Once in a Lifetime

by Ginna Gray

  That he might rebuff her, she refused to even consider. Not that she deluded herself into thinking that he loved her. But he wanted her; he'd demonstrated that quite convincingly. Though she might yearn for more, she would accept whatever she could get.

  Her heart hammered in her chest as she crossed the cool tile floor of the bathroom. At the door to David's room she paused.

  He lay on his back with one hand beneath his head, the other resting on his chest, his legs spread. The top sheet lay bunched around his feet, and in the darkness his fuchsia bikini briefs glowed. So did the tip of his cigarette.

  The soft words of seduction Abigail had been about to utter flitted right out of her mind.

  She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to berate him for smoking in bed again, but she didn't get a chance to utter a word.

  She had never seen anyone move so fast. At the first sound David bit put a curse and dived from the bed. In one fluid motion, he hit the floor and rolled to his feet braced in a crouch, holding a wicked-looking gun in his right hand.

  "Freeze!"

  Chapter Ten

  "Oh, my stars!"

  "Abbey?"

  "That's a gun! You've got a gun!" she babbled, and sagged against the door frame, her hand over her heart. Goggle-eyed, she stared at the weapon gleaming malevolently in the moonlight, her gaze fixed on the ugly black hole in the end of the barrel.

  "Dammit, Abbey!" David's aggressive stance collapsed. He snapped on the beside lamp and glared. "What the hell are you doing, sneaking around in the middle of the night?"

  "Wh-where did you get that gun?"

  "Don't you realize I could have killed you?"

  "Is...is it lo-loaded?"

  "Dammit! Will you forget about the gun and answer me!" He threw the weapon down on the bed and planted his balled fists on his hips. "What the hell were you doing creeping around in the dark?"

  His tone cut through her shock and raised her hackles. She lifted her chin and gave him a look guaranteed to freeze lava. "I was not creeping."

  "Oh, yeah? Well, I don't know what else you'd call it. What the hell were you doing, tippy-toeing in here like that?"

  "If you must know, I came in here to seduce you!" she snapped.

  "Well, that was a damned stupid thing to do!" he roared back almost before the words were out of her mouth.

  "If I'd known you had a gun I wouldn't have done it!"

  "That's beside the—" He stopped, his face going blank. His voice changed from a shout to a croak. "Wait a minute. Did you say...? You mean...? You came in here to....seduce met"

  Abigail sniffed and lifted her chin a notch higher. "Yes. But I've changed my mind."

  In rapid succession a series of expressions flitted across David's face—from shocked to intrigued to downright lustful. Then his eyes flashed annoyance and his mouth flattened. "Well, great! Because I wouldn't let you anyway! I told you last night—" He broke off and sniffed, his scowl deepening. "What the hell is that smell?"

  "Oh, my stars! Your cigarette!" Abigail cried. "It set the sheet on fire!"

  "Dammit all to hell!"

  The fire, which had been no more than a smoldering ring around a charred hole, burst into flames at that precise moment. Tiny tongues of orange and red leaped up and danced across the flowered sheets and smoke spiraled upward.

  Instantly a high-pitched, pulsating alarm went off overhead.

  Abigail screamed and covered her ears. Cursing, David grabbed a pillow from the bed and began to pound at the blaze.

  Pandemonium reigned. David scrambled across the bed on his knees, whacking the mattress and spewing obscenities. Abigail squawked and dithered like a demented chicken. The ear-splitting alarm nattered on endlessly.

  Chelsea tore in through the bathroom to enter the fray, barking hysterically and twirling in circles like a tiny dervish, as she was prone to do when excited. Between David's shouted profanity, Abigail's squeaks, the electronic blare of the smoke alarm and the terrier's yapping, the decibel level in the room was torturous.

  For several seconds Abigail hopped around, alternately flapping her hands and holding her ears. Finally gaining a modicum of control, she dashed into the bathroom and snatched a towel from the rack. She wet it under the bathtub faucet and raced back into the bedroom with it, dripping water everywhere.

  At the foot of the bed she hauled off and slung the sodden towel at the smoking remains of the fire—and missed the mark by a mile.

