She glanced up at him, the fear and ferocity in her green eyes sparked with topaz fire. The eyes ravaged by tears, the runny nose and red face didn’t detract from her natural beauty. Why hadn’t he notice it five years ago? Or the way her lashes were so long and dark. Zoe didn’t need enhancements to make her cute and attractive. She was gorgeous from the inside out. She always had been.
All these years, he’d been blind and stupid when it came to Zoe. Not anymore.
“I would never do that to you. I’m a selfish jerk but not when it comes at the expense of those children’s lives.”
Alex trailed his hands from her shoulders up to cup her face. His thumbs wiped the tears from her eyes as he leaned down to take her mouth in a kiss of truce. There it was, the deep, dark sweet taste he craved. His tongue slid over her teeth, and she opened for him. The wildness he’d tasted before hadn’t been barbeque sauce. It was passion. Hot, spicy, unadulterated passion.
Her arms moved to come around his neck and pull him closer. Deeper they went, parrying, flirting with each other, the electric sensations jolting him all the way to his groin. The immediate erection felt pleasurable and painful in the same breath. He felt control slipping away.
Somewhere along the line, Zoe had become aggressor, taking what she wanted from him. Her hands moved to either side of his head, her mouth angled over his. She nipped his lower lip with her teeth, holding it a beat before firing up the kiss to the next level. Heat seared his blood, took the air from his lungs with the same intensity of a blast 108
A Perfect Bride for Christmas furnace.
He was toast.
Zoe pulled back, her eyes burning with the same need boiling in his gut. She was on her knees, face to face with him. “Touch me, Alex. I must be crazy, but don’t tell me no.”
“I’d never refuse a crazy lady,” he said as his hands dropped to her waist to let his fingers slide under the blue plaid flannel top. He’d never see flannel the same way again—move over Victoria’s Secret or La Perla.
Her skin felt soft as butter and heated under his caress. Taut muscles twitched with the touch of his fingers feathering up and down her spine. She leaned into him, her legs straddling his right thigh as her hips moved forward begging for more. Zoe’s breasts trembled with her breath. His hands shook as much as the first time he’d touched a girl so intimately. The second his thumbs brushed her nipples, they beaded up, hard and ready for him. He had to see.
Zoe moaned when he pulled away. He intended to unbutton her top, but she stared him in the eyes.
Hers were now almost gold with dark rings around the irises. “I want you Alex.” She pulled the top over her head while she sat back on her knees, bare breasted, with a challenge in her eyes. “What do you want?”
His mouth felt dry, his tongue unable to move.
“You.” The words came out in a hoarse whisper.
Memory hadn’t failed him—her breasts were topped with pink nipples tinged with coral. Now they were hardened into tasty morsels, just bite size, and ready for his mouth. He took one in between his teeth before pulling it in for a taste. Zoe raked her hands through his hair, pulling his head closer. She arched her back, giving him greater access.
He couldn’t get enough of her.
109
Dyann Love Barr
“We have two hours before the girls and Cherri get back.” Her lips grazed the top of his head. The sensation of her breath, warm and moist against his skin sent shock waves down his spine. “Either come upstairs or go, because I don’t want any half measures. I want you to know you’re making love to me, not anyone else.”
He let go of her succulent flesh. “Where’s your bedroom?”
Zoe jumped up from the couch, grabbing up her top. “Make sure you want this, Alex. Do you want to have sex with me?”
He took one look at her ivory skin, blushed pink and warm with desire. Her mouth parted ever so slightly to let her tongue moisten her upper lip. He was a goner.
“Yeah, I want to make love to you.”
“No, I asked if you want to have sex.”
“What’s the difference?”
Zoe shook her head. “I made love to you on our wedding night. But you were only having sex with me.” She laid her hand on the side of his face, her expression sad and hopeful at once. “If we go upstairs, that’s all it can be.”
“I need you, that’s all I know. Call it what you want.”
“Sex—unless you have some horrible disease.
