Without undressing, he walked around the foot of the bed and to the other side, where he slid in next to her. His warmth enveloped her even before he pushed up against her.
For a moment she resisted and lay stiffly as he tucked her against his body, but then, unable to resist, she relaxed and snuggled readily into his embrace.
Right now she didn’t care what he thought of her. For the moment she was safe, even if it was just an illusion. Their child rolled and bumped between them, and her throat tightened at the fantasy of how it could have been if she wasn’t who she was and he wasn’t who he was.
They could be regular people celebrating the life of a child and their first foray into parenting. He could read pregnancy books and worry endlessly over whether she was eating properly.
He’d be there for each kick and wiggle, and they’d stay up late at night talking about names and make wishes for the future.
“Sam?”
His name spilled from her lips. She had so much to explain. She didn’t even know where to start, but she could take the tension between them no longer.
“Shhh. Not now, Soph,” he said in a quiet voice. “Just let it be. Sleep now. Our child needs your strength.”
With a resigned sigh, she closed her eyes.
CHAPTER 16
SOPHIE woke to warm, sensual lips sliding up the side of her neck. She shivered as Sam’s tongue traced the shell of her ear and lingered at the lobe long enough for him to nip it with his teeth.
The covers had been thrown aside, and his palm skimmed up her leg, pushing the oversized shirt over her hip to gather at her waist.
She sucked in her breath. Had she taken off her pants during the course of the night? She was lying there in only her panties and a shirt, and Sam’s hands were fast making work of the shirt.
Or maybe he was just that good.
In past times, he would already have been over her, inside her, waking her to the feel of his cock stretching her and setting fire to her nerve endings. But this morning he was tentative. Seeking . . . permission? Her acquiescence?
Her body throbbed. A pulse thrummed in her groin, and already she was swollen and wet for him. She loved his touch. Even at his gentlest, he was strong and masterful. She’d been drawn to his strength when she had cause to fear everything else in the world.
He made her feel protected and cherished.
But now?
Her brain hurt trying to decipher where they stood. If they stood anywhere at all. She couldn’t even look back at what they’d had because what they’d had wasn’t real. It was built on lies and half-truths.
His hand slid over her belly and cupped their child as if bringing home the one thing they did have. They’d created a very precious life.
She
was very real.
He kissed her again, just one touch against the pulse at her neck. His body pressed into the curve of her behind. His erection was hot and turgid, pulsing against her skin. Chill bumps dotted her hip and spread rapidly down her legs.
“You said we couldn’t,” she said without conviction.
He moved his hand up to cup her breast, and he kneaded gently, working the nipple between his fingers.
“Are you more sensitive here now?” he whispered.
She nodded, unable to speak around the tightening of her throat.
“Then I’ll be extra careful.”
He touched and stroked, alternating until her nipples were stiff peaks, erect and so hard that they hurt. The simplest brush across the points sent a current of desire streaking through her abdomen.
“I’m going to take your shirt off. Just lie still. Let me do the work. I don’t want you to hurt your arm.”
She shivered at the raw sensuality in his voice. Lowtimbred, husky, with just a bit of a rasp. It always got low and gravelly when they made love.
Oh God, they were going to make love.
He eased the shirt farther up, until it gathered around her neck. He stretched the armhole until he could slip it around her elbow. There was only a twinge as he pulled it the rest of the way up and over her arm.
“Lift your head for just a second, honey.”
A moment later, she was free of the material, and she was down to her underwear.
He rose up on his elbow, and she turned her head so she could see him. He simply watched her, his gaze drifting up and down her body with lazy strokes.
“You’re so unbelievably beautiful,” he said hoarsely.
She swallowed. She didn’t want to ruin the moment, but she had to know what had changed. Why was he willing to make love to her now?
“You said we couldn’t,” she repeated.
“I did,” he agreed. “But right now I can’t think of a single reason why we can’t. I want you, Sophie. I missed you. I can’t lie here without touching you. I want what’s mine again. I want to give you what’s yours.”
