The Lawson Boys: Alex (26 page)

“I’ll give you
a copy.” Grinning widely, Becky aimed the camera at Maryanne and
Brent. “Say cheese!”

They groaned
but happily complied.

Glad to have
the focus off her for however short a time, Harly picked up her cup
with a slightly shaking hand. How could she even contemplate what
she’d realised when the time had been so short? There was no way it
could be, no way at all.

Then she felt
him, his thumb trailing back and forth across her shoulder, felt
him shift slightly and settle more firmly behind her, his warmth
and nearness, the strength of him grounding her, giving her focus
and calming her sudden nerves.

Her hand
stopped shaking and she took a deep breath before glancing back up
at him. Alex’s gaze was steady, his smile reassuring.

There was a
shift in her universe, a momentous decision made. Although she’d
been pressed against him due to the confines of the sofa, now she
allowed herself to relax, to melt back against him, and immediately
she felt his acceptance, the way his body seemed to mould around
hers, hard muscle cradling soft curves, while his thumb continued
to caress her shoulder.

No one seemed
to notice, their laughter and chatter gaily filling the cosy room
as they continued to reminisce. Alex joined in, Harly laughing
along with them, but it was as though she had an heightened
awareness of Alex, his very presence pushing everything else into
the background.

It was late
when Maryanne and Brent made a move to go, and Alex’s hand
tightened briefly on Harly’s shoulder. She stood, he rising behind
her but not moving away so that she felt his very length almost
pressed against her.

It was easy to
bid everyone goodbye, and then she was in Alex’s Jeep driving
toward her home. The cold night air was held at bay by the heater,
and she rested her elbow on the windowsill and propped her chin up
in one hand as she looked out at the darkness.

Now that they
were alone, she felt that flutter of nerves once more. Without the
buffering of others, she was intensely aware of Alex beside her, of
the shift in their relationship.

Glancing
sideways, she looked at his hands upon the steering wheel. Big
hands, strong, long fingers that curled around the wheel with ease.
He drove the Jeep as he did everything else, with a calm
assuredness that made her feel safe.

But he made her
feel other things, too.

“Harly?” His
voice was deep in the darkness.

“Yes?”

“Are you all
right?”

Was she? Harly
thought about it, and then she slowly smiled. “Yeah, I am.”

“Good.”

That was all he
said, the rest of the journey done in silence. As usual, he refused
to allow her to get out of the car to open the gate, insisting on
opening and closing it himself. Once at the house, she slid out of
the car before he could come around and open her door, and he
simply shook his head at her before dropping his arm around her
shoulders and tucking her into his side, turning them both to climb
the stairs onto the veranda.

Automatically
she handed the keys to him, and he opened the doors and switched on
the light, waiting for her to precede him into the hallway before
locking the door behind them and putting the keys on the hook above
the sideboard.

Buffy was
waiting, her tail wagging, and he bent down to rub her ears
affectionately before picking up old Pepper and carrying her into
the lounge to settle her on the sofa beside the other two cats.

Harly watched
in silence, touched that he was so caring of the animals. He had so
many different sides - a soldier, a son, a brother, a man, caring,
dangerous, hard, understanding, honourable, calm. So many words to
describe him.

Straightening,
Alex looked across to where she stood in the lounge room doorway.
The overhead light caught the gold glints in his blonde hair and
cast shadows on his face, seeming to pick out the strong planes of
his features, enhancing them, and she had the overwhelming urge to
trace the shadows and feel his skin beneath her fingertips, to look
up into his eyes as she pressed against his muscled hardness.

Silently he
flicked on the heater standing against the wall before walking up
to her, stopping just as his upper abdomen brushed her breasts. She
had to tip her head back to meet his gaze, and the heat she saw in
the blue depths made her breath catch.

“Harly.” It was
the only word he said as he leaned down, his hands capturing her
upper arms, holding her almost delicately as his lips brushed
across hers, butterfly light but holding the heat of a blazing
furnace.

