by Anne Mather
Olivia swallowed. He saw the jerky movement in her throat, saw the way she gathered a handful of the terry-towelling between her breasts. ‘Joel,’ she said nervously, her eyes flickering to the opening V of his jeans. ‘Joel, I thought we understood one another.’
‘What’s to understand?’ He looked at her from beneath lowered lids. ‘I think we know one another well enough by now.’
She caught her breath. ‘Joel,’ she said again, but it was more of a plea now. ‘Joel, we can’t do this.’
‘Can’t do what?’ He placed one bare foot in front of the other. ‘What did I say?’
Olivia backed up a pace. ‘You didn’t have to say it,’ she protested, and once again Joel spread his arms.
‘I’m not a mind-reader, Liv,’ he said, but this time when he lowered his hands he allowed one finger to hook the belt of the bathrobe. ‘Perhaps you’d better lay it out for me.’
Olivia shook her head, aware that she’d have to loosen the belt to escape him. ‘I think you know exactly what you’re doing.’
‘No.’ Joel was very definite about that. ‘No, you know, I don’t. But, damn, I’m beginning not to care.’
‘Joel—’
Her voice was plaintive, and Joel’s mouth took on a sensual curve. ‘Yeah,’ he said, using the belt to pull her towards him. ‘Yeah, say my name, Liv. Say it like you mean it,’ cos I know you do.’
Olivia tried to hang back, but it was a losing battle and she knew it. When he bent his head and covered her lips with his, she couldn’t prevent herself from sinking into him. Joel’s lips—Joel’s tongue—her world suddenly seemed bounded by the sensual invasion of his kiss, and when he parted the robe and found her breasts her nipples thrust eagerly against his palms.
‘Oh, baby,’ he groaned, pushing his hips towards her, and, feeling the rough fabric of his jeans against her bare legs, she realised the bathrobe was now completely open. ‘I knew you were naked,’ he added hoarsely, looking down at her. His teeth nuzzled her ear. ‘Do you wonder why I can’t fasten my jeans?’
‘It’s not something I’ve thought about,’ protested Olivia, not altogether truthfully, and Joel regarded her with smouldering eyes.
‘No?’
Olivia quivered. ‘Why don’t you tell me?’ she found herself saying, her voice as unsteady as his. His words had been unbearably sexy and she wanted to prolong the moment. ‘Do I—do I turn you on?’
‘Why don’t you find out for yourself?’ he breathed, taking one of her hands and letting her feel the hard ridge that was threatening his zip. ‘Do you have any idea how long it is since I was in danger of losing it completely?’
Olivia’s tongue circled her lips almost consideringly. Then, averting her eyes, she deliberately loosened his zip so she could slip her hand inside his jeans. He wasn’t wearing underwear and when her fingers closed around his thick shaft he bucked violently against her.
‘Hell, baby, take it easy,’ he groaned, drawing back from her and restoring himself to some semblance of dignity. ‘D’you want me to come in your hands?’
‘I wouldn’t mind.’ Olivia realised this had gone too far now for her to pretend. Lifting her hands, she cupped his face, not even thinking about her nakedness. ‘But I’d rather you were inside me.’ She nudged him provocatively. ‘What about you?’
‘God!’ Joel stared down at her. ‘Need you ask?’
‘Good.’ Without a shred of shame, Olivia tipped the robe off her shoulders, letting it fall in a soft heap about their feet. ‘Is this better?’
Joel moved his head a little dazedly. But then the realisation that they were standing in a room that was lit by fluorescent tubes that ran beneath the wall units caused him to utter a muffled curse.
‘Not here.’ He gripped her waist and lifted her so that she was able to wind her legs about his hips. His voice thickened. ‘Let’s go upstairs.’
He crossed the hall and climbed the stairs without any visible effort on his part. On the landing, he made straight for his own bedroom. He could have taken her into either of the two spare rooms, but he didn’t. He wanted her in his arms in his bed, and, as if she knew how he was feeling, Olivia spread herself invitingly as soon as he laid her on the slub silk coverlet.
‘Why don’t you lose the socks?’ he suggested as he sloughed his shirt and kicked off his jeans and she turned onto her side and lifted first one leg and then the other, making the removal of the socks a deliberate provocation. Her breasts rested full and luscious against the coverlet, the curve of her hips as sleek and smooth as the rest of her.
