A Perfect Bride For Christmas (14 page)

It hit him full force in the gut. He’d been the cause of her pain. All of it.

“You just now figured that out?” She grabbed for a tissue in the box next to the couch. Instead, he stopped her hand, and without thinking, pulled her into his arms. There wasn’t any logic to his actions.

Just the need to comfort her, to hold her long enough for the poison he’d dealt to seep back where it belonged—into him.

The warmth of her body against his melted and

twisted his heart into a sloppy mess. Tears stung his eyes. The last time he’d cried like a baby, he’d been sure he’d killed Heath with a rock he’d packed inside a snowball. Clint took one look at the blood gushing from Heath’s forehead and told Alex he’d committed murder, Abel and Cain—all that stuff from that

week’s Sunday School lesson. Not only would he be dragged away to jail, he’d to go hell.

This hell felt worse than any hell-bound

murderer a snarky older brother could invent.

“Don’t cry, Zoe.” He tasted salt, felt wetness on his face. “Please, don’t cry.” Her soft mewling left him gut-sick and scared the shit out of him.

Zoe’s body heaved with a heartrending sob. She

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wrapped her arms around him, her head burrowing into his chest. “I thought you were going to take them away from me. I won’t let that happen.” The last words came out in a watery snarl.

She glanced up at him, the fear and ferocity in her green eyes sparked with topaz fire. The eyes ravaged by tears, the runny nose and red face didn’t detract from her natural beauty. Why hadn’t he

notice it five years ago? Or the way her lashes were so long and dark. Zoe didn’t need enhancements to make her cute and attractive. She was gorgeous

from the inside out. She always had been.

All these years, he’d been blind and stupid when it came to Zoe. Not anymore.

“I would never do that to you. I’m a selfish jerk but not when it comes at the expense of those

children’s lives.”

Alex trailed his hands from her shoulders up to cup her face. His thumbs wiped the tears from her eyes as he leaned down to take her mouth in a kiss of truce. There it was, the deep, dark sweet taste he craved. His tongue slid over her teeth, and she opened for him. The wildness he’d tasted before hadn’t been barbeque sauce. It was passion. Hot, spicy, unadulterated passion.

Her arms moved to come around his neck and

pull him closer. Deeper they went, parrying, flirting with each other, the electric sensations jolting him all the way to his groin. The immediate erection felt pleasurable and painful in the same breath. He felt control slipping away.

Somewhere along the line, Zoe had become

aggressor, taking what she wanted from him. Her hands moved to either side of his head, her mouth angled over his. She nipped his lower lip with her teeth, holding it a beat before firing up the kiss to the next level. Heat seared his blood, took the air from his lungs with the same intensity of a blast 108

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furnace.

He was toast.

Zoe pulled back, her eyes burning with the same need boiling in his gut. She was on her knees, face to face with him. “Touch me, Alex. I must be crazy, but don’t tell me no.”

“I’d never refuse a crazy lady,” he said as his hands dropped to her waist to let his fingers slide under the blue plaid flannel top. He’d never see flannel the same way again—move over Victoria’s Secret or La Perla.

Her skin felt soft as butter and heated under his caress. Taut muscles twitched with the touch of his fingers feathering up and down her spine. She

leaned into him, her legs straddling his right thigh as her hips moved forward begging for more. Zoe’s breasts trembled with her breath. His hands shook as much as the first time he’d touched a girl so intimately. The second his thumbs brushed her

nipples, they beaded up, hard and ready for him. He had to see.

Zoe moaned when he pulled away. He intended

to unbutton her top, but she stared him in the eyes.

Hers were now almost gold with dark rings around the irises. “I want you Alex.” She pulled the top over her head while she sat back on her knees, bare

breasted, with a challenge in her eyes. “What do you want?”

His mouth felt dry, his tongue unable to move.

“You.” The words came out in a hoarse whisper.

