Читать книгу Modern Romance March 2015 Collection 1 - Кэрол Мортимер, Кэрол Мортимер - Страница 18
ОглавлениеSHE LOOKED UP at Xander shyly. ‘Your bedroom or mine?’
Xander gave her an approving smile as he released her before taking her hand firmly in his much larger one. ‘My bedroom is where the condoms are,’ he reminded teasingly as they walked out of the study together and down the silence of the hallway.
Sam felt her cheeks warm at the intimacy of their conversation. Which was pretty silly of her, when she intended getting naked with this man in just a few minutes’ time.
Xander turned on a softly glowing bedside lamp as they entered the masculine bedroom, dominated by the opulence of the four-poster bed. That beautiful mahogany bed was covered with an abundance of gold and cream silk pillows and bedcover, and had matching drapes tied back at the four sides and the two windows.
Decadence personified.
As was the beautiful Viking god at her side.
‘Stop over-thinking, Samantha,’ Xander encouraged gruffly as he saw the uncertainty in Samantha’s expression as she looked at the bed, and easily guessed the reason for it; she had already revealed that he would be her first lover since her husband. ‘It’s going to be fine, trust me,’ he encouraged softly even as he ran the soft pad of his thumb over the enticing pout of her bottom lip.
‘I just—I don’t want to disappoint you.’
‘I don’t want to disappoint you either.’
‘You couldn’t!’
‘Lovemaking is all about learning what pleases the other person, giving as well as receiving,’ Xander reassured her gruffly. ‘And I do want to give to you, Samantha,’ he added huskily. ‘Feel how much I want you.’ He placed one of her hands over his jeans, against his arousal.
Xander watched in fevered fascination as Samantha moistened the fullness of her lips with the tip of her tongue.
In anticipation of running that moist tongue over the throbbing fullness she cupped in her hand?
Xander certainly hoped so.
He held her gaze as he took her with him and moved back slightly until he was able to sit on the side of the bed and stand her in between his parted thighs. His gaze continued to hold the shyness of hers captive as he began to unfasten the buttons of the fitted white shirt she was wearing.
His breath caught in his throat as he slid the unfastened shirt down her arms to reveal the white satin and lace bra she wore beneath, the paleness of her skin a pearly white. ‘You’re so beautiful,’ he groaned in appreciation as his fingers caressed lightly across the swell of her breasts and down the length of her slender waist. ‘So, so beautiful, Samantha,’ he murmured, his arms about her waist as he nuzzled his face against the heated softness of her breasts encased in satin and lace.
Sam could barely breathe as she rested her hands on Xander’s shoulders for balance, the intimacy of this situation so beautiful. Utterly, utterly beautiful.
As was the man now kissing the tops of her breasts, his lips a heated caress as his hands roamed restlessly along the slender length of her back.
His hair felt soft beneath the fingers she entwined in its silky length, his T-shirt an arousing abrasion against her bared flesh as he continued to nuzzle and kiss her breasts.
Xander moved back slightly. ‘This has to come off,’ he murmured achingly even as his fingers dealt deftly with the fastening at the back of her bra and he slipped the straps down and off her arms before dropping it onto the carpet with her shirt. His eyes darkened to black as he drank in the sight of her naked breasts. ‘I absolutely love this.’ His fingers stroked lightly across the soaring eagle tattoo. ‘It’s almost as beautiful as you are.’
Sam felt beautiful under Xander’s appreciative ministrations, her breath catching in her throat as she felt the first touch of his lips against a bared nipple. Gently kissing first one, and then the other, over and over again, his tongue a slow and velvety rasp against her engorged flesh.
She made a husky groan of need in her throat, wanting, needing.
‘Yes!’ she hissed weakly, her fingers tightening in Xander’s hair and holding him to her as he finally suckled one ripe and aching berry deep into the heat of his mouth, his tongue no longer velvety as it rasped over and against that arousal at the same time as his hand cupped her other breast, rolling her nipple between finger and thumb.
