Worth the Risk (5 page)

She nodded jerkily. “Terrified.”

Her admission touched him, and he decided to be honest. She deserved it. “You make me nervous too.”

Her eyes widened in apparent shock. “I do?”

“Oh yeah.” He nodded, reached out and trailed his index finger along the soft line of her jaw. She trembled beneath his touch. “It’s different with you.”

“What’s different?” The wide-eyed look switched to narrowed skepticism in a heartbeat. “Don’t try and use some line on me, Hunter. I won’t fall for it.”

“I’m not using any lines on you.” He kept his expression solemn. Serious. “It
is
different with you.”

“It’ll probably end up a mistake,” she whispered.

He flinched. Her words hurt. “You know it would be good between us.”

Releasing a shaky breath, she slowly shook her head. “Nothing’s ever guaranteed.”

He settled his hands upon her slim shoulders and she stiffened beneath his grip. “I’m not so sure about that.”

The little liar—she did know exactly how good it could be between them. A few scorching hot kisses between them and they were close to setting the world on fire. “You’re forgetting how quickly you reacted that night when I kissed you?” Hunter started to rub her shoulders, easing the tension from her tight muscles with his every firm stroke.

She dropped her head and he pressed his thumb at a precise spot on the back of her neck, causing her to moan. The sound went straight to his cock. “I was sort of drunk.”

So was he, but that wasn’t a valid excuse for what happened between them and they both knew it. “I think it would’ve been just as spectacular if we’d both been sober,” he confessed.

She remained quiet and he continued his massage. Her muscles went pliant beneath his fingertips, her entire body softening, as did her attitude. She gave a little gasp when he hit an extremely tight spot and he went to work on it, earning a sexy little whimper of pleasure for his efforts.

He stifled the groan that wanted to escape. He was torturing himself and they hadn’t even really done anything yet.

“The traffic still looks awful.” She studied the maze of clogged streets below them.

“Yeah.” Saturday night was always pretty bad, but something must’ve been going on to make it this extreme. “You can stay here for as long as you like. I’ll have Donny take you home.”

She turned to face him, her eyes wide as she stared up at him. “You won’t come with us?”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Ah, innuendo. One of his favorite flirtation tactics.

“I—there are a lot of things I want.” She bent her head and stared at the floor. “Things that I shouldn’t want, that I can’t really have.”

Unable to resist, he reached out, tipped her chin up with two fingers. “Who says you can’t have what you want?”

“But those—
things
are bad for me,” she whispered.

He trailed his thumb across her chin, the tip of it just brushing the edge of her bottom lip. She believed him bad for her. She was probably right. “You won’t know unless you try.”

“I did try. Once. Briefly.” She caught her lower lip with her teeth, and the last remnants of his defenses came crumbling down. There was no reason whatsoever that should stop him from making this woman his—at least for tonight.

Unless the woman herself told him he should stop. Above all else, he respected women. Particularly this one.

“Too brief,” he murmured just before he closed in on her and pressed his mouth to hers.

The kiss was simple, downright chaste, and he didn’t push. Kept it sweet, kept his hands off her with the exception of his fingers beneath her chin. Once he settled his hands on her sexy body, he was done for.

Hell, he was barely hanging on to his control with a brief kiss.

Their mouths parted, reconnected, her lips opening more with every little kiss. He stepped closer, moving his fingers so he could stroke her petal-soft cheek. Carefully, with the restraint of a saint, he touched his tongue to the center of her bottom lip, then slipped it inside her mouth…brushed his tongue against hers.

A whisper of a sigh escaped her, and she stepped fully into him, her arms sliding around his neck, her hands clutching the back of his head. The feel of her body close to his, the way she touched him, kissed him, moaned for him…

That did it. The restraint slipped from him like iron shackles being wrenched from his arms and legs after being locked up for an eternity. He was free. Free to touch her, free to do all the things he’d wanted to do to her for months.

He wound his arm around her waist and hauled her against him, his other hand slipping ‘round so he could cradle the back of her head. He held her there, completely in his embrace, thoroughly searching her mouth with his tongue. Pressing his groin against her so she could feel exactly what she did to him.

Breaking the kiss first, he stared down at her flushed face, her swollen, damp lips. She breathed heavily and blinked open her eyes, confusion swirling in their green depths. “Why did you stop?”

Hunter smiled. He loved hearing her say that. “Was that bad for you?”

She blinked, a slow sweep of thick, dark eyelashes and she tightened her hold on him. “Was what bad for me?”

“The kiss. Our kiss.” He bent and took her mouth again for good measure. “Was that a terrible idea? Do you want me to stop?”

“Will you still respect me in the morning if I say no, I don’t want you to stop?” she asked in a hoarse whisper.

Triumph filled him to overflowing. “Of course I would, Gracie. If you told me to stop right now, five minutes from now, hell, ten minutes from now, I’d do it. I’d never push you into something you don’t want to do.”

A smile curved her lips. It was genuine; it lit her eyes and made them sparkle. Her entire face glowed, and a secret thrill pulsed through him.

He’d made her feel that way. He was the reason she was smiling and looking so pleased with it all.

She leaned in close, her lips at his ear, her breath hot when she spoke. “Then take me to your bedroom, Hunter. Do it now before I chicken out.”

He couldn’t resist that sultry whispered command.

Without hesitation, he bent and gathered her in his arms, giving her lush bottom a pinch when she offered a halfhearted protest and begged him to put her down. He strode down the hall toward his bedroom, kicking the door open before he entered.

“Your wish is my command, my lady,” he said with all seriousness. “Whatever you shall desire, I promise to make come true.”

He sounded like a corny ass, but he meant every single damned word.

