9. Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
Kieran fought for control, but kissing Addy shut down his rational mind, leaving a ravening animal inside the skin that once housed a careful, sensible man—before he met the beautiful doctor and remembered what it was to crave not just a woman’s touch, but her tenderness, her companionship, her...
Love?
That inner whisper echoed, revving his pulse even higher than Addy’s kiss did.
He’d heard stories about love at first sight and all that malarkey.
Blame it on the hormones, or loneliness, or too much time away from his therapy group, but right now, Kieran wanted a hell of a lot more than sex with Addy.
There was something magical about her, a rare honesty and openness he hadn’t known he needed until she arrived on his doorstep.
Searching his eyes, Addy threaded her fingers into his hair. Her smile dazzled like sunlight on the water as she took his hand and backed toward the hallway. “Shall we?”
Heat curled up his spine. Too bewitched to speak, he followed.
When they reached the closed bedroom door, she leaned against it, her breasts rising on a deep inhalation.
Kieran held his breath. Please, Addy, don’t change your mind. We both need this.
The sexy way she bit her lip had him hard as iron. He needed to drink in every inch of her, to touch and taste and claim.
But she wasn’t his. A week from tonight, he’d watch her taillights disappear from Trappers Cove.
Still, the military base was only three hours away, and although they’d only shared a few kisses, he was dead certain one night with Addy Connor would never be enough.
“Come on, slowpoke.” She interrupted his strategizing with a kiss hot enough to burn his clothes right off his body. She pulled back and gazed up at him, her brow rumpled in worry. “Or are you having second thoughts?”
He pressed his palms to the door, caging her in. “No, darlin’. Just pondering how to make this so good, you’ll come back for more.”
A flicker of darkness passed over her face, quickly replaced by a devilish smile. “That’s a tall order. Think you’re up for the challenge?”
Beautiful, kind, and snarky too? This woman absolutely slayed him.
“Listen, Addy.” He pressed his body to hers from chest to hips, letting her feel the hard ridge of his arousal. “Up is an insufficient word for the state you’ve got me in.” He traced the shell of her ear with the tip of his tongue, then kissed the silky skin beneath. “And I love a challenge.”
She shivered, and damn if her response didn’t flood his veins with fire. This woman would be his undoing. Fisting her hair at her nape, he took her mouth in a kiss so frantic their teeth clashed.
Her soft whimper set his heart thrashing behind his ribs.
He clutched her luscious ass and lifted her off her feet.
Just as starved for pleasure as he was, she clasped her thighs around his hips, gasping when her center lined up with his aching erection, and Gods above!
—she rocked her pelvis, nearly bringing him off in his trousers like a lust-mad kid.
“Kieran, I need—” She cut off her plea with another searing kiss, her pie-sweet tongue delving into his mouth.
Still holding her aloft, he flung the door open and lurched toward the bed.
Everything in him demanded he strip off both their clothes, sink into her softness, and race to the climax they both craved, but if he had a hope of earning more than one unforgettable night with Addy, he had to show her what she’d be missing when she left.
When they collided with the mattress, he dipped his knees and gently set her down. Holy angels, the look she gave him as she reclined on her back, arms above her head, her hair spread out on the pillow, her glistening lips parted—pure desire and sweet promise.
Now that she lay before him, welcoming him into her bed, all his words deserted him except “Beautiful Addy.” Raining kisses over her face and neck, he slid his hands beneath her sweater.
Her skin was a satiny miracle, warm and giving, and her breasts!
Cloud-soft, full and heavy, they filled his hands perfectly. He had to taste them.
“Can I take this off?” He tugged at their lace cage.
“If you’ll take your shirt off first.” Eyes glittering, she pulled his shirttails free from his belt. “I want to see you, Kieran.”
And just like that, anxiety stomped on the brakes. Taking off his shirt meant baring his scars, and previous lovers had quailed at the shiny, puckered slashes across his back, spoiling the mood with their squeamishness, pity, and questions. If Addy flinched—
She’s a doctor, he reminded himself. She’s seen worse.
Straddling her, he leaned down and traced the delicate line of her jaw with his forefinger. “Addy, I was burned in the rig fire.”
She nodded slowly. “I’ve seen lots of burns, Kieran. And the aftermath, for those lucky enough to survive.”
Damn it—now who was spoiling the mood?
She reached up and cupped his cheek in her soft palm. “I promise you, no amount of scarring will make me want you less.”
Heart thundering, he watched her slender fingers release the front clasp on her bra. Her glorious breasts spilled out, ripe and inviting.
He reached for them, but she grasped his wrists firmly. “Shirt off.”
“Bossy, aren’t you?” Grinning to cover his fear, he unfastened his buttons and tugged the garment over his head.
With a cock-firing mewl, Addy ran her hands over his furry front as if memorizing the planes and angles of him.
“You’re beautiful,” she whispered and clasped the back of his neck, drawing him down into a deep, searching kiss. Chest to chest, belly to belly, they undulated until he couldn’t endure one second more.
Rearing up, he pinned her wrists above her head.
“Here’s what’s going to happen, love.” He reached for the waistband of her jeans.
