Читать книгу Modern Romance December 2019 Books 5-8 - Jane Porter - Страница 21

FANTASIES ABOUT MASTERFUL Lucas were nothing compared to this. She could dream of making love until the lights went out and the world ended and this would still be on another scale.

Luc was so much more than she remembered. That first time was nothing like this, because now she was ready and she welcomed his size and the way he stretched her. All her inhibitions had dropped away, so by the time he had protected them both, pressed her down and taken her as firmly as she could have wished, she was ready to respond with matching fire.

She’d dreamed for so long that one day Lucas would see her as a woman, rather than as an annoying nuisance who cropped up in his life now and then, that she refused to be responsible for the sounds and words leaving her throat. They were wild for each other. And while she was consumed by a ravenous hunger, the urge to be one with him was even stronger.

She was eager for more, but Luc refused to be hurried. He would take care of her, he insisted as he began a leisurely tour of her body that required him to kiss every part of her.

‘Stop, stop,’ she begged when he nuzzled the sensitive nape of her neck with his sharp black stubble. Sensation overload. ‘I can’t stand it,’ she gasped out, thrashing about.

‘But you can,’ he said.

Turning her, he proved this by kissing the back of her knees, where she hadn’t even known she was sensitive, and then he kissed his way up her thighs, and on across her buttocks until she was trembling with anticipation. Next, he kissed the sway of her back until she groaned with contentment. He knew what he was doing. With every passing second she was becoming more sensitive. Her pulse was going crazy and her body craved him like never before.

‘Again?’ he suggested.

She smiled up as he eased her legs apart and moved between them. Grasping his erection, he teased her with the tip.

‘Yes! Yes!’ she groaned, arcing her hips instinctively to receive him. ‘Don’t stop now,’ she begged. ‘Don’t you dare stop.’

And to some extent, he obeyed her, stroking and teasing as before, then entering a little way before pulling back again. It was a game she loved. Their game.

Grabbing Luc’s shoulders, she drew her knees back and took the chance, brief as it was, to admire the magnificent power of the body looming over her. He was so careful with her, sinking a little deeper each time, until finally he was engaged to the hilt.

‘Soon,’ he murmured in reply to her gasping protests when he stopped moving.

‘You okay?’ he asked as she gasped with pleasure.

She couldn’t speak for fear of breaking the spell. They were one, and that was all she cared about.

Dropping kisses on her lips, he began to move, not back and forth as he had before, but in a circular, massaging movement until her body could do nothing but respond. ‘Oh!’ she cried out in wonder as she drew closer to the abyss. ‘Again…!’

Luc obliged by slamming into her, so that this time when the waves hit they were stronger and fiercer, and what was almost better than that was when she closed her inner muscles around him and he groaned. Seeing him lost in pleasure of her making made her feel powerful and strong, while the discovery that by tensing and relaxing her inner muscles she could bring him pleasure thrilled her beyond belief.

They made love in front of the fire for hours, fiercely at first, and then tenderly, which she found almost unbearably poignant. When Lucas brushed her hair back from her glowing face, she knew without question that if nothing good ever happened again she’d cling to tonight and never forget it. What more could she want than this closeness, this oneness as they stared deep into each other’s eyes? It required a special sort of trust to give herself to a man so completely.

‘I don’t know if you want to sleep, but I think you will sleep now,’ Luc observed, smiling down. ‘It’s been a long day. You must be exhausted.’

‘And a very long night,’ she reminded him, ‘though, surprisingly, I don’t feel tired at all. You, on the other hand, must be exhausted?’

‘I’ve never worked so hard,’ he agreed dryly, grinning with pleasure as she tightened her muscles around him. ‘Always a contest with you,’ he added as she enticed him to do more than drop kisses on her lips.

They breathed in unison, with every part of them in full accord, and every part of their naked bodies touching. She’d never felt so safe, so cared for…so loved?

