by Marie Force
“You don’t have to. . .” He nearly levitated off the bed when she dipped her tongue into the slit at the top. Releasing an inarticulate sound, his hips surged, pushing into her mouth.
Laura took him deep again, as deep as she could, and lashed at him with her tongue. She looked up to find him watching her with feverish-looking eyes. His hands had fallen to his sides, giving her complete control.
“Mmm,” she said, making sure her lips vibrated against his most sensitive skin.
“Baby, stop. Stop.”
Rather than stop, though, she sucked on him and cupped his balls, squeezing gently.
With a harsh cry, he erupted into her throat.
Feeling a sense of power unlike anything she’d ever experienced, she licked him clean as he quivered and trembled beneath her. She kissed his belly and chest, tongued his nipple and drew another sharp cry of surprise from him.
As she stretched out on top of him, his arms encircled her. “You. . .that was. . .you’re amazing.” He turned them so he was on top, but kept his weight off the baby. “I’ve never felt anything like that.” He kissed her. “Ever.” His eyes glinted with humor and devious intent. “My turn.”
Her entire body hummed with anticipation that surged into a sharp tingle between her legs.
He worshiped every inch of her, paying particular attention to nipples made extra sensitive by pregnancy. By the time his broad shoulders pushed her legs apart, she was already on the verge of an explosive release. The first touch of his tongue on her throbbing clitoris was all it took to set her off. His fingers slid into her slick channel, riding the wave of her climax. “Again,” he whispered as he set out to drive her mad a second time.
Laura would’ve sworn she couldn’t do it twice, but she’d learned not to underestimate him. He took his own sweet time leading her up and leaving her hanging at the precipice three times before he took her over in a second wave that was more powerful than the first.
On his knees, he spread her legs even farther apart and wrapped his hand around his hard cock, stroking himself. Keeping his gaze fixed on hers, he aligned their bodies and began to push into her.
She was so primed his entry should’ve been easy, but he was big, and he had to work his way in slowly.
He held himself up on his arms when he dipped his head to kiss her with sweeping, insistent strokes of his tongue over her lips and into her mouth. All the while he kept up the slow, steady push and pull.
Needing to breathe, Laura broke the kiss and gulped in greedy breaths. She smoothed her hands over his sweat-slicked back, curving them over the rounded globes of his ass. She squeezed, encouraging him to keep going.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.
“No, no. Feels so good.” She arched her back, wanting more, wanting everything he had to give her.
“For me too, Princess. Nothing has ever felt so good.” He pressed his lips to her neck, which made her shiver.
“It’s because you don’t have to wear a condom.”
He shook his head, gazing down at her with love and affection and desire in his eyes. “It’s you. You make all the difference.” Glancing down to where they were joined, he said, “About halfway there.”
She let out an unsteady groan. “Seriously?”
He laughed softly. “You can do it.”
“I’m not sure I can.”
Sliding a hand under her, he turned them in a smooth move that startled and stirred her. Somehow he managed to remain lodged within her. “You do the rest,” he said, his hands on her hips guiding her as she straddled him. “Relax and let it happen.” He flattened his palm on her belly to steady her before moving both hands up to cup her breasts. Under her, he shifted slightly to sit up a bit. The new position sent him deeper into her and put his mouth in direct proximity to her breasts. He sucked her nipple into his mouth and dropped one hand to the V of her legs, rolling the firm nub of her clit between his fingers.
The combination made it easier for her slide further down on him.
“Two more inches to go,” he said as he dabbed her nipple with the sharp point of his tongue.
“You’re lying.”
He took her hand. “Feel.”
Sure enough, a good two inches remained. “You got way more than your share, mister.”
Laughing, he said, “Never heard any complaints before.”
“I’m not complaining,” she said, as a fine sheen of sweat coated her skin from the effort to relax and allow him in. “Exactly.”
“Come here.” He put his arms around her and brought her in tight against his chest, capturing her mouth in a heated kiss that was all slick lips and eager tongues. His fingers dug into her hips to stop her from moving as he once again kissed her stupid.
Her entire body throbbed, but the epicenter was between her legs where he remained wedged. And if she wasn’t mistaken, he was getting bigger.
She moaned against his lips. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “He has a mind of his own.”
“He thinks an awful lot of himself.”
He flashed that devastating grin that got to her every time. “He does have a rather healthy ego.” Cupping her ass, he squeezed and teased as his hungry mouth went to work on her other nipple. “We’ll have to practice a lot so it becomes routine to you.”
She choked out a shaky laugh. “I don’t think he will ever become routine to me.”
“Do you want to stop?”
“If you stop, I’ll kill you.”
That made him chuckle softly as his fingers delved deeper into the cleft of her ass, leaving no part of her untouched or unexplored.
Laura let her head fall back as a riot of sensations bombarded her. Suddenly, she needed to move and squirmed against his tight hold. His hands moved to her hips, but he let her set the pace, and gasped when she finally took all of him.
