Your Alluring Love (The Bennett Family 6)

A sea of sensations engulfs me, heat, pleasure, and pure joy coursing through my veins. I give myself to him with abandon. I’d trust this man to do anything he wants with me; he owns my pleasure, my body, and my heart.

Our sounds fill the space as we both succumb and lose ourselves in each other. The back of my head rests against his chest, and I turn slightly so my ear presses against his skin, catching his heartbeats. They’re rapid and frantic, matching his strokes and my racing pulse. Our hearts beat in unison as we climb toward the cusp of pleasure together.

He loves me deep and desperate until he grunts out my name and my world spins on its axis. Nate holds me tightly to him until the haze of bliss clears, and then we play with soap and water again, cleaning each other.

Stepping out of the shower, we dry ourselves with the plush towels near the sink, and then Nate unexpectedly lifts me, slinging one arm around my back and the other under my knees. Instinctively, I rest an arm around his neck, grounding myself. Nate skims his lips against my temple in a gesture so full of tenderness that my heart nearly bursts. For some reason, I feel incredibly shy, which is ridiculous. I was naked when he ate off me, and in the shower. I’ve never been one to feel vulnerable after intimacy, but right now I am.

“What are you doing?” I ask when he exits the bathroom.

“Carrying you to bed.”

“Oh my! You are a knight.”

“Forgot my armor, I’m afraid.”

Grinning, I lean closer to him. “You’re naked. That’s my kind of armor.”

Chapter Twenty

Alice

There are two addictions I haven’t been able to shake off my entire life: sweets and gossiping with my siblings (when I’m not the subject of said gossip). Nate is about to become my third. Ever since he surprised me with the ice cream trip two weeks ago, we’ve been spending a lot of time together, mostly evenings and nights and weekends. When the Delicious Dining team filmed their segment, Nate took the day off and was by my side. It was incredibly sweet.

Right now, we’re in his apartment, but we?

?ve been in mine more often. So often, in fact, that I’m not sure I want to sleep in there alone again. This isn’t crazy, right? I mean, who would want to go back to an empty, cold apartment when they’ve had a gorgeous, funny, and drop-dead sexy man in there with them? I swear every inch of my one-bedroom apartment smells like him.

As I check my appearance in Nate’s mirror, I know I’m even more invested in this thing between us than I thought, and that’s dangerous. We’re having fun, and I’m having the time of my life with him even when we’re doing nothing but talking, but I can’t jump headfirst into something that’s only a few weeks old. Even if I’ve known him for years, this is still fresh.

When I look over my shoulder in the mirror, I notice Nate is smiling. I’ve cataloged in my mind every smile of his over the years, but there’s something different about this one.

“Nate Becker, what’s up with your smile?”

He jerks his head back, obviously not having realized I was watching him in the mirror as he was studying me. By the time I turn around to face him, he schools his expression, shooting for a surprised, affronted one instead. Well, the joke’s on him because, despite his efforts to hold back a smile, the corners of his mouth are lightly tilted.

“What do you mean? I smile all the time.”

“Yeah, but this one’s different.”

I walk around the bed until I’m right in front of him. I love his ‘I just got out of bed’ look. His hair is mussed, his eyelids still a tiny bit heavy with sleep. Most of all, I like the five o’clock shadow on his face. It’s a little coarse and makes kissing rougher, but there’s something distinctly manly about that light beard. It goes wonderfully with his muscle-laced arms.

He tips his chin forward. “It’s the Alice effect.”

His answer warms me on the inside. I swear my toes curl. “Please explain yourself. I need more details.”

He kisses the tip of my nose. “It’s the smile I get when I wake up and you’re next to me. Waking up next to your half-naked body is the best way to start my day, even though I wake up earlier than usual when you’re with me, even on a rainy Saturday like this one. Actually, I wake up earlier because you’re with me.”

“Because you want to spend more time with me?” The eagerness in my tone borders on childish, but I love it when he speaks about me like this.

“No, because you’re nearly choking me by sleeping on top of me.”

Stepping back, I smirk and say in my defense, “You’re a good pillow.” Truth be told, I’m not a hugger when I sleep. I usually don’t even hug my pillow. But I can’t believe this is my life now, and that Nate is in it. I want to soak in as much of him as possible when I’m awake, so it must be my subconscious wanting more of him even while I’m asleep. “Go back to telling me how waking up next to me is the best way to start your day. I liked that part a lot more.”

He steps in front of me again, effectively pushing me against the wall. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. Well, I’ll gladly take this hardship every single day. “So? You’d better lay it on thick, Becker. You just accused me of hogging you.”

Honestly, I was just fishing for compliments, but Nate takes my words to mean something else—foreplay. He drags his knuckles down my cheek, then caresses my neck with the pads of his fingers. Instinctively, I tilt my head to the side, giving him access. He takes advantage immediately, placing his mouth where my neck meets my shoulder. It’s my sweet spot, and oh my. My body’s reaction is instantaneous. My skin simmers and my back arches. I feel Nate’s lips curl in a smile against my skin as he kisses my neck and jawline before finally coming face-to-face with me.

“I still can’t believe I’m lucky enough to wake up next to you,” he says in a gruff voice, and I nearly melt on the spot. His caresses might have heated my body, but his words travel straight to my heart. The mere thought that he might want to wake up next to me for many more mornings fills me with so much hope it borders on elation.