She was blistered by the heat racing through her. She welcomed it, moved into him and wrapped her arms around him. Nestling as close to him as she could, Anna gave him everything she had.
Their tongues tangled in a fierce dance of desire. Breathing became secondary to the rising tide of passion erupting between them. Hands moved, explored, claimed. Bodies melded and whispered words of hunger rattled through the silence.
Finally, he tore his mouth from hers, stared down into her eyes and demanded, “Come with me.”
She met his gaze, saw exactly what she needed to see and knew that denying him wasn’t an option. Because she didn’t want to leave. She wanted to feel as alive as she had on the back of that motorcycle-alone in the dark with
“Yes,” she said softly. “Now.”
Hand in hand, they raced across the yard, Sam’s longer strides forcing Anna to run at his side. She laughed shortly, the sound escaping into the night and dissolving like soap bubbles.
He opened the back door, drew her inside and closed the door behind them. Swinging her up against him, he held her so tightly she could hardly breathe. Yet she didn’t care. All she cared about was his mouth on hers, his hands stroking up and down her back in a proprietary manner that absolutely thrilled her.
“You taste so damn good,” he murmured, breaking away to nibble at the base of her throat.
She sighed because she didn’t need words to tell him what she was thinking, feeling. He just knew.
He slid his hands up under her shirt, skimming his fingertips across her skin until she was shivering in his arms. Then he smiled down at her and said, “Not in the kitchen, damn it. Upstairs. In my bed.”
Here was her last chance, that tiny voice in the back of her mind whispered. Last chance to back out before she made what could be an incredible mistake. She stared up into those amazingly blue eyes of his and nodded. “Yes, Sam.”
He grinned, swept her up into his arms and headed for the hallway.
“I can walk,” she said on a laugh.
“Your legs are too short,” he countered. “I’m faster.”
“Good point.” She snuggled into him, kissing his neck, the underside of his jaw. Her hands slid across his chest and she felt the pounding of his heart beneath her palms.
He took the stairs at a dead run and rushed her down a dimly lit hall so quickly that she noticed nothing. Then he was stalking into his bedroom and Anna took a quick look around.
Boldly masculine, the furniture was big, dark and heavy. Deep blue drapes were pulled back, allowing the moonlight to pour through the wide windows to lay across a bed big enough for four people to sleep comfortably.
But sleeping wasn’t on her mind.
He set her on her feet and instantly reached to pull off his shirt. Anna watched and took a short, sharp breath at the first sight of his broad, bare chest. Muscular and tanned, he actually rippled when he moved and she wanted nothing more than to be held against that expanse of warm, golden skin.
In seconds, they were naked. Sam tugged the navy blue duvet off the mattress and then they were tumbling onto the cool, crisp sheets. He seemed to be touching her everywhere at once. Her body was humming with sensation and her mind fogged over as he dipped one hand to her core and cupped her heat.
“Sam…” She lifted her hips into his touch, seeking more, needing more.
He leaned on one elbow, looking down at her, watching her eyes as she twisted and writhed beneath his touch. She read a desperate craving in his eyes and that only served to inflame her own desires.
He dipped one finger into her warmth and she groaned, lifting into his touch. Her hands moved up and down his arms, nails scraping along his skin. His thumb caressed that one small nub of sensation until Anna felt as though she were about to splinter into a million jagged pieces.
Her breath was strangled as she fought to reach the pinnacle that was waiting for her. She needed it. Needed him. “Sam, please. Now. Inside me.”
He dipped his head and took one of her nipples into his mouth, licking and nibbling, before suckling at her until she felt the draw of his mouth all the way to her toes. She grabbed at his shoulders, then stabbed her fingers through his thick, dark hair. Holding his head, she drew his gaze to hers and whispered, “I need you, Sam.”
“I’ve got to have you, Anna. All of you.” He shifted then, moving over to kneel between her parted thighs. Scooping his hands beneath her bottom, he lifted her off the mattress and as she fumbled for something to hold on to, he covered her aching heat with his mouth.
Anna hissed in a breath and closed her eyes only to open them again an instant later. She wanted to watch him. Wanted to see as well as feel what he was doing to her. His lips and tongue moved over her flesh with a deliberation that pushed her higher and higher. He tasted her, licked her and took her to the very peak of that release she knew was waiting for her.
Then he pulled back and left her dangling over the precipice.
“Sam!” She called his name in a broken voice and heard the desperate need in her tone. “Don’t you dare stop now,” she warned.
That smile of his curved his mouth as he shook his head. “Not stopping, Anna, just shifting gears.”
He laid her down on the mattress, caught her gaze with his and entered her body in one long, smooth stroke. She gasped, arching into him. He filled her completely and as her body stretched to accommodate him, she lifted her hips into him to take him deeper.
“Easy…” He whispered it, the word almost strangled. “You start moving and this is going to be over way too fast.”
She smiled up at him, and pulled his face to hers for a kiss. “I’ll take my chances.”
“My kind of woman.” He kissed her back as his body moved into hers, setting a fast rhythm that she eagerly matched.
He pushed her higher and higher and Anna felt herself spinning completely out of control. She’d never known anything like this. This was so much more than she’d expected. So much more than anything she’d ever experienced.
It was magic, she thought wildly. The very magic she’d dreamed of finding one day. And it was more than the incredible chemistry they shared, Anna thought with a start. She was falling for Sam Hale-and there was no way that this would end in anything but misery.
Sam had already told his brother that she wasn’t, in effect, “good enough” for him. So why would she be good enough for Sam himself?
Heart suddenly aching, she looked up into his eyes and was held, spellbound as she shattered. Her body clenched around his and she held him tightly to her as he followed her into the sensation-filled abyss.
Seven
“You slept with him.”
Anna hadn’t expected the truth to be quite so obvious, but she shouldn’t have been surprised. Tula had gotten home from visiting her cousin and had come straight over to talk, bringing a bottle of wine with her. Now that they had the wine poured and were settling in for a good talk, Tula had taken about five seconds to blurt out her suspicions.
Anna blinked at her friend but didn’t bother to deny the obvious. “How could you tell?”
“You’re practically radioactive you’re glowing so brightly,” Tula said as she plopped down on Anna’s living room couch. “Man, go away for a few days and the whole world tips on its axis. I thought you hated Sam.”
“I thought so, too,” Anna muttered and dropped onto the other end of the sofa. Shoving both hands through her hair, she shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t know how this happened. He made me so mad at first and then, we started talking and he’s really funny and nicer than I thought and he kisses so well and before you know it, we were on his motorcycle looking at Christmas lights and then we were at his house and in his bed and
Tula stared at her for a long moment before whispering, “Wow.”
“Yeah, wow.” Anna shifted her gaze to the Christmas tree, where a few packages lay in a bright carpet of
