Читать книгу Twins on the Way - Джанис Мейнард, Janice Maynard - Страница 9

Three

Cassidy had heard the term swept off her feet, but she had never actually experienced the phenomenon. The moment when Gavin scooped her up against his chest was both emotionally and physically exhilarating. Her heart pounded and her stomach fluttered.

It was ridiculously retro to be aroused by a man’s physical strength, but damn...Gavin Kavanagh was a sexy beast. Ever since Rhett Butler carried Scarlett O’Hara up that grand staircase to have his wicked manly way with her, women had secretly judged a guy’s swoon factor by how easily he could heft his lover.

Cassidy could stand to lose ten pounds. But Gavin lifted her as if she weighed no more than a child. Oh, my...

She tasted desperation in his kiss, laced with a nuance of the nice champagne. Her breasts were squished up against a hard rib cage. Kissing him back eagerly, she might have forgotten a thing or two. Like the fact that they had a witness.

Robbie moved restlessly. When she sneaked a sideways peek at him, he was slack-jawed, perhaps stunned. “I need to get back to the office,” he muttered. “You two can show yourselves out.”

Cassidy wiggled until Gavin released her. There was a look in his eyes that made her a little crazy. But she concentrated on her cousin. “Thanks for showing us around, Robbie.”

“Thanks for stopping by to see me.” He lifted a hand. “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

She hugged him and kissed his cheek. “You’ll get the hang of this. Just stick with it.”

Moments later, the little chapel was silent. Gavin crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her with an expression that could have meant anything.

Following an impulse, she held out her hand. “Let me have your phone. I want you to have a picture to remember me by.”

She was somewhat bemused when he cooperated. Scooting up against him, she tapped a couple of icons and held the phone at arm’s length. “We have to document this night.”

Unfortunately, her arms were short and Gavin was tall. She couldn’t actually hold the camera far enough away.

He took it out of her hand. “Give me that.” With one hard arm curled around her waist and the other extended, he framed the two of them in the small screen. “Say cheese,” he muttered.

Just as he hit the button, she reached up and kissed him on the chin. Afterward, she bounced on her toes. “Let me see, let me see.”

The shot was surprisingly sweet. She studied Gavin’s face in the image. Even if she hadn’t met him in person, she would be impressed with the man in the picture. He looked like a throwback to the steely-eyed cowboys of the past. All brooding machismo and sizzling intensity. “I like it,” she said. “You’re very photogenic.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “No. I’m not. Let’s get out of here.”

She followed him obediently, smothering a smile. Apparently a man like Gavin took her compliment as an affront to his masculinity. Since she had wounded his pride, she held out the car keys. “I don’t have to drive.”

He shook his head and slid into the passenger seat. “Yes, you do,” he said, his eyelids drifting shut. “I’m taking a nap between here and the hotel so I’ll have the energy to rock your world.”

Laughing out loud at his tongue-in-cheek boast, she started the car. Maybe he was serious. He didn’t even flinch when she whipped out into traffic. But minutes later when she eased into a spot in the parking garage, he sat up and ran a hand through his hair. “What time is it?” he asked, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

Cassidy glanced at the dashboard. “Almost four.”

He grimaced. “There’s something unnatural about a city where no one sleeps.”

“They sleep,” she protested, vaguely defensive about her hometown. “But not necessarily from midnight until morning.” Though Gavin Kavanagh would never be anything other than handsome, he definitely looked the worse for wear. Dark circles beneath his eyes and a pale undertone to his skin bespoke his exhaustion. “I should go,” she said impulsively, squashing her disappointment. “You need to get some rest before you fly out.”

The look he gave her sizzled nerve endings in some very interesting places. “I can sleep when I’m dead,” he growled. “You’re not going anywhere.”

The arrogance was justified given her propensity for throwing herself at him tonight. But it rankled nevertheless. “Is that a threat?”

He cupped her neck with one hand and pulled her into his kiss. “Call it what you want, Cassidy Corelli. But if I’m going to be a guinea pig in your goofy cousin’s wedding charade, then I think I’m entitled to a fake honeymoon, too.” He claimed her mouth with knee-weakening mastery. “C’mon, Cass. I need a bed. ASAP.”

“Because you’re tired?”

He got out and came around to her door, helping her to her feet. “Because I need you. Now.”

* * *

Gavin had never been more serious or more desperate to have a woman. Granted, it had been several months since the last time he’d been naked with a female. In addition to his youthful catastrophic history in misjudging the fairer sex, when he lost himself in his work, his hermit leanings tended to take over. He liked people. But solitude gave him energy. Sharpened his mind. Spurred his creativity.

When it came to Cassidy, however, he was neither clearheaded nor particularly intelligent. His brain was not in the driver’s seat. He wanted her. Fiercely. Madly. In a way that wiped out all his normal reservations. With an insanity no doubt induced by sleep deprivation and champagne and recent celibacy. But insanity nevertheless.

