Heat of Passion (7 page)

Right. She seriously needed to quit comparing her ex to the man between her legs.

Not that there was even a comparison to be made.

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Heat of Passion

“Are you going to come for me again?” Carson muttered, adding a third finger into the mix.

She whimpered and managed a strained, “yes.” Then she pinched her nipples and the whimper became a moan. God, she was close. Pleasure built up inside her like water against a dam. All it would take was one more stroke of his tongue, one more thrust of his fingers…a little more…so close...Carson pressed his fingers hard against her G-spot, sucked even harder on her clit, and she exploded.

The climax was just as intense as the first, just as fierce and all-consuming, and this one didn’t end. It just roared on, tearing through her body like a wildfire while bursts of bliss sparked her nerve endings.

“Carson,” she moaned, fighting for breath. “It’s too much…it’s…I can’t take it…oh God.”

Rather than release her, he continued to tongue her, his fingers sliding in and out with long, deep thrusts until she was coming again. Or maybe she’d never stopped coming the first time. Who knew. Who cared. Holly’s pulse shrieked in her ears, her breasts throbbed beneath her trembling fingers. And the pleasure…it never ended. The dam had broken and a rush of pure rapture poured through her in uncontrollable waves.

“Oh yeah,” Carson groaned, lifting his head after planting one last soft kiss to her clit.

She gasped for air, her body so sated and numb she couldn’t move a single limb or muscle.

He rose to his feet and pushed her hands off her breasts, quickly replacing them with his own. His warm palms cupped each mound, his fingers stroking. Bending his head, he tasted her, covering one nipple with his mouth and sucking gently. He groaned again, then moved away from her breast and captured her lips in a hot kiss.

She kissed him back eagerly, enjoying the warmth of his mouth, the taste of herself on his tongue. Lifting her arms, she twined them around his strong, corded neck and pulled him closer, needing to feel that rock-hard body pressed against her. He stepped www.samhainpublishing.com 47

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closer and she widened her legs, allowing him to push his jean-clad lower body into the junction of her thighs.

“You’re so hard,” she whispered into his mouth, rubbing herself against the long erection bulging at his crotch. The denim scraped over her naked sex, but the slight abrasion only turned her on even more.

“Hold on a second,” he choked out. “All that rubbing is too damn distracting.” She quit moving and waited for him to grab a condom from his pocket. Shoving his jeans down, he sheathed his thick cock and offered a faint smile. “Okay, do your worst.

Or best, actually.”

Holly laughed, then circled his heavy erection with her fingers and guided him to her opening. They released simultaneous moans as he slid his entire length into her wetness.

The feel of him inside her was so good she almost fell off the counter, but Carson grabbed her hips and steadied her, thrusting a couple of times before letting out another groan.

“Damn. I won’t last long,” he admitted in a raspy voice.

“Then come. You know, to take the edge off,” she said, mimicking his earlier words.

“But next time, I expect at least a full hour of serious thrusting and pumping to make up for this debacle.”

Laughing, he bent down to kiss her, then set out in a fast, hard pace that had her gasping into his lips. He pounded into her with his cock, all the way to the hilt, and each stroke brought her closer and closer to the edge again. When she heard Carson’s low groan of pleasure, she let herself go, squeezing her inner muscles against him as his cock pulsed with release inside her.

When the waves of orgasm finally subsided, she saw Carson watching her with something that resembled awe.

“What?” she asked self-consciously.

He shook his head, looking a bit stunned. “How are we this good together? The only time I’ve ever come this hard is when we did it in that closet.” She managed a small laugh. “Are you just trying to be nice?” 48

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Heat of Passion

He snorted. “I just fucked you on your kitchen counter. Does a nice guy really do that?”

“Hmmm, I guess not.” She tilted her head. “So…just to clarify…are you officially agreeing to fling with me?”

“I guess I am.”

Wariness crept up her body. “Because I meant what I said on Friday, I don’t really have the time for a relationship right now.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, okay. If you want sex, I’ll give you sex.”

“
Just
sex,” she prompted.

