“Maybe I did too.” She had. That was why she pushed him away so hard.
And then his lips reached hers. The first flick of his tongue was heaven, and the slow exploration of her mouth that followed was ... tender. In spite of the heat.
It was good to know he could be tender. But she wanted more. Might as well admit it. So she leaned into him and drew his head down so she could kiss him back, thoroughly.
He seemed to get the message. When he finally came up for air, he was panting, and there was a fire in his eyes.
Shit. Hell and damnation.
He didn’t have a condom.
Why would he? He hadn’t bedded a woman in months. And he’d had no intention of bedding one tonight. He could not ask Kemble—if the Prince of Wales even indulged in women between bouts of genius investing and astounding computing skills. It was miles to a drug store. But he’d never chance leaving Maggie carrying a child from a casual encounter.
This doesn’t feel casual.
Before he could think about that, she turned out the light, leaving the room bathed in moonlight alone. Devin said tonight at dinner that this was the closest the moon would be in years. He called the full moon shining through the library windows a “super moon.”
Maybe this thing with Maggie was caused by some shift in the planets. He’d never wanted a woman the way he wanted her. Not drawn against his will like this.
So he wasn’t going to just close up shop and walk away for the lack of a condom.
She hadn’t thought of that problem yet. She pulled his head down almost roughly and got back to his mouth, tugging at his lower lip with her teeth and swirling her tongue inside. He slid his hand up under that short robe that drove him crazy and cupped her bare butt cheek. It was easy to lift her, little thing that she was. She wrapped her legs around him and held on to his neck.
He headed over to the big leather couch set diagonally against one corner of the room, detouring to the door to lock it by leaning on the handle with his butt.
He let her gently down onto the couch and leaned over her, their mouths never parting. She was a hungry one. One hand slid from around his neck and scraped her short nails over his right nipple. His cock bobbed against his sweats in reaction. Damn this sling. He wanted her next to his skin. But he didn’t dare just rip it off. She couldn’t know his mother had healed him.
Sliding his good hand inside the vee of her robe and under her nightshirt, he cupped one breast. Soft. Yielding. All the things Maggie wanted everyone to think she wasn’t. Her moan as he rubbed his palm across her tight nipple almost drove Tris over the edge. Could he muster enough control to pull out? Probably not. So he shouldn’t chance penetration. Even though sinking to his hilt in Maggie was what his brain and his body were screaming to do.
Maggie sat back, gasping. “So how we going to avoid putting you back in the hospital?”
Maggie watched Tris get a wicked gleam in his eye. “You’ll have to help. How about your clothes? You could take those off.” He wiggled the hand in the sling to indicate how impossible it was for him to undress her.
Two could play that game. “Okay. I’ll take charge. But you may be sorry. I think I’d better help you first. You’re delicate.” She grinned and pulled at the drawstring that held up his sweats. He just watched her, eyes smoldering.
“Hope you know what you’re getting into,” he said.
Smug bastard. “I’ve ridden bigger brutes than you. Can you handle that?”
“I’ll give it a go.”
She rose and slipped behind him, tugging his sweats down over what turned out to be a just-about-perfect butt. She’d known there was a butt like that under those jeans pockets. She squeezed a little before she knelt and held the sweats while he pulled first his casted leg out and then balanced with a hand on her shoulder as he pulled his other foot free. How was he even standing up without a crutch? He was naked except for his sling and the cast.
She was breathing hard. As she rose, he said, “I can do without the sling.”
Okay. His call.
Be careful with him.
Yeah. That meant she shouldn’t actually push him down onto the couch and pounce on him. Before she dealt with the sling, she ran her hands up his back and pulled the towel from around his neck. The muscles flexed under her hands, almost as if he were flinching from her touch. She let the towel drop and traced the knotted pattern of the tattoo over his right shoulder.
