Almost Like Love(67)

He leaned in close and felt her shiver. “I want you to look at me like you did Saturday night. Like you did the day Chris was here and I held you just like this.” His jaw tensed. “I saw you with him at that bar, and it made me crazy. I couldn’t handle it, thinking you’d gone back to that asshole—”

“Chris isn’t an asshole,” Kate said. Her voice was trembling. “He has a lot of good qualities.”

“Oh yeah? Name one.”

“He’s . . . he’s . . . gentle.”

His grip on her shoulders tightened. “I’m not gentle.”

She closed her eyes. “No.”

“Is that a problem for you?”

He watched the heat creep into her face. “No.”

“I didn’t think so,” he whispered. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him, her breath quick and shallow.

He moved his hands to her hips. “I’ve wanted to take you against a wall since that night at the club.” He smoothed his palms down her thighs. “The day Chris was here, I was a breath away from doing it.” He found the hem of her skirt, and his hands slid underneath and up her bare legs.

She drew in a sharp breath. “Ian . . . stop. You have to stop.”

He did, but he didn’t pull back.

“Are you saying you don’t want me?”

Kate turned her head away. “After everything that’s happened between us, I should hate you.”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

She met his eyes again, and there was turmoil in her expression. But behind her anger and confusion and uncertainty, he saw an unmistakable spark of desire.

He began to stroke her bare thighs again, letting his hands rove higher until he found the edge of her panties.

He traced that edge softly, slowly, his fingertips grazing over the sensitive crease where her leg met her hip.

“Ian . . .”

There was a pleading note in her voice. He wasn’t sure if she was begging him to stop or to keep going, but he was going to assume the latter.

He covered her mound with his palm.

She gasped and clutched at his shoulders. He massaged her through her panties, and the little sounds she made had him hungry for more.

He slipped a finger underneath the soft lace, and she was so hot and wet and ready for him, he almost howled like a wolf.

“Kate—”

She squirmed against him, and he slicked a finger back and forth over her clitoris.

“Ian!”

Her face was flushed, her eyes bright.

“What do you want, Kate?”

“I want . . . I want—”

“Tell me, sweetheart.”

“I want you inside me. Now.”

He was already hard, but that turned him into an iron rod.

“You’re sure?” he said thickly.

“Yes. Yes . . .”

Christ, he hoped there was a condom in his wallet.

He kept one hand on Kate’s glorious heat as he pulled out his wallet with the other. Yes, thank God—a single foil packet.

He held it in his teeth as he dropped the wallet to the floor. Only then did he pull away from Kate, but just so he could shrug out of his overcoat, undo his pants, and push them down far enough to free his erection.

“Panties,” he growled as he tore open the condom and rolled it over his shaft.

As orders went, it was a little vague, but Kate had no trouble interpreting it. She wriggled them off and kicked them away, and then he hooked his hand under her right thigh to hoist her leg over his hip.

She was ready for him—and God knew he was ready for her. But as he gazed down into her flushed, sweet, beautiful face, he hesitated.

He wanted her physically more than he’d ever wanted a woman. But with Kate, it wouldn’t be just physical. He showed himself to her in ways he didn’t expect. And when she revealed herself to him, he was only drawn in deeper.

Was he ready for that?

Then Kate reached down between their bodies, grasped him in her hand, and guided him towards her.

Sweet holy Christ.

It didn’t matter if he was ready. He couldn’t stop now to save his life.

He slid inside her with one thrust, and she arched her head back and cried out.

He braced his forearm against the wall and leaned in to press a quick, hard kiss onto her lips. He kept his other hand under her thigh, tightening his grip as he withdrew and slid back in.

Another slow stroke, and another. Kate’s hands fisted in his shirt. Then he was pounding into her with hard, urgent thrusts, her soft cries driving him out of his mind.

He knew she was close when her body tightened around him. He reached down to roll her clit between his fingers, and then she was calling out his name as her head thrashed from side to side.

His own orgasm slammed into him like a tidal wave. He was gripped by ecstasy, shuddering and throbbing inside her.