Читать книгу One Winter's Night - Lori Borrill - Страница 11

“WHERE’S YOUR BEDROOM?”

Kit stepped through the entry and into the living room of Monica’s high-rise apartment and scanned the layout as he went. The furnishings were exactly as he’d expected—sleek, orderly, with touches of Asia and Europe that looked authentic but not decorative. Oversize windows offered a view of the Chicago skyline that would be nice to relax to someday, but right now he had a more urgent need—namely getting naked with a stunning brunette as quickly as possible.

“You wouldn’t care for a drink first? ‘My, what a fine night this is? Nice place you’ve got here?’” Monica teased.

He slipped a hand around her waist and pulled her close. “You underestimate how badly I want you.” Then he showed her by cupping her cheek and closing his mouth over hers.

With that one connection his spirit righted, placed back on its axis after being knocked off-kilter Monday night. Something had clicked that night, a feeling that he’d found something special, and despite his efforts to put their encounter in the past, he’d realized pretty quickly that it wasn’t going to happen.

He liked Monica Newell. He didn’t know how it could feel so solid in a single night together, but he’d known she was the one he wanted. And when Kit felt something this sure, he wasn’t going to let it go.

He slid his hands up under her sweater and found skin, then groaned at the pure luxury of the silky feel beneath his fingers. He loved the fact that her long legs squared her body with his—thighs against thighs, breasts against chest, heat against heat—and he loved her tender response when all those parts came together. He clasped her waist and made her shiver, touched her breasts and made her moan, hungry need boiling through him with every simple press. He hardened instantly, slipped his palms down around her ass and pulled her close against his erection, and she sighed.

“How do you get me so hot so fast?” she whispered against his lips.

For the first time in his life, he had no witty comeback. Truth was he’d wondered the same thing and had come up with nothing other than this must be what genuine need felt like.

With quick fingers, he unclasped her slacks, letting them drop from her waist where they pooled around her feet. And when he tucked a hand into her panties he nearly lost himself from the wet readiness that greeted him.

He muttered off a curse, slipped a finger where his cock ached to follow, and the breathy gasp that escaped her throat propelled him into action. He ground against her, smoothing his fingers over the soft spot between her legs, not intending to move so quickly but unable to stop the momentum. He dropped to his knees, pulling her red laced panties down with him, and when her musky scent of sex filled his nostrils he couldn’t help but dip in for a taste.

He nibbled at her mound, taking light bites and pressing kisses to the inner flesh of her thighs, trying to tease her slowly and draw out the pleasure, but the burn for more kept pushing him to drive harder. Helpless against it, he slipped his tongue between her folds, feeling a surge of pleasure when her clit pulsed against his tongue and she groaned in ecstasy.

Her long, slim fingers tangled in his hair, nudging him against her and coaxing him to keep going, as if he’d needed the prod. He’d started something he couldn’t stop, and with desire doing the driving, he dove in and stroked her sex.

Greedily, he kissed and sucked and licked, her fists clasping him hard as her legs began to tremble. Her sweet taste fueled him, urging him on with the scent of impending climax that absorbed through his lungs and pooled heavy in his loin. Her breath came out in pants, growing shallow and dire with every lap of his tongue. And when her tender flesh swelled against his lips, he grabbed her hips and held tight.

Her release was swift and hard, quaking through her body and shooting pulse after pulse of sensation straight to his cock. He’d always enjoyed pleasuring a woman, but this one seemed to give him an extra dose of satisfaction. There was something empowering in taking that staunchly held control and crumbling it down to raw lust. And when he did, the woman he found underneath excited and seduced him.

She slid to her knees and settled against him, neither of them having the strength to move to the bedroom. Instead, he pulled her red sweater over her head and tossed it aside, then guided her down to the carpet right where they’d stood.

His heart beat like thunder, need straining against his jeans as he yanked a condom from his pocket and quickly went to work shucking his clothes. With the flush of orgasm still coloring her cheeks, those green eyes remained hungry, prompting him to keep going as she unclasped her bra and bared herself to him.

He bent in and took her modest breast in his mouth, unable to deny himself for the briefest of moments as he released the last button of his shirt and tossed it aside. Sex was supposed to satisfy a soul, but when it came to Monica, all it seemed to do was leave him greedy. The more he took the more he ached, one climax only fueling the need for another. So with the last of the barriers tossed aside, he quickly sheathed himself and rose over her.