“So, ah, I ... I don’t have any ... protection,” he said. “I mean I wasn’t really planning on doing this.” Now he actually sounded nervous. “There are lots of other ways....”
Oh. He was afraid to get her with child. Right. He should be. She didn’t want a child off a man who was a one-night stand. A one-night stand of your choice, she reminded herself when that felt ... bad. They’d never be together, never have a child.
That’s all right. It is. It’s exactly what I want tonight, she told herself firmly. She’d never get what she’d admitted to this man she wanted most anyway.
Or was he just trying to get her to suck him off? She’d never wanted to do that for a man. And she wasn’t going to start with Tris Tremaine in his parents’ library for God’s sake. Besides, she wanted the full rodeo. She had some deep driving need to have him fill her and pound into her and make her scream. “Maybe you could pull out?” She slid around to the side, her robe brushing against his flanks. She almost gasped when she saw his ... his equipment standing to attention. He was, uh, well endowed, thick and straight. Oh, yeah. She wanted that. As she watched he throbbed with need.
“In my current state, that’s a little chancy.” When she raised her brows, he cleared his throat. “Uh, I haven’t had a woman in a while.”
This guy hadn’t had a woman in a while? He could go home with anyone in any room any night of the week. He must have seen her look of surprise.
“I had, uh, lost interest in ... in ... a lot of things, until I met you.” He smiled. It was almost tender, like that first kiss. And vulnerable. That smile did things to her. It seemed a part of him he didn’t let anyone else see, even his family. He often looked remote or strong or disapproving. Tonight he even laughed. But he didn’t look tender and she bet he never let himself look vulnerable. She knew a secret about him no one else knew, maybe not even Tris himself.
She unbuckled his sling. Reaching to slip it off over his head made her breasts press against it. Her nipples shot sensation through to her groin. She tossed the sling.
He took her by the shoulders and gently pushed her into the couch. She let him, even though a moment ago she’d wanted to be in control. That embarrassed admission that he wouldn’t be able to control himself with her rang true for some reason, though she knew that guys who looked like this lied to women about how special they were all the time. The man who put an ice pack to her cheek back in the shack had somehow become not just “a guy who looked like that.” There was a core of goodness in Tris Tremaine, one even his family wasn’t sure about.
But she was. In this moment, she was sure.
He knelt in front of her and pulled the tie on her robe. As it fell open, she just took the hem of both the robe and her chemise and pulled them over her head. When she tossed them they landed on top of Tris’s sling. He wormed his way between her knees and leaned in to kiss her.
But he jerked away. “You’re bruised.”
She looked down. “Yeah. Maggie versus steering wheel when I slammed on the brakes.”
He looked so genuinely distressed, she wanted to smile. “I didn’t know you were hurt.”
“I’m fine.” He looked like he was about to protest. “Look, if you’re fine, I’m finer, okay?” She didn’t give him a chance to protest but leaned into him. She felt him sigh in resignation.
He nuzzled her forehead with his lips. “You’ll tell me if I hurt you.”
“Mmmmm hummm.” He took a breast in the palm of each hand. All she could think about was the feel of his hands on her, and his lips kis
sing the line of her jaw. Then he took her in his arms, and they were strong arms. His biceps bulged as he caressed her back and she just had to put her hands on them and squeeze. Her hands moved up to his shoulders, kneading. The feel of male flesh was intoxicating.
“Oh! Your shoulder!” How could she have forgotten herself?
“It’s fine,” he mumbled into her throat. “Just fine.” He kissed his way down to her left breast. “I knew your breasts would be just this ... wonderful.”
“They’re small.”
“Don’t criticize my taste. They’re perfect.”
“You say that to all the breasts you meet.”
“I usually don’t say anything at all. Safer.”
But he said he liked hers. Why did he bother? As he worked his way lower, she lost her train of thought. Was he going to...? She’d never let anyone do that to her. Well, Phil the Rat had never wanted to, and it wasn’t something she could ask for even though she’d been curious. And there really hadn’t been anybody but Phil the Rat, only romance novels, so....
