The Boss's Baby Affair(52)

Then her legs tangled with his for a moment before they parted, granting him the access he’d only fantasized about before. He pressed into the space, his heart thundering.

She’d borne his child.

“Take me,” she murmured.

All thought dissolved as her hands slid into the tight space between them and closed around the length of him.

Nick gritted his teeth. “I can’t hold back.”

Surging forward, the blunt length of him pushed into her readied softness. Nick fought against the strength of the sensations that shook him as her heat swallowed him; he fought to hold on, to give her time to catch up.

“I’ve never been this hot,” he whispered, and licked the soft skin behind her ear.

She arched up beneath him and gasped.

Nick clutched her buttocks and drove deeper. Pleasure ripped through him.

One. Two. Three thrusts.

Candace gasped again and flung her head back.

It was enough to send Nick spinning into oblivion. He shot deep inside her womb, where his child had lain, and then the passion and heat consumed them both.

Nothing had ever felt more right to Nick.



Candace opened her eyes—and the sight of the dark gold bedcover caused her to freeze. She didn’t need the shafts of sunbeams or the sinking sensation in her stomach to tell her she’d fallen asleep in Nick Valentine’s bed.

She jerked fully awake.

Jennie…did Jennie need her?

Then she remembered. Jennie was spending the night with Nick’s sister. She rolled over, and gazed straight into Nick’s lazy eyes.

“Hello,” he said softly.

His hand came up and brushed a strand of hair off her cheek. She managed not to flinch as heat arced through her. Shifting, her legs brushed against his naked ones beneath the sheets.

A fiery tide of embarrassment swept over her. Candace swallowed and anchored the silk sheet under her arms so that it wouldn’t shift. “This is so awkward.”

“Why?” His lips curved up. “Don’t feel that away. After all, we have a daughter—this should’ve happened a long time ago. We’ve done things the wrong way around.”

Oh, help!

A tender, teasing Nick Valentine was more than she could handle. How could she ever have thought those beautiful indigo eyes remote and inscrutable? The warmth and fire and emotion that filled them now tore at her heart.

She remembered how his passion had grown to a strange, very moving desperation last night.

He’d made her feel so special.

But now in the light of the morning after, it felt…wrong.

His fingers trailed down her cheek and came to a rest in the hollow of her throat. He caressed the sensitized, bare skin, and Candace was conscious of his square-tipped fingers touching her…slipping closer to the edge of the sheet trapped above her breasts.

And under the sheets his body was naked.

So was hers…

What had she done? All she could think of was that it was going to be impossible to keep working in Nick’s home. How could she have jeopardized everything? Her relationship with her daughter, her position in Nick’s house? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

And for what?

One night of desperate passion? That was forever going to lurk between them; they would never be able to put it to rest. She was going to have to leave. Leave Jennie.

Her heart clenched in pain.

And leave Nick.

The cold ache that numbed her chest was as unexpected as it was unwelcome.

No.

It couldn’t possibly hurt to think of leaving Nick…

No. No. No. He meant nothing to her.

Yet the denial did nothing to ease the ache as she remembered how he’d listened to Bertha yesterday, how he’d laughed when his sister had tormented him about having to kiss Princess Piggy, how he’d ripped her heart out when he’d told her about his hollow marriage at dinner last night.

She couldn’t possibly have—

No, she didn’t want to think about it. Falling in love with Nick would be the stupidest thing she’d ever done.

“Come here.” He pulled her into his arms.

For a split second, Candace resisted, then she let herself be drawn up against him. Shivers of delight raced through her as his bare skin brushed hers. He kissed her. Her mouth blossomed beneath his, opening, taking him into her, drawing him deep.

With a shock she realized how easy it would be to succumb.

Candace tore out of his arms, putting the length of the bed between them.

“Nick—no.” Her breathing was ragged. She paused for a moment. “I don’t want to make love again.”

“You don’t mean that—”

“I do,” she said with a firmness she was far from feeling. “It’s not going to happen again. This was the one and only time.”

The soft light went out of his eyes. “Don’t dismiss something you might regret losing later.”