Later, he would not be able to recall the exact sequence of steps that took them from the artificially illuminated parking garage to the thickly carpeted hallway where his room was located. But through it all, he kept Cassidy by his side, hip to hip, his arm around her shoulders.

She laughed at him when he fumbled the key card from his shirt pocket and took three tries to open the door. “Are you sure this is your room?” she whispered.

The door swung wide. “Don’t you remember? You were here not that long ago.”

She passed him, entering the suite with a swish of hips and a low chuckle that went straight to his gut and hardened his aching sex even more. “All these hallways look alike.”

The door closed with a muffled sound. For the first time, his charming, funny tour guide seemed momentarily abashed. Her eyes wouldn’t meet his. Graceful hands fluttered as if not knowing where to land.

He restrained the urge to grab her, an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Problem, Cass?”

She licked her lips. “No.”

The simple negative didn’t sound convincing. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She kicked off her shoes as she had earlier, still not looking at him. “Would you mind if I take a quick shower...alone?”

He frowned, immediately suspicious. “If you think waiting will make me want you more, you’re crazy. I’m far past teasing, I promise you.”

Her chin came up at last and she grimaced. “I’ve never showered with a man. It may not seem like it, but I’m shy in certain situations. I won’t linger, I swear. I want this, too.”

Something about the vulnerability and honesty in her bittersweet chocolate gaze convinced him she wasn’t playing games.

Nodding tersely, he put some distance between them. “Go, then.”

When she disappeared, he drew in oxygen with a sharp inhale. Was Cassidy Corelli some kind of scam artist? Would he awake to find his billfold missing? Or was she what she seemed...an artless, far-too-young-for-him ingenue with a propensity for flirtation?

He paced automatically, doing everything he could think of to get himself under control. The last woman he’d slept with had been an artist in Asheville. They’d met at the home of mutual friends and acted on a quiet attraction that proved to be physically satisfying. Despite having much in common, their relationship had ended after six months due to a lack of fire.

That wasn’t going to be a problem with Cassidy. Though this current encounter had all the earmarks of a one-night stand, what he felt at this pivotal moment was far more volatile than simple attraction. It wasn’t that he wanted Cass. He craved her...with an intensity that alarmed his well-ordered existence.

Thankfully, she was true to her word. She reappeared in a very short amount of time wearing the same robe she had modeled earlier. He cleared his throat. “All done?”

She nodded, staring at him.

“Give me three minutes,” he said. In the shower, he washed rapidly. The taut skin covering his erect sex was almost too sensitive to touch. Imagining Cassidy’s fingers on his body made him groan.

When he stepped out of the shower, he caught his reflection in the mirror. It gave him pause. His eyes glittered with feral hunger, and his cheekbones were slashed with hot color. Every vestige of civilized male had been stripped away. He shuddered, closing his eyes as he imagined the moment when his body would penetrate hers.

She was so alive. He wanted some of that warmth for himself. Whether he had isolated himself deliberately or whether it had been a quirk of his birth order, he found it difficult to let people get close. With Cassidy, it was the opposite. He wouldn’t be satisfied until they shared the same space, the same air, the same hushed anticipation.

His hair was still wet when he tucked a towel around his hips and returned to the living room. He found Cassidy sitting on the edge of a chair, feet planted flat on the floor, knees pressed together. She looked like a schoolgirl waiting for punishment to be doled out.

“Are you ready?”

She jerked when he spoke, as if she had been lost in thought. He saw her throat move as she swallowed. “Of course.” She stood up so fast she stumbled and had to catch herself on the arm of the chair.

If he could have reached out a hand, he would have, but he was afraid that if he touched her, he would take her right there on the carpet. Extending an arm in the direction of the bedroom, he gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “After you, Cass.”

When she slid by him, careful not to touch, he caught a whiff of the shower gel he had rubbed over his own skin. The scent got in his head, imprinting her in his psyche.

Beside the king-size bed, she paused, her back to him. “Do you have condoms?”

“Of course.” Though he had forgotten to fetch them from his shaving kit in the bathroom. In moments he rectified that glaring omission. Tossing a handful of packets onto the small bedside table, he glanced at the clock. It would be dawn soon.

Placing a hand on her narrow shoulder, he turned her around. Without her outrageous heels, the top of her head barely reached his collarbone. Using one finger, he tipped up her chin so he could see her eyes. Though she was by no means a helpless woman, her small frame seemed delicate next to his.

The expression in her gaze was difficult to read. Despite the fact that her hands rested trustingly at his waist, he sensed defensiveness in her posture. Perhaps she, too, saw the disparity in their physical sizes and felt threatened.

“I would cut off my arm before I would hurt you,” he said. “I may be under the spell of a wicked arousal, but I’m not an animal. All you have to do is say stop...anytime. Do you believe me?”

She searched his face. “Yes,” she said. Only that one word, but it was enough.