She eyed his stiff shaft and uttered, “Yes,” spreading her thighs and arching her back to receive him. And through the rawness in her voice, he saw the inner soul of this sharply mannered executive, the bare woman underneath the corporate facade. She was sexy as hell, and he relished his power to uncover her, to draw out that piece that she kept so tidily wrapped up to everyone else.

He slipped between her legs and pushed inside, nearly bursting as he watched that sensual woman unravel. Those lustrous lips parted as the length of him filled her, thrusting deep until his cock was fully seated. And when he began to rock and stroke, a warm calm smoothed her sharp features.

He pressed his lips to hers and let their bodies tangle together, grinding toward a climax that would take them both over the edge. He rolled her over on top of him, taking her breasts in his hands as she rode him, that lustrous heat encasing him and pushing him to the brink as those emerald eyes soaked up his gaze. This was a connection more than sex, he knew. He’d felt it that first night and sensed it again, something strong crossing between them. And when release found them and their bodies crashed together, he knew she felt it, too. It was desire beyond attraction, want that bordered on obsession. And something he had no intention of walking away from.

He rolled back over and drove the last of the climax until his body was sated, heart thudding wildly against her breast and his lips gently stroking the sensitive space under her ear. They stayed that way for what seemed like hours, neither speaking, only breathing and basking in the pleasure of their union. And only when he feared his weight crushing her did he roll to his side and draw her close, cradling her head on his shoulder and closing her into his arms.

“I still don’t know where your bedroom is,” he muttered.

Her smoky laugh brushed warmly across his chest. “You did fine without it.”

“That was just a warm-up.” He tugged her chin up to his and kissed her on the lips. “For everything else I’ve got planned, I think we’ll want to get more comfortable.”

“WHAT DO YOU DO FOR fun, Monica?” Kit asked as the two lay in her bed sharing a glass of cognac.

“You mean, besides picking up strange men in airport lounges?”

He winced. “I’d like to think that’s not a common pastime.”

She reached over him and set the glass on the nightstand then sidled up close, resting her head on his broad shoulder and circling her leg around his. It was nearing 10:00 p.m. and they were entering their third hour of naked bliss. Monica would have called it record-breaking sex if Kit hadn’t already treated her to a marathon evening four nights earlier. Up against that, tonight was simply par for a very delicious course—one she wouldn’t mind playing again and again if she could only get beyond the business relationship that still wasn’t settling well with her.

But that was a quandary better left for another hour. Right now, she intended to enjoy as much of the generous lover as possible before morning brought up reality with the sun.

“The other night you said you loved traveling,” he went on. “I noticed some pieces in your living room looked Japanese and Scandinavian.”

His eye for art impressed her. “Yes, once a year I take a trip abroad. I spend most of the rest of my time planning it. It’s a passion of mine, researching cities, finding the exact perfect accommodations, planning meals and putting together a schedule.”

She rested casually against him and told him about the countries she’d visited, sharing stories about some of the sights she’d seen and places she hoped to go in the future.

“One place I need to return to is Italy,” she said. “I’d completely misjudged the amount of time I’d need to see the sites on my itinerary. In the end it wasn’t enough, but now that I know, I can do a better job planning out the next trip.”

“Have you ever just packed a bag and taken off?”

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “No schedule. No plans. Just go where the day takes you.”

She tried to imagine that but couldn’t. Granted, she knew people who traveled on the fly like that, but Monica preferred knowing exactly where she was going and what she would be doing.

“I like to be a little more organized than that.”

“It’s not about organization, it’s about adventure. One night you might find yourself in a hostel. The next you could be the personal guest of a family you just met.” He sipped from the glass of cognac then set it back on the table. “Some people find it exciting.”

Monica shook her head. “I’d find it unsettling.”

He slid lower under the blankets, turning to face her and drawing her close so that their noses nearly touched. “You should give it a try. Come out to my ranch in Austin.”

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“I can have my pilot ready to fly out in an hour.”

“Your pilot. You have a plane?”

“With my lifestyle, it’s a necessity.” He kissed her nose and brushed a tender finger across her cheek. “I promise to have you back at work bright and early Monday morning.”

She blanched. “I couldn’t possibly.”

