He groaned in what she hoped was relief and then his lips were on hers and he kissed her, hard and deep and with a longing that mirrored her own. Sensation poured through her body as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. The hard muscles of his chest pressed against the softness of her breasts, and she felt her nipples stiffen at the pressure. Deep in her lower belly, need throbbed with an insistent demand, and she pressed her pelvis against him, rocking gently and moaning into his mouth. She felt his hands searching for the zipper of her dress and forced herself to tear her mouth from his.
“It’s on my left-hand side,” she murmured before kissing him again.
His fingers found the zipper, and she felt the fabric loosen around her body before he lifted both hands to her shoulders and gently eased the fabric down her arms, taking care not to tug on her injured wrist. He eased the gown over her hips and let it drop in a pool at her feet. She hadn’t worn a bra tonight and he gave a sharp intake of breath when he realized she was standing there dressed in nothing but a lace thong and a pair of high-heeled shoes that showcased her long lean legs to perfection.
“You’re a dream come true,” he said with a slow smile.
“And you’re wearing entirely too many clothes,” she replied, and reached up to help him off with his jacket.
Her fingers were a little clumsy as she reached for the buttons of his shirt and slowly slid each one from its buttonhole and yanked the tails from the waistband of his trousers. She pressed her palms against his bare chest and splayed her fingers over his muscles. Her wrist twinged at the movement, but she ignored it because for some weird reason, it felt as if by skin-to-skin contact he was sharing his energy with her and she ached to feel more of him.
Chloe placed a wet kiss at the base of his throat and then trailed a line of kisses to one of his nipples while her fingers traced a circle around the other. Miles didn’t remain a disinterested party. His hands were at her waist, then sliding up over her rib cage to cup her breasts. She wasn’t heavily endowed in that area but he didn’t appear to be complaining. And nor was she as ripples of delight spread through her as he gently cupped and squeezed her breasts and rolled her tightly budded nipples between his fingers.
He was still overdressed, she decided, and she reached for his belt buckle. Her hands shook a little as she undid it and then loosened the fastening at the top of his zipper before pulling his zipper down and pushing his pants down past his thighs. Formfitting boxer briefs wrapped around his hips, and there was no doubting he was as turned on as she was. She grasped his length through the stretch cotton, relishing the hardness and the heat of him.
Miles kissed her again before saying, “Let’s move this to the bed, hmmm?”
Chloe stepped out of the glittering black circle of fabric pooled at her feet and walked across to the expansive bed, while Miles quickly divested himself of his shoes and socks and kicked his trousers to one side. He shrugged his shirt off, letting it fall on top of the rest of his clothing, and followed behind her. Then he reached past her to yank back the bedcovers and coax her onto the high thread count sheets that felt silken soft beneath her buttocks.
Miles knelt between her legs and removed her shoes, pressing a kiss into the arch of each of her feet as he did so. The sensation of his mouth against her incredibly sensitive skin sent spirals of pleasure up her legs and to the apex of her thighs. She was already wet for him, wet and ready and aching for his possession but he seemed to want to take his time. He trailed small kisses on the inside of her ankles, up along her calves, then the backs of her knees. She had no idea she had so many erogenous zones on her body, and she dropped back against the sheets, focusing solely on the pleasure he offered.
The feeling of his lightly stubbled jaw and the warm, wet heat of his mouth on her inner thighs made her moan again. And at her core she felt an insistent, pounding demand for more. His lips and hands drew inexorably closer to her center, and when his mouth closed over her and he pushed a warm breath through the lace of her thong she felt her hips lift off the bed in a desperate involuntary thrust.
She felt his fingers at the edges of her thong, and she fought the urge to beg him to move faster.
“You like that?” Miles rasped.
“Oh yes, please don’t stop.”
“What about this?” he asked as he brushed a finger around the entrance to her body, coating it in her moisture before encircling her clit.
“Yes! That, too.”
He kept up the motion, pressing incrementally more firmly and driving her closer and closer to climax.
“I think we can get rid of these now, don’t you?” he said and withdrew his hand to ease her thong down her legs and off completely.
She felt totally exposed, lying there with her legs splayed, but there was no embarrassment or discomfort. Instead she was mesmerized by the look on his face as he gazed down on her.
“You are so beautiful, Chloe. I want to give you so much pleasure you can barely think.”
She wanted that, too. “Yes,” she whispered, incapable of saying more.
He traced the inner edges of her hips and his fingers trailed down, down, down to her aching center. And then he bent his head and pressed his mouth to her clitoris, his tongue sweeping against the sensitive bud in a firm rhythmic motion, driving her absolutely wild. He slid a finger inside her body, murmuring in appreciation as she clenched around him. The stroking of his tongue combined with his deep, probing touch pushed her even higher until, in a rushing crescendo of pleasure, she tumbled off the peak of anticipation and into a breathless maelstrom of marvel as pulse after pulse of pleasure racked her.
