by Bella Andre
It was Daniel.
Their kisses by the lake had been beyond magical. But she still felt deeply conflicted about taking things any further when her life was still such a total and complete mess. How could he possibly want to get involved with a woman who came from a family of liars and con men, who had no job prospects, and who lived in a mountain shack?
“I should go,” she made herself say, though it was the last thing she wanted.
“Don’t go yet. I’m not done learning about you.”
She felt like he knew absolutely everything about her by now. She’d revealed the loneliness she’d felt these last months. How hard it had been to leave her adult friends behind, the same way she’d left friends over and over again as a child. The way her father’s words had ripped her in two back on that cold February day.
Daniel had helped her remember some of the good things she’d forgotten—fun, carefree times with her brother, how strong their bond had been as children. Daniel’s support was also integral to helping her find the courage to get online and start looking for her brother and father. He’d made her take a hard look at whether she truly was so bad, so blind, so foolish—and whether giving up her own happiness was really a necessary part of making reparations to everyone her family had hurt. He’d made her question whether her sins were truly the same as her father’s.
“Don’t think, Tasha.” Daniel obviously read her mind, recognized the panic rising close to the surface. Had he read the depth of her emotions for him too? “Just like I’m not going to think. Because if I do, I’ll see that everything’s going too fast for you. That you need more time to heal, to process, to trust again.” He stopped, her own thoughts reflected in the fire of his gaze. “Please don’t ask me to let you go tonight.”
It was clear what he wanted, but he was giving her the choice, not forcing her. Neither seducing nor coercing.
More than anything else, he was asking her to be honest with him. As honest as he’d been with her. And she’d been trying so hard to keep him safe from her that she hadn’t let herself admit how much she wanted him. How much she needed him.
Or how deep, how true, her feelings for him ran.
After everything they’d shared today, the thought of walking out that door tore something loose inside. Something he’d only just begun to help her stitch back together at the lake.
“I don’t want you to let me go tonight.”
His smile lit up the room, and in the next moment, he pulled her down, rolling her beneath him, whispering, “Are you sure?”
An answering smile bloomed inside her. “Completely sure.”
He stroked the hair from her face. “It’s still your choice. It will always be your choice. I will never take that away from you.”
“I know you won’t.” She laid her palm over his. “I choose to stay.” Though it felt totally unromantic, she needed him to know one more thing. “I’m on the Pill.” She hadn’t planned on being with anyone in the near future, but she’d kept the prescription for the other benefits, like regulating her cycle. “And I haven’t been with a man for a very long while.”
“There hasn’t been anyone for me for a while either,” he told her. “So you don’t have to worry about me.”
Trailing kisses across her cheek, he finally found her lips, teasing and tantalizing. He didn’t rush—he savored. He whispered between each kiss—sweet, sexy, beautiful things.
“Your skin is so damn soft, you make me crazy.” He angled, taking her mouth again. “I dream about you at night, how good you taste.” She melted into his words. “I see your smile. I hear your laugh.” He threaded his fingers through her hair. “And your tool belt drives me wild.”
She laughed, and it felt wonderful and free. Tonight, she would forget her fears, her inhibitions. Wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down, all that mattered was Daniel. His touch, his scent, his kiss.
He rolled her on top, and she kissed him until she felt drugged with his taste. Needy for more, she slid her hands beneath his shirt to feel bare skin against her fingertips. His muscles were taut, his body hard.
Then he switched it up again, taking her beneath him, one leg between her thighs, then the other, spreading her as though she were a feast. “I want to taste you everywhere.” His eyes glittered, dark and hot, but he paused to let her respond. To say no if she had to.
Or to beg if she couldn’t help herself.
The choice was obvious. “Yes, please.”
His glittering gaze on her, he pushed up her shirt slowly, baring her abdomen, bending for a kiss, then a long swipe of his tongue. Her skin quivered.
“So sweet,” he whispered against her stomach, sliding the shirt still higher, trailing kisses as he worked his way up.
Her need was so intense she panted, specially when he tugged her shirt over her breasts, tracing the edge of her bra with his tongue.
She didn’t wear fancy stuff anymore. But Daniel had set her sexuality free again—and now she wished she could have worn silk and lace and satin for him.
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to care in the least that she wore plain cotton as he toyed with the front clasp of her bra. “So pretty.” He snapped it open, pushed the shirt and bra off, then sighed his pleasure, sending a wash of tantalizing warm breath over her. “You’re absolutely gorgeous. Even better than my fantasies.”
She arched into his mouth on her breasts, pushing her head back into a pillow as a long, low moan slipped from her lips. She was all liquid warmth, wanting him, needing him inside her as he turned her inside out. Made her wild.
She writhed beneath him as he laved the taut tip of one breast and took the other between his fingertips, circling, teasing, pinching lightly. She gasped for breath, dragging in air.
Yesyesyes fell from her lips as easily as her moans.
When he bit lightly on her sensitive flesh, she cried out, drawing up her legs to wrap them around his waist, holding him as close as they could get without stripping their clothes off.
