Bring It On (19 page)

His head dipped as he sucked one deep into his mouth. Wet heat surrounded her. Her hips jerked against him, searching for more. Her fingers fisted into the hair at the nape of his neck, holding him where she wanted him.

Lena threw her head back, exposing her throat. The world spun around her. It took her a second to realize the motion was real and not just her equilibrium being bombarded with sensations. Her back bounced softly on the bed before settling. Her feet dangled off, forgotten and unnecessary.

His mouth trailed kisses across her stomach; his fingers found the slick heat of her sex and dove inside. The invasion was sudden and shocking, but Lena wanted it so badly that she didn’t care. In fact, her hips immediately tried to push him into a faster rhythm so she could find relief from the storm building inside her.

But he wouldn’t let her off that easily.

He brought her to the brink of orgasm so many times she lost count. His hand. His mouth. She was sobbing, her useless fingers scrabbling against his shoulders, trying to find purchase, anything that would compel him to give her the relief she needed.

She tried to reach for him, to fill her hands with the heat of his erection, but he stopped her. Undeterred, she found other ways. The arch of her foot brushed slowly against the jutting length of his cock. He gasped and then growled. She used her calf, her knee and inner edge of her thigh.

With soft pressure, she used his own body against him, sandwiching his cock between them. The pressure of her slipping back and forth against him drove them both insane. But it still wasn’t enough.

She wanted to feel him, to hold him, to taste him. To torture him half as much as he was torturing her. With the last of her strength, Lena grasped his face. Looking him in the eye, she begged, “Colt, please.”

His eyes were hot, his face drawn hard by the desire whipping through both of them. He was as close to the edge as she was. Maybe closer. Lena never realized how sexy it was to have a man so enthralled with her that her pleasure made him delirious. It was intoxicating.

Colt pushed against her hold. Lena collapsed to the bed, her thighs wet with her own desire, open and sprawled. He could do anything he wanted to her and she knew she’d love every second of it.

He paused only long enough to grab the condom—not something they’d forgotten since the cave.

His knees nudged her legs open wider. Her internal muscles contracted, sensing they’d soon be filled with him. He claimed her mouth, breathing her name across her lips before he did. His tongue slipped between her lips as his sex slid home inch by inch. Her body stretched, taking him in and holding him.

Her muscles quivered against the slow pace he was setting. She wanted him to rush, to finish it, but he wouldn’t. Instead, he grasped both of her hands, threaded their fingers together and locked them beside her head.

Her body arched beneath him so that the swollen tips of her breasts brushed against his chest with each deliberate thrust. He stared down at her, his gaze deep and powerful.

A swell of something so overwhelming burst deep inside. She felt vulnerable, caught there beneath him, open, delirious with passion. It was too much. This was too much.

To protect herself, Lena let her eyes slip shut.

But Colt wasn’t having it. With a growling demand, he said, “Look at me.”

And she was powerless to resist.

She saw more than she wanted. Revealed more than she’d meant to give. In that moment there were no barriers between them. Not her fear nor their past. Not the uncertainty of what might come nor the understanding that it wouldn’t be enough.

It was just them, connected in a timeless act that united them in a way that nothing else could.

Colt thrust against her. Her breath caught as he hit the sweet spot inside. Her hips rushed to meet him. Deliberately, he drove them both to the edge, meeting and grinding and demanding more. She wanted it to go on forever, to be so completely lost in the moment that it never ended.

But that couldn’t happen.

Little bursts of electricity tingled up her spine. Her sex quivered. Colt yelled her name, surging deep inside her. Every part of her lost control, surrendering to the power of the connection building between them.

12

COLT WOKE SLOWLY. He felt almost hungover, although he hadn’t had enough to drink for that to be the case. Beside him, Lena was buried beneath the covers, the soft contours of her body snuggled against him.

Last night had been intense. More intimate than anything he’d ever experienced before. He’d had plenty of sex in his life, but nothing came close to comparing.

His desire for Lena was intoxicating. Not just the sexual interludes, but the moments in between. Listening to her laugh. Watching her excitement as she learned something new. Even the way they disagreed made him want her more.

She challenged him in a way that no other woman ever had.

They had two days left, and looking down at the soft glow of Lena’s skin, he realized it wasn’t going to be nearly enough.

Unfortunately, he had no idea how to convince her of that.

The timing surely sucked. Less than a week ago she’d been standing at an altar ready to marry a different man. But even she admitted that had been a mistake. She’d never loved Wyn.

The question was could she ever love Colt?

Fear roiled deep in his belly. It suffused his body with a restless heat that had him kicking off the covers and pacing away from her and the bed they’d shared.

He wasn’t ready for this. He wasn’t ready to love Lena.

She stirred restlessly in the bed, making little protesting noises as she rolled into the imprint of where he’d just been. Letting out a sigh, she burrowed deeper, apparently satisfied with the spot that she’d found.

There was the real possibility that he might lose her. Not just the new physical side to their relationship, but the friendship they’d built across distance and years.

Colt fought the urge to rip her out of the comfort of the covers and make her promise that she’d never leave him alone. Doing that wouldn’t help.

