Cold Feet in Hot Sand (16 page)

“Not now.” He kissed his way down her neck. His hand drifted down her side as his lips closed around her nipple. “I’m going to fuck you, I promise you that.” He looked up, giving her a devilish grin. “But first…” He pressed his lips to the center of her chest, and started trailing soft, lingering kisses down her chest and her stomach.

She grasped the headboard, just trying to anchor herself in the present as his lips paused on her hipbone. As he kissed her inner thigh, she moaned with anticipation, silently sending up a prayer of thanks to whatever deity had seen fit to put this man in her bed and a second later, she was aware of nothing but the warmth of his mouth against her pussy.

Deanna was completely at his mercy as he teased her, explored her, teased her some more. His tongue slipped between her pussy lips, then drew a slow, maddening path back up to her clit, and when he made a few delicious, spine-tingling circles around her clit, she screwed her eyes shut as the world spun around her. As he slid his fingers inside her, she whimpered softly, but it was his delirious groan vibrating against her flesh that almost sent her into the stratosphere. How long had it been since a man not only knew what he was doing, but enjoyed it like he so obviously did?

And oh, God, she enjoyed it too. It didn’t take Nick long at all to bring the first tremors of an orgasm to life, and she was sure mere seconds had passed between the moment he’d gone down on her and the instant everything went white. Her voice stopped somewhere in her throat and only a soft moan, barely more than a sigh, escaped her lips, the faint sound echoing in the silence. It wasn’t nearly enough to do justice to the wildfire of intensity he unleashed inside her, but it was all she could do.

And before she’d come back down to earth, Nick was over her.

“Fuck me,” she tried to whimper, and the words hadn’t even slipped off her lips when his first thrust knocked the air out of her lungs. The second kept her from catching her breath. By the third, she didn’t care, because his cock just felt too damned incredible.

She dug her nails into his shoulders and he groaned. His rhythm faltered briefly, but when he recovered, he fucked her even harder. She’d never experienced sex so violent, a man so desperate, and nothing had ever been so hot. The more she raked her fingernails across his back and shoulders, the more he gave her. She might’ve drawn blood, he might’ve left bruises, but she didn’t care as long as he kept fucking her just. Like.
That
.

“Don’t stop,” she moaned. “Please don’t stop…” Over and over she begged him to stop, not sure where she found the air to breathe, let alone the words to speak, but it didn’t matter because he didn’t stop. He just kept driving his cock deep inside her, panting and growling against her neck as the bed protested beneath them.

He pushed himself up on his arms and moaned. “Oh God, I’m
—
” He shuddered. “I don’t
—
” He gasped, letting his head fall forward. “Not until you
—
”

Abruptly, he pulled out and, before she could even draw a breath, moved back and went down on her
again
. The second his tongue touched her clit, a tremor ran up her spine so violently her shoulders lifted right off the bed.

She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t see through the tears and the white light creeping into her vision. She wanted him inside her again, but what he did was too good to stop, too much to take, too good to stop, too damned much, too damned good…

He explored her with his tongue, a low growl vibrating against her flesh as he closed his lips around her clit and sucked gently, the tip of his tongue fluttering across it before circling it rapidly. His fingers slipped inside her, beckoning against her G-spot, the subtle, gentle motion creating powerful shockwaves that shook her entire body.

Her lips parted to release a cry, but the sound lodged in her throat as he brought her closer to the edge. Gripping the back of the bed for dear life, she gasped as a violent shudder ran up her spine. For what seemed like forever, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t think of anything except the delicious release that was just out of her reach, just beyond her grasp, so close, so fucking close, so
—

“Oh God, Nick…”

Her hips lifted off the bed, pushing herself against his mouth and his hand, begging for more even as it became too much. He flicked his tongue just right across her clit and she came a second time with a soft whimper, the only sound she could muster through the wave upon wave of electricity he sent rushing through her.

When she could finally breathe again, she managed one deep gasp before his mouth enveloped hers, filling her senses with the taste of herself on his tongue. She pulled him close, exploring his mouth just as he had explored her pussy.

“God, I want to fuck you,” he said against her lips, and with that, he was inside her, taking her breath away all over again.

“Faster,” she moaned. “Oh fuck, faster.”

“With pleasure,” he said through his teeth, hooking his hands under her shoulders and exhaling sharply against her neck as he fucked her faster. She raked her nails across his back and he took in a hiss of breath, arching his back and slamming into her even harder.

Holy hell, the things the man could do with his hips. The force behind them, the way he could hit her G-spot perfectly with every thrust, the way he filled her completely and didn’t back down and didn’t even seem to get a little bit tired as he fucked her so hard it hurt, and she was sure she’d come again if he didn’t stop, and if she could have drawn a breath she’d have begged him not to stop.

