She started to smile, but Jamie’s passion took over. Within seconds, she was bare from the waist down and her shirt was open.
Never before had she experienced such desire, such energy and excitement. He moved her out of sight of the window, pressed her back against the wall, and pulled her leg up to his hip. She wrapped it around him.
He entered her with a force that she’d never felt before, and she gave a sigh. “Ooooooh.” It seemed that every part of Jamie’s body was big.
“Did I hurt you?” He sounded alarmed.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, her head back against the wall, her eyes closed. “I might not survive.”
He gave a low chuckle. “Me neither.” He put his mouth on her neck.
Hard, deep thrusts sent chills of pleasure through her body. Desire—need—flooded her. He picked up her other leg so she was fully clasping his hips as he thrust into her again and again.
All thought, all sense of being a human, seemed to leave Hallie as she gave herself over to this man. Mind, body, soul became feelings, sensations.
With her upper back against the wall and her legs around him, she lifted her arms. The leverage made his thrusts even deeper.
When the end came, waves of pleasure and release went through her. She went from being a tower of strength to her body collapsing. If Jamie hadn’t held on to her, she would have fallen, but his arms went around her and pulled her against his bare chest.
He took the few steps to the old couch and stretched out on it, his braced leg extended and touching the floor, with Hallie on top of him.
She still had on her bra and shirt but was nude from the waist down. As they lay there, his hand caressed her lower half, enjoying her curves.
As for Hallie, it took her a while to recover. She was floating in a delicious haze of sensations, and she couldn’t seem to return to the world.
“All right?” he whispered.
“Yes.” His chest was so very warm. It wasn’t smooth, but she could feel the strong contours of it. She ran her hand over his ribs and down to his side, over the thick scars there.
Very slowly, she remembered where she was—and who she was. She had just broken a rule of her profession about sleeping with a client.
She didn’t want to, but she made herself get off his big, warm body and sit on the edge of the couch, her back still touching him. There was a pillow on the floor and she pulled it onto her lap, then started to button her shirt—which was a useless endeavor as most of the buttons had been torn off. She saw one glistening on the floor by the wall where they’d just—She took a breath. There were things that had to be said and she dreaded his response.
“This can’t happen again,” she said softly. “We aren’t—”
“Going steady?” he said cheerfully.
She looked at him in surprise. In her experience, when you told men there wouldn’t be any more—even if it was mutual—they got angry. But Jamie was smiling at her. He was stretched out on the couch, one big, muscular arm behind his head, and he had a little smile on his handsome face.
She couldn’t help a bit of a frown. “You agree?”
“I understand,” he said. “You don’t think there is any future for us, and I’m your patient. And besides, you have a guy from back home coming to visit any day. You don’t want any complications.”
“Right,” she said. That was exactly what was in her mind, so why was it so very annoying when he said it?
“I have a question,” Jamie said. “Did you finagle me into moving into the upstairs bedroom so you wouldn’t have to wander around in the dark? Because of my nightmares, that is?”
“That’s right.”
“You made up the lie about being scared of the beautiful Tea Ladies just to save yourself the trek?”
Her frown left her and a smile began. “Yes, I did. I flat out told a going-to-hell lie, and my toes thank me for it. Actually, my whole body thanks me, since I spent the first night on the couch. I nearly froze!”
A look of such softness came to Jamie’s face that she almost bent forward and kissed him.
“Thank you,” he said. “Hand me the towel, will you? Unless you want to have some more friendship sex.”
She knew what he meant, that he was ready again—and she didn’t dare look or she just might climb back on top of him.