Sam’s back arched into those caresses as the pleasure gathered between the heat of her thighs as she moved restlessly against him.
Xander fell back against the silk pillows covering the bed, taking Samantha with him, so that she now lay above him, her parted legs straddling his thighs.
He lay his head back on the pillows, lids narrowed as he cupped her beautiful and responsive breasts. Petite and firm, they were perfectly rounded, with deep rose-coloured nipples that were just begging for more attention from his hands and mouth.
Xander pushed the aching in his left thigh to the back of his mind as he raised his head slightly, his gaze deliberately holding hers as he slowly laved one ripe and juicy nipple with his tongue before suckling her deeply into the heat of his mouth, groaning low in his throat, his own arousal pulsing against her heat. He saw Samantha close her eyes in pleasure, an aroused flush to her cheeks as she leant into him, allowing him to suckle her deeper as she rested her hands on the pillows beside his head.
Sam looked down at Xander as she told herself over and over again in her head that she could do this, that she could just enjoy the moment. Enjoy Xander.
She gasped as his mouth on her breasts took her to a level of pleasure she had never experienced before, her position above him allowing her to arch herself slowly and rhythmically against him, the hardness of his arousal pressing against the heat between her thighs, the two layers of denim between them acting as an extra abrasion, until her breath came in short pleasurable gasps and she knew herself to be teetering on the edge of climax.
As if aware of that, Xander bit down onto her aching nipple at the same time as the finger and thumb of his other hand squeezed its twin, sending Sam over the edge of that pleasure and into the most intense and pleasurably prolonged orgasm of her life.
Sam gasped again as she rode out the pleasure of that orgasm, until her arms gave way and she collapsed against Xander’s rapidly rising and falling chest, his breath a harsh rasp against her as his arms wrapped around her.
She lay weakly against him, her own breathing ragged as her body pulsed in the aftershocks of that pleasure.
‘Are you okay, Samantha?’ Xander finally asked.
Was she okay? Sam had never felt so okay before in her life.
She felt liberated. She had experienced a freedom she had never known before.
Before Xander.
Her gaze was sultry as she sat up and looked down at him, feeling a triumphant thrill as she saw his eyes were dark with his own arousal; there was a flush to his cheeks, the gold of his hair tousled from the caress of her fingers.
‘I think we found the comfortable position, don’t you?’ Sam teased huskily as she continued to hold his gaze as she slid slowly down the length of his body, kneeling between his parted thighs as her fingers moved to the fastening at the front of his jeans.
She felt emboldened as Xander looked at her between narrowed lids, as she slipped the three buttons loose, revealing that he wore black body-hugging boxers beneath, his desire long and thick. Sam scooted back to pull his jeans down the long length of his muscled legs before discarding them completely.
She unfastened and pushed off her own trousers and panties before running her hands along the length of his long and muscled legs, from ankle to thigh, pausing to caress the slightly reddened scar on his left thigh, before her hands moved higher still, lightly caressing the length of his arousal through the thin material of his briefs.
‘Take them off, Samantha!’ Xander groaned as he moved restlessly against her, hands clenched into fists at his sides. ‘I want to feel your hands against me.’
He was just so gorgeous, Sam groaned inwardly as she slowly lowered the boxers, hardly aware of discarding them as her heated gaze remained fixed on the long and throbbing length of his arousal.
‘Touch me, Samantha,’ Xander encouraged gruffly. ‘Yes, just like that!’ He groaned achingly, his eyes closing as she curled the fingers of her hand about him and lowered her head to take him into the heat of her mouth.
Xander felt his control slipping within minutes as he watched Samantha’s head slowly bob up and down, the fullness of her lips wide about him, her wicked tongue rasping the length of him, the tingling at the base of his spine telling him he was very close to release.
His hands were gentle on her shoulders as he pulled her up and away from him, knowing he had to stop the torment before he did just that. ‘Not like that, Samantha,’ he groaned as he saw the disappointment of her expression. ‘I want to be inside you,’ he explained as he reached over and opened the top drawer of the bedside cabinet before taking out a condom.
