And Able (15 page)

Kite-flying turned out to be way more engrossing, not to mention challenging, than Hotwire had expected. He said as much to Claire, whose butterfly had made a nosedive for the sand for something like the fifth time.

She laughed. “Why do you think they have worldwide competitions? It’s another take on the theme of man against nature.”

He walked with her as she reeled in her string so she could retrieve the kite. “Your butterfly is losing.”

“While your lizard is staying high in the sky—I know.”

“Too much wind for your kite.” The shop owner had said strong winds could be detrimental to a low-flying delta.

“If I went really, really high, it would be okay,” she said, confirming his suspicions, “but I’m not excited about holding one end of a string attached to a speck in the sky. I like the challenge of keeping it fairly close.”

He could give her something to excite her, and the wind wouldn’t impact it one little bit. “So, being challenged is more important than success to you?”

A determined glint lit her brown eyes. “I want both.”

The intensity radiating off of her affected his libido like a shot of Viagra and he had to will his hands to stay occupied with his kite and off her body. “You’re real sexy when you get that stubborn look on your face, you know that?”

She laughed like he was joking, but he wasn’t, and if she took a peek at what was happening below his belt buckle, she’d know it.

She got the butterfly back up and their strings promptly tangled. She swore and then slapped her hand over her mouth in embarrassment.

It was his turn to laugh…until his kite’s tail got in the tangle and the diamond shape started heading downward.

“I’ll get it, don’t worry.” But in her effort to scoot around him and free her string, she tripped and fell backward.

He grabbed for her, but was still trying to keep his kite from dive-bombing and ended up falling with her.

They landed in the sand with a thump, their limbs tangled as badly as their kite strings.

She was laughing like a kid on a merry-go-round, and he smiled at the pleasure glowing in her eyes.

“I think Mother Nature won,” she said drolly.

He couldn’t control the urge to brush his fingers over her smiling face. “That’s one way of putting it.”

Looking past his shoulder, she grimaced. “Both kites are headed for the sand now.”

He dipped his head forward and breathed in her scent. It was every bit as fresh as the sea air, but infinitely more seductive to him. “That’s unfortunate.”

“You don’t sound sincere.”

“You expect me to care right now?” He’d managed to retain his hold on the kite string, but at that moment the only thing that interested him was the feel of the woman under him.

“Why not?” Her eyes were all innocence, but her voice was breathless.

She knew exactly what was on his mind, and in case she didn’t, he shifted so his hardened sex was pressing against the apex of her thighs. “You sure you don’t know the answer to that?”

Her soft brown gaze went unfocussed. “Wh-what?”

She was so responsive, her body’s reaction to him instantaneous. How could she deny this thing between them?

Claire couldn’t think, not with Brett’s hard body pressing into hers as intimately as a man could do with his clothes on. He’d asked her a question, but she couldn’t remember what it was, much less formulate an answer. This wanting for him grew and grew and grew, until it was a living thing inside of her. She craved the sensation of his naked skin against her, the tenderness of his touch.

Memories of the first night in the hotel would not go away, and with him on top of her like this, they overwhelmed her senses, making her inner woman demand more of the same.

Blue eyes, darkened to indigo with desire, bore into hers. “You want me, Claire, admit it.”

“Yes.” She licked her lips.

His gaze narrowed. “I’m going to kiss you.”

“Please…”

He did, his mouth devouring hers with the passion that exploded every time their lips met. His tongue tangled with hers and she sucked on it, shivering with desire at the masculine sound of need he made. The kiss went on and on and she lost herself in it, wanting more than his mouth, needing to touch his hot, smooth skin.

Her fingers scrabbled against his shirt to undo buttons, but a hard hand settled over hers, stopping her. She moaned in protest.

He abruptly broke the kiss and rolled onto his back, his chest heaving.

She turned her head toward him. “Brett?”

“Give me a minute, sugar. You came damn close to being nailed on a public beach.”

She’d noticed he only swore when he was not in complete control. A secret thrill went through her that she could affect him like that, but she shuddered. The effect was entirely mutual. Two seconds ago she wouldn’t have cared less where she was as long as he made love to her.

