Can't Help Falling in Love (30 page)

Authors: Bella Andre

BOOK: Can't Help Falling in Love

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“I’m not in the mood to dance tonight,” she began, before realizing, “I don’t know your name."

She liked the way he reached out and brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes, liked it even more when he said, “My name is Marcus. And I’m not in the mood to dance, either.”

She supposed there were lots of things they could both say to each other. Things like, “Should we get out of here?” or “Why don’t we go back to my hotel?” But, amazingly, Nicola realized those words, those questions and answers, weren’t necessary.

Everything they’d needed to say to each other had already been said.

In one look.

In one touch.

Her skin burned where he’d touched her, his fingertips rougher than she’d thought they would be, given his clothes. She’d felt calluses and strength in that one brush across her skin. The thought of being touched like that—with those hands—on even more sensitive parts of her body had heat blooming inside of her in places that never usually got that hot.

The music was still playing, louder than before, perhaps, but all she could hear was the beating of her own heart. All she knew was that she wanted this night with Marcus more than she’d wanted anything in a very long time.

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FROM THIS MOMENT ON
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* * *

GAME FOR LOVE

In a relationship built on lies...the only truth is their feelings for each other.

To fulfill his grandmother's dying wish, linebacker Cole Taylor must find – and marry – a good girl. First grade teacher Anna Davis fits the bill perfectly. Their deal is simple: If she'll be his temporary wife, he'll give her more pleasure than she ever imagined was possible.

Only, love is the ultimate game-changer.

Enjoy the following excerpt for GAME FOR LOVE...

His eyes, still dark with desire, were fixed on her and she felt as if he saw all the way into her soul. It was too much, too soon. Anna tried to walk inside the hotel room, but he grabbed her before she could take more than a step, and pulled her against him.

“You don’t need to run from me, Anna.”

Her breath was rising and falling too fast. “I don’t want to run, but I don’t know how to do anything else.”

His mouth found hers and she tried to lose herself in his kiss the way she’d been lost in all the others, but panic was riding her too hard now to be able to let go. His hands moved down her back, rubbing, massaging from shoulder to hips, but instead of relaxing, she only tensed up more. He lifted his head and she immediately said, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“No apologies."

Grateful that he wasn’t pressuring her into anything—even though she was now his lawfully wedded wife—she said, “I want—”

Oh God, she was such a novice at all of this that she didn’t even know how to get the words out.

“You want to sleep with me."

Thankful that he clearly didn’t have the same problem, she nodded.

“But something is holding you back?"

Again, she nodded.

“How many lovers have you had, Anna?”

She flushed at his question. “Two,” she said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. “But being with them wasn’t like being with you.”

The words were out before she realized they were coming and her flush flamed even brighter.

“You’re special to me, too,” he said softly against her lips and this time when he kissed her, she was able to sink into it a little more. “I want to give you pleasure, Anna, more pleasure than you’ve ever known. Will you let me do that for you?”

His heated words shot through her veins like a drug. “I want to, Cole.” And she did. God, how she did. “But what if I freak out again?”

“Will you trust me to make sure that doesn’t happen?”

She had no reason to trust him, not when she didn’t know any more about him than his name and profession. And yet, there was something in his eyes, in the way he’d touched her so far tonight, in the way he’d kissed her, that had her feeling cherished.

Adored.

No one had ever made her feel that way before. Not just the sexual part, which was way off any chart she’d ever had, but the safety part.

Cole made her feel protected.

“What we’ve had so far tonight is only the beginning. There’s so much more, sweet Anna. Let me show you how good I can make you feel.”

She couldn’t hold back a shiver at his words. His arms were still around her, light enough that she could walk away at any moment, but she didn’t want to go. His erection throbbed hard and thick against her belly even through his pants, and she wanted what he promised.

Badly.

But now she knew for sure that she couldn’t do it on her own. Not without him helping her. Guiding her. Leading her.

Not without trusting him.

She’d thought a quickie wedding would be the craziest thing she’d ever done, but now she knew she was wrong. Sleeping with Cole, trusting him enough to give her body over to him, letting him learn what gave her pleasure—learning it for herself—was far crazier.

“I’ll trust you, Cole."

The relief that flashed across his features was quickly replaced with a darker, deeper desire than she’d seen yet and then he was picking her up and kissing her as he carried her back inside.

Into his bedroom.

* * *

Cole didn’t throw her on the bed, didn’t crawl over her and keep kissing her. Instead, he set her on her feet again and said, “Turn around.”

Anna’s eyes flashed a combination of desire and that uncertainty she couldn’t shake at his command. But she did it.

“Good girl,” he said as he slid her zipper down and pushed her dress off her shoulders to the floor.

The fine hairs along her spine rose as his fingers followed the dress down. She moved to turn again to face him.

“Stay right where you are.”

“But I can’t see what you’re doing.”

“I know.”

Again, despite her reluctance to give up control, he hoped she was tempted enough by what he was offering to give it.

After taking a long moment to appreciate how good she looked from the back in nothing but a bra and panties, all soft curves and smooth skin—the anticipation of seeing her from the front nearly killing him—Cole said, “Don’t move a muscle.”

