even that. “Hang on tight.” He carried her out of the elevator and to their door, nearly kicking it open when the card wouldn’t read at first.
Finally, the damn thing opened up, and in a matter of seconds he had it closed again and locked behind them with Kerry pressed against it. The words, “I’ll buy you a new outfit,” were barely out of his mouth when he tore again, this time from her neck down. The belt at her waist was the only thing holding the fabric up anymore, but even though a part of him was frustrated that she still wasn’t naked, another part of him needed to stop and drink her in.
The first time he’d set eyes on her, though she’d been glossy and elegant and perfect, he’d seen her like this in his mind’s eye. Her hair tangled from his hands. Her mouth swollen from his kisses. Her skin flushed with desire as she begged him to touch her. To take her.
But with her hands deftly yanking open his belt, he knew now wasn’t the time to stand back and stare. Later, he promised himself. Later tonight, he’d look his fill as she lay naked and soft in his arms.
Look…and run his hands over every inch of her.
By the time she’d undone his zipper, her bra was off and he was gorging himself on the sweetest tasting skin in the world, first one breast and then the other, over and over again.
Her hands faltered on the band of his boxers as she moaned and arched into his mouth. Without the elevator’s cameras on them anymore, he was finally able to hook one of her legs over his hip and slide one hand into her panties.
He loved hearing his name fall from her lips in the exact moment that he found her slick and hot. Again and again, she gasped out his name as she rocked into him. And when she shattered with his fingers in her and his mouth on her breasts, he not only knew without a doubt what heaven felt like—he also knew that even though he’d never done one thing good enough to deserve to be here, he wasn’t ever going to willingly walk away from the most beautiful, most responsive, sweetest lover he’d ever known.
His hands shook as he grabbed a condom, tore open the wrapper and shoved it on just seconds before she jumped up into his arms again, wrapped her legs around him, and took him all the way inside.
“Nothing has ever felt this good.” He thrust up into her at the same time as she came down onto him, taking him so deep that he nearly saw stars. “Nothing but you.”
He needed her mouth beneath his again, always needed to be kissing her, even when he would normally have simply been gunning for the finish line. And just as their kisses had taken him even higher last weekend, tonight he felt his chest clench even tighter as she kissed him back. Their tongues tangled, their teeth caught on each other’s lips, her hands gripped his shoulders for dear life as he brought her down over him again and again and again.
Until all they could both do was just hold on tight to each other, kissing and kissing and kissing as blazing pleasure shook through both of them.
* * *
Like the first time they’d made love, they didn’t stop kissing for a long time. Only when her arms and legs started to tremble where she was wrapped around him did Adam finally let her go—only to sweep her off her feet to carry her into the enormous bathroom and run a bath.
Sinking into a tub of hot water had never been so good, especially with the most gorgeous man in all creation lying behind her, cradling her body with his.
She leaned her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes, sighing. How wonderful it was to finally have a chance to relax for a few minutes. Especially since she was still a little off from a second meeting with that difficult couple today, and trying to decide whether or not she should cut them loose.
“Too tired for more?” Adam murmured against her neck.
“I might be persuaded to wake up in a little while,” she said as he gently ran his fingertips over her bare shoulder. She wasn’t even close to having her fill of him, that was for sure, but as a huge yawn escaped her, the truth was that for a few precious moments, all she wanted was to give in to doing absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, Adam seemed to understand exactly what she was feeling, even though he could easily have turned his gentle caresses into far more sensual ones. Soon, that was exactly what she’d want. But for now, though she knew their meet-ups were supposed to be just about sex, ever since she’d been to his office, she’d been even more curious about what he did. And it would be lovely to think about someone else’s job for a while.
“Tell me about some fabulous building you worked on today.”
“You want to talk about work right now?”
“I’ve always been interested in architecture. And not that your ego needs any boost—”
“Anytime you want to stroke my ego—or any part of me—you should feel free.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. Adam might have the world’s best self-esteem, but he was also fun and cute. It was quite a package, especially when he had his strong arms wrapped around her in a big bathtub.
“As I was saying,” she continued, “I think what you do—and how well you do it—is really fascinating.”
The kiss he pressed to her shoulder told her how much he liked her compliment. “Thanks, but I don’t know how fascinated you’d be with the place I was looking at today.”
“Why? What’s wrong with it?”
“Everything.”
“I thought you said there was no project too big?”
“Funny, you sound just like my father.” She could tell Adam was thinking about the house again because his hands were moving over her skin absently now, rather than with the devastating sensual purpose he usually had. “You saw the picture of what my office looked like before I got my hands on it. Well, this place is in even worse shape.”