Brett sat up and she reluctantly did the same, her body thrumming with a level of desire she’d never experienced before meeting this man.

“I need you now.”

“I can see that you do.”

“Are you saying you don’t feel the same?” he asked with masculine aggression.

“No. I’m not saying that,” she replied softly.

“Then we get a hotel room.”

“That sounds so cold-blooded.”

He shook his head, clearly impatient. “The last thing either of us feels around the other is cold.”

“But…”

“But nothing. Time is running out, Claire.” A different kind of desperation laced his voice. One she didn’t understand.

“Why?” What made right this second different from two days ago, or two days from now, for that matter? She asked that, too.

“My mom’s birthday is on Saturday and I’m expected in Georgia sometime before the big party.”

He’d be leaving her. Her heart contracted, but she tried to keep her disappointment off her face. “I’m sure your family will be glad to see you.”

He waved her words away as if they were pesky flies. “If I didn’t show, both Mama and my sister would have my guts for garters, but that’s not what’s got my dick tied in knots. I’ve been taking cold showers for longer than I want to admit because of you, and now we have one, maybe two nights before the trip to Georgia will put a moratorium on anything physical between us.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but didn’t get a single sound out before he fiercely added, “Don’t say you don’t want me, because we both know you do.”

“But what we want and what is good for us isn’t always the same thing.”

“Not in this case, sweetheart. I’ll make it very good for you. I promise. And you’re going to make it incredibly good for me, too.”

Her insides clenched and her feminine core throbbed. “I don’t doubt you.”

Though she wasn’t so confident about her own performance. She couldn’t help wondering if sex had always been so flat before because she wasn’t very good at it. After all, Brett made no bones about how much he enjoyed it. She’d always believed that it was more hype than reality, though…only his touch made her question that conclusion.

Which could mean that she’d just had bad partners, too. It was a much more confidence-boosting scenario, but she couldn’t entirely rid herself of the niggling doubt that she was the one with the problem. One of her boyfriends had said she had issues with trust.

No, duh…but had that really made her unresponsive to sex as he’d accused? Would she falter at the last hurdle with Brett, the act of making love?

She couldn’t imagine doing so while her nipples tingled inside her bra and the throbbing between her legs increased. She really wanted this man, but did she want him enough to dismiss the future as unimportant…to accept her role as a temporary lover?

Claire could never hope to replace his dead fiancée in his heart and that meant she could not hope to be a permanent fixture in his life. Not ever. There was no percentage in that kind of relationship for a woman, but did she have the strength or even the true desire to turn away from what he was offering?

“Claire?”

There was no cajolery in his voice, merely a question. What was she going to do?

She looked into his blue eyes, her heart beating too fast while her mind spun with questions and answers that left her more confused by the second. She could see his desire—feel it with unmistakable clarity—yet he didn’t push. He wouldn’t. He was her friend as well as the man who wanted to take her to bed.

He was so darn honorable…and tough…and sexy.

So much of everything she believed made a man strong, so different from her dad and the men who had paraded through her life since his death. Brett epitomized masculine perfection to her.

Oh, man.

She loved him.

It shouldn’t come as such a surprise, except, well…that she thought romantic love was pretty much for fairy tales and make-believe. It was just sexual desire and she, like so many other women before her, was trying to wrap it up in an emotional package with a pretty little bow.

Hadn’t she tried that before and been severely disappointed? To love someone, you had to be able to count on him, and she couldn’t count on anyone but herself.

You’ve certainly been counting on Brett for a lot these past few days
, a snarky voice in her head reminded her.

Which did not mean she was buying into the whole love and happily ever after bit. Especially not with a man who’d sworn off love himself. But if they made love, maybe this nearly debilitating sexual desire would wane some and she could gain control of her emotions again. Her vision would not be clouded by her physical needs and she would be able to see him with clearer eyes, not through a silly, love struck haze that would never survive in the real world of sex and the morning after.

Right. Sex was going to clear her head, not cloud it further. That made so much sense
, the snarky inner voice drawled.

