by Lori Foster
He’d never before minded being mistaken for his twin. Through his entire life people had often done it, sometimes even his parents. Before their father had died, he and Derek had often played tricks on him, deliberately confusing him.
But now, he hated it. He had to struggle for breath. He gave her a hard quick kiss, which turned tender and hungry and lingered sweetly. When he pulled away, it seemed to take a great effort on her part for her to get her eyes open. He smiled. “There’s no way you could disappoint me, honey.”
“My body’s changed. The baby…”
Still holding her gaze he tugged the knot out of the belt and pushed the robe off her shoulders. She dropped her arms and the robe fell free all the way to the floor. Angel lowered her head and turned slightly away.
For nearly a minute he was speechless. She was more beautiful than any woman had a right to be, and there was absolutely nothing motherly about her heavy, firm breasts, the stiff dark nipples. Her rib cage expanded and fluttered with her uneven breaths and her belly looked soft and slightly rounded, very pale. He spread one large, hot palm over her stomach and heard her small gasp.
“Derek…?”
“Shhh. I’ve never wanted a woman the way I want you, Angel. Trust me when I tell you there’s not a single thing about you that could disappoint me.” Her legs were long and so sexy, even with the harsh scars on her left shin. He immediately pictured those long legs wrapped around him, her heels digging into the small of his back, urging him on, and he groaned as his erection pulsed, demanding release.
Slowly, so he wouldn’t startle her, he slid his palm downward until he was cupping her, his fingers tangling in the dark blond curls over her mound. They felt damp and soft under his fingertips, her flesh swollen, and he breathed deeply through his nose, trying to ease the constriction in his lungs. He held still, just holding her like that, letting her feel the heat of his palm, letting the anticipation build.
Angel moaned and stepped up against him. Her hands gripped his biceps, her forehead pressed to his shoulder.
Dane swallowed and smiled grimly. “Do you remember when I touched you in my office?” he asked against her temple.
She nodded her head.
He licked her ear and gently nipped the lobe. “You were so close then, Angel, and I’d barely done anything to you. Little more than kissing.” He nearly groaned with the memory.
Her hips jerked, encouraging him. Anticipating her response, he inched his fingers lower, gliding over her warm flesh, opening her soft, plump folds, learning her, exploring. She was already so hot, so silky wet, and it amazed him the way she reacted to his touch. It also made him nearly crazy with a frenzied mix of lust and overwhelming tenderness.
Her body felt frozen against his, very still, waiting. Even her breathing became suspended, as if she was afraid to move for fear of missing something. Determination swelled within him. He had no intention of leaving her with complaints; her views on the joys of sex were about to be altered.
“Open your legs a little more for me, Angel.” He could tell that she responded to his words, and he wasn’t about to disappoint her. “Let me feel you. All of you.”
With a shudder, her face well hidden against his chest, she carefully widened her stance. Immediately he pressed one finger deep inside her, at the same time he braced his free arm around her waist.
She needed his support.
Her body went alternately stiff and completely yielding. Holding her against him, acutely aware of her broken breaths, her soft moans, the way her fingers dug into his chest, he stroked her. He could feel her tightening, feel the small shudders moving up and down her body. He eased her a little away from him and she allowed the small separation, her head falling back on her shoulders, her still-damp hair trailing down to tickle against his arm. He saw her breasts heaving and dipped his head down to take one plump nipple into his mouth.
“Ohhh…”
He lapped with his tongue, nibbled with his teeth, drew deeply on her. Her hands raised from his chest to his head and her fingers tangled in his hair, tugging, trying to draw him even closer.
“I have to sit down,” she moaned.
“No.” He blew on her damp nipple, watching it go painfully tight. The pregnancy had no doubt made her breasts extra sensitive, and he intended to take advantage of that fact. “Right here, Angel. We’ll get to the bed in a minute.”