  The towel smacked David across the nape with a splat and wrapped his head like a fishing line whipping around a tree branch. In a blink the saturated cloth encased him from the shoulders up like a freshly wound mummy.

  Abigail sucked in her breath and gaped. "Oh... my... stars!"

  David, who almost toppled under the impact, let loose a roar that not even the folds of wet terry cloth could completely muffle. He dropped the pillow as though it had suddenly caught fire and grabbed with both hands at the clammy binding that threatened to suffocate him.

  "Oh, David! Oh! Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry!" Abigail clambered across the mattress to him on her knees. She tried to grab the end of the towel but David was twisting and flailing around so much that she couldn't. "Here, let me— David, if you'll just be still— Oh! Oh!"

  Finding the end, he unwound the soppy cloth with impatient jerks and slung it across the room. The towel hit the wall with a splat, stuck for an instant, then plopped to the floor.

  Bending forward, David braced his hands on his thighs and gulped in several deep breaths. Then he turned on Abigail with a vengeance, his brown eyes shooting fire.

  He opened his mouth to say something, but instead snapped it shut again and leaped to his feet. He did a bouncy stomp across the bed, yanked the cover off the smoke alarm and jerked out the battery.

  "Now for God's sake, shut that damned dog up!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

  At a word from her mistress, Chelsea's barking dropped to a throaty growl. For several seconds she maintained her aggressive stance and lifted her lip at David, leaving no doubt about whom she blamed for the disturbance.

  "Hush, Chels," Abigail ordered when David shot the animal a black look. Chelsea obeyed, and after one last "ruff" of protest, she trudged back into the other room.

  Abigail sighed and closed her eyes. The cessation of noise was heaven, but the respite did not last long.

  "Would you mind telling me why in holy hell you whacked me with that damned wet towel?"

  David dropped to his knees before her, his face like thunder. His dark hair was soaked and plastered to his head. Water beaded his face and streamed down his body. Drops created dark splotches on the strip of fuchsia knit around his hips.

  Abigail's face set. "I was simply trying to smother the flames."

  "The bed was on fire, not me! Anyway, by then I'd already put the fire out."

  "I was rattled, okay? I..." She looked at the yard-wide hole burned in the sheet and the charred mattress pad it exposed, and her haughty demeanor melted away. When her gaze returned to David, her eyes were tender and teary. "Oh, David. I was so scared you would be hurt," came her shaky whisper.

  He stared, helpless, into her shimmering aquamarine eyes, his expression that of a man who'd just had the props knocked out from under him. With those few simple words anger fled and the atmosphere in the room became charged with a much different emotion. Lusher. Deeper. More intense.

  Face-to-face, only a foot or so apart, they knelt on the singed bed while smoke drifted around them in a lazy cloud and the acrid smell of burned cotton hung in the air. It stung their noses and made their eyes water, but they didn't notice. Silence stretched out, thick and pulsing with tumultuous emotions. Hearts pounded, chests tightened and eyes searched.

  Slowly each leaned forward, drawn by a yearning too strong to resist. Abigail's head lifted. David's dipped. Eyelids drifted downward. Warm breaths mingled, and a sweet ache of anticipation squeezed Abigail's chest.

  Their lips met, the touch soft, tentativ
e, testing. With mouths open and slanted together, they sampled the delight that beckoned them to take their fill. Even so, the pleasure was piercing. It stabbed through Abigail with a sharp sweetness. Need spiraled and desire swelled under the self-imposed restraint, making her quiver and ache.

  When Abigail could stand it no longer, she moaned and lifted her hands to clasp the sides of David's waist, leaning in closer, blindly seeking to intensify the kiss. For an instant David responded in a like manner, but then he grasped her shoulders and pushed her away.

  "Abbey... no. We've got to stop this." Desire swirled in his eyes and his voice came out raspy and uneven, but the set of his jaw told her he meant it.

  Abigail felt a touch of panic, and her eyes pleaded. "But...why? Why must we stop, David?" She edged closer and placed her hand flat on his bare chest. His muscles jerked at the contact. Against her palm she felt the crisp springiness of his chest hair, the warm hardness of male flesh, the thud of his heart that told her he wasn't immune to her.

