Page 80

“How about we head back to your place? It’s getting cold, and I think we should have some of that chocolate cake.”

Eventually. She had something else in mind first.

They needed to get warm. Very, very warm.

After their rushed and heated coupling in Boston, Sam had wanted this time to be a bit more relaxed and leisurely. Alli had other ideas, apparently.

They’d barely crossed the threshold of his home when she’d pressed herself against him and pulled him down for a passionate kiss that quickly turned into far more. Stumbling and giggling, they’d headed straight for his bedroom, dropping their shoes and keys along the way.

“Is this what cheeseburgers normally do to you?” Sam teased as he pulled his sweater over his head. “If so, I’m going to buy the biggest damn grill and barbecue every single night.”

“I’ve been a good girl all day in the office,” she said. “Pretending that we’re just friendly, when I really want to do something far more intimate. Let’s just say that you look good in a tie.”

In a tie? Really? He’d never thought that it made him look any different than when he was dressed casually, but he wasn’t going to complain if Alli had a suit fetish. He wore them pretty much five days a week, so it was nice to know that she thought he looked nice in them.

“It wasn’t easy for me either,” he admitted. “I wanted to kiss you all day.”

“You can do it as much as you want now.”

Who was he to argue?

He ravished her lush lips, taking his sweet time to explore and savor. By the time he lifted his head, they were both breathing hard and a little sweaty. He was already hard and ready, but he truly did want to take it slow this time.

He just needed his body to cooperate.

Her fingers worked at the button on his jeans, while he tugged her own sweater over her head before tossing it aside. It only took a few moments, and they had an untidy pile of clothes on the floor beside the bed.

Sam was sure that the temperature in the room had zoomed up at least twenty degrees, and Alli must have felt the same way, since she threw the covers to the end of the bed as they climbed in. Every cell in his body screamed at him to reach out and caress her delicious curves, but he made himself pause for a moment to take in the most beautiful sight of her stretched out on his sheets, her body completely bare to his gaze.

Alli was easily the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen in his entire life. The fact was, he couldn’t think about other women when she was in the same room with him. She eclipsed half of the human race by simply existing. Yes, there were other women in the world, but they didn’t matter at all.

He hadn’t known her long, but he already knew that she was important. He knew that he wanted her in his future. If this was love, and he’d never really experienced it before, it felt amazing. He found himself cheerily humming and thinking about her smile at the most inconvenient of moments.

He’d even put off pushing to meet Henry and Rick because he hadn’t wanted to break this optimistic vibe. He’d simply been…happy.

Capturing her lips again, he rolled her onto her back, reveling in the feeling of their bodies so close together. He let his hands trace her body, lingering over her breasts and then at her hips.

She reached for him, her hands gliding down his chest, starkly reminding him of how velvety soft her skin felt against his. Every brush of her fingertips, every sigh from her lips only served to ratchet up his arousal even further.

When her fingers surrounded him, her touch wrenched a strangled moan from his lips, and he had to conjure up mental images of snow, ice, and his hated third-grade teacher, Mrs. Downy, not to embarrass himself like an inexperienced teenage boy.

“Let’s slow this down a little,” he breathed, pressing open-mouth kisses on her torso before blazing a wet trail down her abdomen.

He paused to flick his tongue into her belly button, delighting in her cries and sighs as he continued his exploration by nibbling at her ribcage. She grabbed at the sheets, fisting them in her small hands. He stroked his thumbs over her already pebbled nipples before replacing his fingers with his mouth.

Alli’s fingers winnowed through his hair, the nails digging into his scalp.

“Now, Sam. Now.”

He didn’t need any other encouragement; the pressure in his lower back was screaming at him to push them both to completion. His need was as desperately urgent as hers.

They found their perfect rhythm more quickly than the first time in Boston. The steamy room was filled with whispered words, soft moans, and sighs as they built toward their pinnacle.

He didn’t want this to be in a rush, though. He forced himself to slow down, look into Alli’s whiskey-colored eyes, and revel in the feel of her soft skin against his. How had he gone without this his entire life?

Every thrust and touch pushed them closer to orgasm, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold back. Alli must have had the same idea because she reached up and pulled him down for a long, hot kiss as her own climax took over. Her body trembled in his arms, and she whispered his name against his lips, over and over like a prayer.

His own orgasm ripped through him like a hurricane, making the room spin and blur in its ferocity. If the walls of his home crumbled to the ground, he wouldn’t have been shocked. He was caught up in emotions he had never experienced before.