‘You weren’t kidding,’ she mocked him softly, admiring his erection. ‘I do turn you on, don’t I?’
‘Baby, I’ve had a hard-on since I saw you doing those sexy moves on the beach,’ he told her huskily. He knelt on the bed, rolling her onto her back so he could move over her. Supporting himself on his hands so he didn’t crush her, he bent and bit one swollen nipple. ‘Did you think I hadn’t seen you? Or was it all for my benefit?’
Olivia’s lips parted, half in protest, half in delicious pain. ‘I was stretching, Joel.’
‘And the rest.’ Joel transferred his attentions to her other breast and sucked hungrily. ‘You knew exactly what you were doing.’
‘Yes. I was warming up,’ she insisted, catching her breath at the sudden heat between her legs. ‘I didn’t even see you at first.’
‘Well, I saw you,’ said Joel, moving lower to circle her navel with his tongue. ‘I couldn’t take my eyes off you.’
Olivia quivered, her nails digging into the coverlet at either side of her. ‘I’d never have guessed.’
‘Liar!’
‘No, I mean it.’ She took an uneven breath. ‘Does that mean you liked what you saw?’
Joel’s eyes flicked briefly to her face. ‘What do you think?’
Olivia tried to reach for him then, but he evaded her hands, moving lower to part the soft brown curls at the apex of her legs. He watched her as he touched her there, his fingers discovering how wet she was before he bent and replaced them with his lips.
‘Joel—’
She shifted feverishly, but Joel wouldn’t let her get away. ‘You taste incredible,’ he said thickly. ‘Shall I make you come? You want to. I can tell.’
‘I want you,’ whispered Olivia helplessly, and he lifted his head and met her tormented gaze.
‘I think you do,’ he said, his tongue making one last intimate invasion before he moved over her again. ‘I want you, too, baby.’ He lowered his body onto hers. ‘Hmm, that feels so good.’
Olivia clutched his shoulders, winding her fingers into his hair, shifting restlessly beneath him. She parted her legs, trying to show him she was ready, but his sex continued to throb silkily against her thigh.
Joel understood how she was feeling. His body was aching with needs only she could satisfy. His mouth found hers, his breathing hoarse and unsteady. If things were moving too fast, he couldn’t control them any longer, and, lifting her legs until her feet were flat against the cover, he pushed his hard length into her slick sheath.
He heard the moan she gave as he entered her, but it wasn’t a moan of protest. Her legs were already lifting, winding around him, urging him so deeply inside her that he was sure he touched the vulnerability of her womb.
Then his own needs took over. As he moved, she tightened around him, showing him more clearly than in words how close to the edge she was. Her breasts were crushed against his chest as she arched her body against him, the sensual dance of their mating growing more and more intense.
Olivia’s senses were spinning out of control, yet some coherent part of her brain knew that this was Joel she was with, Joel who was inside her; Joel, whose thrusting hips were causing her to experience the kind of wild abandon she hadn’t known since the last time they were together.
Sweat was slicking their bodies, and Joel’s mouth ravaged hers, his tongue plunging over and over in imitation of his lovemaking. And she clung to him as if she
’d never let him go again, as if he was the only safe place in this furious storm of emotion.
When she felt her excitement was in danger of exploding, she tried to control it. She didn’t want this to end, didn’t want to lose the spiralling delight that Joel was giving her. But it was too hard to hold it back, too tantalising to be restrained by her trembling efforts. Like a fountain, it rose inside her, enveloping her in its heat and sensuality. And, when the peak was reached, she fell through mindless caverns into heavenly space…
Joel felt the racking tremors as they swept over her, knew the moment she climaxed and he was drenched in the heat of her release. It was all he needed to tip him over the edge and his body convulsed almost simultaneously. He spilled his seed helplessly, his limbs shaking long after he was spent. And knew if this was a mistake, it was a doozy. There was no way he could explain this to himself.
CHAPTER TWELVE
HE MUST have fallen asleep because Joel opened his eyes to find soft fingers stroking back his hair from his forehead, trailing down his roughening cheek to his chin. The same fingers continued on over his throat and the muscled contours of his upper chest to where his flat nipples received similar attention.