That was exactly what he was going to do. He pushed her knees apart and slid one hand up the inside of her thigh, all the while he was kissing and licking her lower belly. She could feel the slickness on her thighs. And then he used that hand to part her folds and he kissed lower....
The first lick of his tongue across her clitoris made her want to scream. She put her hands over her mouth, just to remind her where she was. His tongue probed straight into the core of her. My God. She hadn’t known she wanted this, but she wanted it very, very much. He licked back up to her clitoris and his fingers took his tongue’s place inside her. He was playing her like one of Lanyon’s instruments, his full attention on giving her pleasure. Her hands found their way to his hair. She held his head as his tongue tormented her and his fingers worked in and out.
She wanted it to go on forever, just like this. But already she was cycling up with frightening speed. Tris must have felt it too. He lifted his head.
“Let’s take this slow.” His fingers were still inside her.
“Don’t you dare stop now,” she panted and took him by the shoulders.
With a grin he bent to his task. A few flicks of his tongue and she was over the edge. She got her hand up to her mouth just in time to keep herself from screaming before the wave crashed over her and tumbled her poor little mind over and over again in the wash of its feeling.
As the wave receded, she started to cry. She didn’t mean to cry. It just happened. And when she started she couldn’t have stopped if her life depended on it.
Tris scooted up and took her in his arms. She realized she’d been clutching his shoulders so tightly she’d left nail marks on him. “Oh,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry!”
“For what?” he soothed, stroking her hair. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”
“I left bloody nail marks on you. And I’m crying.”
“Just release of tension. There’s no harm in that.” He held her head to his chest. The smell of him filled her nostrils. His chest hair was crinkly against her cheek, and there, right in front of her was that tight little man-nipple. She had the worst urge to lick it. And instead she was crying. “I’m glad I could give you pleasure,” he whispered into her hair, kissing it.
“Oh, my goodness! We ... we have to pay attention to you.” She gave a couple of watery hiccups and peered down at him. Was he even still erect?
“There’s plenty of time for that. I can take care of myself, just to make sure we don’t get any baby-making material where it shouldn’t be.”
He was still very erect. His balls were tight and high. Here he was needy and kneeling between her knees, and she was sitting around sobbing while he held her.
“Want to watch?” he asked, sliding his hand around the base of his cock with a sly grin.
She wanted that big cock inside her. It didn’t look like it would fit. But according to her romance novels men could almost always fit if they went slowly and their partner was ready. She was readier than any of those heroines ever were. “This is not a spectator sport. Sure you won’t give the pull-out strategy a try?” She saw his reluctance and didn’t want to ruin the moment. “Okay. No penetration. But if you think I’m going to let you have all the pleasure of touching you, you’ve got another think coming.” She pushed his hand away and replaced it with her own.
Oh. She’d forgotten how silky the skin on a man’s penis was. And the hardness beneath seemed all the more miraculous because of it. She slid down the length of him and fondled the crown. “Hands behind your back, big guy. This job is all mine.”
“It ... it might not be a very long job.” He sounded almost in pain, but he clasped his hands at the small of his back. God but that was sexy.
“Like I wasn’t quick on the draw,” she said, leaning forward to cup his balls, sliding them against each other inside their sack. She slid off the couch to kneel beside him. Her left hand continued working at his shaft while she ran her right hand over his back and down to his butt. His muscles were clenched tight and he was breathing in gasps. He wasn’t kidding. He was probably close. She took her hand away. He needed more enjoyment than just a few seconds.
“God, Maggie,” he growled. “Have mercy.”
“I could lick you,” she said. And suddenly, though she’d never wanted to do that before, she wanted to do it now, with Tristram, who had been so generous with her.
“No time. Just ... just touch me.”
“Oh, he wants what he wants and he wants it now....” she purred. How she loved to see him wanting what she could give him.
