Irresistible in Love

by Bella Andre

  “Let’s have a drink in the bar,” she said after the young man at reception had given them their room keys.

  It wasn’t a five-star hotel, but Evan had wanted to stay as close to Susan and Bob’s as possible. This place was well-maintained, with soft music playing and modern decor. It had a bellhop, and he’d already sent their suitcases up to their rooms. The bar next to the restaurant was fairly full, populated by tourists and business people.

  Having a drink with Paige? Not a good idea. She was too much temptation, her lips too kissable, her scent too mind-altering.

  But how the hell could he possibly resist her invitation when what he wanted above anything was to spend more time with her? Exquisite, torturous, amazing time with her. “Sounds good.”

  Paige looped her arm through his. Her soft curves were tantalizing, making him recall his brief, accidental touch along her calf when he’d leaned down to find the fallen die.

  Although he could have avoided touching her if he’d really wanted to. Evan Collins was a Maverick, after all. A master of control.

  Except when it came to Paige.

  Everything inside him ached with a desire he’d never known. It was like the warm waters of the bright blue Caribbean Sea, all-encompassing. It was more than want, more than desire. It was complete and total aching need. She was the only person who made him feel whole and good. The one person who made him feel like he had a prayer of figuring out his family, his failed marriage, his life, so that he could actually find true happiness one day.

  And still, he knew he couldn’t have her. Couldn’t be with her. Knew it was impossible.

  After they’d found a small table, he asked, “What would you like to drink?”

  “Champagne.”

  He cocked a brow. “Are we celebrating?”

  She smiled up at him, her face so beautiful and hopeful in the flickering light from the table’s candle. She was one of the most direct people he’d ever known, which was why he wasn’t surprised when she said, “I hope so.”

  He knew what she wanted to hear: that he’d forgiven Theresa and they would all live happily ever after. But he couldn’t give her that.

  Not when happily ever after had let him down so badly.

  The waitress was inundated by the other tables—and he was in dire need of some space to get his head, and heart, back in rational, working order—so he went to the bar himself, returning a few minutes later with champagne and a beer. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy champagne. But drinking it together seemed so romantic. Too romantic, if he wanted even half a hope of resisting her.

  Which he most certainly had to do.

  However, considering the way Susan had all but forced Paige to come to the hotel with him, Evan wondered if that hurdle—the one where his family disapproved of him being with his soon-to-be ex-wife’s sister—even existed anywhere but in his own mind.

  Paige shot him a mock frown as he sat beside her. The chairs were close, his knee brushing hers as it had all afternoon while they played Yahtzee. He felt the headiness of her proximity like the bubbles in her champagne.

  “You’re not celebrating with me?”

  “Beer has fizz.” He clinked his mug against her glass, then drank, licked the foam off his lip, and noticed the way her gaze locked on his mouth.

  Like she wanted to do the licking.

  Jesus. She wasn’t just invading his dreams, she was inside his head, his body, his heart, every second of the day.

  “Today went extremely well, don’t you think?” She looked at him over the rim of her glass as she sipped the champagne.

  “It did,” he agreed, even though he’d rather be leaning close and whispering hot nothings in her ear and closing his eyes to steep his senses in her.

  “Are you going to give me two- and three-word answers all night?”

  Kiss me. Those were the two words he wanted to give her. And then three more. I want you.

  Instead, he said, “No.” And thought, I shouldn’t be having these feelings for you. “Tony and Kelsey are great.” But I can’t stop thinking about you.

  “And what about your mom? Does her story help at all?”

  “Some.” If I kiss you right now, you won’t be able to ask a single other question. And you’ll taste like heaven. “If she’d tried to get me, if my dad had caught her trying to leave him, she might not have been able to run at all.”

  “Do you feel you could ever forgive her?”

  One kiss is all it will take to clear your mind of everything but how good I can make you feel.

  Before he could formulate a response to her extremely weighted question, her phone rang from the depths of her purse. Her pupils dilated slightly as she looked at him.

  “Aren’t you going to answer it?”

  “No,” she said flatly. Then she swallowed and said, “I’m sure it’s Whitney.”

  Whitney. Always goddamned Whitney between them. “How can you be sure?”

  Without taking her eyes off him, she fished out her phone and showed it to him. “I’ve been ignoring her calls.”

  “That’ll come back to bite you.” He knew that better than anyone.

  “I don’t care.” Her gaze was militant. “She won’t ever listen to reason or take responsibility. No matter what I say to her. No matter what anyone says. Like I told you before, I’m done with her games.”

  So was he. But would Whitney let either of them ever be done with her?

  “This is why I don’t see forgiveness in my future,” he said, “because people never change, do they? Take Whitney. She was always a liar. And I was always the idiot who didn’t know it.”

  Paige put her hand over his, and he realized his fist had clenched. “You weren’t an idiot. She’s just so good at—”

  “Manipulating me.”

  “She manipulated me too.” Her thumb stroked the back of his hand.

  God, her touch. It made him insane. Filled him with so much desire that there was barely any room left in him to care about how bad his marriage had been. All he wanted was to drag Paige onto his lap and ravage her mouth until she forgot everything else. Until all that mattered was her, and him…and pleasure.