Tight on the heels of that first inclination came another. The urge to love her completely, to brand her as his in every way possible, rose up inside him. Needing some air and distance before he did something stupid, Colt threw on the first thing he came to—a worn pair of jeans—and headed out onto their private patio.

The soft blue water in their infinity pool shimmered and mocked him. They hadn’t even bothered to take advantage of it, which was a shame. Maybe later, when he had his emotions in check, they could swim together. Preferably naked.

He walked around to the far side of the pool. From that vantage point, he could see the edge of the sea in the distance. The jungle, untamed as ever, was off to his left. He stood there, staring out into the unruly beauty.

A loud ringing interrupted the silence. It took him several seconds to realize it was coming from inside the bungalow. His cell phone.

He’d almost forgotten its existence over the past several days. Racing back inside, Colt scrambled to answer it before it could disturb Lena.

“Hello,” he said in a hushed tone, moving back outside.

“Colt? Is that you?” The connection was awful, loud crackling interspersed with a low hum. He should probably know who it was, but with all of the interference he didn’t.

“Who else would be answering my cell? Who’s this?”

“Desmond Owens with the production team in Peru.”

A drumbeat picked up somewhere in his chest.

“Desmond. How’s the shoot?”

“Not…great.” Desmond’s response crackled. “Several of the crew came down with dengue fever. The local doctors say they won’t be ready to return to the field for at least two weeks. And yesterday Ryan—” the man Desmond had hired as director instead of Colt “—fell off a cliff. He’s going to be fine, but he broke a leg and dislocated his shoulder. They medevaced him to the closest hospital.”

“That’s awful. I’m sorry you guys are having so much trouble. But I’m in the middle of the Caribbean. What can I do from here?”

“We’ve put the project on hold for a few days. It sets us way behind schedule and plays hell with our budget, but I just don’t have another choice. I was hoping that would be enough time for you to get here.”

“Get there?”

“I need you to direct.”

“Direct?” Shock, excitement and a rush of adrenaline shot through his body.

This was the chance he’d been waiting for. The break he needed to prove himself. The Peru shoot was complicated. It covered an archaeological find that was set to rival that of Machu Picchu. But the film site was remote.

Just getting there involved hours on a plane, connecting multiple times. Then driving to a local village and hiking through the thick jungle to a spot that had been virtually untouched for hundreds of years. The crew had packed in all their equipment. Not to mention generators, since they’d be living and working out there for weeks.

It would be challenging, but that’s what had excited Colt about the project in the first place.

“We’ll work out all the details when you get here. I’ve already booked you a flight leaving St. Lucia this afternoon.”

“Presumptuous, aren’t you?”

“Desperate is more like it. I don’t know anyone else who could step up and fill Ryan’s shoes so well.”

Colt ran his hand through his hair. The temptation was great. It was what he’d been working so hard for over the past several years.

A small sound made him whirl to find Lena standing behind him. She was framed by the doorway to the patio. Her hair was mussed, her skin still flushed from sleep. She’d thrown on a shirt that barely skimmed the tops of her thighs. She looked rumpled and sleepy.

Everything except her eyes—they were wide awake. Watchful. Somewhat wary.

“Let me get back to you.”

“But we don’t—” Desmond protested.

Colt cut him off. “I’ll call you back in twenty minutes,” he said, hanging up.

The cell sat heavy in his hand, as if it suddenly carried more gravitational pull than the rest of the world around them. And in some way, Colt supposed it did. It was the connection to everything he’d ever wanted. Five days ago he wouldn’t even have hesitated.

Now he looked across the infinity pool standing between him and Lena and wondered if the space had somehow gotten bigger.

“I’m so happy for you, Colt. You deserve this job. You’ve worked hard for a chance like this.”

He nodded.

It felt as if he had a choice. As if he had to decide between taking the job that he’d been waiting for all his life and staying with the woman that he loved. But that wasn’t right.

Why could he only have one or the other? Wasn’t there a way to have both?

“Come with me,” he said.

“What?” Her body rocked backward as if she’d been physically struck by his words.

“Come to Peru with me.”

Colt watched as her eyes widened. She swallowed hard, her throat working overtime. A war of emotions crossed her face. They moved so fast that he couldn’t determine what she was thinking.

He moved slowly around the pool, but stopped when she took a single step away.

Dread, hope and an engulfing grief that he recognized but didn’t understand swamped him.

“Lena,” he whispered, “come with me.”

He knew her answer even before she said it, the reality dawning right along with the sadness that filled her eyes.

She shook her head.

“I can’t.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T? You have nothing to go home to. No fiancé, no job. What’s holding you there, Lena? Come with me.”

His words hurt. And they scared her senseless. There was nothing in D.C. to return for. Her job was gone. Even if Mr. Rand didn’t fire her, she couldn’t continue to work for the company. It wouldn’t feel right, seeing Wyn and his father every day.

Her relationship was dead. The life she’d imagined had disappeared before it’d even had a chance to start. Unpacking the boxes in her apartment was really the only thing she had to look forward to.