She cried out when he rolled her clit between his fingers while he flexed his hips, pushing deeper and touching a spot inside her that had never been touched before. Losing herself in the intense spasms that rippled from the soles of her feet to her scalp and every pressure point in between, she came hard. One wave followed another, stealing the breath from her lungs along with any remaining doubts that this man was the one meant for her. When she returned from the heavenly ride, he was poised above her, looking down at her in amazement.
“Wow,” he said reverently.
How had he turned them over again without her even knowing? “Yeah.” Still breathing hard and throbbing with aftershocks, she brought him down for a kiss. That’s when she realized he was harder than ever and still buried deep inside her. “You didn’t. . .”
Smiling, he shook his head. “Wrap your legs around my hips.”
Tentatively, Laura did as he asked.
“Ready?”
Biting her bottom lip, she nodded, not entirely sure what she was agreeing to but trusting him implicitly.
“Hold on to me, baby.” He reached beneath her and gripped her bottom, the position opening her to him even more than she’d been before. Slowly, gently, he began to move in steady strokes.
Even though the pressure was intense between her legs, her entire body was on fire for him. She’d never had sex like this—all-consuming, full-body sex.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said against her lips as his tongue dipped into her mouth, teasing and withdrawing before she could catch it. He looked her square in the eye. “I love you, Laura. I wanted to be deep inside you, with your arms and legs wrapped around me, the first time I said those words to you. I’ve loved you for almost as long as I’ve known you.”
Tears filled her eyes as her heart pounded in time with the steady, unrelenting motion of his hips. “I love you, too. I’m so glad you stayed here with me.”
He rested his forehead on hers. “Best thing I ever did.” Tipping his head, he took her mouth again in a series of deep kisses that left her breathless and on the edge of yet another release
, which was certainly a first. Everything about this encounter was a revelation to her. “You got one more for me, babe?”
“Maybe.”
“That’s my girl. Does anything hurt?”
She shook her head and gripped his backside, wanting to keep him buried deep. Arching into him, she contracted her internal muscles, which drew a deep, tortured groan from him.
“Do it again,” he said, his breathing harsh and erratic.
She dug her fingers into his ass and bore down hard on his cock.
He gripped her bottom so tightly she wondered if there’d be bruises—not that she cared in the least—threw his head back and came with a strangled sound that dragged her right along with him in a climax that seemed to go on forever.
Rolling them to their sides in a smooth move, he collapsed next to her, still throbbing inside her.
“That was incredible,” he said many minutes later. “Unlike anything I’ve ever known.”
“For me, too,” she said, nuzzling his chest hair and planting kisses on his chest.
“I had a feeling it would be kinda awesome with you, but that. . .” He ran his fingers through his unruly hair. “I don’t think they’ve invented the word for that yet.”
Laura laughed at his befuddlement. Never would she have expected to feel so light and free after the nightmare she’d endured the day before. As long as she was with him, she could expect more days like this one. Maybe even a lifetime of lightness and freedom and laughter and contentment. Maybe it was okay to hope for such things again, knowing everything about this was different from anything that had come before.
“I can hear that big brain of yours working overtime,” he said, tapping lightly on her forehead.
She looked up at him. “I’m thinking that at one of the worst times of my life I found you, and what a lucky, lucky day that was.”
“Luckiest day of my life when I found you standing in the wind and rain, staring wistfully at my family’s broken-down hotel. You were so cute and waif-like wearing that huge old raincoat with the hood that practically swallowed up your incredible face. When you looked at me, I felt the impact like a punch to the belly.”
“You never told me that.”
“When did you start to, you know. . .”
“Love you?”
He nodded, boyish and adorable as he waited for her.
Laura didn’t even have to think about it. “Remember the tropical storm party at Mac and Maddie’s?”
“Uh-huh.”
“We were on the deck and you gave me your jacket. I was so numb from everything that’d happened with Justin, that I didn’t even realize I was cold. Somehow I’d managed to survive the wedding the day before and being Janey’s bridesmaid. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve always loved Janey like a sister, and I was so happy for her and Joe. They obviously belong together.”
He smoothed his fingers over a strand of her hair and tucked it behind her ear.
“Watching them open their gifts, seeing their joy. . . It was too much. I went outside to get some air, and there you were with your warm coat, your job offer and just the right amount of empathy when I told you what’d happened with Justin. You were the first person I told out here. And then Evan called you inside to play. You asked if I had any requests, and I said anything by James Taylor. You played “You’ve Got a Friend.” Smiling at the memory, she rested her hand over the steady beat of his heart. “You’ve been my friend—my best friend—ever since.”
“Being your BFF has been the most fun I’ve ever had.”
Delighted, she looked up at him and said, “You know what that second F stands for, don’t you?”
Nodding, he held her gaze as he brought her in closer for a kiss. “I know exactly what it means. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me, Princess. You’ve ruined me for all other women.”
She rested her head on his chest, grinning foolishly. “Then my work here is finished.”
“Your work here, my love, is just getting started.” To prove his point, he rolled her under him and made love to her all over again.
