Piper O'Riley has been engaged three times and run away from three weddings. Somewhere between Here Comes the Bride and actually reaching the altar, she finds herself in a sea of uncertainty and bolts.
She's always believed she was crazy. But when she meets Cade Donovan and their sexual chemistry is off the charts, she suddenly wonders if there isn't a bigger reason she ran...Like she didn't really love her grooms. God knows she wasn't attracted to any of them the way she is Cade. And she wonders if she isn't throwing away a golden opportunity by not experimenting with what she and Cade have.
###
Hours later, she
paced her living room. Angry with herself first. Then analytical. It was true
she didn’t know the finer points about sex, but was that her fault? She didn’t
know anything about sex because she hadn’t had a chance to really learn
anything.
And maybe she was turning down the opportunity of a lifetime.
At eight-fifteen, enough past Cade’s
quitting time to give him a chance to get home, she grabbed her sweater and ran
to her apartment door. When she yanked it open, Cade stood there on the
stairway landing.
He didn’t say a word, just gathered
her and kissed her. He stepped inside without releasing her mouth and closed
the door—probably with his foot. She couldn’t see, but she could feel both of
his hands on her arms.
“I think we might have had the same
idea.”
She laughed against his mouth, then
groaned when his hands glided down the curve of her waist to her butt and then
back up again.
“Yeah. We might have. But right now, the only thing you need to
tell me is the way to your bedroom.”
Piper
pointed down the hall in her tiny living space, and Cade melted. She was warm,
soft, beautiful, and an odd combination of brave and hesitant, but she wasn’t
fighting this anymore.
He ran his hands
down the curve of her waist to her sexy ass. He didn’t understand her hesitancy,
but all his testosterone pooled until he was so hard he knew he couldn’t walk
away.
His right hand went to the back of her
neck, as his left caught at the bottom of her spine and pressed her to him,
while his tongue plundered her mouth. Her flavor was sin, pure, plain and
simple. Even as his body tensed and flexed, dark instincts rolled through him.
The urge to pounce, to take, to conquer.
Still, she might have pointed out her
bedroom, but he knew there was a reason for her hesitation. He’d have to be
careful. Smart. Figure out what she wanted and give it to her so she wouldn’t
regret this.
He pulled away,
scooped her up, and carried her down the short hall to the only open door. As
he expected, it was her room, a space as odd and wonderful as her colorful
living room. The gold, white, and gray print bedspread on the huge bed with the
dark wood headboard matched the pale gold sheer drapes that billowed in a
breeze coming in through the open window. A white shag area rug protected the
hardwood floor.
Dipping his
head, he kissed her again, solidly, soundly, waking more primal needs than a
man had a right to feel, before he laid her on the bed.
But she rolled off. “Just a few
things.”
Every muscle in his body throbbing, he
frowned as she quickly closed the window, lit candles, and pulled down the
spread to reveal simple white sheets.
He wasn’t sure
why she’d done any of it, but rather than break the mood, her slow, sensual movements
lured him in even more. Her hesitancy gone, she was like a goddess with witchy
powers that drew him to her so effectively that he walked across the room, took
her by the shoulders, yanked her to him, and kissed her again. This time
savagely.
He wanted to ask
her if she was sure. A gentleman would do that. But he’d been waiting for this
day, this minute, since the second he’d laid eyes on her at the drugstore the morning
of Finn’s wedding, and he wouldn’t be denied.
He turned her
around, whisked her T-shirt over her head, and unsnapped a very sexy, very
silky red bra. He groaned at the feel of it sliding across his fingertips, and
groaned again when she turned in his arms, her breasts full and solid, nipples
two tight buds.
Without a word,
she lifted his shirt up his chest. Taller than she, he knew she wouldn’t get it
any farther than she had, so he yanked it off, then put his hands on her butt and
wrenched her to him, almost groaning again when those tight little nipples
bumped into his chest.
“Shit.”
“Am I so bad?”
He shook his
head, caught her gaze. And here it was. The hesitancy again. “You’re so damned perfect.”
He drew in a breath, struggling for the air he needed to keep himself from
ripping off her jeans and taking her hard and greedily. “How does anybody get
so perfect?”
She laughed, her
tension gone again. The easy sound rolled over him as she pressed her hands to
his chest and smoothed them to his belly button and back up again. “Ask yourself. From where I’m
standing you’re pretty damned perfect too.”
He thought he’d
die from the pleasure of having her hands on him. If they didn’t increase the
tempo he’d snap and lose control. So he undid her jeans, dipped his fingers under
the waistband, and finally touched that perfect ass. Silky muscles taut,
her solid little behind filled his hands. Need roared through him and with one
quick move, he puddled the jeans to the floor.
She fumbled with
the belt of his pants but he brushed her hands aside. He undid the snap, yanked
down the zipper, pushed his jeans to the floor, and released his erection. He
didn’t think. He didn’t care. He gave her one quick tap that dropped her to the
bed and crawled on behind her.