He didn’t know if Olivia knew he was awake or not, but what she was doing was so pleasurable that he didn’t want her to stop. He could feel himself hardening from the state of semi-arousal he’d awakened in, and wondered if she knew his jutting sex meant he was fully aware of her ministrations.
Whatever, she didn’t look at him, concentrating instead on caressing the hair that grew low on his stomach. Fine and dark, it couldn’t compare to the curly thatch that surrounded his erection, and he sucked in a breath when she bent her head and took his length into her mouth.
His blood pressure erupted. He’d thought he was totally spent but one touch of those tempting lips, of that sensuous tongue, and he was as hard as a ramrod. He clenched his fists when he felt her soft breasts swing against his thighs, and stifled a groan when she parted his legs so she could cup him in her hand.
‘Oh, Liv,’ he muttered then, the sucking motion of her mouth creating an explosive heat he wasn’t sure he could contain. The temptation was to let her have her way with him, to pump whatever strength was left inside him into the liquid fire of her mouth.
He was shuddering with the effort of resisting this when she lifted her head and gave him a teasing look. ‘Did I do something wrong?’ she asked, continuing to caress him. And, when he would have grabbed her shoulders and rolled her over onto her back, she swiftly straddled him.
‘My turn,’ she said, deliberately lowering herself so that her wet heat burned his thighs. ‘Is this what you want?’
‘You know what I want,’ muttered Joel hoarsely, his hands gripping her knees almost painfully. ‘Liv—for pity’s sake! Put me out of my misery.’
Olivia smiled then, and Joel was struck by how beautiful she was, more beautiful now than he had ever seen her. ‘Oh, all right,’ she said with assumed resignation. ‘If I must.’
‘You—must,’ said Joel grimly, and with a toss of her head she lifted herself until the very tip of his shaft was brushing her core.
‘Like this?’ she asked, unable to deny the breath of satisfaction that issued from her as she impaled herself upon him. ‘Yes?’
‘Yes,’ said Joel, thrusting his head back into the pillow. ‘Yes, yes, yes.’
She rode him with a sensual expertise that had him reaching for her breasts, dragging her head down and savaging her mouth with his. And although once again Olivia would have liked to prolong their pleasure, her body was too finely attuned to his. When he began to buck beneath her, the white-hot heat of her own desires swiftly swept her away.
However, when she sank onto his chest, Joel rolled her over onto her back, and she experienced another orgasm before he allowed himself to share her climax. Totally exhausted, she found she couldn’t keep her eyes open, and the last thing she remembered was Joel’s heavy weight slumping beside her.
* * *
She awakened feeling amazingly refreshed. She didn’t know how long she’d been unconscious, but, although it was completely dark beyond the uncurtained windows, she felt as if she’d slept for hours.
She stirred and immediately the lamp was lit next to the bed. And now she saw that Joel was sitting beside her, a glass of white wine in his hand.
‘Hey,’ he said, leaning over to kiss her, and the hair on his chest tickled her bare breasts. It made her instantly conscious of her nakedness, though someone, Joel apparently, had removed the coverlet and covered her to the waist with a linen sheet.
‘Hey,’ she answered, responding to his kiss, but then almost immediately drawing away. ‘What time is it?’
‘About one.’
Joel spoke carelessly, but Olivia was horrified. ‘One o’clock?’ she echoed. ‘In the morning?’
‘Well, it looks like the middle of the night,’ agreed Joel mildly. ‘Here.’ He reached for a second glass from the bedside cabinet. ‘Have some Chardonnay.’
Olivia ignored the glass. ‘I must have slept for hours.’
‘A couple of hours,’ he conceded, returning the second glass to the cabinet. ‘Chill, baby. Linda knows where you are.’
Olivia’s jaw dropped. ‘She does?’
‘Yeah.’ Joel took a sip of his wine before continuing. ‘I phoned her and explained you’d fallen asleep.’ His mouth tilted. ‘Of course, I didn’t tell her where you’d fallen asleep exactly. I let her think we’d been having a drink after our run and you’d flaked out.’
