The Seraphina Donavan Collection: Contemporary (4 page)

Staring at the wall, her lips pursed in anger, Lexi tried to ignore his presence, but he wasn't helping. She could feel his gaze on her, Lexi peered up at him. The expression on his face was puzzling. “What?”

“To hell with it!”

She’d no clue what he meant by that, and no chance to ask questions. He grasped her wrists, hauled her against his chest and then his lips were on hers. Lexi couldn’t think, could barely breathe. All she could do was
feel
. His chest pressed hard against her, his arms tight around her, and the heat of his mouth was pure bliss.

~*~*~

Morgan hadn’t intended to kiss her, but then he hadn’t intended to be locked in a closet and arguing with her either. His good intentions for a heartfelt and sincere apology fled in the face of her proximity and the temptation of her lips.

He just couldn’t resist the urge, especially when fate and her crazy sister were throwing them together at every turn. So, with a muttered curse, he pulled her to him, and did what he’d wanted to from the first moment he laid eyes on her.

Feeling her breasts crushed against his chest along with the soft sigh as his lips settled on hers, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. He might have initiated the kiss, but he wasn’t in control of it. Neither was she. From the second his lips touched hers, it took on a life of its own.

Sweeping his tongue between her lips, her mouth was simply the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted. Like any man who’d been starving, he gorged himself on her. Licking, biting, nipping at her lips, he pressed her against the door. The softness of her body against his equal parts became torment and pleasure.

When she moaned, the sound low and intensely erotic, he left her mouth, pressing hot kisses against velvety skin. His lips coasted over her throat, his teeth grazing sensitive flesh.

Her hands clutched at his shoulders as her hips moved against him. He wanted her in a bed. Naked. He wanted to be balls deep in her and feeling her come around him. The need became so fierce it twisted inside him like a knife.

Tugging at the hem of her shirt, he slid his hands beneath the fabric, over the satin skin of her belly and up to the lush mounds of her breasts. Her nipples were hard points against his palms as he cupped them, kneading them gently. His cock, already painfully hard, throbbed.

Then her hands were roving down his back, to cup his ass, tugging him closer.

“There isn’t enough room in here to do what I want with you,” he murmured.

“Get creative,” she urged, a wicked grin curving her kiss-swollen lips.

If he’d any blood in his body flowing towards his brain, that would have changed the direction. He needed to be inside her. He needed that like he needed air. Turning her so that she faced the door, he stroked the lush curves of her bottom, reaching for the hem of the skirt she wore.

Tugging the skirt up and out of the way, he caressed her smooth skin bared by the sexiest panties he’d ever seen. A black lace band decorated in the middle with a small bow rode low on her hips, leaving the cheeks of her bottom entirely bare.

The urge to spank her bare bottom, to see the red of his fingerprints on her white skin was overwhelming, but he had the feeling that Lexi was far more innocent than her naughty panties would lead anyone to believe. Instead, he slid his fingers along the crevice, tracing the lacy band that bisected her perfect ass, until he reached the damp slit of her sex.

She arched her back, thrusting back against his hand. Slipping the tiny scrap of fabric aside, he touched her bare skin, his fingers gliding easily through damp curls, parting the folds of her sex. It was the lightest of touches, teasing, stoking the fire rather than easing the ache.

“Morgan!” She gasped his name, her cheek pressed against the cool wood of the door, her palms flattened against it.

He stroked her again, his fingers gliding gently over her, savoring the slick heat of her arousal. With the pad of one finger, he drew tiny circles around her clit, never quite touching it. He moved closer, until his cock pressed against her hip, until she could feel precisely what she was doing to him.

She whimpered in response, the soft sound so unbearably sexy it made him clench his teeth. “I’ve been thinking about you like this,” he whispered against her ear. “Naked, wet for me...I haven’t been able to think about anything else.”

Her fingers curved into the wood of the door, the tension in her a tangible thing. He wanted to make her scream with pleasure, to strip away the shyness and even some of the sweetness. He wanted her raw and passionate, primal, but something stopped him. Whether it was a sixth sense honed from years in a combat zone, or something else, he paused long enough to register the slight sound of the front door opening.

