Hot Pursuit (17 page)

His gut clenched. Of course he’d been worried
about that. “If you were any other woman…”

“What? You wouldn’t care about the whole
starry-eyed love and marriage thing? Don’t you think you’ve left a
trail of broken hearts, killer?”

He reached out and ran his fingers along her
jaw. “Maybe. But they weren’t you.”

She turned her cheek into his hand. “I want
this, Matt. I feel cold and lonely, and I just want that feeling to
go away for a while.”

Matt closed his eyes. Jesus, she was killing
him. And he couldn’t deny her, not when it was something he wanted
too. Not when it felt like she’d reached inside him and pulled out
everything he was feeling too. “All right.”

“All right?”

He slid the covers down her body. “I can’t
say no, Evie. I should, but I can’t.”

There was a long moment where neither of them
moved. And then it all began to happen at once, as if they’d opened
the floodgates to a very swollen river. He had every intention of
going slowly, but it wasn’t happening that way. It was as if once
his guard was down he had no control over anything.

They came together urgently, their mouths
tangling, hands groping. Matt rolled her beneath him, assaulting
her mouth anew while his heart pounded and his skin sizzled with
heat. She moaned softly, sliding her tongue against his and going
for his button-fly.

He gasped when she got her hand beneath his
pants and squeezed his dick. Too much of that and he’d be a
goner.

He tried to angle away, but she got her
fingers around him, stroked him. The resulting sensation streaked
through his body like a lightning bolt.

“Your shirt,” he said in an effort to slow
the crisis building deep inside him, “want it off.”

She stopped touching him as he pulled the
shirt up and over her head. Just the respite he needed to rein in
this consuming fire for a moment.

“Yours too.” Her fingers tangled in the
material, tugging upward. He lifted away and yanked the shirt off
for her, tossing it over the side of the bed. “Wow,” she said, and
he trembled as her fingers slid over his bare chest.

It was dark in the room, but not so dark as
he thought it would be. He’d forgotten the full moon that slanted
in between the blinds. He could see her beautiful body, the
moonlight limning her full breasts. He put his hands on her,
filling them.

He didn’t miss the shudder that rolled
through her. His thumbs slid across erect nipples and she gasped.
“You’re beautiful, Evie. If I didn’t tell you that before, I meant
to.”

“So are you.” Her mouth landed on his pec and
he hissed in a breath.

“Oh no, you don’t.” His voice was rough,
choked.

He shifted, lowered his head, and sucked a
nipple into his mouth. She gasped, her fingers tangling in his
hair.

“Matt.”

“I know.”

He nibbled and sucked while she squirmed,
while his body tightened. He moved to the other nipple and back
again while she made the most exquisite purring sounds of pleasure.
God knows he’d been excited before—but right now he felt like he’d
die if he didn’t get to complete this. If he didn’t thrust into her
hard and deep and soon.

His whole body coiled like a tension spring.
He was going to explode. Just frigging explode.

“Matt.” He lifted his head at the rawness of
her voice. “I want you inside me.”

He didn’t need to be told a second time. It
was happening so fast, but now,
right now
, he was burning up
and she was the only thing that could cool this flame.

She slid her hands along his abdomen, his
hips, shoving his jeans down until he took over and kicked them the
rest of the way off. He came back to her on hands and knees,
licking a trail up her thighs until he could press his lips to her
panties and feel her soft curls beneath the thin silk.

She whimpered, her hands in his hair again,
and he pulled the damp fabric down over her long legs until he
could toss them aside and push her thighs open.

He’d done this to her once before, but he
hadn’t been nearly as skilled back then. This time, he knew exactly
what to do to drive her insane.

He slid his thumbs into her slick folds and
pushed them aside. He didn’t waste any time blowing on her
sensitive flesh or teasing her with a lot of circling. He simply
ran his tongue around her swollen clit and then sucked it between
his lips.

She groaned, pushed her hips toward his face,
and gasped his name. He didn’t want her coming too fast, so he
backed off, ran his tongue the length of her while she
whimpered.

