Love in the Time of Conversation Hearts (Holidays in Heartsong #1)

BACK 2 BED

I hadn’t realized how badly I wanted this until the split second before it happened. The moment it does, I know I’ll never be the same.

For all the spirit we lend to our arguing, we bring it tenfold to kissing. Adam’s mouth fuses to mine, our tongues slipping against one another in perfect tandem. His hands won’t settle in a single place. They move from my hips to my thighs to my spine to the nape of my neck. One is thrust into my hair, which he fists, drawing a moan from deep in my lungs. He tilts my head back, exposing my throat, and then he’s no longer bruising my lips. He’s tasting my pulse.

It’s frantic for him. I’m frantic for him.

My nails sink into his shoulders as I drag them down the hard expanse of his back to the dip just above his hips. I snake my way under his shirt and upward, until his skin warms my palms, and I can roam to my heart’s content. Only, I doubt I’ll ever be content. I will always want more of this. More of him.

Adam strips me of my suit jacket, then works the buttons on my blouse like he’s been studying the best method for their removal all day. Soon, cool air licks at my chest. The swell of my breasts heaves over my bra. He cups me, and the growl that vibrates our kiss has me arching into him again like that aforementioned cat.

“You are stunning, Cora.” His tongue traces my collarbone. A kiss warms the hollow beneath it. Then, his teeth nip at the sensitive flesh of my breast. First one, and then the other. Desire pulses between my thighs. I use my hold on his back to pull him closer, aching for relief.

My shirt is ripped from my body. Then my bra, unclasped in the amount of time it takes me to process the wildfire of his gaze flashing to mine ever so briefly. He bends to take me in his mouth, nipping and sucking at my nipple. I cry out, and it echoes back to me. The sound of the purest desire I’ve ever felt.

“Your turn,” I groan, greedy as a miser. I yank at the hem of his shirt, and he relents, allowing it to be hoisted over his head. He’s perfect. Rippled with muscle and decorated with dark hair across his chest and lower abdomen. While he’s pulled back, I undo his belt in a flash, earning a cheeky grin in return.

“So eager,” he teases. Suddenly that inflection in his voice no longer makes me irritated. It lights me up from the inside out. It’s the evidence of his want for me, not the absence of it. And speaking of evidence…

“You’re so thick,” I say, working my hand over the ridge of his cock where it presses against his slacks.

“Mm, take it out, baby.” He kisses my jaw, down to my ear, and drags the lobe between his teeth as I unzip his slacks and draw his cock into my hand. He’s not just thick. He’s huge. “Yes,” he hisses as I squeeze his length.

“I don’t know if you’re going to fit inside me,” I say, half-joking. Half nervously serious.

“Oh, I will. We just have to warm you up first.”

He nips my shoulder, and I gasp. “How do you plan to do that?”

When he pulls away, his smile is pure desire. My stomach flips.

“Take off your pants and get in the shower,” he instructs.

“And what about you?”

He bites at his bottom lip. “I’m going to enjoy the show, and then I’ll join you when you’re ready.”

With the space he’s left me, I’m able to scoot off the counter and stand in front of him. He’s got a good half a foot on me when I’m not in heels, so I have to crane my neck to peer up at him. “Are you going to turn on the water or what?”

“How hot do you like it?”

“Scalding.”

He obliges me, reaching into the standing shower to turn the faucet halfway to boiling. I wait till he’s watching me again to reach for my button and zipper. His gaze tracks every movement until my trousers are gathered at my feet, and I’m standing before him in nothing but black lace panties.

“Those too,” he says with a jut of his chin.

“Yes, sir.” I hook my thumbs in the sides and draw them downward, wondering who on Earth this woman is and where she got her confidence from. The Cora Bennet I know would never. But the Cora Bennet that Adam desires? She apparently would.

He sucks in a breath through his teeth, gaze settling on the apex of my thighs. “You are so fucking sexy, Cora. The things I’m going to do to you.”

I reach for his waistband and yank his clothes the rest of the way down. Sure, I felt his cock. But seeing it, so hard for me and impossibly large, has my mouth watering. “You’re one to talk.”

“Get in the shower.”

“So bossy.”

“Not your boss,” he says, following me into the stream of water. “Your coworker. It’s an important distinction for HR.”

My laughter splits my chest in two. “Way to ruin the moment, Mayor. ”

As soon as the words are out of my mouth, he has me flattened against the steam-warmed tile and a hand between my legs, one finger slipping into my core. “Funny, doesn’t feel like it was ruined.”

I gasp, my back arching of its own volition. “ Fuck me. ”

“Oh, I will. But first…” He kneels before me, the stream of water hitting him square in the back. Then he hooks one of my legs and balances my foot on his shoulder. “Look at that pretty pussy. So wet for me already.”

“Adam, you don’t have to—”

“No,” he interjects. “I get to.” Then he leans forward and covers my clit with his lips.