  Abigail drew a deep breath and gathered her courage. "I want you, David," she said, and struggled to ignore the blush that climbed her neck and flooded her cheeks. "And I know you want me." Turning her hand over, she let the back of her knuckles trail downward over his midriff and stomach.

  "Abbey..." The warning came out choked.

  Holding on to her nerve by a thread, Abigail slid her knuckles down farther, until they rested on the inch-wide elastic banding the top of his minuscule briefs. She felt him suck in his breath, saw his face tighten. Her eyes limpid, she looked straight into his and whispered, "It's not something you can hide."

  "That's not—" David stopped to clear his throat. "Whether or not I want you isn't the point." He scowled, and tried to catch her meandering hand. She moved it to his thigh and raked her nails through the dusting of hair there.

  "Then what is?" she asked with husky innocence.

  "I told you last night, I'm not going to take advantage of y— Oh, God, Legs," he groaned when she leaned forward and nuzzled her nose in his chest hair.

  "I know," she murmured against his skin as she strung a line of kisses across his chest. "I'm going to take advantage of you."

  "Abbey— Ahhh..." David sucked in his breath when her tongue found a tiny nipple. She lathed it with meticulous care, then nipped. His body jerked, and he arched his head back and bared his teeth. His hands tightened on her shoulders, flexing now with pleasure. "Ah, Abbey...Abbey. Sweetheart this... this isn't right. You're reacting to the.. .stress of the situation," he gasped as her finger delved into his navel. "I've seen it happen lots of.. .ti.. .times. Oh, God, Legs!"

  Abigail's mouth found the other nipple. At the same time she ran her fingertip down the leg edge of his bikini briefs from his hipbone to that part of him that throbbed and yearned. Oh, so slowly, her finger glided against his skin, her touch feather light, tormenting. A hard shudder shook David.

  "Don't worry," she murmured, nipping his shoulder. "I know what I'm doing." Taking advantage of his momentary debility, she gave him a push that sent him sprawling onto his back.

  "Wha—"

  He started to rise on his elbows, but Abigail straddled his body on her knees and pushed him back down with a hand on each shoulder. She bent over him, her eyes heavy lidded and sultry, her lips parted. Her breasts, exposed by the gaping neckline of the nightie, pointed toward his chest, saucy and as lush as ripe fruit on a tree, their shape molded by gravity. "Just lie back and relax, darling," she purred, smiling.

  It had taken every ounce of nerve and daring Abigail could muster to initiate the seduction, but emboldened by David's response, she was beginning to enjoy herself. Especially now that she was getting the hang of it.

  "Abbey, honey..." David gave a discomfited chuckle, his expression a mix of chagrin, concern and longing. "If we become lovers you're probably going to regret it later," he argued, but his voice held so little intensity, Abigail suspected he merely felt obligated to try to talk her out of proceeding.

  She lowered herself until she sat astraddle his hips and smiled as she watched his pupils expand. Leaning forward, she braced her forearms on his chest, her face just a few inches from his. "I'll never regret it," she whispered with such passion that he almost looked convinced.

  Abigail framed his face with her palms. "Listen to me, David. I've made up my mind. I'm through playing it safe. With you I feel... I don't know... really alive for the first time in my life, I guess. And I like it. If we get through this—" He frowned and started to protest. She put her hand over his mouth, stopping him. "We get through this I don't want to go home to Waco regretting what might have been. And if we don't... well, then, I will have at least had this night."

  David's hands settled on her back and massaged gently. His dark eyes searched her face. "Abbey...I want you. And if you're sure this is what you want, I'm not going to deny us. Maybe I should. Hell, I know I should. Even if you weren't overwrought and vulnerable, you're not the kind for a casual fling. But—" his mouth twisted "—despite my old man's teachings, I guess I'm just not that much of a gentleman. Sweetheart, before we go any farther, first I gotta tell you—I can't make you any promises, Abbey. I don't know where this is leading us, or how long it will last. Or even if it will last. Marriage, commitment—I just don't know. Hell, I'm not sure I'm even the marrying kind."

  "It doesn't matter."

  "You sure?"

  Abigail nodded, and after a moment David's arms tightened around her. His eyes darkened, and desire hardened his face. "In that case, come here, woman," he said in a raspy whisper.

