Читать книгу Christmas Kisses Collection - Джанис Мейнард, Louise Allen - Страница 37

HOW LIKE ELLEN to take the initiative. Chance wasn’t going to turn her away again. The gentleman in him he’d left in that hovel days before. He was going to accept what was offered. All of Ellen.

He would inhale her, touch her, have her. Totally take what he’d desired for weeks.

His body was tense with anticipation. With one hot kiss his manhood stood ready. He craved everything about her.

With her still in his arms he walked around the fire to the blanket. She wrapped her arms around his neck as they went. Cupping the back of his head, she held his mouth to hers. Her tongue caressed, twirled and mated with his, mimicking the very things he wanted to do to her.

Chance hadn’t planned this. But he wanted it. Needed her.

She was right. They had spent the last few days fighting for their lives. He didn’t want to battle himself or her about the attraction between them. Now it was time to feel her against him for the pleasure of her, not for the need to survive. Chance eased her down his body and brought his hands up under her shirt tracing the lines of her body. Stepping away, he pulled her shirt over her head and dropped it to the stone floor.

She was stunning, standing before him. The flickering firelight touched her in places he had every intention of savoring. He cupped one of her breasts. Slowly, he pulled his hand away, caressing the breast from beneath. Ellen shivered, adding to his delight. He reveled in her soft sound of pleasure.

The pads of her fingers drifted over his chest then downward to the edge of his pants and around to his side. She slipped a finger beneath his waistband and moved it across his skin.

His manhood tightened. Strained against the front of his pants.

She grabbed a handful of material and pulled him to her.

Chance took her mouth again. This time she brought a leg up his, circling it with hers. He broke the kiss and looked into her eyes. “I desperately want you but I can’t make any promises.”

“Tonight isn’t about promises. It’s about being alive. Enjoying life.”

She hadn’t said it but he knew her too well not to know she cared deeply for people and that meant she didn’t take relationships lightly. Should he let this continue? For his sake? Hers?

A hint of a smile came to Ellen’s lips. “Remember what I said that day when I was polishing the girl’s nails? A moment of pleasure is better than none. If something happens to you, I’d always regret not having you like this.”

That brick wall Chance had built around his heart had just taken a battering. He couldn’t let her get hurt. “This isn’t some storybook adventure that’s going to end in a happily-ever-after.”

“Have I ever said that’s what I want?”

She hadn’t, and for some reason it stung that she didn’t expect it.

Her hands ran up his ribs and down his arms. “What I’m saying is that I want you. I know you want me. I feel it.” She flexed forward. “There might not be another time. We may not get out of this. I don’t want any regrets. Not being with you would be a great regret.”

Chance knew about regrets and disappointment. He’d experienced both a number of times in his life. With his mother. His sister. His ex-wife. Ellen wouldn’t be one of those. He would see to that right now.

Cupping her face with his hands, he gave her a gentle kiss. “You deserve a big comfortable bed and someplace clean.”

“I don’t care as long as you are there.”

Bam. There went another chip in the wall.

Pulling her against him, Chance savored the feel of her bare breasts against his chest. His mouth found hers again then moved over her cheek to kiss the hollow behind her ear. She tilted her head as if asking for more.

He found her waistband and unfastened the button. Deliberately, he pulled the zipper down. Her pants fell to her feet and she pushed them away. His mouth left her ear to travel over the ridge of her shoulder and down to the tip of one breast.

His mouth took it, sucked. Running his tongue around the nipple, he teased.

A soft, sensual sigh filled the air as Ellen combed her fingers through his hair.

Chance pulled away and blew over the damp mound he was giving attention to. Ellen’s moan turned to a groan.

His length twitched. How much longer could he stand not having her? What would she sound like when she found release?

Cupping the other breast, he took it into his mouth, giving it the same attention as he’d lavished on the first. She held his head, encouraging him. Chance’s mouth left her breast to kiss his way up her neck and capture her lips. The meeting of mouths was wild and hot.

