Heartstrings (18 page)

The color drained from her face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so...”

“Jealous?” He relaxed and grinned as he reached across the table and took her hand. “I guess I should take that as a good sign. But I promise you, Amanda and I haven’t been more to each other than friends–of the platonic kind and without any benefits–for over a year.”

When he rubbed the soft place over the pulse of her wrist, the heat flashing in her eyes burned him clear to his bones.

* * * *

They finished their meals and shared decadent chocolate cake and rich coffee. She licked the icing off her fork and smiled. “That was truly better than...”

Seth raised a brow and set his cup on its saucer. “If you say sex, you’ve been missing out. The cake was good, but not that good.”

Her face flamed hot, and she averted her eyes, but she couldn’t deny what he said, so she laughed, which was better than climbing under the table.

She looked up when he reached across the table and rubbed his thumb along her cheek to her chin. “You are still the most beautiful woman in the world when you blush.” His husky voice and warm touch caused a shiver to quake through her. “Dance with me.”

She looked around. They were alone on the terrace. Soft music was piped through a sound system. Chinese lanterns lit the stone floor with multicolored lights. The sun had long ago gone down, and the stars reflected off the McAllister Reservoir below the bluff.

“Okay.” When her eyes met his again, she knew exactly how this night would end. His eyes darkened with wanton lust.

He led her to the open floor and pulled her to him. She gave in to the feeling of his hands on her waist, burning though her thin dress, and her touch relaxed on his shoulders. She melted right into him.

He surrounded her. His hot breath in her hair where he rested his cheek against her temple and the warmth of his body against hers and the way he moved against her as they swayed to the music fanned the fire in her veins. She buried her nose in his neck and breathed in his heady, male scent. She trembled with an all-consuming need like nothing she’d ever felt.

She couldn’t catch her breath. The song wound to its end while her heart galloped away. As she moved against Seth’s hips, the evidence of his desire pressed against her lower belly. She’d never felt like this for Mike. And he’d never lusted for her.

As Seth moved against her again, all thoughts of Mike flew from her mind. She pulled away to meet his eyes ablaze with the same hot lust that had filled them on that magical night so long ago. She responded with an answering ache deep in the pit of her soul. Even after all these years, she wanted him, and like all those years ago, she would risk everything to have him.

“I think you’d better take me home.”

“Yeah, I think that would be best,” he said in a sexy drawl. A shudder quaked through her, and the last of her resistance crumbled. “Or I’m liable to do something that will definitely cause a whole heap of gossip.”

* * * *

Abby didn’t remember much of the drive home. Like a man possessed, Seth pulled into her drive and skidded to a stop on the loose gravel of the driveway.

He unfastened his seatbelt and leaned over at the same time she knelt in the leather seat facing him. Her arms went around his neck. His went around her waist and pulled her as close as the center console would allow.

Their lips clashed together, and he slid his hungry tongue into her mouth. She tasted the spicy passion sizzling between them, tangled her fingers into the strands of his hair, pulling him even closer. One of his hands slid up her side to cover her breast; the other slipped under her skirt and stroked the skin of her thigh, then slipped under the edge of her panties. When he stroked her, she shivered at the sensation of his rough hand so intimately touching her.

“Damn, you’re so wet.” He moaned as she sucked on his lower lip and nibbled on the captured flesh.

“Don’t stop.” She shivered again and her breathing went ragged. She was too close to the edge to not fall over it. When he slipped a finger inside her, it was too much. She clung to him as the shudders of her orgasm raked over her.

When she finally opened her eyes to meet his, he groaned as he pulled his hand away. His eyes were dark in the fickle light of the moon and porch shining through the windshield, but they burned with need.

“Let’s go inside,” she whispered against his lips.

He rushed around the SUV and yanked the door open. She went into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. He stopped and his breath hissed out of him, breaking the kiss.

“What’s wrong?”

He untangled her legs from around his waist and shifted her into a bridal carry. “Trust me this way is safer. Or I’ll strip you right here.”

“At this point I don’t care,” she murmured and pulled his mouth back to hers. “I want you inside me.”

He carried her to the front door. She fumbled with her key, while he suckled the soft skin behind her ear, making it damned hard to concentrate. When she finally got the door open, they didn’t bother with the light; he went straight through the house to the master bedroom.

He set her on her feet and buried his fingers in her hair as he kissed her. She pulled his shirt out of his jeans and yanked open the pearl snaps. His chest quivered under her touch. He broke the kiss as she explored the hard muscle and contrasting textures of the curls and smooth skin.

She undid the clasp and tie, then he shucked the shirt. She bit her bottom lip as the dim moonlight from the windows limned his wide chest and muscular shoulders. She ached for him and couldn’t wait much longer. As she reached for his belt, he reached around her and unzipped the dress.

He took possession of her mouth, his tongue plunging deep, imitating what they both wanted. Before his jeans slipped down his toned legs, he pulled a condom from his back pocket and placed it on the bedside table. He pushed the dress from her shoulders and it fell to the floor, followed by her bra and panties, then he lifted her against him again and laid her on the bed.