“Why not?”

“A thousand reasons. I’ve got a preliminary report to read for one. It requires my comments and narrative.”

“Read it on the plane. It will work out good. I’ve got calls to make anyway.”

She pulled away and sat up. “It could take hours. I’d already cleared my weekend to get through it.”

“I’ve got a nice quiet study at the ranch.”

“But that would be rude. I can’t come as a guest to your home then spend half the weekend ignoring you.”

“I’d like to think of you as more than just my guest. And as far as ignoring me, as long as you have dinner with me and sleep in my bed I’ll be satisfied.”

She clasped the blankets to her chest, feeling panicked and silly and nowhere near ready to entertain the idea of a trip. She hadn’t even come to terms with tonight’s encounter, what it meant about their relationship—if it was a relationship. And if it was, she still wasn’t sure it should be. For the moment, she’d accepted a one-night stand, though technically now it was two. Jetting off to Texas for the weekend?

He tugged the blanket off her shoulder and began pressing kisses up her forearm toward her neck, circling that tongue ever so lightly, which only scattered her thoughts more.

“I’d have to pack,” she started. “I’d have to consider what to bring. I need my laptop. I left it at the office. That alone will take, ooohhhh—” He’d found a sensitive spot right at the tip of her spine.

“You know what I think?” he asked.

She lolled her head to the side while he spoke between kisses.

“I think your problem isn’t your laptop or packing or being a rude guest. I think you don’t like surprises.” He pressed his lips to each vertebrae, slowly trailing his way down her spine. “You need to always stay in control and you can’t do anything that isn’t precisely planned and thoroughly considered.”

She scoffed. “That’s my mother, not me.”

He slipped a warm hand over her breast as those succulent lips neared her tailbone. “So that’s where you get it from.”

“I’m nothing like her. She’s a homebody, I’m an executive.” His mouth touched the curve of her butt before he turned and went back the way he came. “Honestly, the woman drives me crazy. She’d had my life planned out while I was still in the womb. To this day it burns her that I didn’t settle in the Hamptons with a surgeon husband and two-point-seven kids.”

“I’m sure your mother’s proud of you,” he uttered.

“Maybe, but she wasn’t pleasant to live with. I don’t know how my father handles it. Everything has to be done exactly her way. She has ideas in her head how everything should be, and heaven help the person who tries to change her mind once it’s made up. You should have seen her planning a family reunion last year. Every minute of the day was—”

She stopped and gasped. “Oh, my, I really am like her.”

“I’m sensing similarities,” Kit said casually.

Monica stared blankly at the shelves on the wall—the ones she’d meticulously placed and decorated with books stacked exactly so. She recalled the day the maid dusted and mistakenly put things back in the wrong place. She’d noticed immediately, couldn’t do another thing until she’d taken it all down and put it back the way she had it.

How could she have gotten to this age and never seen it?

Everyone always said she was exactly like her father. And in many ways she was. But in the face of this discussion she realized that she’d also picked up a few traits from her mother, too—and not the ones she’d preferred. The perfectionist, unbending and controlling—Monica wouldn’t have believed it, yet here she was, shooting down Kit’s suggestion exactly the same way and using the same unyielding attitude she would have expected of her mother. She didn’t want to be that person.

“I can’t believe this,” she uttered. “I sound exactly like her.”

Kit took her hand and pressed kisses to her fingers. “Then I like her already.”

Monica shook her head. “No, not in a good way.”

She’d never noticed the similarity before, but it seemed obvious now, and her reaction was nothing short of pure horror.

“Let’s do it,” she said. “Let’s go to Austin.”

She tossed the blankets, intent to prove that she didn’t have to be that person. The best part of self-awareness was the ability to make a change, right? So just because she’d inherited a few of her mother’s least desirable traits didn’t mean she had to accept them. But when she scooted from the bed Kit clasped her forearm and pulled her back.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “I thought you wanted to take me to your ranch.”

“In a minute.”

He nudged her down and began ravaging her like he’d done several times this evening. “First, I need to make love to you again.”

Heat spilled through her as flesh connected with flesh and those dark eyes took on the familiar glaze of sultry intent.

“What’s this? Another sudden change in plans?” she asked.

He dipped his mouth to hers and spoke through a kiss. “Yes. You’re incredibly sexy when you act on impulse.”