An indefinable expression flickered in his eyes, and then he smiled. “Whatever you say, sweetheart.”

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“Your plan isn’t working,” Carson said as he sank into the chair in front of Will and handed the other man a beer.

It was Monday night and Carson had dragged Will to the Sand Hole, one of his favorite bars in San Diego. A few yards from the pier, the bar offered an outdoor patio that overlooked the ocean, and the two men were sitting at a table by the railing, while the balmy evening breeze tried to claim the napkins on the tabletop. Carson finally set his beer bottle on the napkins, so the damn things would quit fluttering around. It was just Will and him tonight, something that was becoming a habit. Garrett and Shelby were still away, and Ryan and Matt had hit a nightclub across town, but Carson hadn’t felt like clubbing tonight. He was in a seriously foul mood, despite the incredible sex he’d been having for the past week.

“She still wants a fling, huh?” Will said, slowly sipping his beer.

“Yep.” Carson groaned. “Don’t get me wrong—the sex is unbelievable. But every time I even bring up the subject of going out to dinner, or catching a movie, she tries to distract me with sex.”

Will laughed. “Does it work?”

“Every fucking time, man.” He was almost a little ashamed of how badly he craved Holly’s lithe little body. Every time she was naked, he couldn’t think. Or breathe. Or do anything that didn’t involve running his tongue over every inch of her nakedness.

It was like an addiction, and one he could spend the rest of his life enslaved to. But that was the problem—he wasn’t going to have Holly for the rest of his life. Hell, if she had her way, he wouldn’t have her for much longer.

“She’s got midterm exams coming up, and she keeps hinting that we need to take a breather,” he said with a sigh.

Heat of Passion

“Culinary school has exams?”

“Kind of. She’s got to prepare all these fancy dishes for her teacher, and then work in a restaurant for a couple of nights to show she’s capable of working under pressure and all that crap.”

“Bring her on our next assignment.” Will snorted. “She’ll definitely learn how to work under pressure then.”

Carson lifted his beer to his lips, suddenly sidetracked. “Speaking of assignments, what’s this I’ve been hearing about us going to the jungle?” The idea of hopping in a chopper and going somewhere—even the freaking jungle—wasn’t all that unappealing.

The team hadn’t been out of the country since that stint in Colombia, and Carson was itching for an adventure. He hated sitting around and waiting to be paged.

“Not for sure yet,” Will replied. “But I’ve been hearing rumors about some trouble happening at a plant in Brazil. A few workers were killed by some rebels, I think, and there’s a chance we might need to go in and extract the CEO. He refuses to leave, but there have been a few threats to his life, so we’ll see.” Will put down his beer bottle.

“You’re feeling stir crazy too, eh? Thought you were too busy wooing the waitress to remember what you do for a living.”

“Well, maybe the best way to change her mind is to leave,” he said with a shrug.

“You know, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that? I swear, she’s got so much shit on her plate, I’m starting to think she’s Superwoman.” Will looked curious. “Yeah? Like what?”

“Work, this culinary class, and don’t get me started on her incompetent family. I can’t count how many times she’s left me in her bed this week so she could rush off and save someone from themselves.” Carson shook his head, baffled. “Her father calls her to come over and help him check his email! And her sister Caroline is a total space cadet.

She locked her keys in the car every day this week.” And when they said jump, Holly jumped. That’s what Carson didn’t get. His sister Jenny was constantly getting into jams, but she only called Carson when something bad was going down. Holly’s family, however, called for everything. Every goddamn www.samhainpublishing.com 51

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miniscule problem that they could probably handle all on their own, if Holly would just let them.

He knew her mother had died, and that sucked, but he didn’t think it was reason enough for Holly to drop everything and play mother hen to everyone. Especially when all the responsibilities—which she could easily rid herself of—constantly got in the way of their relationship.

Sorry, their
fling
. Because no matter how much fun they had together, how many times they laughed over pizza or cuddled in front of the television or had wild sex on every surface of Holly’s apartment, she still refused to call it anything other than a fling.