No. Don’t kid yourself like that, Stacey’s inner voice recommended. It’s too cruel. You won’t be able to bear it in the morning when you see everything through the lens of a bright new day.

‘I’d like to go to bed and sleep in your arms,’ she said honestly.

‘Sleep?’ Lucas queried.

‘Yes. Sleep,’ she confirmed. ‘For whatever remains of the night.’

‘Not much,’ he observed with a glance out of the window to where dawn’s first frail rays were already silvering the mountain peaks.

‘Whatever’s left of the night, I’ll take it.’

Luc’s answer was to lift her into his arms so he could carry her to the bed.

There was no greater peace, he mused as he watched Stacey sleeping. No greater satisfaction than making love to a woman that he…

That he what?

Loved? Cherished? Had used?

Not used. Never used.

They’d come together because, short of swearing a vow of chastity, there was no other way for them. It was inevitable, and had always been inevitable since the first moment they met. Stacey had imprinted her unique and infuriating qualities on him in a way he couldn’t have imagined possible, and now could never forget. She’d slept in his arms, giving him the gift of peace for the first time in years. Her breathing, so gentle and even, had soothed his. She looked so innocent and that soothed him too. He needed some uncomplicated goodness in his life, but that was selfish when he had nothing to offer Stacey long-term. It would be disingenuous to say he regretted that his darker side ruled his caring instinct. When she woke, Stacey would surely have come to her senses, and know that what they’d shared was over.

Even an ice-cold shower failed to subdue his libido. He’d never known another woman like her. Stacey had been wild when she was younger, but in his bed she’d been a revelation. Niahl’s little sister was all grown up. Still cloaked in innocence perhaps, but beneath that cloak her sexual appetite matched his.

And Niahl? How would he square this with Niahl? This need, this lust inside him blurred the edges of right and wrong, making it hard to move on. The bottom line didn’t include Niahl, he determined as he turned off the water and shook hair out of his eyes. The bottom line was Stacey. He didn’t want to hurt her. Reaching for a towel, he secured it around his waist. He only had to think of her and he was hard.

Dropping the towel, he glanced out of the window at snow banked up high in drifts. Avoid her if you can, his inner critic challenged. He and Stacey had been thrown together and now they were stranded together. The only sensible answer to that problem was to clear a path in the snow to the black slope and ski her back to the village.

Donning work clothes, he congratulated himself on the fact that he’d always been able to identify the right moment to part. He’d known with his siblings when it was time for them to leave home, and he knew with Stacey. She needed a man who would have time for her, and dote on her, and provide her with a safe and cosy home. History suggested he could never do that. As soon as his siblings were fledged, he’d cast off, a ship without an anchor. After his parents’ death nothing had remained the same. Life was a river continually moving on. This chalet wasn’t his home. Stacey was right. It was just one of many properties he owned across the world. The next acquisition was always more attractive. And in each there was something vital missing. If he could just put his finger on what it was…he’d buy it, Luc concluded as he headed downstairs.

Stacey woke in a state of deep contentment, instantly aware of a body well used. It took her a moment longer to realise where she was. Luc’s room! And then the events of the previous night came flooding in. Reaching out to touch him in the big, wide bed, she found the other side empty. Where was he?

‘Luc…?’

The silence that greeted her question had a particular quality that told her she was alone. Slipping out of bed, she grabbed a robe. Putting it on, she belted it. Crossing to the window, she exclaimed softly with relief to see Luc outside, clearing a path through the snow. Turning, she retired to the bathroom, where she took the fastest shower ever. She frowned as she put on the only clothes she had with her. There was a suspicion tugging at the back of her mind.

She’d examine it later, she decided as she hurried downstairs to put on her jacket and boots. There were all sorts of useful implements hanging on the wall of the boot room alongside the skis, so she grabbed a shovel and went outside to join him. ‘Morning…’

‘Hey.’ Luc glanced up briefly before stabbing his shovel back in the snow.

