Читать книгу Brides, Babies And Billionaires - Мишель Смарт, Rebecca Winters - Страница 91

Ten

Oh, God—Seth was kissing her. And somehow, it was the truth.

Because the truth was, she wanted him to kiss her and more than that, she wanted to kiss him back.

How had she thought that she could talk herself out of this need? God knew she’d tried. For a whole week, she’d diligently reasoned that it didn’t make sense to fall into bed with Seth Bolton. It was a bad idea and the list of reasons why was long. Safer to keep their relationship strictly platonic.

In fact, she had gotten up this morning determined not to let things get to this point. But now that they were here—now that he was brushing his lips over hers, soft and gentle and asking for permission...

She sighed into his mouth and wrapped her arms around his waist. However many reasons there were not to do this, none of them trumped the simple fact that she wanted Seth. She wanted to hold on to this last chance to be Kate Burroughs before her identity was redefined by motherhood. She wanted her baby, but she didn’t want to lose herself, either.

So she kissed him back. She opened her mouth for him and slid her tongue along the seam of his lips and thrilled at the groan of desire that rumbled out of his chest. She pressed her body to his and let the warmth of his solid muscles sink into her skin.

She stopped trying to fight this desire. She stopped trying to fight herself.

Seth was the one who broke the kiss. He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “I shouldn’t have kissed you,” he said, his words coming out in a rush. “But I can’t regret it.”

This was it, her last chance to stop this madness before it consumed her.

Too damned bad she wanted to be consumed. “Yes, you should’ve.”

He gave her a quizzical look. “Was I reading you wrong? I thought you weren’t interested.”

She had tried so hard not to be. “Seth, this is a bad idea.” His face fell. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not interested. I don’t want to be interested in you. My life is complicated enough. But I can’t help wanting you.”

Dimly, she was aware that they were locked in an embrace inside a stranger’s home. True, the home had been unoccupied for months. But ethically, she was pushing her luck. “We need to leave.”

He nodded and stepped back, but he didn’t let go of her. Instead, his arm slid down around her waist and he held her tight to his side. “Where do you want to go? Dinner or...”

She would need to eat—eventually. But she needed him more. “Or?”

He guided her toward the door. “What about your place?”

She hesitated. It was such a small apartment. She knew she shouldn’t be embarrassed for him to see it—it was clean and neat. But after spending the day in some of the nicer homes in Rapid City, her apartment would look pathetic in comparison.

Besides, she didn’t want Seth in her apartment because then she would have all these memories of him there. Every time she walked into her bedroom, she would remember him stretched out on her bed, the sheet around his hips and his chest bare. Every time she tried to fall asleep, his presence would keep her awake.

She needed to keep a little distance between the rest of her life and what was going to happen in the next few weeks. Because she couldn’t imagine that this would last more than a few weeks.

Just long enough for her to taste true passion. Just enough memories to keep her going through what would be a few years of long days and sleepless nights. That’s all she was doing with Seth—making memories.

“Your place?”

“I’m currently living in a hotel. But,” he added, opening the door for her, “it has room service. If you’re sure?”

Was she sure this was a good idea? No. She was pretty sure it wasn’t.

But was she sure that Seth would take great care with her? That he would deliver on exactly what he had promised—something fun and satisfying, something to erase the lingering bad memories of Roger from her mind? Something good?

She leaned up on her tiptoes and brushed a kiss across his lips—a promise of more to come. “I’m sure. Are you?”

That smile—confident and cocky, sensual and heated—that was exactly what she was looking for. “You have no idea.”

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Seth said, “We can order room service later,” as he guided her into the room and kicked the door shut behind him.

Then she was sinking into his arms and wondering why, exactly, she’d fought against this so hard. It didn’t mean anything. She was attracted to Seth and he was attracted to her, and she simply hadn’t had enough fun in her life for so long that she almost couldn’t remember what it felt like to enjoy herself.

Well, to hell with that. Because she was going to enjoy this time here, with this man. “Okay?” Seth asked again as his hands settled around her waist. They hadn’t even gotten to the bed—he was still leaned against the door. But he wasn’t going to let her go.

“Okay,” she agreed, sliding her hands underneath his jacket and flattening her palms against his chest. It had been unseasonably warm today and he had on another Crazy Horse T-shirt. His body was hard and hot under her touch, and touch him she did.

