He let his words settle, let her make of them what she would. He wasn’t about to think or dig too deeply into his meaning now. The words had escaped, and right now he meant them.
Before she could back away, he picked up where he’d left off, easing her jeans just low enough on her thighs to give him access, but not too low that she couldn’t pull them up and get decent if she wanted.
“Trust me,” he whispered in her ear.
“I do.” Then, as if to prove it, she shifted and spread her legs slightly, opening for him.
He’d been waiting for this moment, more desperately than even he’d realized, and as he slid his fingers past the triangle of hair and down to her damp heat, desire the likes of which he’d never known swept over him.
A soft moan escaped her lips.
“Do you like that?” he asked, already knowing the answer. Proving his theory, he pressed his forefinger between her dewy folds. Moisture licked at his skin and a rush of heat suffused him from inside out.
If this is what nearly entering her with his finger did to him, heaven help him when they made love. And they would. Soon. But her pleasure came first. He shifted positions and slid his finger inside her.
She shook and trembled, clearly already on the verge.
“I’ve got you, so don’t be afraid to let go.” As he spoke, he pushed his fingertip into her, then slowly eased out, making sure his thumb hit on the tight nub of desire with each slide.
She clenched her hot, wet inner walls around him, which only served to increase the friction of his finger’s glide. Unable to control his own body’s reaction, he began to pump his hips against her back in a steady rhythm.
He had control, but barely.
And then without warning, she turned toward him, releasing his finger from between her legs, taking him off guard. With shaking hands she reached for the zipper on his jeans and pulled them down.
She glanced down and stared. “Commando,” she practically stuttered.
He shrugged, then grinned.
Laughing, she wrapped her arms around his neck, but he kissed her first, reveling in the sweet welcome of her mouth. He didn’t know how, but he held on to some last shred of sanity, enough to know they had to be fast. The longer they stayed, the more risk of someone wandering back here by accident, as he had this afternoon.
“We should hurry,” he said.
Amy nodded. “Please tell me you have protection.” She wished she’d asked before she’d acted on impulse and yanked down his pants, no matter how impressive the sight.
But her entire body was on fire, desire pulsing through her and begging for release.
“As a matter of fact, I do.” He bent to extricate a condom packet from his pocket.
Though relieved, a part of her wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact that he had a condom on hand, ready to go at a moment’s notice.
“Amy?” he asked as he took care of the situation.
“Hmm?”
“Wipe the frown off your pretty face and look at how old this thing is.” He held up the ripped packet, obviously worn from being carried around in his wallet. “My father knocked up my mother in a day and age when it just wasn’t done. I promised myself a long time ago I’d never get caught without one.”
The frenzy had momentarily lapsed in favor of deeper, more important talk. She couldn’t suppress a smile. How could she be upset with a man like him?
“You’re one of a kind,” she told him.
He grinned. “You are, too, freckles.” He tapped her cheeks.
She ought to be embarrassed, but he said it in a way that made her feel cherished.
“Listen, I’d lift you and be inside of you already but I could never explain reinjuring my shoulder if I did.” He grinned, but she couldn’t mistake how deep his voice was, how much his need matched her own.
“Good point.” She glanced around the dark room, lit only by outdoor lights creeping in. To her right was a covered bar and stools that looked just the right height for what she had in mind.
What the heck? she thought. In for a penny, as the old expression went. She was already tempting fate by letting out the bad girl she always had a hunch was inside her. She pointed to the covered stools.
Next thing she knew, Roper had pulled her over and positioned her on one of them, in the most vulnerable way she could imagine, legs spread wide, waiting, just for him. But she didn’t have time to think too long.
Condom on, he pulled her toward him and tilted her back against the chair. His gaze never leaving hers, he thrust into her completely.
Amy saw stars, and not only because it had been so long since she’d had sex. He filled her body in a way that reached up, up through her throat and threatened to make her head and body explode with the perfection of the feeling.
