He took the condom from her shaking fingers, and she watched as he rolled it into place. As she straddled him, lowering herself slowly down to take him inside her, his gaze held hers captive.
Two deep sighs, hers and his, which might have been one because they were simultaneous. When she twisted her hips, the feeling made her cry out and a groan escaped his lips. And when she bent to kiss him, he was ready and waiting with kisses of his own.
They were together. No more vying for control, each trying to please the other. Everything was shared, every pleasure she felt found its way onto his lips as well. She melted into his arms and he whispered her name, shifting her gently onto her back. When he slid inside her again, the idea that they were just having sex exploded into smithereens. This was making love.
He was so tender, so exquisitely passionate. Their bodies moved together in the same rhythm, making the very most of the intimate connection they shared. It was no longer a matter of holding back, making this last, but of relishing the feeling that was growing inside her. She could do nothing but allow him to take her, knowing that he too was in her thrall.
When she came, it was a long fall into mindless pleasure. She knew she was pulling him with her, and as aftershocks tingled through her body, his hardened suddenly. He let out a cry, and she held onto him, knowing that he needed her touch as much as she had needed his.
‘That was...’ What they’d done defied description.
‘Crazy?’ He grinned down at her, lifting his weight and rolling onto his side to hold her close.
‘Complete madness.’ She kissed him. If this was madness then every day could be this insane as far as Laurie was concerned.
‘It was beautiful.’ He murmured the words, tenderness in his face.
‘Yes. Beautiful is the word I was searching for.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
THEY’D DOZED FOR a long time, happy to just be in each other’s arms. Then Laurie felt Ross shift against her as he leaned around to kiss her.
‘Are you really going to leave at dawn?’ His finger caressed her shoulder.
‘Yes.’ If what they had together was going to survive, it needed to be separate. Away from the limitations that practicality put on their relationship. ‘I’ll see you later, though? At the clinic?’
Ross grinned. ‘So you’re not going very far.’
‘Not so far that I can’t come back again, tomorrow night. Or be at the clinic during the day. If that’s okay with you.’
He shot her a reproachful look. ‘I always wanted you to stay. Are you seriously in any doubt about that?’
‘If I had been, I probably wouldn’t have crept up the stairs onto your balcony. I’d have knocked on your front door in order to preserve deniability.’
He chuckled quietly. ‘I prefer the balcony.’ He rolled onto his back, putting his hands behind his head.
‘Me too. Maybe I can try swarming up it dressed as a pirate. With a cutlass between my teeth.’
‘Absolutely not. That’s my fantasy, so you can keep your hands off it.’
‘Your fantasy? Really? You mean finding me up here in one of those floaty nightgowns, and popping the buttons with the tip of your sword? I’d have to keep pretty still...’
‘I’d anchor you to the spot with my dangerous gaze.’ He chuckled. ‘And then...’ He leaned over, whispering into her ear, and Laurie started to shiver from the exquisite pictures he was planting in her imagination.
‘Stop!’ Finally she called a halt to it. ‘Stop it, Ross. You’re not allowed to say that to me unless you’re willing to come up with the goods. Straight away.’
‘I’m more than happy to do that.’ He grinned at her.
‘In that case...’ She reached across him, hooking another condom out of the drawer and pressing it into his hand. ‘I have a few fantasies of my own you might like. Only you don’t get to hear them until you give me a bit of encouragement.’
He chuckled softly then tore the packet open.
‘I’ll give you all the encouragement you want...’
* * *
Ross was exhausted. The kind of exhaustion that came from staying awake half the night, talking and making love, and then being woken at four o’ clock for one of the best good mornings he’d ever had. The best, actually.