Her entire body continued to tremble as her climax slowly faded, leaving her limp and sated at the same time. Miles rose to his feet, lifted her from the edge of the bed and lay her fully onto the middle of the mattress before he slipped off his briefs and joined her. The heat of his strong body alongside hers was searing, and Chloe could feel his erection against her hip. She reached for him, stroking the silken skin of his shaft all the way to the tip and then back down again.
“If you keep that up, things are going to get intense around here,” he rumbled in her ear.
“Intense? I think I like intense. Don’t you?”
“Oh yeah.”
Chloe forced herself to move and straddled him in a lithe movement. Her entire body still felt sensitized by the heady satisfaction he’d given her. Now it was his turn.
“Condom?” she asked.
“Top drawer of the nightstand.”
She reached over, letting her breasts brush against his naked torso as she did so, and retrieved a strip of condoms from the drawer. She held the strip up in front of her as she settled back down over his thighs.
“Hmm, impressive,” she teased. “Good to see you’re prepared.”
His eyes glittering, he looked up at her and chuckled.
“You don’t find that intimidating?”
She smiled in return. “Not at all. I’m a girl who enjoys a challenge. Let’s see how many of these you have left by morning.”
Chloe quickly tore a packet open and sheathed him before lifting her body higher and positioning herself over his erection. She slowly lowered herself, taking him deeper and deeper. The sensation of his shaft against her still-tingling and sensitive core made her insides clench and she relished the sound of his groan as she tightened around him. Miles slid his hands along her thighs and up to her hips. She tilted her pelvis so his length slid a little deeper and rocked there.
“Oh, you’re a torment,” he said on a harshly blown out breath.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” she crooned, then proceeded to show him exactly what she meant.
By the time he was shuddering into his own climax, Chloe was a beat away from another spine-tingling orgasm, and as she gave herself over to the sheer joy of it and collapsed against his bod
y in paroxysms of delight, she knew that as far as Miles Wingate was concerned, revenge was the last thing on her mind.
Five
Physically, he was exhausted, and yet he’d never felt more energized in his life. Miles turned his head on the pillow and looked at the woman responsible for his current state. Blond hair tangled against the pillowcase and a sweep of lashes lay on her flushed cheeks as she slept deeply. And so she ought to, he thought. They’d spent the better part of the night discovering exactly what brought one another pleasure and, since there was only one condom left, he’d have to make another trip to the drugstore, he noted with a wicked grin.
“What are you smiling about?” she asked with one blue eye open.
“Your willingness to take on a challenge,” he answered, rolling onto his side so he could better appreciate the view of her naked body.
The top sheet and comforter had hit the floor somewhere around 4:00 a.m. and the warm glow of the morning sunshine gilded her skin like a lover’s caress. Like his caress, he realized. They’d become lovers in every sense of the word last night. And here she was, still in his bed. No sneaky dawn exit. No regrets. Nothing but a sense of well-being he’d never known before.
He’d thought she was special from the moment they’d met, and he hadn’t wanted to leave her to her own devices. But during the night he’d begun to grasp just how special she truly was. He’d heard of people embarking on whirlwind romances before, but he’d never thought it would happen to him. He was far too focused, too pragmatic to fall for flights of fancy. So if this wasn’t a romantic whim, what was it?
“Well, I think even I have hit my limit when it comes to challenges,” she said on a yawn.
“It’s always good to know your limits,” he drawled, tracing a finger over the delicate curve of her shoulder and down her arm. “How’s your wrist today?”
“A bit achy to be honest.”
“Then let me take care of you.”
And he did, slowly, deliberately and carefully as if he was making love to a figurine made of spun glass. There was something to be said for fast and frenzied, but then again taking it slow made everything all the more poignant and special. Every breath shared, every touch, every ripple of sensation through their bodies was experienced a thousandfold times deeper—as if they were making love on an emotional level as well as the physical. As if they were irrevocably bonding together in a way he’d never known with another.
When their climaxes came, they were in total sync. And instead of the intense rocket of satisfaction that was normal for him, he felt his pleasure spread through his entire body, growing stronger and deeper with each beat of his heart before ending on a starburst of sensation that almost brought tears to his eyes. He spied a telltale trail of moisture leaking from the corners of Chloe’s eyes and knew it had been equally special for her. Gathering her into his arms, he rolled them both onto their sides as they waited for their heart rates to return to normal.
“Spend the day with me,” he said.
Oh sure, he knew he should have phrased it as a question—that would have been the polite thing to do—but it would have given her a choice.
And he couldn’t bear the thought of her saying no.
“I don’t have any clothes, or are you suggesting I won’t need any?”
He laughed. He really loved the way Chloe responded to him. Then he realized, in her own way, she’d acquiesced to his demand and a burst of sheer joy ballooned in his chest.
“We can go back to your place. Maybe you could pack a bag. Stay the whole weekend with me?”
This time he made it sound like a question and it wasn’t until she nodded and said yes that he realized just how much he’d hoped for her affirmative answer.