Memory hadn’t failed him—her breasts were topped with pink nipples tinged with coral. Now they were hardened into tasty morsels, just bite size, and ready for his mouth. He took one in between his teeth before pulling it in for a taste. Zoe raked her hands through his hair, pulling his head closer. She arched her back, giving him greater access.

He couldn’t get enough of her.

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“We have two hours before the girls and Cherri

get back.” Her lips grazed the top of his head. The sensation of her breath, warm and moist against his skin sent shock waves down his spine. “Either come upstairs or go, because I don’t want any half

measures. I want you to know you’re making love to me, not anyone else.”

He let go of her succulent flesh. “Where’s your bedroom?”

Zoe jumped up from the couch, grabbing up her

top. “Make sure you want this, Alex. Do you want to have sex with me?”

He took one look at her ivory skin, blushed pink and warm with desire. Her mouth parted ever so

slightly to let her tongue moisten her upper lip. He was a goner.

“Yeah, I want to make love to you.”

“No, I asked if you want to have sex.”

“What’s the difference?”

Zoe shook her head. “I made love to you on our

wedding night. But you were only having sex with me.” She laid her hand on the side of his face, her expression sad and hopeful at once. “If we go

upstairs, that’s all it can be.”

“I need you, that’s all I know. Call it what you want.”

“Sex—unless you have some horrible disease.

You don’t, do you?” Her cheeks grew red.

“No. But I don’t have a condom.”

“Neither do I.”

The stab of disappointment warred with need.

Regardless of his feelings, for once,Alex did the noble thing. “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”

“Don’t worry, I’m on birth control.” She smiled as her fingers wound through his to give his hand a slight tug towards the stairs.

“Good, we’re wasting time.” Alex picked her up

in one smooth move and held her close to his

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hammering heart. The heat of her naked breast

seared through the soft wool of his sweater. He’d be lucky to make it up the stairs without embarrassing himself at this rate.

Zoe squealed and wrapped her arms around his

neck. “What are you doing?”

Alex nuzzled the skin on her neck, desire

zooming through him with the speed and intensity of a NASCAR race on the final lap. She smelled of soap and peaches. His mouth watered at the prospect of tasting her from head to toe. “Which room is yours?”

She leaned her head back as he nibbled on the

smooth line of her jaw. Her answer came out in a whispery rasp. “Second door on the left.”

Somehow, he managed to get up the stairs

without falling or coming before he even made it to the bedroom. He couldn’t remember how they ended up in the bed. One minute, clothes flew, and the next, they were sliding under the bright yellow sheets.

The old-fashioned wind up clock on the

bedroom’s fireplace mantel ticked away each second they had together. Less than two hours to last him before Cherri returned with the girls.

“I want to look at you, all of you.” He sat on his knees, feeling the covers slide down behind his back.

A slight chill tickled his skin, but he wanted to remember this time with Zoe, unlike their wedding night, which only came back in bits and pieces. His memories of Vegas became clearer with each touch and taste of Zoe.

Zoe lowered her lashes but lay there, still and unflinching. “My body is far from perfect. It never was to begin with. I’ve had three children by C-section. James encouraged me to get plastic surgery after I lost all the weigh—you know—a tummy tuck and breast reduction. I have a lot of scars.”

Alex felt as if she’d punched him in the heart

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with a fist. “I put every one of them there, didn’t I?”

His hands slid down her shoulders to her breasts.

“Did you nurse the girls?”

A flush colored her ivory skin from the tops of her breasts up. “Yes.”

Without hesitation, he lowered his head and

kissed each raspberry pink nipple with reverence.

“I’m glad.” He let a finger trail from between her lush breasts to a scar running across her abdomen.

“My children grew here for nine months.”

“Actually, only seven months.” Zoe put her hand over his. “They were an impatient bunch of kids.”

He felt a lurch of concern in his chest. “Did

everything go all right? Were there complications?”

“One uterus and three babies. That’s

complicated enough.” She smiled up at him, her

hand coming to rest on his cheek. “I’d do it again.”

“You are so beautiful.”

