The Taming of Xander Sterne(39)

                It was Xander’s turn to groan as he felt the turgid heat of her nipple pressing against the material of her bra. He pushed her sweater up and out of the way as his lips trailed down to kiss the bared slopes of her breasts before unfastening her bra. He raised his head so that he could look down at her deliciously bared breasts.

                Completely bared breasts that revealed the tattoo of an eagle soaring on the upper slope of her left breast.

                ‘I knew it,’ Xander groaned achingly even as he lowered his head and his tongue traced the outline of that utterly sexy tattoo.

                He immediately realised his mistake in having spoken, as he felt Samantha tense and still beneath him, her fingers tightening briefly in his hair before moving down to his chest as she began to push him away.

                ‘Please, Xander,’ she groaned when he didn’t move. ‘You have to stop now!’

                ‘Why do I?’ he murmured distractedly as he continued to gaze down at those perfect breasts, tipped by swollen and aroused nipples. He was too turned on, too lost to the pleasure that was Samantha, to want to stop this just yet.

                ‘Xander, please!’ Her tone was more urgent now. ‘I don’t— We can’t do this.’ A sob caught in her throat as she pushed against his chest in earnest.

                The haze of desire was slow to lift inside Xander’s head, and it took him several seconds to realise that Samantha was pushing against him.

                His head lifted slowly as he looked at her, those perfect rounded breasts quickly rising and falling as she breathed heavily, her cheeks pale, her kiss-swollen lips parted, and her eyes wide pools of anguish.

                Anguish?

                Because Xander had kissed and caressed her?

                Kisses and caresses she had seemed to enjoy?

                Seemed...

                Could Xander be wrong about Samantha’s response? Could he have wanted to kiss and touch her so much that he had mistaken her initial lack of protest as encouragement?

                Was it possible that it had been so long since he last spent any time with a woman, held a woman in his arms, that he had misread the signals? That he was so physically frustrated he was guilty of kissing the first woman who had seemed willing?

                Well, that last bit wasn’t true, at least; the bridesmaid at the wedding had been more than willing to share his bed tonight. Hell, she had been more than willing for them to book into a room at the hotel for the night!

                She just hadn’t been the woman that Xander wanted.

                Because the woman now lying beneath him was the woman he wanted. Samantha Smith. Mother to Daisy Smith.

                And the ex-wife of the man who had upset her earlier at the hotel...

                Damn it, of course he had misread the signals!

                Samantha hadn’t been inviting him to kiss her just now. He had seen it himself; she had been in need of comfort after being so suddenly, so unexpectedly, confronted by her ex-husband. And then her daughter had woken screaming from a nightmare. A nightmare that had caused Daisy to turn to him for that same comfort.

                Xander lifted himself up and away from Samantha before standing up, instantly wincing as the aching pain intensified in his leg. ‘I’m sorry.’ He ran an agitated hand through the heavy thickness of his hair.