A low groan escaped from his throat and his big body reverberated inside hers. She grabbed on to the seat of the chair and held on tight as he slid out, then thrust deep once more. He repeated the motion, and to Amy’s surprise, each time she felt fuller, more intense pressure inside her.
Together they quickly found a rhythm and the pleasure built higher and faster each time his body connected completely with hers.
In.
Out.
In.
With each successive thrust, she felt more of him. Took more of him.
Gave more of herself.
He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her long and hard, branding her even more than his body was doing. His tongue swept through her mouth, taking possession as he took control—gliding out of her body slowly at first, easing back in deep, not stopping to let her catch her breath. As the passion and yearning grew, gentleness gave way to more pressure, deeper thrusts that brought her ever closer to completion. She couldn’t do anything more than squeeze her body tight around his and ride out the masterful storm he created.
And just when she didn’t think she could take anymore, everything inside her exploded in bright lights and the most intense pleasure she’d ever known. The sensations took her even higher, rocking her world until finally, they subsided in slow, sweet passion.
She opened her heavy eyes and found Roper staring at her, his expression intense. “Are you okay?” he asked, concern in his voice.
“Never better.” The pulsing continued throughout her system as she struggled to catch her breath.
“I thought our first time would be in a bed.” His gravelly voice told her he hadn’t yet completely recovered, either.
“I think I’d have killed you if you stopped to go find one.”
She thought about his words and their implications, which summed up the kind of man he was. For so long, she’d been consumed with avoiding anything happening between them. Meanwhile, he’d thought about their first time. He cared about where they made love.
Was it any wonder her feelings for him continued to grow?
He leaned his head back and groaned. “I locked the door, but we shouldn’t continue to tempt fate.”
She laughed. “Good point.”
He slid out of her, his regret at leaving her obvious. After he pulled up his jeans, he gently helped her stand and fix her clothes until there were no telltale signs of dishevelment to give her away.
He then smoothed his hands over her hair and pulled her close for a long kiss before breaking apart once more. “There’s a bathroom on the other side of the room. I’ll be right back.”
While he was gone, she stared out at the landscape, the snow and glittering lights. She was light-headed and in shock, as much from what she’d done as from the feelings attached to what she’d once considered merely a physical act.
If asked, she’d have said that she cared about the few men who’d come before Roper. Until tonight she’d have been telling the truth. But now, post-Roper, she realized she’d been so naive and ignorant.
There was sex. And there was making love. And though she’d obviously liked the men she’d been with in the past, none had ever induced such a cascading flood of emotion.
She pressed her hands against the cold window and then used her palms to cool her flushed face. But nothing eased the internal heat and nothing stopped the sudden realizations that came next.
She’d never felt this way before. So right, so uninhibited, so free.
Only with this man. And that was what she’d feared all along—that the overwhelming desire he fueled in her would overwhelm common sense.
That she’d act on instinct and satisfy her desires at the expense of the consequences.
And those consequences in this case were clear. She risked losing her heart to the wrong man. A man whose life meant cameras and public scrutiny. All the things she’d been hiding from in Florida for years.
Roper released the wildness in her she’d repressed for most of her life—the part of her that was so like her mother and aunt, making public spectacles and taking risks. Tonight she and Roper had been in a secluded place with minimal to no risk of being caught bare-assed having sex in front of wall-to-wall windows, she thought.
No press around. This time.
And yet despite it all, she couldn’t regret their time together here for that very reason.
It was theirs alone.
WHEN ROPER RETURNED FROM
the bathroom he’d sensed Amy’s withdrawal, caused no doubt by too much time alone to think about what they’d done. He’d expected regrets and recriminations. A long talk about things between them being a mistake. But she’d surprised him by linking her hand in his for the walk back to their rooms. She might be more subdued, but she hadn’t pulled away.
