Читать книгу Special Deliveries: Wanted: A Mother For His Baby - Kate Hardy - Страница 16

Six

Sitting on the steps was not an ideal place to begin a seduction, but Blake wasn’t about to risk Bella bolting for the safety of her bedroom if he let her get to her feet. Her resistance amused him. It was as if all her arguing against an affair between them was aimed at convincing herself. He was confident she wanted him. He just needed her to admit it.

He cupped her neck to hold her still while he slid his lips into the hollow above her collarbone. The contact made her shiver. Her skin was warm silk. Softer than he’d expected. He pulled in a long, slow breath, taking in the scent of her. Vanilla and jasmine. Simple fragrances for an uncomplicated woman.

“Blake—” She whispered his name, objecting even as she leaned into his searching lips.

“Yes, Bella?” He sampled more of her skin, grazing his mouth up her neck. Her soft sigh made him smile in satisfaction.

“We really shouldn’t.”

“Are you telling me to stop?” Instead of waiting for her to answer, he let his fingertips slip from her neck to her shoulder, drawing her into his space. He wanted to overwhelm her with intent. Compel her understanding. He wanted her. Very much. “Just say stop. I’ll quit.”

His teeth grazed her throat. She moaned something, but the word that left her lips wasn’t stop. Her fingers bit into his shoulders. He felt their fierce hold through his blazer. For a woman who wanted him to believe she was opposed to letting the chemistry between them run its course, she was not resisting.

“Let’s go.” Suddenly impatient, he got to his feet and swept her into his arms.

She looked dazed for a moment, but as he strode toward his bedroom, her eyes cleared. “Go where?”

“I’m going to make love to you, Bella.”

Her big blue eyes regarded him in consternation. “I don’t want that.”

He set her on her feet in the doorway to his bedroom, but didn’t dare set her free. “Then we’ll only do as much as you do want.”

“You’ll stop?”

“Whenever you say.” His finger found her chin and elevated it until her face was at a perfect angle. He placed his lips on hers in a gentle kiss meant to reassure her. The tension humming in her muscles eased slightly, so he set his palm against her spine and drew her ever so slowly against him.

Her breath quickened as their hips came together. Restraint came at a price as her hands slid beneath his jacket. Fingers fanning over his rib cage, she took the kiss up a notch, parting her lips and flicking her tongue across his teeth. He let her in, captured her breath in his lungs and held it while she grew bolder.

Sliding one foot between hers, he backed her against the doorframe. Her surprised inhalation barely registered as he pressed his thigh against the heat of her core. They rocked together in a languid rhythm, matched by the dueling feint and retreat of their tongues. Keenly focused on her every sigh and the trembling of her body, he was rapidly losing faith that if she asked him to stop he could.

“Do you want to stop?” he questioned, sliding his fingers beneath her simple T-shirt. Her skin was impossibly hot, as if she was on fire for him.

The modest neckline had gaped when he’d lifted her into his arms, offering him a peek at her flesh-colored bra. So practical. Nothing seductive about it. Yet he couldn’t wait to see her in it.

She pushed him to arm’s length. “I think we should.”

Gusting out a sigh, Blake stepped back. As his hands fell to his side, she studied him.

“As you wish.”

“That’s just it, don’t you see?” Her expression reflected frustration. “I don’t want to stop. I want to keep going. Until we’re naked and rolling around in that big bed over there.” She gestured to where his king-size bed sat between two patches of moonlight. “But I think that would be a huge mistake.”

Her breath rasped, the cadence agitated. Blake wanted to snatch her into his arms and kiss away all her angst. With her eyes glowing, her mouth soft from his kisses, she was spectacular. And worth waiting for.

He took her hands and turned her palms upward. Bending, he placed a kiss in each one. “It’s late. Why don’t we call it a night?”

“You’ve changed your mind?” She sounded heartbroken. “Just like that?”

“You said stop.”

