With This Kiss (23 page)

And in the end, despite his raging libido, he knew that Rebecca was a woman who should be savored.

Which was exactly what he was going to do tonight.

N
o one had ever kissed her like this, with such gentle desire, with such heat, with so much need.

All for her.

And, oh, she needed him just as bad.

So although she’d always been a woman who let men take the lead in bed, with Sean she couldn’t stop herself from wrapping her legs around his waist and urging him to take anything—everything—he wanted from her.

But then, instead of answering her body’s plea, he was pulling back, lifting himself up on his forearms to stare down at her.

“You’re so beautiful.”

His compliment warmed her even more. “Thank you.”

“Ah,” he said softly, running his fingertip gently along her hairline. Little tingles met his touch and she almost whimpered at the soft pleasure of it. “I don’t think you understand quite what I’m saying to you.”

His eyes were just as dark, just as unfathomable as
ever. But his tone was richer, filled with a depth of emotion he’d never let her hear before.

“Yes, I do. You think I’m pretty.”

His smile was tinged with heat. “You’re so much more than pretty, Rebecca.” He pressed a kiss to the same spot on her forehead that he’d been lightly caressing. “Gorgeous. Stunning. Perfect. None of those words do you justice.”

She’d expected goose bumps and heat and pleasure. She knew she cared enough for Sean to find emotion in their kisses and caresses.

But she hadn’t thought there’d be such sweet words from a man who was so usually cautious with them.

He kissed her, then, a kiss that echoed his praise.

A kiss that made her believe what he was saying was real.

“Something happens when you kiss me,” she admitted. “I feel beautiful.”

“Never doubt that you are, not for one single second.”

She felt like he was seeing all the way into her soul, into the hidden part where she’d tried to ignore the hurt from every man who had rejected her for not being exciting enough, for not being a risk taker. Even with Stu—especially with Stu—she’d lost hold of herself as a sensual woman.

One kiss at a time, Sean was giving that ultra-important female power back to her.

She still had her robe on and she wanted nothing more than to be naked beneath Sean, his powerful body pressing hers into the mattress. She reached for the sash, but before she could untie it, his hands were over hers.

“Undressing you for the first time is a pleasure I don’t want to miss.”

She actually whimpered before agreeing. “Okay. But could you hurry?”

That smile she loved to see so much played around his mouth. “No.”

She groaned with disappointment even as her body heated up with increased anticipation. Along with the knowledge that she might not survive this night after all. Not if Sean was intent on driving her out of her mind before he finally took her.

“Pretty please?”

“So sweet.” She watched his long, strong fingers slowly untie her sash. “And usually so good at getting what you want with that sweetness.”

She was going to protest the “usually” when his fingertips grazed the bare skin of her belly where her shirt had ridden up from her pajama bottoms. Instead of speaking, she sucked in a breath, her muscles trembling beneath his light touch.

“Such soft skin.” He shifted on the bed so that he could press a kiss to that bare patch of skin and thrill bumps raced across her skin. “And so beautifully sensitive.”

Another kiss followed the first, but before she could thread her hands into his hair, he was moving away again, putting his hands onto the lapel of her robe and sliding it off her shoulders.

With every bare patch of skin he uncovered there was another kiss. Places that had never been sensitive before responded to his slightest touch, to the brush of his lips followed by his fingertips grazing the new spot he’d marked.

Finally—
finally!
—he slid the robe all the way off her arms.

He’d seen her in fairly skimpy pajamas before, but even though there’d been attraction between them a week ago, it hadn’t been this red hot. And neither of them had had any intention of acting on it.

But oh, were they acting now, as Sean slowly ran his fingertips down over the straps of her top.

“Just take it off, already!”

“All this time, I thought you were so patient,” he said, a soft, heated chuckle underlying his words.

“In case you didn’t hear me earlier,” she said in a far more petulant tone than she could believe was coming out of her own mouth. “I said I wanted you.” She waited until his gaze met hers. “Really, really, really want.”

That won her a kiss, one that seared them both. With the few brain cells she had left, she tried to wriggle out of her clothes.

Sean’s hands were there before she could pull her shirt any higher than the middle of the ribs.

“Not yet.”

“Can’t blame a girl for trying,” she muttered, but then he was running kisses over her newly bared skin, exposing one inch at a time, and she had to admit that he knew exactly what he was doing.

“Lift your arms for me, sweetheart.”

She was so bowled over by the endearment that she actually froze. She should have just let it slip by, should have locked it away in her heart for future cold winter nights, but how could she?

“You called me sweetheart.”

“Arms up,” he said again and she knew he was uncomfortable with what he’d just given her.

When her top was finally off, she should have been
focused on the fact that she was completely bared to his hot gaze. Soon, she would be lost to anything but Sean’s touch, his kisses, the slow slide of his body into hers.

She felt shy as she looked up at him, and not only because she was partially naked and he was still holding her hands up above her head so that she couldn’t cover herself. But when any other guy would have been ogling her body right now, his eyes hadn’t dropped from hers.

He didn’t think he was a good man. He didn’t think he had a heart.

How could he be so blind?

She needed to let him know. “No one’s ever said that to me before. I liked it. Say it again.”

He kissed her. “You are so sweet.”