He could see how hard it was for her follow his instructions, even without seeing her face. She was all but bristling with anxiety as he walked over to his dresser and pulled it open.

“Tell me what you’re doing,” she begged.

God, how he liked to hear her beg.

“You’ll know soon enough,” he said, teasing her with his response. Despite what she thought she wanted, the fact was that not knowing what he was doing would make her even hotter.

And would help her let go.

That need to let go was exactly why he gently slid one of his silk ties across her eyes.

She reached for the blindfold, but he didn’t stop her. “I thought you were going to trust me, sweet Anna.”

Her hands stilled on the soft fabric. “But I didn’t think you’d be...blindfolding me.”

He had to press a kiss to the spot where her neck curved into her shoulder. But just the press of his lips wasn’t enough, he had to rake her skin with his teeth, had to begin to mark her as his.

His
.

“Don’t think, Anna. Just feel.” He finished tying it behind her soft hair, tight enough that it wouldn’t slip, but not tight enough to hurt. “The blindfold will help.”

“How?”

Her whispered question gave him such a big hard-on it almost hurt. Because she was trusting him.

And he didn’t deserve that trust.

Damn it, he couldn’t go there. Not now. Not when he had a feeling the greatest pleasure he’d known yet was right in front of him, wearing his tie as a blindfold. Along with his ring on her left hand.

When she’d asked him not to betray her trust, they’d been talking about sex. He told himself that his answer had been totally honest. Enough justification that nothing was going to stop him from giving her the ultimate pleasure.

“No decisions. No choices. Just pleasure.”

He heard her breath catch, saw the flutter of excitement in the upper curve of her breasts where her heart was beating hard enough that he could see it jumping beneath her skin.

He picked her up again, her arms going around his neck to steady herself a moment before he laid her down on the bed.

With the blindfold covering her incredible eyes, he found himself enthralled by her mouth, a sweet and sexy cupid’s bow that was made for kissing. A vision ambushed him of Anna’s soft, red lips wrapped around his shaft as she sucked him deep into her throat.

“You’re beautiful, Anna. So damn beautiful.”

Those perfect lips curved up into a tremulous smile. She blindly reached up for his face, running her fingertips across his jaw, over his lips. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Leaning down over her, he licked her lips, a long stroke from one side to the other. She opened up to him on a whimper and for the hundredth time that night, he lost sight of his plan.

Because just kissing this woman was better than having sex with any other.

As her curves went soft and pliant beneath his, as he settled his erection against her wet heat and she bucked up into him, it took everything Cole had for him to remind himself that they’d been to this point before, where she was open and wanting, and she’d frozen up. If he kept at it like this, not using any finesse at all, odds were high that it would happen again.

Not because she was a tease.

Not because she didn’t want him as badly as he wanted her.

But because she was good girl.

And pleasure this extreme frightened her.

“Have I mentioned yet how much I love kissing you?”

“I love kissing you, too,” she said in that soft voice that was as warm and sweet as the woman beneath him.

“I want to kiss you everywhere, Anna.”

Her soft smile froze on her face at the exact moment that he took hold of her wrists and lifted her arms over her head.

“Cole?”

“Just relax, sweetheart.”

He’d never been one for pet names, had never bothered to force them out to get in a girl’s pants, but with Anna he wasn’t forcing it. She was
sweet
. So sweet he ached with the need to kiss her. To taste her. Working quickly, he drew another silk tie from where he’d been storing it around his neck and bound her left wrist to the right bedpost.

“How can I relax when you’re tying me up?”

Her earnest question had him smiling down at her. The kind of woman he usually slept with would be playing it up right now, moaning and putting on a show for his benefit.

But not Anna. Instead, she was telling him exactly what she was feeling every step of the way with beautiful honesty.

“Like this,” he said a moment before he ran his tongue lightly across the delicate skin on the inside of her wrist. “And this.” His mouth ran kisses from her palm around to her shoulder.

By the time he made it back to her face, he had to drop in for another taste of her sweet mouth. Her nipples were a hard press of heat against his forearms.

“Better?”

Her breath was coming in harsh pants. “No.”

“Maybe this will help.” With her limbs still rubbery from his kisses, he quickly moved her other arm into place and secured it to the bedpost. Moving back to stare down at her beautiful, half-bound body, he asked again, “Better now?”

“Cole. Please. I don’t know how to do this.”

“You don’t need to know, sweetheart. Not when your body already does."

Gently spreading her thighs with a hand on each leg, he inhaled her scent, more sweet than musky. His mouth watered with the urge to bury his face in her soft, wet folds, and taste her.

“Can you feel how wet you are for me?”

Her pink panties were soaked. He pressed two fingers against her wet heat and she gasped, clamping her legs together around his hand.

Leaving his hand pressed in tight against her silk-covered sex, he asked, “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?”

“But you’re the one touching me.”

Jesus, she had no idea how much her innocence inflamed him. Hell, he was as surprised by it as she was.

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GAME FOR LOVE
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The following Bella Andre titles are also available in electronic format from Barnes & Noble.