She yanked her hands free. “I didn’t say stop. I simply said it would be a mistake.”

Her logic escaped him. “How is that different than stop?”

“You are so exasperating.”

Before he had a clue to her intentions, she’d stripped her shirt over her head and eliminated the distance between them. He had about a second to appreciate the curves of her breasts before they slammed into his chest.

His arms came about her, binding her to him. She was silk and fire in his grasp. With a low groan, Blake dropped his mouth onto hers and found her lips parted in invitation. Any hesitation she might have demonstrated these past ten minutes was lost in the heat of her ardent response to his kiss.

Taking things slowly—savoring her surrender—was proving difficult. While their mouths melded in passionate harmony, in the back of his mind he braced for her doubts to resurface. They didn’t. Once committed, she was a siren calling him to lose all touch with reality and follow her anywhere.

Chest heaving, Blake eased back. As much as he hated to risk giving her time to come to her senses, standing in his doorway was an awkward place to romance her properly. Her eyes were heavy lidded and slightly unfocused as he led her toward the bed.

In a flash he’d stripped off his blazer and pulled his shirt over his head. She gazed at his chest in fascination. He flinched as her fingertips settled on his skin.

“You acted as if that hurt,” she said, absorbed in her study of his bare chest.

“Your touch has a strong effect on me.”

“It does?” She traced his pectoral muscles, fascinated by every curve she encountered. “Is that good or bad?”

“It’s very good.” Although he was dying to let his own fingers do some exploring, he kept his hands on her hips. He would have all night to discover her body. “I like being touched by you.”

Her smile came and went. “You are as beautiful as I imagined.” Did she realize what she’d let slip?

“My turn.” He guided her onto the mattress and followed her down, his lips drifting along her throat and across her chest to the edge of her bra. “You are perfect.”

She squirmed beneath him as he grazed her nipple through the fabric of her bra. “That feels amazing.” Reaching behind her, she unfastened the catch. With a quick jerk, she freed herself from the bra and tossed it aside. “This will be even better.”

Blake groaned as he closed his mouth around one tight bud. He laved her with his tongue and then sucked until she arched off the mattress. Whimpering, she clutched at his hair. Never had he been with a woman as sensitive as Bella. Suddenly he was hungry for more. He blazed a trail down her stomach. Unzipping her pants took only a second. With fingers that trembled, he hooked her waistband and slid the fabric down her thighs. She lifted her hips to aid him and in no time she lay in the middle of his bed clad in nothing but her panties.

It was a moment worth appreciating, and Blake was a man who knew the value of doing so. First with his gaze, then with his hands, he learned the arch of her feet, the slenderness of her ankles, the muscular thrust of her calves, the lean length of her thighs, the flare of her hips and flatness of her abdomen. He lingered over each ripple in her rib cage, drawing out the suspense until his fingers circled her breasts.

When she grabbed his hands and cupped them over her breasts, Blake knew she’d suffered all she could take. Leaning down, he captured her mouth, branding her with a sizzling kiss.

Bella had never felt anything like Blake’s hands on her body. He paid attention to every inch of her skin, as if he wanted to know all of her, not just the “good parts.” It made her feel adored, something she’d never known before.

The crushing weight of his body lifted off her as he abandoned her mouth to blaze a trail of delicious sensation down her body. Expecting he would turn his attention back to her breasts, she was disappointed when he paused only long enough to draw a wet circle around one nipple before following her ribs downward. He lingered on her abdomen, dipping his tongue into her navel and awakening a series of shudders. By the time his lips drifted over her hip bone, Bella was half-mad with wanting.

Her thighs had parted ages ago. Between them she throbbed with increasing hunger. She craved his hard length buried inside her. The need grew with each circle of his tongue and press of his lips against her feverish skin. But it wasn’t until his broad shoulders nudged her legs wide did she awaken to what he intended.

She gasped. “Blake.”

