Once inside, Regan didn’t even bother to turn on more lights. She had left a small lamp on in the living room and it barely cast a glow in the foyer but it was all the lighting she needed. Dropping her purse and wrap to the floor, she stepped in close to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I want to thank you for an amazing evening.”
Sawyer wrapped his arms around her middle, securing her to him. “The pleasure was all mine. It was nice to get out and see the sights a little.” It wouldn’t have mattered what they had seen because all night, all he had been able to see was Regan. She was everything and he felt as if this was their first time together. He didn’t want frantic, he didn’t want to play games, he wanted to take his time and seduce her.
Regan leaned in for a kiss but Sawyer pulled back. Taking one of her hands in his, he led her over to the sofa and sat down. “I still feel like we’ve skipped over some of the more timeless aspects of a date. We jumped ahead and missed out on some of the finer things.”
She lowered her eyes and smiled. “Like making out on the couch?”
“It’s a classic for a reason,” he teased and then pulled her in to cut off any further conversation. He started out just gently nipping at her lips and then her cheek before venturing toward slowly kissing his way down the column of her throat. Regan lay her head back on the sofa and purred his name. “A classic,” he repeated before working his way back up to her lips.
This time he was a little bolder. His tongue traced her bottom lip and Regan whimpered as she opened her mouth and let him inside. Their tongues did a slow dance with one another as Sawyer’s hand came up and traced lazy circles up Regan’s neck. Never in his life could Sawyer remember wanting to just memorize the taste and the feel of a woman the way that he did right now. Tentatively, Regan placed a hand on Sawyer’s chest and he took his free hand to hold it in place over his heart.
Over and over he kissed her, needing her and yet wanting time to simply stand still for them so that this night, this one perfect night, could last forever. Slowly, Regan began to move closer and he could hear the change in her breathing. Sawyer removed the hand that was holding hers and slowly made his way, feather light, up her arm to her shoulder. He gently kneaded her there and then her neck before venturing down to cup her breast. Her nipples were already hard and he carefully played with them through the silky fabric of the dress until Regan was squirming beside him, panting his name.
“Make love to me, Sawyer,” she whispered. “Take me upstairs and make love to me.”
Without a word, Sawyer stood and scooped Regan up into his arms and strode up the stairs; he was a man on a mission. One small lamp was on next to her bed and he let it be. He had to see her as he slowly peeled the dress that had been driving him mad all evening down her body. Regan lay back on her bed, arms above her head and watched as Sawyer first removed his jacket and tie then his shoes and belt. By the time he placed a knee on the bed and leaned in to kiss her she was certain that she was about to go up in flames.
“I need you,” she said quietly.
“You have me.” Finally he began to remove her dress. His heart rate kicked up when he saw the tiny pieces of black lace that barely contained her breasts. “If I had known that this was what you had on underneath all night, I would have skipped the art walk.”
“You haven’t seen the rest of it,” she said simply.
Not one to pass up on a dare, Sawyer continued to peel the dress down her body and hissed out a breath at the sight of the matching lace thong she wore. He threw the dress to the floor and sat back on his heels and took in the sight of her in black lace and stilettos and he thought his heart might explode in his chest. There were no words; simply none. He had told her she was beautiful; had said that she was perfect and yet right here, right now in this moment, those words were too small.
Reverently, he ran a hand up the length of her from her ankle to her face and simply looked his fill. He could see Regan’s heart beating; could practically hear it for he knew it often matched his own and right now his was roaring in his head.
“Please,” she finally said, breaking the silence and with her hair fanned out on the pillows and her arms up in surrender, Sawyer gave up the fight. There would be plenty of time, years if he had his way, for him to simply look at her and touch her but right now he needed to love her. He rose from the bed and removed his clothes and then reached over and removed the black lace that would forever be burned into his memory.
He left the stilettos on.
Regan arched a brow at him. “Indulge me,” he said simply as he took a foil packet from his pants pocket and sheathed himself before returning to the bed to cover her body with his. Her skin felt cool and yet it burned against his; she was smooth as silk and smelled good enough to eat. He smiled inwardly at how much he wanted to do just that.
All of her.
From head to toe.
He trailed kisses from her lips to her throat to her breast where he stopped and paid homage to them until Regan was writhing beneath him. Her fingers were raking through his hair while he nipped and suckled at each crest and could have spent hours there.
But there was so much more waiting to be explored.
Gently, because he found out how ticklish she was, he reigned tiny kisses along her belly to her hipbone. Rough, callused hands that were used to hard work, softly kneaded her hips and his mouth traveled farther where he did a most thorough exploration of Regan that left her weeping with need for him. She begged for him, cried out for him and was left shattered into a million pieces by him. It didn’t deter Sawyer; he was a man on a mission and until his mouth had finished feasting on all of her, he wouldn’t give her what she wanted most.
His tongue traveled the length of each long, silky leg and stopped briefly to kiss behind each knee and each ankle before he began the entire process in reverse.
“Sawyer,” Regan panted. “You’re killing me.”
“Oh, no,” he said huskily. “Stay with me, baby. The best is yet to come.”
