“Quiet… Oh, Sean…quiet!” The tension was building within her, pulsing heavily at her center.
Strong fingers dug into her hips. “Christ, Molly, you taste so fucking good, baby,” he groaned, and that deep rumble against her sex was her breaking point.
Her entire body was working for what had in that moment become critical. She was pulling at him with her hands and feet, her arms and legs, arching her back to propel him up.
And then he was there on top of her, crushing her with his kiss, one hand fisted in her hair, the other gripping her ass with a rough hold that had her ready to combust on the spot.
He was thick between her legs, steely hard as he ran his length back and forth through her slickness, each pass pushing her closer to that place only he could take her.
“Please…please,” she begged, her knees hitching higher up his sides as he drew back. Her hips canted as he rocked forward—and he was inside her, the penetration sending her over the edge.
“Fuck, Molly. Wait—” Sean choked, starting to pull back. “Baby, no condom.”
But she was already there, her body seizing hard around him.
“What?” she cried, panic edging past the pleasure slipping through her fingers. “No, can’t we just…just one…oh…Sean…just one more second.”
Sean’s arms wrapped around her, holding her tight, as he bore down, taking her so deep, she saw stars. “Come on, baby,” he growled. “Let me feel you.”
Her release slammed through her in one brutal wave after another.
She clutched at him harder, muffling the cries she couldn’t contain against his chest.
When it was over, her every muscle was lax and lazy. Her head dropped back against the mat, and her legs slid into a tangle with Sean’s. Threading her fingers though his sweat-damp hair, she sighed. “That was… I don’t even have words.” She was never going to be the same.
“This is going to kill me,” Sean groaned, the sound as sexy as any she’d ever heard. He kissed her briefly, his tongue dipping past her lips for a single sexy taste before he slowly withdrew.
“Do you have something?” she asked, sitting up, her legs still draped over the spread of his knees. The crinkle of plastic was her answer. Following the dim outline of his arm, she took the condom from him. “Let me.”
“Yeah?”
Tucking the wrapper under the edge of the mat so she’d be able to find and discard it later, she laughed. “You ask like I’ve just offered you some dirty, taboo treat.”
The fingers tracing a light path over her thighs stilled when she found him and carefully began rolling the thin latex down his shaft.
“I’ve always done it.” His breath caught and then hissed through his teeth as she stroked him. “Just to be sure, you know.”
She blinked, his meaning becoming clear. “So…no one gets to do this but me?” Something so simple shouldn’t turn her on so much, but knowing how he trusted her…how he wanted her…she ached for him again.
Sean urged her to her knees, guiding her over him and then slowly down to take him again. And when she was seated completely, filled to the point where she could barely find the room to take a breath, he pressed his forehead to hers and groaned. “Only you.”
* * *
Morning came too soon.
Okay, so nothing new there. It’s how Molly felt most days. But then most days, she hadn’t been kept up until dawn with Sean finding new and creative ways to test her ability to stay quiet.
Somehow, she mustered the strength to turn her head.
A shirtless Sean grinned down at her as he cinched up a hiking boot. He was wearing those same sexy beat-to-hell cargo shorts and a smile that, if he didn’t figure out how to tone that sucker down, would have her brother’s fist in his teeth before he could blink. Not such a terrible way to wake up after all.
“Morning, gorgeous,” he greeted her, keeping his voice low. “Only found three wrappers so far, but the guys have been up for a while, and I heard them starting to joke about who was going to have to risk waking us.”
The sleepy haze cleared in a blink, and she was scrambling up, patting herself down for an inventory—tank, panties…socks?
She stuck her foot into the space between them, raising a questioning brow.
Casting her a wink, he switched to the other boot. “I thought you might get cold.”