Her hands went to his pants and released them, pushing them over his hips to the ground. She didn’t hesitate before she wrapped her hand around his staff and gently stroked. If she kept that up he would combust before they made it to the blanket.

Chance moved back and she released him. “I’ll lose control if you touch me.”

“I don’t care.” Her voice was husky, which did nothing to ease his need.

“But I do. You deserve more.” He kissed her deeply. One of his hands followed the curve of her shoulder, skimmed her breast to brush the line of her hip. The palm of his hand skimmed over her stomach before his fingers teased the curls between her legs.

She tensed in his arms.

He slid a finger between her folds and pulled away.

Ellen shook, making a delicious sound of protest.

Chance cupped her center then slowly pulled a finger between her folds. Her stance widened as her tongue entered his mouth. She clung to his shoulders. Using one finger, he went deeper, finding the wet, hot opening of her desire. He dipped the tip of his finger inside. Ellen hissed close to his ear. Bringing her leg up around his, she offered him clear passage. He took it, pushing his finger completely into her. She bucked, going up on her toes.

He removed his finger and pushed into her again. Her hips flexed against him. She clawed at his back. Retreating, he thrust again. This time Ellen pushed down on his hand. Pulling his finger away, he entered her again. Her head fell back. Her hair was wild around her shoulders as she cried her pleasure and withered against him.

It took all Chance had within him not to throw Ellen to the ground and hammer into her.

Instead he held her, watching the soft look settle over her face as she eased to earth once more. The experience was something he’d never had with a woman before. It left a feeling of satisfaction he wasn’t familiar with but desperately wanted again.

Was that another brick being knock away?

Ellen relaxed against him. He removed his finger and grasped her waist. Their gazes met. Hers was dewy. She gave him the tiny smile of a woman who’d found something special. He stood on top of the world because he was the one who’d given it to her.

That was an awesome responsibility. Did he want to carry that? Could he take that gamble?

Ellen placed a hand in one of his, went down on the blanket and pulled him to her.

Chance didn’t resist. He couldn’t.

“You deserve some attention.” Her voice was deeper and even sexier than before.

“It’s not necessary.”

There was a look of concern in her eyes for a second then her lips turned upward. “Oh, but I think it is.”

Ellen wanted to give Chance some of the pleasure he’d given her. She wasn’t inexperienced but nothing she had felt before compared to what Chance’s touch had done to her.

When he’d said it wasn’t necessary she’d feared he was running away again. She wasn’t going to let that happen.

Lying on her side, she faced him. His masculinity was almost more than she could comprehend. Holding his gaze, she reached out and placed her hand on the pectoral muscles of his chest then ran her index finger over his skin. Slowly she traced his ribs, dipping and rising as she moved downward.

She glanced up to see that Chance’s pupils had dilated. They burned with desire. Her actions were having the effect she desired. Circling his belly button, she enjoyed the inhalation of his breath as she watched his skin react to her touch. It was exciting to see this strong, masterful man respond to her. Her hand followed a line of hair downward until she reached the head of his manhood. She ran the tip of her finger over him and watched the length twitch.

Chance growled and pulled her hand away.

Grinning, Ellen shifted so that she could push his shoulders to the blanket. That done, she straddled him. She kissed his jaw and moved down to the valley of his neck and onto his chest. As she went one of Chance’s hands glided over her hip. When her tongue slid across his breastbone, he cupped a butt cheek and gently squeezed.

She rose above him. Looking into his eyes, Ellen slowly came down to kiss him. It was a kiss of not only passion but of heartfelt longing and caring.

Chance took control and rolled her to her back. One of his legs came to rest over hers. “I can’t last much longer. I promise you slow next time.”

Her heart swelled. He thought there would be a next time.

Ellen lifted her hips, pushing her center against his leg. She throbbed for him. Blood rushed in her ears. She needed him as well.

Chance settled between her legs, his manhood coming to rest at her entrance. He supported himself on his elbows as he looked down at her.

A stricken look crossed his face. “We have no protection.”

