Bedding Down, A Collection of Winter Erotica (5 page)

He pulled his hands free and shrugged. “Anything you want.”

His words thrilled her.
Anything she wanted.
She wanted it all.

She wanted all of him, but if she had to settle for one night, she would make it one neither of them would ever forget.

He stretched out on the bed in all his masculine glory. His

body was so familiar, and yet so new. It was exciting, having him here like this, a chance to reclaim the past. After all the teasing and flirting and near seductions, he was hers for one night.

She lay next to him and stroked a hand down his chest,

broader than she remembered, more muscular. She trailed her

fingers down to his tapered waist and dipped a pinkie into his

navel, deliberately keeping her eyes on his chest and ignoring the insistent bulge that strained the fabric of his pants. He caught his breath and she felt a rush of feminine power. She taunted

him, running her fingertips just under the waistband of his

trousers, before moving back up his chest and resting a hand

over his heart. His pulse was racing.

“Don’t get too excited,” she said, her voice deep and throaty

like the seductress she wanted to be. “I plan on taking a very

long time with you.”

He caught her wrist in his hand and her wedding ring glinted

in the lamplight. “Take as long as you want, just don’t leave me wanting.”

Her own pulse jumped at his touch, but the ring was a pain-

ful reminder of why this was a one-night stand. She jerked up-

right, feeling a decided cooling of her passion. He grabbed her around the waist, preventing her escape.

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“What is it, Susannah?” he murmured against her hair. “Is

it the ring?”

A variety of emotions flooded her senses. Anger, at him for

making her feel this way when she knew nothing could come

of it. Shame, for condemning him for behavior she was more

than willing to indulge in herself. Hurt, because she hadn’t been worth more than a brief affair four years ago when he was married and wasn’t worth more than that now. Beneath all of those

emotions was arousal and desire. Her need to have him—if

only for tonight—was stronger than her need for closure on

the past.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she said, forcing her voice to remain even

and not betray the internal battle she was fighting with herself.

“My head is just spinning from the champagne.”

He sat up and brushed her hair from her face. “You had two

glasses of champagne. I’m a lightweight.”

“You’re a liar.”

Anger flared again, as hot and demanding as her desire, but

she didn’t want to pick a fight. She wanted to roll around naked with him until the sun came up. “You know you want me,” she

said. “You can have me.”

“Not yet,” he said. He took her left hand in his and slowly

worked the rings from her finger. He dropped them on the bed-

side table where they settled with a solid metal thud. “
Now
you’re mine.”

“It’s that easy for you, isn’t it?”

He tangled his fingers in her hair and tilted her face up to

him. His kiss was hot, wet, and demanding, intimate in a way

that left no doubt in her mind that he wanted her. She kissed

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him back, wanting to put the reality of the situation out of her mind and forget that he didn’t care if she was married, didn’t

care about anything but fucking her.

Finally, when she was whimpering low in her throat, he pulled

away. His eyes were shards of blue glass, sparkling with amuse-

ment and desire.

“Yeah, it’s that easy,” he said, confirming her worst fears. “Especially since you’re not married.”

Whatever she’d expected, it hadn’t been that. She gaped at

him in stunned silence. Finally, she said, “What?” because it was all she could manage.

He laughed as he pulled her down on the bed until they were

a tangle of warm limbs and rumpled sheets. “You’re not mar-

ried. You haven’t been married to Thomas Schaeffer for over a

year.”

“How did—how long—when—” It was as if her mind

couldn’t accept that he knew her secret. The fact that she was

wet and aching for him didn’t help. A moment ago, she hadn’t

wanted to think about anything except feeling Derrick inside

of her. Now it seemed important,
very
important, that she know what was going on.

He chuckled as he kissed her forehead and if she hadn’t been

so damned confused, she might have been angry at the bor-

derline condescension behind his laughter and that tender kiss.

Unfortunately, her brain refused to engage and all she could do was babble fragments of questions.

He stroked her bottom lip with his thumb. “Liz thought if

she invited your husband to the wedding personally, he might

come with you.”

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Susannah didn’t think she could be more surprised, but that

bombshell proved her wrong. “Liz knows?”

“Of course. She wanted to surprise you, so she tracked him down at work,” he went on. “When she found out you were divorced, she told Brad and—when I asked about you—he told me.”

Susannah’s mind raced. “Why didn’t Thomas say anything

to me? We’re still friendly.”

“I’m guessing it’s because he didn’t know why she was calling,”

Derrick said. “From what I gather, he said something along the

lines of being surprised to hear from his ex-wife’s sister and she found a way to get off the phone fast.”

“She didn’t say anything.” There was no hiding the feeling of

betrayal now. Liz had known her secret and hadn’t said a word.

“Why?”

“I think she was afraid you wouldn’t come to the wedding.”

“Why on earth would she think that?” She twisted in his

arms so she could see his face. “Why?”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “Because of me.”

She wanted to deny it, to say that nothing would have kept

her from her own sister’s wedding, but she couldn’t. She didn’t know. She just didn’t know.

“I should have just told her.”

“Yes, you should have.” He leaned down and kissed her neck.

“Even if you didn’t think you’d be able to keep your hands off

me.”

“You wish.”

“It’s the truth for both of us.” He moved lower, kissing her

collarbone. “But if you’d been married, I would have respected

that. We’re not your parents, Susannah.”

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Despite the shock, her desire for him hadn’t faded and his in-

timate kisses only fueled the flames. She ran her fingers through his thick hair, feeling wetness gathering between her thighs.