“Oh God,” she cried out when he sucked her
clit between his lips again. Her hips flexed toward him as he
flicked his tongue over her faster and faster. She bucked, her body
moving, tensing.

He knew the instant she came. Her orgasm
slammed her back into the pillows, her body arching toward him
until she was spent, until she collapsed beneath him, her breath
coming out in little panting gasps.

If he were a good man, a decent man, he’d
pull the covers up and tuck her in, tell her to sleep now. He’d
give her time to rest, time to be certain no-strings sex was what
she wanted.

He was anything but good.

EVIE WAS BONELESS. SHE HADN’T had an orgasm
that good in, well, maybe ever. No, probably she had—she just
couldn’t remember it at the moment.

After an explosion like that, she should be
satisfied, ready for sleep. But she wasn’t. She was still hot and
achy, desperate to feel his body merging into hers. And she hoped
like hell he didn’t have some crazy idea about being noble. So help
her God, if he tried to tuck her in with a chaste kiss and retreat
to his own bed, she’d scream.

Yes, she felt reckless, exhilarated, and
edgy, and she wasn’t ready to stop feeling any of those things
yet.

She hadn’t come over here tonight expecting
to have sex with Matt. After everything else that had happened, it
hadn’t been high on her list of priorities. Until she’d climbed
into bed and he’d sat down beside her. He was so intuitive, so
caring about what she’d been through. She’d felt a rush of longing
as she lay in the dark with him near. And she’d wanted more.

Now she prepared for him to back away, to try
to put the brakes on—but he tugged open a drawer beside the bed and
fished around in it. She didn’t know what else was in there, but
she prayed there was a condom and Matt was looking for it. The
unseen contents scattered onto the floor, hitting the wood with
thuds and pings.

Definitely a good sign if he was that
focused.

Thank God
.

And then he levered away from her, paper
ripping. A moment later he was back, the head of his cock pushing
at her entrance as he held himself above her. If her nerve endings
weren’t on fire, she’d have sighed with relief.

She ran her hands up his arms and over his
shoulders, glorying in the feel of hot skin and hard muscle as she
lifted her hips and wrapped her legs around him. She put her hand
on his chest, felt the reckless rush of his heart, and had to blink
back sudden tears.

He was every bit as affected by the churning
emotion between them as she was.

“Tell me you’re still okay with this.” He
sounded hoarse and uncertain as she pulled his head down to kiss
him.

She needed—
needed
—to feel him inside
her. It was the only thing that made any sense right now.

“Please, Matt. Don’t you dare stop. Don’t you
dare get some stupid idea about nobility.”

His laugh was rusty. “I left nobility in the
dust a few miles back. But I’ll stop if you want me to.”

She arched into him. “Hell no.”

Matt slid into her slowly, his cock
stretching her, preparing her. It’d been so long since she’d had
sex that she knew his penetration was going to burn. She hadn’t
told him that, but still he was careful with her, treating her as
delicately as if this were their first time. That made her heart
leap in ways it definitely shouldn’t.

“Are you all right?” He wasn’t fully inside
her yet and she moved restlessly against him.

“I will be when you stop playing around.”

He slid home, his growl of satisfaction
melting into a groan. He was perfectly still except for the
pulse-beat of his thick erection. “I think I’m going to die.”

Evie sucked in a breath. “Don’t you
dare.”

He lowered his mouth to hers and captured her
lips in a quick, sizzling kiss. And then he moved.

Sensation streaked through her, curled her
toes, and stole her breath.

My God, she didn’t remember it being like
this with him. With
anyone
. This amazing sensation as he
pulled out and slid back in, each thrust stronger than the
last.

“God, Evie.” His voice strained with the
control he placed on himself. Matt had always been supremely
controlled, even as a child. He was a thinker, a planner. He could
delay gratification forever.

She didn’t want that right now. She wanted to
dissolve his control, wanted him as wild as she felt. Wanted that
recklessness of his heartbeat to spill over into everything he did
with her.

“Don’t hold back, Matt.”

