Stolen: A Novel of Romantic Suspense (21 page)

“Elliot,” she yelped, startled.

He slid her a look, staring at her over the curves of her breasts, the taste of her still lingering on his tongue. Squeezing the taut curve of her ass, he said gruffly, “Should I stop?”

Shay stared at him. And then she whispered, “No.” She tightened the hand she had in his hair, urging his head back to her breasts. He licked, teased, and softly bit until she was groaning and arching against him, her hips rocking back and forth slowly. The friction was driving him nuts and he doubted she was in much better shape.

Kissing his way up over her collarbone, along the line of her neck to her mouth, he fisted his hand in her hair and covered her mouth with his. She caught him off guard when she cupped his face in her hands and plundered his mouth, her tongue sliding out to tangle with his, a sleek, hot little dart that rubbed over his and toyed and tangled.

It wasn’t until they were both starving for air that they broke apart, gasping.

He slid his hand down her back, just inside the waist of her pants, and toyed with the lace he felt along her panties. “I think now sounds like a good time to talk about getting you naked,” he whispered against her shoulder.

“We don’t really need to talk about it.”

Lifting his head, he stared at her flushed face. “You sure?”

She laughed nervously, her eyes glinting with hunger … and resolve. He could see that certainty and it burned him straight through to his gut. “Yes,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her naked breasts to his chest. Shay lowered her head and started to nibble at the flesh along his shoulder. “I’m sure.”

The blood drained out of his head and for a moment, he thought he was going to drop her—his knees were feeling … No. He was good. His cock pulsed hard, like a bad tooth, and he had to … fuck, he had to get her naked, and now sounded really good. Naked, so he could get inside …

“Shit,”
he bit off as something occurred to him.

Shay lifted her head from his shoulder. “What?”

“I don’t have anything with me, damn it.” He groaned. This wasn’t happening. Damn it, this wasn’t happening.

“What do you mean, you don’t have anything?” she asked, some of the heat clearing from her eyes.

“Protection.” He unlocked her ankles from behind his back and eased her to the floor. “I wasn’t … hell, Shay. I came up here to talk to you about the trouble going on, not for this.
Damn
it. Hell of a time for the just-in-case fairy to not be around.”

Shay blinked at him. “Did you say ‘the just-in-case fairy’?”

“Uh …” Elliot felt the slow rush of blood creeping up
his neck.
Shit
. Had he just said that? “Ah, that’s a Lorna thing. She used to tease me about making sure I’d have that kind of thing on hand … since I wouldn’t have a just-in-case fairy …”

“Ah, Lorna said you did have one … said to check your car.” She circled around him and grabbed her phone from the counter, shoving it into his hands. “I didn’t know what she was rambling about, but …” She finished with a shrug as he read the text.

Elliot blinked at the phone. Then he reached out and hooked his hand over the back of Shay’s neck, hauling her against him. Startled, she barely even had time to breathe before his mouth came down on hers with sudden, shocking intensity. And then he was gone, moving out of the kitchen at a pace that was almost a run.

“Elliot?”

She reached up to touch her buzzing lips, but he didn’t pause.

“What the …”

With a scowl, she grabbed her shirt and tugged it on, then trailed along after him. A blast of cold air came through the door just as she reached the front hall and she saw his back right before he shut the door behind him. Without his coat. Bemused, she headed down the hall and opened the door, arms crossing over her chest. It was still dark out, although the sky was starting to lighten just a little toward the east.

The bright security lights she had installed lit up the grounds enough that she saw Elliot just fine as he came jogging his way back up to her. “What are you doing? It’s got to be ten degrees outside,” she snapped at him. “Are you …”

He crowded her back into the house, dipped his head, and smothered the rest of her words with his mouth. “Remind me to tell my sister thanks,” he muttered as he kicked the door shut.

She didn’t even have any way of making sense of that. Not until he leaned back and reached for the hem of her shirt. “Didn’t we take this off already?” he asked, toying with the fabric.

“I thought we weren’t … we couldn’t …”

He pulled something out of his pocket.

