Chapter 16
Oh, good Lord, he just made love to Rory Belmont. She was still lying there like a goddess with his seed dripping across her belly.
Fighting exhaustion, he made himself get up and go to the bathroom for a warm, damp cloth to clean her up.
As he wiped away the pearly liquid, he looked at her.
She was absolute perfection. Tossing aside the cloth, he climbed back into bed and pulled her against him so that her head was resting on his chest. Her legs tangled with his, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before he wanted her again, no matter how tired he was.
With her in his arms, he couldn’t bring himself to think too hard about the foolish thing he’d said.
Please don’t let this be the last time. It had to be the last time.
Last time should have been the last time.
He came into the evening with such good intentions.
He even managed to leave the event without committing to see her.
But when he tried to walk out of the hotel, his feet made a different choice.
And once he was at the front desk, he had to take the room. And once he was in the room, well…
When he decided to stay, he promised himself this was the end. But none of that mattered with her naked and snuggled against him. “How long can you stay?”
“All night,” she said. “But I need to be home by 8:00 a.m. for breakfast.”
He nodded. It was both a luxurious eternity and far too short. She yawned and snuggled closer. “You must be exhausted, princess. Let’s get some rest. We have all night.”
He turned off the bedside lamp, and they dozed.
His dreams were filled with her, and it was no surprise when he woke up several hours later, hard as a rock, and desperate to have her again.
Moonlight poured through the window, coating everything in a silver gleam, including her gorgeous curves.
He didn’t want to wake her, though, so he turned away from her and tried to focus on counting sheep.
She must have felt him shift because she nestled against him, spooning him, and began kissing his neck.
Her hand wandered down and found his tremendous erection.
She said, “Mmm,” as she grasped it and began to stroke.
“You’re awake?” he murmured.
She laughed. “Yes, and so are you.”
He turned around so that he was facing her. “Are you saying you want…?”
“Obviously,” she said, hooking an elegant, tapered leg over his hip and drawing him into a long, languorous kiss. “Were you dreaming of me? I was dreaming of you.”
“Good dreams I hope,” he said kissing her again. He could happily spend a week just kissing her. Her lips were so soft and supple, and she used them so sinfully well.
“See for yourself.” She pulled his hand between her legs where he felt her wetness slicking his fingers. Oh God, so wet. His male pride swelled at the thought that he was haunting her dreams, causing other things to swell in response. He immediately began to pet and caress her.
“Oh, I see. Very good dreams. And…uh…what did I do in these dreams?” She began to squirm against him as he teased and tormented her.
“You started with what you’re doing now,” she said, “and then you took me, making me come again and again until I dissolved into a thousand stars.”
Christ, it made him hard to hear her say things like that.
“I’ll make you see stars, princess.”
Changing the movement of his hand, he thrust two fingers inside her and curved them to touch the spot he’d discovered earlier, and she convulsed against him.
Excellent. Exactly what he wanted. He loved the way she writhed at his touch.
In very short order, she was wailing as she came, and he had to kiss her to contain the noise.
“Now give me what I want,” she demanded.
“This?” he asked, taking a nipple in his mouth and teasing it with tongue and teeth.
“You are terrible,” she said, raking her nails up his back in revenge for his delay.
“No? What about this?” he said, delaying yet again with her other breast. He could play this game all night.
No, he couldn’t. Who was he kidding? He could barely contain himself now, but it was so entertaining to thwart her.
She made a throaty noise of frustration.
“Oh, this isn’t what you want?”
“You know what I want.”
“Yes, but I want to hear you say it.”
She took his jaw in her grip and looked straight into his eyes. “I told you, I want you inside me, fucking me until I see stars. Is that what you want to hear?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said with a mock salute.
And with that, he positioned himself and sank home.
Oh fuck. The clenching heat threatened to send him over the edge before they even got started.
For a long moment, neither of them moved.
All they could do was breathe. She looked back at him, wide-eyed in the silver moonlight, mouth frozen in a small “o.”
In that instant, he was hers. His intentions didn’t matter.
Please don’t let this be the last time. It won’t be.
It couldn’t be. There was no walking away from this for either of them.
Somehow, they would have to do the impossible and traverse the chasm that separated them because they had no other choice.
This wasn’t going to end simply because they willed it.
The need to move crept up on him, growing and building until he couldn’t resist any longer.
Her mouth widened as he thrust into her, her lip quivering and her brow furrowed as she took in a shaky breath.
He moved slowly, carefully, stoking the fire within her stroke by stroke.
She remained speechless, her whole body trembling as they rocked gently together.
As she moved beneath him, she met each thrust with a counterthrust, pulling him deeper and deeper. With delicate fingers, she reached up to his face, cupping his jaw, then running her thumb over his bottom lip. Her gentle touch wove a magic spell that threatened to make his heart explode.
