Designs on Haley (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

by Nita Wick

  The idea of a relationship scared the hell out of her. So did the prospect of spending the rest of her life alone. She whispered to the woman in mirror, “Haley Preston, you’ve wallowed in self-pity long enough. Get a backbone.”

  She straightened and headed to main room. Michael still slept, just as she’d left him. Leaning down, she braced her arms on either side of his head and brushed her lips across his. He stirred but didn’t wake. She kissed him again, this time running the tip of her tongue across the seam of his lips.

  He murmured her name and clutched the sides of her face. In the space of a heartbeat, the kiss turned incendiary, fanning the embers of desire in Haley she’d fought to keep banked. His mouth opened under hers, and he kissed her with an intensity that left her dizzy.

  Breathless, Haley pulled away and held out her hand. “Come to bed.”

  Michael’s eyes appeared glazed and unfocused for a moment. She knew the instant he became fully awake, aware of what she’d said. He sucked in a quick, unsteady breath and stood.

  She took his hand to lead him to the bedroom, but he remained rooted to the floor. “I can’t.”

  Shock filled her. “Why not?”

  “Sitting with you here on the couch was almost more than I could stand. There is no way in hell I can lie next to you and not touch you, Haley.” His hungry gaze roamed her nearly naked body. “Especially with you dressed like that.”

  Haley grinned. She’d spent so much time arguing with herself over whether or not to give in to her desire, she’d forgotten about his promises. “I’ve changed my mind. I want you to make love to me.” She tugged on his hand again.

  He stepped toward her. “Are you sure?”

  She closed her eyes and whispered, “I want you.”

  “Will you regret it in the morning?” His hand caressed her cheek.

  “Maybe.”

  “It would kill me if you did.” Remorse and a touch of anger filled his voice. “I don’t want a one-night stand, babe. I want more than that, and you know it. We should wait until you’re sure you won’t regret it.”

  “No.” She slid her arms around his neck. “I think I’ll regret it more if we don’t make love. I’m tired of being a coward, Michael. Afraid to feel. Too scared to risk being hurt. I want to live again.” Pulling his head down, she kissed him. “I want you. I know it sounds cliché, but I ache for you. I want you so bad it hurts.”

  A smiled tugged the edges of his mouth. “I don’t mind clichés.” He lowered his head and took her lips. His tongue plundered her mouth, his unspoken demand clear. As devastating as his kisses had been before, he’d been holding back. A wave of lust crested and crashed around her, sweeping away any restraint. Just when she feared her knees would buckle, he clasped her buttocks and lifted her. The hard ridge of his jean-covered arousal she’d felt against her belly now rubbed the lace panties over her mound.

  Hot moisture burned her already throbbing core. She lifted her dangling legs to encircle his lean hips and bring his length closer to her. He growled into her mouth but didn’t break the kiss as he strode into the bedroom. Next to the bed, he loosened his grip and lifted his head.

  Haley didn’t want to let go of him, but she needed to get him undressed if she wanted him inside her. And by heaven above, she wanted, needed that. Her thighs released the grip on his hips, and she slid down him until her feet touched the floor.

  He brushed a lock of hair away from her face. “Are using birth control?”

  Her jaw went slack. She was supposed to be smart about it this time. How much more stupid can a woman be? “Geez. I didn’t even think about it.” She shook her head. “No. I…Not since I left New York. There’s been no need for it. I don’t even—”

  His fingertips stopped her. “I’ve got it covered.” He pulled his wallet from a back pocket and flipped it open to retrieve a condom. “See?”

  Relief coursed through her. “Thank you.”

  He tossed the condom on the bed and laid his wallet on her nightstand. “Now. Where does it hurt?”

  “What?”

  He lowered her to the bed. “You said you wanted me so bad it hurts. Show me where it hurts. I’ll kiss it and make it better.”

  Haley laughed. “My use of clichés has rubbed off on you.”

  “Show me.” A grin softened his husky demand.

  She ran her finger along the lace trim of her bra. “Here.”

  His lips followed her fingertip. “Here?”

