Читать книгу What Happens In Vegas...: His Wedding-Night Wager - Katherine Garbera - Страница 12

Hayden pushed himself out of the water using only his arms. His erection was large and fierce looking.

He scooped her up and stepped over the railing onto the deck of the boat. The remains of their dinner and their clothing still lay where they’d been left.

Shelby was a little embarrassed at her abandon, but there was a sense of rightness about being in his arms that made her realize that they belonged together. A kind of confirmation that she’d made the right decision to come to Vegas to resolve the past and cement the future. She and Hayden weren’t finished. Their story was still continuing and she was glad about that.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders as he strode across the deck of his yacht. His heart beat strongly under her cheek and she closed her eyes, pretending that it beat just for her.

He set her on her feet next to the king-size bed in the stateroom. She was dripping on the carpet but she knew that Hayden didn’t mind. He watched her with eyes that seemed to be on fire for her.

“Don’t move.”

He liked to give orders and she wasn’t about to fall into the trap that had plagued their first whirlwind relationship. She followed him into the bathroom area. He bent over to retrieve two thick navy blue towels.

Shelby pinched his backside, then ran her fingers down to cup him.

He glanced up at her. “I thought I told you to stay put.”

“I don’t take orders well,” she said. But she realized that she needed this to be about something more than power. She needed to not get swept away in Hayden but to have both of them get swept away in each other.

“We’ll see about that,” he said, pushing to his feet.

“Yes, we will see.”

She took one of the towels from him. “Stand up and I’ll dry you off.”

He rose, towering over her. There was a look in his eyes that she scarcely trusted. “I like that idea.”

She reached out with the towel but he stopped her with an iron grip on her wrist. “Use your tongue.”

She swallowed. Hayden was a dominant lover and she freely admitted that he appealed to her as no other man did. Two could play at this game. He liked to give orders but she knew he wasn’t immune to her.

“Close your eyes,” she said, softly tracing her finger down the line of hair at the center of his body. The hair tapered down to his erection. She caressed him, coming closer and closer to his erection but making sure she did nothing more than brush it.

She licked the drops of water that still clung to his chest, while he dried her with long, languid strokes of the other towel. She dropped to her knees in front of him, following the trail of water down his strong thighs.

She really wanted to push him beyond boundaries, to push herself further than she’d ever gone before. She lowered her head, letting her breath wash over his erection first. His hands came to her head, rubbing her hair but not holding her or pulling her closer.

She tipped her head back and looked up at him. His skin was flushed with arousal. His breaths were rapid and his pupils dilated.

“Hayden, can I…?”

“Only if you want to.”

She definitely wanted to. He felt like satin under her fingers. She lowered her head and ran her tongue up and down his length. Taking her time, she tasted him and discovered the different nuances of him. Reaching between his legs, she cupped his sac, massaging it in the palm of her hand as she took him fully into her mouth.

She sucked him deeper in her mouth, felt his body tighten as she worked up and down his length.

She tasted a salty bit of his essence before he pulled her away and lifted her to her feet.

He carried her into the bedroom, cradled in his big arms, then slowly lowered her to her feet. She loved the feel of his solid frame against her. He wrapped his arms around her, anchoring her to him with his hands on her back.

He lowered his head slowly and she was consumed by the fire that he effortlessly brought to life inside her. She rose on tiptoe to meet his mouth. She loved the way he kissed her, as if he had all day and wouldn’t stop until he’d explored every one of her secrets. She wanted to know him the same way. Reaching up, she took his jaw in her hands and held him still.

She traced the seam of his lips with her tongue, tasting him with small delicate darts. His hands on her back tightened but she didn’t hurry. He always seemed so in control. What would it take to rattle him? she wondered.

Slipping her tongue past his lips, she ran it over his. She stroked her way into his mouth before retreating and coming back again.

He groaned and his erection pulsed between them. She felt him growing even harder against her belly and reached between them to enfold him in her grasp.

Not about to be outdone, Hayden placed her on the center of the bed. His hands made long strokes down the center of her body, lingering over her full breasts. He circled her nipples with the tip of his finger. She arched her shoulders, wanting to feel his mouth on her.

“Hayden, kiss me there.”

“Yes, baby.” He lowered his head and took her nipple in his mouth, suckling at her strongly as she cupped the back of his head, holding him to her.