Her chest fluttered, then grew tight. Her stomach flipped and she began to shake.
“Shhh, baby,” he said as he stroked down the curve of her body. “Just let me love you. We’ll figure this all out, Sophie. I swear it.”
“You don’t hate me?”
His eyes softened, and he leaned down to kiss her hip right above the band of her panties.
“I feel a lot of things for you, Sophie. But hate isn’t one of them.”
His thumb hooked into her underwear, and he carefully slid it down leaving her naked and vulnerable to his touch and sight.
Her hand fluttered over her belly, and she turned her face into the pillow, no longer able to bear his scrutiny.
“Do you have any idea just how beautiful you are?”
There was awe and reverence in his voice that had her looking back at him. It was there in his eyes as he simply stared down at her.
He bent and kissed her hip again and then showered a line of kisses down her leg to her ankle. He lifted her foot and kissed each toe until she twitched at the ticklish sensations.
He eased her foot down and moved behind her again. He lay down, his mouth close to her neck as he spooned against her. Her buttocks cupped his erection, and she moaned in anticipation.
He didn’t move her. Didn’t turn her over. He simply lifted her leg and eased it back over his until she was open and bare. His cock lay between her legs, but it was his fingers that found her heat.
“Sam ...” she whispered as he stroked the soft folds.
He parted them and dipped one finger inside her.
“You’re hot and wet and so damn tight,” he said in a near groan.
Another finger slipped inside her, and she arched helplessly. She wouldn’t last. Her body was painfully aware of him. She wanted him with every breath. She turned her head, and her cheek met his lips. He kissed her. The sweetness of that one kiss melted her senses and sent a trembling awakening through her heart.
How could she love someone she was so unsure of?
Sudden tears flooded her eyes. She blinked furiously, angry that she would be so weak at such a vulnerable moment.
“Make love to me,” she choked out. “Please, Sam. I need you.”
He paused for just a moment, and a low shudder worked its way through his body, pressing into her. She could feel his energy and his reaction to her soft plea.
His fingers left her to grasp his cock. He positioned himself at her entrance and then found her ear with his lips. One kiss. Two. And then he murmured low and sweet.
“Just relax, baby. Let me take you this way so you don’t have to move. Let me take care of you.”
He nudged forward, his hips pressing into her buttocks as he breached the tight clasp of her heat. She sucked in her breath, then closed her eyes when his shallow thrust sent streaks of pleasure through her pussy.
Back and forth. He rocked against her slow and measured, none of his thrusts going too deep. His hand left his cock now that he had position, and he laid it possessively over her hip. His fingers curled into her, holding her as he moved faster now but still as carefully as before.
He was driving her crazy. She flexed and pushed back, eager to meet his movements, but he gripped her hip and held her in place.
“Let me,” he whispered again.
Her leg lay over his, and she tucked her foot between his legs, enjoying the rasp of hair on her bare skin. His legs were muscled, lean and so strong. They flexed and twitched with each forward thrust.
Then his hand moved from her hip and eased underneath her leg, pushing it upward to give him room. He supported her thigh with his forearm and reached up until his fingers found her clitoris.
His thumb teased the entrance his cock rubbed back and forth over, while his fingers parted the soft flesh above and tenderly stroked the stiff, sensitive bundle of nerves at her center.
No longer able to lie still, she tightened and bucked back against him.
His thrusts got stronger, and he sank deeper, until her buttocks were flat against his abdomen.
“Are you ready, honey? Go with me. Come with me now.”
“Just one more second,” she breathed.
She closed her eyes and rocked against him. His fingers grew more assertive, and he moved his thumb up to roll over her clit in a demand for her to respond.
“Yes. Oh my God, yes. Just like that, Sam. Don’t stop please. Don’t stop.”
She was pleading. Her voice was hoarse and needy, and each demand came out in a short burst of air.