  “Mmm. Yes.” She ran her palms up the rippling muscles of his back to bury her fingers in his hair.

  He released the clasp at the front of her bra and pushed the silky material aside. “Does it hurt here, too?” His index finger and thumb tweaked the already tight nipple.

  A whimper escaped her. “Yes.”

  His hot mouth closed over the peak. He laved and suckled with a tenderness that touched her heart. Nevertheless, his ministrations tugged at the center of her being and sent shockwaves rolling through her. A moan voiced her blissful agony.

  Michael’s lips trailed kisses to her other breast. His tongue flicked the turgid nipple. “And here?”

  “Oh, yes!” Her fingers tightened in his hair, and she pulled him down to suckle her. She arched beneath him, her need growing ever more insistent.

  He rose above her and found her lips, giving her another kiss that left her limp, breathless, and helpless. His hand skimmed her side to her hip to catch the thin strip of lace of her panties.

  “Wait.” She could hardly speak, but she wanted equal footing.

  “Oh, God, Haley. Don’t—”

  “You’re wearing too many clothes.” She tugged the edge of his shirt.

  In a flash, he stood and yanked off the shirt, throwing it heedlessly on the floor. His jeans joined the shirt, and he yanked off his socks. His dark boxer briefs hugged his lean frame, the bulge of his erection stretching the fabric and straining against the elastic waistband. He bent forward to rejoin her.

  She stopped him with a foot planted on the middle of his chest. She pointed at his underwear. “Those, too.”

  His wicked grin matched the gleam in his eyes. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Haley sat up as he pulled the briefs down. She gasped at the sight of him. The man was six foot four. Every part of him was larger than average. She reached for him.

  A hiss of indrawn breath preceded the whisper of her name. Haley lifted her gaze to his face. With his eyes closed and his jaw clenched, he stood more beautiful than a Greek sculpture. Michelangelo could only have dreamed of such a model. The broad expanse of his chest had only a sprinkling of golden blond hair a shade or two darker than that on his head. Defined abdominal muscles rippled and tensed. Each ridge, every shadow called to her, enticing her to trace her fingers, her lips, her tongue across each plane and contour.

  She placed a kiss just above his navel and licked and nipped her way across the washboard ridges. Her mouth drifted lower until her chin brushed the silky tip of the staff she still held in her hand. The temptation proved too much, and she licked the rim with a teasing flick before taking him into her mouth.

  Long fingers speared her hair and gripped her head. “God,” he groaned. Splayed fingers speared her hair and grasped her head. His lean body shuddered as she continued to lick and suck him.

  A sound suspiciously similar to a growl filled her ears just as he tugged her head back. Before she could even question his reason for stopping her, his lips slammed down on hers with a kiss as feral and wild as the growl she’d heard. His passion and need vibrated through her, assuring her that she was not the only one pushed beyond her limits.

  He broke the kiss, his breathing ragged and raspy. Pushing her back on the bed, he grasped the sides of her panties again. This time she lifted her hips to help him remove them. She reached for him, ready for him to fill her and ease the throbbing ache at her core.

  Michael tossed aside her underwear, his gaze never leaving her body. He sucked in an audible breath and traced his f
ingers over the smooth skin of her mons. It sent shivers through her, but there was nothing cold about his touch. Liquid heat leaked onto her thighs. Now. She needed him inside her now.

  His brows rose. “A Brazilian wax?”

  Haley grinned despite the mind-numbing need gripping her. “Do you like it?”

  He nodded. “Oh, yeah.” His gaze finally rose to meet hers. “Definitely.” Leaning over her, he slipped his hands beneath her torso and scooted her farther onto the bed.

  His warmth surrounded her for a brief instant, but he pulled away again too soon. She grasped his shoulders only to have him slide lower. A lock of hair tickled her belly just before his lips brushed the folds of her labia. Haley gasped, “Michael!”

  “It hurts here, too, doesn’t it?” he whispered against her sensitive skin.

  She hardly recognized they gravelly tone of her own voice as she answered, “Please. I don’t want to wait any longer.”

  “I need to taste you first.” His fingers parted the folds, and his tongue slid across her clit.

