Chapter Eleven
F or a moment she thought he would turn her down. Then a smile lit his eyes. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
She put her arms around his neck and rose on her toes. She kissed him slowly, wondering if she was making a mistake. Then his arms came around her and he kissed her back, took possession of her mouth like he was starving, and she didn’t care if it was a mistake.
“Thank God,” he said, lifting his head. “I’ve wanted you forever.” Then he boosted her up and she wrapped her legs around him as he took the few strides to the bed. Once there, he let her slide down his body, wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. He took her mouth again in a slow, sensual kiss.
Damn, what was it about him that destroyed her restraint? That made her want to be wild and crazy? She never had been. Before Connor.
He drew her closer, deepening the kiss. His tongue touched hers, drawing her into a seductive give and take. He explored her mouth, his tongue tasting and teasing hers, while he drew her closer still. Her breasts were smashed against his chest, his jeans against her stomach, and she could feel him beneath them, already hard.
He slipped his hands beneath her shirt to cup and fondle her breasts. His clever fingers pulled gently on her nipples, then rolled them between his fingers and his thumb. She gasped, so turned on at finally having his hands on her again, she thought she’d come right then and there.
Impatiently, he grabbed the hem of her shirt and yanked it off over her head. Then he stepped back and looked at her. He shook his head. “I thought I might have dreamed how beautiful you are, but it was no dream. You’re even more gorgeous now than you were the first time I saw you naked.”
Her hands went to his jeans, and she unbuttoned them but had a hard time yanking down the zipper over his rock-hard cock. “Take these off,” she demanded, frustrated.
He smiled but left her to reach for his go bag. He came up with a box of condoms he tossed onto the bedside table. Then he pushed her back on the bed and watched her as he unzipped his jeans and pushed them down his legs. He’d gone commando and his cock sprang free, jutting out, ready for her. She held out her arms and smiled, and he came down on the bed beside her.
They rolled, first one on top and then the other. His hands swept over her body, over breasts and hips and then he slid a hand between her thighs and thrust one finger, then two inside her. She lifted her hips and moaned, meeting him thrust for thrust. “So good,” she said.
He looked up from her breasts after taking one then the other in his mouth to suck and tug on her nipples. “I’ve imagined this damn near every night since we were together.”
“So have I.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s been driving me insane.”
He kissed his way down her body until he reached her most intimate parts. Licked and kissed and sucked until she felt her body tighten, on the edge of explosion. She put her hands in his hair and held him close, screaming his name as the crescendo swept through her.
She’d barely regained her breath when he rolled over and grabbed a condom. “Let me,” she said.
He handed it to her, watching her as she rolled it down over his cock. He flipped her on her back, wrapped his hands in her hair and drove inside her, seating himself to the hilt. They both groaned.
“Don’t stop,” she panted.
He gave a strangled laugh. “Couldn’t if I wanted to.”
She wrapped her legs tightly around his hips, hung on with her arms around him, taking everything he gave her. He plunged inside her, only to withdraw almost completely and drive into her again. Another orgasm built, sending her higher and higher until everything coalesced into one thing. This. The two of them together. She shattered with a cry. He thrust inside her hard, one last time, said her name and came, pulsing inside her for a long, long time.
*
Once his heartbeat steadied he rolled aside and put his arm around her. “After Vegas I tried to find you. I couldn’t.”
“I wondered when you told me you lived in Montana if I’d run into you, but I didn’t honestly think I would. And to find out I was going to be working with you blew my mind.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Does it feel like I regret it?”
“No, thank God.” He kissed her and she snuggled against him, heaving what sounded like a supremely satisfied sigh.
Connor had been celibate before. But he never had been while wanting a woman so badly he’d have done anything to have her again. Actually, he couldn’t think of anyone he’d ever wanted as much as he did Sierra. He’d had good sex before. Even had great sex, especially the first time with Sierra. But this time was different.
He’d worried that when they finally made love again it would be anti-climactic. Instead it had nearly blown off the top of his head. It had been amazing, even better than he’d imagined. And he’d imagined some incredibly hot sex.
Sierra nestled closer, against his chest, their legs tangled together and her fingers tracing circles over his chest, around his nipples, sliding downward every now and then. “Have I told you I really, really like your chest?” She kissed it and smiled at him.
Connor laughed. “Yeah, but I don’t mind if you repeat it. I happen to really, really like yours too.”
“Oh, a boob man, are you?”
“Baby, with you I’m an everything-about-you man.”
She laughed. “Flatterer.” They were both silent a moment and then she said, “I don’t know why I resisted you—resisted this—for so long.”
“Why do you think you did?” He had an idea, but he wasn’t sure he was right.
“Because of Phil.”
“Your ex-husband.”
“Yes.”
He couldn’t help it, he tensed.
“Oh, not because I’m still in love with him.”
Thank God for that. But was it true?
“Then why?”
“I was afraid of being hurt again.”
“And you’re not now?”
She rose on her forearm and looked him in the eye. “No, I still am. But I decided that wasn’t how I wanted to live my life. To fully live it you have to take chances. Risks.”
