by Lori Foster
“All right.” He didn’t pressure her, just looped his arms around her waist, studied her face, and waited.
* * *
SEEING THE RETICENCE in Issy’s expression, Adam frowned. Something wasn’t right.
Only a few minutes ago, she’d been ready to come apart from his touch. He’d felt the wetness of her slicking his fingers, felt her heat and the way she clung to him, heard the incredibly sexy sounds she made as her release grew near.
She wanted him, he knew that. Hell, she hadn’t been shy about letting him know. But now, when they were finally ready to end the torture, she kept him standing on the dock.
She looked worried, and he didn’t like that. When they got together—and please, let it be now—he wanted her with him one-hundred percent.
Forcing himself to patience, he asked, “What is it, honey?”
A deep inhalation lifted her breasts. Beautiful, full breasts.
She braced herself—why, he didn’t know—and scooted closer, kissing his chest, his shoulder. “I’m hopin’ you don’t get mad.”
They were ready to have sex; why the hell would he be mad?
“And I hope you don’t change your mind. I really, really hope that.”
“Change my mind about wanting you? Not going to happen.” He needed her. He was so hard he hurt, but now, with this build-up of something, his gut cramped a little. “Whatever it is—”
“I love you,” she blurted.
Adam fell back a step and almost went off the side of the dock. Issy grabbed him, helping him regain his balance. He stepped them both forward, away from the edge.
Talking ninety miles a minute, Issy held on to him. “I’ve loved you for a long time! I’m so sorry I didn’t say somethin’ earlier. But I was afraid to. I didn’t think...that is, I know you don’t feel the same.”
He opened his mouth—but nothing came out. He needed a second to think.
“I love you,” she said again, her voice filled with longing. “But I want you, too.”
Want, as in sexually? That was good...or was it?
“You’re confused,” she said, her eyes big and filled with dread. “Of course I understand why. Please, please know that I don’t expect anything. I mean, I want things. I hope for things. But for this—” She gestured between them. “—that’s a given, okay?”
Stupidly, he shook his head. “This?”
“Sex. Us. We can do that regardless. We will do that. I mean, I want to and hope I’m not scarin’ you off. But if you don’t anymore, I promise I won’t fuss or anything.” Utterly agonized, she wound down, then whispered desperately, “I love you.”
She was so uncertain because she didn’t know he felt. But then, he didn’t know how he felt.
“I swear,” she added, “I wouldn’t tease and make you think... I wouldn’t lead you on only to throw out this emotional baggage and then bail on you. Noel told me—”
He latched onto that. “Noel?”
She nodded fast, her hands still holding on to him as if she feared he might run screaming away from her.
Because she loved him.
“Noel told me not to play Amber’s games. He said—”
More confusing by the moment. Adam put a finger to her mouth and shook his head. He needed a second. Or maybe a day.
He needed her.
“What does my busy-body cousin have to do with this?”
Issy shied away. “I, um...”
“Isabella?”
Hearing him use her full name, she lifted her chin. “I told her I loved you. That is, she offered to fix me up with some different guys and I told her it was you I wanted, that it was because of you I hadn’t been datin’ and...” She trailed off, becoming subdued once more. “Stuff.”
“Stuff,” he repeated stupidly. “What stuff?”
She shrugged. “Sex stuff.”
Poleaxed, Adam struggled to catch up. So she’d been celibate... “Because you want me?”
She nodded, then inhaled again.
And this time it was Adam bracing.
“I want you so much, Adam.” Her small hand moved over his chest, then up his shoulder to the back of his neck. Gaze pleading, she whispered, “Today. Right now. Okay? Please?”
He had no idea if he should be relieved or not. “I want you, too.”
Her smile came, then went. “But...and this is the tricky part.”
Oh good. A tricky part. He worked his jaw. “Let’s hear it.”
“If you’re not...if you don’t have feelins for me, too, then...” She winced. “It should probably just be this one time.”
It took a second for that to sink in. “One time...” sounded completely inadequate.
Staring up at him, Issy nodded. “One time to relieve the itch, or satisfy your curiosity or whatever it is you’re feelin’ for me.” Her gaze moved over him, hopeful, and damn but he saw the love.
For him.
“Amber told me you needed a nudge. She said you were so determined on bein’ a bachelor that you might not even recognize your own feelings. So I went along with her game.”
“Game?”
She bit her lips and nodded. “To give you that nudge.”
“By flaunting other possible guys in front of me?”
She winced, guilt stealing her gaze away so that she stared at the lake. “See, that was the plan at first. But before I could even give it a go, you approached me at the carnival and I wasn’t interested in that game anymore.” Her gaze returned to his face. “Only Amber didn’t know that, so she carried on. And between us, everything seemed to happen at once.”
Because he’d already been changing—without Amber’s damned intrusion. When he saw his cousin again—
“If you feel more for me,” Issy said quietly, drawing him back around, “then I’m here. I’m yours.”