Blood rushed to her cheeks as she realized what it was. Condoms. Staring at the strip of foil packets, she said, “You mean to tell me that your sister left rubbers in your car after you called her last night?”

“Yeah. Remind me to tell her thanks.” He reached over and hooked his fingers in the front of her pants, tugged her against him. “Come here …”

“Why would your sister do that?”

“Probably because she knows I’d never think of it, and because she’s always hopeful.” He pressed his mouth to her shoulder. “She kept telling me I needed to get back with you. I guess she got all excited when I told her where I was.” He lifted his head and studied her, eyes thoughtful. “Are you mad?”

She shrugged. “No … I’m not mad. I’m a little embarrassed, thinking that your sister knows, or is maybe thinking … hell. Can we stop discussing this? I’m not mad, isn’t that enough? I’m not entirely comfortable with this sort of thing, you know.”

“We can stop discussing this.” He curved his hands over her waist and eased her body against his. “I think we should get right back to where we were … and we were right about here, I think. I’m pretty sure I was about to talk you out of your pants, if I remember right.”

“I think that sounds just about right.” Catching her lower lip between her teeth, Shay glanced around. “We … um. We’re in the hall.”

“Yeah.” He frowned, and then caught her hand. “Come on.”

She followed along behind him, but he didn’t lead her to the bedroom. They stopped in the living room, where the fireplace still crackled along merrily. “I should put out the fire,” she said, distracting herself.

She was about to have sex with Elliot—

“No. I like it.” He pressed his lips to her neck.

“But …”

“Shhh …” He guided her to the couch. But not to the front. He leaned against the back, legs spread. He settled his hips against the couch as he guided her closer.

“Here?” She stared at him.

“Why not?” Trailing his fingers down the midline of her body, he said, “Let’s get you out of those pants now.”

But when he went to reach for the waistband, Shay caught his hands. He stilled.

She reached up and plucked at his sweater. “You’re about two seconds away from having me naked and you’re still completely dressed.” With a glance down, she added, “You even went and put your damn boots on.”

“I wasn’t about to go out in the snow barefoot,” he pointed out. But obligingly, he kicked his boots off. He went to reach for the hem of his sweater, but stopped and let his hands fall to the back of the couch. “I think if you want it off, you should do it.”

There was a look in his eyes, Shay thought. She couldn’t tell if it was a challenge or an offer … maybe it was both. Her heart was practically lodged in her throat and she had to take short, shallow breaths just to get enough air into her lungs. But that was okay.

Taking one small step, she put herself between his wide-spread thighs and fisted her hands in the bottom of his sweater. Staring into the rich, potent gold of his eyes, she dragged the sweater up.

When it caught under his arms, he helped her and in another few seconds, he was naked from the waist up.

Her breath caught. A silver chain glinted around his neck. Curious, she reached up and touched it, tracing its shape. It was a simple silver cross. Cocking a brow, she studied his face. “Am I about to make you commit a carnal sin or something, Elliot?”

“I think I’m pretty involved in anything carnal going on here,” he said. He glanced down, then back up at her. “It was my mother’s.”

“Oh …” She knew about his mom. Knew both he and Lorna had loved her, that they still missed her. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugged as he dropped his sweater over the back of the couch. “Now do I get to get you naked, Shay? I’ve only been trying to do it for … hell, two years, now?”

“Two years, huh?” She laughed, caught off guard by how amazingly … easy … it felt to be there with him. It hadn’t been like this the one time she’d tried. But then that one time, she hadn’t felt like this, either. As her laugh faded away, she smiled at him, resting her hands on the waistband of her pants. “If you’ve been waiting that long, does a few more minutes really matter all that much?”

“Yes.” He tugged her against him.

Shay went willingly, but then she stiffened. “Oh …”

“What is it?”

She swallowed, closing her eyes as she let herself absorb the feel of him. Naked skin pressed against her own … that was … 
wow
. She couldn’t think of any way to describe it.

“Shay?”

His hand feathered across her brow and she made herself open her eyes, smile at him. “This is going to sound stupid, but I …” She looked down, staring at his bare chest pressed to hers. “Damn it, Elliot. All of this is new, okay?”

