“I’m not a saint,” he said, reading her mind, “but I haven’t been seeing anyone for several months, and I haven’t done the groupie/casual sex thing in years.”
His words warmed her. She had no doubt that Rand was far more experienced than she, but it was nice to be reassured that he wasn’t the typical playboy most athletes were made out to be. She didn’t really want the details. It was enough that sex meant something to him, the way it did to her.
But, wait. It’s not supposed to mean anything. You have to at least try to keep your heart safe in all of this.
That was Nora’s voice she was hearing in her head. She quickly shushed it, determined not to allow anything to spoil what was fast becoming the most magnificent night of her life.
“I haven’t, either,” she said.
“Had groupie/casual sex?”
She giggled. “Nope. Not for a very long time. Seven years, in fact.”
He stopped undressing her and studied her face, the humor fading from his eyes. It was replaced by intensity and utter seriousness as he said, “You were never a groupie and there was nothing casual between us.”
She nodded once, telling him she believed him. Their stares met and locked, and in the strongest nonverbal communication she’d ever experienced, they explained, understood and forgave.
“I’ve thought about you a hundred thousand times since that night,” he admitted.
“Really?”
“Really.” He pulled the straps of her bra down to reveal her breasts. The tips were tight and hard, aching with need. Rand didn’t toy with her. Instead, he bent and sucked a nipple into his mouth, hard and deep, and she felt the powerful pull of it all the way through her body, especially between her legs.
He squeezed her other breast, plumping it in his hand. Playing with the nipple, he stroked and plucked her into a frenzy as he suckled. She was writhing beneath him, arching toward him, silently urging him to claim and possess her as he’d promised to.
“Please, Rand,” she insisted, twisting her way out of her navy skirt and kicking it off. She now wore only the thigh-high stockings, which she wasn’t about to take off. Not when she was aware of how crazy they made him. “Take me now. I can’t wait any longer to have you inside me.”
He got off the bed long enough to grab his pants and pull a condom from the pocket. She hated that there would be even that much of a separation between them, but since they hadn’t progressed into the safe-sex talk, she knew this time they had to be careful.
This time? Isn’t this supposed to be the only time?
She shoved that thought away, focusing only on the delight of watching Rand tear open the packet and carefully roll the condom onto his rigid flesh. She reached out to help him, letting her fingertips glide along that smooth skin, such softness encasing such steel.
Her legs wide, she reached for him, drawing him onto her, arching up to meet him. There was no fear, no trepidation, nothing except desire and trust.
As the tip of his erection slid into her wet channel, she licked her lips and closed her eyes, focusing all her attention on the sensations that battered her. Inch by inch, he slid into her, filling her, possessing her. Her body accepted him as if she’d been made for him, taking all that delicious power and making it a part of herself.
“Oh, Rand,” she whispered, opening her eyes and looking up at him as he slid all the way home, burying himself entirely within her.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I’m perfect.” She squeezed him inside, loving the heavy fullness of him—the weight on his body, the scent of his sweat, the scrape of his skin, the thickness of his cock deep inside her. Everything about the moment was perfect, and the utter delight of it lifted her to a level she’d never experienced before in her life.
Then he began to slowly pull out and thrust again, and she flew a little bit higher.
“Yes, oh, God, yes,” she groaned, thrusting up to meet him, her hips undulating as she wrapped her thighs around him.
He caught one of her legs in his hand and lifted it higher, then higher still, until he could drape it over his shoulder. The angle was incredible, the intensity soul-shattering and the pleasure beyond anything she’d ever known. He filled her to the depth of her being...and then he filled her a little bit more.
The pace increased, his thrusts growing more powerful and her answering ones even more demanding. They rocked together, swayed together, gave and took together. They twisted, pounded, clung, and, when at last they reached the pinnacle of human pleasure, shouted it in unison and collapsed into an utter heap of satisfaction.
EMILY WOKE UP a little while later to the sound of a ringing phone. A quick glance at the clock told her it was after midnight—she and Rand had made wild, passionate love right through the big ball-dropping moment, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. If everyone in America rang in the New Year the way they had, there would be a complete lack of interest in parties because everybody would want to stay home for more private celebrations.
“Hello?” Rand said, answering his cell phone, which had awakened them both.
She curled up next to him, wrapping her arm around his waist. He immediately turned to her and pulled her closer as he continued his conversation.
“Are they staying in the hotel tonight? Couldn’t I come down and do it in the morning?”
The person on the other end of the call continued talking, his voice loud and pushy. Emily could hear him from a few feet away, and she glared at the phone, cursing the interruption.
“Okay, yeah, I understand,” Rand said. “It’s no problem. I’ll, uh... Tell them I’ll be in the ballroom in fifteen minutes.”
After he disconnected the call, she gaped at him. “What?”
He wrapped his arms around her and brushed his lips across hers. “I have to go downstairs.” He released her and got out of bed, reaching for his shirt and pulling it on. “One of the silent auction items was a photo with me and my autograph. The winners are leaving soon and they want to collect their prize. They paid a lot of money for it.”
“And it’s for a good cause,” she mumbled, knowing it was true, but already missing him.
“I’ll be back soon. Half hour tops. Keep the bed warm for me.” He headed toward the door, but stopped before going through it. His tall figure was silhouetted by a light they’d left on out in the living room, and she smiled as she looked at him, so unbelievably handsome, especially now that he wore the expression of a well-satisfied man. “Don’t start without me. Or, hell, go ahead and start without me...I’d love to find you touching all the places on your body that you want me to taste.”
She quivered, immediately thinking of several such places, then blew him a kiss as he walked away.
Once