He rubbed small circles around her belly button before delving lower. His fingers separated her. As he slipped one finger into her creamy warmth, her legs moved restlessly on the bed.

He slid a second finger inside her and brought his thumb down to rub her with a small up-and-down movement that made her want to scream; it felt so good. His fingers thrust in and out of her body and she was arching into him, needing more.

Everything in her body focused on his hand between her thighs and his mouth on her breast. He thrust slowly, driving her up toward a pitch until everything in her body tightened and she knew she was going to come.

Suddenly her entire body clenched and she called out his name long and low. She smiled up at him and she felt a sense of rightness. She wrapped her arms around his head and held him to her.

Hayden waited until Shelby’s body stilled before he pushed himself up on his elbows to stare down at her. She smiled at him. Her lips were swollen and still wet from his kisses. Her nipples poked into his chest and though he’d satisfied her, he knew she wanted more.

He needed more as well. Once was never enough for Shelby and him. He freely admitted that only when he was lying between her legs, buried deep inside her body, did he really feel as though he was seeing the real woman. She had no chance to put up barriers then.

He set about arousing her again. Sweeping his hands down her body. Using his mouth to trace the same path. Slowly building her once again to fever pitch.

She didn’t lie passively under him but caressed his back and buttocks. Skimmed her hands over him and then scraped her nails in patterns everywhere she could reach. When he could wait no longer, he kissed his way up her body, lingering at the base of her neck. He sucked against her sweet flesh and bit softly until she was moaning his name.

“Open your legs.”

His voice was gruff, guttural even. She’d pushed him past his boundaries. When she did as he asked, he settled his weight over her. Taking her hands in his, he stretched them up over her head, forcing her fingers to curl under the headboard mounted on the wall.

“Don’t let go.”

She nodded.

He lifted her legs and paused at the entrance of her body. The tip of him slipped inside her. She was so wet and so ready. Her body tightened around him as he entered her. He cursed and pulled out. “Are you on the Pill?”

She shook her head. He didn’t want to use a condom; he knew he was free of any diseases and wanted to feel her wrapped around his erection, but he couldn’t chance pregnancy.

He pushed off the bed and went into the head and found the box of condoms he kept in the medicine cabinet. He grabbed one, sheathed himself before returning to the stateroom.

Shelby hadn’t moved. Her arms were still above her head, holding the headboard. She was so beautiful to him in that moment, caught up in the feelings he’d brought to her, that he paused to watch her.

“Baby,” he said between clenched teeth. He dropped to his knees near the bed. Starting at her neck, he nibbled his way down her body. Lingering over her pretty breasts, he circled the plump globes and left her nipples untouched.

She shifted her shoulders to try to move her nipple to his mouth. He allowed her to get closer, licking the tip before turning his head to her other breast and slowly exploring it.

He slid his hand down her body. Her earlier orgasm had left her body flushed and sensitive to his fingers. She was wet and creamy and he used her juice to coat his fingers, bringing them up to her nipples and rubbing her own moisture on them.

She craned her neck to watch him. He, too, was helplessly fascinated by the sight of his large fingers sliding between her thighs and entering her body.

“Hayden, I can’t wait much longer.”

“Yes, you can,” he said, levering himself on the bed and over her.

He settled between her open legs, taking his erection in his hand and rubbing it up and down her center. He pressed it to her little bud until she tightened her thighs around him and her hips jerked upward.

“Not yet, Shelby. Hold on, baby. Wait for me.”

She closed her eyes, breathing deeply, and he knew he’d pushed further than he’d intended to tonight. Putting his arms under her thighs, he lifted her legs, opened her fully to him and entered her. Slowly he filled her until he was seated hilt deep.

Her brilliant eyes opened and she watched him take her. For a moment he remembered the first time he’d taken Shelby. He’d been her first and it had been a surprise. She’d been as openly candid about her appreciation of him and his body then as she was tonight.

Her muscles tightened around him as he pulled back for a second thrust. Her hands gripped the headboard so tightly that he knew she was close. He wanted them to come together this time.

His own orgasm was almost on him. He hurried his pace, thrusting deeper and deeper into her. Finally he felt that telltale tingling at the base of his spine.

“Now, baby.”

She came at once, her body tightening around him like a wet, hot glove. He emptied himself into the condom, wishing he’d been able to empty himself into her womb. He wanted to claim her. To stake his claim and make sure that no one—man or woman—ever doubted that Shelby belonged to him.

