“I don’t believe that’s true. You are the most prudent and mindful man I’ve ever met.”
Linc winced at her description of him, even though he knew it was true. His father had demonstrated what happens to a man who acts unwisely without considering the consequences to those around him. Linc would never do anything that would hurt his family or friends. He’d never expose Claire to what would surely be a scandal if they were caught.
“What if we skip all this sneaking around and just date? In public. Dinner. Dancing.”
“Did you forget that I recently spent the day cooking so your mother could decide what to serve at the party she’s throwing to introduce you to Charleston’s most eligible females?”
“Fine,” Linc grumbled. “I’ll go to her party, and when I don’t find anyone who suits me, will you be my date to the polo event next weekend?”
A breeze moved across the surface of the pool, agitating the illuminated water, casting shimmers of reflected light over Claire’s damp skin. Shadows moved through her eyes as her hand came up and cupped his cheek.
“Take me upstairs and make love to me,” she murmured, the words barely reaching his ears. “More than anything else, that’s what I want.”
Sensing it would do no good to push her further on the subject, Linc took her hand and drew her toward the stairs. She was giving him what she thought he needed. Physical companionship that made no demands on him. Well, that wasn’t good enough, and it was about time he started convincing her that she deserved more and so did he.
* * *
Claire buried her face in a sweetly scented pillow and clung to a delicious dream. Linc’s lips were moving along her neck while his fingers traced along her thigh toward her hip. This fantasy was familiar and reoccurred more frequently since he’d returned to Charleston after the baseball season. The more time she spent with Linc, the more treacherous her subconscious became. In the early morning hours before she slipped from her bed, he did incredible things to her body. She’d lost track of just how many times a climax had visited her with the dawn.
She moaned a little, trembling on the edge of wakefulness. Resisting the return to reality, she clung to the delicious sensations ranging across her sleep-warmed flesh. The contrast of his silky warm lips exploring her shoulder and the roughness of his beard aroused her, the light scrape of stubble against her skin awakening goose bumps all over her body.
For so long she’d immersed herself in scented lotions, sweet baby smells and gourmet meals for one. She hadn’t wanted to acknowledge how much she’d missed the strength of a man’s hands on her body, his wicked words whispered in her ears, telling her all the naughty things he wanted to do to her, the power of an orgasm she couldn’t control.
“Now, this is a wonderful way to wake up,” Linc murmured, his fingers lazily drifting over her abdomen before sliding lower.
Claire’s eyes flashed opened. This wasn’t a dream. She glanced around the dim room and spied the clock on the nightstand. It was shortly before six. Honey would still be sleeping. She could linger in this delicious fantasy a little while longer.
And yet it wasn’t a dream. This was happening. The hand sliding between her legs to cup her belonged to a very real, very turned-on Linc. She clamped her eyes shut as a groan ripped from her throat. Panic smacked her hard in the chest, but that didn’t stop her thighs from parting.
Her pulse began to race. All traces of sleepiness vanished beneath a rush of lust as his fingers traveled along her inner thigh, not quite making it to where she wanted him most.
“What are you doing to me?” She shifted her hips, rubbing against his morning erection, and was rewarded by his swift intake of breath followed by the bite of his fingers on her thigh, far from where she ached but near enough to cause her to groan.
“Yeah, that’s the stuff.” He kissed her ear, before taking the lobe between his teeth. The tiny flare of pain sent a rush of pleasure through her body.
“Linc.” His name came out in a whimper, a plea for him to stop teasing her.
“What do you want?”
“Touch me.”
“I am.”
Her head thrashed on the pillow, hips gyrating as frustration built to a crescendo. “Not where I want you.”
“And where is that?”
“Between my legs. I want to feel you inside me.” She’d stopped feeling embarrassed about telling him what she needed. “Every part of me aches for you.”
“That’s my girl.”
At last, his fingers glided into her core and she stopped breathing. She felt the lazy drift of his tongue against her neck as he circled her clit with an expert touch. The pressure was perfect and she surrendered to the building pleasure.
“You’re so wet,” he murmured, his low voice rumbling through her.
“You wake up hard,” she teased breathlessly. “I wake up wet.”
He paused. “All the time?”
From his tone, he was surprised. That made her smile. She reached back and hooked her arm around his neck, arching her body, offering him every part of her.
“When I’m dreaming about you.” After last night, it made no sense to be cagey. She’d already revealed too much about how she felt.
“Does that happen often?” His hands stroked her with possessive expertise, claiming and demanding her surrender.
“Almost every night.”
“Moan for me like you did last night,” he whispered against her skin while pushing a finger inside her.
A kiss landed in the sensitive spot where her shoulder and neck came together. Claire’s lips parted and she moaned as his finger started to move in and out of her.
“You are so soft. So perfect,” he growled as she rocked her hips. “Yes, that’s it. Show me how much you love this.”
“Linc,” she moaned
