“Easy,” he murmured, raising his head to kiss her lips again.
It didn’t seem quite fair that he was still coherent while she was losing her mind. She reached deliberately between them, her fingers closing around him through the tightly stretched fabric of his jeans. He jerked as if he’d been shocked.
To her great satisfaction, his movements grew less practiced, more urgent. Rolling across the bed, they struggled out of the remainder of their clothes, tossing them recklessly aside, ignoring the thud of the overturned brass lamp on her nightstand. Teresa didn’t hear anything break—and wouldn’t have cared at that point if she had.
Riley had enough presence of mind to take care of protection—and she was too grateful to wonder whether he made a habit of carrying the little packet in his pocket or had brought it specifically for this. They’d have been in trouble if he hadn’t thought of it; condoms weren’t something she’d had reason to buy during the past few years.
A thin cry escaped her when he surged into her. Her legs locked around him, and she moved with him in an almost desperate pursuit of release. She peaked quickly, hard pulses of pleasure racking her body. Through the sensual haze that blurred her vision, she saw a rather feral flash of satisfaction cross Riley’s face, and then he, too, allowed himself to climax with a deep, raw groan.
Murmuring her name, he kissed her lingeringly, then collapsed on the bed beside her.
Teresa lay motionless for a long time, trying to remember how to breathe normally, letting her pulse return to something close to a steady rate. Her entire body still thrummed with an occasional vibration, faint aftershocks from the earthquake they’d created between them.
She was finding it hard to believe she’d just had wild, steamy sex with Riley O’Neal. That he was even now lying damp and naked in her bed, one strong arm stretched beneath her.
She didn’t have to ask herself if she’d lost her mind. She had. No doubt about it.
Having accepted that premise, what truly amazed her was that she had absolutely no regrets. Concerns, yes. She knew she had just risked complications that could only lead to heartache on her part—but she wasn’t sorry. How could she be? It had been fabulous.
She felt him drop a kiss on the top of her head. “Are you okay?”
Her smile felt shaky. “I think so.”
“I think we just blew our professional landlord-tenant arrangement.”
She laughed softly. “I think you’re right.”
“I really did try to stay away.”
“I really tried to want you to stay away.”
“It was inevitable, I guess. We were an explosion waiting to happen.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Even when she’d first met him, her reactions to him had been strong. She’d tried to convince herself then that she didn’t like him. She hadn’t wanted to admit that she had been drawn to him from the first
time he’d looked at her and smiled.
She still wasn’t free to admit that.
Reminded of her obligations, she lifted her head to check the clock on the nightstand. The numerals were covered by a pair of white briefs. Her lamp lay drunkenly on its side, and piles of clothes—hers and his—were tangled together on the floor, along with the spread from her bed. Definitely a scene of debauchery, she thought with a slight wince.
“Where are you going?” he asked, tightening his arm around her when she moved to rise. “We have a little time yet.”
“It’s going to take me a while to put everything back in order,” she replied, and lifted a hand to her tumbled hair. “Myself included.”
Lifting himself to one elbow, he watched as she righted the lamp and gathered her clothes. She was a bit self-conscious now that the haze of passion had receded. She was thirty-one and the mother of two. Her workout routine consisted of doing housework, waiting tables and trying to keep up with the kids. She wasn’t model thin or athletically muscled—but Riley hadn’t seemed to mind a few minutes earlier.
He didn’t seem to mind now, either. His expression was appreciative when she risked a quick look at him. “Come back to bed,” he urged.
“I can’t. And you need to get dressed.”
The smile he gave her should have been illegal. He patted the bed. “Just for a few more minutes?”
“No. My children will be home soon. I need to get ready for them.”
He sighed.
She paused in the doorway to look at him steadily. “You knew when you came to my door that this is who I am.”