He collapsed on top of her, spent from the powerful climax. He nestled closer to her breast, idly sucking on one nipple. Her arms wrapped around him and he shifted his weight to the side so that he didn’t crush her.

He felt as if he’d found his home. That disturbed him deep inside because he hadn’t realized that he’d been searching for one until this very moment.

Shelby didn’t want to wake up. She saw the sun shining across the bed, but the feel of Hayden’s arms around her was too good to give up. Even to the reality of morning. How many times had she dreamed of him holding her this way only to wake alone once again?

But she wasn’t one to hide from reality. And she knew this morning he was real, not a figment of her hungry soul. But this time she had to deal with her own guilty conscience. Deal with the fact that she had gone behind his back to seduce him with the things he loved.

Her thighs and breasts were pleasantly sore from last night. She was a little scared at the intensity of their lovemaking.

She’d enjoyed herself, no doubt about that, but he’d made her feel vulnerable. She didn’t like that. She was a business owner—not exactly an occupation for wimps. She was used to dealing with her fears head-on and would deal the same way with this one, too.

Rolling over and opening one eye, she found herself nose-to-nose with Hayden. His eyes were wide open and the most arrogant male grin split his face.

“What are you smiling about?”

“You, here with me,” he said. Leaning down, he kissed her.

It was the slow kind of kiss that didn’t put any pressures or demands for more. She felt precious to him. It made her realize how vulnerable she was once again to Hayden. Before, she hadn’t really loved him, but this time he was so much more to her than a wealthy man.

Now she was starting to know him, to know that he was constantly going. A moving ball of energy. And that he liked to bet on anything and everything.

She tunneled her fingers through his chest hair, caressing his warm, bare skin. She wanted to snuggle closer. To sink into him until they were just one person and then didn’t have to face the day apart.

He lifted his head. “We have to get back. I can’t believe I left the casino this long without checking in.”

He propped himself up on the headboard and she blushed as she remembered how he’d made her hold on to it until she came in his arms.

He saw her color and shook his head, tugging her into his arms. “Thank you.”

“For…?”

“Last night. It was…incredible, Shel. I wish our first time had been like that.”

“I don’t.”

“Really? I’ve always regretted that I took you too quickly that first time.”

“I don’t. You were perfect, Hayden. And I don’t think we could have handled last night before. We were both…”

“Both what?”

“I can’t speak for you but I was pretending to be someone else. Hoping you wouldn’t notice.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why were you pretending?”

“Because I wanted a rich boy to marry me and normally you wouldn’t have looked twice at the real me.”

“Yes, I would have,” he said.

“You might have looked but you wouldn’t have proposed. I know that firsthand.”

“Because of your mom?”

“Yeah. She’s never been married.”

“Where is she now?”

“Arizona.”

“Do you keep in touch?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“She’s part of what I was running from when I left, Hayden.”

“Aren’t you ready to stop running?” he asked.

She couldn’t answer that. She thought about her mom a lot. Her mother wrote her a letter once a month and Shelby never wrote her back, but she read those letters over and over and regretted that she’d been so ashamed of herself and the woman who raised her that…sometimes she didn’t like herself very much.

Hayden was right, but Shelby didn’t know how to bridge the gap she’d forced between herself and her mom. He hugged her closer, his hand coming to rest over hers. He twined their fingers together and then brought her hand to his lips and kissed her.

“Yes, it is time to stop running,” she answered finally. “That’s part of why I came back here.”

“I know you didn’t come back because of money.”

“Well, I kind of did. The Chimera location is going to make Bêcheur d’Or a lot of money.”

“That’s business.”

“Yes, it is.”

The covers slipped lower on his hips. God, she could stare at him all day. She noticed a tattoo on the top of his left thigh. “What’s this?”

He covered the tattoo with his hand. “Nothing.”

“No secrets, remember?”

He sighed and she realized that though she thought she was coming to know Hayden, he was still a mystery.

He slid his hand away. She bent closer looking at his tattoo. It was a knight’s fist, gripping a bloody heart.

Instantly she knew that he’d gotten it after she’d left. She realized that she’d made a huge mistake. But she couldn’t decide if sleeping with Hayden last night had been a bigger one than leaving him all those years ago.