Ellen’s hands found his hips and pulled him to her as she lifted upward. “Don’t worry. I have it taken care of.” She reached up and kissed him with everything in her. She refused to let him leave her again.

Chance slipped into her until she held all of him. Ellen gripped his forearms and wrapped her legs around his waist, bringing him closer. He pulled back and pushed forward then did it again. Each time tension coiled tighter in her. She wiggled, begging to have more. Chance gifted her with a hard thrust.

Ellen squeezed her legs tighter around him, bowed her back as he pressed into her. Squeezing her eyes shut, she reached, searched and grabbed for what she needed. Finding the pinnacle, she came apart. She remained rigid, taking all Chance had to offer, until she started the blissful float downward.

Her legs fell away from his hips. Before she could think straight again Chance drove into her. Slowly at first, then faster he stoked. Her hands tightened around his neck. He grasped her hips and held her firmly against him. His mouth took hers and whatever else he wanted. Heat flared in her. She grasped his shoulders. It couldn’t be happening again. Chance gained speed. Her scream of pleasure mixed with his groan of release as he sent her to the stars once more.

Chance held Ellen close as they lay on the too-small blanket. Her head lay against his shoulder and her arm rested across his chest with her hand buried under his hair. One of her legs wrapped around his and her foot was cupped in the arch of his.

She fit like she belonged. Perfectly. What would it be like to have her like this all the time?

He’d never been more satisfied in his life. She was everything he’d never thought to have in a woman. Beauty, intelligence, strength, passion, perseverance and most of all an easy smile. He shouldn’t think like that but having Ellen in his arms made him want to dream again. She’d brought that back to his life.

Her hand moved over his shoulder and teased his earlobe.

He looked at her. “Hey, there. I thought you were asleep.”

“Mmm… Just resting.” She stretched against him, running her fingers across his belly.

“You keep that up and I’ll have to retaliate.”

“I don’t have a problem with that.” She kissed his neck. “Didn’t you promise me slow next time?”

Chance kissed the top of her head as his hand caressed the under-curve of one of her breasts. “I can go slow. But the question is can you stand it?”

Ellen’s hand drifted to his hip. “As long as you can.”

He took the challenge and they both won.

They were still basking in a cloud of satisfaction while in each other’s arms when Ellen said, “Tell me about your childhood.”

Chance couldn’t help but flinch. Why did Ellen want to know about that? He’d rather talk about anything else but that and his ex-wife. She’d already heard that sordid story.

“I was a baby, then a child and now a man. Pretty typical stuff.”

She gave him a playful swat on the chest. “I know well that you are a man. But what I want to know about is Chance the little boy.”

Ellen wasn’t going to back off from this. That wasn’t who she was. He might as well tell her and then she’d quit asking. “I was raised in upstate New York. My father was a world-famous surgeon even when I was a young boy. He traveled and spoke a lot. We had everything money could buy but he was never around. My mother adored him.” Chance had worshiped his mother. “But my father was so wrapped up in his life that he barely saw her. He liked the jet-setting, being the big shot, and he like the women that went with that recognition. I’m not sure why they ever married.”

The same question had occurred to him when Alissa had left him. Had he, like his father, been so wrapped up in his work that he hadn’t been taking care of what he’d needed to do at home? Had it been fair to ask a woman to live his lifestyle? The question still nagged at him.

He looked at Ellen. Her golden hair was spread out over his chest and shoulder. Her fingers ran along the center of his chest as if she couldn’t get enough of him.

“How sad. Your mother must have been so lonely.”

“She was.”

“What happened?”

His chest tightened. “How did you know something happened?”

“By the tone of your voice.”

Had he become that transparent? Or was she just that in tune with him? He wasn’t sure which idea disturbed him more. “She left. Later I was told she joined a commune-type place. As far as I know, she’s still there. I went to see her once when I was in college but she said she didn’t want to see me. I never tried again.”

Ellen’s arm went to his waist and she gave him a tight hug. “Oh, Chance, I’m so sorry.”