Unbidden she
wound her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, glorying in
both the strength of his body as he gathered her to him, his arms
sliding around her waist and back to draw her to him until the only
thing that separated them were their clothes.

His kiss
remained light, careful, and it was she who deepened it, her tongue
seeking entrance as fire sparked along her veins and the
overwhelming urge to be as close as she could to this man swept
through her.

Her inhibitions
were thrown to the wind as he opened to her, allowing her entrance
to the hot, heated cavern of his mouth, and his essence filled her,
dancing across her tongue in a tantalizing wave of masculine taste
even as his scent filled her.

The sensuous
slide of his tongue against hers accompanied by the slide of his
hands beneath her shirt had her arching into him, pressing her
breasts against his hard abdomen, and then her breath caught when
his calloused palm scraped between them, sliding upward, unerringly
working under her bra to capture her breast. He cupped her, moulded
his palm to the generous curve, and she felt her nipple pebble hard
against his palm. He answered the reaction of her body by massaging
his palm against her nipple, and little erotic sparks shot through
her as though via an invisible, vibrating string that plucked deep
within her loins.

One hard thigh
slid between hers, moving relentlessly against her mound, making
her arch even more, and he swallowed her moans, taking over within
seconds, controlling their kisses, making them deeper, hotter,
claiming her mouth as surely as he was claiming her body.

His hand
disappeared from her breast and she moaned.

“Easy, Harly.”
His voice was husky, low.

Several quick
movements and her cardigan was off and tossed somewhere, followed
by her long-sleeved top. She didn’t have time to feel
self-conscious, not when he drew back to look down at her bountiful
breasts almost overflowing the purple satin of her bra and
breathed, “Beautiful, damned beautiful.” His gaze lifted to lock
onto hers. “
You
are so beautiful, Harly.”

The truth was
in his eyes, in his voice, in the way his hands slid up her sides
leaving a shiver of delight in their path. There was no way she
could feel anything but, not when he looked at her with such
passion making his brilliant blue eyes burn with an almost carnal
light.

He moved back
only enough to whip the jumper he wore over his head and toss it
aside. The movement tousled his blonde hair and an errant lock fell
over one eyebrow, giving him a sudden decadent air when combined
with his sensuous lips, which were too firm to be anywhere near
feminine, but were nonetheless full.

When his shirt
followed, the light fell upon his muscled torso, the swell of his
pectorals and the six pack that drew her fingers. She stroked along
the hardness, and he sucked in his breath, his eyes burning as he
looked into hers.

Then his hands
were at her bra, moving deftly to unsnap the clasp at the front and
peel the cups away to release her breasts. His eyes feasted on
them, and for once she was proud of her breasts, the overgenerous
swells that he plainly enjoyed as he slid one hand beneath each,
weighing them in approval. In a movement that surprised her, he
fell to one knee, bringing her down to straddle one hard thigh, and
she had to steady herself by catching his shoulders in her hands,
about to protest her weight on him, but he took her breath away by
the simple act of taking one hard little nipple into his hot mouth
and sucking strongly, making her throw her head back and bite her
lip as hot shivers wound down through her, plucking from her
nipples deep into her womb.

She arched
beneath his mouth, gasping when he trailed a string of kisses to
her other breast before engulfing that nipple in his mouth and
sucking just as deeply, just as strongly.

His big hands
on her waist helped steady her, and she could only moan when his
fingertips slid beneath the waistband of her pants and further
down, caressing the swell of her generous globes with long,
dexterous fingers.

A hot mouth at
her throat, hot hands on her flesh, her nipples hard nubs of aching
desire, Harly was at Alex’s mercy.

He tipped her
back suddenly, pushing forward with his chest as his thigh slid
from between hers, and his hands cushioned the back of her head as
she fell back onto the rug.