“That’s not stupid.” He kissed her, sucking her lower
lip into his mouth, as one hand came up to cup her breast. “It’s not stupid. It’s amazing … you’re amazing. And I’ll do my damnedest to make certain it’s amazing for you.”

This time, as he reached down for the pants, she had nothing to say. She suspected they’d already said enough. She let him strip them away and then, without another word from him, she stripped his away. He caught the denim from her before she could toss it on the floor, though, and she watched as he took one of the foil packets from the pocket.

Her breath caught as she stood there, distracted for just a brief moment, as he did that.

She was really going to do this—

Don’t think
, she warned herself.
Whatever you do, don’t think
.

She stared at Elliot. She’d think about him. About this …

He dropped the condom on the back of the couch—she was so damn glad she’d bought the one with that wide, fat-pillowed sort of top—and shifted back toward her.

Wearing nothing but a snug-fitting pair of boxers, that silver chain, and that intense look on his face. All of it focused on her.

“Shay?”

She swallowed and then whispered, “Quit looking at me like you expect me to change my mind.”

“Are you going to?”

“Hell, no.” And before he could do or say anything, she hooked her fingers in the waistband of her panties and dragged them down. As she straightened up in front of him, she wondered if she should warn him …

Elliot groaned. And as he reached for her, all thoughts fled from her mind. She was done thinking, damn it. She could just feel, right? Couldn’t she just
feel
 …

As he pulled her against him, she braced herself once more for that shocking, heated sensation of his bare flesh against hers. Once again, it was completely breath-stealing. And she felt more of him. Almost all of him now. Just his boxers separated them and as she slid her hands inside the waistband, cupping her hands over his hips, she whispered, “Now you’re the one who needs to get naked.”

“In a minute,” he rasped, his hands settling on her hips.

One hand slid around, cupping her between her thighs.

Shay tensed.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Now … please. Elliot …”

She pushed his boxers out of the way. “Shay, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” She closed her eyes, resting her head on his shoulder, struggling to calm the terror that was trying to edge inside. She wasn’t afraid of him. She just couldn’t explain anything else right now and if he touched her there—

“Can you just let me do what I want, Elliot?” she asked quietly. “Please?”

He was quiet.

Lifting her head, she stared at him, certain she’d screwed it up. She had … she knew it. But as their gazes locked, he dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers. “Have your way with me, baby. I’m yours … always.”

“Then can you just …”
Do me
 … That didn’t sound right. She was too nervous to say
fuck me
. Desperate for this to happen before she lost the words, before she lost this delicious heat, she reached out and grabbed the condom he’d set on the couch and pushed it into his hand. “I don’t want to wait. Not this time. Not for anything. Is that okay?”

“Anything you want is okay.”

She closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder, breathing in the scent of wood smoke, aftershave, and Elliot, listening as the foil tore, feeling the warmth of his skin. Thinking about him, just him. Only him. As long as she did that …

“Look at me,” he whispered, a moment later.

She felt his hands on her hips as she lifted her lashes and tipped her head back to study him. Dark eyes—liquid gold—stared into hers and she fell. Lost in him, so lost.

“You can’t know how many times I dreamed about this,” he muttered, pulling her closer.

She wrapped her arms around his neck. She wanted to tell him that she dreamed about it, too. Swallowing, she pressed her lips to his. “I’ve thought about this. A lot. I don’t dream nice things too often, but maybe you can give me better things to dream about.”

“Yeah. Let’s see if we can do that.”

She felt the length of him against her belly, slick and sheathed with the rubber. Then she felt him lifting her, turning so that her weight was braced on the couch. “You okay?” he asked softly, drawing her knees up, opening her.

“Yes …” She gasped as the head of his cock brushed against her.
Ohhhh
 …

For a brief moment something ugly and dark danced in the back of her mind.
Cunt—stupid cunt, did you think I wouldn’t find you …

“Look at me, Shay,” Elliot said, his voice gruff, steady.

Her head fell back. And once more, he was all she saw, all she felt, and every thought was of him.