Moaning his name deep in her throat, she arched against him as he brushed his thumb over a puckered nipple. She reached between them and found his heavy erection. He broke the kiss with a hiss and caught her hands.

“You’ve got to slow down, baby.” He pulled her arms over her head.

“I don’t want slow.” She arched her body into him again. “I want you inside now.”

He growled and nuzzled her neck. “Jesus, I think you’re gonna kill me.”

“No, you’re killing me.” Was that breathy voice hers?

He shuddered then pulled back. “How can I want you this much?” he asked in a gravelly rumble that stilled her heart. “How did I survive without having you before now?”

For a long moment, she searched his gaze. What did he mean by that? “I swore this wouldn’t happen. But I want you so much I can’t breathe.”

Trailing openmouthed kisses down her throat, he stopped to nibble on the skin over her racing pulse. His facial hair tickled her oversensitive skin as he placed soft kisses over her breasts and suckled on the hard points of her nipples.

“Seth, please.”

He took the condom and quickly sheathed himself. Her heart pounded so fast and hard against her ribs she feared it would crash out of her chest. He was so big and it had been so long since she’d had sex. She hoped she could take him.

When he lay over her, he captured her lips with his. Legs wound around his hips, and arms clasped his shoulders, she held on to him, afraid to let go.

When his erection touched her, he closed his eyes and groaned deep in his chest. She moved against him, and he entered in a single thrust.

“Oh, God, Abby...you feel so good.” His head went back; his jaw clenched taut. His shoulders and chest tensed. He was so beautiful, her soul wept.

“Seth.”

He met her gaze with one heavy with desire as he moved over her and within her, finding the perfect rhythm.

Her nails bit into his shoulders as she urged him to move faster. Her body pulsed around him, taking him deeper. He consumed her, and she wanted to consume him. He dove into her over and over again, rushing them both to completion.

He gripped her hips, lifted her, angling her pelvis. She cried out at the jolt of pleasure flowing through her. A rattling groan came from his chest as she tightened around him, drawing him deep into her. His biceps bulged, and his face contorted with strained control.

Had she ever felt like this?

She screamed when the orgasm hit. Wave after wave of ecstasy washed over her heated flesh, and light burst behind her eyes. Calling out his name, she held on to him and rode out the storm.

He plunged into her one last time, and his sweat-slicked body stilled over hers, the muscles under her hands becoming as firm as granite. Growling her name into her neck, he followed her to fulfillment.

* * * *

Abby closed the pearl snaps of his shirt and wobbled through the kitchen. She lifted the collar and breathed in Seth’s scent. She loved the way he smelled and tasted.

The shirt barely covered her, but there was no way she’d walk around the house completely nude. She could only imagine what he’d think of her pudgy belly and full hips if he’d taken the time to actually look at her. She turned on the light over the sink and filled a glass with water.

She swallowed the cold sip and closed her eyes. What had she done?

“Hey, I came back from the bathroom to find you gone.” Seth entered from the hall, running his fingers through his tousled hair, and as nude as the day as he was born. Her gaze traveled over his amazing body, and he watched her as if unable to get enough of her either.

He sauntered toward her and wrapped his arms around her. “Damn. Too bad Urban’s already done that one.”

“What’s that?”

“You look good in my shirt,” he said, referring to a Keith Urban hit song. “But you look even better without it.”

Heat warmed her cheeks, and she leaned up to place a kiss on his lips. “You just plain look good...period.”

He removed the glass from her hand and took a sip before setting it on the counter. When he responded to her, she moaned and lifted her leg, bringing herself intimately against him. How could she be so achy for him so soon?

He raised a brow. “You haven’t been anywhere near loved enough, if you can still look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you want to eat me right up.”

“Maybe I do.”

“Good. Because I’m feeling a little famished myself.” He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She wiggled against his erection. Chuckling low and sensually in her ear, he carried her back to bed. “Trust me, this will definitely be better than chocolate cake.”

“It already is.”

* * * *

Seth awoke from the deepest sleep he’d had in a long time, but dawn was another two hours away. Abby lay curled against his side, warm and soft. Her breathing was gentle and sated, her hair tangled around her shoulders and over the pillowcase.

His heart constricted at her beauty in the silvery starlight from the window. He wasn’t sure who seduced whom last night. The evening started out as planned. He’d wine and dine her, make her feel something for him, and then he’d be set. He’d have the in he wanted to get her to agree to tell Emily the truth.

The one thing he’d feared most with this plan had happened.

He’d fallen completely and utterly in love with her all over again.

But he wasn’t sure if she felt anything for him. She hadn’t professed her feelings for him; she hadn’t given him a clue at all concerning her hopes for a future. The same magic simmered around them as it had the night Emily had been conceived, but she hadn’t loved him then.

It was just sex... Seth, I don’t love you.

Her words from the night he’d wanted her to go with him drilled through his heart.

Would she regret last night? Was it just a repeat of that night fifteen years ago?

He couldn’t face the answers.

Did you love Mike?

Yes.

Brushing his fingers over the side of her cheek, he whispered, “Do you still love him?”