“Dammit!” Moving quickly, he stepped back, tugging her skirt down. “It’s Ashley.”

Lexi laid her forehead against the door and took a deep shuddering breath. “Of all the freaking times for Ashley to be punctual!”

“I’m fixing this door knob today, before I leave,” he muttered.

~*~*~

“Lexi?”

Lexi took another deep fortifying breath before answering her sister’s shout, “We’re in the pantry! The door is stuck!”

“We?”

Hearing the curious note in Ashley’s voice, Lexi wanted to just tell her to go away. “Yes, we! Morgan is in here with me.”

How in the name of all that’s holy was she supposed to look her sister in the face after this? Glancing over her shoulder at Morgan, she felt her blush deepening. Would it be so bad to tell Ashley to leave, to just stay locked in that tiny closet with him and find out exactly what he’d planned to do to her when he’d pressed her up against the door?

Just thinking about it made her mouth go dry. Smoothing her clothes with shaking hands, she tried to project some semblance of normalcy. When the door opened and Ashley leveled a knowing stare at her, Lexi knew she’d failed miserably.

“Well this is cozy,” Ashley drawled. “A little old for seven minutes in heaven, aren’t you?”

“Would you shut up? The draft from the back door closing caused this one to shut,” Lexi explained.

Ashley nodded sagely. “Yes. And the whole time you were in there you talked about the weather...so that guilty flush you’re both wearing has nothing to do with the fact that you’ve got beard burn and Morgan’s wearing more of your lipstick than you are?”

Planting her hands on her hips, Lexi glared at her sister. “Thank you for letting us out, but you really don’t have to stay.”

Ashley smiled sweetly, “Of course, I do. I have a ton of questions for you to answer. To start with, where did the roses come from?”

“Roses?”

Ashley gestured over her shoulder to the large butcher block in the center of the kitchen.

A bouquet of red roses lay on the counter, apparently forgotten. Lexi glanced back at Morgan, but he was giving nothing away.

Turning back to her sister, she made an another attempt to get Ashley out of their hair. “We'll talk about all of it later. I’m sure you’ve got lots of things to take care of. Busy, busy, busy.”

Ashley leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms nonchalantly over her chest. “No. Actually, I’m kind of at loose ends today. Maybe we can have lunch? Just the three of us. I'm real interested in hearing Morgan's take on recent events.”

It was at that point that Morgan spoke, “No.” The single word was uttered with such command that even Ashley looked startled. “There are some things that Lexi and I need to discuss...privately.”

“Fine,” Ashley agreed. “I’ll be on my way. I’ll lock the door on the way out and you all just do whatever it was you were about to do. And Morgan, just remember what I said the other night.”

Lexi moved out of the small pantry, towards the table and the roses. Touching her fingertips to one petal, she marveled at the softness. They were a token and shouldn't have swayed her, but they did. Looking at Morgan, she paused. The tension in him was palpable. “I’m sorry about, Ashley. She meddles.”

“I don’t want to talk about your sister. I want to get my hands under your skirt again...for a start. We can do that here or we can go upstairs, but you better decide quick.”

Lexi scooped up the flowers and had almost reached the stairs when she turned back to look at him in shock. She wasn’t used to men saying things like that to her, to men being so overtly sexual and not having it be creepy. Unnerved by the fierce hunger in his gaze, she backed up a step involuntarily. It wasn’t that she was afraid of him, but she did feel overwhelmed by him. Nearly tripping on the bottom step, she couldn’t suppress a shiver as his hands snaked around her waist. With the height of that single step, they were almost eye to eye.

He kissed her then, his mouth covering hers completely. His teeth nipped at her lips while the stubble of his whiskers rasped against her skin. Everywhere he touched, she burned. Her hands slid over his shoulders, into the thick strands of his dark hair, tugging him closer, holding him to her. His chest felt hard against hers, his hands firm as he gripped her hips.

“You’re driving me crazy,” he muttered.

“You’re driving me crazy! Every time I thought you were going to kiss me you didn’t, and then when I wasn’t expecting it, you pounced! Are you going to change your mind again?”