He slid one hand
to her supple breast, while the other traveled down to the soft mound of hair
between her legs. She was surprisingly wet and ready, and part of him nearly shoved
open her thighs and rammed inside.
But this was
Piper.
Pretty Piper.
The Piper he’d
lusted after for weeks.
The woman who
deserved better than a man’s lust.
The woman who
hesitated for six long weeks before agreeing to this. He would not disappoint
her.
So he took a
breath. Then another. Then another.
He’d also waited
long, long weeks to be at this place with her, and not only did she deserve a
little time and attention, but he also wanted to touch and taste every inch of
her.
The candle
flickered in the darkness. As he kneaded her breast with his left hand, he ran the
right along her behind, suddenly aware that this probably would be his one and
only chance to touch her. He wanted to savor, but he also didn’t want her to
regret this decision. So he slowed the pace, wove his tongue from her chest to
her navel and back up again before he closed his mouth over her breast.
She groaned.
“That’s it,
baby, tell me what you like.”
His hands slid under her so he could
arrange her to take full advantage of her breasts, her belly.
“I don’t know a woman alive who
doesn’t like what you just did.”
He paused. “What I did?”
“Yeah, what you did.”
He smiled against the warm pillow of
her breast. “Say it.”
“What?”
He thought back to their conversation
before the water battle—how she seemed shy, almost inexperienced for a woman who’d
had two fiancés. It seemed farfetched that she’d be inexperienced, but maybe
she was?
And maybe that’s what he needed to
help her through so they could both enjoy the hell out of each other.
“Say it… Tell me
what I did.”
“You sucked my nipple.”
He flicked his tongue against it.
“Want me to do it again?”
She groaned. “Yes.”
“Say it.”
“Do it again.”
“Do what again?”
“Suck my nipple.”
Red-hot desire burst through him and
he closed his mouth over her again. “Tell me everything you want.”
Her reply came out breathy and
thready. “You don’t know?”
“Oh, I know. I just like hearing you
tell me.”
***
Fierce
need skyrocketed from her aching nipples to that spot in her body that had been
begging for him. He pulled his mouth away from one breast and made love to the
second, and she closed her eyes at the ecstasy that flowed through her.
She’d known he would be good. She’d
known this would be good.
Then he softly said, “What else?”
Her breath hitched, “Seriously? You’re
going to make me tell you?”
“I want to be sure you enjoy this.”
“Oh, trust me. I’m beyond enjoying.”
He slid up her body. Every inch of his
torso glided along every inch of hers, setting fire to blistering hot skin. He
nuzzled her neck, took her mouth in a kiss that rolled through her like a
tornado, and the whole time his erection pressed, teased, tickled her. Where
she wanted him, but not how she wanted him.
“Please…”
“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere.
Please what?”
“You know.”
“Let’s pretend I don’t. Let’s pretend
you’re a bad girl who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to beg.”
Right at that moment she wouldn’t be
afraid to beg, but the idea of her being a bad girl shuddered through her. “I’m
not bad.”
“Oh, but you want to be naughty.”
She did. She seriously did. She wanted
to be all those things she’d never even considered, all those things that had
never ever popped into her brain when she was with other men.
And she suddenly realized this was
what she’d been waiting for.
With one hand on his shoulder, she
tipped Cade. “You want a bad girl?”
His throaty laugh was his reply.
She pressed her tongue to his
shoulder, then slid it to his belly button. “I’ve never been a bad girl.”
“Well, darlin’, you’re doing just
fine.”
She took him into her mouth on the word
fine, and he groaned the way she’d groaned for him. “Oh, you like that?”
He shifted, giving her better access,
and she took him farther, as her fingers explored his inner thighs.
He groaned again. She sucked harder
and suddenly she was lifted and tossed to her back. His thigh spread her legs
as his erection pounded into her aching sex.
She almost came at the feeling of his
hardness opening her, filling her. But he didn’t give her long enough to think
about it. He pulled out, shoved in, pulled out, shoved in, each time harder,
each time taking her to a physical place she’d never been before. She felt
wetter, tighter, fuller. Instincts began to kick in. Her legs rose to wrap
around him, granting him better access.
“That’s right, baby. Just like that.”
His encouragement made her smile and
she almost opened her eyes, but the feelings pouring through her were so
delicious. The warmth, the tingles, the press of him against her wet walls
overwhelmed her, until there was nowhere else for arousal to go and her muscles
exploded in spasms of delight that stole her breath and had her screaming his
name.
He laughed as wave after wave of sheer
physical pleasure overtook her, and just when she thought she couldn’t feel any
more, he exploded inside her. The pulsing against her sensitive walls set off
another firestorm of delight and she called out his name again.
Then he
collapsed against her and she raised her hands to his back.
His back.
In all the pleasure, she hadn’t
touched or tasted even half of him.
He rolled off and might have said
something, but she stopped his words with her mouth on his. She had never,
ever, ever had sex like this. Never wanted somebody enough to say the words suck my nipple.
Never enjoyed somebody so much that she came twice. Never been so curious about
touching someone everywhere.
She wasn’t letting him get away until
she’d done everything she wanted.
***