No truer words were ever spoken. As Sawyer traveled back up a body that was sheened with sweat and writhing in ecstasy, he thought that he had never seen a more erotic sight in his life. Regan naked except for the black stilettos and crying out for him pushed him over the edge. He wanted to see her like this bathed in moonlight. Reaching over he turned off the bedside lamp and did his best to hold on to his control for another moment to take in the sight before him.
One last plea escaped her lips before Sawyer came down and covered her with all of him; hooking his right arm under her knee to help give him access to the heaven that was waiting for him. One smooth thrust had him convinced that he had indeed died and gone to heaven; she was the perfect combination of wetness and tightness and if he didn’t reel his mind in, all of the preliminaries would have been for nothing.
Slowly he began to move inside of her and Regan eagerly met his every move. Her hands skimmed up and down his spine, now also sheened with sweat. Marveling at the play of muscles as she always did, she did her best to open her eyes and watch him. The intensity of the gaze staring back at her made her breath catch in her throat. Never had a man looked at her like this; never had she thought a man could look at her like this. Every emotion that Sawyer was feeling was right there before her and it was both humbling and overwhelming.
Because it matched all of her own.
Time lost all meaning as they continued to move together. There was no rush to a finish line, no need to do more than what they were doing right now – which was giving one another endless pleasure. Sawyer reached out both hands and braced them on Regan’s headboard for more leverage and she let out a cry of delight as he seemed to move even farther into her. With both legs wrapped firmly around his hips, she was close to yet another orgasm.
Sawyer changed his angle ever-so-slightly and that was all it took. Regan’s entire body shook with the intensity of her climax. He rode out each wave with her and when he felt her body calming down, he
allowed himself to finally have his own release. Spasm after spasm rocked him as he filled her so completely. He couldn’t tell where he ended and where she began, all Sawyer knew was that he barely knew his own name or where he was because all he could do was feel. Every nerve ending was on high alert and it would take a long time for him to come back down to Earth and breathe.
It was a damn shame that he had to.
With as much finesse as he could muster, he collapsed on top of her and sighed with relief when Regan wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. Their heartbeats raged together in a mindless rhythm and Sawyer could only hope that they both survived this. He smiled at the thought and a small chuckle escaped.
Breathlessly Regan asked, “What’s so funny?”
He wanted to pull up and look at her, he sincerely did, but his body wouldn’t cooperate. “I’m not sure either of us is quite alive here.”
She chuckled too. “I know what you mean but what a way to go.”
Carefully Sawyer rolled to his side and pulled Regan with him. She snuggled in close and he felt her sigh. Words weren’t necessary; it was simply enough to be there in one another’s arms as they settled back in to themselves. When their breathing finally evened out and Sawyer found the strength to pull the blankets up over them, he heard Regan sigh before she seemed to settle more firmly against him.
What did one say after experiencing something like they just had? Sex had always been fun for Sawyer but no woman had ever transformed him like Regan had. It was both terrifying and exciting and right now all he wanted to do was tell her what he was feeling but to say ‘I love you’ to someone after a mind blowing orgasm may not be the best way to go. If he had learned anything in his life it was that people tended to say stupid things while in bed with one another in the afterglow.
But he sincerely felt it. He was in love with her and he saw that love mirrored back at him in her eyes. Why shouldn’t they be able to say this to each other? Why wait? There aren’t always perfect moments to make such a momentous confession and while he’d rather say it someplace a little more romantic than while naked and tangled up together in bed, who’s to say that this wasn’t the right moment for it?
Regan stirred in his arms and he held his breath to see if she was awake or not. Lazily, she lifted her head and looked at him and smiled. “Mmm,” she purred. “Hey, you.”
“Hey,” he whispered, placing a kiss on the tip of her nose.
A slow smile crept across her face. “Is it still nighttime or even the same year?”
Sawyer nodded and smiled. “I believe so. It doesn’t seem possible though.”
Lowering her head, Regan kissed his shoulder and wrapped and arm across his chest and hugged him. “That was…amazing; simply amazing.”
“It’s you,” he replied. “You’re amazing.”
Regan shook her head. “It’s us. We’re amazing together.”
Here it was; this was the moment. Sawyer was ready to lay it all on the line when suddenly Regan released him and stretched. He waited a heartbeat to see what she was going to do and was mildly surprised when she sat up beside him and looked around the room.
“Are you okay?” he asked casually.
“I was just thinking about the night,” she began and turned to look at him. “I was so nervous about tonight.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know; I’ve been out on dates before but something about tonight seemed…like something different. Something more.” Scooting back, Regan settled against the pillows. “I agonized over what to wear and what to say and I can’t imagine why I made such a fuss out of it.” She turned and looked at him again and smiled a serene smile. “It’s us. There’s nothing about us that should make me nervous.”
Her honest words moved him. Regan was right; there was nothing to be nervous about. In that moment Sawyer knew that he could tell her exactly how he felt. If she wasn’t ready to say those three little words back to him then he would be okay with it. Well, let’s be serious, he would be disappointed but he would survive. He would have to remember not to push; not make her feel pressured to say it back to him. Even though they seemed completely in sync with one another, that didn’t mean that Regan was as comfortable with telling someone she loved him as he was.