You don’t, do you?” Her cheeks grew red.
“No. But I don’t have a condom.”
“Neither do I.”
The stab of disappointment warred with need.
Regardless of his feelings, for once,Alex did the noble thing. “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
“Don’t worry, I’m on birth control.” She smiled as her fingers wound through his to give his hand a slight tug towards the stairs.
“Good, we’re wasting time.” Alex picked her up in one smooth move and held her close to his 110
A Perfect Bride for Christmas hammering heart. The heat of her naked breast seared through the soft wool of his sweater. He’d be lucky to make it up the stairs without embarrassing himself at this rate.
Zoe squealed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “What are you doing?”
Alex nuzzled the skin on her neck, desire zooming through him with the speed and intensity of a NASCAR race on the final lap. She smelled of soap and peaches. His mouth watered at the prospect of tasting her from head to toe. “Which room is yours?”
She leaned her head back as he nibbled on the smooth line of her jaw. Her answer came out in a whispery rasp. “Second door on the left.”
Somehow, he managed to get up the stairs without falling or coming before he even made it to the bedroom. He couldn’t remember how they ended up in the bed. One minute, clothes flew, and the next, they were sliding under the bright yellow sheets.
The old-fashioned wind up clock on the bedroom’s fireplace mantel ticked away each second they had together. Less than two hours to last him before Cherri returned with the girls.
“I want to look at you, all of you.” He sat on his knees, feeling the covers slide down behind his back.
A slight chill tickled his skin, but he wanted to remember this time with Zoe, unlike their wedding night, which only came back in bits and pieces. His memories of Vegas became clearer with each touch and taste of Zoe.
Zoe lowered her lashes but lay there, still and unflinching. “My body is far from perfect. It never was to begin with. I’ve had three children by C-section. James encouraged me to get plastic surgery after I lost all the weigh—you know—a tummy tuck and breast reduction. I have a lot of scars.”
Alex felt as if she’d punched him in the heart 111
Dyann Love Barr
with a fist. “I put every one of them there, didn’t I?”
His hands slid down her shoulders to her breasts.
“Did you nurse the girls?”
A flush colored her ivory skin from the tops of her breasts up. “Yes.”
Without hesitation, he lowered his head and kissed each raspberry pink nipple with reverence.
“I’m glad.” He let a finger trail from between her lush breasts to a scar running across her abdomen.
“My children grew here for nine months.”
“Actually, only seven months.” Zoe put her hand over his. “They were an impatient bunch of kids.”
He felt a lurch of concern in his chest. “Did everything go all right? Were there complications?”
“One uterus and three babies. That’s complicated enough.” She smiled up at him, her hand coming to rest on his cheek. “I’d do it again.”
“You are so beautiful.”
Zoe shook her head. “No, I’m just me. I look terrible in a swimsuit.” She tried to pull as much of the sheet up to cover her body as she could.
The knowledge she’d gone through mental and physical pain to
bring his children into the world humbled him. Alex pulled the sheet back down to kiss the whitened scar with a tenderness that formed a lump in his throat.
“I won’t lie, Zoe, I’ve slept with a lot of women.
You of all people should know that.” He let his lips graze over the length of the scar. “Believe me when I say you’re perfect just the way you are.”
Her scent, rich and full of promise, drew him further down to touch her, sliding his hand over her soft brown curls to her center. His finger slid into the hot moistness dewing her tender flesh. She was tight, yet yielding, to his slow caresses. Her hips lifted, undulated with each stroke. One finger became two.
Her hands gripped the yellow sheet, and she 112
A Perfect Bride for Christmas twisted it as she came closer to release. Alex’s thumb found her clit, sending her over in a hard rush to the edge. Her eyes closed, her breath hitched faster as he gave the sensitive bud another stroke. She lost control, riding higher than before.
“Alex, oh, oh,” she mewled.
The muscles of his thighs bunched, quivering.
