She walked toward him. “I’m mad that you assumed to do anything without talking to me first. I’m mad that you even thought about going it alone or cutting me out of anything that happens from here on in.”
He watched her. “I’m sorry.”
She smiled. “But I’m not mad you’re here. That we spoke about this. And most of all I’m not mad that when you look at me, you see me. But I’m scared when you know who I am inside, you’ll turn away.”
He shook his head, his gaze locked on hers. “That will never happen.”
Tears burned. “You don’t know that. Robert...Robert...”
He stood and took the bottle and glasses from her. “Robert isn’t me. Will never be me. Not ever.” He dipped his head and brushed a soft kiss across her lips. “Never.”
Angela released her held breath. “Why don’t you open the wine?”
Let the seduction begin.
Chris sat and she took a seat beside him.
He set to work on the cork and turned to look at her. “You look amazing, by the way.”
Warmth immediately hit her cheeks and she forced herself to hold his gaze. “Thank you.” She pursed her lips tightly together. No more words than necessary. He knew why she changed. It showed in his gaze.
His eyes remained locked on hers as he twisted the corkscrew. After a second or two, he put the bottle between his knees and tugged. The pop of the cork coming free echoed in the silence. Clearing his throat, he poured them each a glass and held one out to her. When she slid it from his fingers, the liquid quivered within its glass globe and she sent up a silent prayer he hadn’t noticed. She wanted to be the ultimate femme fatale. It was the only way to keep the barrage of nerves tormenting her at bay. She took a drink and their eyes met over the rims. The tension escalated.
He lowered his glass onto the table and faced her. “We should talk some more.”
Angela took another sip of wine before putting her glass next to his. “We will. After.”
“After what?”
She smiled, her stomach knotted and her tongue felt far too big for her mouth. “After the sex.”
His eyes darkened. “After the sex?”
Do it. Tell him. Take him. She inched closer on the couch toward him. “I don’t want to run scared anymore. Not from Robert and not from you. I don’t want to run from life. I want this. I want you. Do you...want this? Me?”
His gaze ran over her face, his shoulders high and tense, his cheeks slightly flushed.
Her heart beat hard as the threat of humiliation lingered. Had she been wrong? Had it been pity rather than desire she’d seen in his gaze so many times before?
Silently he moved closer, his eyes searching hers to the final moment when he was so close his breath brushed her lips. “I want you more than you’ll ever know.”
Relief pushed the air from her lungs and she lifted her hands onto his shoulders and hungrily brought her lips to his. His hands felt firm and secure on her waist rather than predatory or controlling. His tongue tangled and teased rather than devoured and destroyed. Every sense in her body heightened as she moved so close no air could have passed between them. With their lips locked, he leaned back on the couch, pulling her with him. Blindly she moved across and straddled his lap.
Feminine power tore through her blood on an exhilarating wave. Wearing nothing but silk panties beneath the nightshirt, she could feel his erection pressed against her core. Grateful for the season’s heat and the lack of denim, Angela ground her pelvis against his cotton trousers, desperate for release.
He groaned into her mouth. “You’re so sexy.”
She smiled against his lips. “No one has ever called me that.”
He pulled back, his eyes wide. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
She grinned as nothing but awe and sincerity shone back at her from his deep hazel eyes. She sat a little taller in his lap and lifted her chin as he gazed languidly over her face, her neck, down to her shoulders and chest still encased in satin.
The intensity of his eyes heated her skin and she lifted her fingers to the top button of her shirt, nestled between her breasts. His gaze shot to the same place, his mouth slightly ajar. A steady pulse beat in the hollow at the base of his throat. She wanted his hands on her bare skin and hers on his. She wanted to feel his lips and tongue on her breasts and torso. She wanted to touch him, discover him, pleasure him.
One by one, she freed the buttons until she slipped the shirt over her shoulders and it slid to the floor behind her.
“My God.” He whispered the words before sitting forward to cup one naked breast in his hand as his lips moved to her neck.
Gripping his shoulders, Angela tipped her head back and savored the sensation of his soft, yet firm massage; the careful, arousing pleasure of his lips and teeth as they nipped and kissed along her neck, lower to her collarbone. A sigh escaped as his thumb brushed over her aching nipple. She felt wanton and beautiful. She forced herself to stay grounded in the moment when sanity threatened to break it.
Tiny whispers that she wasn’t good enough, that her body wasn’t perfect jeered at the very edges of her consciousness, and Angela dug her nails into Chris’s shoulders as though anchoring herself to him.
This wasn’t the time for Robert. This wasn’t the time for thought or fear.
As though he sensed the change in her, Chris eased slowly back and stared deep into her eyes. “It’s you and me. No one else.”
She nodded.
Their lips met once more and she trembled with need. As their tongues sought and took, she moved her fingers lower and tugged his shirt from his trousers. Angela stared at his chest as she raised the shirt over his head and tossed it behind her. Her heart pounded and her arousal grew.
