“You’re sure?”
“Very.” She traced the line of his collarbone with her finger. “How did you find me here?”
“Sarah.”
Addie’s finger stopped at his sternum. Her mouth dropped open. “Sarah told you I was here?”
Why hadn’t she sent Kevin?
“Yeah.” Derek nodded, looking unexpectedly wary. “Right after she found out Kevin spent last night with Carrie.”
“Kevin—” Addie’s mouth dropped wider. “He—”
“I’m sorry, Addie.”
She stared at him, trying to process all this, waiting for the pain, the rage, the feeling of betrayal. That rat Kevin. Not wanting to let her in his room. All that crap about wanting to get to know her before they slept together. The funny high-voiced whimper she heard....
Addie burst out laughing. What an idiot she’d been.
Derek blinked in surprise. “You think that’s funny?”
Addie shrugged. “Parts of it are. The whole night was practically farcical. Me with you by mistake, then bumping into Kevin who had another woman with him the whole time. And it’s funny in a sort of sad way how hard I worked not to see Kevin as he is. And it’s funny in a sweet way that Sarah relinquished her need to attack you long enough to let me try.”
“Mmm.” His eyes warmed. “I like the way you attack me.”
“After Kevin...well, you’re not exactly a booby prize.”
“No.” His eyes dropped appreciatively below her neck. “I get that one.”
“Aw, jeez.” Addie pretended disgust at his pun, disgust which crumbled when he darted forward and fixed his mouth onto her breast.
Mmm. She let her head fall back, concentrating on the wet heat of his tongue and lips tugging her nipple, sending pleasure signals traveling through her body down between her legs.
“Make love to me, Derek.” She dropped slowly to her knees, pulling him with her—not that he resisted.
“I definitely plan to,” he whispered. “I wanted to from the moment you said hello on the front steps of the house.”
“Me, too.” She held out her arms for him. Their words were strictly carnal, but somehow Addie felt as if they were speaking from the heart. Even though they were in this for only a few days, it didn’t feel like a hit-and-run relationship. It felt much richer, more important to each of them.
Oh, please, Addie, you’re getting laid, stop trying to make it into something more.
Telling the critical pain-in-the-butt voice in her head to shut up, Addie clasped Derek’s warm, wide body to hers, reveling in its power, how small he made her feel, but how safe.
He paid her breasts more attention while he ran his hand up and down her belly, slightly lower with each stroke until he touched the top of her pubic curls, then lower and lower, making her gasp.
“You like that?”
“Oh, yes.” She arched her hips up, inviting his hand to explore further, her arousal building again to a fever pitch. “Yes.”
“I like it, too, Addie.” He lifted his head to gaze at her while one finger traveled slowly over her pubic bone, nudging her clitoris, stroking over it, making the slide down between her labia.
Addie whimpered, eyes cemented to his, helpless under his touch. His finger dipped inside her. She gasped at the intrusion, hungry between her legs as she’d never been before. Derek withdrew his finger and painted it, slippery wet, over her clitoris, warming where the sun’s weight already lay.
Addie nearly came right there, had to breathe and back down. She wanted him inside her. She wanted him coming with her.
Again, his finger slid and thrusted and painted. Again she fought the orgasm, trembling in his arms, her breath a series of stuttering gasps. Again, and again he brought her to the edge, until she was ready to scream.
“I can’t do this much longer,” she whispered. “I want you.”
He pulled on the condom, spread her legs wide and knelt between them, making her feel open and vulnerable to him, breeze blowing intimately on her sex. His eyes traveled her body, rested on her face.
“You’re beautiful, Addie.”
He made her feel beautiful. Inside and out. Nothing else mattered right now. “Come to me, Derek. Please.”