She sighed. Great. She was arguing with herself. Maybe unrequited lust led to insanity. “When are you flying to Georgia?”

“
We
 
are flying down on Friday.”

“I’m not going…am I?”

There was no misreading the irritation in his eyes. “Of course you are. I can’t leave you here by yourself.”

“You could bring Collins in to watch over me, or I could go stay with Queenie.” Getting away from Brett might actually give her a chance to shore up her shaky defenses and clear her head without the whole sex gambit.

“No.”

“I don’t want to horn in on your mother’s birthday celebration. That sort of thing is for friends and family.”

“You
 
are
 
my friend.”

“But your mother doesn’t know me from Adam and it’s
 
her
 
birthday.”

“She’ll be thrilled to meet you. She’s been begging me to bring a woman home to meet her for ages.”

Even worse. “But I’m not a woman you’re thinking about marrying.”

“Doesn’t matter. She’s a southern lady with her heart set on more grandchildren. She’ll have our wedding planned by the end of the weekend.” He said it like the thought was an amusing one, rather than horrific.

“But I don’t
 
want
 
her thinking we’ve got a relationship like that. It’s deceitful.”

“I didn’t say I’d tell her we were serious, but even if I tell her you’re a friend in trouble, she’ll draw her own conclusions.”

“That’s an even bigger reason for me not to go. I can’t possibly go with you to Georgia. It would be terribly awkward for both of us, but I would think for you especially.”

“W
 
hy me especially?” he asked with a frown.

“You
 
can’t
 
want your family thinking you’re planning to marry me. After I leave Georgia, I’ll probably never see them again, but you have to live with the consequences. Your mother is going to be upset when she realizes nothing will ever come of our friendship.”

“I can’t control what my family thinks, but I’m not responsible for it, either. I stopped worrying about my mother’s plans for my life the year I joined the army instead of attending my father and older brother’s alma mater.”

She sighed at his intractability. “You’re being stubborn and there’s no need.”

“You are going with me if I have to hogtie you and lock you in the bedroom on the jet for the flight.” He said it so reasonably that she didn’t compute the threat at first.

When she did, she glared. “That is so not going to happen.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, but I find it interesting that you have a private jet.” More like
 
intimidating
, but who was keeping track? “Isn’t that a little decadent?”

“Not really. Wolf got one and I liked it so much I decided to get one of my own. It makes certain jobs I do for the government a lot easier.”

“Mercenary work must pay well.”

“You have no idea.”

She was stunned into silence, but then her brain started working. “Have you ever heard of SAFE House, or the Portland Rescue Mission? They are in constant need of donations. Both organizations focus on finding solutions to the problems facing society today, not perpetuating them.”

Brett threw his head back and laughed out loud.

She didn’t think her suggestions were all that amusing and told him so, but he just shook his head, laughing harder.

When he finally calmed down he grinned at her. “Josie told me that would be your reaction when you found out I was wealthy. She said you never got dollar signs in your eyes on your own account but that you’d convinced her to donate to a lot of places she’d never even known about.”

Claire ducked her head and bit her lip with worry that she’d pushed her friend unduly. “Josette didn’t seem to mind at the time. I wasn’t trying to take advantage of her good nature or our friendship.”

He really sobered at that and reached out to take her hand. “She didn’t. Trust me. She thinks you’re pretty wonderful and the way you care about so many causes is admirable. So do I.”

“Oh.” Relief coursed through her. “Then you’ll consider giving?”

“If you come to Georgia with me, I’ll donate a fat check to three charities of your choosing.”

“You’re not serious?”

“I’d do it anyway eventually, I’m sure, but this way, I get to circumvent more arguing with you. You’re darn stubborn when you want to be.”

“You said you thought I was sexy when I was stubborn.”

His eyes burned with primal hunger that stole her breath right out of her chest. “I do.”

Oh, gosh…she was going to throw him back on the sand and ravish him if she didn’t get herself under control. “We should untangle our kites and see if we can get them in the sky again.”

Brett shook his head, his blue gaze intense. “No.”

“But—”

“We’ll reel them in and then we’ll go.”