His shoulders were wide, his chest broad with a smattering of dark hair. She splayed her hands over the expanse of him, clawing her fingernails around and over his nipples. He growled and snatched his hand under her hair to grip the back of her neck. He claimed her with a kiss and moisture pooled in her panties, the new sensation shocking her. She pulled back, her breathing harried.
“I want you, Chris.”
He nodded and lifted her with ease back onto the couch and stood. He reached into his back pocket and took out his wallet, tossing it onto the coffee table before unbuckling his belt. He undressed as hunger pumped through her blood and pulsed deep between her legs. His trousers came off with his boxers. He was big, thick and long and she tensed her pelvis muscles. It had been so very long since the sight of a naked man hadn’t frightened her. She didn’t know how to react or what to say. There was no fear now, just heated desire. She had never wanted anyone like this. Not ever. She stared.
His soft laugh snapped her gaze to his and he knelt down in front of her. “You’re making me paranoid.” He brushed the fallen hair from her eyes.
She smiled, heat searing her cheeks. “You’re beautiful.”
He grinned and covered her mouth with his. They kissed for a long moment, her arousal burning hotter as their tongues and lips collided. Angela gently pulled back and shimmied out of her panties. His eyes turned dark with lust. Chris had freed her from a prison no one else could see. He moved from the floor and sat on the couch beside her, naked, strong and entirely hers.
His gaze lingered on her breasts and Angela’s nipples tightened as animal lust roared up, making her feel like a lioness awakening from a very long and enforced slumber. She pushed him back and straddled him once more. Deepening their kiss, she ground into him again, impatient for the feel of him inside her.
Harder and harder she pressed against him. “Protection. We need protection.” She panted the words into his mouth.
“My wallet.”
With another kiss, she leaned behind her and snatched the wallet from the coffee table. She retrieved the
wrapped condom, threw the wallet carelessly aside and ripped open the packet. With her eyes locked on his, she sheathed him. He was rock-hard and ready in her hands. She felt invincible.
Lifting herself up, Angela smiled before closing her eyes and lowering onto him. Her breath came out of her mouth in a rush as the feeling of finally being where she belonged pummeled through her.
“Chris.” His name slipped from her lips and she picked up the momentum. Together, they initiated such a glorious pace she thought her heart would burst straight from her chest. “Chris.”
She opened her eyes. He watched with concentration at his brow, pure unadulterated pleasure and intent in his eyes. He was making love to her, wanting her to let go and be with him. She saw it in his eyes, felt it in his hands and sensed it in his heart as he met her thrust for thrust.
The sensations built as her body succumbed and her mind let go of everything but the two of them together, happy and gloriously naked in every way. Faster and harder, she drove on, banishing every fear and falsehood she’d ever listened to or heard. This was the start. This was her and Chris. She held him. Fused with him. For this one true moment it was them together in heart and soul. After...after would be the time to fear the outcome, but right now, she was a woman entirely in charge of her life...
Their climax was a forceful and powerful meeting of bodies and hearts that erupted and merged together in the very same second. Angela’s cry joined his as together they toppled over the edge, neither knowing what lay at the other side.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHRIS COULD’VE STAYED as they were forever. Angela’s forehead to his, their brows sheened with perspiration as their breathing rose and fell in sync. Their lovemaking had been frenzied; needful and so full of passion it pierced him straight through the heart. Angela was a special woman and she’d come into his life as suddenly and unexpectedly as the flood.
She let out a soft laugh and slowly pulled back. His heart kicked. Her eyes were alive and her smile wide. Relief shuddered through him. He hadn’t been aware of how much he’d feared seeing regret in her eyes rather than the joy there now.
He smiled. “No regrets?”
She shook her head and looked at him from beneath lowered lashes. “No regrets.”
Inching away from him, she snatched her nightshirt from the floor and slipped it on. “I’m just going to the bathroom. There’s another bath through there.”
A flush of color darkened her cheeks and Chris smiled. “God, I love seeing you look like that.”
She grinned. “Like what? Half dressed?”
He laughed. “Yep, and shy. Shy suits you.”
She quirked her eyebrow. “I had the impression you didn’t mind the forthright me, either.”
He grinned. “Either’s fine by me.”
She laughed. “I’ll be right back.”
Chris didn’t move. How could anyone have legs that good? Once she’d disappeared inside the bathroom and closed the door, he released his held breath and whipped his boxers from the floor. Inside the small bathroom off the kitchen, he disposed of the protection and cleaned up, embracing the optimism that pumped through his veins at a hundred miles an hour.
His news about the guy at the bar had done something to Angela to make her take charge. As though the decision to banish Masters from her life once and for all had been made. He only hoped she wouldn’t come out of the bathroom and decide she needed to batter him a bit more about the engagement.
He grimaced. Doubts about it had ebbed and flowed for most of the day and night. It was a plan, if nothing else. All he knew was they had to do something.
Chris splashed cold water on his face and washed his hands before returning to the living room, wearing just his boxers. Angela sat on the sofa cradling a glass of wine, her gorgeous legs tucked underneath her. Her brow was furrowed as she stared ahead.