  “Tomorrow.” The word came out hard. Partly out of frustration over how badly she wanted him to forgive Theresa. But mostly because of the battle between his conscience and how much he wanted Paige, no matter the consequences. It was his mistakes with Whitney that made a relationship with Paige an impossible fantasy. “We can talk more about all of this tomorrow.”

  Her face dropped all expression, her eyes grew shuttered, and her hand slid from his. She pushed her drink away, picked up her purse, and headed for the elevator, Evan close at her heels.

  The elevator door was closing as she said in a stilted voice, “The only thing I truly want is to help.”

  “I know that.” He wouldn’t let himself look away from her beautiful eyes. “But maybe I can’t be fixed.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “You’re wrong, Evan.”

  Nine years. She’d waited nine years for him to come around. Nearly an entire decade for him to look in the mirror and see what she did every time she looked at him.

  Tonight, Paige was done with waiting.

  Either he was willing to finally open his eyes to everything that she saw, everything she knew to be true.

  Or he wasn’t.

  “I’m not trying to fix you.” She refused to let her hands tremble. Wouldn’t allow her stomach to twist. “You don’t need anyone to do that. Can’t you see that you’re already perfect just the way you are?”

  He stared at her for a long moment.

  “No,” he finally said, “you’re the one who’s perfect.”

  She didn’t have time to breathe, or even to blink, before he was hauling her up the elevator wall and crushing his lips to hers. His kiss was brutal and beautiful.

  And, oh God, he tasted like pure bliss.

  Her mouth opened beneath his, and she wrapped her arms and her
legs around him, holding him tight against her. He consumed her, testing every hollow and dip of her mouth, caressing her tongue with his, letting her feel all his heat, his muscles, his arousal against her.

  The elevator dinged, and he lifted his mouth from hers. “Don’t leave me.”

  “I never could. Not then. Not now.”

  She was still in his arms, still curled around him, as he strode out of the elevator and down the hall toward their rooms.

  His defenses were down after the day he’d had, after all they’d talked about tonight. Any other night, she would have made absolutely sure she wasn’t taking advantage of the situation, or of him.

  But she couldn’t stop now. Even if he decided in the morning that it was all a mistake. She wanted all of him now, so she wouldn’t worry about the rest until later.

  Paige had fallen head over heels for Evan when she was twenty-one. She couldn’t wait another second to love him with every part of her body, heart, and soul.

  At the door to his room, he held her up against the wall and took her mouth hungrily. No man had ever kissed her as if he needed to devour her, to make her his, to bind her to him.

  Didn’t he know that her heart was already bound to him? That she had been his from the very first time she walked into his classroom and he’d smiled at her?

  His breath brushed her lips, his forehead against hers. “Are you sure?”

  “I’ve never been more sure.” Even if there were regrets in the morning, she didn’t care. Paige needed tonight. “I want you. I want to be with you.”

  He stared down at her, his gaze intense. And so hot with desire that it took her breath away. “I don’t have any protection.”

  “I’m on the Pill. And there hasn’t been anyone for months.” There’d only ever been Evan in her heart.

  He shoved the card key in and pushed the door open, pulling her inside with him. The lock clicked with finality behind them—and this time, she didn’t wait for him to kiss her.

  She was so done with waiting.

  Pressing her lips to his, she reveled in his groan and in how badly he wanted her. She licked over his tongue once, then again. Slipping her hand beneath his open coat, she splayed her fingers over his chest, loving how his body pushed into hers almost involuntarily, tantalizing her with the feel of every one of his hard muscles.

  All day and all evening, she’d been wholly aware of him, every move, every look. Now, her fantasies turned blissfully real as he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed.

  He set her down and stepped back to look at her.

  “Paige.” His voice was a reverent whisper as he slid her coat down her arms and let it fall to the carpet. “You are so beautiful.”

  She pushed his jacket from his shoulders. “So are you. Not only beautiful, but a good man too. In every way.”

  “I’m not.”

  Her heart squeezed at the pain and guilt in his voice. “How can I make you see that you are?”

  “If only I’d been able to not look at you,” he said, almost to himself. “To not see how beautiful you are.” He took her hand, lifted it to his chest, as though she could absolve him of his crimes if only he confessed. “The Halloween party. I saw you there.” A muscle jumped in his jaw. “I wanted you there. Wanted you with everything I am.”

  “I felt your eyes on me.” She put her hands to his face, made sure he was looking into her very soul. “I wanted you too. With all my heart. And I’m not sorry or guilty for the way I feel about you.”

  “Paige.”

  Her name was still on his lips as he gathered her close again and kissed her like he’d been waiting forever for her.

  The way she’d been waiting forever for him.

  He trailed his fingers down her face, along her throat, over her back to her hips. His fingertips played along the small bare patch of skin between her jeans and her sweater. A beat later, her sweater came off, her jeans quickly following, until she was in nothing but panties and bra.