Zoe shook her head. “No, I’m just me. I look

terrible in a swimsuit.” She tried to pull as much of the sheet up to cover her body as she could.

The knowledge she’d gone through mental and

physical pain to bring his children into the world humbled him. Alex pulled the sheet back down to kiss the whitened scar with a tenderness that

formed a lump in his throat.

“I won’t lie, Zoe, I’ve slept with a lot of women.

You of all people should know that.” He let his lips graze over the length of the scar. “Believe me when I say you’re perfect just the way you are.”

Her scent, rich and full of promise, drew him

further down to touch her, sliding his hand over her soft brown curls to her center. His finger slid into the hot moistness dewing her tender flesh. She was tight, yet yielding, to his slow caresses. Her hips lifted, undulated with each stroke. One finger

became two.

Her hands gripped the yellow sheet, and she

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twisted it as she came closer to release. Alex’s thumb found her clit, sending her over in a hard rush to the edge. Her eyes closed, her breath hitched faster as he gave the sensitive bud another stroke. She lost control, riding higher than before.

“Alex, oh, oh,” she mewled.

The muscles of his thighs bunched, quivering.

His body demanded release as well. He ached to take her, but Zoe was unlike any woman he’d been with in the past—she belonged to him.

His woman, his babies. Zoe had been right about one thing. When it came to the Bennett females, it was me, me, my. They belonged to him. A craziness came over him. He wanted to jump out of the bed, dance, sing, turn cartwheels and fight off anyone or anything that came between him and his family.

His family.

Instead of forcing Zoe to call 911 and screaming that a madman ran loose in her house, he kissed her with all the giddy joy bubbling in his chest.

And she kissed him back with all the passion he remembered from that long ago night in Vegas.

Her hands ran over his chest, combing through

the sprinkling of hair there, fingernails scraping over his ribs and nipples. A hot shot of lust barreled down on him. Mouths plundered, limbs tangled. The clock ticked away.

Zoe’s touch sent earthquakes through his body.

Her fingers glided over his butt, scraping and

titillating his nerve endings, making him insane with need, but he wanted to make this good for her.

For the first time in his life, he didn’t worry about getting off. He wanted to see her come again and again.

She found him hot and heavy, ready for her. Her fingers caressed the tip of his erection, spreading the pearly bead of moisture over the head. She stroked him without mercy, soft, gently, yet firm.

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“If you don’t want me to lose it right here, you’d better stop.”

“I’ve never seen a man orgasm before.”

“Never?”

“James couldn’t.” She shrugged. “Because of his medication. But he was a great husband, and I don’t date.”

Her words, and their meaning, struck Alex

between the eyes. “You’ve never been with anyone else?”

Zoe shook her head and chewed her lower lip.

He couldn’t hold back the smile. “I’d rather save the orgasm for the grand finale. Besides, we aren’t done yet.”

“No?”

He shook his head. “Not by a long shot.” He sat back on his haunches again, stroking her from her waist to the top of her hips and down the slope of her ass. When she trembled, he blew soft breaths on her curls, his hands coming to the inside of her thighs.

“Open for me, love.”

Without hesitation, she obeyed, letting out a soft whimper of need at the touch of his tongue. This time he wanted more than a mere taste, but a feast as he parted her lips with his thumbs to expose her softness. She cried out at the first deep stroke from her core to her clit. Her response heightened his need to hitch her legs higher, allowing him the full access to her body. He resisted. He tasted and teased until a sheen of sweat shimmered over her skin.

“Alex, I can’t take anymore,” she cried out.

“Yes, you can.”

His jaw bunched at the effort to keep his release at bay.

“I need you now.” She scooted back from his

questing mouth. She reached down, taking the

decision out of his hands and guided him home.

Her soft gasp ruffled his hair as he filled her.

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****

over the long years without Alex. A moment of guilt filtered through the intense pleasure. She’d never been able to be a real wife to James, not in the way he needed. James knew she withheld part of herself from him, but being the man he was, he asked no questions. No matter how she tried to ignore, deny, or kid herself, it always came back to Alex.