She could feel his eyes burning beneath wrap-around sunglasses—a necessary precaution when the sun was low and bright. Whether the sky would remain blue like this remained to be seen, but while it did…

‘Shot!’ She’d got him square on the head with a snowball.

Shaking his unruly mop of black hair like an irritated wolf, Luc dug his shovel into the snow again and acted as if he hadn’t noticed.

She tried again, and then again with mounting success, until, with a roar, he straightened up.

‘You don’t frighten me, Luc Da Silva,’ she assured him.

‘Then it’s time I did,’ he said, and in a couple of strides he was transformed from cool and aloof to the infuriating guy she remembered from her youth. Yanking her close, he plonked her down and dropped great handfuls of snow on her face, rubbing still more into her hair.

‘Don’t you—’

‘Dare?’ he suggested. ‘Dios, Stacey! You make me want to have you right here in the snow.’

‘I don’t see anyone stopping you…’

With a husky exclamation, he tossed his gloves aside. ‘What are you doing to me?’

‘And you to me,’ she gasped as they began to fight with each other’s clothes.

‘Is this even possible?’ Thermals stood in their way.

‘Of course,’ Luc confirmed as he freed himself.

Swinging her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist, he took her with a deep thrust. No foreplay, none needed. An exclamation of shocked delight flew from her throat. Nothing had ever felt this good. She was more than ready for him, and Luc was so caring, so careful of his size and her much smaller body. He held her as if she weighed nothing, and pounded into her until she could do no more than hang suspended in his arms. ‘So good… I need this…’

‘Me too,’ Lucas admitted in an edgy growl.

‘Harder! Faster!’ They were wild for each other. She couldn’t get enough. How could she ever live without this…without him?

‘Again,’ she insisted throatily when the first bout of pleasure started to fade. ‘I need more.’

Luc laughed. ‘Me too,’ he assured her.

‘Yes!’ she hissed in triumph as he thrust rhythmically the way she liked.

‘How strong are you?’ she said some time later. ‘Don’t your arms ache?’

‘I hadn’t even thought about it. I was somewhat distracted.’

‘And now?’

‘And now…I want to have you in the snow.’

Beneath a bright blue sky with snow hillocks all around them, they made love again, and this time when Luc pinned her arms above her head, they stared into each other’s eyes, and saw more than the fever of passion.

‘I guess we’d better get to work,’ he said reluctantly some time later.

‘I guess we better had,’ she agreed.

Arranging their clothes took less than a few seconds, and soon they were attacking the snow with real gusto.

‘Something wrong?’ she asked Luc, shooting a glance his way when he stopped shovelling and leaned on the handle. ‘Have I exhausted you?’

He huffed a laugh and gathered her close. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think you’re facing a decision between clearing the path, and visiting that sauna over there.’

‘Could be,’ he confirmed with a grin.

‘Let’s investigate. I don’t want to leave you in agony.’

Planting their shovels, they ran to the sauna. Closing the door, they stripped off each other’s clothes. The small log cabin was already warm, but Luc raised the temperature even more, both with water on the embers and with his unique take on lovemaking on scorching wooden benches. ‘We have to be quick,’ he explained, laughing against her mouth.

‘I can be quick.’

‘When you want to,’ he agreed.

‘I like to make you work.’

‘I noticed.’

His grin was infectious, a slash of strong white teeth against his deep tan and sharp black stubble. There was only one problem. Their enthusiasm combined with the extreme heat inside the sauna sent the logistics of sex haywire. ‘I’m sliding off you!’

‘Time to cool down,’ Luc agreed.

Who knew they could be so close? There was a lot of laughter involved as he carried her outside and dumped her in the snow, where they proved conclusively that heating up before rolling in ice crystals was a great aphrodisiac. Luc’s strength and potency was glaring her in the face. His naked body, challenging the elements, had never looked more magnificent. ‘On top of me,’ he instructed, arranging her so she could mount him. ‘Can’t risk you catching cold.’