He looked at her in surprise, and she pulled
him down until she could capture his mouth again, gloried in the
raw edge of his passion when his tongue met hers. This was nothing
like what they’d experienced together as teenagers. That had been
passionate and thrilling and, for her, a little bit
soul-destroying.

Now, however, they were on equal footing. He
kissed her back, his body driving hers relentlessly toward another
completion. Still, he was in control. She could feel it, and she
gave up trying to make him lose his restraint. Instead, she lost
herself to the insanity of the moment. To the implosion dragging
her inward, concentrating all her energy on the pressure of his
body inside hers.

When the moment came, it sucked her breath
away. Drained her. She wrenched her mouth away from his and gasped
his name.

When the crisis had passed, he turned her
head with his fingers and kissed her so sweetly she shuddered. He
was still deep inside her. Still hard.

“You okay?”

“I will be.”

His laugh was half-strangled as he rocked his
hips into her. “That’s one of us.”

Evie put her palm on his cheek. “Let yourself
go, Matt. It’s okay. You don’t always need to be in control.”

“What makes you think I can’t let myself go?
Maybe I was making sure you got there first.”

She traced her fingers over his lips. “You
forget that I know you.”

Shadows seemed to stretch across his
expression then. “People change, Evie.”

“Not the essentials.”

He swore. And then he moved. He went slowly
at first, building the fire between them again. Evie tried to
concentrate on him, tried to divine when he was close to climaxing
as he began to move faster, but instead she got caught up in the
vortex of her own pleasure. Another climax slammed into her and
left her gasping and clenching around him. A moment later, he
ground his hips into her, a groan breaking from his throat as he
shuddered deep inside her.

His breath was hot against her neck, unsteady
for several moments. And then he rolled onto his back, one arm over
his eyes, the tempo of his breathing evening out as he lay
quiet.

She started to drift, her body languorous,
her mind still emptied out by the intensity of the moment. It was
so much better than ten years ago. Maybe Julie had been right.
Maybe she’d really needed to get laid. Evie sighed as she turned
into him and slid an arm across his heated skin.

“Evie?”

“Hmm?”

“I can’t give you anything more than
this.”

His words stole into her languor, jolting
her. Angering her too. “I don’t remember asking for anything more.”
She pushed away and propped herself on an elbow. “Is this the
speech you usually trot out? I bet it makes the ladies melt.”

He swore softly. “Look, I’m not trying to
insult you. But this night—” His breath released on a heavy sigh.
“It’s been intense. Adrenaline can mix a person up, make you think
things are more important than they are.”

Evie flopped onto her back, hurt and fury
twisting inside her. It had been so perfect, so wonderful, and he’d
gone and ruined it. “I’m tired, Matt. I don’t care about your
half-baked theories, okay? It was just sex. I’m not planning a
wedding, and I’m insulted you would think so.”

“I have no idea what you’re thinking. I just
wanted you to know. After the last time—”

“I’m not sixteen anymore. I’m perfectly
capable of meaningless sex, okay? So get over yourself, for God’s
sake.”

A moment later, he climbed from the bed. She
could hear the sound of him getting dressed. Hot tears gathered
behind her eyelids. Damn it.

“Go to sleep, Evie. I’ve got some calls to
make.”

She wanted to scream. Instead, she swallowed
all the hot emotions she was feeling. “Fine.”

He started to walk out, but then he stopped.
“I’m sorry.” His voice was soft, yet it carried to her across the
room. Evie turned on her side and punched the pillow. She didn’t
bother answering.

* * *

What the hell just happened in that bed with
Evie? Matt prowled into the living room, punching in Kev’s
speed-dial number on his phone. He should have never touched her,
never given in to the urge pounding through his veins. Now he was
all jumpy and more keyed up than when he’d begun. So much for sex
curing what ailed him.

He should have known better. This was Evie he
was talking about, not some woman he’d met in a bar. Not that he
usually had one-night stands with bar pickups, but it would
certainly be easier than having sex with the one woman in this
world he actually cared about—besides his sister, of course.