He drew back and then pumped deep just as his thumb rolled in a tight circle.
She cried out and tensed. Her fingers curled into balls, into fists so tight that her hands shook with the strain. Cascades of color flashed, little and big spots that floated through her vision even when she closed her eyes.
Sam was thrusting hard and fast now as he sought his own release. His hoarse shouts mixed with her agonized sounds. It sounded as though she was in the worst sort of pain, but the pleasure, ah the pleasure, was so intense, so beautiful that she didn’t want it to end.
She reached down to still his hand when the sensation became too intense to bear. He eased his thumb away but continued a gentle rocking motion that sent his cock gliding through tissues slick with his release.
Finally he stopped, lodged deep within her. She didn’t move for fear of displacing him, and she lay there simply enjoying the feeling of being so intimately connected to this man.
He kissed her back, rubbed his thumb in circles around the ball of her shoulder and then kissed her again, his erratic breaths sending goose bumps over her skin.
“I need you.”
His voice was quiet and regretful, as if he had no liking for the admission and hated voicing it even more. She wondered why he’d been honest; maybe he too was tired of all the deceit between them.
“I can’t explain it. Not sure I want to, but damn it, I need you, Sophie. It’s not just physical. It can’t be. I’ve had physical before.”
He moved slightly, and for a moment she feared he was pulling out of her, but he stayed locked tight, their bodies joined as he shifted closer to her.
He slid his hand over her waist and splayed his fingers over her belly. His grip was possessive and tender and told her more than words that he was claiming what was his.
He continued to pet and stroke her belly, his touch light and soothing. He rested his mouth on her shoulder, and neither spoke. She floated on a cloud between sleep and awake, existing in a state of delicious lethargy. Finally she dozed, and only came awake when she felt him finally pull away in a warm rush of fluid.
“Be right back,” he said.
He returned with a warm towel and gently cleaned between her legs. Then he settled next to her in bed once more and pulled her in close to him.
“Don’t we have to leave?” she mumbled.
“No, not yet. My team will notify me when it’s safe.”
She stirred and frowned. “Are we safe here, just us?”
She felt him smile against her neck.
“Yes, Soph, we’re safe. I wouldn’t risk you or our baby. I’ll know if anyone steps within ten feet of our door.”
“How?” she asked drowsily.
He chuckled. “Security. I did a lot while you were taking your bath. Sleep now and don’t worry about anything.”
She sighed as some of the postcoital euphoria faded. It was hard not to worry when she faced so much uncertainty. She still hadn’t told him everything, and when he knew, he might not want anything to do with her.
He hated her father, and if the apple didn’t fall very far from the tree, she couldn’t imagine Sam being overjoyed with spending time with her, loving her or allowing his child to be raised by a monster.
Fear churned in her stomach until she was sucking deep breaths through her nose to quiet the nausea. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t take her child from her.
She closed her eyes. She was being an idiot. Nothing of the sort was going to happen. She just had to be careful, pick the right time and make sure her uncle never got close.
And the last she couldn’t do without Sam.
CHAPTER 17
SAM woke to a warm, sweet body sprawled across him and a tiny pitter-patter thumping him in the side. It took him a moment to process that it was his child kicking him.
He smiled and slid his hand down Sophie’s spine, down to cup her plump little rear as he lay there soaking up the utter domesticity of the scene.
His woman, limp and sated, draped across him in a possessive manner that gave him a ridiculous sense of satisfaction, and his child, waking him up with a tiny foot to his gut.
If the little imp was anything like her mama, he was in for a hell of a ride.
As he continued to caress her behind, she stirred and murmured something against his neck before burrowing deeper into his arms.
“What was that?” he asked against her ear.
“Shower,” she muttered. “I need one. But God, I don’t want to get up.”
“Then don’t.”
He tightened his hold on her, content to stay just like this. He raised his hand from her hip to check his watch and then lazily trailed his fingers down to the cleft of her ass.