The Midwife's Marriage Proposal (Lakeside Mountain Rescue 3)

Dragging his mouth from hers with an effort, he ripped off his jumper and then brought his mouth down on hers again and backed her against the wall of the living room.

A lamp smashed to the floor but remained unnoticed.

She could feel him hard and heavy against her and she tried to tell him that he felt good, but her body was no longer under her control and the words wouldn’t come.

His mouth seduced hers relentlessly while his hands stripped her roughly, first of her cardigan and lacy bra and finally of her jeans.

‘Do you know how badly I’ve wanted this?’ He lifted his mouth from hers just enough to growl the words that needed to be said. Those clever hands slid inside the delicate silk of her panties and dispensed with them swiftly. ‘Wanted you?’

Her breath was coming in pants and her body throbbed with a sexual heat so intense that it threatened to overwhelm her. From somewhere she found her voice. ‘I want you, too. Now, Tom …’

She dragged his mouth back down to hers, desperate for his kiss, frantic at being denied what she needed so badly. He obliged instantly, his mouth plundering hers while both of them fumbled to remove the rest of his clothing.

There was the sound of tearing that both of them ignored and then finally he was naked and he felt good, so good. She sank her teeth into the slick muscle of his shoulder, pulled him closer and felt him, hard and male, pulsing against her. Her body was aching and throbbing and she gave a sob of desperation, pressing closer, raking her nails down his back until he swore softly and lifted her, his hands sliding over the curve of her buttocks as he supported her weight.

Their breath mingled in desperate pants and he adjusted her position and then sheathed himself inside her in an almost primitive act of masculine possession. She cried out in the most exquisite pleasure, her head tipped back and her eyes closed as he thrust again, the pressure of his body pushing her hard against the wall.

But she didn’t care.

She welcomed the roughness, the desperation because she felt it, too. That same raw urgency that seemed to devour him engulfed her and consumed her, driving her higher and higher, beyond the limits of human control.

Her whole body shimmered with ferocious sexual need and she wrapped her legs around him, encouraging him, her sobs and gasps intensifying as he drove into her again and again, his body slick and hard against hers.

It had been so long and their need for each other was so great that it couldn’t last.

She felt the build of pressure, the sudden increase in masculine thrust and surge of power and then their bodies exploded together in a wild, out-of-control climax that left them both breathless and wordless and shaking with reaction.

Feeling the race of his heart and the harsh sound of his breathing, Sally closed her eyes, overwhelmed by the sensations that still coursed through her trembling body, proof that such a powerful explosion couldn’t just vanish into nothing. She swallowed in disbelief as he lowered her gently to the floor, his arms still locked around her.

For endless seconds neither of them spoke, the only sound their fractured breathing and frantic attempts to regain some sort of control.

And then he slid a hand behind her neck and his tone was both rough and gentle at the same time. ‘So—if I said I’d missed you, would you believe me?’

There was no missing the humour and irony in his voice and she gave a small smile.

She wanted to say that she’d missed him, too. That she loved him.

The thought almost shattered her control.

No, no, no!

She couldn’t do this a second time.

She reminded herself that making a mistake once was forgivable, but making the same one twice was nothing short of foolish.

Last time he’d made the decision for both of them.

He was quite capable of doing the same thing again.

Suddenly she needed to minimize what had happened between them. Needed to reduce the shattering impact of his lovemaking.

‘I think we both had a stressful day.’

He was silent for a moment and his breathing gradually slowed. ‘I’ve had plenty of stressful days before,’ he murmured roughly, lowering his head and branding the soft hollow of her throat with the heat of his mouth, ‘but I can assure you that I don’t do this.’

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, steeling herself to reject the affection. The intimacy.

She couldn’t afford to enjoy it. Couldn’t afford to accept it.