Let's Pretend (Romantic Comedy, Contemporary, Second Chance, Sensual)

by DeVere, Monique

  Her breaths were quick and shallow, and her head rubbed back and forth on the tan cotton sheet. “Luc...please...”

  He switched to the other breast, using the same slow, tortuous strokes of his tongue and nips of his teeth to keep her on the edge.

  “Tell me what you want, babe.” He travelled kisses in the valley between her breasts, inhaling Belle’s aphrodisiac scent before tracing a path down to her stomach. He kissed his way to her navel; firm muscle flexed beneath the soft skin—she was a delicious mixture of toned female and soft curves.

  She hesitated.

  “Say the words. Tell me you want me to make love to you.” He licked a slow trail back to her breasts. His intent stare locked with her slumberous gaze. “This is as far as we go until you say them, sweetheart.”

  She may have claimed to know what she was doing, but Luc knew Belle well enough to recognise that if she was sober, she’d run a couple miles in the opposite direction from him before she’d let him do this. Therefore, he needed to make sure one last time that this was what she wanted. And even if she’d used a bit of Dutch courage to get her to this point, he wasn’t going to let her accuse him of taking advantage of her in the morning.

  Her kiss-swollen lips parted, then closed; then she caught the bottom one between her even teeth.

  Stifling a groan, Luc resisted the urge to kiss her and waited. Say the words, honey, he urged in his mind. Just four little words—say them.

  Finally making the decision, she said, “Make love to me, Luc.”

  Okay, five words. And they were music to his ears!

  10

  Caution clawed to the surface of Belle’s mind, but prudence had no place in this bed where her desires rose reckless and free, aided by the sexy nips of Luc’s teeth and lips over the responsive flesh of her inner thigh. She pushed caution away, and gave in to the sensation of Luc’s lovemaking.

  “Oh, Luc.” She lost count of the number of times she’d whispered his name during the last five minutes. Pure need blazed through her, turned her insides to mush, and made her breathless. He hadn’t yet kissed her where she wanted him most, and her desire to have him there grew desperate.

  She clutched the sheet with both hands, her eyes squeezed tight to block out the erotic image of Luc’s dark head between her legs.

  “Luc...”

  His lips skimmed her inner thigh, moving closer to his destination, but nowhere near fast enough.

  “I know.” His breath tickled her skin.

  Her thighs trembled; her breathing grew choppy. She craved him with a desperation that should have brought her to her senses but it’d been so long...so, so long since he last did this to her...for her. She raised her hips.

  “Then why are you—”

  His warm mouth landed on her, right where it mattered most. He swept the tip of his tongue between her moist cleft. Her whole body shook with a rush of pleasure that ripped a gasp from her. If she missed nothing else by not being married to Luc, she missed this. And she hated to admit...she missed him.

  “Oh, my...Lu...cas!” She sank her fingers into his short hair.

  “Is this what you wanted?” He spoke the question against her sex, setting off eye-crossing sensations that rippled from her core to her head and back down to curl her toes.

  His tongue flicked, swirled, dipped, explored and teased until he wound her into a tight spring of sexual tension, then he orchestrated her release. Luc slipped a finger into her wet core and, like an expert playing an instrument he knew intimately, pressed all her right keys.

  As her release shuddered through her, Belle’s internal muscles clenched and spasmed and her whole body burned as though she was on fire.

  “Oh, Luc!” Her breathy cry bounced around the room. She clutched his hair in her fists, needing something to hold onto, some sort of grounding device. “Yes...yes...yes!” The powerful orgasm washed over her, almost drowning her in waves of intense ecstasy and she had never been more ready to greet her little death.

  While Luc waited for her to come down, he kissed her inner thighs. “I don’t know why I’m not bald already.”

  His moist lips moving across her skin tickled. Not like before when the sensation stimulated her erogenous zone and turned her on, it just plain tickled, and she laughed.

  “Luc, stop.”

