fervor with which he loved told her he wasn’t stopping until he’d wrung her out for their first course.
All the bad boys she’d dated...there could be no comparison. It might not be her first time but deep inside, for that girl who’d yearned for him for so long, it was her first time.
But she needed to touch him so, sparing one hand, she plowed her fingers through his hair, down that tattooed shoulder and the muscled arm...until she found the hand that held her hip. Instinctively, her fingers wrapped around the first digit she could get hold of.
Connection completed, the orgasm given by his greedy mouth almost split her in two.
The name that had secretly echoed in her heart for every lover finally passed her lips. She cried his name, and then again. And again.
When the last spasm burst, her supporting leg buckled, unwilling to hold her anymore.
Quickly, he turned the fall into a controlled slide, and once she touched the floor he crawled up her body, still hungry.
“Here?” He panted the question more than asked, eyeing the open window not ten feet away before he looked back down at her. “Not here.”
“We’re going to do this right. If it’s the only time...and it is, right? You...you agree that it’s the only time?” He pulled her up against him but stayed where he blocked the window.
When she nodded, he pulled his T-shirt off, baring that sculpted perfection that was his chest and belly. He wrapped the black cotton around her hips and tied the corners. “Then we need a bed. I want...everything to be perfect. Cool cotton sheets and pillows...”
“Bed. That way.” Her words still slurred just a little, drunk with pleasure.
But she scrambled to her feet and offered him both her hands to tug him back up, her faculties slowly returning. “Use the booted foot to stand. The other one can bend...”
“Don’t worry about my ankle,” he said, but he still took her hand and did as she instructed. “It’s fine.”
She backed toward her room. Looking at him was too good. He didn’t try to hide his want at all, and the front of his jeans strained over a heady ridge of flesh.
Oh, God, this was real. He was really there. Not just here in her mind, not a fantasy.
She didn’t even want to know what had changed his mind. Later. She could ask later, or not. Maybe it would be better if they didn’t talk about anything else, didn’t get more attached. Just one time, and then...let it stay perfect in memories.
Don’t think about after.
“My turn,” she said, as they passed through the door into her room and she felt the edge of the bed against the backs of her legs and released his hands to let hers roam up and down over his chest, alternating gentle touches with little scratches anywhere she found hair. Down, over his belly, and she fell to her knees beside the bed.
“No. I can’t wait. Next time.” The words strangled in his throat, and it only took one look into his eyes for her to know the reason for it.
There would be no next time.
This was supposed to be a farewell.
The thought almost put her off the whole thing.
Almost.
Grace was a big girl. She was the master, not her emotions. And this had been her idea. Her only chance.
She unfastened his belt, unbuttoned his jeans and eased the zipper down, her eyes still locked on his.
“Please? Just for a moment?”
He read people, he knew what was on her mind. He could call the whole thing off; now would be the time...
The moment lengthened, with him clearly struggling with all this as much as she was. When he didn’t say anything, she took his silence as consent and brought the head to her mouth, letting her lower lip rest against the crown, letting him stop her.
No stopping. He nodded, jerkily, and reached down to touch her face as the impressive manhood she held in her hands bobbed against her mouth.
“One night,” he managed, as the heat of her mouth enfolded him. “I want the whole night.”
She nodded, and she worked him deeper into her mouth, letting her tongue luxuriate in the slick skin and the salty evidence of his need. He slid his fingers into her hair, his eyes on hers, letting her see what every flick of her tongue did to him.
Right now he was hers, without barriers, and that was enough. It’d have to be enough.
It wasn’t long before he gasped and gestured urgently, trying to pull himself free of her mouth. But she didn’t want that, she wanted everything she could get from him tonight—her one and only night—and grabbed his hip and drank him down.
When she finally moved back, he collapsed onto the bed, hands closing on her arms to pull her up to him so that her cheek rested on his chest and he tangled one hand in her hair.
“No holding back. One night, no holding back,” she whispered against his skin, kissing her way back down to his boot.
“Okay.”
A couple of strategic Velcro rips and she had his foot free. “Thank God, you’ve got the bandage too. I don’t think I could control my fingers enough to wrap it.”
He laughed. “I’m already on the bed and I’m not sure if I can get up to the head of it.”
She crawled up onto the bed, fetched condoms from the nightstand to have them within easy reach. “For when you’re able.”
He nodded, and just pulled her back to him, still struggling to catch his breath.
“Aren’t you able yet? It’s been at least fifteen seconds. I thought you had stamina.” She couldn’t stop herself from teasing. She wanted that too—no holding back meant giving everything, pleasure and passion and the playful side of both. That’s who they were. That’s what she wanted, the real Liam, not the polished celebrity adored by the masses.
He dragged himself more fully on the bed and reached for her. Soon they lay face-to-face, him on his good side—and she let him as it’d minimize the pressure on his ankle. “Can’t have you doubting my stamina. But in my defense that was a cripplingly good orgasm. I might need a minute to get my mojo back.”
His humor had returned to match her own. She couldn’t stop herself smiling. “So long as you’re not done.”
“I’m far from done,” he assured her, running his hand over her hip as if he couldn’t quite believe that he had his hands on her. “I’m going to need at least two more rounds before I’m done. Maybe three. If you don’t fall asleep.”
“Me?” She laughed and scooted closer so that their noses all but touched. “Let me remind you that I’m the one who worked for this. Seducing you is exhausting, Mr. Carter.”
He took her tease in the spirit it was offered,