He looked up at her call. His chin bumped against her hot core, sending a spear of pleasure lancing through her. Her breath suspended as their gazes locked.

“Are you asking me to stop?” he challenged, letting his lips drift over her mound.

Stop? Was he mad?

The slight tug of fabric against her sensitized flesh rendered her incoherent. If it was like this before his lips found her bare skin, what would it be like when he’d stripped away the last of her clothes?

“It’s...”

She broke off as he trailed his tongue along the edge of her panties. Sliding his hands down her legs, he gripped her behind the thighs and bent her knees until her feet were flat on the mattress. Every movement caused an escalation in the commotion inside her. Her fingers gripped the sheet beneath her. She’d never had anyone kiss her there.

“I’ll go slowly,” he told her, capturing her gaze. “You tell me when to stop.”

Stop?

It was glorious to watch his pleasure in her body’s every reaction. How could she possibly stop him from indulging his power over her? Helplessly, she waited, her breath shallow and ragged as his warm breath washed over her. And then he pressed a kiss there and a strangled groan broke from her throat. She was lost as the bold stroke of his tongue licked over her. Her hips bucked. A wild laugh erupted from her tight chest.

“Stop?” He ceased all movement.

She wanted to weep with longing. “Don’t...”

“More?”

Amusement edged his tone. Part of her recognized she should be angry with him for taunting her, but she was on the edge of something glorious and devastating.

“Yes.”

“It would be easier if I took these off.” He hooked his fingers in her panties and tugged.

She lifted her hips. “Do it.”

The fabric skimmed off her body far too slowly. Bella’s head thrashed from side to side as she felt the air hit her overheated flesh. With her eyes closed, it felt safer. She could pretend it was anyone between her thighs, but the second Blake spoke, she became grounded in the moment once more.

“I’m going to kiss you now.” But he didn’t immediately follow through with his promise. Bella’s heart thumped hard against her ribs as she waited. “Care to watch?”

Enticed by the question, her lashes drifted upward. He was waiting for her. He wanted her to see what he intended to do. Bella shuddered at the intensity in his eyes, but couldn’t look away as his tongue stroked against her.

She cried out, an incoherent sound barely loud enough to escape the confines of the bed. Blake’s gaze electrified her. His kiss set her ablaze. He was thorough. Each wet circle of his tongue sent her spiraling higher. The ache in her belly coiled into a tight knot. Her world shrank to the feel of Blake’s mouth on her and the rapid approach of cresting pleasure.

Her hips rose off the mattress, frantically searching for the fulfillment that eluded her. She was whimpering, her breath coming in erratic and short bursts.

“Let go,” he urged. “Come for me.”

And then she felt the slide of his finger inside her. The penetration touched off her orgasm and her spine bowed as she exploded like a firework, splintering into a million hot shards before returning to earth in a gentle waterfall.

* * *

Bella’s cries were the sweetest music Blake had ever heard. Beneath him she continued to tremble in the aftermath of her powerful orgasm. At long last her lashes fluttered and her gaze focused on him. There was such wonder in the much-washed blue of her eyes. Blake’s heart clenched.

“That was amazing,” she murmured.

He kissed his way up her body until he reached her mouth. “There’s more to come,” he murmured against her lips.

Bella coasted her fingertips over his lower lip before settling her palm against his cheek. Her gentle touch was as much about claiming him as surrendering to his will.

“I’m glad.”

Moving quickly, he stripped off his pants and rolled on a condom. Her arms came around him as he rejoined her on the bed. Where a second earlier her body had been limp and sated, as he positioned himself between her thighs and sucked her nipple between his lips, she became a living flame once more. Her fingers wandered across his shoulders and down his spine. The scratch of her nails along his sides startled him.

Before he could ask her if she wanted to stop, she spoke.

“Enough with the preliminaries. I need to feel you inside me.”