“But?” She could hear the interest in his voice even as he tried to convince her that it was a lost cause.
“But at the same time it’s in a great neighborhood, right at the end of a curving lane, with an incredible oak tree in the front yard.”
His words stirred up a picture in her head of her favorite house as a child, so clearly that she had to tell him, “I know this might sound crazy, but I think I might know the house you’re talking about.”
“It’s on Seaview Lane.”
Her exhaustion suddenly fled as she squirmed around in the tub so that she was straddling him. “Oh, Adam, the most amazing old couple lived there. They built the house together, and it was just so beautiful, all of the hand-carved wood, the inlaid floors, the stained glass in the windows upstairs. They made all of that themselves as a team. They were so sweet together, always holding hands, always giving each other little smooches, rocking together on the front porch. They didn’t have any kids of their own, so they’d invite the local kids and our parents to have picnics under the huge old oak tree. And you wouldn’t believe the way they’d decorate the whole place for Christmas. It was more than just the light shows you see now—everything was handmade with such love and passion.”
It wasn’t until she came to a stop that she realized Adam was staring up at her with such intensity that her breath caught in her throat.
&
nbsp; “Do you have any idea how gorgeous you are when you’re naked in the bath with me, talking about houses?” He reached up to tangle his hands in her wet hair and pull her mouth down to his for a kiss that seared through every cell in her body. “Do you have any idea how damned gorgeous you are every single second?”
Every kiss he gave her took her deeper and made her more and more desperate to get even closer to him than they already were, wrapped around each other in the tub. And, oh, how she loved the way his large hands slipped and slid over her wet curves, moving over her breasts and then to her waist and hips and back up again. They’d only just taken each other against the door, but she needed him again.
“Adam.”
“I know, sweetheart. I need you again, too.”
The endearment shouldn’t have sounded right for two people who were just having fun hotel sex once a week, but everything was right just then. Especially when she realized he’d thought to put protection on the edge of the tub.
Moments later, he was ready for her and was she ever ready for him. His hands on her waist helped to guide her down over him slowly, so slowly that she gasped at how good it felt to have him inside of her. Every last one of her nerve endings was already on fire when his tongue slicked over her nipples...and then going slow wasn’t an option anymore. Because she needed more, needed to sink all the way down onto his rock-hard muscles, needed him to keep raking the edge of his teeth over her breasts one after the other.
Fireworks had already gone off inside her once tonight, so brilliantly that she’d nearly been blinded. But as this second climax started to take her over, from the tips of her toes all the way to the top of her head, she was amazed to realize that when she was in Adam’s arms, there were always brighter and brighter colors to see and even bigger and bigger explosions to experience.
And then, his hands were back in her hair and his mouth was on hers again, kissing her through not only her orgasm but also his own, and then beyond…just the way they had each time before.
Finally, with one more swipe of his tongue over her lower lip, he let her up for air. “We weren’t done talking about the house yet, were we?”
Every part of her felt warm and sated as she smiled and shook her head. “No, not yet.”
“How about we continue our conversation in bed?”
If the water hadn’t begun to cool so rapidly, she might have voted for staying in the tub with him forever. “Throw in a couple of steaks, a bottle of wine, and some fresh-baked bread, and you’ve got a deal.”
A few minutes later they were both wrapped in plush bathrobes, he’d called for room service, and they were sitting on top of the soft duvet drinking from a couple of mini bottles of wine from the minibar.
“I’ve thought about the couple who lived in that house more than once since we moved away fifteen years ago,” Kerry said, “but I always assumed their house must have sold to some lucky family. If it’s in as bad a state as you’re saying, I’m guessing that’s not what happened.”
“Unfortunately, it went to some distant family members who forgot all about it.”
“You have to save it, Adam.”
“Because you loved it as a child?”
“Yes, partly because I loved it as a kid. But also because that house, more than any I’ve ever known, represents true love. A love so pure,” she teased, “that even you couldn’t have missed it.”
He shook his head, feigning disgust, but she felt as though she was starting to see through him just a little bit.
“You’re planning to go by to see it, aren’t you?” he asked her.
Clearly, she thought, he was starting to see through her a little bit, too. “Sitting beneath that oak tree was always one of my favorite places to be.”
He frowned. “I’d hate for your good memories to be changed.”
“Don’t worry.” His concern was so sweet that she had to reach up to stroke his bristly cheek. “They won’t be, no matter how bad you think it looks.”
“How about we go together? That way I can show you why it’s not a completely lost cause.”
“I knew it,” she said, leaning in even closer so that she could kiss him. “You were already thinking of taking the house on.”
He kissed her back before saying, “Maybe.”
“No,” she said softly, “you’re not a maybe kind of guy.”
