“I could ask you the same thing.” He nodded at her suitcase. “I hope you’re not leaving.”
Her grip on the bag loosened slightly. “I think I should. I need to think.”
“You can think here.”
Could she? She couldn’t think with Wilder around, standing in front of her like this. She couldn’t think about anything except the feel of his hands on her body.
“I don’t think I can.”
“But you saved me.”
She shook her head slowly. “No. You saved yourself.”
“You did save me. Or at least showed me how to save myself. You were the only one, Harley. You were different.”
She hated how she soaked up his words, beamed with pride, almost, about how she’d been able to rouse him when other women hadn’t. Who wouldn’t want to be the only woman who could stir desire in a powerful man like Wilder? The power went straight to her head, but she also knew that it was a false truth. She wasn’t the one who made him do anything. She dropped the handle of her suitcase and retreated deep into her room, standing by the big bay window that overlooked Manhattan.
“It’s not me who’s making you better,” she said, shaking her head.
“It is.” Wilder sounded resolute as he found her again by the window, putting both his hands on her shoulders and turning her to face him. “You showed me the way, Harley.” He gently stroked her chin and she felt her will being tested. She wanted more than anything to wrap her arms around the man, hell, to rip off his shirt and have a round two right now. But where would that get them? Deeper emotional attachment, an attachment she couldn’t afford. Not with this man.
“Why not stay longer? Why end it now?” he asked.
The idea of lying in Wilder’s bed, not thinking about anything but how wonderful being there felt, was exactly what the monster of need in her wanted. He was a man haunted by his past, and she was a woman who didn’t know how to do casual and was already in love with the man.
“Because...” She was in too deep. But could she tell him that?
“You have to tell me what’s on your mind, Harley,” he said. “You have to tell me what you want.”
She knew that. But it was so hard to tell him, impossible to tell him that she’d fallen in love with him. She felt afraid. Afraid he’d laugh in her face, afraid he’d break her heart into a million pieces. She knew she had to tell him, but she couldn’t. Her mouth didn’t seem to work and the words stuck in her throat.
She shook her head.
“You have to tell me, because I think I already know what you’re going to say. I know you don’t want to end it.” She glanced up at him, feeling worry tighten her throat. Could he see through her? Did he know her true feelings? “Tell me you don’t want me. Tell me and I’ll let you go.” She couldn’t tell him that because she did want him. More than anything. He stared at her, dark eyes full of promise. “I know you’re not satisfied. I know you can’t be satisfied. Not with just these last three months. They’ve woken something in you, just like they’ve woken something in me. I can feel the want in you.” He grabbed her wrist, and she felt her rapid pulse beneath his thick thumb. The monster coming to life once more, wanting to have its fill. “Tell me you’ve had enough and I’ll let you go.”
She shook her head, slowly, once, not trusting herself to say a single word. Her throat felt dry and her hands itched to touch him. “I want to hear you say it.” His words left no room for argument. Her heart kicked like a rabbit in her chest. Blood rushed between her legs, and she felt swollen and sore. And while she had all her clothes on, she somehow felt bare. Vulnerable. This man could read her better than any man had read her before. Somehow, he seemed to know about what was in her. What was ready to be unleashed.
“No, I didn’t get enough.” How could she? The monster in her was never satisfied, not when it came to Wilder Lange. The monster couldn’t be satiated. Even now, it was coming to life inside her, warming her thighs, making her nipples beneath her sheer bra tingle.
“I didn’t get enough, either. I want you. Not just today. Not just tomorrow. But for as long as you’ll have me.”
She started at this, shocked. “You do?”
He nodded. Wilder walked her backward and she went, knowing all the while that they were headed for the bed at the far end of the room, the giant four-poster canopy. He wanted her? Wanted her for more than just a day, or a week or a month? Her heart sang with the news.
“I know you want that, too.”
She nodded, fiercely.
Wilder moved his hands now down to her hips even as her butt hit the edge of the bed. There was something amazingly sexy about being pinned there, between the bed and Wilder, his big body pressed against hers.
“Good, because I’ve fallen in love with you, Harley Vega.”
She could feel the impact of his words at the very core of her being. She couldn’t believe it might be true. “I love you, too.”
“There.” He stroked her face. “It’s about time you admitted it.”
And then he leaned in and kissed her. The monster of want, once sleepy, now came fully awake in her chest, as her tongue lashed out and found his. God, the man tasted so good. Like something sweet and salty, like caramel and forbidden fruit. And he loved her. He had fallen in love with her. His hands moved down the front of her shirt, and suddenly, he’d pulled it up and over her head, and there she was in her skirt and a sheer bra. He dipped down then and flicked his tongue over the fabric, her right nipple standing at attention, a light brown against the ivory lace. She groaned, unable to help herself, as she tangled her hands in his hair. He moved to the other side, his soft, warm mouth on her and sending an explosion of want running through her.