“Back to Portland?”

“Is that what you want?”

And there it was…her confused desires and thoughts boiled down to one question. Did she want to go back to Portland, or did she want to stay and make love?

She could put it off until they got back, but that would be postponing the inevitable, not circumventing it.

At least if they stayed, there would be something special about their first time together, a memory she could cherish later that wouldn’t be tarnished by the trouble waiting for her in Portland.

“I don’t want to go back tonight.”

Some of the tension emanating off of Brett faded away. “There’s a resort hotel just south of Lincoln City. Will you let me take you there?”

“Yes.”

His eyes narrowed. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” That was all he said.

Then he started reeling in his kite. If she’d expected a bigger reaction to her agreement, she wasn’t going to get one. She could see that pretty easily.

She followed his lead and they got the kites untangled and packed away without either of them breaking the silence. In fact, other than to remind her to buckle her seat belt, he didn’t say another word to her. Not on the drive to the local pharmacy where he went in and came out only minutes later carrying a single bag. She had no problem guessing what was in it.

And he remained silent on the trip to the hotel, speaking only to the desk clerk during check-in. However, a powerful sense of purpose surrounded him, and Claire found she had no desire to make small talk, either.

Brett slid the hotel key card in the lock and opened the door to their suite. She looked at the suite’s living area through the open doorway, but made no move to go inside.

He waited for her to go inside in silence.

Taking a deep breath, she moved forward, stepping into a nicely decorated suite. But it was the view through the wall of windows opposite the door that really impressed her.

The woman at the desk had said that all the rooms faced the ocean; what she hadn’t said was that the view was so spectacular or that it was showcased by such a huge expanse of windows.

Brett shut the door and she watched in bemusement while he secured the room with things he pulled from a bag he’d brought from the car. He probably didn’t even realize he was doing it, the security-conscious behavior was so second nature to him.

But one thing they did not have to worry about would be interruption at a key moment.

Then he turned to face her. “I want you, Claire.
 
Now
.”

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She licked her lips, took a breath, and tried again. “I want you, too.”

The corner of his mouth tilted in a not-quite-there smile. “That’s good.”

Then he stepped forward and before she knew what was happening, she was in his arms, high against his chest and he was carrying her into the bedroom. It was cast in daytime shadows. He didn’t bother to turn on a light—the only illumination came through the latte-colored lace panels covering the sliding glass doors and huge window to one side of them.

But she had no problem seeing the look of desire etched in fierce relief on his features. The intensity of it put a sharper edge on the need slicing through her.

Making love with this man was going to be incredible. If there was a tiny voice in her head warning her that it might cost more emotionally than she had to give, she was prepared to ignore it. She’d been dealing with painful emotions all her life.

Never before had anyone offered her the kind of pleasure she knew could be found in his arms.

She grabbed his face and kissed him with a hunger she was done trying to control.

He responded with his own voracious passion and soon she was trying to rip his clothes from his body while he did the same to her without dropping her. The bed was right there, but they didn’t stop kissing long enough to get into it.

She couldn’t stop. All she wanted was more and more and more…more of his lips, more of his naked body to touch, and more of his taste in her mouth. His shirt came off with popping buttons and finally she had her fingers against his bare chest. She skimmed the satin-smooth skin and silky chest hair with her fingertips while he shoved her top up and somehow managed to get her bra undone to expose her aching and swollen breasts.

A raw, earthy sound came from deep in her throat when he cupped and squeezed one generous mound. Then he took her nipple between his thumb and forefinger and played with it until she felt like exploding from that simple touch. The peak was so hard, the pleasure sensations arrowing out from it to the rest of her body almost hurt.

She ate at his lips, determined not to be a dud at this. If he could pleasure her, she could pleasure him, too, and she concentrated on giving as good as she got. Paying attention to every nuance of his reaction to her touching, she concentrated on repeating every successful foray.

He liked having the brown disks around his turgid nipples tickled with her fingernails, so she did that and other stuff…all the while her own body notching higher and higher toward a supernova of pleasure. He got her pants and underwear off and she wrapped her legs around his waist, rubbing herself against the muscular ridges of his naked belly.

