“Come to me, Nick,” she urged, lifting both arms in welcome.
He didn’t need a second invitation. Tearing off his clothes, he joined her on the bed, covered her body with his and surrendered to the inevitable. More than a year ago, their first encounter had ended in his bed. Now, it seemed, they’d come full circle.
Nick ran his hands up and down her body and knew he’d never be able to touch her enough. He drew a breath and savored her scent. Dipped his head and tasted her skin at the base of her throat. Her pulse jolted beneath his mouth and he knew she was as eager as he, as needy as he.
He touched her core, delving his fingers into her heat again, and she lifted her hips from the bed, rocking into his hand, moaning and whispering to him.
His body ached and clamored for release. Every inch of him was humming, just touching her. Lying beside her. Jenna. Always Jenna who did this to him. Who turned him into a man possessed, a man who could think of nothing beyond claiming what he knew to be his.
With that thought, Nick tore away from her arms, ignoring the soft sound of disappointment that slipped from her throat. Tugging the drawer on the bedside table open, he reached in, grabbed a condom and, in a few quick seconds, sheathed himself. Then he turned back to her, levering himself over her, positioning himself between her thighs.
He gave her a quick smile. “Last time we forgot that part and look what happened.”
“You’re right,” she said, reaching down to stroke his length, her fingers sliding over the thin layer of latex in a caress that had Nick gulping for air. “Now, will you come to me?”
He spread her thighs farther apart, leaned in close and locked his gaze with hers as his body entered hers. Inch by inch, he invaded her, torturing them both with his deliberately slow thrust.
Her hips moved beneath him, her eyes squeezed shut and she bit her bottom lip. Reaching up, her hands found his upper arms and held on, her short nails digging into his skin, and that was the last straw. The final touch that sent Nick over the edge of reason.
He pushed himself deep inside her and groaned at the tight, hot feel of her body holding his. His hips rocked, setting a rhythm that was both as old as time and new and exciting. She held on tighter, harder, her nails biting into his flesh with a stinging sensation that was counterpoint to the incredible delight of being within her.
Nick moved and she moved with him. Their rhythm set, they danced together, bodies joined, melded, becoming one as they reached for the same, shattering end that awaited them. He stared down into her eyes, losing himself in their depths. She met his gaze and held it until finally, as he felt her body begin to fist around his, she closed her eyes, shrieked his name and shuddered violently as her body exploded from the inside.
His own release came a scant moment later, and Nick heard himself shout as the tremendous relief spilled through him again and again, as if the pleasure would never end.
When he collapsed atop her, he still wasn’t sure just who had seduced whom.
Seven
It was a long night.
As if they’d destroyed the invisible barrier keeping them separate, Jenna and Nick came together again and again during the night. Until finally, exhausted, they fell into sleep just before dawn.
When Jenna woke several hours later, she was alone in the big bed. Pushing her hair out of her eyes, she sat up, clutched the silky white sheet to her chest and stared around Nick’s room as if half expecting him to appear from the shadows. But he didn’t.
Carefully, since her muscles ached, she scooted off the bed, wandered down the hall to her own room and walked directly to the bathroom. As she took a long, hot shower, her mind drifted back to the night before and she wondered if things would be different between them now. But if she thought about that, hoped for it, how much more disappointed would she be if it didn’t happen?
Nick had made no promises.
Just as he had made no promises last year during their one amazing week together.
So basically, Jenna told herself, she’d made the same mistake she had before. She’d fallen into bed with a man she loved-despite the fact that he didn’t love her.
“Oh, man.” She rested her forehead against the aqua and white tiles while the hot, pulsing streams of water pounded against her back. “Jenna, if you’re going to make mistakes, and hey, everyone does…at least make
Out of the shower, she dried off and dressed in a pair of white shorts and a dark green tank top. Then she sat on her bed and tried to figure out her next move. The only problem was, she didn’t have a clue what to do about what was happening in her world. This had all seemed like such a simple idea. Come to Nick. Tell him about the boys. Go home and slide back into her life.
But now, everything felt…complicated.
Muttering under her breath about stupid decisions and consequences, Jenna glanced at the clock on the bedside table and noticed the phone. Instantly her heart lifted. That’s what she needed, she realized. She needed to touch base with the real world. To talk to her sister. To listen to her sons cooing.
Grabbing the receiver, she immediately got the ship’s operator, gave them the number she wanted and waited while the phone on the other end of the line rang and rang. Finally, though, Maxie picked up and breathlessly said, “I don’t have time for salesmen.”
Laughing, Jenna eased back against the headboard of her bed and said, “Hello to you, too.”
“Oh, Jenna, it’s you.” Maxie chuckled a little. “Sorry about that, but your babies are making me a little insane.”
She jolted away from the headboard, frowning at the phone in her hand. “Are they okay?”
“
“Thanks, I will. So the boys are good?”
“Happy as clams,” her sister said, then paused and idly asked, “although, how do we know clams are happy? It’s not like they smile or whistle or something…”
“One of the great mysteries of the universe.”
“Amen.”
In the background, Jenna heard both the television set blaring and at least one baby crying. “Who is that crying?” she asked.
“Jacob,” Maxie told her and her voice was muffled for a minute. “I’m holding Cooper and giving him a bottle and Jake wants his turn. Not exactly rating a ten on the patience scale, that boy.”
“True, Jake is a little less easygoing than Cooper.” Jenna was quiet then as Maxie brought her up to date on the twins’ lives. She smiled as she listened, but her heart ached a little, too. She wanted to be there, holding her sons, soothing them, feeding them. And the fact that she wasn’t literally tore at her.
“Bottom line, everything’s good here,” her sister said finally. “How about you? How did Nick take the news?”
“He doesn’t believe me.”
“Well, there’s a shocker.”
Jenna rolled her eyes. Maxie wasn’t a big fan of Nick Falco. But then, her sister had been wined, dined and then dumped by a rich guy a couple of years before, and ever since then she didn’t have a lot of faith in men in general- and rich men in particular.
“He took the DNA test, though, and was going to have the results faxed to our lab. He should have proof even he can’t deny in the next day or two.”
“Good. Then you’re coming home, right?”
“Yeah.” Jenna plucked at the hem of her shorts with her fingertips. She wouldn’t stay on board ship for the whole cruise. She’d done what she’d come here to do, and staying around Nick any longer than was necessary was only going to make things even more complicated than they already were.
“I love my nephews,” Maxie was saying, “but I think they’re as ready to see you as I am.”
