In addition to baby weight, she'd put on pity-party weight, and though she'd been much more disciplined since she'd stopped feeling sorry for herself, she still hadn't managed to shed all of those extra pounds. Her hips were wider than before, her stomach far from flat, her thighs a bit more well-rounded.
The only upside to her new, more curvaceous figure was her bosom. Whether it was due to the pre-baby caloric binges or the post-baby breast-feeding, the increased bra size was kind of nice. And being bigger up top helped to keep the rest of her body in proper proportion.
But whether her recent physical changes were good or bad, Marc didn't seem to mind either way. In fact, he didn't even seem to notice. Or if he did, he was enjoying them enough that he didn't feel the need to comment.
Knowing that allowed Vanessa to relax and stop obsessing. Marc's hands on her body, his mouth trailing along her jaw, her throat, her shoulder, her collarbone, were too potent to ignore for long, anyway. As was the need to touch him in return.
She stroked his back, toyed with the hair at the nape of his neck. Nibbled his ear and rubbed her cheek against the slight stubble that was growing in and would need to be shaved clean again in the morning.
His erection was pressed between them, rubbing in tantalizing places and she arched slightly to feel even more of that rigid length against her belly and lower. With a low growl, Marc sank his teeth into the muscle that ran from the side of her throat to her shoulder. She sucked in a sharp breath, groaning at the light stab of pleasure-pain and digging her nails into the flesh of his back to repay the favor.
He chuckled against her skin and she felt the vibrations clear down to her bones.
"Stop teasing," she ordered more than a little breathlessly just above his ear.
"You started it," he retorted, words muffled as he spoke into her skin. He trailed wet, openmouthed kisses across her chest, over the mound of one breast, tighter and tighter around her nipple.
"Besides, I'm not finished yet," he added a moment before taking that nipple into his mouth and suckling gently.
Oh, mercy. Vanessa's upper body shot off the mattress, pleasure streaking through her like lightning. She couldn't even cry out, the oxygen was knocked so thoroughly from her lungs.
She clung to his shoulders, panting and writhing as he didn't just tease, but tortured. He licked and nipped and sucked at one breast before moving to the other and driving her crazy all over again.
When he finished, he lifted his head and smiled down at her. A wicked, devilish smile.
He started to lean down and she was afraid of what he might do. She wasn't sure she could take much more, whether he decided to continue his cruel ministrations to her brea**sts or to move lower.
Oh, no, he couldn't go lower. Another time, maybe. Another time, she was sure she would be delighted, and more than willing to reciprocate.
But tonight, it would be too much. She couldn't bear it.
So before he got any bright ideas, she linked her legs around his hips and reached between them to take him in a firm, but careful grasp. He let out a hiss of breath, lips pulling back from his teeth and his eyes falling closed.
"Enough," she told him.
His lashes fluttered and he gazed down at her. "Do you want me to stop?" he murmured.
The bastard. He knew she didn't want him to stop, he was just teasing her-torturing her-again.
Giving him a little taste of his own medicine, she tightened her fingers around his arousal, causing him to gasp and flex his hips.
"Not stop-stop," she clarified, as though there were really any doubt, "just wrap up the opening act and get to the big bang already."
He arched a brow, his lips splitting into a wide grin. "The 'big bang,' huh?"
She felt her cheeks heat at her choice of words. Then again, she was lying naked beneath her ex-husband, all but done with the dirty deed, as it were. Was there really any reason to be embarrassed about anything at this point?
Taking a deep breath and pulling her chin up a notch, she said, "You heard me."
"Well," he replied slowly, that same predatory gleam in his eyes, that same sly smile, curving his mouth, "I'll see what I can do to deliver."
It was her turn to arch a brow and adopt an overconfident expression. "You do that."
His grin widened a second before he swooped in to place a rough, hard kiss on her lips. Then he reached down to cover her hand with his. Slowly, he pried her fingers away from that most sensitive of body parts and raised her arm over her head, pinning it to the mattress.
Shifting, he settled more fully between her legs, the tip of his erection nudging her opening. And then he slid home, slowly, carefully, his mouth still covering hers, absorbing the heartfelt moans his agonizing entry dragged from her throat.
She clutched at his hands, both of them, where they held her own flat to the mattress. And he squeezed back, groaning against her lips as his hips began to move.
Inch by inch, he filled her up, stretching muscles and tissue that had been too long unused. It didn't hurt, though. On the contrary, it felt amazingly, wonderfully perfect.
Like so many times in the past, she marveled at how well they fit together, how every part of her body seemed to be molded, sculpted, designed for every part of his body. Even with the physical changes she'd gone through over the past year, that hadn't altered.
Levering himself up on his elbows, he released her mouth, giving her the chance to bite her bottom lip and tilt her head back in growing ecstasy. He did the same, nostrils flaring as he pulled out, then drove back in, slowly at first and then faster and faster.
She lifted her own hips, meeting him thrust for thrust, letting the motion, the flesh-on-flesh sensations wash over her in ever-increasing waves. Her lungs burned, struggling for air while the rest of her body struggled for completion. Every part of her tingled, tightening in longing, in expectation. She wanted-no, needed-what only Marc could give her. And while slow and steady might be good for some things, like marathons and piano lessons, that's not what she was interested in right now. She wanted hard and fast and now, now, now!
"Marc, please," she begged, wrapping her arms more securely around his neck before leaning up to nip his earlobe. Then she sank her teeth even harder into his shoulder.
His entire body shuddered from head to toe above her, his hands grasping her waist and digging in. He pounded into her with even more force, making her cry out, making himself cry out.
Pressure built until she wanted to scream and then suddenly the dam burst. Pleasure spilled over her in a splash of heat and colorful sparks, like fireworks going off overhead.
She called his name and clung to him for dear life, absorbing the delicious impact of his final thrusts, and finally his full weight as he collapsed atop her with a long, low groan of satisfied completion.
Eight
"This was probably a bad idea," Vanessa murmured.
Marc had wondered how long it would take her to start in on her list of regrets.
They were lying side by side, flat on their backs on the lumpy, queen-size hotel room mattress. Vanessa had the sheets pulled up to her armpits, held in place over her ample brea**sts by both hands. He was a bit more relaxed, stretched out and letting the sheet fall where it would, low on his abdomen and across his hips.
But while he was obviously taking their minor indiscretion in stride, he couldn't disagree with her on the "bad idea" part. He wasn't sorry, since making love with Vanessa wasn't something he could ever regret or apologize for, but she was right that it hadn't been the smartest decision of his life.
He wasn't even sure what had possessed him to kiss her in the first place.
Maybe because he'd been thinking about it all night, his eyes straying over and over again to her mouth and the luscious clea**vage visible above the bodice of her siren-red sex goddess dress.
Maybe because he hadn't been able to get her out of his head since the moment he'd seen her again after such a long absence … and after pretty much determining that he would never see her again at all.