When she didn’t say anything else, he bit his bottom lip and ran a hand through his spectacularly messy hair. “Okay, I admit it. I think it’s fucking hot seeing you in my socks.” And in case she didn’t believe him—because why the heck would she—he turned, prowling over her until she was on her back with the hard press of him between her legs. “When we get back…I want to see you in my socks and not one fucking thing more.”
Okay, and certain things couldn’t be faked. So… “You’re serious?” She giggled, her knees sliding up his sides. He looked down at where her sock-clad foot perched against his hip and groaned.
“Fuck it, I don’t care if they hear.”
And wow, that man-possessed look in his eyes was all the confirmation she needed to know he was serious. Bringing her hands up between them, she laughed, trying to hold him back. “Sean!”
The corner of his mouth kicked up. “That’s nice, Molly, but my favorite is ‘Sean, please,’ followed closely by ‘Sean, yes.’ Or maybe it’s the other way around.” Giving her his weight, he easily pushed past her arms and buried his face in her hair. “How about we give them both another try and figure it out for sure.”
The clang of metal against metal rang through the site, followed by her brother’s sharp call. “I know you’re working in there, Wyse. Put the laptop down, and wake Molly up. Brody’s got…brunch ready, and he says you’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t get it hot.”
Molly froze, panic choking off her air as her eyes locked with Sean’s above her.
What if Max decided to wake her up himself? What if he came to their tent and found Sean on top of her?
Max would kill him. Or at the very least hurt him. And what about Sean and Max’s friendship? What if she ruined everything because she couldn’t just say no?
Sean’s eyes narrowed as he searched her face. “You’re white as a sheet.” And then, “Shit, Molly, breathe.”
The breath she’d been holding burst out on a rush, and she started to squirm. “We can’t let him find you. Hurry.”
One dark-blond brow arched above her. “Because you’re worried about what he’ll think if we’re together?”
Please. “Because I’m worried he’s going to kill you,” she hissed, wriggling again. But while that reminder would have been enough to launch any sane man back into the farthest corner of the tent, Sean merely smiled.
“Well, if that’s all…” Holding her stare, he lowered his head to hers and eased his tongue between her lips, sliding it in and out, licking and rubbing, until he’d slowly, methodically kissed the life out of her.
Message received.
Her brother wasn’t going to get in the way.
* * *
“Molly’s up. She’ll be out in a minute,” Sean stated, zipping the tent closed. He squinted up at a crystal-blue sky dotted with a few cotton-ball clouds and stretched out his arms. “Damn fine morning, huh?”
Max stared at him a minute, a tub of plates and silverware in his hands. Then, looking around as if just noticing, he shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. You guys get any sleep, or those fucking raccoons keep you up too?”
Raccoons? He hadn’t heard a single thing other than Molly’s panting breaths and desperate moans. His name on her lips again and again, each variation better than the one before.
“Wyse?”
Sean’s head snapped up, his eyes landing on Molly’s brother. Shit. Running a palm over his mouth, he tried to wipe away the grin he was damn sure her brot
her wouldn’t appreciate if he had any idea what had put it there. Clearing his throat, he made a show of looking around the campground. “Yeah, some. But you know. Raccoons. Noisy fuckers.”
Max nodded toward the table still set up next to where Brody was working the grill, and they started walking. “It was nuts. You guys must have gotten the worst of it though. One of the sites farther down left a Styrofoam cooler out, and the raccoons must have dragged it down here. The thing was demolished, bits and pieces covering the entire site. Emily took a bunch of pictures before they picked it up.”
Sean had heard raccoons get into stuff during the night before, and it sounded like a war zone. But a cooler? How the hell had they missed it? Sure, he’d been distracted in the best way—but to not even know a gang of vermin was looting the place? To not have a clue?
Christ, the last woman he’d been with had been pissed because he’d heard his phone ping from two rooms away while they’d been in the act.
But she hadn’t been Molly.
Max jutted his chin over Sean’s shoulder. “Sleeping Beauty awakes.”