“I love you, Harley. I want no one else.” He moaned the words against her chest, and then she was flat on her back on the soft bed. He was tugging on her skirt, easing it off her legs as quickly as he pulled. He whipped off his own shirt and stepped out of his cargo shorts and for the first time she saw his fully naked body. Caramel-colored, fully chiseled, a man who took pride in his appearance. He was beautiful, like no man she’d ever been with. Perfect on the outside, and slightly broken on the inside. She loved him, all of him.
“I love you,” she said. Would she ever tire of saying it? The words just fanned the flames of the monster. She slowly lowered one bra strap and then the other, unfastening the front clasp until she was free. He grabbed one breast and nuzzled the other with his nose, flicking out his tongue and gently licking until her nipple stood at attention and she arched her back with want. He growled, like a starving man, and tugged at her underwear until she was bare beneath him.
He dove into her, licking her liquid center, devouring her like a man who’d never known true want before. She felt worshipped, as his tongue dipped deeper and deeper inside her and then flicked over the bundle of her nerves swollen with need. His tongue sent her flying over the edge, and in seconds, she’d grabbed a handful of his hair, shouting as her body wracked with her climax. She’d never come like that, so hard, so fast, so completely without warning. And she remembered, he was the one who’d shown her just how amazing a come like that could be.
“God, I love to make you come,” he groaned, sitting up and wiping his glistening mouth. She lay on the bed, panting, legs parted as he climbed up on top of her, his cock thick, and heavy and ready. “This is what you do to me. Do you see what you do to me?”
She nodded, reaching out and finding him with both hands. He let his head fall back, his mouth slack as she worked him, up and down with long, measured strokes. His erection was impressive, big and unwavering, and she could barely even imagine him impotent. The very word just didn’t fit him. Not this powerful man in this immensely sexy body. His mouth found hers and she could taste herself on his tongue, salty and sour, and that reminded her how he’d made her come, how he’d given her no choice in the ma
tter. His delicious weight settled on her and she spread her legs for him, knowing she craved it, knowing the raging monster of want in her would get its due.
And then he thrust inside her, and both of them froze, groaning with the pleasure of it. She felt taut and stretched to her limits, and yet, despite it all, wanted more. And more. She wrapped her legs around him, even as he broke free of the kiss, his dark eyes on hers, as he moved deeper and faster. She met his gaze, and it felt like she was seeing right into his soul, right into his wounded childhood, into the man he’d become, and how far he’d come in treating himself. How much healthier he was.
Then he was off her in an instant, rolling her over to her stomach and pulling her to the edge of the bed. Her feet met the floor, even as she laid, stomach against the comforter. He took her from behind, a little rougher this time, a little deeper, more urgent. She could hear the slap of his skin against hers, the primal sound of two animals driven by instinct. Then, just when she wasn’t sure if she could take any more, she found herself coming, hard, and she choked on her own cry, even as Wilder came as well, in a final hard thrust followed by his own guttural shout.
He fell on her back, and she could feel her sweat and his mingling, their chests desperately sucking in air. Her body had never felt so used and so wonderful at the same time. She’d never come that hard back to back, never in her life. Her brain felt like scrambled eggs. The monster want within her had been quelled—for the moment, and as it receded, her brain switched on. Wilder had told her he loved her. Everything in her world was going to be different now.
“So, we’re not casual anymore?” she asked, sitting up on her elbow.
“I don’t think we were ever casual.” He reached out and smoothed her hair.
“We weren’t? But you said...”
“I would’ve said anything to get you into bed. But I always knew there was something different about you. Always.”
She pulled away from him, feeling stunned. “Really? But wasn’t the whole point that you needed to teach me about casual sex? What was all of that?”
“Well, I needed to teach you about sex. Your education was appalling for a sex advice columnist,” he teased. She reached over, grabbed a throw pillow and thwacked him with it.
“Hey,” she warned, hitting him again.
“I’m kidding. Really. I am.” He held up his hands in defense. “You taught me the most important lesson,” he said. “That I’ve been letting my past dictate my future. That stops now. And now I want to make a different deal with you.” He reached out and pulled her to him, so they were nearly nose to nose.
“What’s that?” She felt wary.
“I want to teach you the lesson of me loving you forever.”
“What?” She arched back from him, scanning his eyes for any sign of a joke.
“I think I’ve loved you from the moment I met you,” he said. “And this isn’t casual for me, either. I don’t want another woman. All I want, all I’ve ever wanted, is you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Good. I want you to marry me.” He gazed intently at her.
“Marry you?” Harley had never been more stunned in her life. She rolled away from him and stared at the ceiling, her heart pounding, activated by a nervous thrum of barely contained energy. “Marry you?”
