The Nurse's Christmas Wish (The Cornish Consultants)

She’d never met a man who could kiss like Mac. The moment he touched his lips to hers she could feel the effects through her whole body.

His kiss drove her pulse rate into a wild sprint and she straddled him, but he lifted his hands and caught her writhing hips.

‘Not yet. This time we do it differently.’ His voice was husky as he rolled her on her back and stroked a leisurely hand down her quivering, aching body. ‘This time we take our time.’

The wild burning in her pelvis was so intense that she shifted against the sheets, desperate to ease the throbbing, burning ache that had become the entire focus of her being.

He held her down, refusing to allow her the satisfaction she craved until he was ready, using his mouth and fingers to drive her wild.

Louisa couldn’t believe the intimacies she allowed him or those she gave in return, and when he finally rose over her she was sobbing his name and quivering in anticipation, the excitement almost intolerable.

He raised her hips and paused, his eyes dark as he gazed down at her, watching her reaction.

‘Mac...please...’ She was almost begging, beside herself with a need that she didn’t recognise, and he lowered his head and took her mouth, his kiss as intimate as the rest of his touch.

This time he entered her slowly, the controlled thrust of his hips as erotic as it was gentle.

How did he know? she wondered dimly.

How did he know just how to move, just how to hold her so that both their bodies achieved the maximum response?

She curled her legs around him and arched her hips, drawing him deeper, urging him on.

The rhythm was slow and easy but the connection between them was no less intense for the lack of pace. This time the passion was dark and molten, twining itself around both of them, drawing them deeper and deeper.

And Louisa clung to him, her body matching his demands with demands of her own, discovering all that her body could do. Could feel.

‘Mac, Mac.’ She cried out his name and he dragged a hand into her hair, holding her head so that she was forced to look at him.

And the connection was complete.

She drowned in his dark eyes and felt her body convulse in an explosion of white light.

She heard his harsh groan and then her climax consumed her, shattering control and rational thought, and she lost herself completely in the experience that was loving Mac.

Breathless and weakened, she clung to him, her fingers holding onto his sleek flesh as both of them struggled to descend back into reality.

Then he shifted his weight and rolled onto his back, taking her with him.

So this was what it felt like to be in love.

She lay still for a moment, savouring the fact that it had finally happened. That she’d finally met the man of her dreams. And then she closed her eyes and succumbed to the delicious lethargy that spread through her entire body.

Flattened and exhausted by the depth of her own response, Louisa curled herself around him and slept like a child.

* * *

Mac poured coffee, choosing to drink it strong and black.

He needed the caffeine hit.

The overnight snowfall had transformed the world into a festive wonderland, and from the large windows in the kitchen he could see a family walking on the beach, throwing snowballs and clowning about.

He sipped the scalding brew, trying to chase away the clouds that fogged his brain. Overnight the world seemed different and the reason for that was lying upstairs in his bed.

It had taken all his will-power to leave her sleeping.

Part of him had wanted to wake her from sleep in the oldest way known to man. But the other part of him—the part of him he’d lived with since Melissa’s death—had known that he had to walk away.