  As their lips met, he rolled with her until she lay with her back against the scorched mattress and he lay half over her, his muscular leg hooked over both of hers. They kissed hungrily, endlessly, the want that had been building for days springing free.

  Abigail twined her arms around his neck and tunneled her fingers through his hair. The light rake of her fingernails against his scalp sent shivers of delight coursing through David. Oh, God, it felt so good. She felt so good.

  Her mouth opened to him like a flower, innocent and eager, and he drank greedily of her. Tongues swirled and rubbed in a mating dance that sent heat streaking through them and made their pulses pound.

  Like the one that first night on the boat, and the one the night before on the pier, the kiss stunned David. It punched him in the gut with its sweet sensuality and stole his breath away. He had told himself—had half convinced himself— that the pleasure he had experienced before had been the result of an adrenaline high, that it would have been the same no matter what woman had been with him. It had just happened to have been Abbey, that was all. Now he knew better.

  "Abbey, Abbey, Abbey." He whispered her name in a feverish litany, dewing her skin with his moist breath as his mouth slid across her cheek. He found her ear, and the tip of his tongue traced each delicate swirl. He felt her shudder, heard her weak "Oh, David," and a fresh wave of pleasure washed through him. He nipped her earlobe with gentle savagery, then lathed the tiny pain with his tongue.

  She moaned, and her hands clutched his shoulders,her fingers digging deep into his flesh.

  Bracing on one elbow, David grasped the hem of the shorty nightgown. He tugged it upward, lifted her, and with a deft movement whisked the garment over her head and tossed it aside. Just as quickly, he hooked his fingers into the bikini panties and stripped them down her legs. The scrap of pink cotton fluttered to the floor and settled beside the nightgown and the soggy towel as he eased Abigail back down onto the bed.

  David stilled, his gaze fixed on her bare breasts.

  Abigail blushed crimson and made an instinctive move to cover herself.

  "No, don't. Let me look at you."

  He took her hand and returned it to his shoulder. For several seconds he stared, rapt. Her breasts were perfect, just full enough, the nipples pink and pouty, the creamy skin around them showing a tracery of blue veins. "Oh, God, Abbey. You're so beautiful," he whispered in a ragged voice
.

  He cupped one lush mound, and Abbey's breath caught.

  "Do you like that sweetheart?" he asked in a seductive whisper.

  "Ye-yes. Oh... yes."

  He watched her face as he kneaded the soft globe, lifted, stroked, molded, squeezed. With delicate brushing strokes his thumb brought the nipple to an erect peak. Abigail writhed and moaned, and David smiled.

  Bending over, he buried his face in the silky valley between her breasts and traced an erotic pattern on her skin with his tongue. "And this? Do you like this?" he asked in a strained voice as his mouth trailed up over the pearly mount to its crest.

  Abigail cried out as his mouth closed around her aroused nipple, her back arching off the mattress. "Yes. Yes! Oh, David!"

  In restless passion, her hands ran over his shoulders, his neck, down his chest. Her fingers threaded through the springy hair, tugged, kneaded.

  As he lavished the same attention on her other breast, his broad palm slid downward. Abigail whimpered when his hand stroked her belly. The whimper turned to a moan when seeking fingers found the moist core of her desire.

  David lifted his head from her breast and looked down at her, his face taut and flushed with passion. "Oh, Abbey! I can't wait any longer!"

  With jerky movements, he stripped the fuchsia briefs from his body and sent them sailing.

  When he turned to Abigail, she smiled. Her arms enfolded him, and as their lips met, David slid his hands beneath her hips and lifted her into his possession.

  Abigail gasped, her body taut and trembling as she absorbed the shock, his heat, his hardness.

  David stilled. "Did I hurt you?"

  "No. No!" Her hands clutched his bare shoulders. "I...oh, David."

  Bracing up on his forearms, he looked at her, and his frown faded. Seeing in her flushed face and dazed eyes the helpless passion she could not hide, he smiled, a stow, wicked smile that did wonderful things to his battered face. "I know, sweetheart. I know."

  He rotated his hips against her, and the smile deepened at her tittle groan. He repeated the action.