She’d lost her mother as well. If anyone could empathize it was her. “You understand too well, don’t you?”

Her head nodded against him. “Mothers are important.” She didn’t say anything for a few minutes. Her voice wobbled as she said, “I watched my mother die.”

Even during this ordeal she’d never sounded so close to tears. They shared a huge loss but hers had been far more traumatizing. He pulled her close. If only he could take her pain away. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”

Chance understood her agony. Knew the need of a child for comfort that only a mother could give. Or the smell of perfume that was hers alone. A whisper of a kiss on the cheek as she went by or that safe feeling when being tucked in at night.

Yet despite their similarities in background, Ellen saw the world as a sparkling place while he saw it as tarnished. She seemed to bubble even in the situation they were in now. He wanted that in his life.

Moisture touched his skin. Strong, resilient Ellen was crying for two children who had lost their mothers. Chance’s chest tightened. His father not caring was painful but his mother’s defection was devastating. At least Ellen hadn’t felt unloved. He squeezed her close as she cried. “I’m sorry about your mother too.”

Minutes later she composed herself again then said, “Who would have thought we’d share something so awful?”

He kissed the top of her head. “I, for one, would prefer to remember something else we’ve shared.”

Ellen moved to look up at him with eyes that were still misty. “Why, Dr. Freeman, I believe there might be a romantic under all that gruff and bluster.”

He smiled. “Don’t get that rumor started.”

At least they had moved past that emotional moment but they continued to hold each for some time.

Finally Ellen asked, “Will you tell me the rest of the story now? Did your father come home then?”

“Yeah, just long enough to put me and my sister into boarding schools.”

“You have a sister?”

“I do.”

Ellen grabbed a shirt and pulled it on. “But you’ve never said anything about her.”

He shrugged. “I don’t really know her.”

“How can you not know your sister?”

“Pretty easy when I only saw her once a year at Christmas.”

“What? That’s horrible.”

“Maybe so, but that’s the way it was.”

“Still is, I gather.” Ellen sounded as if she was accusing him of doing something appalling in a court of law.

He sat up and faced her. “We’re just in two different worlds. She has her life and I have mine.”

“So you didn’t even have each other to lean on when your mother left. No wonder you have issues with women. Pushed me away,” she murmured.

Chance stiffened. “Don’t start analyzing me.”

“It was more of an observation.”

He didn’t like that much better. Had Ellen seen something about him that not even he was aware of?

“Where’s your father?”

“He died a couple of years ago.”

“I don’t know what I would have done without my father. He’s been there for me all the way.”

“That must be nice.”

“It is, most of the time.”

Chance was relieved they had moved past the subject of him. “Most of the time?”

“I told you, he tends to watch over me too much.”

“I can understand a father wanting to protect you.”

She chuckled. “I guess you can. You act like him sometimes.”

“Is that so bad?”

“What, that you act like him? Or that he is overprotective?”

“The overprotective part.” He studied her. Her hands were clasped in her lap in a ball.

“It is when you want to do more than work on the upper east side and in a hospital for women having their faces and breasts done.”

He ran his palm lightly over one of her nipples. “Which you need neither of.”

Ellen caught his hand and held it. “Thank you. But I wanted to work where people needed me. Where others weren’t as willing to go.”

“So what made you want to do that?”

“I don’t know really. I guess it was because of what my doctors and nurses meant to me.”

She waited as if she were in deep thought. He knew her well enough to know she would tell all if he just had the patience to wait.

“I still stay in touch with them.”

“Who?”

“My doctor and nurses. I was in the car with my mother. I was in the hospital for weeks afterwards.”

“That’s why you balked the first day.”

“Yeah. I’ve not done much emergency care and it takes me a second but I come around.”

“And you did. And did great.”

“Thanks. But that’s not what you thought then. I saw it in your eyes.”

“Guilty. But tell me about your father.”

