Could she do it?
If she ever wanted a full life she had to learn how.
And this man she wanted so desperately understood so much about her.
Knuckles coasting down the length of her neck, Garrett murmured, “Trust me to take care of you.”
Her breath caught as he pulled back to look down at her, the dark promise in his eyes enough to make her belly twist in on itself.
Her lips parted on what might have a warning to herself, or maybe just his name because she loved the feel of it on her tongue—but he was already there. Closing those last scant inches between them and catching her mouth with his kiss.
She was lost. No more denials. No more waiting.
Arms snaked around her back, he pulled her close, taking her weight as he took her self-control. He carried her inside and kicked the door closed behind them.
Feet dangling above the floor, she reveled in the strength of his embrace, the power of his need. The ever-tightening hold that roared they’d waited too long already and threatened nothing short of everything would be enough.
Her arms laced around his neck, pulling him closer, because after telling herself no for so long this was finally yes.
He walked them down the hall toward her room, deepening the kiss as they went. Taking the access she offered and thrusting inside. Retreating and then sliding past her lips again, slow and steady. Telling her what he wanted to do to her without words. Filling her mouth with the rough stroke of his tongue, the taste of him. Decadent and delicious.
Yes!
He thrust again and she closed around him, sucking softly in an urgent, needy plea. Begging him for more. For all.
He pressed into her hips, so the steely thick ridge of his erection nudged firm against her belly. It was a hint. A taunt. A tease that left her whimpering as she tried to squirm closer. Take what she needed.
And then her back was against the wall and his hands were sliding across her bottom, strong fingers splaying wide as they pushed down the backs of her thighs past the hem of her sundress. Each point of contact became a bruising demand as they guided her legs around him, positioning her so his hot length met her center with a rolling pressure just exactly right.
“Garrett—oh, God, like that,” she gasped, her words taking on an insistent quality, warning of a total loss of control.
Garrett did it again and again until desire lanced her core.
Her legs tightened with her fists in his hair, and the low growl vibrating between them was his. “I need to get inside you, baby.”
His hands released their hold on her hips, letting her legs slip down the heavy slabs of his thighs until her feet touched the floor.
“Yes, please.” Her eyes were trailing up and down his body, her mind plotting the fastest way to rid him of his clothes, working justifications on which ones weren’t critical in the removal process. Because really all she needed was him sitting on that bed, his fly open and boxers pushed down. Oh, God.
A shudder ripped through her at the mental image alone.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw they were mere feet from her room. Her bed. From her half-clothed, full-penetration, hard-and-fast-and-finally fantasy.
Dragging her eyes back to his, she whispered, “I can’t wait anymore.”
She pulled at Garrett’s belt with greedy, shaking hands and, unbuckling it, used the tongue to lead him the rest of the way.
At her bed, she caught the sides of her skirt in each hand and pulled the dress over her head, tossing it to the floor.
Garrett froze, his own shirt caught over one shoulder as he stared down at her, naked but for white cotton bikini panties.
Her thumbs pushed into the delicate waistband, pushing them down.
Fabric ripped and buttons bounced across the floor, followed by the tattered remnants of Garrett’s shirt. The denim of his jeans put up a better defense, but soon it too was piled in a heap and her back was hitting the mattress as Garrett followed her down, kissing her hard all the way, his body covering hers in a tease of flesh against flesh before he broke away to sheath himself.
And then his thick head was nudging at her opening as his blue eyes held with hers. All the urgency and frantic need slipped away as, slowly, he pushed inside. Easing in and out by incremental degrees as her body stretched to accommodate the greater size of his. The cost of his restraint and his care was etched in all the lines of his face until, at last, he sank deep, filling the snug hold of her body.
Her lips parted on a fragile gasp that was decadent torture and supreme satisfaction all in one. So totally, incomparably worth the wait.
She wanted to stay like that forever, with him buried so thick and deep within her that she felt his every breath and heartbeat in the most intimate, erotic way—something Garrett seemed to be in agreement with as he held himself on straightened arms, staring down into her eyes with a look that made her feel like the sunset he’d waited years to see.
Without thought her hands went to his face, the light stubble a tender scrape beneath her fingers. “You’re every fantasy I never dared to dream.”
Garrett’s smile was satisfied and wanting all at once. “I don’t think you have enough fantasies, sweetheart.”
“Then maybe you’ll give me some more.”
His hips began to move and his eyes took on an intensity she never could have fathomed. “Starting now, Nichole.”
Nichole collapsed on the bed. Her limbs weak and useless. Her mind spinning over the events of the last few hours.
Even now her belly curled in and on to itself at the memory. So. Unbelievably. Good.
The kind of good a girl could get used to. Spoiled by. Caught up in.
Summoning all her strength, she turned her head on her pillow to look at Garrett, who’d collapsed beside her. He was staring at the ceiling, his breath working in and out of his chest in ragged draws.
He really had done most of the work.
She thought back to the chair. Maybe seventy-five percent.
The hallway. Okay, eighty-five. God, that had been so good.
And she must have purred her approval too, because Garrett’s brows edged up as he looked over at her, that arrogantly satisfied smile stamped across his mouth. “Something on your mind?”
No sense in denying it. “The hall.”
His lids went to half-mast. His voice even lower. “The hall.”
And then he was reaching for her, pulling her in with arms so big and strong she felt as though she were thin as a wisp and lighter than air rather than the flesh-and-blood real woman she was. Another decadent sensation.
Leaning
