“You wait,” he said, his eyes darkening. “In fact, be as patient as you can.” He kissed her again, longer this time, his tongue flicking into her mouth and scraping over her teeth. Nadine tried to return the kiss, to mold her mouth to his, but he lifted his head. “Patience,” he growled.
“I’m not a patient person—ooh!”
Still holding her hands over her head, he ran his tongue down the length of her neck, leaving a slick impression. Her body arched upward and her nipples stood erect, anticipating his touch. So slowly she thought she might go mad, he kissed the cleft between her breasts and rimmed each nipple with his tongue. Heat exploded within her and the center of her womanhood felt empty and moist. Thoughts of their lovemaking long into the night filled her head.
His teeth found the tip of one nipple and nibbled. Nadine moaned. Her hips lifted anxiously. “Hayden.”
“I’m here.” To prove his point, he kissed her other breast, while his free hand lowered along her side, tickling the curve of her waist before settling against her hips. His fingers dug into the soft flesh of her rump.
An explosion deep inside rocked her and she bucked. Gazing up at him, she saw his pupils dilate and the sweat upon his forehead. So this was hard on him. Good. His muscles were tense, gleaming with perspiration.
“Patience,” she whispered up at him, and with a groan, his mouth closed over hers again. His hand moved to part her legs and touch the soft wetness buried within. Her eyes closed and she lost track of time. Hayden’s mouth and fingers seemed to be everywhere.
Small shudders rippled through her and she cried his name. Growling under his breath, he withdrew his hand and released her wrists. She arched upward, clinging to him, and he delved into her waiting moistness.
“Patience,” she whispered throatily again.
“Like hell!” His thrusts were long and fierce and desperate as he joined with her. With a savage passion he cried out her name before collapsing against her, his sweat mingling with her own dewy sheen. “My sweet Nadine,” he rasped against her hair as he breathed in thick gulps of air. “What’re we going to do?”
Still wrapped in the gentle cloak of afterglow, she didn’t worry. Not now. She kissed his sweat-soaked cheek, and her palms rubbed against his flat nipples. His chest hair was springy and soft.
As he rolled off her, she whispered, “Not so fast.”
“What? Nadine? Again?” he said in wonder as she ran her tongue over his nipples and he shuddered. “So soon?”
His abdomen flexed as she kissed his navel, and when she lowered herself he groaned her name and gave in to the rising passion that was always simmering just under the surface whenever he was with her. Her lips and tongue played a special magic on him, and he knew in a moment of truth and ecstasy that he’d never get enough of her.
* * *
“TELL ME ABOUT your marriage.” Hayden was seated at the small table in the kitchen, one bare foot propped on a nearby chair as he watched her pour coffee into two mugs. He noticed her robe move with her as she worked, the hem skimming the floor, offering him a peek at long slim legs, wrapping around her breasts and nipping in at her waist. Her hair was tied at her nape and her cheeks were still pink from a night of making love.
“There’s nothing much to tell. It failed,” she admitted, her lips pinching a little.
“Why?”
She set both mugs on the table and, gently pushing off his foot, sat in the chair he’d used as a stool. “We grew in different directions.”
“Bull.”
“It’s true.”
“Did you love him?”
She was in the process of blowing the steam across her cup, but looked up quickly at the question. Hesitating, she set down her mug and cradled her chin in one palm. “I don’t know. I…well, I believed that it didn’t matter if you loved someone or not. The important thing was to like and respect the person you married. Sam was…steady, or I thought he was. And he loved me. He told me I would learn to love him the same way, that all we needed was time.” She sucked in her lower lip and shook her head. “Now,” she said, “I realize that I was looking for a way to escape.”
“From?”
“The problems at my house. When I was finished with boarding school, my mother had already left my dad and I felt that if…if I stuck around, I’d never get free.” Guilt seeped into her green eyes. “I didn’t have the money for college so I decided to get married.” She avoided his gaze. “People had always called me a ‘romantic,’ but I guess I proved them wrong.” Frowning, she climbed to her feet, snapped a couple of slices of bread into the toaster and turned her back on him.
He sipped the coffee and listened to the clock tick from the living room. Each second that passed reminded him of the years he’d spent away from her. Empty years. Wasted years.
Rubbing his jaw, he decided to gamble. Until they cleared up the past, there was no way they could even think about a future. Not that he was. He had no intention of falling in love with Nadine Warne or becoming a husband to her and a father to her kids. Yet here he was, comfortable as you please, drinking coffee and waiting for toast and eggs that she cooked for him. It bothered him a little as he watched her crack eggs into a skillet. She didn’t want a quick affair any more than he did. But what else was there? Maybe, if they made love enough, the excitement would wear thin, the fantasy of their youth would be replaced by harsh adult reality. Because they were just playing out their teenage frustrations, weren’t they? He took a long swallow of coffee and watched her rump sway beneath the robe. In his mind he saw her white, lightly veined flesh, felt her muscles rubbing anxiously up against him like a mare in heat. Clearing his throat, he forced his gaze to the window, away from the exciting movement of her body. She was only cooking eggs, for crying out loud!
Yet, dressed from shoulder to ankle in that damned robe, Nadine Warne was sexier than most women wearing string bikinis. “Damn,” he muttered, and she visibly started, spattering grease on her wrist.
Swearing softly, she turned to the faucet and ran cold water over her arm.
Hayden was on his feet in an instant and when he reached for her arm, she drew it back. “I can handle this,” she said, when he tried to touch her again.