“He was devastated after my mother’s death. He was at the hospital with me but he was so broken he wasn’t much good around me. It was the doctors and nurses who looked after me. Brought me fast food. Talked and played with a scared little girl. I decided then that I wanted to be like them.

“It took a while but my father found his way out of his grief to see me again and then all he could think about was not losing me. I understand that but it can be stifling. When I went to work at an inner-city clinic he pitched a fit and hired a bodyguard to watch over me. Let’s just say there was a large discussion over that. I didn’t tell him until the night before I left to come down here that I was coming. Even then I didn’t tell him where. I’m sure by now he knows about the resort.”

Chance was sure her father didn’t know the exact spot they were in now or they would have been rescued. If he ever met her father Chance was sure there would be hell to pay. A father who worried over his daughter that deeply wouldn’t like her running for her life in the jungle or sleeping with the man who was responsible for the situation. It was just as well this thing between he and Ellen would end when she left Honduras. Why did the thought gnaw at him so much?

“At least your father cares. Mine hardly knew I was alive.”

“That shouldn’t have happened to you. I’m surprised you became a doctor like him.”

“I was good at science and math. Medicine was—is—in my DNA. But I wanted to be a very different type of person from my father. From the beginning I wanted to help the less privileged.”

“You are different. I can’t see you not watching over the people you love and showing you care. Look what you’re doing for the people of this country.”

Her conviction had Chance wanting to believe her. He gave her a kiss that had nothing to do with wanting her sexually and everything to do with appreciating her large heart and loyalty. He needed both in his life.

Chance stood. “Enough talking or you’ll have me telling stories of how I misbehaved in school.”

“You were a troublemaker?”

“Only until the headmaster sat me down and said a few pointed words that made me think.” He reached out his hand. “How about a moonlight trip to the falls?”

“Aren’t you afraid we might be seen?”

“We won’t stay long. I just keep thinking about you bathing and how much I wished I’d joined you.”

“With an invitation like that, how can I refuse?” She took his hand.

Ellen couldn’t remember ever being this uninhibited with a man before. She let Chance remove the shirt she’d pulled on and then held his hand as they carefully stepped over the rocks and into the falls under the full moon.

The ache in her leg had been forgotten as Chance had turned her mind toward what he’d been doing to her body. Then her entire attention had been focused on what he’d been saying. She was surprised by how open he’d been that she’d hung on each of his words.

Now there was an aching throb in her calf but as Chance pulled her under the falls it was eclipsed by the touch of his hands running over her waist and hips. She threw her head back and let the water wash through her hair as he kissed her shoulder and cupped her breasts.

There was something wanton, liberating, almost wicked about standing out in the middle of the world with no clothes on as a man loved her body. A tingle in her center grew to a pounding as blood flowed hot within her. She was a siren calling to her mate.

Her hands skimmed over Chance’s wet arms and down his back as he kissed the outside of one breast. As he stood there she pushed his hair away from his face. His manhood, thick and tall, found the V of her legs as his mouth came to hers. His hands cupped her butt and lifted. She circled his hips with her legs. Chance shoved once and completely entered her. She held tightly to his shoulders. He eased away and pushed forward. She shuttered. He plunged deeper and joined her in the pleasure.

Chance released her, letting her slid down his wet body. He kissed her deeply then led her out of the falls and over the rocks. “As much as I’m enjoying your body, we need to get some sleep. We still have a day of walking tomorrow. We aren’t out of danger yet.”

“Boy, you have a way of putting a damper on the afterglow.”

He gave her a quick kiss as they returned to their hiding place. “I’ll do better next time but I want us to make it to the next time.” Picking up a few sticks, he put them on the fire, which had turned to coals. “We need to dry off and get some sleep. As much as I hate to say this, we should sleep in our clothes in case we need to make a quick getaway.”

Ellen picked up her underwear and began putting them on. “Is that your way of telling me you’ve seen all of my body you want to?”

Chance stepped to her and tipped her chin up with a finger. “I could never get enough of looking at your body.”

Warmth went through her, settling in her heart. She wanted this moment, this feeling between them, always.