Damn straight she had. Molly was bundled in his sweatshirt again, along with the cutoff jean shorts that showed off her legs and the pair of his thick socks he’d put on her the night before wedged into her flip-flops. She looked good. Her cheeks were pink, her lips rosy, and that shock of pink was pulled back into a lopsided ponytail with the rest of her white-blond hair.
So hot.
He swallowed hard, momentarily overwhelmed by the realization that she was his.
Brody called out a greeting, and Sean focused on staying rooted where he was instead of walking over and kissing her right there in front of everyone.
But one step at a time. For now, Molly was more comfortable keeping their relationship just between them while they tried it on for size. He got it, but… Damn.
Beside him, Brody started bitching at Max about a serving tray he knew was in the tote. Sean stood there as if he was doing something to help, but in truth, he was just watching his girl, grinning at the flick of her eyes to his. The soft curve at the corner of her mouth and the near-electric charge that seemed to run between them through a single, brief look.
Laughter sounded from beyond the trees, and then Emily and Sarah rounded the drive, Jase close on their heels.
“Morning, guys,” Molly called, turning around to greet them with a wide wave. Which was when Sean saw it.
Oh shit.
The missing condom wrapper dangled precariously from a fold in the hood of her sweatshirt.
He needed to catch her eye. Get her to turn around and wait for him to clear the evidence. But the psychic hotline that usually ran between them must have been overloaded this morning, because no amount of willing her to turn back around was working.
Molly threw her hands out to the sides and stared up at the sky, announcing, “Wow, what a gorgeous morning, huh? It’s still morning, isn’t it? Man, I slept like the dead. How about you guys?”
Sean’s head snapped around, expecting to greet a punch midthrow, but Max was still on his knees, grumbling as he dug through the tote while Brody snapped his tongs at him.
Moving fast, Sean jogged around the fire pit.
“All that fresh air and quiet, right?” she asked again, jumping lightly from foot to foot. Okay, so she hadn’t noticed the raccoons either. Nice to know he wasn’t the only one that distracted, but seriously, was it possible to attract any more attention? “Who’s hungry? I’m starving.”
Dodging three chairs, he came up behind her and threw his arms around her, laughing loudly. “Funny, Moll. But hey, you know what all that racket was?” he asked pointedly, giving her midriff a squeeze. “The raccoons stole a cooler. Ripped the thing to shreds outside our tent.”
Her eyes went wide. No doubt she was wondering what he was doing all over her after they’d agreed not to share their new status with the gang just yet. He’d explain later. But for now, he pulled her close enough to pluck the damning evidence from her hood before discreetly stuffing it into his pocket.
Stepping clear of his hold, she turned to him and crossed her arms, mischief in her eyes. “See, I told you it wasn’t a bear.”
That got everyone’s attention.
“A bear?” Jase coughed out with a laugh.
“Were you huddled up behind Molly all night, begging her to protect you?” Max joked, walking over with the serving platter overflowing with French toast and breakfast potatoes.
Until recently, a bait like that would have had Sean slinging claims about just what positions he’d had Molly in. Because until recently, they would have been completely unfounded, and while they’d have gotten the rise out of Max that Sean loved to score, it would have been fiction. So far from the truth that joking about it would be within the realm of cool.
Not now. It was bad enough he was planning to basically lie to the guy’s face until Molly felt secure enough in what they were doing to share it. So instead of returning the trash talk with a hard slam, he shrugged, derailing the feeding frenzy before it began. “Pretty much. Damn, Brod, breakfast smells incredible. You put jalapeños and rosemary in the potatoes again?”
To Sean’s dismay, Molly kept her distance through most of the afternoon, finding one excuse after another to avoid being caught in close quarters with him: a trip into town for more bug spray with Sarah, running down to the park office with Max to pick up a few more bundles of firewood, and the most telling of all…when she’d asked Brody if he’d give her a cooking lesson after Sean suggested they all go for another swim—knowing full well the other two couples would pass.