The scent of her own musk teased her nostrils as she chafed her slick, swollen labia and clitoris against his hard torso.

It was all the stimulation she needed to go over the edge—star bursts went off with shattering devastation inside her while she moaned a litany of pleasure into his mouth. He didn’t slow down in his touching at all, kneading her breasts with both hands now and dominating her mouth with hungry urgency. If anything, her climax drove him to a fever pitch and she found herself thrown back on the bed.

She didn’t have to think about what came next. She just put her arms out, welcoming him to her.

With a hoarse sound, he ripped out of his jeans and shorts and then came down on top of her, driving into her with a single, merciless thrust.

She cried out against his mouth, her body stiffening with shock at his penetration. He was big and he stretched her sensitive flesh to the point of pain, but all her fevered mind recognized was the amazing pleasure of having him joined with her so intimately.

He broke his lips from hers. “It’s all right, sugar. Relax.”

She stared up at him, her mind not taking the words in while her body started climbing toward that ultimate peak again. She didn’t know if she would survive another climax, but her intimate flesh wasn’t reacting to that fear. It was pressing for her to do something…anything.

Only she wasn’t moving.

He withdrew, pulling almost out and she gasped. “No! Don’t leave me.”

He laughed at that, the sound dark and not at all humorous. “I’m not going anywhere, but you need to relax or you aren’t going to enjoy this as much as I am.”

Was he serious? “If I enjoy it any more, it’ll kill me,” she croaked.

He pressed forward and finally the stasis on her limbs lifted. She arched up to meet him, welcoming him with voracious need into her body.

He grinned, the expression so feral it made her shiver. “That’s right, sugar. Move for me.”

She was only too happy to oblige him as she slammed her hips upward and ground her pelvis against his. He thrust into her, filling her completely and caressing every zinging nerve ending inside her channel with devastating intensity.

She grabbed his chest, kneading the hard muscles and reveling in the sensation of having this ultramasculine man so completely in tune with her.

He growled and increased his pace until she was shaking from the impact of his thrusts.

He looked down at her, his blue eyes burning with sexual need. “You are beautiful, Claire.”

Beautiful? Oh, no…that one word and emotion crashed through her like a five-alarm fire in a forest of tinder. Her heart contracted and it wasn’t from the primitive pleasure her body was wallowing in. He thought she was beautiful in her passion…not a computer geek, not a plain Jane…beautiful.

Oh, man, if what she was feeling inside wasn’t love, she didn’t want to know what emotion could power something else this profound. She wanted to make love until her body ached and his body gave out, but more than that…she wanted to look in his eyes, the windows to his soul, while she did it. And she wanted to hold him afterward, to be held by him.

While her heart wrestled with these new desires, strong masculine fingers locked onto her hips and she found herself held immobile while he pounded into her with driving force. Every surge of his hard penis felt so good that she gasped, and every time he pulled out, antithesis pleasure burst into shards through her most feminine flesh.

There was no warning…for either of them. The climax roared up and claimed them both in bone-shattering intensity. He shuddered above her while her body clenched around his and she stopped breathing altogether.

He collapsed on top of her, his big body continuing to jerk with aftereffects from their shared explosion. “That was amazing,” he whispered against her ear.

She had to force air in her lungs to respond. “Yes,” she wheezed.

“Damn…sugar, I knew you were going to be good, but I didn’t realize you were going to near kill me.”

She smiled, exhaustion rolling over her in an unstoppable wave. “Only fair…thought I might die there for a minute.”

“Good thing you didn’t.”

“Mmmm…” she mumbled as she slid inexorably toward sleep.

She’d never been so tired in her entire life, but then, she’d never put her body through such an experience, either.

Hotwire nuzzled Claire’s neck, kissing her softly. This felt so damn good. She was soft, tight, and blessed with a figure so beautiful it took his breath away. She was also sleeping.

Unable to believe the message his senses were getting, he lifted his head and looked down at her face. It was relaxed in the abandon of a replete woman exhausted by her lover.