She had tied the sash of the robe tightly at her waist. If the knot was supposed to slow him down, she didn’t know much about men. He dispatched it in seconds and slid the entire garment off her shoulders and down her arms. When it fell to her feet, he thought he heard her gasp. Or maybe it was him.

All night he’d been desperate to hold her...to take her...to make her his. Now that the time had come, he had to pause a moment to take it all in. “You’re beautiful,” he said. The compliment was trite and commonplace and totally inadequate to convey the truth.

A more feminine woman, he had yet to find. Her skin was golden, a light, warm color that conjured up Italian olive groves and barefoot maidens running laughingly from ardor-filled suitors. Her glossy hair, black as a raven’s wing, curled around his finger when he tested a strand.

He tried to fix his attention above her neck, but it was impossible not to notice the bounty below. Full, rounded breasts...curved hips...pert bottom. He scooped her into his arms, though the bed was no distance at all. It was a ploy to test the softness of her skin, to relish the naked magnificence that was Cassidy Corelli.

Her arms linked around his neck. “When do I get to undress you?”

“It’s only a towel. I’m pretty sure we can manage.”

“I notice it’s kind of poochy in front.”

Her mischievous teasing made him want to smile in the midst of his sexual frustration. “Are you calling me fat?” he asked, eyebrow raised.

“You don’t seem to be in other places,” she said. “But there’s definitely a bulge beneath that terry cloth.”

He flipped back the covers and dropped her on the bed. Her breasts jiggled nicely when she bounced. “Feel free to investigate.”

Sprawling beside her, he settled on his back. What he wanted was to pounce and take. But then again, anticipation was half of the pleasure. It took everything he had, even so, to feign relaxation.

Cassidy reared up on one elbow, fascination in her gaze as she looked him over. “I guess you work out.” When she placed a hand, palm flat, on his abs, he flinched. It was too much and not enough.

“I’m not much for gyms,” he said. “But where I live we spend a lot of time outdoors.” His skin was several shades darker than hers for that reason. Except for a pale strip around his hips, he was tanned all over. He and his brothers had ranged free as kids, playing wild in the woods until they’d heard the bell summoning them to dinner.

She traced a scar below his rib cage. “What’s this?”

“My brother Dylan shot me with a bow and arrow when we were in grade school.”

“That’s terrible,” she exclaimed.

When she ran a fingertip over the puckered, long-ago-healed wound, he squirmed. “He didn’t mean to. He was aiming for a squirrel. I ran into the line of fire at the wrong moment.” The words were guttural, barely audible. He had broken out in a cold sweat, every cell in his body leaning toward the moment when she would remove the towel that tented lewdly upward.

Finally, when he thought he couldn’t bear it a second longer, Cassidy curled her fingers beneath the edge of the damp towel and tugged. He lifted his hips. She finished the job.

“Holy crap.” Her eyes widened. “Do you have a license to carry that thing?”

His penis was neither abnormally large nor embarrassingly small. But Cass stared at it as if she had unearthed a rare and exotic treasure. Her rapt regard increased its length and girth another increment.

“Trust me, Cassidy. We’ll be a perfect fit.”

Without replying, she wrapped one small hand around his shaft and squeezed lightly. He closed his eyes, holding his breath, as yellow spots danced against a black canvas. God in heaven. He was a goner.

Fluid leaked from the head. His would-be lover touched the slick wetness. Then she placed her fingertip in her mouth, tasting the evidence of his arousal. She seemed enthralled. Or perhaps postponing the inevitable out of some misguided notion that she was in control.

His patience eroded like sand in the midst of a storm. “Enough,” he groaned. Forcing her onto her back, he used one hand to spread her thighs. Her sex was perfection, pink and wet and inviting. She smelled like lemons and need.

It never occurred to him to warn her before he tasted her essence. Her shriek might have awakened half the hotel had not the walls been so very well insulated. She shoved at his head. “Stop that. It tickles.”

He had told her she could call a halt at any point. He just hadn’t expected it to be now. Resting his forehead on her firm, soft thigh, he breathed harshly. “What’s wrong? Surely you’ve had oral sex before.”

“Of course I have. You startled me, that’s all.”

“Then may I continue?”

Her silence lasted about as long as it took earth to turn on its axis. Eons. Decades. “Cass?” He shivered like a man with ague.

“Yes...”

Her response was a tiny breathless syllable.

Returning to his task, he set about making her absolutely as insane as she had made him. Even as he pleasured her slowly, images filled his head. Driving hell-bent on a dark Nevada highway. Kissing wildly in the middle of the desert. Watching her body move like poetry in motion beneath that silver dress. Standing in front of an Elvis impersonator and promising forever.

At this precise moment all of it seemed perfectly reasonable.

He felt the instant when she neared the edge. Her hips lifted off the mattress. He held her down. Her breathing accelerated. He bit gently at the spot where she was most sensitive.

Holding Cassidy Corelli as she climaxed made every criticism he’d ever expressed about Vegas fade away into nothingness.

This was her town. And he’d staked a claim.