“How much I want you naked in my arms. How I burn to bury my face between your legs again and taste your desire. How perfect it will be when my cock finally fills you to the brim.”
It was hard to think clearly, but she needed to make a choice. She could say no and risk regretting it for the rest of her life. Or she could say yes and take what she wanted—and wasn’t that what this whole trip was about? As if in answer, her core pulsed with need.
She launched herself into his arms.
CHAPTER17
Mack caught his titian-haired siren and captured her mouth with his. Urgency burned through him, and his hands slid down her back to cup her ass and haul her against him. It had been absolute hell sitting calmly in front of her, playing cards instead of touching her. It had been a test of control, but now he was unleashed.
He would give her everything he had.
He memorized her curves, how she moaned beneath his touch. When she yanked his shirt free of his trousers and gasped in surprise to find his bare skin beneath, he smiled into her mouth. He loved that she craved his skin, that the fire burning inside him also ravaged her.
Without releasing her wild lips, he walked her backwards until her legs hit the edge of the bed and she sank into the mattress. He knelt on the floor at her feet, pushed her knees apart and slid between them. Tugging her chemise over her head and tossing it aside, he buried his face in her bountiful tits. He’d never get enough of their softness, never grow tired of sucking her pale pink buds.
His questing fingers found the open slit of her drawers and he cupped the wet pussy within. He shuddered with want, the soft fabric shielding her thighs suddenly intolerable.
“Take these off or I’ll rip them off,” he growled.
Winnie tore at the ribbon holding the drawers together and lifted her hips enough to shove the garment down her legs. He used the brief separation to strip his own clothing. At last they were pressed together, his rigid cock against the swell of her lower belly, but he held himself in check as long as he could. He showered kisses across her collarbone and sucked the delicate skin above her nipple. Her restless hands traced his chest, tangled in his hair, driving him ever closer to the edge. When she bit his lower lip, he was a goner.
He hauled her to the middle of the mattress and settled atop her. The bedsprings wheezed in protest, a jarring sound that penetrated the sensual haze. They froze.
“So romantic,” Winnie said breathlessly.
“Do you care?”
“Not a bit.”
She hooked her legs around his waist, and he rocked against her slick folds. He positioned himself with his hand, and then he was pushing inside her. She squeezed him in welcome, and he clenched his teeth to keep from spilling. His thrusts were short, teasing, but Winnie would have none of it. She gripped him tighter between her knees, her head tossing from side to side.
“More,” she pleaded. “Give me more.”
How could he deny her anything? His hips canted backwards and then plunged forward, filling her to the hilt. Moans spilled from Winnie’s mouth, and he increased his thrusts until the entire bed shook, the bedsprings wheezing along to the sounds of their frantic lovemaking. He sucked a finger into his mouth and shoved it between their bodies to rub small circles on her clitoris. The effect was immediate, and Winnie seized around his cock.
“Yes, my darling, yes.”
He shut his eyes, helpless against her term of endearment. It flayed his emotions open, battered him with an undeniable truth. She was the woman of his dreams, the only one capable of tying him in knots, of making him lose control. The moment she’d entered his life, he’d been lost.
He was in love.
The terrifying truth set something loose in him, and he went wild, his thrusts almost savage as he drove them toward the precipice. Winnie’s back arched, her breath a strangled gasp as she found her release. Her hot, grasping pussy hurtled him over the edge. He barely had the sense to withdraw before he was spilling onto the coverlet with great shudders. As much as he wanted to finish inside her, he would protect her.
He collapsed on top of her, burying his face in her neck. He couldn’t bear to meet her gaze, convinced she would read the truth written on his face. Now was not the moment to make any confessions. The timing couldn’t be worse.
He pressed a kiss to her neck and released her, rolling onto his back. He laid his forearm across his forehead, blocking her view of him while he wrestled his feelings. Guilt mixed with the panic.
What kind of man planned to betray the woman he loved?
He thought of his father—a good man, despite his poor decisions. When his father was on his deathbed, begging Mack to use his influence at the paper for good, could he have imagined what lengths Mack would go to? Would he have approved treacherous acts against an innocent woman? Mack knew the answer: his father would be ashamed of him.
He was ashamed of himself.
A bitter tang filled his mouth. If he carried through with his plans, he would be no better than the previous men in Winnie’s life. He would forever be known as just another bastard who undermined her efforts because she was a woman. None of his smaller acts of kindness would matter—they would cheapen and vanish altogether in the face of his betrayal.
His thoughts ricocheted around his head, hammering at his temples until the solution became obvious: he still had time to become the man Winnie deserved.
“Is everything all right?” Winnie murmured beside him, her hand coming to stroke his chest hair.