With his mouth still on her breast, he shifted, pressing tight between her legs.
And she was lost.
* * *
As Tasha trembled beneath him, gasping, arching, crying out, Daniel moved his hips as though he were inside her, increasing the friction of their jeans between them. She shuddered with pleasure in his arms, and he savored her gorgeous cries and moans as the waves of bliss coursed through her. There were no words for how perfect she was—the beauty of her body, the muscles that rippled beneath her sleek skin.
He’d always been in control in bed—but with Tasha, his fingers fumbled at the fastening of her jeans, jerking the zipper. He’d never made a woman come with only his mouth on her breast and his clothed body between her legs. Just as he’d known from the start, something primal blazed between them.
He’d never felt this wild need for anyone. Never thought he would find a woman who could turn his world inside out.
Not until Tasha fell into his arms. Into his life.
And he was undone.
He wanted to make this so damn good for her, so much more than sex, more than pleasure. He wanted the intimacy they’d shared at the lake when they revealed their secrets to each other. He wanted to explore all her hidden places and make her forget everything but that they belonged together.
She laid her hands on him. “I need to see you. All of you.”
Going back on his haunches, he pulled her up until they faced each other, her knees between his legs. She pushed his shirt up and off.
“You are so magnificent,” she said, then lowered her head to his chest and licked him.
His hands shook with the effort it took not to grab her, take her, claim her as his. He’d never known pleasure could be so damn intense, quaking through his limbs, his muscles bunched hard against the need to have her right this freaking second.
Splaying her fingers over his abdomen, she teased along his waistband, flattened her hands against his rib cage. When she palmed his e
rection, he lost all control, hauling her to him.
“Do you have any idea how good you feel?” he asked, his voice rough.
She rubbed her cheek against his chest. “If it’s anything like how you feel against me…”
He had to kiss her again, had to taste the salt of their skin, his and hers together, before he came down beside her, laying her back so that he could gaze into her eyes. “Let me love you.”
Her eyes closed at the word love, but she nodded. Mouthed the word yes.
This time he didn’t allow his hands to shake as he parted her jeans and pulled them, plus her panties, past her hips and down her legs.
Gorgeous.
Slowly, he worked his way down her body, tasting every curve, every rib, the flat of her stomach, teasing her belly button. He’d never rushed through lovemaking. But he’d never wanted to linger for hours either.
Not until Tasha.
* * *
Daniel’s mouth on her was an out-of-body experience. She was floating somewhere, her hands in his hair as she rocked against him, the intensity building inside.
Someone—she barely realized it was herself—made soft keening noises. “Daniel.”
She’d never let go like this, not for anyone. A part of her had always been slightly embarrassed, worried she wouldn’t be able to look her lover in the eye once the moment had passed.
But Daniel stripped away her fears. They were simply man to woman, yin to yang, lover to lover. She felt as though she knew him, as though she could say anything to him, do anything, ask anything.
And be totally accepted.
His mouth still driving her wild, he moved his fingers over her, then inside. A bolt of sizzling hot sensation burst over her, and she called out his name, her fingers fisted in his hair, her body arching, then bowing as he propelled her to the peak before pitching her off into sweet, hot oblivion.
She’d never held a man tighter.
And she’d never felt closer to anyone.
When she could finally move again, think again, she held out her arms. Reading her as though she’d opened the pages of her whole life to him, he moved up her body to hold her.
“Please.” She couldn’t remember ever begging before. But then, no man had ever given her such pleasure, such sweetness, as though he knew her mind and her needs completely. “I need you.”
When he slid his hips into the perfect place and slowly—blissfully—moved inside her, she felt the immensity of their bodies coming together for the first time…and yet it was as though they’d done this forever. Dancing together in perfect passion.
She’d been empty for months, lonely, aching. But as Daniel filled her, she understood how truly empty she’d been for so very long before that.
Arms wrapped around him, binding him to her, she whispered, “Don’t move yet.” She needed the feel of him to imprint itself inside her.
“Am I hurting you?”
“No.” He was bigger than anyone she’d known, but he was Daniel—he could never hurt her. “I’m memorizing the feel of you,” she confessed.
A surprised laugh burst from him a beat before he flexed inside her. She half laughed, half groaned at his sexy move. “Do that again.”
When he did, she was amazed by how deliciously the slight tensing increased the friction inside her.
Laughter was soon taken over by desire and heat as she folded her legs around his waist and demanded, “More.”
His movements were dizzying as he slowly, relentlessly, gave rise to the sweetest pleasure. She moaned again, parting her lips, and he raised his head from the crook of her neck to take her with a deep kiss that invaded her body, her mind.
Making her utterly, inexorably his.
* * *
Daniel had never been this close to losing control. He’d wanted a slow ride, stroking her inside just enough to keep her on edge, until she begged for more.
But Tasha undid him completely.
Unable to stop his body from taking over, pushing faster, harder, deeper, cupping her hips, he took them both on a desperate ride into the depths of pleasure. His blood pounded through him as her fingers dug into him, urging him on. Even her scent changed to something spicy and hot.