  “You like this. Admit it.”

  “It tickles.”

  “You like being tickled.”

  “Luc.”

  He chuckled and released her. He crawled up the bed over her, trailing kisses from her pubic bone and abdomen to her breasts. Every place his lips touch tingled to life, tightened in anticipation. Luc had a way of doing that to her.

  “I’m sorry I pulled your hair.” She held his face between her palms.

  He laughed deep in his chest. “What’s a little pain between exes?”

  She tensed, dropped her hands, and looked away. What was she doing? She shouldn’t be here, not with Luc and not like this. Not when they were about to sign the last of the divorce papers that would finalise the end of their marriage.

  Luc’s hand cupped her jaw in gentle fingers. He turned her chin back to face him.“Forget I said that.” His mouth covered hers in a heated kiss that encouraged her to give them this one last night.

  When his lips left hers to go on expedition, she let her lashes drift shut as she soaked up the sensations of his attention. When his mouth closed on one of her nipples, she moaned deep in her throat and, when he moved to the other, her fingers dug into his sides. Fresh arousal flooded her core, tremors of pleasure throbbed through her. She parted her thighs to accommodate him. As a stimulus, Luc’s body was any straight woman’s fantasy. With his tanned chiselled physique, ripped muscles, and packed washboard abs how could she do anything but surrender?

  Luc lifted his head and met her gaze. His green-gold eyes had darkened to olive. He shook his head. “Not yet.” His voice was raspy and his muscles tense beneath her touch.

  He wanted her, the thick head, and solid erection pressing against her was blatant evidence, yet he held back.

  “Why?”

  “I want this to last as long as I can make it. Are you still on the pill?”

  She nodded.

  If it was one thing she remembered about Luc, it was his stamina. If he intended to take his time with their lovemaking, he was more than capable of going all night. Belle had never known any other man like him.

  “How do you do it?”

  He settled between her thighs, positioned himself so his hard length pressed along the moist centre of her sex.

  Belle couldn’t resist; she rubbed against him. One long, slow up and down stroke that drew simultaneous groans from both of them.

  “Patience...and self-control,” he answered through gritted teeth.

  Looked like she was putting him to the test—testing herself too. She wanted to make him lose his restraint. Push him beyond his limit and make him come apart the way he made her, so she did it again.

  He sucked in a breath, kissed her hard. “Okay, but we’re doing this again.”

  Luc moved fast, with such expertise it boggled her mind. In a second, the thick head of his delicious length had found her entrance and he was pushing into her wet core. He didn’t take it slow and easy, but then she didn’t want slow and easy. She wanted hard and rough—and she wanted all of him.

  He drew back, almost all the way out again and she experienced a moment of bereft panic. Enough to make her wrap her legs around him.

  Supporting his weight on his arms, his mouth landed on hers for a second before he pulled away, bent his head, and sucked one of her nipples into his mouth. Electrified tingles shot from his suction on her breast to her core, intensifying the sensation of his smooth glide back into her.

  Belle’s vaginal walls clenched around him and she lifted her hips to meet his thrust. Time ceased to exist as she clung to him, and together they rode toward a climax that left them breathing hard, sweaty and spent.

>   Stunned, Belle laid on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Luc lay beside her, one arm flung over his eyes as he recovered. She too was having trouble catching her breath. Since she and Luc made love the very first time, this was the most intense orgasm she’d had. Something expanded in her chest and filled her throat. The same something stabbed the backs of her eyes and assaulted her with a sense of regret. Was she strong enough to give him up? She’d thought she was, had turned to her years of training and the power to block out things that hurt in order to deal with her decision to end her marriage. But now, after this weekend, how was she going to stay strong? Luc wasn’t a life she’d lost on her operating table. He was Luc.

  “Come on.” Luc took her hand.

  “Where to?”

  “Shower.” He urged her off the bed.

  A moment later, he turned on the water and they stepped into the shower cubicle beneath a warm spray.