His body demanded release as well. He ached to take her, but Zoe was unlike any woman he’d been with in the past—she belonged to him.
His woman, his babies. Zoe had been right about one thing. When it came to the Bennett females, it was me, me, my. They belonged to him. A craziness came over him. He wanted to jump out of the bed, dance, sing, turn cartwheels and fight off anyone or anything that came between him and his family.
His family.
Instead of forcing Zoe to call 911 and screaming that a madman ran loose in her house, he kissed her with all the giddy joy bubbling in his chest.
And she kissed him back with all the passion he remembered from that long ago night in Vegas.
Her hands ran over his chest, combing through the sprinkling of hair there, fingernails scraping over his ribs and nipples. A hot shot of lust barreled down on him. Mouths plundered, limbs tangled. The clock ticked away.
Zoe’s touch sent earthquakes through his body.
Her fingers glided over his butt, scraping and titillating his nerve endings, making him insane with need, but he wanted to make this good for her.
For the first time in his life, he didn’t worry about getting off. He wanted to see her come again and again.
She found him hot and heavy, ready for her. Her fingers caressed the tip of his erection, spreading the pearly bead of moisture over the head. She stroked him without mercy, soft, gently, yet firm.
113
Dyann Love Barr
“If you don’t want me to lose it right here, you’d better stop.”
“I’ve never seen a man orgasm before.”
“Never?”
“James couldn’t.” She shrugged. “Because of his medication. But he was a great husband, and I don’t date.”
Her words, and their meaning, struck Alex between the eyes. “You’ve never been with anyone else?”
Zoe shook her head and chewed her lower lip.
He couldn’t hold back the smile. “I’d rather save the orgasm for the grand finale. Besides, we aren’t done yet.”
“No?”
He shook his head. “Not by a long shot.” He sat back on his haunches again, stroking her from her waist to the top of her hips and down the slope of her ass. When she trembled, he blew soft breaths on her curls, his hands coming to the inside of her thighs.
“Open for me, love.”
Without hesitation, she obeyed, letting out a soft whimper of need at the touch of his tongue. This time he wanted more than a mere taste, but a feast as he parted her lips with his thumbs to expose her softness. She cried out at the first deep stroke from her core to her clit. Her response heightened his need to hitch her legs higher, allowing him the full access to her body. He resisted. He tasted and teased until a sheen of sweat shimmered over her skin.
“Alex, I can’t take anymore,” she cried out.
“Yes, you can.”
His jaw bunched at the effort to keep his release at bay.
“I need you now.” She scooted back from his questing mouth. She reached down, taking the decision out of his hands and guided him home.
Her soft gasp ruffled his hair as he filled her.
114
A Perfect Bride for Christmas
****
This was what she wanted. What she’d craved over the long years without Alex. A moment of guilt filtered through the intense pleasure. She’d never been able to be a real wife to James, not in the way he needed. James knew she withheld part of herself from him, but being the man he was, he asked no questions. No matter how she tried to ignore, deny, or kid herself, it always came back to Alex. She reveled in the unaccustomed feel of her body yielding to his. Her hips rose to meet him, to take him deeper. Her hands skated over his arms and felt his muscles bunch under her fingers. Sweat plastered his hair against his forehead. He thrust into her; each time it took her higher than any of her memories of her brief time in Vegas. Alex was with her this time, not half-drunk or full of hurt pride.
He swept her hair from her face, his mouth taking hers again as he moved, driving her closer to the brink of losing her resolve that this was only sex.
His fingers found her sensitive nipples, gently rolled them into hot points of desire.
Zoe moved with him, letting her nails brush over his heated flesh, down to the vulnerable skin of his balls, scraping with feather lightness until he gasped and rose up. His brilliant blue eyes rounded.
The pupils dilated as he gripped her butt, pulled her hard against his body to give a final thrust. She went over with him, her breath clogging her lungs, her heart hammering against his.
The ticking of the clock broke the silence of the room. Alex rested his damp forehead against hers, gulping for breath.
