against his erection until he couldn’t stand the wait any longer. Letting her go briefly, he ordered, ‘‘Stay here.’’
He stepped into the darkened hotel suite, but in moments, he was back. While the storm raged around them, he tore the rest of his clothes off, then reached for her again.
‘‘Just a second,’’ she whispered brokenly, and tugged the hem of her red lace teddy up and over her head, baring her breasts to him. In the electrified night, her skin glowed with a creamy translucence. Dark red lace panties were all she wore and he ached to get her out of those, too.
She stepped into his embrace, and Rick’s arms came around her, holding her close, pressing her body along the length of his. Bodies brushed together. Soft to hard, rough to smooth. And with each touch, the storm between them grew stronger.
‘‘Gotta have you,’’ he murmured against her mouth as he took her bottom lip, and then her top lip between his teeth, tasting, nibbling, claiming.
‘‘Oh yeah,’’ she said, swallowing hard as she took a tiny bite of his neck. ‘‘Now. Please, now.’’
‘‘Now,’’ he agreed, and with one quick turn of his wrist, snapped the flimsy elastic band of her panties. The red silk dropped from her skin and lay like a forgotten flag on the balcony’s gleaming wood floor.
Lifting her easily, he sat her on the narrow metal railing and she yelped at the kiss of cold iron on her bare behind. One brief spurt of panic shot through her, remembering that they were on the second story. But his hands were strong and warm, holding her safely, tightly. Then he kissed her again, taking her mouth in a long, fast, hard plunge of desire. Panic receded and the heat between them fired and exploded.
Tearing her mouth from his, she fought for air as she held tightly to his shoulders. ‘‘Now, Rick,’’ she urged as she parted her legs for him, ‘‘I want you inside me. Now.’’
Her hands on his shoulders speared heat through his body and it was all Rick could do to one-handedly slide the condom he’d retrieved from the bedroom into place. Then, without another thought beyond easing the turmoil raging within him, he pushed himself inside her.
She gasped and tipped her head back, staring wide-eyed up at the stormy sky.
His hands clutched her waist in a firm grip, holding her safely. Holding her to him. In and out, he rocked within her, claiming her, taking her, giving her all he could give and taking the same from her. Her hot body surrounded him, holding him as tightly as he held her.
Above them, lightning flashed again and again. Thunder roared, crashing down on them, muffling the sounds they made as they came together in an urgency that mirrored the strength of the storm.
Bodies meshed, breaths met, mouths claimed, hands gripped.
Eileen felt him slide in and out of her body and felt the quickening rush of expectation building within her. He drove her, pushing them both higher, faster, until all she could see was the lightning reflected in his eyes. Dazzling flashes of light dancing across deep brown pools of emotion, sensation and she lost herself in it—in him.
She felt wicked. Wild. Wanton.
Surrounded by the storm, the cold, sharp wind, scented with rain, pushed at them, enveloping them. The metal railing beneath her was cold and narrow, but Rick’s hold on her made her feel safe enough to enjoy the thrill of the moment. To concentrate on nothing more than the hard, solid strength of him driving into her body.
Eileen lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist as her climax neared. She moved into him, rocking as much as she dared, taking as much of him as he gave, offering herself and pulling him closer, deeper, within her.
The rain started.
Icy pellets of water sluiced over them in a rush.
As if the sky had reached the point of no return and hadn’t been able to hold back any longer.
Eileen knew the feeling.
With rain cascading over them, she shook her wet hair back from her face and fought for breath. Her mind splintered. Her body exploded.
‘‘Rick…Rick…’’ Her fingers flexed on his shoulders, her nails digging into his flesh, holding on, squeezing as he pushed her up that last, sweet climb to release. She looked into his eyes and watched him as he kissed her. His tongue swept across her lips, her teeth, moving inside, taking her breath and giving her his. She felt it all. Felt the magic build. Felt the sudden sway of her body tipping into oblivion, and then she groaned and rode the wave of completion, locked within his grasp, his mouth muffling her cries.
And before her body had stopped trembling, he plunged deep within her and stiffened, reaching his own release in time to join her on the slow slide down from heaven.
Five
His body still quivering with reaction, Rick lifted her off the railing, and keeping his body locked tight within hers, carried her inside, out of the rain.
She wrapped her arms around him and kept her legs twisted about his waist like a vise. Burying her face in the curve of his neck, she shuddered, then whispered, ‘‘Okay, that was impressive.’’
He chuckled, and holding her close, made his way carefully across the darkened living room to his bedroom. ‘‘And that was wet. I do my best work when I’m dry.’’
She lifted her head to look at him in the dim light. ‘‘Well heck,’’ she said, ‘‘hand me a towel.’’
He gave her behind a sharp pat. ‘‘That’s the plan.’’
‘‘Love a man with a plan,’’ Eileen said, keeping her gaze fixed on his as he stepped through the doorway and into his room.
Rocking her hips, she moved on him and he sucked in air through clenched teeth. Slapping one arm across her behind, he held her still. ‘‘You’re killing me,’’ he admitted.
‘‘Oh,’’ she said, shaking her head, letting water droplets fly, ‘‘not yet.’’
One corner of his mouth lifted as he eased down onto the soft mattress, his body still deep within hers. ‘‘Got your own plans, have you?’’
‘‘I’m making it up as I go along,’’ she said, reaching to cup his face between her palms.
‘‘You’re doin’ fine,’’ he assured her. ‘‘Don’t stop now.’’
‘‘Don’t worry about that.’’ Now that they’d started, giving in to the tension that had rippled between them all week, Eileen didn’t want to stop. She wanted more of him. She wanted to feel that building excitement within again. She wanted to experience the crashing explosion of desire and the throbbing pulse of satisfaction.
She hadn’t expected this.
Hadn’t planned on it.
But she was smart enough to enjoy it once it had happened.
The old quilt beneath her felt warm and soft. Cotton brushed her skin and wrapped up around her like a cocoon. She felt surrounded by warmth even though her skin had been chilled by the rain,