She shouldn’t need to hear it, knew better than to need the endearment. But when had she ever really known better?

“Sean. Please.”

He’d barely lifted his lips from hers and the word came against her lips so softly that she might not have heard it if she hadn’t been able to feel it, too.

“Sweetheart.”

And as he kissed her again, and then began the long, slow process of kissing his way down her body, Rebecca knew she wasn’t in any danger of falling.

She’d already gone and done it. Despite every warning he’d given her, despite every warning she’d given herself, she’d fallen for Sean.

Head over heels.

Sean wasn’t a man who spouted poetry to the women he bedded. Sex had always been a silent affair, about taking
care of physical needs. Sex had never been laughter, or teasing. Definitely not emotion.

And yet, Rebecca was drawing all three from him.

He knew what he should be doing, knew what was smart. Pulling away from her. Telling her he was sorry he’d come to her tonight. Saying this was a mistake.

The problem was, his brain was no longer in charge. If that was the only problem, he might have been able to dig into his self-control to leave before things went any further.

Something else was leading tonight with Rebecca… not just a body that desired her.

But a heart he didn’t have the first clue how to control.

Drawing away from her to try and find the space, the air, to set himself back to rights, he made the mistake of looking down at her.

What he saw in her eyes humbled him.

And when she reached for him this time, he didn’t have the strength to keep control of their lovemaking. He’d have to savor and prolong another night.

And in that moment Sean was forced to admit that control with Rebecca had never been anything but an illusion.

Her hands found his face again, and she turned her face to kiss both of his palms and then turned him onto his back so that she could lie over him. It was pure instinct to wrap his arms around her and pull her closer.

“Now.”

The one word fell from her lips like nectar and he had to drink from her sweetness as she made surprisingly short work of his clothes and protection.

And then, in one seamless move, he was there, right
where he’d longed to be. Wrapped up in Rebecca, in her sweetness and her warmth.

He was happy. Finally, blessedly happy. And for one perfect moment in time, Sean Murphy knew not only pleasure… but peace.

E
arly morning over the lake was quite a sight, Bill thought as he watched mist drift up from the water to meet the rising sun.

His mother, Celeste, had gotten in the habit of rising early when he was a baby to enjoy the peace, the stillness and silence of the lake before even the birds woke.

Bill had enjoyed the walk over to his mother’s cottage to help her with her kitchen sink. Now, even as he focused on the bolt he was loosening, flashes of blue and white and green through the kitchen window helped settle him.

“How is Elizabeth doing, honey?”

Bill looked over at his mother. Saying his wife was fine would be the easiest answer.

Unfortunately, it would also be a lie.

Slightly settled transformed to unsettled in a matter of moments. “She’s worried about Stu.”

Celeste nodded. “She’s his mother. Of course she’s worried. Has there been any word from my grandson?”

“No.”

And now that Bill had more of an idea about why Stu
had left, he understood why his son had left Emerald Lake for a little while. It was a wonderful town. Small, nurturing, comfortable.

But a man needed to figure out some things for himself, far away from the people who were so sure they knew who he was.

There had been plenty of times Bill wouldn’t have minded disappearing himself.

The one person he’d never had to hide from, fortunately, was his own mother. Celeste was simply one of the easiest people to be around. His mother wasn’t a woman who pushed. Rather, she seemed to have infinite patience.

Appreciating the care his mother had always taken with him, he wanted to set her mind at ease about Stu. “He’ll come back when he’s ready.”

Bill would let his son tell his grandmother his own truth at his own pace.

“Yes, I expect he will,” his mother agreed. “This is home. For all of us.”

Her comment had him asking, “Has Sean said anything to you about staying in Emerald Lake?”

“Announcements aren’t his style.” She laughed. “Neither is falling in love, however.”

Bill almost dropped the wrench he was holding. “Love? He’s in love?”

“Sean looks at Rebecca the way you once looked at Elizabeth.”

Bill felt the muscles in his body tighten, one by one, until he was so stiff he couldn’t move without being afraid that shards would crack off.

He and his mother never spoke about his marriage. Not once in thirty-six years had Celeste broached his
relationship with Elizabeth. The two women had never been fast friends, but he’d accepted that they were different. One slow, one fast. One quiet, one loud. Both had a place in his life.

In his heart.

It was none of his mother’s business, and yet Bill felt he had to say, “I still look at Elizabeth that way.”

“Betsy.”

He moved away from the sink to pick up a smaller wrench from his tool box. “Excuse me?”

“You used to call her Betsy. For years, you never used her formal name. She was always your Betsy.”

His Betsy.

He’d woken up this morning, telling himself that everything was going to be okay. Stu would come back when he was ready. Sean had called to suggest a hike on the weekend. He and his wife had shared a bed again. They hadn’t really touched, except by mistake, but at least they’d both been in the same place at the same time.

He shouldn’t be surprised that it took his mother so few words to point out to him that everything was still broken.

Elizabeth. Betsy. They were just names.

But were they really?

Had his marriage finally gone past the point of no return? After all these years of trying to act like nothing was wrong, now that the door to unrest was finally open, did he have a prayer of getting it to shut again?

Or was there no way back? Was the only choice for him and Elizabeth to forge ahead without each other?

Did Stu have it right? Was leaving the only option?