With her body gripping him tightly, her pleasure reached its peak and exploded around him, the sensations so intense she brought him straight to heaven with her.
When he finally came back to earth, their bodies were slick and hot, melded together. As though they were one. He didn’t want to move, couldn’t let her go.
She mumbled something unintelligible, and he kissed her damp forehead, brushing her hair back as she said more clearly, “I’m not usually like that, so wild. I don’t—”
He hushed her with a finger to her lips. “I loved every moment with you. Exactly the way you were. Carried away. Out of yourself. Wild. That’s how I felt too.” He gazed at her, wanting so much more. “Come to bed with me and we can be wild all over again.” He waited for her to balk, his gut tensed.
“I’ll only come to your bed,” she said in a husky voice, “if you promise to do that to me again.”
He gathered her close, loving how she made him laugh, how she made him shout with pleasure. “How could I not?” Then he flexed inside her, the way she’d loved, to prove his point.
He adored the moan that rose in her. He wanted to hear it over and over. Not just all night long.
Forever.
Chapter Twenty
Daniel woke Tasha again and again in the night, for sweet, drugging kisses, to touch her and make her sigh and moan and gasp with pleasure, to fill her gloriously with his body, banishing her loneliness.
But now the one night she’d given herself to break free was over. With the sun shining brightly in her eyes, Tasha was struck by stark terror, her stomach literally lifting and dropping.
Even before she’d exiled herself to the mountains, any pleasure she’d previously experienced was nothing compared to what she now felt with Daniel. He didn’t believe she needed to atone for any sins—but she was stricken anew with the sense that the happiness she’d found in his arms was yet again a betrayal of the people her family had hurt.
And there was Daniel himself. He was a billionaire, for God’s sake. Despite his easygoing nature, never shoving his wealth in anyone’s face, he still belonged to a world she’d only read about in magazines and books.
It was so tempting to run again. The way she’d been running for months.
But running was no longer the answer. Not even from this wellspring of emotion that was bigger than anything she’d ever known.
She scrunched her eyes shut, wishing it were night again, wishing she could stay burrowed in Daniel’s warm, strong body forever. But no matter how desperately she wanted that, she couldn’t ignore the fact that he’d be gone soon.
The thought of Daniel returning to the Bay Area and his home-improvement empire made her heart ache, even though she understood why he couldn’t stay in the mountains. There were too many employees, friends, and family counting on him.
She would cherish the memory of their blissful night forever, but the demons she battled were still too big for her to believe that she and Daniel could become anything more than mountain lovers. And friends—she wouldn’t cheapen what they’d shared by denying that they were friends too.
When he was gone, she would have to push past the ache inside her to focus on finding not only any outstanding victims of her family’s scams who needed financial reparations, but also on locating her brother and father. She had to be sure they never played their dirty tricks again. She hadn’t saved their past victims, but she would make certain there were none in the future.
As though they could feel her pain, the puppies started to whine, their cries wending along the hallway.
She pried the covers off, but Daniel was quicker. “You stay here. I’ll let them out.”
“I’ll come with you.”
But he was kissing her cheek, her ear, her hair, her shoul
der. “I have plans for you and this bed. Lots more.” He grinned that gorgeous, wicked smile of his as he slid away from her and left the bedroom.
It was obvious when he reached Spanky, Froggy, and Darla, because their excited yipping sounded like that of ten puppies instead of three.
She glanced at her watch, the only thing she’d worn in his bed. How the heck could it be nine a.m. already? She owed him hours and hours of work on his house to pay him back for all he and his friends had done for her.
Her clothes hung over the footboard—he must have brought them in last night after putting the puppies to bed—and she pulled on everything, intending to get fresh things at her place before returning here to work. Without a toothbrush or a comb, the best she could do was to put some toothpaste on the end of her finger to rub onto her teeth, and run her fingers through her hair to get out the worst of the tangles.
Only to stop as she remembered exactly how those tangles got there. His hands in her hair, his mouth on hers, the delirious abandon as she threw her head back against the pillows while he kissed and caressed her.
Her lips felt swollen from his endless kisses. Her whole body felt relaxed, sated. She closed her eyes and stretched, rolling her shoulders, letting her head fall back, reliving with every movement all their luscious lovemaking.
She didn’t realize he’d entered the bedroom until his arms wrapped around her from behind. “You look just like you did last night, every time you came for me.” He dropped kisses in her hair, the sensitive spot in the crook of her neck, making her tremble for him all over again. “Now that the puppies are settled, let’s get back into bed.”
“But it’s already nine o’clock. I promised to work on your house with you.”
“I’ll show you exactly what we can work on,” he whispered seductively, “right there, in that bed.”
She was so languid and warm, she might have let him toss her right back under the covers. But her stomach growled. So loudly it was practically the roar of a lion.
“Hmm, sounds like I’d better feed you first.” He waggled his eyebrows, so cute and absolutely too seductive. “We need to keep your strength up.”