“Yes,” he said, and nodded. “Tonight, if you’d like. Or tomorrow. Or next year. But I want you to be my wife.” His sensual lips curved into a teasing smile. “Do we need to write a pros-and-cons list?”
She glared at him. “No. No you don’t.”
“Pro. I’m sexy AF.” He lifted one finger, then another. “Con. I’m an egotistical asshole. Pro. I’m madly and completely in love with you...”
“Con. I’m madly in love with you, too,” she pointed out.
He laughed. “That’s no con.”
“Kiss me, you fool. Before I change my mind.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes. Hell, yes, it’s a yes.”
And he pulled her close and kissed her.
EPILOGUE
A year later
HARLEY LAY OUT on the deck of her brother-in-law’s hundred-foot yacht, letting the warm Mediterranean sun beat down on her bikini-clad body. Wilder lay beside her on deck and a bottle of chilled champagne sat between them in a sterling silver cooler.
“This was a good idea for a honeymoon,” she said, reaching out to hold Wilder’s hand.
“The only problem was prying Seth’s hands off his baby for a week.” Wilder grinned. “It took a lot of persuading.”
“I bet it did.” Harley still couldn’t believe the amazing turn of events in the last year. They’d planned a wedding, gotten married just the weekend before. Her family had gone wild over him, but then she knew why. He was impossible not to love. At least, once they got to know him. Also, he insisted on giving them a loan for their restaurant to completely renovate it from nuts to bolts. Since its reopening, it had landed on every Miami food critic’s hot-ten-places-to-eat list. Harley had also had the chance to meet his brothers, all of whom were so very different, and very contrary to him, and yet...they all carried a certain amount of Lange swagger. Lange Communications had been cleared of any wrongdoing by the FCC, and Harley had, at long last, finished her couples advice book and landed an impressive advance, the book due out in mere months.
Wilder deserved some credit. In addition to his hands-on lessons, the advance sales shot through the roof as women across the world would want to know how Harley had managed to tame one of the world’s richest playboys. She could’ve told them the secret was simple. He’d fallen in love. Real love, for maybe the first time in his life. And so had she.
“I just want to thank you again, Mrs. Lange,” he said, glancing over at her as he squeezed her hand.
“Why, Mr. Lange?”
“For making me the happiest man on earth.” He looked around at the rolling ocean waves. “Or, technically, at sea.”
He reached over and kissed her then, gently at first, with love, and then the kiss turned more passionate as he cupped the side of her face. She felt that old familiar need flare up inside her again. In the last year, she’d learned another powerful lesson: that relationship sex could truly be as hot and incredible as any casual sex. Furthermore, she’d come to understand nearly daily that previously she’d been settling for mediocre sex, when she could have been having amazing sex. The heat she felt for Wilder hadn’t cooled. Not even a little bit.
She glanced at the massive diamond on her finger, which caught the bright sunlight. How she loved this moment. Hell, she loved all moments with Wilder. They were perfect. All of them.
Wilder broke the kiss. “And thank you for...curing me.”
“You know I’m not your cure,” she scolded him.
“It’s been a full year since any relapses. I’d call that a cure.” He flashed her a bright smile as he adjusted himself on the lounge chair. She still, sometimes, couldn’t believe he was really hers, that such a beautiful and sexy man wanted her when he could have nearly anyone he chose.
He glanced around now, a sly look crossing his face that Harley knew too well.
“I think it might be time for another lesson,” he teased.
“Oh, really? And what’s that?” Their noses were nearly touching as he reached out, pulled their armless lounge chairs together, so their legs now touched. He reached for a nearby blanket and tossed it over them, even as the deck rolled with the waves of the water.
“Have you ever had yacht-deck sex?” he asked, a teasing smile blooming on his face.
“Well, now, let me see,” she said, gently rolling on top of him. “I’ve had below-decks-yacht sex. Bathroom-yacht sex. Bed-yacht sex. Wheelhouse-yacht sex and...” She ticked off the various kinds on her fingers.
“Is that right?” Wilder frowned. “Well, then, sounds like
you’ve done it all—”
“Nope.” She pretended to think. “I haven’t had yacht-deck sex. Not yet.”
“Well, then, little pupil.” He reached for her bare waist beneath the towel and pulled her closer. “Shall we start the lesson?”
“You sure I’m the pupil? I seem to recall that last night I taught you a new trick. With that toy you bought.”
“You did?” He nuzzled her nose. “Does that really make you the expert? I’m not so sure...”
“You seriously think I have nothing to teach you?” Now, Harley was starting to get offended.
“On the contrary, I think you have everything to teach me,” he said and kissed her so hard, she was almost sure she might not mind another lesson. Or two.
* * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from Hotter on Ice by Rebecca Hunter.
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