GAMBLING ON LOVE (Travis Series) (5 page)

Sam moved her slowly toward the bed as he continued to assault her mouth with hard, hungry kisses
.
Never had
Beth
felt as wildly alive as she did right now, and when his lips
migrated down
the column of
her
throat
, blazing a
hot trail to the swell of her breasts, the sheer pleasure of it
nearly sent Beth up in flames
.
Her hands glided up his magnificent chest to his shoulders and pushed his jacket off
.
A low guttural moan rumbled deep in his throat and suddenly they were frantically tugging and pulling at each other’s clothes until at last nothing remained between his bare
skin
and hers.

Easing
her back onto the bed
, Sam settled his weight over her,
p
ressing
her down into the plush mattress
and eliciting a series of violent tremors
.
His hands feathered over her body
;
touching, caressing, leaving a scorching trail everywhere flesh met flesh while his tongue continued a thorough exploration of her mouth
.
Dear
God, the man was intoxicating
.
  S
he couldn’t seem to get enough of him
.

She
arched
into him,
letting
out a needy gasp when he kneed her legs apart and pressed his throbbing heat between her thighs
.
Her muscles tensed when his hand moved between their bodies
to
position
himself
for entry, the air in her lungs suddenly nonexistent
.
Sam pushed
into
her moist opening
, his head jerking back
in surprise when he met
with
resistance.

“Anne?”

Her
eyelids fluttered open
.
“It…it’s okay
.
It’s just been a long time
.
Please,” she begged, “don’t stop
.
I want you, Sam.”

Sam hesitated for a moment, his eyes locking with hers
as
he positioned himself once more
.
With a groan of masculine pleasure h
e
sank into her warmth
,
straining to
h
old
himself motionless for a moment
while
her body adjust
ed
to hi
s size
.
She wasn’t a virgin, but the tight clasp of her muscles told him it had been a very long time since she’d slept with another man
.

He didn’t know why it pleased him so much or why he felt a
n
unexpected
burst of emotion
because
she’d chosen him when she could have had any man she desired
.
Anne stirred something in him, touched a part of his heart no woman had even come close to before.
 

He lifted his head, his eyes moving over the delicate contours of her face as he began to move slowly in and out of her
.
Her perfectly shaped lips were parted, her breath ragged and uneven, and a lovely shade of rose tinted her high cheekbones
.
He could have languished over her body for hours if she hadn’t opened her eyes just then, a soft purring sound of contentment humming in the back of her throat
.

Sam took possession of her mouth, devouring her with his passion as the power of his thrusts came harder, went deeper; the sudden fierceness of his lovemaking
sweeping
them
into the eye of the storm for a fraction of a second before slamming
them with the full intensity of the storm itself
.  He heard Anne’s wild gasp, felt her slender body shuddering beneath him
, and then the liquid heat of her climax
.
An animalistic growl tore from his throat as his body went rigid, the muscles in his neck cording as he too found release, his seed shooting up inside her in a convulsive explosion of unimaginable pleasure
.

They clung to each other for several minutes until the trembling of their bodies finally s
ubsided
.
Sam’s lips sought hers once more
, kissing her
softly, tenderly, stroking the damp hair from her
forehead
.
H
e
’d lost control at the end, allowed his
need
to possess her overrule
everything else, and that bothered him a great deal.

“Did I hurt you, Anne
?”
he
questioned
softly.

She pressed a kiss to his lips
.
“A little at first
…
but after that, it was incredible.”

“I’ve never felt anything like that before,” he said gruffly
.
“I don’t know what it is about you, honey, but you make me feel more alive than I have in years.
”
Sam let out a deep sigh
.
“I wish we didn’t have to go back to the party.
”
He caressed the side of her face, fascinated by the softness of her skin
.
“I’d like to spend the night making love to you and wake in the morning with you in my arms.”

“I’d like that
,
too,” she said in a hushed whisper.
 

