His Secret Temptation

“Can’t you wait until I leave?”

“Not this time.”

Groaning, Simon claimed her mouth. At the same time he freed her wrists so he could lock his arms around her fragile ribs and gather her tight against his body. Her lips yielded beneath his. As fiercely as he wrapped her in an embrace, he guided her mouth in a slow, sensual dance.

It was Caroline who gripped fistfuls of his hair and made demands. It was Caroline who flicked her tongue against his lips, coaxing him to come out and play with her. It was Caroline who sucked on his lower lip. But it was Simon who plunged his tongue into her mouth and made her breath his own.

When he’d kissed her before, he’d kept a tenuous hold on his passion. Hearing her soft moans, his control weakened still further.

“Stay with me,” she murmured, her hands going beneath his tuxedo jacket to push it off his shoulders.

“I have to go back and pick up Hannah and Sarah.” He let the jacket fall to the floor and drew a shaky breath as she began on his shirt buttons.

“It’s early. Your mother won’t let them leave for at least an hour.” Her fingers left little trails of fire along his chest as she slipped the buttons free, one after another. She gave a soft purr of contentment as she stroked beneath his shirt. Her tongue found the pulse beating in his throat and he jumped as a jolt of desire shot straight to his groin. “Take off the rest of your clothes.”

“Damn it, woman,” he ground out. “You are not in a position to make demands.”

“No?” she said, leaning back to fix a hungry gaze on him.

Her palms flattened against his chest. She started to slide her hands downward, fingertips inching over the muscles of his abdomen. They trembled beneath her touch, flinching away from her tantalizing caress, before rushing back for more. As he stood, frozen by disbelief and transfixed by her bold smile, she bent her knees and lowered herself until she was kneeling before him.

Her hands continued to travel downward, but her eyes remained to challenge him. “Is this position better?”

Before he could reach down and haul her back to her feet, her fingers grazed his erection and his hips bucked helplessly. He had to stop her before her hand and his throbbing member made contact again, but he was an instant too slow. He caught her hand, but she held him. Now, instead of pulling her away, he guided her, showing how he liked to be touched, throwing his head back to groan in mindless pleasure. His own knees buckled. He dropped to the floor beside her and caught her face between his hands.

“What are you doing to me?” he demanded, leaning forward to graze his lips against hers, tenderness momentarily tempering the lust raging through his veins.

“If you don’t know, perhaps I’m not doing it right.”

He laughed shakily. “You are doing just fine.”

“Then will you please stop resisting this?” Her fingers were on the buttons at his waist. She deftly slid down his zipper.

“We really should talk about his.”

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said. Her hand dipped into the V to find him, hot and waiting for her. “This time I’m going to do the talking.”

His breath hissed past clenched teeth followed closely by a groan as her soft palm curved around his hot flesh. He lost all ability to concentrate when she touched him like that and he wanted nothing more than to focus his entire attention on her.

Gently he pulled her hand away and murmured, “Not yet or this will be over far too quickly.”

“Then let’s get started, shall we?”

His mouth closed over hers, more passionately than before, taking each sigh she surrendered, but wanting more. He needed her to go wild. To welcome his claim.

He grazed his fingertips over her shoulder, savoring her smooth skin and the way his touch made her tremble. He paused at the bra’s clasp, letting her anticipation build, focusing her attention exactly where he wanted it. She shuddered as the garment came free, and he tossed it aside. Then he filled his hands with her round backside and lifted her against his bare chest. Her nipples hardened, the points, like hot coals, setting him afire. He drank of her gasp. Supporting her back, he bore her to the carpet.

Firelight played over her half-naked body. She watched him from beneath her lashes, her breath ragged, and waited for his next move. Smiling, he shed the rest of his clothes and fetched a foil packet from his wallet. If they were going to do this, he insisted she be protected.

Where a second ago he’d been at the mercy of his hunger, Caroline’s stillness calmed his rush, offering him the chance to make the moment last. He lay down on his side next to her and propped his head on his hand. First his gaze, then his fingers drifted along her throat, between her breasts, down her abdomen and across the black lace panties to the apex of her thighs. She sucked in a breath as he grazed her most sensitive areas, and she caught her lip between her teeth.

Delighted by her reaction, he lingered for a second caress before retracing his steps. This time, instead of bypassing her breasts, he circled first one nipple then the other with his fingertip. Her head shifted restlessly on the carpet and one knee came up to tip her hips toward him in entreaty.

He was already so hard he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep from burying himself in her softness, but she had begun this adventure, and he was going to make sure she saw all the sights before the journey ended.

Leaning forward, Simon drew his tongue around her nipple. With his palm flat on her abdomen, he felt her muscles convulse as he pulled the sensitive bud into his mouth and sucked vigorously. She dug her fingers into his hair and arched against him, thighs parting. All her wiggling wasn’t helping his resolve to take this slow. He captured her hips in a bruising grip that softened immediately.

Beneath his fingers, her silk lingerie created the last barrier between them. Settling his lips into the hollow above her hip bone, he hooked his fingers into the waistband of her panties and began to draw them slowly down her thighs. His lips followed, slipping over her abdomen, his tongue dipping into her belly button before moving on. Her hips jerked. Then she was lifting them off the carpet, pressing against his mouth, and murmuring soft, wordless encouragement.