by Cindy Dees
White lace. As demure and sexy as she was. He smiled and lowered his mouth to the valley between her breasts. “My God, you’re perfect,” he muttered.
She replied breathlessly, “Lucky for me the power’s out and there’s no way you can see how wrong you are.”
“You’ve always been perfect, Rachel. At least to me.”
Her answering laugh was breathless and maybe a little sad.
“I’m not kidding,” he insisted. “I’ve never met another woman like you. You’re absolutely perfect.”
“And that’s why I snap at you and lose my temper and—”
“That’s my fault. I can be an insufferable jerk sometimes.”
“Can I quote you on that?” she replied humorously.
“Sure, if you’ll keep on kissing me.”
Her hands closed on either side of his head and raised his mouth to hers. “Oh, Finn.” She sighed. “This is crazy.”
“I know.”
Thankfully, she kissed him then and said no more. Her mouth was sweetness itself against his. The shy little girl had grown up into a confident woman, but her essential femininity was still the same, still intoxicating, still entirely irresistible. Her tongue explored his mouth, and she sipped at him like he was nectar from the gods, but he knew the truth. She was the true gift from heaven.
She threw a leg over his hip and straddled his lap in her impatience to kiss him more deeply, and he shifted beneath her until her core was nestled against his groin so tight and hot that white lights exploded in his brain and stringing words together into thought became nearly impossible.
“Clothes. Off…” he gasped out.
She laughed, a throaty purr that all but had him coming undone. “I thought you’d never ask.” Her hands worked at the buttons of his polo shirt, and then her fingers were hooking under the garment’s hem. She tugged at it and he raised his arms for her. Her hands ran up his ribs, across the ticklishness that was his underarms, then up the length of his arms, which were corded with muscle from the strain of not grabbing her, pulling her beneath him and ravishing her on the spot.
“You’ve gotten bigger since high school,” she murmured.
He groaned. She had no idea what all had gotten bigger, but it was straining with eagerness to feel her flesh.
“Do you still work out?” she asked.
He struggled to focus. Work. Out. “Uhh, yeah. Weights. Run. Swim some.”
“Mmm,” she murmured as if he were a tasty treat. He about leaped out of his skin as she leaned forward and—merciful heaven—licked his chest. And then her hands were fumbling at his belt and he was pretty darned sure he was going to explode.
“Let me get that,” he rasped.
But she pushed his hands away and insisted on doing it herself. His belt slithered slowly from around his waist. He’d swear she was teasing him, drawing it out until he couldn’t take a proper breath. And then his zipper started down, one tantalizing tooth at a time. Oh, yeah. She was messing with him.
“Payback is a bitch,” he managed to grit out from between his clenched teeth.
Damned if the little tease didn’t grin back at him. “I’m counting on it,” she murmured.
He lifted his hips so she could push his pants down, and she hooked his boxers on the way. He kicked the tangle of fabric off his ankles. “What’s wrong with this picture?” he asked up at her, his fingers hooked in the top of her jeans.
She sighed. “You always were a little slow on the uptake. You have to keep up here, Finn.”
He laughed darkly and hooked a finger under the front of her bra, popping the sassy little catch there. And all of a sudden, her breasts were spilling forth in all their glory, pale and shapely. He inhaled sharply. They fit perfectly in his hands, smooth and firm, and one hundred percent Rachel. He closed his eyes. Opened them again. Nope. Not a dream.
He leaned forward slowly, giving her time to reconsider. But she didn’t stop him, and his mouth closed upon her breast. She arched sharply into him, and he took more of her into his mouth. His tongue laved her nipple and she cried out. The sound made him freeze in pure wonder. He licked again, and again she gifted him with a cry of pleasure so intense that it sounded like it almost bordered on pain.
He turned his attention to her other breast and was rewarded with gasps that quickly turned into pants of desire. He surged to his feet, pulling her with him, and stripped her jeans off of her in a single powerful yank. She got tangled up in the legs of the jeans and stumbled into him laughing. He bent down and lifted first one slender foot, then the other, and pulled the slim pants off of her. He kissed her hip and then worked his way over to her soft, flat belly. How he got to his knees in front of her, he wasn’t quite sure. But he kissed his way down her abdomen while his hands slid up the back of her thighs. His fingers tested the warm crevice of her buttocks, holding her still while his kisses became more intimate.
He felt the moment when her legs went weak and caught her easily. He shifted back to the couch and pulled her down on top of him, savoring the silky glide of her naked body against his.
“Do you know how many times I imagined getting you naked on this couch?” he murmured.
She lifted enough to gaze down at him. “How many?”
He grinned up at her. “At least twenty times a day. And getting you naked in the my truck. And in the hayloft. And under the stars. And in the boys’ locker room—”
“The boys’ locker room?” she exclaimed.
“Well, not when anyone else was there. But yeah. In the showers. I had some pretty creative ideas about what I could do in the weight room with you, too. Oh, and the biology lab…”
She laughed, and he could swear she was blushing. “Okay, I confess. I had some rather…steamy…thoughts that involved those big lab tables, myself.”