‘Let me,’ Samantha offered huskily as she took the packet from him, tearing off the top before taking it out.
Xander felt that renewed tingling at the base of his spine as Samantha’s caressing fingers slowly rolled it over and then down the length of him, fearing that he wasn’t going to last long once he was buried to the hilt inside her heat. Not sure he was even going to last that long if he didn’t get inside her right now.
‘On top of me,’ he grated. ‘I need to be inside you now,’ he encouraged gruffly, his hands on her hips as he entered her, trying to take it slowly.
Knowing he had lost the battle the moment he was fully buried inside Samantha. ‘I can’t! Forgive me, Samantha, but I just can’t take this slowly. Next time. I promise next time,’ he groaned achingly as he held onto her hips as he began to thrust into her.
Sam tightly gripped his shoulders as she rode the fierceness of his lengthy thrusts, her body flooding with desire as she revelled in the intensity of need she could see in Xander’s almost pained expression, his fingers digging into her hips as he pushed hard and deep.
Her eyes widened in shock as she felt a second climax building rapidly inside her. ‘Xander!’ she had time to cry before that climax crested, and then broke with an intensity of pleasure even stronger than the first.
As if that was all he had been waiting for, Xander cried out at his own release thrusting hard and deep as he pulsed hotly inside her.
* * *
What a fool she had been, Sam acknowledged regretfully the following morning as she looked down at the beautiful man sleeping in the bed beside her, knowing there could be no next time for the two of them.
Because no matter what she might have told herself last night when the two of them made love, the reassurance she had given herself to believe she could have casual sex with a man, with Xander, before just as happily walking away, was all nonsense. A lie she had told herself because she had wanted, desired, Xander so very much.
Now she realised not only had she lied to herself about the casual sex, but also about her feelings for Xander.
And those regrets that could come later?
Well, they had come crashing down about her head the moment Sam had been woken at five o’clock this morning, the sun streaming in through the window of his bedroom, because they had forgotten to draw the curtains the evening before.
Sam had felt totally disorientated when she’d first woken up, taking several seconds to get her bearings, before remembering exactly where she was, and then turning sharply to look down at the man sleeping in the bed beside her.
One look at Xander’s beautifully chiselled face relaxed in sleep, and that gloriously tousled blond hair fanned out on the pillow behind him, with only a thin sheet covering the nakedness of his hips and thighs, leaving his muscled chest bare, and Sam had realised she was in love with him.
That somewhere, somehow, during this past week of sharing an apartment with him—of sharing her past with him; of him sharing the horrors of his childhood with her, and the battle he had suffered these past few weeks, fearing he might be like his father; of just being with Xander constantly; of feeling moved by his protectiveness towards her and his kindness to Daisy—Sam had fallen deeply in love with him.
Which was why she was now going to climb quietly and carefully out of his bed, taking care not to disturb or wake him, and go back to her own bedroom.
To consider how she was ever going to face Xander again.
At least she didn’t have to make the walk of shame, and could simply gather up her scattered clothes from the bedroom floor and walk the short way down the hallway in order to reach the relative sanctuary of her bedroom.
No doubt there had been dozens of women between Xander’s bed sheets over the years. Beautiful women. Sophisticated women. Those same beautiful and sophisticated women who could enjoy casual sex with as accomplished a lover as Xander Sterne, before dressing the following morning and walking away without any regrets.
Unfortunately, Sam now knew she wasn’t any of those things.
She wasn’t beautiful, or sophisticated, but worst of all she certainly wasn’t capable of walking away from Xander without regrets.
Any more than she had wanted to see Xander’s disappointment if he should wake up and feel regret at finding her there beside him in his bed.
* * *
Xander felt wonderfully relaxed when he woke up, the warmth of the morning sun shining across his face and closed lids.
Thoroughly relaxed. And wonderfully satiated in a way he could never remember feeling before. Almost as if he— Not almost. He had made love with Samantha.
