He pulled his hand out. ‘Why?’ he asked, framing her face. He pushed the tendrils of hair that had escaped her chignon back behind her ears.
‘I’ve never seen you naked before.’ She gazed down at him, or the amount she could see. ‘And you’re beautiful. I want to explore.’
His eyebrows shot up. ‘I am not beautiful!’ he said, indignantly, but flopped back on the mattress and folded his arms behind his head. ‘But go ahead, if you insist.’
‘I do.’ She grinned back, and let her hands roam—taking the opportunity to explore every glorious inch. Her fingertips played in the fine pelt of dark hair that covered his broad chest, traced the outline of flat brown nipples, followed the line of hair down the ridged strength of his abdomen. Her grin widened when he quivered and sucked in an unsteady breath.
At last she sat back on her haunches, giving her a full, unencumbered view of the magnificent erection that stood up, proud and huge, from the dark curls at his groin.
She bit into her lip, gave a soft sigh of appreciation. Then wrapped shaking fingers round the column of flesh.
He groaned, his whole body trembling, as she marvelled at its length, its girth, her body melting in preparation. Smiling up at him, she leaned down to kiss the broad head, licked the tip, but he lurched up when she opened her lips to do more.
‘No way, Tess.’
‘But I want to,’ she pleaded.
He barked out a harsh laugh. ‘We’ll have to take a rain check. It’s been over a month and I’m gonna die if I don’t get inside you in about ten seconds.’
‘Spoilsport.’ She smiled, her own arousal soaring at his desperation as he rolled them both over to press her into the cushions.
He paused, to place one warm palm on her belly, and stroke the barely visible bump. ‘It’s definitely okay, right?’
She blinked back the silly sting of tears at the question, and nodded.
Don’t get soppy, Tess. Not now.
Settling between her thighs, he gripped her bottom, holding her open to thrust heavily, burying himself deep. She gave a shocked sob at the brutal intrusion, her flesh contracting around him.
‘You okay?’ he groaned, the effort to hold back making sweat pop on his brow.
She gripped his face, tilted her hips. ‘Yes,’ she gasped as he sank deeper. ‘It feels incredible.’
He gave a strained laugh, and then started to move, in slow, strong, insistent strokes, drawing out the pleasure, intensifying it, so different from the fast, frantic couplings of their previous encounters. He forced her into the storm of sensation, making her moan as the climax hit in an almighty wave of pleasure. She heard him crash over the brutal edge behind, his grunt of fulfilment echoing off the sun-drenched walls as their sweat-slicked bodies collapsed onto the bed.
The blissful cloud of afterglow settled around her as the rainbow of sensations dimmed. She caressed the smooth planes of his back, the comforting weight of his body crushing her into the mattress, his head heavy on her shoulder. And dismissed the thumping drumbeat of her heart.
She was fine. They were fine. This was just friends with benefits.
Really, really amazing benefits.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘HEY, Tess? I brought supper over.’ Nate didn’t bother to knock on the cottage door as he walked into the kitchen and dumped the bag of take-out on the counter.
Ever since the sonogram a week ago, and the mind-blowing sex that had followed, he’d got into the habit of coming by unannounced. But he always brought take-out and he never stayed over, because that had made the arrangement feel more casual. But he was starting to find being this spontaneous all the time harder and harder to pull off.
His pulse rate edged up at the thought of seeing Tess again. He hadn’t seen her in a couple of days, had deliberately forced himself not to come over, in the hope that she’d call him and ask him to come. They’d had a great time over the weekend, just as they had every night he’d stopped by so far. But she hadn’t called so he’d been forced to take the initiative again.
It didn’t matter if she asked him over or not, he told himself as he strolled into the living room. If she insisted on sticking to her independence, pretending she didn’t need him to come over, he was more than ready to take the choice out of her hands.
‘Tess, where are you?’
He checked his watch. He was a little earlier than usual tonight, but where the hell was she? The skin on the back of his neck prickled as he spotted the door to her study standing open at the end of the corridor, and her empty desk. Hell, had she gone out? And if she had, where had she gone?
Then he heard a muffled groan and his irritation disappeared in a heartbeat. He charged down the corridor, the skin on his neck now screaming in alarm.