“Ha!” He rose up beneath her to capture her mouth with his. To capture all that joy and laughter and draw it into his soul. “Maybe I’ll get the key to the high school from Wes and you can show me your ideas.”
“Don’t you dare, Finn Colton!”
He pulled her down to him an inch at a time, abruptly serious. “I’d dare just about anything with you, it seems.”
“Oh, Finn—”
Alarmed at what she might say next, he closed the remaining distance between them. “Kiss me,” he commanded.
Her arms looped around his neck and he held her tightly around the waist as he rolled off the couch in a controlled move, lowering her to the floor beneath him. He propped an elbow on either side of her head. Her eyes opened and she gazed up at him, her eyes wide and serious. He gazed into their depths, letting everything he felt for her show in his eyes. For once, he held nothing back from her.
And then he nudged her thighs apart with his knees, positioning himself so she was wide open beneath him. It was all he could do not to plunge into her and take her like a mindless animal.
“You’re sure about this?” he asked tightly.
Her answer was no more than a sigh. But it fell on his ears like a blessing. A benediction. And then he did plunge into her in a single strong, steady stroke that left her no room whatsoever to change her mind.
His eyelids wanted to drift closed, to lose himself in the pure wonder of the moment, in the excess of sensation flooding through him. Rachel. Tight. And hot. And wet. And clenching him so tightly he was about to go over the edge this very second. But he forced his eyes to stay open. To continue gazing into her eyes. To see the matching wonder exploding in her gaze. The limpid delight, the spreading, languishing pleasure rolling over her.
The building wonder in her eyes was astonishing to watch. In a matter of seconds her breathing had shifted, becoming shallow and rapid, little gasps of pleasure that ravaged his soul. Her internal muscles pulsed spasmodically, and before his very eyes, she climaxed. Her gaze went unfocused and stunned but never left his.
It was the most incredible, vulnerable, intimate thing he’d ever experienced. And she’d shared it with him.
Him. He was profoundly humbled by it. Something moved deep in his heart that he couldn’t name. But he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would never forget that moment for as long as he lived. Hell, he suspected that when he died, it would be the last thing he ever thought of.
The joy in his chest expanded and built until he couldn’t contain it any longer. He began to move within her, slowly at first, his strokes lengthening and growing in power like a force of nature, wild and uncontrollable. Rachel found the rhythm with him, her breath quickening once more. She arched up suddenly, crying out and then shuddering beneath him in abandon. He drank in her cries but never stopped driving into her. Something within him wanted to make her go completely out of her mind with pleasure.
Her eyes went dark and wide and a smile curved her lips. And still, their gazes remained locked together. They stared deep into each other’s souls as their bodies became one and galloped away with both of them.
He felt his own climax start to build within him, his entire body beginning a slow and exquisite implosion that grew and grew and grew. Amazement widened his eyes, and triumph glittered in hers. And then his entire being clenched. For an instant, everything stopped and even time was suspended. He might have been afraid of the power of it, but Rachel was there with him, her arms and legs clinging desperately to him, her soul completely naked before him.
And then the entire universe exploded. He shouted his release and surrendered every last bit of himself to her as he emptied body and soul into her in an orgasm of such power it drained his being. Disbelief shone in Rachel’s eyes, and he mirrored the feeling in his own stunned mind. Never, ever, had he given himself to a woman in even remotely that way. But, Rachel…Rachel took it all. And in return, she’d given everything to him of herself down to the very last dregs.
There were no words. He panted as he tried to catch his breath and pushed the damp hair off her forehead. And still they stared at one another. A world of silent communication passed between them. So much that he didn’t know how to catalog it all.
He was quite simply…amazed. He’d always known it would be good between them, but he’d never dreamed it could be like this with anyone, let alone her. What was it about her that drew so much out of him? Was this the difference between sex and making love? Or was it a simple matter of them being soul mates, like it or not? Why on earth had they waited this long to find this?
Rachel was the one to finally break the silence. “Wow,” she said on a breath.
He laughed, still a little out of breath. “Yeah. Wow.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. And thank you.”
She smiled up at him. Silence fell between them again.
“Are you uncomfortable? The floor must be hard.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” she murmured.
Laughter bubbled up in his chest again. Or maybe it was just that he couldn’t ever remember being this happy. “How about we adjourn this to your bed so you’re not too bruised in the morning?”
“The damage is already done,” she replied, smiling.
“Yes, but the next time I may not be so gentle.”
Her eyes widened at that, and her body went languid beneath his. Yup, the lady liked that idea. He pushed up and away from her and reached down to scoop her in his arms.
“Who knows?” she murmured, looping her arms around his neck. “Maybe I’m the one who won’t be gentle with you.”
Chapter 12
When Rachel opened her eyes in the morning to bright sunshine, she was pretty sure she was hallucinating. Finn Colton was actually asleep in her bed beside her. It hadn’t been a spectacular dream after all. Sleepy and content, she lay there, remembering the magic of it. At some level, she’d always known it would be like that between them. They were the two halves of a whole and knew each other better than anyone else in the world. No surprise, then, that they were such a perfect match in bed. They could anticipate the other’s desires and pleasures at some instinctive level that transcended conscious thought.