She bumped her hips upward, nudging his erection and making him quake with yearning. Never one to keep a woman waiting, he positioned himself at her entrance and claimed her mouth in a long, deep kiss. Then he thrust gently. She was so wet and aroused that he was nearly seated all the way in before he stopped himself. After a brief pause to gather much-needed air, he began moving with a smooth rocking motion that she matched as fluidly as if they’d made love a thousand times.

The ease of their connection caught Blake by surprise. It occurred to him that he knew Bella well and at the same time didn’t know her at all. From the first she’d intrigued him. Later, her contrary behavior had frustrated him. There was so much yet to discover about her. So many unanswered questions. And he would have most of the summer to ferret them out.

“Blake.” Her clutching fingers told him she was close to another climax.

He’d been distracting his mind to prolong their encounter, but as her nails dug into his back and her cries grew more frantic, Blake loosened the hold on his willpower and thrust powerfully into her. Capturing her pleasure in a hot, demanding kiss, he slipped his hand between their bodies and touched the knot of nerves that would send her spinning into another orgasm.

As her body contracted, he let his own climax catch him. With a final thrust, he buried his face in her neck and gave her everything. Shuddering, his arm muscles unable to support him any longer, he collapsed on her.

“Now, that was amazing,” he said, chest heaving as he struggled to recover.

Eyes glowing with contentment, Bella parted her lips to respond, but before she could, a cry erupted from beyond the room. Recognizing the quality of the cry, Blake nevertheless willed his son back to sleep. It was a fruitless proposition.

Another unhappy wail filtered in from the nursery, this one of longer duration than the last. Drew didn’t sound as if he was going to settle down on his own.

Blake put his forehead against Bella’s shoulder and heaved a sigh. “I’d better get him.”

“Let me.”

With an abrupt shake of his head, Blake pushed away from her warm, silken skin, grinding his teeth as he was pummeled by the room’s cool air. “I’ve been through this with him. I’ll have an easier time getting him back to sleep.” He covered her with the sheet and bent down to buss her cheek. “Sleep.”

“Sure.” She gave him an uncertain smile.

Blake’s movements felt jerky and uncoordinated as he slid back into his clothes. His muscles hadn’t fully recovered from the mind-blowing sex with Bella. He cast a final look her way before he headed for the doorway. What he saw gave him pause.

If not for his son’s escalating distress, Blake would have lingered to reassure Bella that he too had been affected by the power of what had happened between them. The last thing he wanted with any woman was to take her to a vulnerable place and abandon her there. He sensed Bella wasn’t the sort of woman who took sex lightly.

Which meant leaving her so soon after being intimate would undo some of the rapport they’d established. She’d had her doubts earlier, but he’d been able to reassure her. Abandoning her in his bed would give her ample time to reestablish her defenses.

But there was nothing to do about that. His son needed him. It was something Bella understood. She’d often put her family’s needs above her own; it was a big part of what appealed to him about her. On the other hand, when she’d decided to cut off all ties with Drew, she’d demonstrated that like his ex-wife, she had a selfish side.

And what of his decision a mere three hours ago not to complicate their relationship by acting on his desire for her? He certainly hadn’t been thinking about what was best for his son while he made love to her. What he needed was a mother for Drew. Bella wasn’t interested in the role.

So why had he felt compelled to have her spend part of the summer with them? Had he hoped if she spent time with Drew her maternal instincts would awaken?

When he got to the nursery, Blake lifted his son into his arms and rocked him the way he knew Drew loved. Almost immediately the infant’s cries waned. He met Drew’s eyes and felt peace wash through him. He wanted the world for his son, but right now he would settle for a mother who would love him with her whole heart.

Which was why making love to Bella tonight had been a mistake. They could no longer pretend to be simply boss and employee. But he couldn’t promise to keep his hands off her in the future. He’d told Jeanne he intended to put Drew first the next time he married. Getting involved with a woman who didn’t want to be a mother ran contrary to that determination. But being with her felt so right. What the hell was he supposed to do?