“Why don’t you go shower. There’s a robe behind the bathroom door you can borrow. I’ll make us some breakfast and then we can head out to your place.”
“Sounds good. You don’t want to join me in the shower?”
“I have the feeling that if I do we might both not be capable of walking afterward,” he said with a grin. “Besides, we’re out of condoms.”
She laughed and got out of the bed. “There are other options,” she murmured slyly.
Despite having just made love to her, Miles felt his libido begin to stir to life again.
“Tempting, but I’m starving. Food first, then clothes, then other options,” he said.
“Sounds good to me.”
He watched her as she crossed the bedroom and went into the en suite bathroom. Every cell in his body urged him to follow her, but he overrode the impulse and got up, pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt and heading downstairs to the kitchen. He’d just poured two glasses of juice and put beaten eggs in the pan to scramble when Chloe entered the kitchen dressed in his robe.
Seeing her in his clothing gave him a sucker punch to the chest and a sense of pride he never imagined he was capable of feeling.
“You were quick in the shower,” he commented as he forced his attention back to the eggs.
“My mom was very much into saving while I was growing up. I learned to be frugal in everything, including my showers.”
Miles let her words sink in. He’d had no such boundaries placed on his life as a child. There was always an abundance of everything. If you were hungry, you went to the kitchen, and Martha, their cook, would always find you something. If you were thirsty, you helped yourself to a drink. If you wanted a shower, there was no one beating on your door to hurry up because in their home there were more bathrooms than bedrooms. He had no response for Chloe because he could not fathom what her life must have been like.
She sat on one of the stools at the kitchen’s central island.
“Scrambled eggs! Yum. My favorite kind of breakfast.”
At the end of the counter, the toaster popped.
“I hope you like toast with your eggs?”
“Sure, would you like me to butter it?”
“Yep, butter is in the fridge. Plates are warming in the oven”
She went and retrieved the toast, buttered it and put the slices on the two plates in the oven.
“I wasn’t sure if you preferred tea or coffee at breakfast, but I have poured you juice.”
“I’m a tea in the morning kind of girl. I can make it.”
He told her where to the find the tea and cups and watched her as she moved confidently around the kitchen. He liked having her here, working alongside him. And it made him look forward to the rest of the day and the weekend following that they had before them. He plated up the eggs and put the plates at the place settings he’d made on the kitchen island, then poured himself a coffee before joining Chloe.
“This looks great, thanks,” she said, tucking straight into the creamy scrambled eggs. “Mmm, and it tastes great, too. What kind of herb did you use?”
“Dill,” he replied. “I wasn’t sure if you’d like it but eggs are so plain without embellishment.”
“I haven’t tried it before but I really like it. What made you become so adept in the kitchen?”
He took a mouthful of his own eggs and chewed and swallowed before answering. “I used to watch our cook, Martha, a lot. She would always give a running commentary while she was cooking, whether anyone was listening or not. I am lucky enough that I have a very good auditory memory and I picked up most of my cooking skills from her. The rest I’ve learned along the way. Living on your own, it’s a challenge to keep things interesting when it comes to food, don’t you think?”
“Yes and no. I’ve been lucky enough to have a roommate most of the time. You haven’t had anyone living with you here?”
He heard the probing note in her voice. The question about whether he’d lived with another woman hanging on the air—there, yet not quite verbalized.
“I’ve had this place for five years and, no, I’ve never
had a roommate or any other kind of mate stay here before.”
“You mean stay, or move in? Oh heck, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so darn nosy. It always gets me into trouble. You don’t have to answer that.”
Her cheeks had flushed a charming shade of pink and she refused to meet his gaze, finding refuge in lifting her cup of tea and taking a great big swig of the liquid instead.
“I’ll answer it because I think it deserves to be said. No, I’ve never had anyone stay over before, or move in.”
Silence stretched between them. Eventually Chloe replaced her cup in its saucer and faced him.
“So I’m your first?”
“So to speak, yes.”
She let out a long breath. “Wow. Thank you, I think.”
“No need to thank me. I always knew the right person would come along at the right time. I just never expected that to be on the path at Lincoln Park, is all.”
She laughed but he could sense a restraint in her that wasn’t there before. Miles reached out and took her hand in his.
“No pressure, Chloe. We can take this at your pace. You can even tell me you never want to see me again. I’ll accept it. Not happily, but I will survive. But I think that what we have is something special. Something worth exploring. I feel like I have a connection to you.” He shook his head. “Listen to me, I sound like something out of a romantic movie. I don’t want this to come across as clichéd, but I mean what I said. And I hope you still want to spend the next few days with me.”
* * *
This was the time to do it. The time she needed to come clean and tell Miles exactly why they’d bumped into one another. The thing was, she didn’t want to destroy this incredibly special and potentially fragile thing they had going. It was clear he had nothing to do with the Wingate fortune and, from what she’d seen so far, little to do with his family, either. They didn’t come up in general conversation in the way of people who actually spent time in their siblings’ company. So, even if she did tell him, would that damage what they had going?
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