He let her. He stayed still while she explored the planes of his chest. He didn’t yank her clothing off, didn’t try to skip the foreplay and get straight to the sex. He let her take her time and that felt important. She didn’t know how long they had together, but she didn’t want to rush it.

“You never did tell me how old you are,” she murmured as she pushed the jacket from his shoulders. He let go of her waist long enough for the leather to hit the floor and then she was studying his arms. She hadn’t seen them before—the muscles that strained at the sleeves of his shirt, a tattoo visible on his right biceps. “Good Lord, Seth. Look at you.”

“Twenty-five. And I’d rather look at you. Except...without these clothes.” He peeled her black suit jacket off her shoulders. “Black and white are all wrong on you. You need bright, vibrant color, Kate. You’re gorgeous in color.”

She felt her cheeks get warm. “It was the only thing that fit,” she admitted—and that was only because the pants had elastic in the back. Otherwise, she would’ve been showing houses in yoga pants.

“Ah. And here I thought you were sending me a message—hands off.”

She could feel that her whole face had turned red and it only got worse as he reached for the buttons on her slacks. It wasn’t like he hadn’t undressed her before—he had. He had lifted her skirt and peeled off a petticoat and been within inches of her most personal areas. But it was different now. Her body was changing faster every single day. “I’m different. Since the last time we did this.”

His mouth curved into a dangerous half grin. “We’ve done this before? I’m sure I would remember.”

“You know what I mean,” she said, whacking him on the side of the arm. “You have undressed me before. At least partially.”

“Trust me, babe—I have not forgotten. I never will.” He worked the zipper down and then slid his hands underneath the fabric, along her skin. “And this time, I’m not going to settle on ‘partially.’”

She didn’t have on a thong today, nor did she have on stockings and a garter. The best she could do was a pair of bikini-cut panties—white—with a little pink bow on the front and her new, very serviceable white bra. The underthings were innocent, almost—the most innocent thing about this particular situation, anyway.

She could feel the palm of his hand moving over the fabric of her panties and then lower, over her hips. The slacks gave way as he stroked down her skin. He followed the pants, falling to his knees before her as she revealed her skin and this time, she couldn’t drop a skirt to hide.

This time, she didn’t want to.

They felt like they were starting from the same spot—but it was different, too. She hadn’t known anything about Seth the first time she’d balanced a hand on his shoulder so she could step free of extraneous fabric. She hadn’t known if he was rich or poor, old or young. All she had known then was that she was safe with him.

She still was. “Tell me what you want,” Seth said when she had stepped free of the slacks. He grabbed them and threw them out of the way, then began to slide her trouser socks off. “I want to give you what you need.”

Her eyes fluttered shut and she tried to put words to what that was.

She wanted to be selfish. She didn’t want to swallow down her disappointment in bed to protect anyone’s feelings. She didn’t want to accept mediocre sex because Roger was incapable of putting forth the effort to get better. She didn’t want to settle because it kept the peace.

She needed to know what Kate Burroughs wanted. She needed to know that person was valuable and desirable and worth the risk.

She needed Seth to fight for her.

She needed to fight for herself.

“Anything,” Seth said as her other sock and shoe were also tossed aside. He sat back on his heels and ran his hands up and down her bare legs, warming her skin. “Be honest, Kate.”

“I don’t want to regret this,” she said, because that was the most honest thing she could think of. “I don’t want to regret you.”

“You won’t. And I won’t, either,” he assured her. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against her thigh. “I had the most erotic dreams after the last time,” he whispered against her skin as he kissed his way up her leg.

“I’m different now. Everything’s changed.” She felt huge and she knew she was only going to get bigger. Rationally, she knew it was because of the baby, but it was still hard to know that an ugly black suit was the only thing she could wear for her standing date with Seth Bolton.

She didn’t feel ugly now, not as Seth moved to the other thigh and began to kiss and nip at her skin. She watched in fascination.

“You were gorgeous two months ago, but now?” Seth leaned back and began to undo the buttons on her shirt. He had amazingly long arms, powerful muscles. Everything about him was powerful and he was here with her. How did this make any sense?

“But now?” he said in such a sincere voice that even though it didn’t make any sense, she had no choice but to believe him. He got the buttons undone, and she shrugged out of the shirt, letting it fall. “My God, Kate—look at you.”

She was going to protest that there was nothing to look at—at least not anything good—but he sat forward and pressed a kiss right below her belly button. And then one below that. And then one even lower. What started out as a sweet, tender gesture rapidly became something else entirely.