One second
astride his hard thigh, the next on her back with her head cradled
in his protecting hands, Harly only had enough time to blink in
surprise before he loomed above her, his knees either side of her
hips as he bowed over her, capturing her mouth again, kissing her
long and deep, hot and hard, while his hands unzipped her pants and
unfastened the button. He slid her pants over her hips and down,
shifting his body as he did so, moving lower as he pulled her pants
and panties off her in several smooth moves, and before she knew it
he’d pulled them completely off along with her sneakers and
socks.

He rose at her
feet, straightening to stand tall and muscular before her, and she
felt a sudden flush of shame at being before such a specimen as he,
her overgenerous curves bared to his gaze, and she looked away, her
cheeks burning, a sudden desire to almost cry coming to the
fore.

“Don’t.” His
voice was low.

She bit her
lip.

“Look at me,
Harly.” When she didn’t immediately obey, instead moving one leg up
in a small attempt to hide some of her body from him, his voice
hardened. “Look at me. Now.”

It took all her
courage but she finally obeyed, looking up, half afraid to meet his
gaze. When she finally looked directly up into his eyes, she was
shocked by the pure desire burning within them, the heat as his
gaze swept carnally along her body, the very cupiscence of it
making her nipples pebble once more as she almost felt the lick of
his ardour sweeping along her skin.

“Yeah,” he said
huskily. “You can see your effect on me, Harly. I love your body,
every soft curve, every generous swell. It’s mine. All mine.” His
hands went to the snap on his jeans. “And if you still have doubts
about the effect you have on me, then I’ll prove it.”

After toeing
off his boots and socks, he moved slowly, unsnapping the jeans,
pulling the zip down, using his thumbs to slide the heavy material
over his lean hips and down his thighs, removing his boxers at the
same time.

She moistened
her suddenly dry lips with her tongue as he bent down to remove the
jeans and then slowly straightened, arms by his sides, shoulders
straight, the light picking out every hard shape of muscle of his
masculine body. His thighs were heavy, muscles flexing within them
as he moved slightly, but it was the hard shaft that jutted up
against his stomach that drew her gaze.

His desire for
her made it thick. His desire for her body made it hard. His
needing of her had the drop of moisture seep from the head to run
back down the shaft, and he caught it with his hand, moving his
cupped hold up his shaft to the tip before gripping the hard, thick
length and stroking upward slowly, firmly, the whole time his eyes
burning down at her, the pure rapacity plain on his face.

“You, Harly,”
he grated. “This is for you, because of you. You’re the only woman
who has ever affected me so much that I ache from wanting to be
inside you. I burn for you.” He dropped suddenly to his knees,
coming up to place his hands on her knees, pushing her legs apart
as she watched in stunned silence, her blood hot and heavy in her
veins even as she struggled to grapple with the knowledge that this
perfect specimen of manhood was actually turned on by her body. By
her.

“I’m going to
taste you,” he growled. “Every damned, luscious inch, Harly, and
you’re going to let me. I’m going to swallow so much of you that
even when I’m thousands of miles away, you’ll be inside me, and
I’ll know your taste just by closing my eyes.”

It was the last
thing she heard as he bent down over her, his hands on her thighs
pushing them wider apart, his arms curling beneath her knees to
bend them back to his satisfaction as he slid down to lie full
length between her legs with his shoulders invading her space.

Stunned by what
he meant to do, she couldn’t believe it, her heart thundering, and
then she was arching back in shocked prurience as his tongue swiped
firmly between the sheltering labia to press fully against her
perineum.

There was no
tender touch, no light delving, no gentle tracing of the outer
lips. Instead, he tongued her with a craven appetite; she could
feel it in his intensity, the way he set to bring her creaming for
his mouth to devour.

Inexperienced
in oral sex she might be, but the single-minded determination with
which he ravished her tender flesh was proof of his
insatiability.

His tongue
swept along the tender flesh, circling around the virginal little
clitoris that now lay exposed to his voracity. He sucked the tiny
bud, making colours explode violently behind Harly’s eyelids,
crashing her out into a surf of crystal fragments that tore at her
with eroticism.