He switched to her other breast and heard her give a soft sob of compliance. Voluntarily, she parted her legs even more and then thrust against him. He slid his finger all the way out, teasing, then worked it heavily back into her again. “You’re so wet for me, honey,” he said on a groan, amazed and thrilled and so hot himself he wanted to die.
Forcefully, making him wince, she brought his mouth back up to her own and this time she kissed him, awkwardly but with so much hunger he thought he might burst. He rubbed his heavy erection against her soft hip while he carefully forced a second finger inside her. He found a rhythm that pleased her and went about seeing to her satisfaction. He was playing it safe, not about to remove his clothes or lie with her on the bed, knowing his control was thin at the moment and any little thing could send him over the edge. He wouldn’t risk taking his own completion before he’d seen to hers.
Within minutes she was crying, her body tight and trembling, her hands frenzied on his back and shoulders. Slowly, he eased her down to the side of the bed so that her legs hung over the edge, then knelt between them. She dropped back, her hands fisting in the bedclothes, her hips twisting. Dane lifted her legs to his shoulders and before she could object—if indeed she would have given how close she was—he cupped her hips in his hands and brought her to his mouth.
She tasted sweet and incredibly hot and he was beyond teasing her, so close to exploding himself. His heart thundered and her scent filled him as he nuzzled into her, driving himself ever closer. As his tongue stroked over her sensitive flesh, as he found the small engorged bud and drew on it, teasing with his tongue, tormenting with his teeth, she gave a stifled scream and climaxed.
Quickly, wanting to feel every bit of her, he pushed his fingers back inside her. Her feminine muscles gripped him, the spasms strong as she pressed herself even higher, moving against his open mouth and continuing to cry and moan and excite him unbearably. It went on and on and he almost lost control. He was shaking all over when she finally quieted, her eyes closed, her lashes damp on her cheeks, her mouth slightly open as she gulped air.
She never so much as blinked when he lifted her legs gently to the bed and stood to look down at her. Slowly, drinking in the sight of her limp, sated body, he pulled his shirt free from his pants and began unbuttoning it. He forced himself to go slow, to savor the moment of his claiming. Even to his own mind, his thoughts, his responses, seemed primitive, maybe even ruthless. But he wanted her to be his and his alone—a feeling he’d never encountered before, not even with Anna. He wanted to take her so thoroughly, possess her so completely, she’d be willing to forgive him anything, willing to trust him in all matters.
She gave a shuddering sigh, lifted one languid hand to her forehead and pushed her hair away from her face. Dane watched her, so suffused with heat the edges of his vision blurred.
While he tugged his belt loose from the clasp with one hand, he dropped his other lightly to her soft thigh. Her skin felt like warm silk to him, and tempted him more than it should have.
Her lashes fluttered as his fingers trailed higher, and finally her eyes opened. She looked dazed and relaxed, on the verge of sleep. He smiled and carefully worked his zipper down past his throbbing erection. “You scream very well, Angel. I liked it.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks filled with color and she swallowed. When her gaze dropped to the open vee in his slacks, her eyes opened wide. “Oh.”
Dane sat on the bed beside her, his hand still on her thigh. “No, don’t get up. I like seeing you sprawled there.” She relaxed back again and he used the toes of his left foot to work off his r
ight shoe, while at the same time surveying her body. He traced a nipple with his fingertip, around and around until she made a protesting sound. Then he dragged his fingers over her ribs and to her belly. She shifted abruptly.
“Ticklish?”
“Derek…”
Leaning over, he pressed a lingering kiss to her navel. “I love the way you taste, honey.”
She made a groaning sound of renewed interest, then tried to turn away from him. He caught her hips, stopping her.
“Derek, you can’t expect me to…”
“Yes I do.” Once again his fingers slid between her legs, anchoring her in place while he kissed his way up her abdomen to her breasts. “I expect you to let me pleasure you, and I expect you to continue enjoying my efforts.”
He raised his head for just a moment, pinning her with a look. “You came, Angel. A nice long, hard climax. And if I didn’t miss my guess, it was your first. So don’t try to deny it.”
She gasped. “I wasn’t going to!”