  “God.” His voice was reverent. And full of the most delicious lust. “Do you know how many times I’ve imagined you just like this?” He skimmed his hands over her body without actually touching, and yet electricity arced between them. “Today, on the plane, you were all I could think about. I wanted to kiss you. Touch you. Strip you bare and love every inch of you with my hands.” He traced a finger along the sky-blue lace edge of her bra. “With my mouth.” His lips dropped to swells of her breasts.

  Paige threaded her fingers through his hair and arched up into him as he brushed the gentlest, the sweetest—and the filthiest—kisses along her flushed skin.

  Her breath was coming in short pants when he finally lifted his head again. “You.” It was all she could get out at the moment. “Naked.”

  Her hands trembled from the force of her need as she reached for his shirt and slipped the buttons free. She’d seen him without his shirt during pool parties and barbecues, but when she pushed the crisp blue cotton from his shoulders, she lost her breath.

  Finally—finally!—she could touch him, run the flat of her hands over his warm, tanned skin, his corded arms, his broad shoulder muscles. At long last, she could lean in and brush her lips over his chest. Kiss the hot flesh over his beating heart.

  The more she touched, the more she tasted, the more she wanted. And her hands no longer shook as she undid the top button of his slacks, then slid the zipper down.

  “I want to touch you.” She licked her lips, watched as his eyes moved to her mouth, his gaze hungry. “I need to touch you.”

  “What are you waiting for?”

  He was right. She was done waiting.

  They both were.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself flush to him. Skin to skin, chest to chest, heart to heart.

  She tilted her head back so she could see his face. So he could see the flush of desire on hers. “Love me, Evan. I don’t want to wait any longer.”

  Her words galvanized him. After tossing the covers back, he picked her up and almost tossed her onto the bed, climbing up over her. Then he slowed everything down, trailing his hands up her stomach, making her quiver. “So much pretty lace.” He edged her bra with his finger, dipping inside to caress her nipple. Dragging the lace down a centimeter at a time, he leaned in to take her aroused flesh between his lips.

  His mouth. God, it was good. So good. Better than anything else had ever felt.

  She arched against him, holding his hips down to her, rubbing herself against him as he tasted her.

  He snapped the front clasp of her bra and pushed the cups aside. “You’re so soft, so perfect.” He traced his tongue between the two peaks, and she cried out, sensation streaking down to her center, out to her limbs, making her fingers and toes tingle.

  He slid the straps down her arms and pulled the bra from beneath her, tossing it away. Then he brushed down her belly again, until he reached the lace panties. With the tip of one finger, he traced the line of her sex. She shivered, moaned, as he leaned into her, sucking on her throat, licking her.

  Then he slid inside the panties and found her center.

  “Jesus. You’re so wet, so ready for me.” He kissed her hard, stroking again, just barely touching her overheated skin as she shook with need. “I need to be inside you.” His fingers delved deep, and she gasped.

  “Yes.” She was almost incoherent as she pressed hard into his hand. She had just enough brainpower left to tug his boxers down. With her feet, she kicked them off his legs. And then she did what she’d long dreamed of, curling her fingers into a fist around him and stroking.

  “Sweetheart, you’re killing me.”

  “Then take me, Evan. Now.”

  “I need to taste you first.” He hauled her up the bed until her head was on the pillow and kissed her lips, tasting deep. “Every inch of you.” He trailed his tongue around the shell of her ear, and she dug her fingers into his arms. “I can’t get enough of you.” He kissed down her throat, her ch
est, lavishing her with tongue and mouth, teasing her breasts.

  She writhed beneath him. “Evan, please.”

  She was begging him for all of it—his mouth between her legs, his body inside her, his heart open to hers. She’d dreamed of him for too long, watched him for too many years, knowing he would never be hers, never touch her, never kiss her. Yet he’d owned her soul almost from the moment she’d seen him.

  And now they were here. Together. Loving each other.

  At last.

  But he didn’t rush as he layered kisses down her stomach. And he was right, the extra little bit of anticipation only made it better. Hotter.

  She rubbed her hands up and down his arms, over his back, ran her fingers through his hair, growing desperate as he reached for her panties and slowly stripped them down her thighs. She was going to burst, was going to explode if she had to wait one more sec—

  He swiped over her with his tongue, and she nearly came off the bed, almost shattered into a million little pieces with just that one small wet lick over her most sensitive flesh.

  “More,” she whispered, the word close to a sob.

  He twirled around her with his tongue, excited all her cells into wild, crazy motion. Suckling and licking and tantalizing and turning her into a mindless creature that couldn’t think, only feel. And beg.

  “Please, Evan. Please.”

  Her hips moved beneath him, pushing him. She climbed higher, reaching for the fire in the sky. He clamped his hands on her hips and held her tighter, so close that she couldn’t feel any space between them.

  Then he slid his fingers inside, and she lost conscious thought, lost everything but the ability to scream, losing herself completely to him.

  The same way she had so very long ago, from nothing more than his smile.

  * * *

  Evan had never known lovemaking could be like this.

  There was so much joy in touching Paige, so much wonder in kissing her, so much beauty in tasting her. He loved her voice, loved her abandon, loved that she seemed to crave the things he did to her.