“I’m going to peel this off you, set my poor langer free before it catches fire, and then…
” He trailed kisses down her pale throat and over her collar bones before latching onto one puckered, rosy nipple. Addy gasped and bucked beneath him.
“And then?”
He circled her other taut bud with his tongue. “And then, my beautiful doc, I’m going to give you a hundred reasons to return to me.”
Head lolling, she closed her eyes and arched her back.
True to his word, he sloooowly slid her jeans over her smooth legs, kissing and nipping each revealed inch of tender skin. He tongued the backs of her knees, the hollows behind her ankle bones, before rising again until he reached the silky skin of her inner thighs, just below her lace knickers.
Red, he noted. She’d been planning this encounter, and the thought of this woman dressing for him, brushing her dark-chocolate hair until it gleamed, dabbing that spring-fresh scent between her breasts and in the hollow of her throat as she fantasized…
“Addy,” he moaned and kissed her mound through the cloth, then hooked his fingers through the elastic and whisked away the last barrier between her flesh and his hungry mouth.
And oh, the wonder of her, plush and glistening with arousal! He gave her seam one long lick, drawing a gasp from her kiss-stung lips.
“That’s my girl,” he growled and gripped her thighs, forcing them farther apart. “Let me see you, all seashell pink and wet for me.”
She writhed, canting her hips up in a silent plea for more.
“Like that, do you?” He indulged her with a flurry of licks and flicks and deep, sucking kisses. His Addy wasn’t one to keep still—in fact, her wriggling dance brought her to the edge of the mattress with one toned leg dangling.
“Easy now.” Rising to his knees, he grasped her hips and tugged her back to the center of the bed. He cast his gaze on the brass headboard. “Maybe I should tie you up to keep you from falling out of bed.”
Addy’s eyes widened, and—bless her randy heart—she reached above her head and grasped the brass railing.
“Good girl.” Closing his fingers over her slender wrists, he covered her nude body with his half-clothed one and ground his throbbing cock between her splayed thighs.
“Ouch,” she complained. “Your belt buckle.”
“You want me naked, beauty?”
“Desperately.” Wanton need flickered in her jade irises.
Never had he felt more desired. A feral grin curled his lips as he released her and stripped off his jeans, undershorts, and then bent to remove his socks—because there’s nothing more ridiculous than a man wearing nothing but a stiff cock and his socks.
In doing so, he exposed his back to her. The mattress creaked, and soft fingers stroked his ragged skin. He braced himself for her reaction, but no words came, only a gentle kiss between his shoulder blades.
That sweet gesture melted something deep inside him, a defensive wall he hadn’t lowered for anyone since the disaster. Tears prickled his eyes. Blinking them back, he rounded on her and pressed her into the mattress.
“Sweet Addy.” He slid his hand between their bodies and parted her folds, plunging his middle finger into her liquid heat while his palm cupped her mound.
Massaging gently, he probed with his thumb until he found the firm bud of her clit.
He licked into her mouth, stroking her in time with his movements below.
Addy moaned and jerked, her stomach muscles clenched, her legs tight around his hips.
He thrust another finger inside her, pumping slowly, all the while angling his cock away to keep from spilling himself on her thigh.
Head flung back, she squeezed her eyes shut and keened, her inner walls gripping his fingers.
“That’s it, love. Let go. I’ve got you.” Clutching her tight, he kissed her arched throat as she rode out the throes of her climax.
With a sharp tug on his hair and a sexy growl, Addy threw her thigh over him and rolled him onto his back, rising above him on hands and knees.
Eyes glittering, she grasped his cock and notched it at her entrance.
Every instinct demanded he plunge into her slick heat, but he gritted out a strangled, “Condom!”
“Right.” With a laugh, Addy swiped her snarled hair out of her eyes and dove toward the nightstand.
Kieran beat her to it, his fingers closing around a foil packet.
“Ready for tonight, were ya?”
“Hopeful.” She bit her lip, and her gaze lasered onto his cock as he quickly sheathed himself and clutched her flushed, sweat-slicked body to his.
“How do you want me, love?”
“Every way.” Her teeth closed on the flesh of his shoulder, a bright flash of pain that fired his blood even hotter.
He rolled atop her and pinned her hands above her head, reveling in her needy whimpers. Holding her gaze, he sank into the heaven between her thighs—liquid heat that hugged him tight and filled his mind with stars.
“Addy, you’re so…” He couldn’t finish the thought because she seized his mouth in a greedy kiss.
He did his best to rein in his driving need, but when she arched her back and screamed his name, his control shattered. Bucking like a wild beast, he rammed into her again and again, her cries of pleasure ringing in his ears as his own climax roared through him.
Afterward, when his vision cleared and his breath slowed enough for speech, he gathered Addy into his arms and breathed in the springtime fragrance of her bed-mussed hair.
What could he possibly say to her? Words were not adequate to the task of describing how changed he felt—at once relaxed and uplifted and transformed and feckin’ marvelous, and all of it thanks to this beautiful, generous woman who saw his wounds up close and still welcomed him into her bed, her mind, her glorious body.
And now, the only question pulsing through him: how to win her heart?