“Good.” When he drew her nipple into the heat of his mouth she writhed against him, then fisted her hands in his hair.
“No, Derek.”
He jerked upward and pinned her hands next to her head. “Yes.”
She said quickly, before he could kiss her, “I want you to take your shirt off. I want to see you, too. It’s not fair for me to lie here…exposed, while you’re completely dressed.”
His grin was slow and wicked. He knew it, but didn’t care. She wasn’t denying him at all as he’d first thought. She only insisted on her fair share. “All right.”
He pushed himself off the bed. “Don’t move, Angel. You inspire me, lying there like that.”
He shrugged his shirt off and grabbed the waistband of his pants. He stepped between her legs as he pushed them down, removing his boxers at the same time. When he straightened, he was naked.
Angel’s gaze roamed over him and her face heated again. He stifled a laugh, delighted with her. Her particular brand of innocence and hot sexuality was driving him crazy. He loved it. He loved…No, his thoughts refused to budge any further in that direction. He firmed his resolve.
Using a knee, he spread her legs even more and lowered himself over her. Propped on his elbows, he smiled down at her. “Hi.”
Rather than smiling back, she traced his face, over his eyebrows, the bridge of his nose, the dip in his chin. “You took me by surprise, Derek. Everything is so different…”
“So you keep saying.” He didn’t want to talk about that right now. Thinking of his brother with her like this was enough to make him howl at the moon.
“What happened was…unexpected.”
“But nice?” He again caught her hands and trapped them over her head, leaving her submissive to his desires.
She looked thoughtful as she continued her study of his face. “Very nice. Incredible really. But ever since I saw you again, it’s been that way. You look at me, and I get all hot inside. You touch me and I can’t think straight. I try to despise you; I have good reason to despise you, but I can’t. It doesn’t make any sense. Unless having the baby changed me somehow.”
“Angel.” She was killing him with her words, but he didn’t know how to tell her that.
“After everything that happened between us, I thought I’d always hate you.”
He groaned. “Don’t, babe.” He kissed her, hard and long, his tongue thrusting deep, stroking in a parody of the sex act. He rubbed his hairy chest against her sensitive nipples and felt her legs bend, coming up to hug his hips. The open juncture of her legs was a sweet torture, her damp heat against his belly, her soft thighs cradling him. He rubbed against her, his muscles bound so tight he felt ready to break.
She shifted, and then his erection was smoothly pushing against her wet sex. Angel began moving with him, their mouths still fused together, both of them breathing rapidly, roughly.
She jerked and pulled her mouth away, crying out.
Dane was stunned as she quickly climaxed again, shuddering beneath him, her head arched back, her heels digging into his thighs.
His control snapped. Shaking, he grabbed up his slacks and fumbled like a drunk for his wallet. He found a condom and viciously ripped the packet open with his teeth. Angel was still gasping breathlessly and when he turned, catching her legs in the crook of his elbows, spreading her wide and driving into her with one hard thrust, she cried out again.
He couldn’t think. His brain throbbed and his vision went blank and all he could do was feel and smell and taste her. She’d invaded his heart, his soul. He was the one who felt possessed and he rebelled against it even as he felt himself spiraling away. He squeezed his eyes shut and growled and pumped and when he heard Angel groan he knew she was with him yet again. It was too much. It felt like he exploded, his entire body gripped in painful pleasure, but it was so damn wonderful he never wanted it to end.
It took him a long time to come back to reality, to hear Angel’s soft sniffling, to feel the shudders in her body. Slowly, feeling drugged, he struggled up to his elbows again. Tears dampened her eyelashes and her lips looked swollen. His heart twisted.
Damn, her leg. His arms were still tangled with her legs and he knew she had to be in pain. He’d taken her roughly, almost brutally. That he’d hurt her made him wince in self-loathing. Carefully, he straightened, letting her legs down easy. She groaned and pressed her face to the side, away from him.
He cupped her chin and turned her back. “Angel, honey, I’m sorry.”
