‘Jack,’ she said as she was submerged in the delight again.
Suddenly all the energy inside him poured out in a frantic, furious ride. He pumped so hard all she could do was wind her arms and legs around him and cling tight—swept back into the stormy oblivion that was strong enough to stop her heart altogether.
All power. All grace. All consuming. He was all there was—all she could see, hear, feel.
Her everything.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IN THE blackness, sound returned. The thumping of her heart, the rush of her breath. Then the light came back, too, as Kelsi lifted her lashes and focused.
Jack was still with her. Only now he took more of his weight on his arms so she wasn’t so crushed.
‘Beautiful Kelsi.’ He kissed her—her lips, her face, her neck, all over. Soft, sweet, reverent passion. ‘You’re OK?’
She nodded contentedly. And then, despite her thinking she had zero energy left, she kissed him back, running the tip of her tongue along his lips, teasing them open some more so she could explore his mouth. Long, luscious kisses that were slivers of heaven.
He broke apart, moved to kneel beside her. ‘In a bed this time. In bed all night.’ He gathered her into his arms and carried her to her bedroom.
He was relentless in his attention. In the words he whispered throughout the night. In his pursuit of her pleasure.
She had no hope of holding out—and no desire to. She totally succumbed to the feelings she had for him, submerged in the sensations he pulled from her and the bliss of believing herself to be utterly desired. For the first time in her life she felt beautiful and special and sexy.
As the new day advanced so did her sense of confidence—of fun. She took the time to tease him—to ride astride him as she’d done that wild day on the beach. Mesmerised, she made his muscles bunch and ripple and shake in a way that was so far beyond his control. She glowed as she felt the power and pleasure of being attractive.
Together they lost time in the exploration of each other. It was magic—beyond thought, word or touch. Simply sensation.
‘Are you OK? You’re sure you’re OK?’ He asked after he’d done a kitchen raid for both salty and sweet supplies in the early afternoon. ‘Not too tired?’
She shook her head. ‘Just don’t ask me to get out of bed today. Other than for a shower.’
‘A shower and then straight back to bed,’ he said firmly. ‘Bed all day tomorrow, too.’
She giggled, more inclined to move on him than to argue at that moment.
The sun shone in through her window, sending a sheet of warm, bright light diagonally across the bed. She stretched out in the middle of it, for once letting the warm rays soothe her sensitive skin.
He lay on his back, his hand resting low on his abs as his chest rose and fell fast as he caught his breath. But his gaze didn’t leave hers. She knew—because hers didn’t leave his.
‘Why do you hide your eyes? They’re the most amazing colour.’
She sighed and then rolled, reaching for her phone on the bedside table. She scrolled through a few pictures and then showed him one. ‘This is my mum.’
He studied it. ‘Wow, wouldn’t have guessed.’
No, her mother had light-brown hair and blue eyes. ‘So who do you think I look like then?’ she asked.
‘Oh.’ He looked awkward. ‘Your dad. And he’s…?’
‘A jerk,’ Kelsi said. ‘Yeah.’
He reached out and touched her shoulder. ‘How so?’
‘He just… He cheated on Mum and she took him back and he just let her down again. It went on and on until he finally left us for good. I hate looking in the mirror and seeing him look back at me. He brought nothing but disappointment.’
‘Are you in touch with him now?’
She flicked through a couple more pics on her phone. ‘This is him here.’
She waited while Jack looked at that one.
‘Who’s he with?’
‘His stepdaughter. She’s the same age as me.’ And pretty in the world’s most conventional way. She’d gone on to study law and commerce at university—he was so proud of her.
‘Really?’ Jack handed the phone back.
‘He went to her graduation. He bought her her first car. He gave a speech at her twenty-first…’ Kelsi pulled the sheet up to cover herself.
‘And he did none of those things for you.’
He’d said he would. But had he? ‘No.’
He hadn’t shown up to either the twenty-first or the graduation. He’d let her down so many times before that, she shouldn’t have been disappointed. But she had been. Always she’d wanted to believe he’d be there for something that really mattered. And he never had.
‘He’s hurt you a lot, huh?’ Jack said softly.
She shrugged to minimise it. ‘Parents are supposed to stuff us up, right?’
‘Parents are supposed to support their kids. Not be selfish.’
She looked at him—saw him freeze as they both suddenly thought of their own child, slowly growing inside her. They had a huge job ahead of them—and they had conflicting wants for the future. Now they’d complicated it all the more by bringing their lust into the equation.
Doubt surfaced the way a mythical monster rose from a picture-perfect lake—sudden and terrifying. What were they doing sleeping together like this? Where was it leading?
She knew already. Because while he’d made her feel so wonderful with his hot words and praises, there’d been no promises.
Kelsi sat up, moving away from him. And for the first time in fifteen hours, he let her.
She walked into her bathroom, knowing she needed to put the brakes on her infatuation. Just because the man thought she was attractive, she didn’t need to think herself in love with him or anything. She needed to watch herself.
But Jack appeared in the doorway, coming to stand behind her as she frowned at herself in the mirror. His hands settled on her body—smoothing.
‘You’re not your mum, Kelsi, and not your dad. Just you. And your eyes are beautiful. Be proud of them.’
She turned and shushed him with her mouth. She didn’t want those words any more—the ones that made her fall all the more for him. Recklessly she fired up her movements. She had to make the most of the moment. Because the moment couldn’t possibly last.
Through the night Jack let her take the lead—both physically and in the avoidance of discussing anything too heavy. He didn’t want to think of anything more than a few minutes ahead.
She pushed them both to a new frontier of high-speed, high-endurance sex that had her clutching the bedhead for support and him feeling like beating his chest and roaring like a victorious warlord. She stunned him with her strength and stamina and sparkle.
He’d known, hadn’t he? He’d known how passionate and beautiful and bewitching she was. How wild. And he was so damn glad he’d worked out how to unlock it all again. He buried himself in her, buried the thoughts of what else he ought to be doing. He just wanted to be with her.
But on Sunday morning, she pushed him away. ‘I have to work on a design. I have a deadline this week. I can’t waste another day with you.’
Waste a day? Um, no, he damn well wasn’t wasting a day either. He didn’t have time to. So he wasn’t going anywhere. But he could make a compromise. ‘I could help you.’
‘No, you can’t,’ she said firmly. ‘You’re a distraction.’
‘I won’t be. You need to take regular breaks from the computer or you’ll get RSI.’
‘I need to concentrate.’
‘I’ll be quiet. In fact I’m going to sleep. I’m tired.’ He snapped his eyes shut. ‘You go work for a few hours out there.’ He felt her hesitation. ‘Go on,’ he said brusquely. ‘Stop wasting time. Get chained to the computer. If I hear you moving around I’ll be out with the whip.’
‘The whip?’ she asked a little too innocently.
He opened one eye and grinned. ‘No,’ he teased. ‘You
wouldn’t like it.’
He stretched out in her cosy bed and listened to her rhythmic tapping of the keyboard, feeling his tension rising again already. Crazy. Even by his standards he should be at saturation point, yet here he was randier than ever. Ridiculous.
He gave her just over an hour but then it was time to lay claim to her for a while. He walked up behind her, quietly impressed by the screeds of programming gobbledegook across the big computer screen. She pressed a button and it turned into an incredible graphic interface. Wow.