Damn, she undid him with her honesty. He stroked her hair, loving the silky feel of it. “Sierra, I’d never purposely hurt you.” But she could hurt him. He was only now realizing just how badly she could hurt him.
“I believe you. I want to, anyway.”
“So, are we together now?”
“Since I’m lying in bed with you after making wild love I’d say so.”
“No worries about working together?”
“No. We were able to be professional at work before this. I see no reason that should change.”
True. But he hadn’t realized until now, hadn’t allowed himself to admit the truth, even to himself. Especially to himself. He was falling in love with Sierra Evans.
*
Sierra woke up one morning to find herself almost pushed off the bed. Connor took up the majority of it. He was still asleep, his blond hair messy, stubble covering his cheeks, the sheets thrown off to show the back of a very naked man.
Yum.
Was she making a mistake allowing herself to get more involved with Connor every day? But damn, he was nothing like she’d thought he would be at first. Sure, he’d been great when they were in Vegas but that had definitely been one night only. When she came to Marietta and found him again, she’d resisted him as long as she could. When that hadn’t worked, she hadn’t been at all sure what would happen if they started dating.
If he didn’t truly care about her, he was a great actor. He was sweet and thoughtful, not at all like the love ’em and leave ’em player she’d believed him to be after hearing the gossip. And even though they were no longer a one-night stand, he was still fun. None of that had changed.
She tried to remember the last time she’d actually had fun with her ex-husband, and she couldn’t. She knew she had once, though, or she wouldn’t have married him. To be honest, their marriage had been good for several years. But the more independent she became, with her nursing especially, the more involved with work Phil became until she took a back seat. And then, of course, he’d fallen in love with another woman.
The more time that passed after the divorce, though, the more she realized that maybe she wasn’t still in love with Phil. That maybe she was happier without him than she’d been with him, certainly for the last few years of their marriage.
But she wasn’t in love with Connor, either. Sure, she enjoyed him. He did little romantic things for her that she’d never have imagined before they became involved. One morning she woke up with a single rose on the pillow beside her and a note saying he hoped her day was great. Another time he showed up with a box of Sage’s chocolates. Her favorites, which he must have asked Sage about. One night he invited her to his place and brought in dinner from the Graff.
“I didn’t know the Graff had takeout,” she’d said.
“They don’t.” He’d grinned but wouldn’t tell her how he’d managed it.
At work he was professional. Sometimes she’d find him looking at her with a smile that made her wonder what he was thinking but he never crossed a line. When they first started dating, she’d wondered if the fact that she was in essence his boss might be a problem. It hadn’t been. But she still wondered why he’d never, as far as she knew, tried to become a flight nurse. If for no other reason than they made more money than a flight paramedic.
Even though it was early, she knew she wouldn’t go back to sleep. She got up, careful not to wake Connor, grabbed a robe and her fuzzy socks, and went to her kitchen to make coffee. She stood with her back to the doorway, watching the coffee perk, jolting when she felt arms come around her.
“Did I scare you?” Connor asked, nuzzling her neck.
“A little. I didn’t expect you to be up so early.”
“We both have the day off and get to spend it together. I’ll take advantage of that any time.” He paused and turned her around. “Unless you have other plans?”
“Actually, no. What did you have in mind?”
He started ticking things off on his fingers. “Ice-skating, snowshoeing, riding, skiing… Any other ideas?”
“Yes.” He was ripped. She’d known that, of course, but his chest, which was bare right now, still made her salivate every time she saw it. He’d put on his jeans, which rode low on his hips and fit him perfectly. Soft, with the stress points worn. She sighed.
“Sierra?”
“Oh, sorry. Let’s stay in and have a movie marathon.”
“Can we make out on the couch while we watch them?”
She laughed. “Of course. I’ll plan for breaks.” She ran her hand over his chest. “For other activities.”
“Count me in. I like action movies.”
“I like romantic comedies.” She thought for a minute and said, “My, aren’t we cliché.”
“So? We like what we like. Nothing wrong with that.”
After breakfast they flipped a coin. Sierra won and chose one of her favorite romantic comedies. Connor groaned but acquiesced, laughing nearly as much as she did once he got into it.
After the movie they went back to bed and made love again. Sierra wasn’t sure she’d ever felt so content. Which was sort of an odd thing to think after some of the most explosive sex she’d ever had. But Connor had a knack for making her relax and simply be happy. Once she recovered from mind-blowing sex, that is.
Connor’s phone rang. “Aren’t you going to get it?” Sierra asked when he ignored it.
“It’s Liam. He can—oh, shit, I forgot.”
“Forgot what?”
“I told him I’d help him build another foaling box.”
“Today?”
“I didn’t realize we’d be doing something today. Damn it, I have to help him. Val will try to help if I don’t.”
From hearing Connor talk about them she knew Val was Liam’s wife. “Is that a problem?”
“Not for Val, but Liam will freak out. She’s pregnant and the doc told her to take it easy, but taking it easy isn’t the same thing to Val as it is to Liam.”
“Then you need to go. Why don’t I go with you? I’d like to meet both of them.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.”
“Okay, you’ll like them.”
Meeting some of his family. That might sound serious, but it wasn’t. Not necessarily, anyway.