His heart leapt at that, then started hammering. I’m yours. Elation coursed through him, ramping up his possessiveness, further sharpening his need, though how that was possible he didn’t know. He’d already wanted her more than any other woman, but now...what he felt wasn’t even in the same stratosphere of anything familiar.
“If that’s not what you want,” she continued, her expression watchful, wary. “If you don’t feel that way about me, then please, for my sake, let’s make it only once.”
The once being... “You mean this time? Here and now?”
She nodded. “Just this time, if all you want is sex.”
Still feeling a little numb and far too slow, Adam asked, “Do I have time to think about it?”
She gave a nearly hysterical laugh, but quickly cut it off with a hand over her mouth. Encouraged that he was still here, talking about it, she nodded fast. “Yes, of course.” She stroked her hand down his chest. “We could go up to my house now and...”
He cupped her face. “Sate our curiosity?”
“Yes. And you can think about it then, and later, and...take all the time you need.”
Never in his life had he felt so lost in confusion. Or so turned on. It wasn’t just the lust churning through his bloodstream, leaving him almost lightheaded.
His chest felt...full.
With emotion.
He wasn’t yet sure if that emotion was fear, or relief, or...what the hell it might be. There was just too damned much of it. So much, he thought he might choke on it.
He needed to act, so he did. Stepping to the boat, he retrieved his wallet, jammed it into his pocket, and bounded back out to the dock where he scooped her up and damn near ran up the hill to her house.
“Your sunglasses!” she said. “They’re still on the wall—”
Adam kissed her. He didn’t care about his sunglasses. He didn’t care about his cousin’s warped games. He wouldn’t have cared about
his wallet...except that’s where he kept an emergency condom, thank God.
He wanted Issy. He had her in his arms.
Curiosity, hell. His need was so powerful, it felt like a ticking time bomb.
CHAPTER EIGHT
LUCKILY THE BACKDOOR of her house wasn’t locked up, because Adam didn’t want to put her down. Practically jogging, he raced to the small patio, adjusted her so he could slide the door open, and found himself in her kitchen. His heart thundered. “Which way?”
Squeezing him, her face against his neck, Issy said breathlessly, “Down the hall, last room to the right.”
He passed other rooms, but didn’t care. As he rushed into her bedroom, he temporarily stalled.
It was...pretty. Girly, even. Braided rugs covered the hardwood floor. White and sky blue gauzy curtains coordinated with a patchwork quilt done in wildflower patterns.
Another facet to her personality.
Then he forgot about her room and lowered her to her feet.
“I’m wet,” she said.
“Good to know.” Reaching around her, he untied the bra top to her suit.
Issy held it in place. “No, I mean my hair and—”
He kissed her, devoured her, until she forgot about everything but him. Her arms came around his neck and he tossed the wet top aside, then slid his hands into her bottoms.
“Oh.” When he went to his knees, taking the bottoms with him, Issy braced her hands on his shoulders.
Breathing hard, Adam sat back on his heels and gazed at her naked body. Long ropes of wet hair trailed around her pale breasts, leading his attention to the dip of her narrow waist and slight curve to her belly, then down the length of her slender thighs. Damn, she was perfect.
Perfect for him.
Pulling her to him, he put a gentle love bite to her ribs, then her belly...and her inner thigh.
He rubbed his nose over her skin, drinking in her scent, filling his head with the aroused, rich, sun-warmed female fragrance. “God,” he groaned, turning the soft bites to open-mouthed kisses, tasting her, wanting to eat her up.
“Adam.” Tenderly, she coasted her fingers through his hair. “Come up here to me.”
Instead he tumbled her onto the bed, then settled over her. Long lashes half lowered in a heavy, aroused expression of excitement. “Stay just like this,” he told her. “Promise me.”
She nodded.
Levering up and off her, Adam dug in his back pocket, removed his wallet and opened it to find the lone condom tucked away.
“Aren’t you resourceful,” Issy teased.
“I don’t take chances.” Except that here, with her, he was. I love you. Her words kept playing in his head, over and over and each damn time it made his muscles tighter.
And his dick harder.
He needed to be inside her—but first he needed her back to the breaking point, gasping, squeezing him, moving against him...
Jesus. Holding the condom packet in his teeth, Adam looked at her while shucking off his shorts.
Her lips parted and she rose to one elbow.
“Ah-ah,” Adam told her after tearing open the foil packet. “You promised not to move.” He rolled on the rubber and came down over her again. “I like you just like this.”
Breathing harder, she nodded. “I like this too.” One of her legs hooked over his and she coasted her foot up the back of his calf, then his thigh, until she could wrap her leg around him. “You feel so good.”
He held both her breasts, bringing them together and bending to kiss her nipples, to lick at her, suck on her—make her urgent again.
She got there pretty quickly.
“Adam.” Arching her back and better offering up her breasts, she held his head to her.
“I want you to come for me.”
“Yes.” She tried to move under him, probably hoping to hurry him along.
Wasn’t going to happen.
Didn’t matter that he went nuts with wanting her, he needed to know it was good for her—and that meant letting her go first.
“Take it easy.”
“I’ve been wantin’ you too long.”
