Unsuitable

“I’m asking if you’d rather be somewhere else.”

“I told you last night where I wanted to be and just then, before the spilt milk. I mean it.”

“Good.” Her eyes were down. “I only wanted to be sure.” She pulled the tie on the robe and drew it open.

Air snagged in his throat. “Holy fuck.”

“You like?”

She had proper matching sheer underwear on, completely see-through. She had old-fashioned stockings with clips and a belt to hold them up. He had to unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth.

“You had this on under that suit?”

She nodded. “I figured it was going to be a bad day. I only had to look like a good girl on the outside. Thought I’d lose the war, but come home and win the battle with you.”

He pressed a hand between her thighs and moved her knees apart. “You look like a good girl to me.” He shifted between her legs. The underwear hid nothing. Jesus. Her nipples were furled and rosy. His gut tightened.

She laughed. “That’s not what I was going for.”

He put a finger under one of the straps that held her stocking. He’d never been with a woman wearing these before. All manner of nano-underwear, string and slits and cut-outs, lots of skin art; tattoos and piercing, especially during his fighting days, but not this sweetest of dirty seductions. He ran his finger between the clip and the top of the belt, elastic lace on one side, warm, silky skin on the other. “I’ve forgotten the question.”

She laughed.

He asked his own. “You’re not mad at me about Sky?” He pulled his finger away, the elastic flicked against her thigh and they both flinched.

“I’m not mad with you. Hard to envisage I ever could be.”

She put her hands to his shoulders. He was having a hard time looking her in the face. There was so much else to look at, and knowing she’s worn this gear for him as much as for herself on a day she expected to lose made it impossible to concentrate on anything else. She was wet. He could smell it and see it. A real apocalypse wouldn’t keep him from her.

“I love you, Reece.”

Now he looked at her lovely face, flushed and clear of make-up, just her spiky eyelashes left. Her hair was wild, curled around her shoulders, her eyes so bright they sparked.

“Mia was loud a lot today. I think I’m going deaf. What did you say?”

“I love you.”

He dropped his eyes to her legs. Couldn’t hide his face splitting grin. “Still didn’t get that.” He flicked the strip of elastic deliberately, making her jerk, and ran another finger across the top edge of the bra down to the bow at the centre and then across her other breast. She shivered; he was painfully hard. Mia had better stay in her damn bed.

“I love you, Reece. I’ve been scared to feel it. But I know it’s true.”

He closed his hand over her breast. Was this really happening? “I’m a fair dinkum hero. I get the job and the girl.”

She groaned because what he was doing to the girl was no job, all pleasure for both of them. He licked the nipple he’d just pinched through the thin net of her bra. She pulled at his shirt and he stepped back to yank it over his head. Fuck, yeah, this was happening.

Audrey’s eyes were locked on his. “If that kid gets out of bed, we’re risking bad dreams, wet sheets, a stuffed animal invasion, attachment problems as an adult. We’re yelling at her till she gets back in there and stays.”

He grinned. He could deal with that. He needed to deal with sheer silk and lace and satin skin and the smell of Audrey’s arousal more than he wanted to wrangle a kid who didn’t want to go to bed. He sent up a prayer that Mia wouldn’t choose tonight to have sore toes, or a moth in her room, or need a drink of water urgently in the one special glass that was unwashed in the dishwasher.

“You’re so beautiful, Audrey.”

She held her arms out. “You’re pretty awe inspiring yourself.”

He stepped between her legs again slid his hands around her waist under the robe to palm her butt. He lifted her into him, pressed their torsos together; heat and the scratch of that lace became fierce need. He kissed his way across her shoulder, up her neck, to her mouth.

He didn’t know if having Audrey love him was going to change things more than it had already done since they’d fallen for each other, and he didn’t care. He’d roll with whatever she needed for herself and for Mia.

He nipped at her lips, teasing her with his teeth until she clawed his chest. His ‘ow’ was muffled in her mouth, soothed away by her tongue. The house could burn down around them he wasn’t giving up this kiss, this chance to be with her, to make certain she knew it meant love not just fucking around.