“No. There’s no going back now, but I’m not touching you again, until we’re inside your apartment and I can be inside you,” Morgan uttered his promise so solemnly it almost sounded like a threat.

No one had ever said anything like that to her. She wanted to be sophisticated, to take it in stride, but that wasn’t her. Instead, she gaped at him, equal parts stunned, embarrassed and painfully aroused. “Good lord...”

“Hurry, Lexi.”

Lexi turned, taking the stairs rapidly. She struggled with the door, her hands trembling as she tried to unlock it. His hand closed over hers, taking the key and turning it slowly. The heat of his body seeped into her skin, the hard ridge of his erection pressing against her hip. Emitting a deep, shuddering exhale, she walked into her apartment, with him right behind her.

CHAPTER FIVE

M
organ followed her into the apartment, his whole body aching with need. Every time he touched her, tasted her sweet lips, it was like dynamite. Just as before, he was stunned, in awe of the intensity of his feelings. She wasn’t the first woman he’d ever wanted, but she was the first woman he’d ever craved.

“I need to put these in water,” she said.

Morgan took the flowers from her and laid them on the table. “Later. Bedroom. Now.”

She hesitated in the hallway, as if having second thoughts.

He simply took her hand and kept walking towards the open door and the bedroom beyond. Once inside the room, he pulled her close. Cupping the gentle curve of her cheek with his other hand, he brushed his thumb over the tempting pout of her lower lip. Her breath rushed out, warm against his skin, even as she shivered.

It was all the invitation he needed. Settling his mouth on hers, he paused for a second just to savor the softness of her lips. Then he took, kissing her the way he wanted to, the way he'd dreamed of. In the claiming of her lips, he was fulfilling a hundred fantasies. The kiss was a show of force, of gentle domination. It wasn't about asking permission or about being tentative. Molding his lips to hers, nipping at the gentle curves. She gasped and he used it to his advantage, sweeping his tongue into her mouth, tasting the sweet spice of her.

He didn’t touch her otherwise, fighting the urge to bury his hands in her red hair, to pull her head back and plunder her mouth. Somehow, he managed to keep the kiss light, sweet and not devour her on the spot.

Sliding his hands into the soft, silken strands of her hair, he tugged her head back, allowing him to deepen the kiss, to thrust into her mouth the same way he wanted to thrust into her body—slowly, deeply, touching her everywhere.

She moaned and he left her lips, his mouth coasting over the jut of her chin, down to the soft skin of her neck. The scrape of teeth and the soft soothing stroke of his tongue on her skin had her uttering his name on a harsh whisper.

The temptation of her breasts was too great to resist. Dipping his head, he kissed the upper swells, bared by the simple tank top she wore, his tongue delving into the crevice between. Everywhere he touched her, she was soft, her flesh giving beneath him, offering a kind of comfort, a temptation like nothing else ever had.

He wanted her naked, to bury his hard, aching cock in the slick heat of her, to feel the rush of his blood, the drum beat of his pulse as he took them both over that edge.

Reaching for the hem of her shirt, he tugged it up, and she raised her arms to let him slip it over her head. She made no move to cover herself, to hide from him, but he could see the fear and uncertainty in her eyes. Wanting to dispel that look, wanting her to know just how beautiful he found her, Morgan touched her reverently.

Settling his callused hands against her soft flesh, he savored the contrast of his dark skin against her creamy complexion. Gently kneading, stroking, thrilling at the sensation of her peaked nipple pressing into his palm, he dipped his head to press a kiss against her collar bone. “You have no idea how beautiful you really are,” he murmured.

“Show me.” Stepping back until her legs bumped against the side of the bed, she slipped her feet out of the wedge sandals she had on, increasing the height disadvantage dramatically. Rather than continue staring up at him, Lexi laid back on the bed, tugging his hand until he followed her down.

Morgan looked down at the woman who was half naked and wholly seductive. It seemed to be unconscious for her. Lexi really didn’t know how gorgeous she looked, how tempting she really was. But he wanted her to know. He wanted to be the man who showed her that.

