“Evvie, sorry about the mouth mauling,” Mal said, sitting himself down on the nearest box.
“You’re forgiven,” I said with a queenly wave, feeling magnanimous as we headed up the stairs.
“You going to apologize for biting me?” Mal asked.
“Nope.”
“Well, that’s not very nice,” he called out after us.
David sniggered.
“Okay, people, we need to move boxes.” I heard Pam say.
David rushed us down the hallway then closed and locked the bedroom door behind us.
“You put your clothes back on,” he said. “Get them off.”
He didn’t wait for me to do it, grabbing the hem of my shirt and lifting it up over my head and raised arms.
“I didn’t think answering the door mostly naked was a good idea.”
“Fair enough,” he murmured, pulling me in against him and backing me up against the door. “You looked worried about something downstairs. What was it?”
“It was nothing.”
“Evelyn.” There was something about the way he said my name. It made me a quivering mess. Also the way he cornered me, pressing his body against mine. I put my hands flat on his hard chest. Not pushing him away, just needing to touch him.
“I was wondering,” I said. “After our talk this morning, when we, um, discussed signing the papers on Monday.”
“What about it?” he asked, staring straight at me. I couldn’t have looked away if I’d tried.
“Well, I wasn’t sure if you still felt the same way. About not signing them, I mean. You’d had a lot to drink.”
“I haven’t changed my mind.” His pelvis aligned with mine and his hands swept up my sides. “You changed yours?”
“No.”
“Good.” His warm hands cupped my breasts and I lost all ability to think straight.
“You okay with this?” He gave his hands a pointed a look.
I nodded. Talking had gone with thinking, apparently.
“Then here’s the plan. Because I know how you like your plans. We’re going to stay in this room until we’re both satisfied we’re on the same page when it comes to us. Agreed?”
I nodded again. Without a doubt, the plan had my full support.
“Good.” He placed the palm of one hand between my breasts, flat against my chest. “Your heart’s beating real fast.”
“David.”
“Hmm?”
Nope, I still had no words. So instead, I covered his hand with my own, holding it against my heart. He smiled.
“This is a dramatic re-enactment of the night we got married,” he announced, looking at me from beneath dark brows. “Hang on. We were sitting on the bed in your motel room. You were straddling me.”
“I was?”
“Yeah.” He led me to the bed and sat at the edge. “Come on.”
I climbed onto his lap, my legs wrapped around him. “Like this?”
“That’s it.” His hands gripped my waist. “You refused to go back to my suite at the Bellagio. Said I was out of touch with real life and needed to see how the little people lived.”
I groaned with embarrassment. “That doesn’t sound the least bit arrogant of me.”
His mouth curved into a small smile. “It was fun. But also, you were right.”
“Better not tell me that too often or it’ll go to my head.”
His chin rose. “Stop making jokes, baby. I’m being serious. I needed a dose of reality. Someone who’d actually say no to me occasionally and call bullshit on that scene. That’s what we do. We push each other out of our comfort zones.”
It made sense. “I think you’re right … Is it enough?”
He held his hand to my heart again and bumped the tip of his nose against mine. “Can you feel what we’re doing here? We’re building something.”
“Yes.” I could feel it, the connection between us, the overwhelming need to be with him. Nothing else mattered. There was the physical, the way he went to my head faster than anything I’d ever experienced. How wonderful he smelled all sleep-warm first thing in the morning. But I wanted more from him than just that. I wanted to hear his voice, hear him talk about everything and anything.
I felt all lit up inside. Like a potent mix of hormones was racing through me at light speed. His other hand curled around the back of my neck, bringing my mouth to his. Kissing David threw kerosene on the mix within me. He slid his tongue into my mouth to stroke against my own, before teasing over my teeth and lips. I’d never felt anything so fine. Fingers caressed my breast, doing wonderful things and making me gasp. God, the heat of his bare skin. I shuffled forward, seeking more, needing it. His hand left my breast to splay across my back, pressing me against him. He was hard. I could feel him through both layers of denim. The pressure that provided between my legs was heavenly. Amazing.
“That’s it,” he murmured as I rocked against him, seeking more.
Our kisses were fierce, hungry. His hot mouth moved over my jaw and chin, my neck. Where my neck met my chest he stopped and sucked. Everything in me drew tight.