She turned and her face split with a smile that lit the darkened room. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He grinned and moved around the coffee table to sit beside her. He picked up his wine and took a mouthful. He brushed the fallen hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear.
She smiled and stared into her glass. “It’s been a long time since...since I’ve had sex. I needed, wanted that to happen before I could change my mind.” She met his eyes. “I wanted to be with you.”
Her caramel eyes turned dark. Chris had seen the pain whisper across her face so many times since he’d met her, seen the desperation and the fear but now nothing but hope and happiness showed in her expression. She made him feel like a hero. Chris leaned forward. As his lips covered hers, he hoped he could deliver on a silent promise to be everything she needed him to be.
After a few seconds, they parted and he took a deep breath before jumping straight in. “Well, I’m happy about that...especially as we’re now engaged.”
The soft admiration in her eyes vanished and her brow furrowed once more. She put down her glass. “I’m willing to try this...plan, but God, I wished you’d talk to me first.”
“I’d had a couple of beers. Had the idea and rang the paper before I could change my mind. I’m sorry. I couldn’t think past doing something to bring Masters out here and dealing with him.”
She looked into his eyes and smiled softly. “I know.”
Chris pulled her close and the top of her head brushed his chin.
She sighed. “What if Robert’s decided I’m not worth it? That he’s not going to risk prison again and by printing a picture of our supposed engagement we’re rubbing his face in it?”
Chris stared ahead. After speaking to Masters and learning what he now knew about the son of a bitch, there was zero chance of that happening. He narrowed his eyes. “Then he’ll come here and we’ll face him. Together. I don’t want you to spend one more minute waiting for him.” He eased her back from his arms and held her at arm’s length. He stared deep into her eyes, willing her to trust him but knowing he was asking for far too much. “Do you really want to spend the next weeks, months like this? Life’s too short to let him do this to you, to us.
“Waiting for things to get better instead of making them better is a waste of your life. I learned that the hard way. Don’t let him take over your life this way. Take it back.”
Tears glazed her eyes. “I want to so much.”
“Don’t you want him caught by whatever means? Want him locked up again and out of your life for good?”
“Of course I do, but I stood in that courtroom and told more people than I could count everything he did to me and now he’s out and taking over my life again. I’m scared of going through that again. I’m scared, period.”
Anger struck like a knife against his heart, but Chris reeled in his need to storm out the door and hunt Masters down like the vermin he was. Angela needed him.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “That won’t happen. Not again.”
“I have family to think about. This isn’t just about you and me.” She slipped from his grasp, pushed to her feet and fisted her hair back from her face. “My sister is coming the day after tomorrow. If we do this and Robert knows she’s here, too, who’s to say he won’t go after her instead? He’s threatened my family more times than I can remember. He knew it was the easiest way to rip my heart out.” She raised her hands and backed away. “This is a bad idea. We’ll have to think of something else.”
“Angela—”
“No.” Her voice cracked. “I said, we wait.”
Raw determination shone in her eyes, her breasts rising and falling beneath the cover of her shirt. He yearned to take her in his arms again and never let her go. Take away her pain and absorb it into his body where it would disappear under the weight of his attraction to her. After Melinda’s betrayal, he hadn’t imagined feeling anything near what he felt right now, ever again. He was falling
big-time for this strong but terrified woman in front of him.
She blinked and tears broke from her eyes and ran like liquid silver down her cheeks. It was more than he could stand. Chris stood and closed the space between them in two easy strides. He picked her up and she trembled as she locked her ankles around his waist. He kissed her long and deep, intense with need.
“We’ll wait. We’ll do whatever you want.”
She nodded. “Promise me you won’t do anything without my say-so.”
“I promise.”
A flash of color rose from her neck to her cheeks, making her look more beautiful than ever. She nodded. “Okay.”
His heart beat with the awareness there was a very real possibility he was the first man to have had the honor of making love to her. Ever. The more he’d learned about Masters, the more he believed the scum had never treated Angela with the love, care and respect she deserved. Anger simmered in his gut, daring to mix with the passion, pleasure and pain of the moment.
He kissed her again.
When they parted, she stared deep into his eyes. “Chris?”
“Yes?”
“Take me to bed.”
* * *
ANGELA TURNED OVER as the sun cut through a gap in the bedroom curtains. She shifted her head on the pillow. Chris slept beside her. His face relaxed with a small smile. Her heart skipped a beat. They’d made love twice more during the night and into the early hours of the morning and each time was better than the last. Tears pricked her eyes. Being with him made her stronger and gave her hope for a better future.
Fear lodged like a stone in her throat. Instead of feeling happy they’d met, it made her worry about losing him and the feelings he evoked in her. He was kind and funny, impulsive and thoughtful, intelligent and daft all at the same time. She smiled as she thought of his brave but totally insane idea of luring Robert to the Cove.
He might not have been thinking straight, but as the hours passed throughout the night, his actions had brought out a tentative happiness in her. Basically whatever was beginning between them was sending her rationale through the wringer, too. Wasn’t this what falling in love was meant to feel like? She took a breath.
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