At least, that was what it felt like Finn had done with her. At one point, she’d asked him if they taught students how to be fantastic lovers in medical school, and he laughed heartily at that. Finally, he’d murmured that what they had between them had nothing to do with medical school and everything to do with fate.
Whoever said making love with a man couldn’t be absolutely, magically, fairy-tale perfect was dead wrong. Obviously, they’d just never found their true soul mate. Or, let fifteen years pass to build the anticipation to epic proportions. The thought made her smile.
A hand passed lightly over her tangled hair. “Good morning, Blondie.”
She turned her smile lazily to Finn. “Good morning. Sleep well?”
His smile widened. “I didn’t sleep much, but it was the best rest I’ve had in years. Maybe ever.”
“Feeling rested, are you? Maybe I’ll have to do something to change that,” she teased.
He rolled onto his side and gathered her close. “Don’t change a thing, Rachel. You’re perfect just the way you are.”
She inhaled the spicy smell of him and couldn’t resist dropping a kiss on his chest.
He shifted and his mouth was there all of a sudden, capturing hers and drawing her up higher against him. Their bodies fit together like two pieces of a puzzle, and she sighed as their legs tangled together familiarly.
“Sore?” he murmured.
She was a little, but she wasn’t about to admit it. She wouldn’t trade this morning’s soreness from last night’s magic for anything in the world. She merely smiled invitingly. “Why? You all tuckered out?”
He grinned. “Not hardly. I’ve waited fifteen years for you.”
A shadow passed over her heart and she frowned. But then Finn was there kissing her so she couldn’t talk and then until she couldn’t think at all. Their lovemaking this morning was slow and lazy and exquisitely intimate. Finn looked deep into her eyes again as they made love, and it went beyond personal, forced her to completely open her soul to him, and he to open his to her. If she thought she’d known him well before, it was nothing compared to now that they’d given each other these intensely private pieces of themselves.
She reveled in the slow, powerful glide of his body upon and within hers. He knew just how to draw her out, to steal her breath away, to take her to heights of pleasure she’d never dreamed existed. She clung to his muscular shoulders and shuddered her release to the sight of a smile unfolding on his handsome face.
“You’re magnificent,” he murmured. And then he shuddered with pleasure into her arms.
When they’d both caught their breath, they lay side by side, gazing at one another. And that was how she saw the moment when the first frown crossed his brow.
“What?” she asked, trying to mask the frisson of alarm streaking down her spine.
He swore under his breath. “We didn’t use any protection. I didn’t even think about it. I don’t do this sort of thing often, and I didn’t expect to end up in bed with you last night…” He swore again. “I’m a doctor, for God’s sake. I’m supposed to think about these things. I’m sorry, Rach—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips. “I didn’t think about it, either. And we’re both adults, here. I’m as much to blame as you are. But for what it’s worth, I haven’t slept with anyone in a few years, so I highly doubt I have any contagious diseases.”
His frown deepened. “I was more worried about pregnancy—” He broke off abruptly. Oh. Pregnancy. The word thudded between them heavily. It was like someone had punched her in the stomach. Hard. Everything from yesterday came crashing back in on her. For a brief, shining moment, she’d managed to hold all the rest of it at bay. But no more. A new day had dawned. The magic of the previous night was over.
She closed her eyes and released a long, slow breath.
“Please look at me,” Finn murmured.
She opened her eyes, but the link between them was broken. They wer
e strangers once more with all their ugly history hanging between them. Amazing that a single word had the power to do that. Pregnancy.
“About that,” she started. She took another deep breath for courage and then plunged ahead. “You and I need to talk.”
“So talk,” he muttered grimly.
“Not like this.”
“Why not like this?” he retorted. “It’s not like either one of us can deny that last night happened.”
But it was just so darned…vulnerable…lying here naked beside him. She had nowhere to hide. Maybe he was right, though. Maybe it was time to quit hiding from him. From their past. “All right, then,” she answered. “Here goes. Would you mind telling me why you walked out on me night before last at the homecoming dance? Again?”
He blinked and looked startled, but she waited resolutely.
“Seriously?” he muttered.
“Yes. Seriously. I’ve spent the last fifteen years wondering what in the hell happened on prom night, and I’m not about to spend another fifteen wondering what the hell happened Saturday night.”
His brow knitted into an ominous expression that hinted at surfacing anger. But he answered evenly enough. “I left the homecoming dance because I couldn’t stand to be with you any longer.”
Stunned, she exclaimed, “And yet you spent most of last night making love to me?”
“My family was at the homecoming dance.”
She frowned. “What the heck do they have to do with anything?”
Finn struggled for words, but then he blurted, “They haven’t exactly been your biggest fans over the years. And they were all standing there glaring daggers at me for being dumb enough to have anything to do with you. They reminded me of why I can’t ever be with you. Of how you betrayed me and broke my heart. I don’t think I could survive it if you did that to me again. You all but killed me the last time.”