He bent down to kiss her, needing to find a new way to release his overflowing emotions. Being inside her wasn’t enough. He needed to be connected in every possible way. Her lips met his with fierce desperation, her tongue driving into his mouth greedily as if he was the air she needed to breathe.
Like the first time he took off in an airplane on his own, he felt an otherworldly sense of rightness, of belonging. This was what he was meant for, why he was born into this world. His purpose in life was to fly airplanes and love Rory Belmont.
Love? Yes, love. What other word could describe the feelings flowing through him?
What other force in the universe was this powerful and all-consuming?
Certainly not lust. He’d felt lust. It was like a sickness, a fever that took him in its thrall and then broke.
With Rory, it wasn’t a temporary fever. It was a transmutation.
The heat was so much greater. He was being blown and spun like molten glass into someone else entirely, someone permanently linked to her.
A tremor rippled through her, and then another, stronger one.
She clenched and pulsed around him, as he struggled to hold back his release.
He thrust hard, and she cried out, tipping over the edge into oblivion.
He thrust again and again, extending her flight through bliss until he could no longer hold on.
At the last moment, he pulled out and spent in the sheets.
As he lay back and caught his breath, he wondered what on earth he was going to do. How could he broach the subject with her without sounding like a lovesick puppy?
“Hank?”
There was something tentative in the way she said his name. Did she somehow sense his thoughts?
“Yes?” He waited.
A long silence.
“What is it, Rory?”
“Have we gone too far?” She settled her head on his chest. It felt like she belonged there.
“What do you mean ‘too far’?” He stroked her wild curls, savoring their softness.
“I…” She went silent for a long moment. “I want to keep seeing you.”
“I want to keep seeing you too. We’ll figure it out somehow, don’t worry.”
She sighed. “I know we will. It’s just that…”
“What?”
Taking a deep breath, she said, “This was supposed to be a fling—one night to get you out of my system. It wasn’t supposed to turn into something more.”
His heart sank, hearing her speak aloud his own thoughts. But he had been lying to himself all along. Was she? “If you want me to leave you be, I’ll do it.” It would kill him, but he would.
“That’s just it. I don’t want you to. I want…something more.”
And with those words, everything changed. She didn’t want to send him away, never to return. The feeling was mutual, and he didn’t have to hide or hold back.
He kissed her fervently, and she responded with equal ardor. “What does ‘something more’ mean to you?”
“I… I don’t know. All I know is I need to see you again. This can’t be the end.”
He couldn’t agree more. “I’ll do anything you want. Just tell me what you need from me.”
“I don’t know yet.”
The dangers were great, but this was a risk worth taking.
“Is there anything I could do to make your father less likely to want to murder me?” It was unlikely, but maybe she would have an idea.
She shook her head. “Not unless you can get filthy rich.” Unlikely. “And change what family you were born into.” Impossible.
“So, no.” Damnit.
“I’m sorry. My father’s a terrible snob about me. He’s not so bad in other areas of his life, but when it comes to family alliances…”
“If I had a daughter, I wouldn’t want her anywhere near a guy like me either.”
She wrapped her arm around him and traced his shoulder blade. “Why?”
“I know the risks pilots take, even outside the war with no one shooting at us. Airplanes aren’t safe, and I wouldn’t want my daughter heartbroken like those war widows at the party tonight.”
“Oh, Hank.” She kissed him sweetly. “Heartbreak seems like a small price to pay for the company of someone as brave and daring—”
“And handsome.”
“And handsome,” she added with a smile, “as you.”
Did that mean she cared enough for her heart to be broken? Discomfort twisted in his belly.
“Rory.”
“Hmm?” Her eyes were drooping. He really should let her get some more sleep.
“Don’t fall for me. I don’t want to cause you pain.”
She propped up her chin on his chest so that she could look him in the eye. “Don’t tell me what to do, Hank Hawley. I take the risks I choose. It isn’t up to you.”
He stared. It was all he could do not to laugh. Good God, what a woman. “Does this mean you are falling for me?”
She settled her head back down on his chest, twining her arms and legs around him. “Presumptuous,” she said with a yawn. “Are you falling for me?”
“Yes,” he answered before he could stop himself. He clenched his jaw, wishing he could take it back. “But it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing I can do about it. You’re as unreachable as ever, princess.”
“Well, you can certainly reach me right now,” she said with a wicked grin, putting his hand on her breast.
“Don’t you need sleep?”
She shrugged. “I have my whole life to sleep. I only have…” She peered at the wind-up alarm clock beside the bed. “…three and a half more hours with you.”
He smiled. “How should we use our time?”
“I have some ideas.”
And she showed him.