He sucks and licks, stoking that coiled pleasure higher and higher until it’s choking off my words. All I can do is gasp and moan and roll my hips into his face. He braces one hand on my thigh and the other finds its way to my entrance, two fingers curling into me at the perfect angle.

I weave both hands into Adam’s dark hair, holding him in place. Not that he’s trying to get away. On the contrary, he’s devouring me like I’m his last meal on Earth. I’ve never felt this, this sense of worship. He’s on his knees for me, eating me with fervor. All I can do is enjoy the ride.

“Oh, fuck, Adam. I’m going to come.”

He doesn’t stop. Doesn’t change pace. His tongue continues to flick against my clit in perfect tandem with the strokes of his fingers. I come undone, shattering against him. I don’t know how I’m still standing when the waves of pleasure finally subside. The only way I can figure is Adam and his strong arms holding me steady.

He rises to his feet and pulls me into his chest, his cock hard against my belly. My legs are trembling. I kiss his neck weakly, feeling like I’m living in some kind of dream.

“That was…”

“I know.” He reaches over my shoulder for my shampoo bottle and unceremoniously squirts it on my head. “Now let’s get you washed up, so I can take you back to bed.”

“But what about you?”

He quirks a brow as he works the lather in my hair. “I’ll be in that bed, too.”

“Mmm, I like the sound of that.”

“Then we’re already better off than last night, huh?”

I laugh as he guides me under the stream for a rinse. He bathes me thoroughly, and then himself. When we’re both clean and wrapped in towels, I reach for my pajamas where they’re still waiting on the floor, and he bends to catch my wrist.

“Won’t be needing those,” he says.

Which is exactly what I hoped.

He drops his towel at the foot of the bed, then stretches out on his back and watches me. I debate keeping the towel on, feeling suddenly shy in the reality of the bedroom, but one glance at his cock still pulsing for me and I let it fall to the floor.

Adam whistles appreciatively. “I’ll never get tired of this view,” he says.

I ignore it because I don’t know how to take it. Will there be more than just this night? Or will we wake in the morning to find the spell entirely broken?

“Do you have a condom?” I say instead.

He nods. “In my wallet. I’ll get it.” He moves, but I hold up a hand.

“I’ve got it.” I retrieve his wallet off the desk and pull the foil packet from it. “Oh, you’ve got a Sam’s Club card. So you’re buying condoms in bulk, huh?”

He chuckles. “Get over here.”

I drop the wallet and take two steps back to the bed, then climb onto it and lie down beside him. Normally, I’d be worrying about the folds of my stomach as I bend, or the cellulite on my thighs in this lighting, but with Adam looking at me like he is now… Well, there’s just no room left to be self-conscious.

There’s no denying how badly he wants me. Almost as badly as I want him.

He plucks the condom from my hand and rips the packet, then holds it out for me. “Put it on me, Cora.”

A muscle in his jaw pops as I unroll it over his length, stroking him as I go. He’s perfect, splayed out like this and throbbing in my hand. I take a mental snapshot like a trophy I’ll refer back to when I’m old and waxing poetic about my youth to the girls in our nursing home. “Remember when I fucked the mayor? He was so hot.”

“What are you thinking about up there?”

I giggle. “Nothing.”

“Then come here,” he says, hooking a finger in his direction. I do as I’m told, melting into him from head to toe. Our lips fuse together, my breasts press against his chest. I straddle his hips and roll mine so his length brushes my still-sensitive clit. He grabs my thighs and tugs me upward, then reaches between us and aligns himself with my core.

“Just take it slow,” I say breathlessly.

He leaves me to lower myself at my own pace and praises me for every inch I take. “That’s it, baby. Such a good girl.”

He is big. I stretch for him, ache for him. I feel him so deeply, so differently than anyone I’ve ever been with. When at last he’s hilted inside me, I really do purr.

“You look so perfect with my cock buried inside you.” He squeezes my thighs, so hard I know it’ll leave a mark. Or two. “I want you to ride me, Cora.”

I hum softly and rise up on my knees, then gasp as I sink onto him once more. Again and again, I take him. Our bodies move in perfect sync, and when that familiar heat burns hot once again, I collapse forward and kiss him deeply. Madly. He thrusts into me, our bodies suctioning and slapping together. He moans my name against my lips, and I taste the sweetness of it. Then Adam’s hands clamp down on my ass and he thrusts upward with wild abandon, driving me to another orgasm just as his rips through him.

We collapse in a heap of gasping breaths and sweat-slick limbs on top of the blankets. At some point, he kisses my forehead and gets up to discard the condom, turn the lamp off, and crawl back into bed.

“This time, you can just start out cuddling me. Don’t even have to pretend you don’t want to,” he teases.

I shove him playfully, then do exactly that. I throw a leg over his thigh, an arm over his abdomen. We fit perfectly together, much as it seems we shouldn’t. He tucks the blanket around us, kisses my temple, and whispers, “Goodnight,” into my hair.

And then I fall asleep in Adam’s arms.