“Yeah.”
“Are you okay?” Concern shone in her face, and when she looked up at him with worry in those big green eyes, suddenly he wasn’t okay. He wasn’t okay at all.
“No.” He glanced away, shook his head. “I don’t know . . . I just . . . I feel like everything is so screwed up.” His gaze returned to her pretty face and desire hit him like a fist. The go-bag slipped from his fingers. He slid a hand into her thick dark curls and drew her toward him. “I need you, Cassidy. So much.”
She leaned into him. “Beau . . .” Going up on her toes, she kissed him. “I need you, too.”
Everything tore loose inside him. Hunger, pain, joy, need, all mixed together. Beau caught her face between his hands and kissed her, a deep, yearning, taking kiss he felt in every cell in his body. Cassidy kissed him back, opening, giving him access, holding nothing in. He ravished her mouth, plundered her greedily, endlessly.
He barely remembered walking her backward into the living room, kicking the door closed, pulling her turtleneck over her head, unfastening her black lace bra, letting it fall to the floor.
He paused to look at her breasts, full and beautiful, tipped slightly upward. He cupped them, ran his hands over her dark rose nipples. She moaned as he bent his head and took the fullness into his mouth, suckled greedily, bit the end. Cassidy shoved off the lightweight jacket she had brought to him at the hospital, grabbed the hem of his T-shirt, and pulled it off over his head.
Her fingers traveled over his chest, dipped into the ridges and valleys, over the ladder of muscles down his stomach, moved restlessly back up to his shoulders. He took a momentto look at her, the flush in her cheeks, the tousled dark hair. Pale, lovely breasts rose and fell with every ragged breath. A small waist flared to womanly hips.
“God, I want you.” He kissed her again, couldn’t seem to get enough. Cassidy leaned into him, her arms going around his neck, her fingers sliding into his hair. Her tongue tangled with his as he backed her up against the living room wall and shoved up her black wool skirt, smoothed a hand over her hip, down to the thin strip of lace between her legs.
She was wet. So hot and wet. He wanted to be inside her more than he wanted to see another sunrise.
He let go of her long enough to retrieve the condom in his wallet, kissed her as he freed himself and rolled it on.
“I need you, baby. Now. Here. I don’t want to wait.” His fingers caught hold of the lace between her legs; he gave a sharp tug and the delicate fabric tore free.
Cassidy moaned as he lifted her, wrapped her legs around his waist. He heard her shoes hit the carpet, then he was filling her, sliding deep inside.
For a moment he paused, letting her tight, wet heat envelope him. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as he started to move, began to take what he wanted, what he so desperately needed.
Propping her back against the wall, he took her deep, rode her hard, the little whimpers in her throat driving him on, making him hotter, more needy.
“Cassie, baby,” he said. “Sweet God, I want you. I don’t know how long I can last.”
She made a soft sound in her throat and rode him, didn’t back away from the hunger burning through him. Her head fell back as he surged deeper, and her body tightened around him, sucked him even deeper. Her climax hit hard, gloving him so sweetly it drove him over the edge. Pleasure rolled through him, deep and saturating, washing away the pain, the darkness.
For seconds he just held her, his face buried in her silky dark curls, inhaling the faint scent of gardenias.
Neither of them moved for the longest time. When he finally set her back on her feet, Cassidy leaned against him and Beau smoothed back her hair. “You okay?”
She just nodded. He moved away long enough to deal with the condom, returned to find her standing exactly where he’d left her.
“I hope I didn’t hurt you.” With her skirt around her waist and her perfect breasts tilting wickedly up at him, she looked beautiful and completely wanton, and he started getting hard again.
“You didn’t hurt me. That . . . that was amazing.”
He couldn’t stop a smile. “I thought so. I’m really glad you did, too.”
She looked down at herself and warm color rose in her cheeks. “I’d better get dressed.”
Beau shook his head. “No way, baby.” Hauling her back in his arms, he very thoroughly kissed her. “Wait right here.” Crossing to the door, he walked out on the porch and retrieved his go-bag.
He held up the bag and walked back into the living room. “Now I’m bedding you good and proper—like I should have done in the first place.”
When she just stared at him as if he had lost his mind, he bent, scooped her over one shoulder, walked into the bedroom and settled her on the bed. Unzipping the go-bag, he grabbed a handful of condoms and tossed them on the nightstand.
Cassidy didn’t move.
“Probably be a good idea if we finished getting undressed,” he said.
“Yes . . . of course. I’m . . . uh . . . not very good at this.”
