Slowly, he bent forward and brought one of her feet to his lips, placing a series of kisses along the tips of her toes, the arch of her foot, the dip of her ankle. When she propped herself up on her elbows to watch, he continued to press kisses along her calf, stopping to nibble the back of her knee, a place he remembered she was ticklish.
Automatically, she yanked her leg away from him in a fit of laughter. “No. Not there. You know better,” she scolded.
“Sorry. Now gimme that leg back,” he said, holding out his hand as he crawled onto the bed, grateful when she did exactly as he instructed.
He brushed his lips against the smooth skin of her thigh, stopping just shy of the crease at the top which, should he go there now, there would be no coming back from. Instead, he returned to the foot of the bed. “You’re one gorgeous woman, Delaney. You grew up real good.”
Painfully slowly, he made his way up her other leg until she was squirming beneath him. He’d never been the guy who needed his woman to stay still. He didn’t get the whole kink and control thing. Movement was such a natural expression of feeling, and watching the way she tried to press her thighs together, to get some relief in that heat of hers … well, his dick twitched in appreciation. Knowing he was the reason she was unable to keep still, knowing he was doing that to her, fed his ego in a way no medal ever could.
“Sit up, Buttons,” he said, offering her his hands.
Delaney took them, and he pulled her until she was seated. Gently, he trailed his finger along her shoulder, between the valley of her breasts which stood high, her peaked nipples visible through the material of her baseball jersey. Anticipation surged through him at the thought of the fun he was about to have with them. Take them in his mouth, suck on them, tease them to see if she was as sensitive as he remembered, find out the ways her sexual tastes had changed and developed. He continued down the shirt until he reached the hem. He slid his fingers beneath it, gripping it, pulling it over her head.
Mac crumpled it into a ball and threw it into the corner of the room. It could stay there for all he cared because from now on, she was going to spend every night the same as him—naked and aroused.
Delaney fell back onto the bed, naked apart from a pair of white lace panties that he’d bet dust to diamonds hugged her ass like those shorts she’d worn to attempt yoga. But that suddenly made him remember everything she’d been through. Her ribs, her ankle. “Are you okay, Delaney? I mean your body? With everything that happened?”
Without answering his question, she slid her thumbs into the waistband of her underwear, slowly wigging it down over hips that were curvier and sexier than ever. Unable to take his eyes away, half disbelieving he was actually there, he watched as Delaney revealed herself to him one more time. His breath caught in his chest as she lay naked before him. Vulnerable.
Finally, he moved forward and lowered himself over her. His heart stopped beating in his chest as their bodies came together as if they’d never been apart. His leg slipped between hers, her breasts pressed against his chest, and her arms came around him as he held some of his weight off her.
“Kiss me, Mac,” she whispered softly.
Not needing to be asked twice, he did as he’d been instructed, only this time there was no holding back on the way he kissed her or the emotion he let flow with it. She was his everything, and if tonight was the only night she’d let him prove that to her, then he was going all out. His lips collided with hers, his tongue probing hers, savoring the taste of her.
“God, Delaney. I missed this,” he groaned, sliding one of his hands down her side and skimming her waist before sliding beneath her to cup that fine ass he’d seen in those yoga shorts. She lifted her leg around his back, giving him better access to all that smooth skin.
His dick pressed against her heat. It was already wet, and if he moved just a fraction of an inch, he could slide inside her. But, fuck, condom. And he wanted to taste her. Wanted to see if he could still drive her wild with just his tongue.
He slid out of her hold and kissed a trail along her jaw and neck, pausing to kiss her in that sweet spot behind her ear that she’d always loved so much. The faint scent of flowers and spring accompanied his slow journey to her breast. He cupped one firmly in his hand and licked her nipple before blowing on it, watching it pucker. She’d always been so sensitive, yet back then, she’d been shy, their actions limited to under the covers. Now, as he finally sucked her nipple into his mouth, she arched her back and gripped his hair.
“God, yes, Mac,” she cried out.
Her throaty cry of need had him slipping a hand down over her stomach to dip between her legs. Damn. She was drenched. Mac continued to suck her nipple into his mouth before letting it go with a pop to blow across it, as he slid a finger deep inside her.
“Please,” Delaney cried out. “Mac, you have no idea…”
But he did. His own cock was leaking, ready to go off so badly that he was worried that he’d last all of a minute once he slid inside her. She was twitching and tightening around him, right on the edge of coming.
“I think I do, Buttons,” he said gruffly.
He added a second finger and slowly edged further down the bed, pressing kisses along her stomach, across her hip bone, and down the crease at the top of her thigh, where he pressed his nose to smell her. He wanted to remember everything about this night. Mac pressed kisses across her pubic bone. She was shaved, much more than she’d ever been, but it was a fleeting thought. Nothing could detract from the fact he was about to make Delaney come.
With a flat tongue, he licked her from top to bottom without removing his fingers, finishing on her clit with a flick. Then he sucked her into his mouth as Delaney attempted to lift her hips from the bed. Let her buck, let her move. He’d move with her, ride her until she came.
