he felt an almighty battle raging, a war so fierce, the pull of yes-no threatened to tear him apart. If he did as she asked … if he took her to bed … they would each win and both lose. They wanted this, they’d always been electric together in the bedroom, but this time there’d be a heavy price to pay.
Unless her memories of that time before were lost forever.
His heartbeat pounding in his ears, Bishop searched her eyes and challenged himself again to do what Laura would want him to if she could only remember. But all he could see was pure clean love glistening in her eyes, pouring from her face. At this moment, she truly loved and believed in him. If he made an excuse this time it would only hurt her. And yet, if he complied …
Breaking, Bishop groaned and brought her closer.
What the hell. If she got her memory back during the night, she could hang him in the morning.
His head dropped lower and as his mouth claimed hers, he swept her up in his arms and headed inside. When he reached the foot of their bed, he released her lips and set her gently on her feet. While his pulse hammered through his veins, his gaze drank in the heavenly sight of her standing in the moonlight flooding in through the bedroom’s ten-foot-high windows.
She raised her arms and, understanding, he folded the light fabric up in his hands and eased the negligee over her head. Before the silk and lace hit the floor, his head had lowered over hers again. He felt her dissolve in his arms as she happily, completely surrendered.
Laura trembled inside and out as her hands wandered over the granite of his chest and muscled sides. Then, only half aware, lost in the kiss, she was helping him tug the shirttails from his belt, unbuttoning the front, winding the fabric off his shoulders, down his arms. His kiss was so skillful, thoughtful, and at the same time, demanding. An avalanche of stirring sensations … of memories … rained down and filtered through her. When his mouth left hers to feather a tingling path over the sensitive curve that joined shoulder to neck, the energy, already so strong, multiplied. Intensified.
Laura’s head rocked back.
She reveled in the feel of him. Her senses reeled at his clean male scent. As her palms sculpted over his shoulders and biceps, her mind visualized those hot mounds of steely flesh—how she loved to cling to them when he thrust above her—and she smiled.
His thumbs rubbed mesmerizing deep circles high on her arms as his mouth trailed her collarbone then dipped lower until the warm wet sweep of his tongue twirled and teased one nipple. Every atom of oxygen in her lungs evaporated. Gasping back air, she drove her fingers through his hair while tiny brush fires flashed and ignited through her veins. And the slow burn only grew, second by second, with every heartbeat and breathtaking loop of his tongue.
Light-headed, she tugged at his belt and murmured into the shadows, “We don’t do this enough.” His teeth nipped and tugged the bead at the tip of her breast and she sighed. “In the beginning we’d spend entire weekends in bed.”
“I remember,” he groaned, then drew her deeply into his mouth.
He’d heeled off his shoes. Now he tugged and stepped out of his trousers. When he hooked her under each arm and laid her upon the bed, she moaned with barely contained anticipation and delight. Like a big cat on the prowl, on all fours he edged up until he hovered over her. His head slowly dipped to kiss her mouth, her brow, the shell of her ear, as her back arched higher and his erection throbbed and grew.
“Should we flick back the quilt?” she asked between breath less kisses and running her leg over his. “Get beneath the covers?”
His palm, large and slightly rough, scooped under her hip. In a slow, languid movement, his muscular body grazed up against hers, drawing an urgent gasp of want from her lips. His knees nudged between hers. When his tip found her moist … silky, swollen and ready … he grinned against her parted lips.
“I’m good,” he said, and eased in more. “How about you?”
In answer, her pelvis tilted up at the same time his came down and he drove three parts in. The thrust hit a hot spot so bright she gasped for air. Her nails dragged up over rippling tendons as she swallowed loving words from his mouth. Making love with Bishop had always been wonderful, but this time …
This time was something beyond incredible. With the iron ruts of his abdomen grinding against her, his mouth sipping from her throat and strong fingers curling through her hair she felt consumed by a blanket of heat. The burn lifted her to a place no woman had ever flown to before. He felt so deliciously heavy on top her … so delectably, alarmingly male.
Smiling into the shadows, Laura held tight to the feeling.
He still wanted her. Of course he did. The same insatiable way she wanted him.
The slow, steady friction soon turned to leaping flame. As the energy—the raw imploding power—built and pulsed, she clung to his arms as her muscles contracted around him and every particle shivered, focusing on the indescribable magic awaiting her only a heartbeat away.
Perspiration slicked his skin; he slid and ground against her, making her burn wherever they touched. A rumbling groan sounded in his chest and in the shadows she saw him set his jaw. And then, without warning, he rolled away.
Working for breath, it took a few seconds for her to realize he wasn’t coming back. She pushed up onto her elbows, worried.
“What’s wrong?”
Stretched out on his back, out of breath, he laced his fingers over his brow. “We need protection.”
Protection?
Laura fell back. She wanted to say just this once, couldn’t they forget it? But there wasn’t a chance he’d listen to that. Unprotected sex could result in an unwanted pregnancy. Unwanted on his part, anyway.
So she waited for Bishop’s side drawer to open, for her husband to reach in and fish out a foiled packet from the place he always kept them. But he didn’t move. Not an inch. And as the stillness eked out, the cool in the room compressed and settled upon her.
He’d been so insistent. After being concerned about her welfare last night and today, finally he hadn’t wanted to stop long enough to pull back the covers. And yet now …
She pushed higher. “Bishop, what’s the matter? They’re in the drawer, right there beside you.”
Another few seconds ticked by before he rolled onto his side away from her. Laura watched the long powerful line of his silhouette moving, heard the drawer slide open then his grunt.
She sat up a little. “What’s wrong?”
“Condoms. They’re there. A whole pack.”
Grinning, she brushed her lips against his shoulder. “We don’t have to use them all in one night.”
“I just …” He shrugged and exhaled. “Never mind.” She heard him remove one before he turned back. Once again his mouth slanted over hers and instantly any chill was gone, replaced by the heat he so effortlessly brought out in her. The embrace intensified, the kiss deepened and the need to join in the most fundamental way grew again. When her palm filed down the hard trunk of his thigh, his own hand mimicked her move, curving down her spine then sliding between her legs. He began to stroke her, tease her, and as he kissed her thoroughly
