Breathless In Love (The Maverick Billionaires #1)(39)

“Tell me how you feel, Harper.”

Couldn’t he tell already? Didn’t he know? “It makes me hot. You make me hot.”

The air soaked up his tension, raising the hair on her arms like static electricity. Until he blinked it away...and moved her fingers to his belt.

* * *

Harper unbuckled and unzipped while he watched. Her hands were trembling slightly, but she didn’t stop, just tucked her lower lip between her teeth as she concentrated on taking off the rest of his clothes. And when her lips curved up in a little smile and she gracefully dropped to her knees...oh hell, he nearly lost it right then and there. Nearly tore her dress from her and took her the way he’d been wanting to take her all night long.

“You’re gorgeous.” There was no artifice in her voice, just reverent awe.

He kicked aside the pile of his clothing. “You’ve seen me before.”

Still down on her knees, she tipped her head back, her hair falling in waves around her shoulders. Will’s heart thumped hard knowing she was his for this night. He’d waited so damn long and now his hands shook, just as hers had when she was undressing him. He fisted them in her hair to hide it.

“Only parts of you.” Her gaze was soft, her lips sweet. “The parts you’ve let me see. Tonight is the first time I’m seeing all of you.”

Jesus, she had no idea what she was saying, did she? No idea that she’d just seen more of him than any other woman had. She hadn’t balked at his tattoo. She’d thought it was sexy. But it would lose all its sexiness if she knew what it really meant.

She leaned in to swipe her tongue along his length and his thoughts scattered as everything inside him clenched, coiled, made ready to pounce. She smiled as though she knew exactly what she did to him.

“You still have all your clothes on,” he somehow managed to say.

He wanted her naked. On the bed. Spread out. He’d never wanted anyone this intensely, with every cell primed, each sense attuned. Only Harper. Her scent was sweet, with the added spice of arousal. Her fingers were silk caressing his skin. Her kiss was a drug he couldn’t get enough of.

“We’re even, then,” she replied, “since I’m always the one who’s naked.”

Susan had said he needed to let Harper know how he felt. There were so many things—need, desire, amazement, love. But right now all he could get his brain to manage was, “I need you, Harper.” He pulled her to her feet and unzipped the cocktail dress. Pressing kisses to her spine as the material slid down and pooled at her feet, he licked the sensitive hollow at the base. The last to go was her bra. Standing behind her, he cupped her breasts in his hands. “I need you so damned much.” Her head back against his shoulder, she arched into his palms, silently begging.

Until tonight, he’d tried to play it cool with her, teased her, made her climax in ways he was sure she never had before. But he’d never completely let go. Not even the night in his ’57 Chevy. Even then, he’d been aware of every action he took, calculating whether it gave her what she craved. Letting go was risky.

But if he didn’t let go—and if he didn’t let her in—then all he could ever be to her was some hot sex on the hood of his car or in the front seat of his Chevy. But he wanted so much more with Harper. Needed more with every cell in his body, with every heartbeat, every breath.

He reached around her and dragged the coverlet down the bed, tugging the blanket and sheet to the bottom. He picked her up and was so far out on the edge of reason that he all but tossed her onto the bed.

He went to her nipples first, licking, sucking, until she arched against him. “The way you taste.” He swiped his tongue across a peak. “The sounds you make. The way your body begs for more. All of you makes me crazy, Harper.”

She threaded her hands through his hair. “You make me crazy, too.”

He crawled up her body, then rolled until she was on top. Spreading her legs over him, he pulled her hips down, riding her center without actually entering her. She was slick and hot. She curled her body around him, her hips moving up into his, quaking, gasping, her heart beating so hard he could feel it.

He’d never felt so wild with a woman as when he hauled her up, clamped his hands on her hips, and pulled her to his mouth. Jesus, she was sweet. Wet. He held her to him, drinking her in. He circled, spiraling down slowly until he touched the center of her pleasure.