“If you knew....”
She slid her left hand back down over his cock as she pressed her breasts into his ribcage. Now the tip oozed clear fluid she could rub all over the head.
“Please....” he whispered hoarsely.
He sounded so desperate, she took his cock firmly and began more purposeful strokes as he rocked his hips into her hand. Three strokes, four, and he was grunting as he spilled his seed all over the leather couch. The spurting went on and on. She didn’t know men had so much semen. Phil the Rat sure hadn’t. But had she even ever seen him ejaculate? He was always on top of her, inside her, head buried in the pillow.
“Sorry,” Tris mumbled when he could get his breath. He turned and took her in his arms.
“You wouldn’t let me be sorry, so I won’t let you be sorry either,” she said. Now her bare breasts brushed against his abs and she felt herself getting hot all over again.
“I never thought of myself as a quick come. Guess I’ve wanted to make love to you pretty much since I met you. I had quite a head of steam built up.” He was kissing her hair as they held each other in the light of the super moon.
“Me too,” she said.
“Next time, I’ll do the thing right. Condoms and everything.”
But there wouldn’t be a next time. Unless.... She could feel his fullness against her belly. She turned her face up. She’d never seen anything as beautiful as his profile. The shadows and silver made it stark, almost abstract, when he turned to look at the moon. She could imagine his tattoo, shifting, writhing over his shoulder in the moonlight.
He drew her up and over to the windows. The moon made the black sea glint like gunmetal in a wide channel. Tris tucked her into his arm. She glanced down and saw that he was already erect. “What if next time is right now?” she whispered.
He looked down at her and the tenderness of the smile had spread into his eyes. “Then we’ll have to get creative.”
Oh, she liked the sound of that.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Maggie turned over. Just a minute more. She’d promised herself an hour of sleep before she started loading horses. The bed was so comfortable, the twittering of birds through the open windows soothing. Okay, she couldn’t deny she was awake. But she could indulge herself in remembering last night for just a minute more.
Tris had been such a tender lover. One with very clever fi
ngers and tongue. Lots of practice, no doubt. The orgasm had kind of ebbed and flowed that last time, on and on. Was that what multiple orgasms felt like? She’d never had multiple orgasms before. And Tris ... good thing they’d had that towel to wipe up after him. He hadn’t allowed her to suckle him. He said he thought it would kill him, but that was just to put her off. Maybe he didn’t think she had enough experience to avoid hurting him. Maybe that was true. Still, he was so responsive that caressing his shaft had him spurting again and again even though he was injured. She smiled. It had felt good to give him pleasure.
And now it was over.
Time to face facts. She was leaving today and she would never see Tristram Tremaine or his family again. That thought made her feel physically ill—an aching in her bones and her belly that made her gasp in its intensity. But he was still a disaster waiting to happen for her. More so now that they’d made love. Her feelings for Tris hadn’t been cured by indulging herself. Far from it. So she had to go. She gasped as her stomach cramped. She’d think about that later. The pain subsided. She took a breath and opened her eyes. A definite shaft of light showed at the split in the center of the heavy draperies.
Hellfire and brimstone!
Birds twittering. Ack! Birds didn’t twitter as far before dawn as she had meant to get up. She’d overslept. How badly? She threw back the covers and felt around for her watch on the night table. She took it over to the window and peered at it.
Ten o’clock?
She was so screwed. Well, better late than never. She still had to go. Her head started to ache. Her heart seemed to contract.
By the time Maggie tiptoed downstairs with backpack in hand, she realized something was up. Pandemonium had broken out on the ground floor.
At the center of a crew clad in white jumpsuits, Mr. Nakamura issued crisp orders. Two men dragged equipment in from a truck parked in the circle drive. The foyer was filled with vacuums and polishers, long window-cleaning squeegees and boxes of cleaning supplies.
01 Do You Believe in Magic - The Children of Merlin Page 19