Kissing her cheek, along her jaw, moving down her neck until he reached her breasts, he worshipped them with his mouth, his hands. Her skin felt soft and supple. The pink tips of her breasts growing darker, duskier with her rising passion. Taking one furled bud into his mouth, Morgan suckled it gently, curling his tongue over and around it. When she moaned his name, he bit down, scoring her nipple delicately with his teeth. Her moan became a harsh cry as her hands fisted in the sheets at her sides. Her hips rose off the bed toward him, seeking and eager.

Moving his hand lower, he delved between her silken thighs, stroking his fingers over her lace clad mound. When she grasped his wrist, pressing his hand more firmly against her, Morgan chuckled. “Greedy.”

“You’re driving me crazy,” she whispered.

Tugging her panties aside, he slid one finger between the damp folds of her sex.

Her eyes closed and a shuddering breath escaped her.

“Is that what you want?”

“More!”

Easing a second finger in, he traced every fold, finding every spot that made her shiver and moan. Only when she was shuddering, her hips rising from the bed with a series of incoherent pleas falling from her lips, did he spear his fingers inside her, pressing deep, thrusting in and out of her wet sheath.

The need to taste her sweetness became too strong to resist. Kneeling on the bed between her parted thighs, Morgan touched his tongue to her damp flesh. She gasped his name, her fingers clutching at his hair as he moved his tongue over the hardened bud of her clit. Increasing the pressure, he closed his lips over the small bud, suckling deeply as she cried out for him.

~*~*~

Lexi couldn’t speak, couldn’t even breathe. Only harsh, guttural cries communicated her rising need. When he touched her with his callused fingers, the pleasure had been more intense than anything she’d ever experienced. The wet heat of his mouth and the skilled press of his tongue was simply more than she could manage. The tension coiled inside her so tightly, riding that fine line between pleasure and pain as it climbed.

The scrape of his whiskers over the tender skin of her labia and the heated pull of his lips as he worked her clit had her writhing on the sheets, raising her hips, offering him more. The fact he took so greedily to what she offered him wasn’t lost on her either. The soft hum of pleasure from him as he devoured her, pushed her over the edge. The erotic tension broke inside her, pleasure arcing outward as her clit pulsed beneath his tongue and her sheath spasmed tightly around his invading fingers.

Still, he didn’t stop. Each stroke of his tongue and thrust of his fingers kept her there, hovering in that place where her body was not hers to control. Every sensation seemed more intense, more charged. The soft cotton of the sheets, the crisp hair on his arms that trapped her thighs, the rasp of his whiskers, the heat of his mouth...all of it combined to leave her feeling helpless and out of control. But she felt no panic, no fear. Instead, she gave herself up to it, letting the waves crash inside her as one climax faded into the next.

Eventually, he slowed, his thrusts gentling, the rasp of his tongue easing to a gentle caress.

She shivered, breathless and spent. Still, she wanted more. She craved the feel of him inside her, filling her.

He didn’t strip, but simply freed the fly of his worn jeans.

When his cock sprang free, Lexi gasped. Thick and heavy, even rock hard, it rested against his thigh. The large, plum shaped head glistened with a pearly drop of moisture at the tip. Reaching out, she touched it with her fingers tips, marveling at the velvety soft skin over firm flesh. Enraptured, she traced the heavy veins, down to the perfect spheres of his balls.

“Don’t,” he hissed out a harsh breath, his fingers closing over her wrist.

“But I want to touch you,” she protested.

His eyes flared hotly. “Later...you can touch me for as long as you want, but now, I’m hanging by a thread, Lexi. I can’t wait much longer.”

He’d already brought her to an endless, shattering climax. But those words brought the fire roaring back to life. “Then, don’t wait. I want to feel you inside me.”

He cursed then, dropping his chin to his chest as the breath rushed out of him. When he raised his head, Lexi saw the hunger in him. It was there in the fiercely clenched jaw, his burning gaze. He gripped her hips roughly, but she didn’t mind. The slight edge of danger only made it more exciting.

When he pressed the head of his cock against her entrance, thought fled. Nothing mattered at that moment but the feel of him. Parting her thighs wider, she gasped as he nudged inside her.