Just the thought of having Sam make love to her again rekindled that aching need for him
,
but after giving her a long, leisurely kiss, he eased himself out of her and rose from the bed
.
He took her hand
,
pull
ing her into his embrace for a
nother
kiss before letting her go
.
While Sam searched for his clothes, Beth
hurried off
to the bathroom to clean the evidence of their lovemaking from her thighs
.
By the time she returned to the room, he’d finished dressing and was slipping on his shoes.

“Why don’t you go ahead,” she told him as she gathered her clothing
.
“I’ll be down shortly.”

Sam nodded
and
then
gathered
her into his arms
.
“What are you doing to me, Anne Dawson?”
 

He rested his forehead on hers and closed his eyes
.
Thoroughly shaken by the experience with Anne, Sam reflected on how
long
it had been
since he’d felt anything other than sexual release when
taking
a woman to bed
.
He didn’t want to
return
to the party no matter how much money was involved
.
What he wanted right now was to take her back to bed and make love to her again.

“You need to go, Sam,” she said quietly
.
“They’ll be wondering where you went off to.”

“When they see the smile on my face, they’re going to know,” he laughed softly.

Beth
was
mortified
.
“God, I hope not!”
 

He laughed again
and
gave her a soft kiss
.
“Don’t be long.
”
Then he was gone.

For a moment, Beth just stood there with the taste of his mouth lingering on her lips
.
She
dropped down on the
edge
of the bed
.
She wouldn’t regret what she’d done
;
the experience had been too wonderful
,
but now that she had time to think of the consequences, a deep sense of despair fell over her
.
It was too late to say her heart wasn’t involved, but Sam wasn’t the type of man who wanted a relationship
.
Linda had said as much at the dinner table, and Beth
simply
couldn’t allow herself to be crushed emotionally as she had with Stephen.

She rose despondently and dressed
.
With
one last glance at the bed, Beth left the room
.
She made her way to the lobby and hesitated for only a moment before turning
towards the front entrance
.
Taxis were in abundance outside the hotel and she climbed into the first one she came to.

“Santa Monica Pier,” she told the driver.
 

Less than twenty minutes later she was sitting in the driver’s seat of her car
,
staring out at the ocean
.
What was she going to do
?
She was torn between the devastation she knew was inevitable if she went back and the raw pain
of
never seeing Sam again.
 

“
Damn
,” she muttered.
 

Beth backed out of the parking space and pulled up to the edge of the parking lot
.
A left would take her home
;
a right would take her back to Sam.
 

“You’re an idiot,” she
berated
herself even as the heaviness in her chest lifted when she eased the car into traffic and took a right.

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                     *
**

Sam waited impatiently for twenty minutes, a growing uneasiness gnawing at hi
s gut
with each
passing
minute
.
After calling the room and getting no answer, he
went to check
it
for himself
.
Standing
in the middle of the empty room
, he
star
ed
at the bed where he had so recently made love to Anne
.
She was gone and he didn’t think she was coming back
.
His shoulders slumped a
s
a dull, heavy ache settled in his chest.

How had she managed to affect him so quickly
?
He shouldn’t have rushed it, he thought ruefully
.
He should have waited and seduced her slowly
.
Instead he’d acted like a teenager, barely able to control himself once he had her in his arms
.
But she’d been so warm, so willing
,
and
Sam
knew
he could
n’t
have stopped himself if he’d wanted to.
 

Sam left the room and returned to the party
, although
the victory of winning the contract held little meaning for him
now
.
He stood at the bar sipping on a whiskey, a hard determination stealing over his face
.
He
would
find her
.
Tomorrow he
would
tap every resource he had and go after her
.
Then he
…
Sam didn’t know what he’d do, but somehow he
would
persuade
Anne
to give him another chance to do it right
.

He knew she’d made light of the comment Linda made at dinner, but a woman like Anne had to be wondering
whether
she was just another one
-
night stand for him
.
Sam shook his head remorsefully
.
He should have known, should have assured her she was different
.
His mood was surly to say the least and getting worse by the minute
.
When a soft hand touched his arm, he
let out an irritated sigh.
In his present state of mind, he was fully
prepared
to
reject whatever propos
ition
the woman
offered
;
he just wasn’t sure he had it in him to be kind when he did it.

“What does a girl have to do to get a drink around here?”