He started to say, Me too. But was that true? At the moment, it felt like he’d been waiting a lifetime for her. He said instead, “Shh...” and kissed his way down her body.
Issy squirmed, gasped, purred with each small nibble, leisurely lick, or soft suck.
Slipping off the side of the bed, he caught her hips, pulled her to the edge, and arranged her legs over his shoulders.
“Adam?”
The excited, rasping way she said his name turned him on even more. He nibbled his way from her inner knee to the top of her thigh, parted her gently with his fingers, and covered her with his mouth.
“Oh...wow.” Her tender thighs closed reflexively against his jaws as Adam moved his tongue over her, in her, then up to her small, swollen clitoris.
As he drew on her, she cried out, her hips lifting. He splayed one hand over her belly to hold her still and lifted the other to her breast, teasing her nipple.
She tasted so good and smelled even better and Adam knew he could spend an hour eating her. But far too soon she quickened, her thighs tensing, her belly clenching, hands fisted in the quilt and—
She cried out, at first high, then low and raw as her body squirmed and the pleasure drained her.
The second she went lax, while she was still gasping, Adam rose over her, pressed one leg wider, and sank into her with a vibrating groan. He wouldn’t last, knew it, hated it, but already a hot rush of release stole his resolve and his senses.
Limply, Issy hugged him, her lips moving over his shoulder as his hips pounded against her. He was almost gone when he felt her tightening around him again. He squeezed his eyes and clenched his teeth and concentrated, holding off his own release, holding, holding—until she broke. Then he lifted up to see her, his gaze locked on hers, and finally he let himself go.
* * *
AT SOME POINT Adam had turned to his back and brought Isabella with him. She rested atop him, her cheek to his chest, her body utterly lax.
Every so often Adam petted her, or kissed her shoulder or temple, occasionally fondling her backside.
She sighed and knew nothing could ever be more perfect.
Unless he loved her.
After waiting a half hour, the silence started to get to her. She came up to her elbows and found Adam wide awake, watching her with dark eyes and a disturbing intensity.
“Hey,” she said, suddenly feeling shy.
He tucked back her hair. “Hey, yourself.”
“That was...” Seriously, she had no words.
“Yeah.” Using both hands he cupped her face and brought her down for a gentle kiss. “Very much so.”
So he’d felt it too? Nice.
Hopefully he’d want to do it again, but she just didn’t know. “Did you think about...you know?” She toyed with his chest hair and dared a quick peek at him. “What I said.”
With deep concentration, he traced her mouth with one fingertip. “Thought about it, thinking about it, will think about it a lot more, I’m sure.”
What did that mean?
He continued to touch her, lifting one of her hands so he could kiss each fingertip.
Because she had no idea what they were doing, Isabella said, “Tomorrow I’ll go get the cat.”
“Mmm.” He kissed her wrist. “Want me to go with you?”
Did that mean..? If he offered to spend more time with her...was that an agreement of sorts to give a relationship a chance? She studied his expression, but other than looking sated, and tender and somehow cocky, she couldn’t tell what he thought or felt.
“So...”
He smiled. �
��So?”
Okay, now her temper was starting to prickle. “Not to pressure you, but..?”
When his brows pinched, she quickly retrenched and said, “Never mind. Surprise me.”
He turned her beneath him, stared at her, then took her mouth in a long, deep kiss. By small degrees, he lifted away and smiled down at her. “How about I call you in the morning?”
After that kiss, and with the feel of his big, firm body over hers, it took her a second to get her thoughts together. “Sure. That’d be great.” Playing it cool, she shrugged. “If that’s what you want.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “I want you.”
She reminded him, “You’ve had me.”
“I want you again.”
Her breath caught. “You mean...now?”
“Yeah, but I only had the one rubber.”
Damn. “I should’ve bought some.”
That made him grin again. “How about I bring more with me tomorrow?”
Her throat went tight. Trying to be firm, to stick with what she knew would be best, Isabella said, “I’d like that.”
“Good.” He bent to nibble on her shoulder, and honestly, the way the man nibbled got her very heated, very quickly.
“Adam, remember, I told you—”
“I know.” He gathered her close, his arms framing her head, his mouth pressing a kiss to her forehead, the bridge of her nose, and then her chin. “I’ll always be honest with you, Issy.”
Oh no. She wasn’t sure she wanted his bald honesty. She swallowed, nodded, and said warily, “Okay.”
“I want more with you. This one time, stupendous as it might have been, wasn’t near enough. Tomorrow won’t be enough, either. But I don’t know what will be enough. A lot happened, and it happened fast.”
She understood that. “You noticin’ me, and acting on it, and—”
He shook his head. “I’ve always noticed you, you need to know that. But until yesterday you always seemed real untouchable. I’m not sure what was different, but when I saw you at the carnival, sitting on that quilt with your shoes off—”
She laughed. “So nekkid feet did it for ya, huh?”
“It wasn’t just the ‘nekkid’ feet,” he teased, mimicking her accent. “You flirted with me. You went from mere politeness to teasing and giving off a vibe—”