Her body ached for him, for a feeling only he could give her.

He pushed her blouse off her shoulder and slid her bra straps

down, kissing the swell of her breasts. She moaned, not caring

if the Calloways and every one of Brad’s extended family heard

her.

Derrick pulled the cups of her bra down and took one hard

pink nipple between his lips. She gasped as he tugged and sucked until it was wet and aching before moving to the other one. She reached under her to unfasten her bra, managing to shrug out

of her blouse and bra while he sucked and nibbled his way down

her breasts to her stomach. The sound of him unzipping her

pants made her tremble with barely controlled lust. He got her

pants and panties off and then sat back to look at her.

She opened her eyes, watching him watch her. She felt wild

and shameless as she spread her legs for his heated gaze. “I’m so wet,” she whispered. “You do that to me, Derrick. You make

me so wet.”

As if to test the truth of her words for himself, he ran his

thumb from her slippery opening up to the hard nub of her clit.

She moaned and arched her back as he rubbed her, aching for

release.

“Open your eyes,” he said gruffly. “Watch me get you off.”

Her eyes went wide, meeting his steady gaze before moving

lower to watch his hand move between her thighs. He slid a

finger inside her while he kept his thumb on her clit, stroking her inside and out.

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“Watch me,” he said, again. “I want to see your eyes when

you come.”

Orgasm washed over her and she bit her bottom lip to keep

from screaming, but she never looked away from his face. She

came on his fingers, came hard and long as he stroked her wet,

wet pussy. He stared at her face, not between her legs, watching her come for him as he coaxed the sensations from her body.

Finally, when she couldn’t take anymore, she clenched her thighs around his wrist to still him. “Enough,” she gasped. “Please.”

He laughed, stripping off his pants before she even had

time to catch her breath. “It’ll never be enough for us,” he said.

“Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

She didn’t have a chance to respond because he was stretching

out over her, his cock nudging her sensitive clit. Gasping, she opened for him, wrapping her arms and legs around his muscular body. He slid inside her, filling her, and groaned when her pussy rippled around him.

“If you keep doing that, I’ll be finished before we even start,”

he said through gritted teeth.

She clenched around him again and laughed. “I can’t help it.”

“I want this to last a long time.” He pulled back a bit, then

thrust inside her again. “I’ve wanted you like this for so long.”

She whimpered. “Fuck me, Derrick. I need you to fuck me

hard.”

He reached under her and gripped her ass, pulling her down

on his cock. Then he began to fuck her just the way she wanted, hard and deep, until she was digging her fingernails into his

back and gasping his name. As if her body couldn’t get enough

of him, another orgasm swept over her. While she was still

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trembling from the aftershocks, he rolled them over on the big

bed so that she straddled him.

She began moving on him the way she had the night before

on the couch, but this time there were no clothes to get in the way. He was buried inside her so deep it bordered on pain—but

a good pain, a sweet and intense sensation that made her long

for more.

She sat up and braced her hands on his chest as she swiveled

her hips. He groaned and thrust into her, making her gasp. She

rose up, letting him almost slide out of her, before taking his full length inside her again. She kept rotating her hips as she slowly slid up and down on him, teasing him with her body the

way he had teased her with his mouth and hands.

“Oh, hell, baby,” he said. “You feel so damned good.”

She moved on him so slowly she could feel every inch of his

cock sliding into her. “So do you,” she whispered as she rode

him. “I want you inside me all night.”

He groaned again, gripping her hips as he tried to guide her

movements. “You’re driving me out of my mind.”

She threw back her head and laughed. “Good.”

He twisted her hair around his hand and gave it a tug. “En-

joying this, are you?” he practically growled.

By way of an answer, she tilted her pelvis back and rocked

on him. She was so tight around him, filled by him, and she

gasped as he moved inside her. She quickened her pace, stroking him with her pussy until he thrust up into her. He gripped her

hair in one fist and guided her with his other hand on her hip.

They settled into their rhythm, slow and steady, until even their breathing was in sync. She looked down into his eyes and saw

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the moment when orgasm overtook him and he lost control. She

had never felt so desired in her entire life.

She kept riding him, stroking him, coaxing every sensation

from him that he had given her. So was so focused on pleasur-

ing him she didn’t notice how close she was to orgasm herself

until his thumb found her clit and she exploded around him

in a gush of wetness. Gasping and grinding on him until she

couldn’t stand the intensity of sensations coursing through her body, she collapsed on his warm, damp chest.

“Oh my god,” she gasped, still in the aftermath of her climax.

“Oh my.”

He laughed, a deep rumbling sound that made him twitch

inside her and sent ripples from her thighs to her scalp. “You

have a way with words—and with your body.”

She breathed him in, absorbing every second of the experience

so she could recall it later and relive it when he was thousands of miles away and had forgotten. She wouldn’t forget. Not ever.

“Susannah? Are you crying?”

She started to deny it, but he cupped her damp cheek and

sighed. “What did I do?”

Sniffling, she shook her head. “Nothing. Not a thing. It

was . . . incredible.”

“And that makes you cry?”

She swallowed hard and asked the question that weighed on her

heart. “Tonight is incredible, but . . . what about tomorrow?”

He tilted her chin up so that he could meet her tearful gaze.

“Tomorrow we’ll get your sister married off to Brad.”

“And then?” She didn’t know why she was pushing him. He

had promised her one night and they still had so much time left,