  He reached behind Belle for the shower gel, flipped the top, and squeezed a blob into his palm before returning the bottle to the shelf. Rubbing his hands together, he scanned her over with slumberous eyes.

  “When you were in the bath, I was dying to come in and do this.” He flattened his hands on her shoulders, smoothed them to her neck then halfway down her arms before sliding back to her shoulders. With his olive gaze locked on her eyes, his palms began a slow journey over Belle. He soaped her breasts, paying special attention to her nipples until he had her letting out soft moans, then he lathered the rest of her. When he reached the apex of her thighs, she stopped him with her hand on his wrist.

  “Luc.” It was too much. She needed time to think, time to assimilate what they were doing. Not just this minute, but also everything else. She’d been so sure she would rather have given Luc up than lose him in the job but now she was so confused, and his wicked grin and even wickeder touch wasn’t helping her to figure things out.

  “Let me, Belle, I want to wash you.”

  If she gave him the permission he wanted, he’d take over her senses again and she couldn’t let that happen.

  “Me first.” She snagged the gel from the shower shelf and squeezed it into her palm.

  Luc chuckled, held his arms out to his side. “I’m all yours, sweetheart.”

  While she worked the gel into a soapy foam, Belle let her gaze travel over his magnificent body. It halted halfway down. Magnificent was definitely how she would describe the attention-grabbing erection jolting out from his groin. The bulbous head and thick shaft begged for her attention.

  “Already?” She couldn’t believe Luc was ready to go again so soon.

  “It’s been a long time.”

  She soaped his chest, happy to take her time getting to his best part. “You haven’t been with anyone in all these months?”

  “Do you even have to ask?”

  No she didn’t. Luc had always been faithful. She never had to worry about that. The discovery that even when they were going through a divorce he remained true to her pinched her heart.

  He tipped her chin. “Have you?”

  She shook her head. How could he think she’d want another man after him? She couldn’t even get aroused without Luc’s touch. If she couldn’t arouse herself, what chance did any other man have of doing it?

  “Good.” He kissed her slow, showing her with the intimate glide of his tongue how much he liked her answer.

  He kissed her and she continued to soap him, liking the slip and slide of hands, and bodies as his hands resumed his earlier task of lathering her.

  Luc stepped her back and joined her under the powerful spray. When the last of the soapy water ran off them, his hands clamped on her waist and he picked her up. She wrapped her legs around him.

  This wasn’t the first time she had shower sex with Luc, but it would be the last and she needed memories to keep her company on the many cold lonely nights without him. She may be confused about her feelings but she was sure of one thing.

  Nothing had changed with Luc’s job. The dynamics were the same. This was sex. Just two people who hadn’t had it for a while assuaging a need. Nothing more.

  So why then—when Luc entered her for the second time that night—did she wish with her whole heart that it was?

  The great thing about shower sex was that it was easy to clean up the mess. After taking a moment to recover from yet another pair of earth-moving orgasms, they showered again, wrapped themselves in fluffy white towels, and headed back to the room.

  Sleep.

  She needed sleep. She wasn’t dense enough to think she wouldn’t have to deal with this tomorrow but Luc was a grown man. Chances were he would be on board with the one-last-time thing. But she’d deal with that tomorrow. After a long sleep.

  As they passed the bowl of strawberries on the chest of drawers where Belle had left them, Luc snagged the bowl.

  “I’ve changed my mind about the strawberries.” He grinned at her; the sort of grin which told her that for them sleep was hours away. “I think I’ll have some after all.”

  Belle couldn’t help a wicked grin of her own. While she was in the bath Luc might’ve been dying to lather her but she’d fantasised about eating the plump, red berries off his muscle-ridged stomach. The fantasy had been so tortuous she’d had to abandon eating the rest of the strawberries.

