"Why not?" Her voice rasped low from the effort of not stepping closer. She wanted him to touch her the way he had the night before. Craved the feel of his body against hers.
"Because I have a better solution for all this distraction you're causing." He combed his fingers through the ends of her hair, smoothing it along her back.
Sensation shimmered over her skin, nerve endings dancing to life. Desire pooled in her belly as her gaze roamed over his powerful arms and shoulders, the solid wall of his chest that would be warm to her touch.
"A way to stop all this distraction?" She needed to know what he was thinking before her thoughts smoldered away in the blaze erupting between them.
"I'm beginning to think that's a lost cause after last night." His hands moved to her hips as he stepped into her space, crowding her in the most delicious possible way. "That dress you wore last night flipped some kind of switch in my head and I can't stop thinking about this spot." He palmed the front of her thigh. "Right here."
Her breath caught on a hard gasp. Pleasure spiked. Her breasts beaded under the bodice of her dress.
"Do you remember where I mean?" His eyes were dark and lit by firelight, reflecting the bright orange flames beside them. He traced a pattern on the front of her leg, fingering gently. "There was a sheer place in the lace. Here."
He increased the pressure of his touch and she couldn't swallow a strangled sound in the back of her throat. He hadn't even kissed her yet and she was utterly mesmerized.
"I remember." Her words were a breathless whisper as she steadied herself against his shoulders, anchoring her quivering body with his strength.
"If I'm a bad friend to you, Addy, you only have that dress to blame." He shifted his hold on her to align their hips, allowing her to feel how much he wanted her. "But I damn well can't resist any longer."
Seven
Dempsey's control had snapped the second she'd suggested they could be even more in sync. He'd been hanging on by a thread before that moment, willing himself not to think about the tender brush of her lips on his the night before. Not to think about that damn siren's dress she'd worn or the way she'd melted in his arms.
So by the time she'd made that one coy, flirtatious taunt, his restraint had simply incinerated.
From that moment on, he'd been plagued with sweaty visions of them moving together in perfect sensual accord. Now that he had his hands on her, molding her sweet, curvy body to his, he didn't have a prayer of putting a lid back on this combustible attraction.
He kissed her. Hard. With deliberate purpose. Need. Seeking entrance, he explored every nuance of her mouth, claiming it with a hunger and thoroughness he couldn't hold back. The way she opened for him, swayed into him, encouraged him all the more.
Unleashed, his emotions fired through the kiss until he all but devoured her. She clutched his shoulders, her nails biting ever so slightly into his skin through his shirt. He wished he could torch their clothes so he could feel the sting of that touch without barrier.
He bent to nuzzle her neck, tasting the skin all along her throat and under her ear until he found the source of her fragrance. The scent of roses made him throb with teeth-jarring need. He nipped and licked his way down her collarbone along the strap of her dress and peeled the fabric free. He had to feel more of her.
But right before he helped himself to one of her breasts, he remembered they were still outdoors. And even though it was nighttime, the fire might make them visible to one of the houses dotting the lake if someone was so inclined to spy. The porches of plenty of coastal homes were furnished with telescopes.
"I want to take you inside." He nudged the strap of her dress back up her shoulder, his hand unsteady and his breath uneven. The ache from wanting her still heated his veins.
"I want to take you anywhere I can have you." She loosened her hold on him as she edged back a step. "So that's definitely fine with me."
Her words fanned the flames hotter inside him. Aching to have her, he swept her up in his arms and charged over the lawn toward the house.
"Your room is closer." He said it to himself as much as her, directing his steps toward the downstairs bedroom. "But the condoms are all upstairs." He changed direction, cursing himself for the mansion's extravagant square footage when it delayed having Adelaide.
She nipped at his neck while he covered the distance, those delectable breasts of hers pressed tight to his chest as she clutched him. She made a luscious armful, her thighs draped over one arm while her hip grazed the erection that had hounded him the better part of the day.
"I can't wait to feel you without the barrier of clothes," she murmured against his ear, her breath puffing a silken caress along his skin.
"That's good." He ground the words out between clenched teeth as he finally reached the door to his suite. "Because I don't think we're going to leave this room until the game on Sunday."
He needed to wear himself out with her. To excise this hunger spilling over into every aspect of his life until all he could think about was Adelaide.
Setting her on her feet, he backed her into the nearest wall, yearning to feel more of her. Light spilled into the room from low-wattage sconces on either side of the bed that came on automatically at sunset. He toed the door shut behind them and took another valuable second to flip the lock into place. Then all of his focus returned to Adelaide.
Immersing his hands in all that long, caramel-colored hair of hers, he shifted the length of it over one shoulder in a silky veil. His body pinned hers in place, hips sinking into hers where they fit best.
He was dying to have her. It was as if he'd been holding back for years instead of days, and maybe subconsciously he had been. That friendship wall could be a strong one. Mistresses were plentiful. Friends, true friends, were few. But the time for restraint was long gone as he tugged the straps of her thin sundress down and exposed a pretty turquoise-colored bra that wouldn't be nearly as enticing as what was underneath. Applying his hands to the hooks, he swept that aside, too, so he could get his mouth around the tight buds of dark pink nipples he'd felt right through her clothes.
Her back arched to give him better access, her body straining toward his while he laved and licked at one and then the other. She made soft sexy sounds that told him how much she liked what he was doing, and her hands worked the buttons on his shirt until she was touching bare skin. He hauled the shirt off his shoulders and let it slide to the floor, his eyes never leaving her. With her dress tugged down and all that goddess hair draped over her shoulders, she made one hell of a vision.
Lifting her against him, he slid a hand up her skirt to wrap her leg around his waist. Positioned that way, the vulnerable, hot core of her came up against his rock-hard erection. She shuddered against him, a subtle vibration he felt right there, a sensation so damn good he cupped her hips and moved her against him again and again. A sensual ride he wanted to give her for real.
"That feels..." Her words broke on a small cry of pleasure as she braced herself on his shoulders.
"Tell me." He wanted to know everything she liked. Exactly how she liked it.
While he'd always striven to pleasure the women in his bed, this was different. He needed this night to be perfect because this was Adelaide and she was different. So much more important to him.
And he wasn't ready to think about what that meant or all the ways that was going to complicate things for them.
"It feels so good." Her eyes flipped open long enough for him to see the haze of desire there, her gaze unfocused. "I'm so close. Already."
Knowing that only cranked him higher. He kept up the friction beginning to torment him and fastened his lips back on one breast. He drew on it. Hard. Then, finding the edge of her panties with one hand, he slid beneath the satin to stroke the drenched feminine folds. Once. Twice.
She came apart with a high cry she muffled against his shoulder. The force of it, combined with the way she went boneless in his arms, made him sway back on his feet a little.
Damn. He used that moment to watch her, to soak up the vision she made with her cheeks suffused with color and her chest heaving with all that sensation.
Giving her a moment-giving himself one, too-he tried to catch his breath before he carried her over to the bed and deposited her there. His own release was close and he hadn't even taken off his pants. Leaving her just long enough to retrieve a box of condoms from the bathroom cabinet, he dropped it on the nightstand.