Xander’s eyes opened wide and he turned sharply to look at the bed beside him, the events of the previous night washing over him in bright and glorious colour.
He sat up abruptly as he saw the bed beside him was empty. As was his bedroom, Samantha’s clothes gone from the carpeted floor. Nor could he hear any sounds coming from the adjoining bathroom, as evidence that Samantha was taking a shower.
The clock on the bedside table read only six o’clock, so where was she?
Gone, came his immediate answer.
Just to her own bedroom, or from his apartment completely?
Even if Samantha regretted what had happened between the two of them—and her disappearing act seemed to imply she did—surely she wouldn’t have woken Daisy up in the middle of the night and just left without saying a word to him? Especially with her ex-husband on the prowl and ready to pounce.
No, Xander was sure Samantha wouldn’t have done that.
But there was no denying she had left his bedroom.
Why?
She’d seemed happy enough the night before, as she had snuggled comfortably in his arms before they both fell into an exhausted sleep.
Damn it. He had been so thoroughly satiated the previous night, so exhausted by their lovemaking after suffering weeks of physical limitations, that he hadn’t even woken when Samantha crept from his bed!
He now ran an agitated hand through his already tousled hair, the tenderness of his scalp reminding him of the way she had tightly gripped his hair when she climaxed a second time as he’d fiercely thrust and pulsed inside her.
Now she had gone, crept from his bed like a thief in the night. As if last night had meant nothing to her. As if he meant nothing to her.
And perhaps he didn’t, Xander realised with a frown, as he recalled their conversation just before they had made love. Their discussion of the problem of her ex-husband, and the way in which he intended dealing with that problem, for both her own and Daisy’s sakes.
Could Samantha have gone to bed with him, made love, out of gratitude for just the thought of that help reaching fruition?
Because he had made it obvious he wanted her, and she hadn’t liked to say no?
* * *
‘Cereal, pancakes, or eggs and bacon?’ Sam prompted briskly as Xander made an appearance in the kitchen doorway just after eight o’clock, her daughter already seated at the breakfast bar eating the last of her pancakes.
It was a grim-faced Xander who looked at her with dark and wary eyes, nothing like the wild and satisfying lover of the night before. Or the relaxed and satiated man Sam had left asleep in bed earlier this morning.
Any more than she looked—or felt—like the uninhibited woman of the night before.
Her cheeks felt warm just thinking of the intimacies the two of them had shared the previous night. ‘Or maybe just your usual coffee?’ she carried on hurriedly as Xander made no reply but just continued to look at her searchingly with those dark and enigmatic eyes.
But searching for what?
Regrets?
Sam had plenty of those!
Rebuke?
She had absolutely nothing to rebuke Xander for, had been a more than willing participant to their lovemaking.
So what was Xander looking for as he gazed at her so intently?
Whatever it was, he didn’t seem to have found it, the expression in his dark eyes becoming even more guarded as he stepped further into the kitchen. ‘Just coffee is fine, thanks,’ he answered as he moved to sit opposite Daisy. ‘How are you this morning, Daisy-flower?’ His voice noticeably softened as he spoke to the little girl.
Sam efficiently poured coffee into a mug and placed it in front of him before collecting up Daisy’s empty plate and returning to tidy up the stove top, her back turned towards the room as tears blurred her vision.
This was awful. Worse than she had even imagined it might be.
In her imaginings there had at least been a stilted conversation between herself and Xander, in which he would say something like you were right, last night was a bad idea, and Sam would urge him to forget about it, as she already had.
The fact that Daisy was present this morning, and would be all weekend, was going to make even that brief conversation difficult, if not impossible.
And Sam wasn’t sure her already frayed nerves could take the added tension, especially if Xander decided to spend time with them this weekend.
Because they weren’t a normal family. And they never could be.
Xander’s past record, of having been involved with a legion of women, clearly spoke for itself, and he certainly hadn’t made any rash declarations of love to Sam the evening before. He hadn’t needed to, she reminded herself, after she had made it more than obvious she’d wanted him as much as he’d wanted her.