It took a few seconds for him to raise his head, the expression on his face a mixture of shock and puzzlement. “What the hell just happened?
115
Dyann Love Barr
Chapter Thirteen
Zoe didn’t know whether to be hurt or laugh.
Better to laugh it off. “Sex, that’s what happened.”
She gave her hips a slight push upwards, clenching her muscles to clamp around his penis. A groan rewarded her efforts as he throbbed inside her.
“Some mighty fantastic sex.” Alex shook his head. He planted a gentle kiss on her cheek before his mouth came down on hers. Sparks of his desire ignited the embers of her spent passion, stoking it up again until she lost herself in the moment. It might be all she could salvage of her long ago, ill-advised love for Alex. She didn’t want to put any rose-colored interpretations on his words.
He rolled over, taking her with him. She straddled him, with his shaft embedded deeply within her body. Nature took over. Zoe rose and fell, impaling herself in an inner rhythm that made her undulate her hips at the same time. Alex’s hands gripped her hips to bring her down, driving himself in deeper. Again and again, they fought for control.
One minute, she rejoiced in the feel, the taste of him. The next, he touched her clit. She bit her lower lip to keep from coming. Her thighs trembled with the effort. Alex ran his hands from her hips to her breasts, giving them a gentle squeeze that was at odds with his ferocious thrusting. Fingertips ran over the responsive skin to roll her nipples into hard, aching points of fire.
She stared down at him, watching the heat dancing in his blue eyes as his hands worked magic.
116
A Perfect Bride for Christmas He filled her, again and again until she thought she might die from the sensations rocketing through her body.
She wouldn’t let him win this battle.
Zoe lifted off his body.
“What’s wrong,” Alex groaned. He reached out to pull her back.
“Nothing is wrong.”
He was hard, ready, but she had other plans for Alex. This would be something he would take with him always, this memory of an afternoon to
gether.
She took him into her mouth, tasting their combined desire.
Alex’s back arched off the bed. His fingers clenched the sheets as she worked on him with her tongue. Relentless, powerful. That’s how she felt as she heard his groan and soft words of encouragement. He almost lost it at the first feel of her fingernails against the tender skin of his scrotum. Instead, he ran his hands through her hair to urge her on.
This was no longer a skirmish for control.
They’d merged in a bond of love. It might only be for the few heartbeats.
“Stop,” Alex gritted out.
Zoe raised her head. “I thought you were enjoying this.”
Alex lifted on one elbow, his eyes serious. “I—”
She placed her hand over his mouth to stop the words she knew he was going to say. She couldn’t handle it if he said he loved her. How many other women had he said that to as well? Bianca, Sydney, all the others who flocked to him?
Zoe let out a soft sigh to cover the ache in her heart. “Let’s just enjoy the few minutes we have left.
No words, nothing to regret later on.”
Alex took her hand away. “You make me crazy. I don’t know what I feel when I’m with you.”
117
Dyann Love Barr
His words made her eyes sting. She smiled and straddled his hips, sinking down once again on his erection. “Then don’t think. Enjoy.”
The turbulent blue eyes closed, but his hands skated over her heated skin, teasing out emotions she thought long buried. She did love him. She’d never stopped, And she admitted it to herself, no matter how much she wanted to deny it.
There might never be another chance like this.
She rocked against him, reveling in the fullness, the fire building between her legs; the ache in her heart grew until she wanted to fly apart. The next heartbeat she shattered with his final thrust.
Zoe collapsed on top of him.
His aftershave and the scent of sex mingled. His heart thudded against her ear. She wanted to stay like this forever. He was no longer with Sydney but she didn’t know if she could trust him with her heart. Not yet. Not one bit. This was her time with Alex. However, there could be no words of love, nothing to mark the moment. She had to play this cool. Zoe glanced over at the clock. “We have just enough time to clean up before the girls get here.
Perfect Bride for Christmas, A Page 11