  Her nerve endings jumped as if his tongue were a live electrical wire. She bucked, but he held her still. With his palms applying a firm pressure to her hips and his thumbs still spreading her, he licked her again. “Mmmm.”

  His voice hummed against her, and his perfectly wicked tongue stroked her to a maddening frenzy. She clutched his head. “Michael, please!” she panted. It had been too long. She was too close. “Please! I want to come with you inside me.”

  He lifted his head. His dark, green gaze met hers. “You will.” The low timbre of his reply thrilled her as much as his words. “But first I’ll just take the edge off for you. I want this to last a while.”

  Without waiting for her answer, he returned to his feast.

  Haley gripped the bedcover beneath her and surrendered to the wave of passion crashing over her. She rode the crest for an all-too-brief moment then shattered with a force that sent her into a black velvet pool shimmering with incandescent diamonds. His name slipped past her lips unbidden as she floated in weightless abandon back to the present. She opened her eyes to find him watching her.

  “Beautiful,” he whispered. He reached for the condom, tore open the package, and rolled it over his erection. “I want to see that again. Soon.”

  Michael settled between her legs and spread them wide with his knees. He leaned forward to kiss her, a soft, tender caress.

  Haley tasted her own musky juices on his lips along with the flavor so uniquely Michael. Her arms moved around him, and she kissed him with an abandon she had never experienced. While the explosive orgasm had indeed eased her frenzied need, she still ached to feel him inside her. She lifted her hips, forcing the tip of his shaft past her opening.

  He groaned into her mouth and sank his full length into her. She sighed in contentment. Ah, had there ever been such pleasure? Had anything ever felt so right? So perfect? She rocked her hips against him and returned his kisses.

  He withdrew but returned immediately, setting a steady, solid rhythm. She reveled in the feel of him inside her. His body fit hers to perfection. Already she felt the tension building toward another orgasm. Haley raked her fingers down his back and squeezed his taut buttocks.

  His lips left hers, and after trailing sweet kisses down her jaw to her throat, he rested his chin on her shoulder and stilled. “Damn, babe. Nothing has ever felt so good. I don’t know if I’m going to last much longer.”

  Even as she tightened her legs around his hips, luxuriating in having him buried to the hilt inside her, she lamented the loss of the electrifying rhythm that had her senses reeling and her body humming. She turned her head to nuzzle his ear. “It won’t take much longer for me.”

  He lifted his head and smiled at her. “Are you sure?” His rhythm resumed, and he watched her.

  She bit her lip as her breath hitched. A whimper filtered through her lips as his pelvis pushed against her clit. Unable to answer verbally, she nodded.

  “Come for me, Haley,” he murmured. His mouth covered the pulse at the base of her throat and one hand kneaded her breast. His thumb and forefinger tweaked the hardened nipple.

  Her body reacted to his sensual assault with an unadulterated intensity that had her thoughts evaporating and leaving her in a fog. He drew her higher and higher with every deep, filling stroke, every nip of his teeth, every caress of his skillful hands. Her body tensed, responding like the engine of a finely tuned muscle car.

  And he’d pressed the petal to the floor.

  “Look at me,” he demanded, his voice low and gruff.

  Haley lifted heavy lids to obey his command. His pace increased, and with each stroke, he ground against her. The motion sent her reeling out of control, falling over the edge of a precipice, the heights of which she’d never dreamed. Her vision blurred as she stared into his eyes. She screamed and clutched him, her only anchor to this world. Darkness relieved only by bursting pinpoints of light crept closer, threatening to engulf her. Her body convulsed around him.

  “Haley.”

  She felt him tense and heard his raspy shout just as oblivion took her.

  Haley slowly regained her senses. She lay nestled next to Michael in a warm, peaceful cocoon, her body still thrumming with the afterglow of their lovemaking. Had she fainted? She drew a deep breath. If she hadn’t, she’d come as close as she’d ever been. She lifted her gaze to search Michael’s face.

  He gave her a lazy smile and kissed her temple. “I’d better go clean up.” With a soft groan, he sat up and nodded toward the door adjacent to the bed. “Is that your bathroom?”

