Chapter Four #3
“Oh… dear heavens, yes.” She wrapped her fingers around his upper arms and gave herself over to the strong feel of him, the scrape of the coarse hair of his chest against her sensitive nipples even through the lawn of her nightdress, the weight of him pressing her body into the soft tick mattress, the scent of his shaving soap that wafted around her every time he shifted position.
There was a particular look in his eyes that gave her pause, but there was no time to ponder it.
Release waited at the edge of her consciousness, just out of reach, and she couldn’t quite grasp it. “Evan…” Her breath came in pants, and with every stroke, waves of pleasure crashed over her. “Please.”
“I adore when a woman begs,” he whispered as he slipped a hand between their bodies. Soon, those talented fingers once more found her swollen nubbin, and an inadvertent scream left her throat. He chuckled. “My, my, someone is responsive. Do you treat your clients to this bit?”
“Not genuinely for years.” She bit his shoulder, uncaring if she left a mark.
“You are still an arrogant prick.” Her thoughts scattered, her nerves frayed as she squirmed from the friction he created, for he’d already had her primed.
Faster then slower, he rubbed his fingers around and across that button.
She sank into heated madness, bucking her hips, which sent his shaft deeper into her passage.
The feelings he evoked were so intense that tears leaked from the corners of her eyes to slide down her cheeks, and still she encouraged him, pressing his hand to exactly where she needed him to be.
He found her gaze as he manipulated that nub for all he was worth.
Desire lingered in those brown eyes, but it was the shadows that made her curious.
“Oh …” All too soon, she shattered. “Oh!” Her body stiffened.
Then a wave of bliss swept over her, and she shook from it.
Briefly, she lost herself in that spinning vortex and dug her fingernails into his shoulders while he chuckled.
When she came back to reality, her feminine walls still quivered and gripped his shaft; she gave into a shiver as voracious need circled through her insides.
“Finish me, Buckthorne, like you used to.”
And then she’d work to forget him.
“Damn, you’re needy.” He held her hips, leveraging on his knees, and pulled her body toward him then he thrust into her like a man possessed, speared into her deep enough to almost touch her soul if such a thing were possible. “You weren’t like that before.”
“I was young, na?ve, trusting. I’ve changed and operate in the shallow now.
” She thrashed her head from side to side as he worked.
Far too soon, she shattered again, and she wasn’t ready.
“Yes, yes! Evan!” The pressure building and circling low in her belly broke, and colorful fireworks exploded behind her closed eyes.
Her pulse raced as if she’d run all the way to France.
Over and over and over he pushed through the contractions that moved through her core until he too fell over that edge into a powerful release.
“Argh!” His length pulsed, shooting warmth into her.
Then he slumped on top of her with his face buried between her breasts.
“If I had known you were waiting for me, I would have tried to come back sooner.”
“You should have anyway,” she said in the veriest of whispers.
“Why? You knew what I was when we first came together.” He nuzzled her neck while she buried the fingers of one hand into the hair at his nape.
“I wasn’t done with you,” Hannah finally said as the heat of embarrassment infused her cheeks. “However, what we did tonight was an aberration.”
“You were the one to start it.” Somewhere deep within the bowels of the house, a longcase clock chimed the midnight hour.
“Yes, well, it was a mistake that won’t happen again.
” Did she hate herself for welcoming him back in such a way?
Yes, she did; this meant nothing. She’d long ago gotten over him, mostly, and didn’t need him anymore, didn’t want him besides.
While her ragged breathing stabilized, the sound of the rain continued against the window.
“Good. I didn’t ask for it.”
She frowned. “Then why did you come here tonight? What did you want from me?”
Briefly, he met her gaze. “Peace.”
“There hasn’t been that here for years,” she told him in a whisper. Yet, for the first time in a long while, she was satisfied and sleepy after having a man in her bed. But she couldn’t—wouldn’t—stay with him in this room.
When he didn’t respond except to rest a speculative gaze on her, she left the bed then padded across the floor.
“Show yourself out in the morning and don’t let the cat escape either.
I don’t want to see you again, Buckthorne.
There is nothing here for you.” No doubt he’d be gone tomorrow, and she wouldn’t know why the devil he’d showed up on her doorstep a bloody, beaten mess.
Not even the new memories made with him tonight would be enough payment for the pain it would bring in future years.