Chapter Four

His bedroom was large, the bed massive, not that she would expect anything less from Hunter Worth. He dropped her onto the bed, her butt bouncing on the mattress, and she scrambled backward, propping herself on the mound of pillows. She watched as he came down on all fours, crawling so he hovered above her.

Her entire body tingled from the way his hot gaze raked over her. The dress she wore had risen when she fell, stopping at mid-thigh, and he eyed her exposed legs with particular interest.

“I’ve waited for this—forever,” he confessed before he kissed her again.

And oh, the man could kiss. His lips and tongue could be declared lethal weapons, since they demolished multiple brain cells. She could feel them explode within her head with every stroke of his tongue, every assured, lingering press of his mouth.

Gracie couldn’t resist touching him, running her hands across his shoulders and chest, along his strong arms, down his broad back. He was so big, his body covered hers completely, and when she felt his hand slip between her legs and stroke her inner thigh, she gasped in anticipation.

He tore his mouth from hers to stare down at her, his hand moving higher. Higher still. His fingers brushed the front of her panties, feather-light, barely there. His gaze never left hers as he stroked.

Her entire body trembled and her legs were like jelly. She lay there, completely immobile, her breath leaving her lungs in irregular spurts. He teased, damn him, and a smile lit up his face as he continued to watch her.

“Spread your legs, Gracie,” he whispered, and she did as he asked automatically, spreading them as wide as she could within the confines of her dress. His touch grew firmer, a hard press against her sex and she shuddered.

“You want this as bad as I do, don’t you?” His voice lowered to a husky murmur and his eyes were hooded, his entire expression slumberous. He slipped his hand beneath her panties, his fingers brushing against her damp curls, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out. Tracing the seam of her sex with his index finger, he drew it back and forth, pressing harder with each pass until finally he parted her lower lips.

Dipping his finger into her wet sex, he searched her sensitive folds, his gaze heating when he slipped two fingers deep within her. She cried out, unable to hold back, and he smiled his encouragement.

“Close?” His murmured question was accompanied by a more firm touch. He drew circles upon her clitoris. Tighter and tighter they grew, and shimmers of pleasure shot through her. She’d never had a man watch her so closely, so carefully looking for her reaction, and she tossed her head back and closed her eyes, moaning when he quickened his pace even more.

“So—close,” she finally whispered, lifting up her head and opening her eyes so she could look at him.

Extremely close. She was about to come any second if he kept that pace up. He teased and taunted, his fingers working a sensual magic on her, and embarrassingly soon she was coming apart under his expert touch. Her entire body bowed, and she threw her head back against the pillows again as she cried out in ecstasy.

He dropped a quick kiss on her lips, then stood, shedding his clothes with a ruthless efficiency that was impressive. She watched him, her body still quivering, new surges of delight coursing through her at first sight of his bare chest, his legs, his…
oh, my
.

She widened her eyes and swallowed hard, drinking him in unabashedly. A naked Hunter Worth was quite the sight to behold. His arms were lean, defined muscles that radiated power, his broad chest lightly covered with dark hair that she yearned to touch. Flat belly with a hint of the washboard and a trail of dark hair that led from just beneath his navel to the most impressive erection she’d ever witnessed.

Heaven help her, she wanted to lick that intriguing little trail of hair until it led her to the promise land. His cock jutted toward her, thick and with a drop of liquid clinging to the tip.

A wave of emotion swept over her, strong and overwhelming, and her nipples tightened in anticipation.

His gaze dropped, as if he’d noticed that subtle change in her body, and she pressed into the mattress, sighing when he settled over her once more.

“So pretty,” he whispered as he dipped his head and swiped first at one nipple with this tongue, then at the other. “I could taste you all night.”

She didn’t want that, no matter how good, how perfect it sounded. She would demand her equal time if she had to, but he ignored her pitiful attempts at a struggle. He had her good and pinned, wrapping his big hands around her wrists like shackles and holding her arms above her head. The position thrust her chest out toward him, and he bent over her, continuing his sensual assault on her nipples and breasts.

She whimpered at each pass of his velvety hot tongue. Cried out when he bit her nipple with the sharp edge of his teeth. Bucked hard when he sucked and nibbled on her flesh in a continuous rhythm he used to drive her mad with need.

It worked. She was out of her mind with it, another orgasm barreling down on her with the intensity of a high-speed train rolling off the rails.

He slipped his hand between her legs once more, rubbing, thrusting. She ground against him with frenzied moments, absolutely out of control, but she didn’t care. Too eager to claim the second orgasm that swept over her and sent her over the edge of bliss.

Crying out, she shuddered against his hand, his lips still wrapped around her right nipple. Still in the throes of her climax, he briefly left her, rolling on a condom with jerky, shaking movements before he thrust inside her. Filled her to bursting, her inner walls still trembled, pulsating around his thick, hot erection while he began to thrust.

“Couldn’t wait,” he muttered, his voice ragged, his chest heaving against hers as he pounded within her so hard she moved up the bed. Inch by rough inch she moved up, up the mattress, and she opened her eyes. Watched in fascination while the big, carefully controlled man she was used to seeing day in and day out lost complete and utter control buried inside her body.

Triumph surged through her, and she grasped his shoulders, wound her legs around his hips so he sank deeper inside her. They groaned in unison, Gracie clinging to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her fingers in his hair and tugged his head down, their open mouths meeting, tongues tangling. Panting, moaning, moving faster and faster until she broke away from their kiss, opened her eyes and smiled up at him.

He paused, their gazes meeting, and lowered his brows. “What?”

“I can’t smile at you?” She was having a total surreal moment, naked with Hunter, in his bed, wrapped up in his arms and having sex with him.