She had been a willing scratch to Xander’s itch, at best. And the fact that he meant so much more to her than that wasn’t his problem.
That was something Sam definitely intended keeping to herself.
Xander would run a mile if he thought for one moment that she had feelings for him. Worse, that she had been stupid enough to fall in love with him.
Just the thought of leaving Xander at the end of next week, of never seeing him again, was enough to break her heart.
‘Daisy, how about I put a cartoon on for you?’ Xander suggested lightly as he stood up, very aware of the fact that Samantha was keeping her back turned towards the two of them for a reason; the slight shaking of her shoulders, and the occasional soft sniff he could hear, clearly indicating that she was crying.
Could he feel any more of a heel than he already did? Xander wondered heavily as he accompanied Daisy into the television room and put a film on for her.
He had taken advantage of Samantha last night. Had used her emotions against her—fear of her ex-husband? Her gratitude for Xander’s help? The compassion she felt for his past? Take your pick! And then he’d forgotten all of those things in order to take what he wanted.
The fact that Samantha had left his bed before he had woken up, that she was crying this morning, had to mean that she regretted what had happened between the two of them last night.
And Xander had no idea how to put things right between them.
Did he apologise and tell her that he knew and accepted that last night had been a mistake?
Even if it hadn’t been?
Did he promise her it would never happen again?
A promise, desiring her as much as he still did, that Xander knew he couldn’t keep.
Or did he put her through the even worse embarrassment of being the one to speak first about last night?
No, that last definitely wasn’t going to happen; it would totally humiliate Samantha, and that was the last thing Xander ever wanted her to feel in regards to him or their lovemaking.
What he had wanted to happen was for the two of them to wake up in each other’s arms this morning, to make mind-blowing love again, before they discussed exactly where they were going to go with their relationship.
Except Samantha had already left when he’d woken up this morning.
Consequently there had been no opportunity for a repeat of the night before.
Both of those things telling him that, as far as she was concerned, at least, there was also no relationship for the two of them to discuss.
At the same time as Xander knew they couldn’t continue to live together for the next week without one or both of them saying at least something about last night. Acknowledging that it had happened, at least. Not to do so would be juvenile. And their actions last night had been anything but that.
‘I’m just going back to the kitchen to have a chat with Mummy, okay, Daisy?’ he told the little girl lightly as he raised the volume on the television.
‘Okay.’ Daisy nodded distractedly, her attention already focused on the animated film on the screen.
Xander closed the door softly behind him as he stepped out into the hallway, drawing in a deep breath once he was outside; he wasn’t in the least looking forward to the next few minutes’ conversation with Samantha. Or what the outcome of that conversation would mean for the two of them.
Any thoughts of that conversation fled his head the moment he walked back into the kitchen and saw how deathly pale Samantha’s face was as she stood as still as a statue, the telephone receiver about to fall from her limp fingers.
‘Samantha?’ Xander quickly crossed to where she stood to look down searchingly into that pale face as he took that receiver from her and placed it back on the wall, frowning darkly as he saw the pain in those dark amethyst eyes as Samantha stared off into the distance. ‘Samantha?’
The way she now looked up at him so blankly, as if she not only didn’t see him, but was having trouble even remembering who he was, wasn’t in the least reassuring.
Xander lightly clasped the tops of her arms as a way of gaining her attention. ‘Samantha!’
‘Security just called from Reception downstairs.’ She spoke flatly, not an ounce of emotion in her voice as she continued to look up at him blankly.
‘And?’ he prompted tensely as Samantha didn’t add anything to that statement.
She blinked, seeming to come out of her stupor slightly as she finally focused on him. ‘Malcolm is downstairs.’
‘He is?’
She nodded. ‘And apparently he told Security that he has no intention of leaving until he’s spoken to one or both of us.’
Xander had known this confrontation was inevitable, had deliberately designed this situation so that Howard would make him the target rather than Samantha and Daisy.
He just hadn’t expected it to be this morning, and before he’d even had a chance to talk to Samantha about last night.