“David—”
He pulled back and looked at me, his eyes dilated. Every bit as affected as I was. Thank God I wasn’t alone with the panting. A finger traced a slow path between my breasts down to the waistband of my jeans.
“You know what happened next,” he said. His hand slipped beneath. “Say it, Ev.” When I hesitated he leaned forward and nipped at my neck. “Go on. Tell me.”
Biting had never appealed to me before, neither in thought nor in action. Not that there’d been much action. But the sensation of David’s teeth pressing into my skin turned me inside out. I shut my eyes tight. A bit from the bite and a lot from having to say the words he wanted.
“I’ve only done this once before.”
“You’re nervous. Don’t be nervous.” He kissed me where he’d just bitten. “So, anyway, let’s get married.”
My eyelids opened and a startled laugh flew out of me. “I bet that’s not what you said that night.”
“I might have been a little concerned by your inexperience. And we might have had words about it.” He gave me a faint smile and kissed the side of my mouth. “But everything worked out fine.”
“What words? Tell me what happened.”
“We decided to get married. Lie back on the bed for me.”
He grasped my hips, helping me climb off him and onto the mattress. My hands slid over the smooth, cool cotton sheet. I lay on my back and he swiftly undid my jeans and disposed of them. The bed shifted beneath me as he knelt above me. I felt ready to implode, my heart hammering, but he seemed perfectly calm and in control. Nice that one of us was. Of course, he’d done this dozens of times.
Probably more, what with groupies and all that. Hundreds? Thousands, even?
I really didn’t want to think about it.
His gaze rose to meet mine as he hooked fingers into my panties. In no rush at all, he dragged the last of my clothing down my legs. The urge to cover myself was overwhelming. But I fisted the sheet instead, rubbing the fabric between my fingers.
He undid his jeans. The rustles of his clothing were the only sounds. We didn’t break eye contact. Not until he turned to the bedside table and retrieved a condom, discreetly tucking it underneath the pillow next to me.
David naked defied description. Beautiful didn’t begin to cover it, all the hard lines of his body and the tattoos covering his skin, but he didn’t give me much time to look.
He climbed back onto the bed, lying at my side, raised up on one elbow. His hand curled over my hip. Dark hair fell forward, blocking his face from view. I wanted to see him. He leaned down, kissing me gently this time on my lips, my face. His hair brushed against my skin.
“Where were we?” he asked, his voice a low rumble in my ear.
“We decided to get married.”
“Mm, because I’d just had the best night of my life. First time I hadn’t felt alone in so fucking long. The thought of not having you with me every other night … I couldn’t do it.” His mouth travelled up my neck. “I couldn’t let you go. Especially once I knew you’d only been with one other guy.”
“I thought that bothered you?”
“It bothered me alright,” he said, and kissed my chin. “You were obviously ready to give sex another try. If I was stupid enough to let you go you might have met someone else. I couldn’t stand the thought of you fucking anyone but me.”
“Oh.”
“Oh,” he agreed. “Speaking of which, any second thoughts about what we’re doing here?”
“No.” Lots of nerves, but no second thoughts.
The hand on my hip traced over my stomach. It circled my belly button before dipping lower, making me shiver.
“You are so damn pretty,” he breathed. “Every piece of you. And when I dared you to put aside your plan and run away with me, you said yes.”
“I did?”
“You did.”
“Thank God for that.”
Fingers stroked over the top of my sex before moving on to my thigh muscles clenched tight together. If I wanted this to go any further I was going to need to open my legs. I knew this. Of course I did. Memories of the pain from last time made me hesitate. My toes were curled and a cramp was threatening to start up in my calf muscle from all of the tensing. Ridiculous. Tommy Byrnes had been a thoughtless prick. David wasn’t like that.
“We can go as slow as you want,” he said, reading me just fine. “Trust me, Ev.”
His warm hand smoothed over my thigh as his tongue travelled the length of my neck. It felt wonderful, but it wasn’t enough.
“I need …” I turned my face to him, searching for his mouth. He fit his lips to mine, making everything right. Kissing David healed every ill. The knot of tension inside me turned into something sweet at the taste of him, the feel of his body against mine. One arm was trapped underneath me but the other I made full use of, touching all of him within reach. Kneading his shoulder and feeling the hard, smooth planes of his back.