‘Well, thank you.’ But Olivia didn’t sound grateful. ‘My God, Joel, what’s my father going to think?’
Joel regarded her steadily. ‘If I know Ben, he’ll have guessed precisely what we’ve been doing. He may have had a stroke, Liv, but he’s not a fool.’
‘I know that.’ Olivia levered herself up against the pillows, and then, seeing where his eyes were riveted, she hauled the sheet up to her chin. ‘I’ve got to get back. I can’t stay here. No one’s going to believe I slept on your sofa all night.’
Joel’s eyes darkened. ‘Does it matter what anyone thinks?’
‘Of course it matters.’ Olivia looked anxiously about her. ‘You may not care what anyone in Bridgeford thinks of you, but I’ve got to live there.’
Joel sighed and put his glass aside. ‘Stop stressing,’ he said, one hand sliding sensuously up her arm to her shoulder. ‘Can’t we talk about this in the morning?’ He nuzzled her shoulder with his lips. ‘There’s so much I want to say to you.’
Olivia shook her head. ‘You don’t understand—’
‘No, you don’t understand,’ said Joel huskily. ‘Do you think you can share what we just shared and walk away?’ His hand curved along her cheek, turning her face towards him. ‘I want you, Liv. Not just for one night, but for the rest of my life!’
Olivia sagged back against the pillow. ‘You don’t mean that.’
‘I do.’ His lips brushed the corner of her mouth as his hand slid familiarly beneath the sheet she was clutching to her with desperate hands. ‘Oh, baby,’ he breathed, cupping her breast. ‘You must know I never stopped loving you.’
‘Joel—’
‘No, listen to me,’ he persisted urgently. ‘Louise knew I didn’t love her. Not in the way I’d loved you, anyway. But by the time I’d discovered my mistake, she was expecting my baby. And however much I might regret my second marriage, I’ll never regret having my son.’
Olivia moistened her lips. ‘I can understand that.’
‘Can you?’ Joel’s hand had found its way between her thighs and she gave a helpless little moan. ‘Oh, God, Liv, you don’t know how much I wished he was ours. When I first held him in my arms, I wanted him to be our son.’
‘Oh, Joel…’ Olivia could feel tears burning at the backs of her eyes. It had been such an emotional few hours and hearing him say how he’d felt when Sean was born really tore her apart. ‘Thank you for saying that.’
‘Don’t thank me,’ he muttered hoarsely, his mouth seeking hers. ‘It’s the truth.’ He bit her lower lip. ‘And maybe you were right to do what you did all those years ago. We were too young—’
‘Wait!’ Olivia’s hand against his chest obviously surprised him, but it gave her the chance to scramble off the bed. Snatching up the silk coverlet, she wrapped it protectively about her. ‘What are you saying, Joel? That after everything—everything that’s happened, you still think I aborted our child?’
‘Liv—’
But his persuasive tone cut no ice with her. ‘Answer me, damn you,’ she demanded. ‘Do you still believe I murdered our baby?’
Joel slumped back against the pillows, resting one wrist across his forehead. ‘Don’t be melodramatic, Liv,’ he said wearily. ‘I didn’t bring it up to hurt you. I wanted you to know that I’ve forgiven you—’
‘Big of you!’
‘—and that as far as I’m concerned that part of our lives is over and forgotten.’
‘I haven’t forgotten,’ said Olivia bitterly. ‘How could I forget something that almost destroyed me? You almost destroyed me, Joel. You left me, just when I needed you most.’
Joel’s hand fell away and he regarded her through heavy-lidded eyes. ‘And how do you think I felt when I discovered you’d run away to London rather than face me?’
‘I had faced you, Joel.’ Olivia was indignant. ‘I didn’t leave you, Joel. It was you who walked out.’
Joel pushed himself into a sitting position. ‘And didn’t it occur to you that I might need a little time to get over it?’
‘So you went running home to Mummy and Daddy and I bet they didn’t advise you to—how would they put it?—give me a second chance.’
‘They were as shocked as I was,’ retorted Joel, his temper rising. ‘They’d thought they were going to be grandparents. How do you think they felt?’
‘Well, they never liked me.’
‘They thought we were too young to get married, that’s all.’
‘Then they should have been pleased that we’d split up.’