‘No chance of that!’ She gasped out her pleasure as he entered her in one thrust, and when she was quiet again and snuggled into his chest, she remarked groggily, ‘No wonder this caught on.’

‘Making love in the snow?’

‘The whole sauna thing.’ Had they ever been so close? she wondered.

‘Come on.’ Luc dragged her to her feet. ‘Before we both freeze. Heat. Clothes. Then back to work.’

They talked as they worked, giving her hope that Luc might finally open up. He didn’t. Instead he directed a barrage of questions her way, so she told him about her life and friends in London, and the fact that she missed the farm. ‘I miss the horses terribly,’ she admitted. ‘And I miss Niahl, but he’s so busy these days.’ She stopped as a shadow crossed Luc’s face. Luc was so busy these days. This snowbound interlude was a rare break for him. That was what he’d been trying to tell her, that she shouldn’t expect anything beyond this, because he didn’t have the time. That was okay. On the personal front, she could deal with it. She’d have to. But where Luc was concerned, if she could unlock even just a little bit of his angst, her job was done, and so she asked the question: ‘How about you, Lucas?’

‘Me?’ His lips pressed down as he shrugged. ‘You can learn anything you want to know about me from the press.’

‘Can I?’ she said disbelievingly. ‘I can only learn what sensational journalism wants me to know, and I’d rather hear it from you.’

‘Hear what from me?’

Okay. She got the message. This was going nowhere. If she pressed him he’d clam up even more. Why spoil the short time they had together?

‘No.’ Planting her shovel, she admitted, ‘Whatever I read in the press, I see you as amazing. Always have.’ She huffed a laugh. ‘Pity me.’

‘No faults?’ Luc enquired, spreading his arms wide.

Stacey hummed as she pretended to consider this, but she was thinking, This is my chance to let Luc know I’m there for him.

‘You’re a little controlling, but only because responsibility came along in such a tragic way. However wild you were, there was no option but to rein in fast. Perhaps you overcompensated. Your parents’ death happened when others your age were free to do as they pleased, so I think it’s amazing that you not only built a business empire, but mended a family that had been so badly fractured.’

What she didn’t add was her deeply held belief that Luc could have done with someone to mend him.

He hummed and raised a brow. ‘I’m not sure I deserve that level of praise. You make me sound far more impressive than I am.’

‘Do I?’ She held his gaze steadily. ‘Or do I say these things because they’re true?’

‘You haven’t done too badly yourself,’ he said, shifting the spotlight with effortless ease. ‘You were also bound by duty, but you found an opportunity to try something new and forge your own path, which you’ve done very successfully, it seems to me.’

Disappointment welled inside her. She should have known better than to expect Luc to open up after so many years for no better reason than because she’d asked a question. Deciding to keep things light and try another time, she smiled. ‘So you’ve finally accepted I’ve changed in five years.’

‘I wouldn’t go that far,’ he growled, pretending to be fierce.

‘Just a little?’ she suggested.

He dragged her close. ‘Quite a lot. Seems to me you’ve grown up in a very short time.’

‘Are you surprised?’ she said softly, smiling happily against his mouth. ‘One night with you is enough to make anyone grow up. My initiation ceremony was spectacular. I can’t recommend it enough.’

‘I suggest you keep it to yourself.’

‘Oh, I will,’ she promised fervently. ‘And please don’t let this be the last time,’ she whispered before she could stop herself.

‘Let’s finish the dig,’ he said, easing out of their embrace.

‘We’ll feel much better for completing the task,’ she said, packing away her feelings.

‘Time will tell,’ Luc agreed.

‘And when time has done its job?’

He shrugged. ‘We’ll know.’

She didn’t ask him what they’d know. The answer was clear to both of them. Time would push them apart, but there was no point in thinking about that now.