Cooking. Seriously, Moll?
Now the sun had set, and Sean was parked between Jase and Max while Molly and the girls huddled around Brody’s prep station, sipping Moscow mules from those ridiculous copper mugs Brody swore were an essential component of the drink.
She was laughing at something Sarah said, her eyes closing as her head tipped back. He loved that laugh. Loved the length of neck she exposed when she gave it up. Loved it even more when she gave it up for him.
“So what about you, Wyse?” Max said, cutting into his thoughts and reminding him there was a conversation he was supposed to be following. “You have any cool travel lined up this fall?”
“Morocco, Barcelona maybe?” Jase asked with a wink.
Sean mentally called up his calendar, thinking about meetings and flights. What he might be able to shuffle so he didn’t have so much time away from Molly. “Milan month after next but…you know, maybe Sarah would like to go instead.”
She’d have a blast in Milan.
And then he’d be able to stay in Chicago with Molly who, when he looked over, was doing an impression of a teapot, if he wasn’t mistaken. She’d be great with kids. The kind of mom who’d play with them and do different voices when she read stories. The kind of mom who wanted to tuck them in at night herself.
“Shit, Wyse, you trying to get Sarah to leave him already?” Jase asked.
Max leaned forward, looking Sean in the eyes. “You serious, man? Damn, she’d love that.”
Jase was shaking his head, starting up about how much he hated when Emily had to travel, while throwing in all the requisite qualifiers about understanding it was part of her job, yada yada, but he’d gotten spoiled having her in his bed, and now he couldn’t sleep when she wasn’t there.
What a wuss. But even as Sean thought it, a smile was creeping over his mouth. He couldn’t wait to get spoiled from having Molly in his bed. He couldn’t wait until he got to be the guy who caught her hand as she was walking past and pulled her into his lap.
He’d never thought about that stuff for himself before. Not with the plans he’d been making. Mutually advantageous marriages weren’t exactly made of those heart-and-soul moments. But with Molly…Molly might let him walk with his hand in her pocket. Molly migh
t catch his tie and pull him in for a kiss, just because she wanted one.
He hoped so.
* * *
It was close to one by the time everyone was ready to knock off for the night. The girls had walked up to the bathroom together to get ready, Emily and Sarah giggling about tent sex while Molly walked quietly beside them, not ready to join the conversation.
Last night had been amazing, but for whatever reason, today, she’d been nervous. The last time she and Sean had given in, she’d known exactly what the next day should look like—like every day that had come before. Normal.
Like nothing between them had changed.
But that wasn’t the new plan.
This was a new day. Different from all the ones that had come before, even if she and Sean were the only ones who knew it.
She’d been a chicken, dodging him at every turn. Because what did this new normal look like? Especially when they weren’t ready to share it.
“I’m sorry, Molly. You’re probably ready to puke, listening to us blab.” Sarah slowed by the drive to the site where she and Max were set up. “I blame it on Brody’s generous pours. I’ve been running my mouth all night, and you’re probably ready to overdose on TMI.”
Molly’s brows shot high, and suddenly, she felt guilty. Had she seriously tuned out the last ten minutes of conversation?
“No, I’m fine. Just a little out of it, and I’m blaming Brody’s drinks too. And the raccoons last night. Just tired.”
Emily raised a hand to her mouth, trying to cover the yawn they’d all been fighting. “We need to find Molly a guy.”
Say what?
She craned her head, checking to see whether Sean was within earshot. Max was standing outside his tent at the next site, waiting on his wife, but Brody and Sean weren’t visible from where she’d been standing.
“Seriously, Em, we do,” Sarah agreed, that sleepy haze in her eyes starting to clear beneath the glow of the lantern. “You know what? We can. I mean, look at us. We’re smart…connected.”
Okay, this wasn’t good. “That’s sweet, but I’m not really into the whole setup thing.”
Just This Once Page 17