Wait, was he? Was he comfortable? How many times had he said he loved someone? Regan shifted positions again and her head was back to being on his shoulder and her hand was lazily tracing lines on his chest. It felt good. But back to the whole saying-I-love-you thing. When was the last time he had said it? He frowned as he wracked his brain. What the hell? Surely in his lifetime he had to have told someone that he loved them. Other than his father. A slight shake of his head had him realizing that in all of his short-lived relationships, he had not only never said it to anyone, he had never felt it with anyone.
Was he really feeling it now? His heart rate kicked up and he thought he was going to have a mild panic attack. Why now? Why was he freaking out about this now? Two minutes ago he was completely confident in telling Regan that he loved her. It was no big deal, he was ready. And now, because he had gone and over-analyzed it, he was second-guessing himself and wondering why he had never told another woman that he loved her.
Because you’ve been waiting for Regan, a small voice inside of him said.
But he wasn’t sure he was ready to believe that voice. It seemed too simple, too at-the-ready. Was it really possible that he had been waiting all of his life for just one woman? That sub-consciously he was aware of that fact? It seemed like a little too much to believe.
Regan lifted her head. “You seem to have quite a lot on your mind over there, Bennett,” she teased.
He looked at her as if he had forgotten she was there. “What? What do you mean?”
“I mean I can hear you thinking from here. Are you okay?”
Sawyer kissed her forehead and made a snap decision. “I am more than okay; damn-near perfect.”
Relief seemed to wash over her. “Oh. Okay. That’s good.” She nibbled on her bottom lip and now it was Sawyer’s turn to ask if she was okay and she nodded. “Like you, damn-near perfect.”
“Okay then.”
“But…”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “But…?”
“Okay, don’t laugh.” He made an “X” over his heart. “But I was thinking about our walk around downtown earlier…”
“Right…”
“And how wonderful dinner was…”
“O-Kay…”
She looked at him with a worried expression and then simply blurted out, “And now I want ice cream!’
Sawyer let out a full-body laugh and pulled her in close. She was trembling with laughter in his arms and he held her like that until they were both exhausted from mirth. “Well then,” he began, “please tell me that you have some down in the kitchen.”
Breaking free from his embrace she looked at him with patience. “Please…my freezer is always well-stocked just in case of an emergency.”
Loving the playful banter, Sawyer kicked the blankets away and pulled her from the bed and into his arms. “I love a woman who is prepared.”
Chapter Nine
The sun rose way too early for Regan’s liking but she loved rolling over and right into Sawyer’s arms, which, even in sleep, were seemingly waiting for her. A girl could get very used to this.
After their late night ice cream binge, they had lain together in bed making plans for a beach getaway the following weekend. Sawyer had it all planned out and had just wanted to make sure that Regan would be able to take the time away from the spa.
“Your mother’s house will be done by Friday,” he had told her, “and so I figure that we’ll be done filming after lunch and then we can get on the road. What do you think?”
Being with Sawyer seemed to take the sting out of her emotional attachment to her family home. Regan was always going to be sad that they were selling it and that she wouldn’t be able to bring her
own children there to visit their grandmother, but she came to realize that it really was just a place and to coin a phrase, home really is where the heart is.
“I think that sounds like a wonderful plan and I can’t wait for the renovations to be done so we can get away.” Sawyer’s expression showed that he wasn’t sure he heard her correctly. “I know, I know, I haven’t exactly been excited about the project but I see now that it’s the right thing to do and while I’m still a little sad, I’m actually looking forward to seeing what the future holds.” She realized how what she said may have sounded and so she cleared her throat and then quickly added, “You know, for my mom and Max.”
Sensing her unease, Sawyer had kissed her temple and held her close until they both fell asleep.
Now awake and relishing the feel of his even breathing, Regan had a chance to examine her words more closely. She was excited to see what the future held, but not only for her mother and Max. Truth be known, she was still curious as to what the future held for herself and Sawyer. Clearly he wasn’t leaving town as soon as the house was done, at least not to leave her, but what was going to happen after the beach? Was that going to be goodbye? Was it going to be the place where they figured out how to have their long-distance relationship?
She frowned. She didn’t want long-distance; she wanted the here and now. She wanted to wake up with Sawyer every morning and to fall asleep with him every night. While nothing was certain, Regan knew that he had commitments to the network before he would be able to settle in any one place and she could only hope that he wanted to settle here, near her.
Peeking over his shoulder at the bedside clock, she cringed when it read that it was only seven a.m. Yikes; way too early to be up with such deep thoughts. Unfortunately, the damage was done; she was wide awake and as glorious as it felt to be wrapped around one very yummy man, Regan was ready to get up.
Carefully disentangling herself from his muscular form, she tiptoed across the room to grab her robe before heading down the stairs. Once in the kitchen and after a quick glance around the cupboards and refrigerator, Regan found that she had plenty of ingredients to make a killer breakfast. Feeling energized she immediately got to work. Soon coffee was brewing, bacon was frying and pancakes were being flipped. Making up the plates, she constructed a make-shift tray to carry it all up the stairs to wake Sawyer up.
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