  Luc selected one of the berries and bit into it as they continued to the bed. He snagged Belle around the waist and fed her the other half. She sunk her teeth into the offering and just as she was about to chew, Luc did something outrageous. He sealed his mouth to hers, delved his tongue into her mouth, and stole the morsel.

  He released her, grinning and chewing all at the same time.

  “I can’t believe you did that.”

  Belle pilfered the bowl from him, flattened one hand on his solid chest, and shoved him backward onto the bed. She placed one knee on the mattress next to his towel-covered thigh then followed with her other knee on the opposite side so she straddled him.

  “You’re going to have to pay for stealing my food, Delaney.”

  “Make me.”

  She yanked his towel free. “Oh, I intend to.”

  Luc was aroused and ready for action.

  Good! Because she was going to torture him in the best way possible. She plucked the biggest strawberry she could find from among the others before discarding the bowl onto the bedside table. She stretched her arm in front of her directly over Luc and crushed the fruit in her fist.

  Juice dribbled from her hand onto his stomach. The muscles flexed and she smiled, moving her hand back toward her so the juice made a trail from Luc’s belly to his erection, then she squeezed more juice there too.

  With a smile that let him in on her intention, she leaned down and lapped up the juice. Her tongue followed the path she’d made with the strawberry.

  Luc sucked in his breath and reached for her, but she was far from finished. His warm skin and hard muscles delighted her taste buds and made her greedy for more. He tasted better than delicious.

  She glanced at him; his gaze was dark, riveted on her mission with fierce desire. She’d never seen him look quite so desperate before and she liked it, liked that she put that expression of stupefied wonder on his face, because she just discovered that Luc and strawberry was her new favourite flavour.

  11

  The first thing Belle became conscious of as sleep slowly receded was the sound of deep, even breathing beside her. The next was of a throbbing headache.

  Turning her head to the left, her heart gave an unexpected judder as two additional factors hit her. Luc was asleep beside her, and several of her muscles ached as though she’d had a thorough workout.

  Luc was asleep beside her!

  She hadn’t dreamed last night. She’d really...they’d really...oh no. Belle covered her eyes and let out a tiny groan. How was she going to face him?

  She eased toward the edge of the bed. Just a few seconds and she would escape to the bathroom, where she’d be able to think—to
at least formulate an excuse for her behaviour the previous night.

  When she managed to slide one foot to the floor without disturbing the covers that rode low on Luc’s naked back, Belle gave herself permission to breathe. Luc was still asleep on his stomach, head under the pillows cushioned on his hands, the soft early morning light giving the room a golden-pink blush. She itched to run her hands over the defined muscles on his back—just as she’d done last night.

  Focus.

  Luc could wake any second, and then she’d have to deal with the embarrassing morning after before she had a chance to think. Putting all her concentration into easing out of bed, Belle was almost free of the covers when a strong male arm imprisoned her around her waist.

  “Regrets, darling?” Luc’s deep Irish voice, low and husky next to her ear, danced across her naked skin.

  Drat! If only she hadn’t stopped to admire his body, she could’ve made her getaway.

  He pulled her back onto the bed until her body pressed against his warmth. “You aren’t trying to renege on our deal, are you?”

  In all honesty, Belle wasn’t ready to get into the morbid details of why she divorced him. Nor was she ready to face Luc just yet. Not when she had no excuse for the way she’d behaved last night. She couldn’t even fall back on the I-was-too-drunk-to-know-what-I-was-doing excuse because Luc had backed off from making love to her, until he’d made her practically beg.

  Now he wanted to have the talk she’d agreed to, and she couldn’t think of a way to put him off any longer. She eased away, turned to face him as she angled the top sheet between their bodies, careful not to let her hand brush any part of Luc. There was still the matter of why Gran had called them all together this weekend.

  “Luc, I’d like to get through this visit first.” Her hand quivered as she flattened one palm against his naked chest to keep him at bay. “I promise we’ll talk as soon as Gran tells us why she called us here.”