The sudden tension in the room had her realizing that she must have overstepped somehow. Did he think she was talking about them? Or that she was wishing for more than the agreement they’d made?
Kerry wished she could read his expression, wished she could figure out how to take things back to the playful, sexy place. Fortunately, the ringing of the suite’s doorbell broke the slightly tense moment.
“Hang tight, I’ll go get our food.”
Adam was effortlessly gorgeous as he took off the robe and pulled on a pair of jeans to head out of the bedroom and into the connected sitting room. She could still hardly believe that she’d slept with him—or that she’d ever considered not sleeping with him for one second. Because even with that one weird moment they’d just had, having sex with Adam Sullivan was the best thing she’d ever done in her entire life.
The very best thing.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Your turn now,” Adam said between bites. “Tell me how things are going with the wedding biz.”
Kerry laughed as she took a bite of bread, swallowing it down with some red wine before saying, “You can’t possibly want to hear about the minute details of planning happily-ever-afters.”
“I like listening to you be passionate, whatever the subject. Especially,” he added with a wicked grin, “when you’re being passionate about something on my lap in the bathtub.”
She threw the rest of her roll at him as she laughed again. He liked seeing her loose like this, her hair down and tangled around her shoulders, her mouth curving up again and again into easy smiles.
“Well, if you insist,” she said with her own little wicked glint in her eyes, “I’d be happy to tell you all about the couple I met with for the second time today.”
Surprisingly, he found he really was interested. Still, he had to tease her by saying, “Let me guess. They were disgustingly, droolingly in love and they called each other Poopsie and Button.”
He was expecting her to laugh again, but she frowned instead. “Actually, they weren’t like that at all.”
She looked so sad about it that he pushed the tray of food aside so that he could pull her onto his lap and put his arms around her. “Then what were they doing in your office?”
She sighed, leaning closer to him. “That’s what I keep asking myself.” He pressed a kiss to her neck, and she shivered a little at the sensation before saying, “They couldn’t agree on anything. Not location. Not size. Not style. Not even the month to have the wedding.”
“Maybe,” he suggested, “he feels like a fish out of water talking to a wedding planner.”
“I’d have known if that were the problem,” she said with a shake of her head. “This was different. Like they were both determined to push at each other.”
“But they’ve gotten this far, right? To the point where she’s wearing a ring that he gave her and they’re talking with the best wedding planner in the business.”
That got him a small smile, which he was glad to see. “True.”
“Some of the buildings I’ve loved working with most are the ones where, when I’ve pushed, she’s pushed back just as hard.”
“Your buildings are feminine?”
“Most of them.”
She rolled her eyes. “Figures.”
He gave her shoulder a little nip. “Can I get back to my point now?”
She lowered her mouth to his shoulder and nipped him back. “Go ahead.”
Of course, instead of finishing his thought, he needed to slide his hands into her already tangled hair to kiss her breathless. They were both breathing hard by the time he finally let her
up for air.
“I think I get your point now.” She looked back down at his mouth, then up to his eyes. “They probably have such great sex that nothing else matters.”
He should have jumped to agree with her. But for the first time in his life, he found he couldn’t play the part of the player who only had sex on the brain.
“I’m the last guy to say sex isn’t important. But there’s got to be more than that if things are going to work long term.” When she didn’t respond, simply stared at him as if seeing him for the first time, he tried to explain. “My siblings, my cousins—I’ve seen the way they are with their spouses. Sure, they can’t keep their hands off each other, but that’s just a part of what binds them together.”
“What else do they have?”
“Respect. Trust. Dedication.”
“Wow, I’m impressed. You didn’t even need to think about that list.”
“Like I said, I’ve seen an awful lot of couples in love, with my parents right at the top of the list.”
“Maybe you should have been a wedding planner instead of an architect.”
He put his mouth to hers, found her tongue with his, and then gently bit it.
She was laughing even before he let it go. “Did you just bite my tongue?” she asked through her laughter.
“Someone had to for saying that.”
He loved the feel of her shaking with laughter on his lap. So much that he really didn’t want to let her go any time soon.
“Look, all I’m saying is that maybe they like the pushing. Maybe they both like the challenge. Maybe they’d be bored with someone exactly like them, someone who thinks the exact same way. Maybe they like the excitement of knowing their partner will always surprise them.”
“I’ve never looked at things that way.” She looked pensive. “I always thought friction was a bad thing in relationships.”
How, he wondered, had they progressed to talking so seriously about relationships? What they did on their nights together was supposed to be just sex. Instead, somehow, he was having to work to stop himself from thinking about how a real relationship with Kerry wouldn’t be boring, because they didn’t think the same way at all. Because she always surprised him.