Then he sat up, and he held her hips as he fucked her even harder. Using the headboard for leverage, she held on and rolled her hips in time with his powerful thrusts, meeting him stroke for stroke and pulling him as deep into her pussy as she could, her throaty cries crescendoing each time he hit every perfect, pulsing spot inside her. She heard his name, was only vaguely aware that it was her own voice she was hearing, and for the third time tonight, she came, every bit of tension within her building even while it broke. An impossible combination, a contradiction: a cable pulling still tighter in the same instant it also frayed, unraveled, snapped.

Her pussy tightened around his cock and he groaned, then cursed, then gasped. He gripped her hips and pulled her against him, driving himself as deep as he could as he groaned and shuddered.

Then the room fell silent except for their uneven gasps. He loosened his grip on her hips but didn’t let go, his hands trembling against her skin. After a moment, he pulled out and sank down to her, meeting her lips in a gentle, breathless kiss, and tangled up in tired, exhausted limbs, they held each other close and kissed lazily.

I need to know what it feels like to be with you with a clear conscience.

His words echoed in her mind as his skin warmed her fingertips and his tongue teased her lips apart. Her conscience wasn’t entirely clear, the guilt hadn’t completely let go of her, but this finally felt as right as she’d hoped it would. Like this was where they both belonged, no matter what path they’d had to take to get here.

Nick broke the kiss and met her eyes. “I love you, Deanna.”

“I love you too,” she murmured.

He kissed her again, and they sank into each other once more.

Maybe they’d started things off on the wrong foot, maybe their beginning had been more painful
—
for them and Kristina
—
than it had any right to be, but now everything was on its way to being right. On its way to perfect.

Deanna had no illusions that everything was one hundred percent hunky dory with Kristina yet. There were too many emotions involved to shake it all off overnight, and resentment and jealousy could rear their heads if the three of them didn’t proceed carefully.

But they would proceed carefully. Deanna had come too close to losing that bond she shared with her sister, and she’d come too close to losing the only man who’d ever made her feel this way.

Whatever it took, she wasn’t losing either of them again.

Epilogue

Two Years Later

Nick opened the front door and gestured for Kristina and her boyfriend, Daniel, to come in.

“Deanna’s still getting ready,” he said as they walked past him. “She should be down in a few minutes.”

Kristina shrugged. “No rush.”

“Have we decided whose car we’re taking tonight?” Daniel asked. “I parked in front of your garage, so if we’re taking yours this time, I might need to move it.”

“You drove last time,” Nick said. “So why don’t we take mine?”

“Sure.” Daniel pulled out his keys and backtracked toward the door. “I’ll go move mine. Be right back.”

The door shut behind him, and now that they were alone in the entryway, Nick and Kristina faced each other.

“You doing okay?” she asked with a knowing grin.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said. “Just… you know…”

Her grin broadened. “You’re doing it tonight, aren’t you?”

He had no doubt the heat rushing into his face meant some extra red in his cheeks. “I… yes. I am.”

She squealed and threw her arms around him. “Oh my God, I’m so excited for you two!”

“Shh,” he said, trying not to laugh. “I don’t want her to hear anything.”

“Oh please.” Kristina pulled back and smirked at him. “As if

the two of you haven’t been discussing this, like, constantly.”

“I know,” he said in a stage whisper. “But she doesn’t know it’s
tonight
.”

“Right, right.” She paused. “You’re sure this time, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m definitely sure this time.”

Kristina smiled. “Good. I’m happy for both of you.”

“Thanks.” Nick swallowed. “
This isn’t
weird for you, I mean
—
”

“Nick.” She inclined her head. “That’s all in the past. You guys are obviously made for each other. You know as well as I do that if things had turned out differently, you and I would be miserable and probably divorcing by now.” She paused, smiling. “And I never would have met Daniel.”

“That’s true.” Nick returned the smile. “I guess everything worked out.”

“Yeah, it did.” Her expression shifted to a playfully menacing glare. “And just so you know, if you leave my sister at the altar? I will find you, grab you by the balls, and drag you down the aisle.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “I’m pretty sure that won’t be necessary.”

Kristina smiled. “No, I’m pretty sure it won’t.” She glanced over her shoulder as the front door opened behind her. “Okay, there’s Daniel. Now where the hell’s my sister?”

“Still getting ready.”

Daniel rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated sigh. “God. You women and your getting-ready routines.”

Kristina smacked him playfully, but Daniel just chuckled.