She shook her head.
“Babe, look at me.”
Her eyelashes lifted and she stared up at him. The tears in her eyes twisted his guts. He pressed his forehead to hers and kissed her gently. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
She frowned.
“I got a little carried away.” He tried a smile but it felt more like a grimace. “You moaned, and all rational thought fled my mind. I’m sorry.” He sounded like a parrot, apologizing over and over again.
“Derek…”
Goddammit, he hated having her call him that. “Shh. It’s all right.” Her hair, dry now and tangled impossibly, lay wild around her head. He tried to smooth it. “Can I get you anything? Some aspirin or something?” He felt like an idiot, having sex with a woman then offering her medicine for the pain.
She shook her head again and her voice, when she spoke, was tentative and as soft as a whisper. “I’m fine, just a little…stunned. Is it always like that?”
Now he felt confused. Buying himself some time, he sat up and carefully moved to the side of her. Her body had been damp and warm from their exertions and combined heat, and she shivered in the cool evening air. He pulled the corner of the spread up to cover her, but left her leg bare. Gently, he massaged her calf and saw her wince.
“Dammit, I’m an unthinking bastard. I—”
She laughed, catching his hand and twining her fingers with his. “No, you’re not. I’m fine, Derek.”
He forcefully ignored the continued use of his brother’s name. “Then why were you crying?”
She sat up and put her arms around him, burrowing close. “Because it was so wonderful.”
His heart pounding, Dane hugged her back. “I didn’t hurt you?”
She laughed. “Maybe a little, but I didn’t notice…until after.”
He pressed her back down on the bed and stood. “I’ll be right back.” With those words, and one last glance at her naked body, he left the bedroom. He wanted to make sure the apartment was secure for the night. There were three windows, one in the kitchen over the sink, but it was too small for an intruder, and one in the living room on that same wall. He checked to make sure it was locked, then realized the window was so old and warped, opening it would be a true effort. He’d be in the bedroom, so he wasn’t worried about that window. He’d already locked the front door when he’d first come in. He glanced at the phone, scowled, but put that particular worry from his mind. Right now, he w
anted to concentrate on Angel.
He peeked in on Grayson to see the baby sleeping soundly. He’d been afraid their commotion might have disturbed the infant, but Grayson was snuggled warm and comfy in his crib. He lay on his side, and one chubby cheek was smooshed, his rosebud mouth slightly open.
Damn, Dane felt good. He hadn’t felt this good in…He’d never felt this good. Angel was the perfect bed partner, wild and abandoned and responsive. She burned him up. She was also sweet and caring and strong.
And she had Grayson, his nephew, the strongest bond he had left to his brother. In his heart, Grayson was his own.
As soon as he set things right with Angel, they’d be able to work together to find out what had happened to Derek. Likely, the threats to her and Derek’s death were related. He hated the unknown, hated how ineffectual he felt when dealing with the whole problem. Somehow he had to uncover a mystery and protect Angel at the same time. Thank God the threats to her were so far only abstract, not physical. Long before they got too serious, he intended to have everything resolved. From here on out, he’d double his efforts.
Dane returned to the bedroom moments later with a damp washcloth. He’d disposed of the used condom, and set two more on the nightstand. The night was still young, and he was still hungry.
Angel looked almost asleep and the fact she hadn’t been concerned with him roaming her apartment assured him that she was starting to trust him, at least a little. It also proved, to some degree, that she had nothing at all to hide.
She opened her eyes and blinked sleepily up at him when he sat on the edge of the mattress. “What are you doing?”
“I was just going to make you more comfortable.” So saying, he swiped the warm, damp cloth over her face, her neck, then down her body. She smiled and arched into his hand with a sigh of pleasure.
“You wore a…a…”
Dane cocked one eyebrow. “A what?”
Pointing down to his lap, she said, “You know. Before you made love to me.”
“A rubber? I didn’t want to take any chances. Much as I adore Grayson, the last thing you need right now is another pregnancy, what with your leg and—”