old life hit fiercely. Thank goodness she had a legitimate excuse to shut herself into the bathroom. It was huge, but even the pleasure of seeing the big tub wasn’t strong enough to stop the déjà vu.
Standing still as she looked into the mirror, she saw Leanna Warner. As the emotions welled in her throat, she clamped her eyes shut. “I’m here. Right now,” she whispered. “With the most amazing man I’ve ever met, and I’ve got this one chance.”
After a few deep breaths, she brushed her teeth and her hair, blessed whatever gods had made her shave her legs before going to the board meeting and went out the door wearing a smile that was turned electrically real the moment she saw him standing by the bed.
Just the way he looked at her made her nipples hard.
TOSSING HIS STETSON ON THE couch, Tucker held her gaze as he slowly approached her. He wanted to watch her eyes darken the closer he got.
By the time he was a breath away, the blue of her irises had almost disappeared. “I can’t decide whether I want to undress you piece by piece, or race you till we’re both buck naked and panting.”
“The second option gets my vote.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded. Then she started unbuttoning her shirt, and the competition was on.
He won. Not the race—he’d lost that part. She was down to her underwear while he was still working on getting his boots off, but damn, the view was worth it.
“I’m pretty sure I’m the winner,” she said, grinning, her thumbs hooked over the elastic of her panties.
“I could argue that.” He knew she’d have great legs.
“Want help?”
“No. I want to stare at you. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you turned around a time or two.”
She blushed. Pretty as a picture. The pink didn’t stop with her cheeks, either. He was going to lick as much of that rosy skin as he could. Later. Taking his sweet time was for seconds. Not that he didn’t want to impress her with his smooth moves, but he was already as hard as a bedpost just looking at her white cotton bra and panties.
One boot came off, and dammit, he had to focus for a minute on getting the second one loose. The moment he did, he shot to his feet and started working on his jeans.
When she did turn around, he nearly clipped himself with his zipper. Her body was even more amazing than he remembered, and he’d thought about it for two nights. Of course, he’d only seen that stretch of her back before, and now that he saw her behind, he knew he’d be dreaming of her for months, if not longer.
“Happy now?” she said, turning back to face him.
“Ecstatic,” he said, and proved his point by dropping his jeans and boxer briefs at the same time. Then he realized his socks were still on, and he toed them off as fast as he was able. Almost fell over, but it was worth it.
She still laughed at him. Until he stood up tall, and then she got quiet. Seeing that look on her face as she stared down at him was a turn-on all by itself.
“Now you,” he said, his voice lowering an octave.
He wanted to touch her as she reached behind her back to undo her bra clasp, but he kept his hands at his sides. Fisted, but still. His cock, not so much. The moment that bra fluttered to the floor, it jerked, tapping the flat of his stomach.
Annie was trembling slightly. Not like she was afraid. Just anxious. Her hands went to slide her panties off, and his plan to watch the whole show broke down. Before he knew he was going to do it, he hit his knees, inches away from her beautiful body.
She jumped, but didn’t move back. When he looked up, he found her dark gaze and her tacit permission. He leaned forward, nestling his nose just below her indented belly button. She smelled so damn good, and she wasn’t even unwrapped yet.
His fingers tugged her panties down slowly, and despite the impulse that urged him to speed the hell up, he unveiled her like a prize.
She had a perfect triangle of blond curls and once he’d uncovered her completely, he inhaled again. Nothing on earth compared to the scent of a woman, and he would swear on any book in the room that Annie had been designed with him in mind.
As gently as he could, he touched her inner thighs, hoping she’d get the hint. Bright and beautiful, she shifted her legs for him, and when he slipped two fingers just inside the barely parted lips, she was all moist heat and silk. It wasn’t hard to find where she’d gotten hard, but he was careful with his touches. Still, one swipe made her grab onto his hair, a little more enthusiastically than he’d anticipated.
She let go immediately. “Sorry, I’m sorry.”
Just the sound of her breathy apology got him hotter. “It’s okay,” he said, right before he blew a stream of air across where he’d touched.
“We need to rethink this,” she said.
Talk about a cold shower. “What?”
“No…not…no. I can’t do this standing up. I’m going to spoil everything if we don’t get on the bed. Quickly.”
Tucker obeyed like a shot. In fact, the second he was up, he had her in his arms. Not taking any chances, he swept an arm behind her knees and one across her back, lifted her up and into a kiss as they crossed the short distance to the bed. His romantic gesture crashed and burned when he had to put her down to turn back the white spread.
Not that Annie seemed to mind. When she lay down, she pulled him along and they picked up the kiss right where they’d left off.
IT WASN’T EVEN FIVE-THIRTY, the room was filled with light and precious space, and Annie had never felt more comfortable being naked with a man.
Maybe it was because he was clearly excited by her…No, that wasn’t a special feat in her experience. Perhaps she’d given up being self-conscious when she’d given up everything else. Her psyche seemed to realize that there would be no return engagements.
Or it could just be that she liked him. So very much. Something had clicked from that first meeting, and it had never stopped. Despite her nerves and her secrets and her endless responsibilities, she’d found him wonderful company. His touch…God, just now he was running his palm up her side, then segueing to her breast, where he teased her nipple as if she’d given him her personal instruction manual.
She gasped, pulling away from his lips. Then they were on her throat, in that sensitive spot below her ear. He didn’t just kiss, but licked and nibbled, and then when he murmured something indistinct the vibration kicked everything up a couple notches.
Easing her hand between them, she circled his length and moved to the base and back up again.
He froze. Lips parted on her skin, tongue in midswipe. He didn’t even breathe as she repeated the motion, finding a rhythm that made her own heart pound.
Tucker made a garbled noise, half word, half moan, entirely unintelligible.
“You’re welcome,” she whispered, grinning before she nipped him on the earlobe.