And she tasted so good that it didn’t matter to him if she could hold out all night.
“Mac. Oh … Mac, I’m…”
He felt it. Felt the way she clamped down on his fingers, felt the surge of wetness, felt the groan that escaped her vibrate through his chest.
But most of all, he felt it in his heart. Felt it as the million pieces it had been left in for over a decade began to painfully weld themselves back together.
* * *
Holy shit.
Delaney couldn’t remember anything so … damn, she was a writer. She should have words to describe what had just happened, but she didn’t.
Her heart beat way faster than could possibly be healthy, and that orgasm had taken the top off her head. But it was way more than that. It was Mac. And her body had known it. Had come alive for him. Had recognized him. It had brought tears to her eyes faster than she could stop them.
Mac reached for the condom from the bedside table, but dropped it as soon as he saw her. “Hey, Delaney, sweetheart. What’s wrong?” he asked, stroking her hair off her forehead. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Of course his first thought would be about her, that he’d done something wrong. “I’m fine,” she said, suddenly conscious of the emotion in her voice. She coughed to try and clear it. “It was perfect … and too … I don’t know,” she said with a sigh. “Too…”
“Close. Much. Everything,” Mac said, filling in the gaps with words that matched her thoughts.
She nodded and slid her hand around the back of his neck to pull him close enough to kiss him gently. She didn’t want it to stop. Didn’t want it to end there. Didn’t want to allow the thoughts to begin to slip in. Because she wasn’t certain she could keep herself together to be with him like this if they did.
His lips were soft against hers.
“Please. Mac. Make love to me,” she whispered.
Swiftly, he kissed her one more time, then put on the condom before lying back down with her.
“I missed you, Delaney. More than you can imagine,” he said, watching her as he reached between them and guided himself slowly into her.
“Oh, Mac,” she gasped, as he stre
tched her.
He stopped, pulled out a little, and then slid in a little deeper, groaning as he repeated the action until he was buried inside her. “Fuck, Delaney. You feel so good.”
When Mac kissed her, he looked at her like she was a freaking goddess. Like he used to. Before everything had …
Mac pulled out of her in one long, slow movement, then pushed himself home with a grunt of satisfaction. His hands gripped her ass, positioning her in such a way that he slid against her clit, and ground against her just the way she did when she was home alone. He was bigger, filled her more fully, and had already done what no other man she’d slept with had been able to do, make her come without being inside her.
His pace began to increase, as did the tightening in her stomach. She hadn’t thought she’d be able to orgasm so quickly again, but as everything tightened, she knew she was going to.
“Damn, Delaney, I thought I’d remembered,” he said breathlessly. “I thought I remembered how incredible it felt … making love … with you.” His hips thrust again, faster and faster. “But those memories … they were nothing compared to this.”
He was right. Nothing could match the two of them together. She wrapped her arms around him as he placed his head on the pillow next to hers. She held him as tight as she could, wrapped her legs around his waist as he pounded into her way faster and harder than anything they used to do, but she wanted it. Needed it. And it would make it easier to recover from something as heavy as the moment they’d shared earlier.
An orgasm was sitting just out of reach. “Please, Mac,” she begged. “Make it happen. Make me come again,” she cried out.
Without needing any further instruction, he removed one of the hands from her ass and slid it between the two of them, stimulating her clit just like she needed him to. “Like this?” he asked gruffly.
“God. Just like that,” she gasped. “Mac, I’m going to—”
“I’m right there with you, Buttons,” he said. “I want this too, Delaney.”
She could feel it. Feel the way his cock pulsed inside her, and it pushed her over the edge into her own second orgasm. Mac drove deeper and further into her, riding out his own release as she let go.
The room was silent apart from the hum of the air-conditioning and the frantic gasps of their breathing as they both attempted to calm down after what was the most incredible orgasm she’d ever had. Ever. There had been nothing youthful or naive about their lovemaking. Even back then, he’d been a generous lover, one who had taken her virginity with calm and patience, and had never pushed her beyond what she’d wanted to explore. Hell, she’d never given him a blow job back then because she had been too scared to try it. But there was nothing calm and patient about what had just happened. It had been hard, and fast, and greedy. Everything she had needed to come through it in one piece.
Mac pressed a kiss to her neck and loosened the grip on her ass. He slid his hand from between them, and used it to move her hair from her face. There was sweat on his brow and between the valley of her breasts.
“I missed you, Delaney,” Mac said, quietly.
She ran her fingers up and down his spine, familiarizing herself with the strong muscles, the dips and the valleys. Uncertainty filled her. How did she answer that? Had she missed him? She’d spent so much time hating him for the day on the cliff, for those bad decisions. But underneath it all … she’d regretted slapping him at the chapel the day of the funeral and had always struggled with the hatred she felt for him over what happened.
She’d missed him. But how could she tell him without talking about that day?
“Don’t read more into this,” she said, though it cut her in two.