Hannah’s party had broken up early, a discovery they’d made when they’d found the twins, Joe and John, drinking at the lobby bar and rolling their eyes at the fact that apparently, Hannah had finally gotten her way with Mike the drummer.
Amy had seemed ridiculously pleased with the tidbit of gossip, which Roper attributed to one of those female things he’d never understand.
Who cared what happened between Hannah and her band member?
Since the news only served to fully restore Amy’s good, playful mood, Roper decided he should not only care but be thankful.
When they reached Amy’s room, she unlocked the door and pulled him inside. That was when he got to live out his fantasy of making long, slow love to her in a bed with music playing and lots of time to savor and enjoy.
Which they did, twice before she collapsed on top of him and fell fast asleep. Before he followed, he had time to watch her. She didn’t snore, but she made cute little noises while she slept.
Noises, he suddenly noticed, that he didn’t hear now.
He reached for her, assuming she’d rolled over to the other side of the king-size bed, but he came up empty. He forced his eyes open and discovered he was alone. A glance at the clock told him it was only 9:00 a.m., and he decided to trust that wherever Amy had gone, she hadn’t run far away with morning-after regrets.
He propped one arm behind his head and stared at the ceiling.
Thinking back on the night, he knew he’d seen a more adventurous side to Amy than he knew she possessed and he decided he liked it. A lot. The fact that she didn’t regret hooking up in the solarium reinforced his notion that she wasn’t someone he’d grow bored with too soon. She was good for him professionally and personally, he decided. And for now that was all he needed to know.
As his schedule started at ten, he headed back to his room for a quick shower. Then he stopped by the front desk to make his first request of the concierge. His plan? To fulfill a promise he’d made to Amy and show her all the ways he could make and keep her happy. Not just in bed, although he had to admit they’d gotten off to one helluva start.
AMY HAD LIKED WAKING UP
next to Roper. She’d liked it too much, so she rose quietly, showered and met up with Hannah at the breakfast buffet. They walked the length of the long table together and Amy filled her plate with at least one of everything.
“I’m starving,” she said, the smell of pancakes assaulting her senses.
“Sex will do that to you,” Hannah said.
Amy choked. “How do you know what went on?” she asked, praying the other woman hadn’t seen or heard anything from the solarium.
Hannah laughed. “Until now, it was only a guess. One based on the fact that I’m beyond ravenous and I know what I was doing all night,”
she said with a grin.
“So things between you and Mike worked out?” Amy grabbed one last pastry before heading for a small table in the corner of the restaurant.
Hannah followed. “Let’s say they’re at least moving forward. The only way they’ll be better is if he gets Big Mama’s blessing. All he’s ever wanted was his career and she can make or break him.”
They sat at a table and immediately dug into their food. While she and Hannah ate, they exchanged life stories, Amy about growing up without a father and as the only sane one among two childlike adults.
She even revealed her mother’s Lady Godiva episode and what it had cost Amy in terms of not just a job, but a life among her peers, something she hadn’t been able to realize or put into words until now.
And Hannah described growing up with her mother, who lived her own unfulfilled dreams through her talented daughter. Hence the reason for the other woman becoming her manager and directing Hannah’s life, so that music was its only focus.
“You know you have to take control of your mother,” Amy said, stabbing her fork into a piece of waffle and talking to Hannah as if she’d known her forever.
Considering they’d already confided in each other about sex and their men, Amy figured the bond was already there. She liked people and talked to them easily. So this friendship with Hannah wasn’t a surprise, merely welcome.
She missed having someone to talk to. For years it had been her mother and her aunt, but with Hannah, Amy realized how badly she missed the companionship of someone her own age. A best friend.
“Not only do I know I have to take control, but I plan on doing something about it. Mike is going to kill me, but I intend to call my mother and let her know where we are.” Hannah accentuated her decision with a raise of her coffee cup.
Oh, wow. That was a huge step. “What exactly do you plan to do when she gets here?” Amy asked.