Chapter 17
Seamus carried Carolina’s overnight bag to the Jeep, mourning the loss of the closeness they’d shared during the night. She hadn’t said more than ten words to him since the call from Joe reminded her that she’d been fooling around with a man roughly her son’s age. It didn’t seem to matter that the man in question didn’t give a fig that she was older than him or had a son his age or was about to be a grandmother. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anyone else, and damn if he’d let her walk away like what had transpired between them hadn’t rocked him.
“Ya can’t fool me, love,” he said when they were standing beside her Jeep with nothing left to do but say their goodbyes. He’d called the office to get her car on the one o’clock boat. He was captaining the five o’clock boat or he might’ve gone with her and spent all day trying to convince her to give him a chance.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked testily.
With his hands on her hips, he brought her in close to him and watched her eyes dart nervously around, as if she was concerned the neighbors might see them. “I know you enjoyed yourself last night. Some things can’t be faked.”
Her face flushed with color, which was all it took to make him hard as a rock for her. “I didn’t fake anything, and I never said I didn’t enjoy it.”
“Then why can’t ya bring yourself to look at me?”
“I looked at you.”
“You looked at my dick. You took a good long look and licked your lips because you want more of it. But ya can’t seem ta bring yourself to look at my eyes. Why is that? What’re you afraid of, love?”
She raised her chin and met his gaze, her blue eyes heated with anger and desire. By now he certainly recognized the desire. “I’m not afraid of anything.”
He framed her face and kissed her, hard and long and deep. At first she fought him, her attempts at protest opening her mouth to his insistent tongue. He kissed her until she stopped fighting him, until her arms were wrapped tight around his neck and her core was pushed even tighter against the thigh he’d wedged between her legs. “If you’re not afraid of anything, you’ll see me again.”
“I told you, I’m not interested in a relation—”
He kissed her again, harder and longer and deeper than before, pressing his leg against her in pulsing movements that had her pushing back just as insistently. By the time he broke the kiss they were both breathing harshly. “Don’t lie to me, and don’t lie to yourself, Carolina.”
“I’m not lying to anyone,” she said, pushing free of his tight embrace. She wiped a trembling hand over kiss-swollen lips. “I had a very lovely time last night, but I told you before, that’s all it can be. I refuse to take up with a man nearly twenty years younger than me, who works for my son. What would people say?”
He hadn’t realized he’d given her the power to hurt him. Staring at her, he hoped to shame her into taking it back. “You disappoint me, lovely Carolina. I thought you were made of more courageous stuff than that.”
“You don’t understand—”
“No, I really don’t, but I’m hardly going to beg. I had a grand time. Best sex of my whole damned life.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips, leaving a tender kiss on the back before he released her. “I’ll never forget it.”
Opening the car door, he held it while she got in. He reached for the seatbelt and leaned in to buckle it, drawing a gasp from her as his body brushed against her. As he retreated, he stopped when his face was an inch from hers. “Worries about what other people would think or say won’t keep you warm during a long, cold winter. Not as warm as I could keep you.” He caressed her face and gave her one more soft, sweet kiss. “You know where ta find me if you change your mind.”
“I won’t.”
Shrugging, he said, “Okay.”
The Jeep’s tires made a squealing sound as she tore out of the driveway. Watching her go
, Seamus hoped he’d played it right. He could’ve bowled her over with romance, but until she realized how good they could be together and got past her hang-ups about being with a much-younger man, all the romance in the world wouldn’t matter.
No, she had to make the next move. And when she did, he’d be ready.
Big Mac McCarthy was working with his son and Luke, replacing some rotted planks on the main pier when Linda came flying into the parking lot in her little yellow Bug, skidding to a stop and tooting the horn. “What the heck has gotten into her?”
“Since she’s your wife, we’ll let you go find out,” Mac said with a cheeky grin.
“Thanks, pal.”
“Go on now before she comes after you.”
Luke chuckled at their banter as he continued to pound nails into a pressure-treated plank.
Scowling at his son, Big Mac headed up the pier to meet his wife. “Who put bees in your britches, sweetheart?”
She surprised the heck out of him when she ran to him and launched herself into his arms. They’d had a rough couple of months after he was injured in an accident at the marina earlier in the summer. But right around Labor Day they’d patching things up, and since then. . . Well, let’s just say he was reminded of the first year they were married. The gal couldn’t keep her hands off him, not that he was complaining. Nope, no complaints. He tightened his arms around her and spun her, noticing that Mac and Luke were watching them.
Stopping the spin, he made sure his back was to the nosy nellies down the dock. “What’d I do to deserve this?”
Glowing with delight, she linked her hands around his neck. “I just got off the phone with Janey, and she had the most amazing news.” Linda moved her hands to his face and kissed him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Mac and Luke had gone back to work, which made him chuckle to himself. Eat your hearts out, boys. Mom and Dad still got it. “Are you going to tell me the news?”
“You’re going to be a grandpa again!”