Above him, she grabbed the headboard, her hips undulating, her body directing him, telling him how to move, where to kiss. He kneaded her hips in his hands, increasing the friction, the pleasure. Her sounds filled the room, gasps, sighs, little cries. He was voracious, consuming her as she shuddered, trembled.

And came completely apart for him.

But it wasn’t enough. He couldn’t let her go. Not yet. He had only enough thought left to grab a condom from the drawer before he came down between her legs. “Look at me.”

She opened her eyes, fuzzy with sated pleasure. “I don’t know who’s crazier anymore.”

“We’re crazy together.” Then he thrust home.

Closing his eyes, he held still, absorbed the feel of her around him. “So good,” he whispered. “So perfect.”

There was sex. And then there was this. One was merely physical. This was body and soul.

He pulled her leg to his waist and moved, slowly at first. She shuddered, circled his shoulders with her arms, and as she brought her other leg up, she looked into his eyes and whispered, “It’s too good.”

“It could never be too good.”

He held her hips, falling into her, retreating, then moving in deep again. Every muscle bunched, his blood pounded. And he could feel her around him, taking him, holding him tight. He could stay here forever.

Then she moaned. Her breath hitched. And he knew she was climbing again. He had to go with her this time, needed to jump off right along with her. Pumping faster, harder, going deeper, he steeped himself in her, “Harper. God. Yes. So good,” falling from his lips.

Her heart thudded hard with his. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and smelled their salty-sweet scent, tasted her on his tongue. The heat of her skin became his heat. Her body was indistinguishable from his. And when she convulsed around him, she dragged him over the edge with her.

He heard her name on his lips. He heard her cry out his.

Then his voice saying, “I love you.”

* * *

I love you.

Harper’s body, her head—but especially her heart—were all spinning as she tried to make sense of what had just happened. And what he’d just said.

“Harper?” He eased to his side, taking some of his weight from her, even as his arm tightened around her. “I love you.”

He’d put his hand on her cheek and turned her face to his as if he’d known she wouldn’t quite be able to process those three little words the first time he said them. And it was so tempting to say them back, her own I love you, too, right there on the tip of her tongue.

But the words wouldn’t come, almost as if they were locked up tight inside her, and she couldn’t find the key.

She could tell him about her fears—that he’d tire of her and Jeremy, that surely he couldn’t want to take both of them on when all the other men she’d come across had been horrified at the thought. But she already knew what he’d say—I’m not like them. And he wasn’t, because she knew how kind and generous he was.

Unfortunately, that fact didn’t change the others—his money, his lifestyle, or his ability to take whatever he wanted.

Harper knew her own self-worth, and yet, with the penthouse apartment, the limo, and the glittering jewels of all the people fawning over Will tonight... honestly, she couldn’t help but feel out of her depth. It had been like being tossed straight into the deep end when she was only just learning to swim.

More than anything, she wanted to love with her full heart and soul. All the way, nothing held back. Wanted it more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life. And she knew he’d talk her out of every single doubt.

But how could she tell him she loved him unless she was able to talk herself out of those doubts?

When she looked back up at him, he was frowning. Her throat felt tight, her chest ached, and she wished she could tell him what he wanted to hear. Wished she was ready, that she was already there. “Will—”

Before she could try to figure out what else to say, he surprised her yet again by saying, “You’re smart not to say it back to me, Harper.”

Wait...he didn’t want her to say she loved him? Why would she be smart to hold a part of herself back from him?

But before she could voice any of those questions, he said, “You should know I’m not a nice guy. That’s why I haven’t told you how I felt about you. Because I’m not good enough for you. And yet I can’t make myself stay away even though I should.”

Not good enough for her? Will Franconi thought he was the one who wasn’t good enough?

All of this made her head whirl. It was happening so fast and was all so unexpected. Not just how sweet he’d been from the first day she and Jeremy had met him, but also how much he’d done for them since. And how much she wanted to let herself love him, all the way, with nothing held back. This was just supposed to be a thrill ride. But somehow, it had turned into so much more. And now that everything she’d been telling herself was true had spun on its ear, she didn’t know what to think. Or how to feel.