Mac rolled off her. “Don’t say that, Delaney,” he said as he removed the condom and placed it in a tissue on the bedside table. He walked to the bottom of the bed, picked up the sheets and comforter, and placed them back carefully. The bed dipped as he lay back down, and she didn’t fight it when he tugged her into his arms. “You and I both know that there was plenty to read into that. Don’t ruin it.”
Delaney sighed. “There’s so much unresolved, Mac.”
“So in the morning we’ll talk.” He pressed a kiss to her hair. “But for tonight, can we just admit that making love as grown-ups blew the shit out of making love as kids?”
“It did,” she admitted. “I guess we’ve both had a bit more practice since then.” It was a cold thing to say, to bring up their pasts, and it choked her to say it. But she was defenseless against him, and he was going to wiggle his way back under her skin. Something she wasn’t sure that she wanted.
“Maybe,” he replied, not rising to her comment. “But none of them were you, Delaney. And it made all the difference in the world.”
She should tell him that she’d had a great sex life. That all the lovers she’d had in the last decade had been at least as good as he had been. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t lie. And she couldn’t hurt him with a cheap shot.
“What I said earlier … about being confused. None of that has changed,” she whispered.
“I know.” He ran his hand along her hair, the gesture reassuring. “But what we did, it changes everything. Go to sleep, Delaney, and we’ll talk in the morning.”
Nine hours later, Delaney woke to an empty bed and a soreness between her legs that reminded her of all the delicious things they’d done the previous night. Thanks to falling asleep in Mac’s arms, she’d slept solidly, without the nightmares that occasionally filled her brain in the early hours of the morning. Slowly, she sat up in bed and pulled the covers with her, tucking them under her arms. She didn’t need Mac returning from wherever he was to find her with her boobs out. He might just get ideas, and she was confused enough to let him do whatever he wanted.
Delaney scanned the room and found her underwear on the floor next to the bed and her sleep shirt thrown across the room in the corner. Leaning forward, she grabbed her underwear and stepped into it quickly before dashing over to pull the baseball jersey over her head. With a quick glance in the mirror, she headed into the hallway to find Mac.
He was in the kitchen making coffee, back in a pair of basketball shorts and nothing else. There were three scratch marks on his back. Damn. Had she done that?
“Morning, Buttons,” he said without turning to look at her.
“Hey,” she said, hitching herself up onto the bar stool on the opposite side of the counter. They had a full day ahead, one that was packed with research and phone calls. “I guess I should grab a shower and then we can make a start on hitting up some of the names I’ve still got to reach out to.”
“Delaney,” Mac said, placing the cup down in front of her. He pressed his lips to hers sweetly and sat down next to her. “I think we should have that talk first.”
Her heart dropped in her chest. She wasn’t ready. Wasn’t strong enough. “There’ll be time for that later,” she said as brightly as she could. “Because of the time zone difference, it’s better if I get started.”
“Delaney,” Mac repeated. “It can all wait. I want to talk to you about Brock. About what happened that day. It’s the only thing between us, and you need to know—”
“No!” Delaney stood and stepped away from the stool. “I can’t. I can just about see my way through the fact that last night happened. Let me get my head around this first. Please don’t push me, Mac.”
Mac reached out for her wrist, and reluctantly she let him tug her back to him. “It’s not what you think, Delaney. It’ll help to understand.”
Panic filled her, which surprised her. Just hearing Mac say Brock’s name filled her with anxiety. “I’m sorry, Mac. Maybe us, last night … maybe it was a mistake. I can’t … I don’t even know where to start this.” A wave of nausea started to roll in her stomach.
Mac tugged her against him and drew her close. “Okay, Buttons. I get that you’re overwhelmed, so I’ll wait for now. But we’re going to have this conversation, you and me. Because until we do, y
ou and me, we don’t stand a chance. For now, I’ll deal with the pieces of us, the pieces that still fit, the pieces that don’t, the secrets.” He pulled back and looked her in the eye as he spoke. “But we’re going to resolve this, Delaney Shapiro. I promise you.”
CHAPTER TEN
She’d pushed him away. Again. And he was getting sick of it.
He needed to tell her what had happened that day, meaning he needed to betray the promise he’d made to Brock. The one that would break Brock’s family’s hearts if they knew they were the real reason he was on that damn cliff. But breaking promises, especially ones he’d made to dead men, went against his grain.
It didn’t sit well any more than it sat well that he was in Eagle Securities’ large building trying to come up with a plan of attack for their shipping company client instead of helping Delaney. All he wanted was to sit her down on the damn sofa and force her to listen to what he had to say.
But he’d always promised himself that he wouldn’t force any kind of resolution between them and that it would be up to her to decide if she ever wanted to reconcile their differences.
He’d thought they’d made progress the previous night. The way she’d crossed the line in the bed had made him hopeful that she’d crossed with every part of her. To find she’d only crossed the damn line physically was a kick in his balls.
“That should work, right, Mac?” Cabe asked.
Mac looked up to the image that was projected onto the wall, a giant map of the expanse of water between the coasts of South America and Africa marked up with every piracy attack made on major shipping vessels in the last decade. Then he realized that the rest of the guys sitting around the table were all looking at him.
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