  “Mmm hmm,” she mumbled, shocked by the bereft feeling she encountered at the loss of his warmth.

  “Be right back.” He disappeared into the bathroom within seconds.

  Haley sat up and stared at the closed door. An emotional onslaught slammed into her. Disordered thoughts and feelings choked her, and tears filled her eyes, spilling onto her cheeks.

  Chapter Eight

  Michael threw the used condom in the little yellow trash can next to the toilet and washed himself with a sunny, yellow washcloth he found hanging neatly next to the sink. A quick glance around the small room confirmed a few things he’d already begun to learn about Haley. The woman kept her apartment clean, but she didn’t appear to be a neat freak. That was a good thing since Michael tended to be a bit messy. He wasn’t a slob really, just not quite as picky as his mom. As a teen, he’d butted heads with his overly tidy mother on a regular basis regarding the state of his bedroom. He and Haley should get along well enough in that department.

  Staring at himself in the mirror, he paused to consider the direction of his thoughts. He was already thinking of living with Haley. The idea would no doubt scare the hell out of her. Ordinarily, it might have rattled him, too, but not now. Not with Haley. Since they’d first met, he’d felt no reservations at all about the possibility of a serious relationship with her. Quite the opposite. And he found it damned irritating that the only woman he’d ever felt that way about was also the first woman he’d dated who wasn’t thinking of marriage.

  Michael took a deep breath. Maybe tonight would change her mind. They’d been perfect together. It was the best sex he’d ever had, hands down. And if he’d judged the intensity of her climax correctly, she had no reason to complain. Maybe now she’d reconsider.

  He entered the bedroom and stopped short. Haley had covered herself and sat crying, her nose pink, her cheeks streaked with tears. His gut clenched as his hopes died. “Haley, why are you crying?”

  She looked up at him, sniffed, and swiped at her cheeks. Shaking her head, she offered a small smile, but she didn’t answer.

  He sat facing her on the edge of the bed. “Damn it, Haley. I told you I didn’t want to do this if you were going to regret it.”

  “I don’t. Not at all.” She shook her head again. “It’s just…”

  He tried to wait for her to finish, but impatience won out. “Just what?”

>   Haley took a deep breath. “I never knew it could be like that.”

  Confused, Michael asked for clarification. “So…you’re crying because the sex was good?”

  She laughed. “It wasn’t just good. At least not for me. For me, it was incredible. And if I’d married Keith, I could have gone my whole life and never known it could be like that.” Her hands waved before her. “I never knew why people thought sex was so wonderful. I mean, yeah, I always enjoyed it. I’m a young woman with a healthy sex drive, but still…It was never like that.”

  Michael nodded, relief coursing through him. “It was pretty damned special for me, too, babe.”

  She smiled at him but quickly turned more serious. “Do you think that’s why he cheated on me?”

  Michael clenched his jaw. “What?”

  “Do you think Keith cheated on me because I couldn’t respond to him like I responded to you?”

  The mere mention of the man’s name raised Michael’s blood pressure. “He cheated on you because he is a lying, no-good, scumbag son of a bitch.”

  Haley’s eyes widened. “I didn’t realize you two had met.” Her lips twitched as if she repressed a grin.

  Michael closed his eyes and struggled to control his anger and resentment at the man who’d hurt Haley so badly. “I may not have met him, but I’ve met plenty like him. Men and women. They are selfish and greedy. And they don’t care who they hurt, who they have to use, or how many lies they have to tell.” He reached for her hand and held it. “If he wasn’t satisfied with your sex life, he never should have asked you to marry him. He was using you, Haley.”

  She nodded. “I know. But he and Sheila did quite a number on me. I’m still trying to get over it.”

  “I understand, but to be honest, it really pisses me off you’re thinking about him when you’re with me.”

  Haley shook her head. “Oh, no, it’s not like that. Not at all. I’m thinking about me. About how I was willing to settle for mediocrity. I was so stupid. I deserve better than that. Don’t I?”

  “Yeah, you do.” He squeezed the hand he still held. “I hope I’m better than that.”