The slight burn as her sheath stretched to accommodate him brought its own kind of pleasure. Then he was sinking deep, spearing into her and the ability to think at all simply fled. She could do nothing but feel as his hard flesh glided into her. The measured power of his strokes and the overwhelming heat of him left her breathless and gasping.

Stroke after stroke, he surged into her. Clasping her legs around him, she lifted her hips, feeling him sink even deeper. Then he was kissing her, his tongue sweeping into her mouth even as thrust into her. It was too much. Lexi clung to him, her nails biting into his shoulders as she shattered around him. Her body tightened, her sheath clenching as waves of pleasure crashed inside of her.

He groaned against her lips, his hips jerking roughly against hers, and then warmth flooded her. The heat of him pouring inside her, only heightened her own pleasure. Taking deep shuddering breaths, she savored the sensation. Whatever else happened between them, this turned out to be perfect.

~*~*~

Morgan didn't move. He stayed there, inside her, for as long as he could, savoring the wet heat and the feeling of contentment. But his cock softened, slipping from her body and with a heavy sigh, he rolled to his side and lay there beside her.

“Wow.”

Her breathless exclamation came out as little more than a whisper, but still it made him smile. Considering how long it had been since he'd made love, and how much his body had and his abilities had changed in that time, knowing he could leave her breathless and stunned stroked his ego just enough. “I second that. Wow.”

The bed shifted as she rolled to her side, facing him. When she shivered, he reached for the blanket at the foot of the bed and pulled it up over her. He was still running hot, his body on fire from the explosion between them.

“I didn't think you wanted me—the other night, after leaving The Store, I just sort of thought you weren't really—interested.”

From her halting tone, he knew that the admission was costly. It wasn't about fishing for compliments with Lexi. She played it straight and it was undoubtedly confusing to her about how he’d been so hedgy about everything.

He didn't turn to face her, but continued to gaze up at the ceiling as he was about to admit the one thing that had plagued him since his injury. “It's not that at all. I've wanted you from day one. But I'm just messed up, Lexi. It's hard to fit into this world...I'm more comfortable in fatigues and with a gun in my hand. I don't know how to make things work here.”

She rose on her elbow and stared down at him, her pretty face pink- marked from the roughness of his beard and her hair mussed from his hands. It was the concern darkening her gaze that left him unsettled.

“So, why did you retire? If being in the military is really what you wanted why did you give it up?”

It was time to tell her the truth. He'd been fighting his attraction to her from the first moment he'd seen her. She'd been writing the daily cupcake flavors on the chalkboard outside the shop and he'd been sitting in his truck outside the hardware store watching her every move. But she had a right to know before she got even more tangled up with him.

“I didn't retire. Not by choice anyway. We were supposed to be on a routine mission, just doing recon and back to base...I was with this green kid and he stepped on a goddamn IED. He didn't make it, and it damn near took my leg off.”

“Oh, my god.”

He sighed again. “I didn't leave my pants on just because I was in a hurry...though, I was. I didn't want you to see all the scars. I don't want you feeling sorry for me.”

She kissed him then. Her lips settled softly on his, her hair falling over his chest and shoulders like silk. The soft press of her mouth and then the slow slide of her tongue over his lips had his cock raging back to life. It shouldn't have been possible for a man of his age to rebound this soon, but that didn't seem to matter.

When she drew back, she smiled sweetly at him. “You're kind of a dumbass.”

He couldn't stop the laugh. “You're the third person who's called me that today, or some variation of it.”

“Feel sorry for you? Really? You had a great career in the military, and maybe it ended sooner than you thought, but you’re still here! You survived and now you're back home and you can take the time to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life—and maybe you'll even let me be a part of that.”

“I'm a hot mess, Lexi. There are mornings when I can barely stand.”

“We'll figure it out, Morgan. All it took was you coming back to town and my childhood crush came back in full bloom...Then I saw you and all I could think about was how much I wanted you to kiss me,” she paused as if gathering her thoughts. “I'm not asking you for promises here. This is new and neither one of us knows how it will play out, but at least give it a try.”

Morgan rose on his elbow, so they were face to face. “There's this old saying about that...There is no try. There's only do or do not.”