“Seth,” she said, her knees beginning to shake as his mouth moved over the thin cotton of her panties, coming ever closer to her sex.

“Tell me what you need, Kate,” he said, bringing his hands up to cup her bottom—and bring her closer to his mouth. “Do you need this?”

He skimmed his teeth over her panties, pulling the fabric aside. She was so shaky that she had no choice but to bury her fingers in his thick black hair and hold on. He looked up at her and squeezed her bottom, a knowing smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “Come on, Kate—you have to tell me.”

“Yes,” she whispered. He was slow and methodical—and focused entirely on her. He wasn’t keeping an eye on the clock or an ear on the game. He wasn’t wishing he were anywhere else. She had his undivided attention and that, more than anything else, was what she needed right now.

That and his mouth on her. “More.” It came out half an order and half a plea.

His grin sharpened. “Good girl. I want to hear what you like.” Then he buried his face against her sex.

“Ohh...” That. Definitely that.

Somehow, he pivoted her so instead of her standing, she was leaning against a wall. He scooted her legs a little farther apart and pressed himself between them. He still gripped her bottom with one hand, but with the other, he reached around the front and pulled her innocent-looking white panties to the side. Not off—just to the side. “How about this? Do you need this?” he asked, pausing just long enough that she knew if she said no, he’d stop.

She didn’t want him to stop. “I do,” she said, her voice little more than an exhale.

He kissed the top of her thigh, teasing her. “Are you sure?”

For some reason, the question irritated her. She was tired of people not listening to her, tired of them assuming they knew best. She wanted Seth to make her feel gorgeous and sexy, she wanted the release of a good orgasm—but more than that, she wanted him to listen. She wanted to be heard.

She tugged on his hair—hard—pulling him back to where she needed him. “I said yes,” she hissed, watching as his eyes fluttered shut and he inhaled her scent deeply. “And I meant it. I won’t beg, Seth. You’re going to give me what I want and that’s final.”

He moaned. He was on his knees in front of her, his face buried against her sex, and he moaned. It was a noise of pure want and it shot straight through her. And then he kissed her, right where she needed his mouth. His lips moved over that nub of skin and nerves and then it was her moaning as she held him to her. His tongue flicked out and traced a pattern on her skin, one that she would feel for the rest of her life.

He was marking her, and she was his to be marked.

As his mouth worked her body, the rest of the world fell away. She stopped worrying about her rounded tummy or her woeful closet. Commissions and tours and kitchens—they all fell away. Even the fantasy that had been Seth—him stripping her at the scenic overlook and instead of putting her on a motorcycle, doing this exact same thing—it fell away because that hadn’t been real. It’d been a bedtime story she’d told herself, a lie to convince herself that she was still Kate Burroughs and that was good enough.

This? This was not a lie. She was Kate Burroughs and Seth wasn’t some mysterious, handsome stranger, he was a man—a warm, solid, flesh-and-blood man—who wanted her. More than that, he was putting her first. Hell, she hadn’t even gotten his shirt off. She wanted to see his body, to touch it and taste it.

She wanted him all for herself. Not for anyone else, not for a commission. She wanted Seth Bolton because he was a man she liked, a man who cared about what happened to her. A handsome, confident man.

A man who was very good with his mouth. There was something naughty about this. They hadn’t made it to a bed—no one was naked. But there was something freeing about it, too.

“God, Kate—you taste so good,” he murmured against her sensitized flesh, his words vibrating right through her. “Better than I imagined.”

Well, they were being honest. “I dreamed of you doing this, too,” she told him. The hand that was still on her bottom slipped underneath her panties so he could grip her harder. It wasn’t enough. She heard herself say, “I need more, Seth.”

The request shocked her. Had she ever said that before? If she had, she was pretty sure it hadn’t gotten the desired result. When had she learned that, even in bed, she had to be quiet and go along to get along? Whose bright idea was that?

“Mmm, something more.” He leaned back. The next thing Kate knew, her panties had been pulled down and Seth was back between her legs. This time, in addition to his mouth, his fingers began to work her. He stroked up and down and found that sensitive nub again, teasing it with his teeth as he slipped a finger inside her.

The relief was so intense that she could’ve cried. He thrust that finger into her in time with the movements of his tongue and his lips, and it was everything she’d ever wanted and never gotten.

Then, just when she was sure she couldn’t take another moment, he added a second finger and she was lost.