“So tell her how ridiculous her family is being,” Will suggested.

“I’ve tried. But she thinks they need her. The whole family was pretty upset after her mother died, and Holly ended up filling her mom’s role. Now they all expect it of her.” Will leaned back in his chair. “Do you like this girl?” Did he like her? Uh, yeah. In fact, he couldn’t remember ever liking another female more than he liked Holly. She was quirky and funny and unbelievably good in bed. And way too caring and generous for her own good.

“Of course I like her,” he answered.

“Then tell her. And keep telling her. Sooner or later she’ll have to see that the two of you could have more than a silly fling.”

But would she? Carson had the most unsettling feeling that it wouldn’t matter how many times he told her how great she was, or how many ways he tried to show her he was serious about her. With Holly, responsibility always came first. To her job, her family, her school.

So that meant he had to find a way around it. Because he was sick of being Holly Lawson’s boy toy. He wanted to be her boyfriend.

Now he just had to convince her to let him.

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“Want a slice of pizza?” Carson asked after he’d gotten rid of the condom, leaving her in a hot, sweaty mess on the living room carpet.

Holly forced her head up to shoot him an amazed look. How was he even able to stand up? Her own legs were so shaky she knew she’d keel right over if she tried putting her weight on them. She was nowhere close to Carson’s level of recovery.

“Sex makes me hungry,” he said with an endearing shrug.

She managed to move up into a sitting position, watching as Carson flipped open the pizza box, grabbed a slice and sank down on the couch. Naked. The sight of that gloriously nude body stole the breath right out of her lungs. She’d never seen a man in such incredible shape before. Carson’s chest was solid and unyielding, defined pecs and rippled six-pack and smooth sleek sinew. A dusting of blond hair covered his chest and legs, but it was just the right amount. Not too hairy, and not pretty-boy smooth. He was masculine and beautiful and so appealing, her mouth watered like one of Pavlov’s dogs.

He cast her a grin when he noticed her staring, then gestured to the cushion next to his. “Sit and eat.”

Somehow she managed to force her legs to carry her from the floor to the couch. She grabbed a slice of pizza, but she wasn’t all that hungry, she just wanted to hold something in her hands so she wouldn’t be tempted to grab Carson. Boy, was she tempted. The aftereffects of her orgasm still pulsated through her body, tingling her nipples, tickling her thighs. She’d never experienced anything like this. The primitive, animal lust and raw pleasure and intense flood of heat.

It had been like this for an entire week. She couldn’t keep her hands off this man, and if it weren’t for work and school, she would be content being with him from morning

’til night and doing nothing but having really amazing sex.

Knowing Carson, he’d be totally up for the idea. He’d spent every night at her place for the past week, and he didn’t seem at all bored with her yet. Which was odd, since she really wasn’t the most exciting person on the planet. When she was at her apartment—

and not rescuing her siblings from themselves—she usually spent her time cooking or watching TV. Not exactly anything to write home about.

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Yet Carson seemed perfectly at ease doing nothing with her. Tonight he’d even brought over a couple of DVDs, all action flicks. They’d watched one before taking a break to have sex on the living room floor, and he’d spent the entire movie scrutinizing the fake military troop and telling Holly all the reasons why they wouldn’t have been able to blow up the village using the equipment they had. His commentary had reminded her of what he did for a living, that his job was a dangerous one, but it still didn’t seem real to her, especially since he seemed to spend most of his time waiting to be paged.

“Aren’t you bored not blowing up things or traipsing through the jungle?” she found herself asking, setting her pizza slice back in the box.

Next to her, Carson chewed slowly then tossed her a thoughtful look. “Yes and no.

The team hasn’t been called to duty in more than a month, and I’m definitely ready for another assignment. But I’m also enjoying spending time with you, so I’m not complaining about the lull in the SEAL world.”

“We’re not spending time together,” she reminded him. “We’re sleeping together.” As if her reminder had stolen his appetite, he dropped his half-eaten slice. “Right,” he said, sounding a bit sarcastic.