To Tempt A Tiger(52)

He paused. “I’m not sure whether to be jealous or turned on now. I’m leaning toward turned on.”

“Since we’re naked and in bed together, I should hope you’re turned on,” she said dryly.

He grinned, that wicked smile she loved so much. “More turned on.”

“Would you really share me with a woman?”

“No. But I like the fantasy.”

She tossed a pillow at his head. He retaliated by biting her ass, none-too-gently. The sensation went right to her core and her body clenched in reaction, winding tighter and closer to another orgasm, just from having his mouth on her.

“You keep this up, I’m going to be too worn out for the actual intercourse part of the night,” she said.

“I doubt that. I remember you having a great deal of stamina.”

“I’m out of practice.” More quietly, she said, “It’s been a while for me.”

He stopped kissing her, though his hand continued to caress her butt. “How long?”

She kept her head down, shy to admit this truth because it revealed so much. “Since you. I haven’t been with anyone since you.”

He remained so quiet, she forced herself to look at him. Something she couldn’t read moved through his expression. In a blink, he moved up the bed, rolled her onto her back, and kissed her, deeply and with so much passion she was overwhelmed. She wrapped her arms around him, trying to tell him with her kiss how much she’d missed him, in ways words just couldn’t express.

He settled between her legs, his cock nudging against her entrance, but for a long moment, they just held that position, caressing and kissing as if they had all the time in the world. When he pushed a little farther, almost entering her, a strange but important thought invaded her passion addled brain.

She pulled his head up so she could look him in the eyes. “I’m not on birth control. And I don’t have any condoms. We never worried about them because we thought we couldn’t get pregnant, but we did. Which means we can again. I know we were together for two years before it happened last time, so it’s not likely to happen tonight, but…”

She swallowed. She couldn’t even consider pregnancy at the moment, not with everything going on with Zoe, not with the way her world had been upended, and certainly not with a man she was still learning to trust again.

He grimaced and in the dim light she could swear she saw color climb into his cheeks. She had to be imagining that. His skin tone was too dark and the room was shadowed, the lights out.

He said, “I have condoms in my bag.”

“What?”

He rolled his eyes and looked away.

She took his face in her hands and forced him around to meet her gaze. “Are you telling me you planned this? You intended for us to end up in bed together again?”

“It wasn’t exactly a plan. Wishful thinking maybe, but I didn’t intend to rush you into anything.”

“And you thought of birth control, even though we never bothered with it before?”

“Like you said, we can get pregnant. I didn’t think you’d want to take that chance yet. Maybe after you forgive me and marry me, we can talk about it, but—”

“Wait.” She put a finger over his mouth. “Did you just say marry you?”

“Of course. What did you think I wanted?”

“Well how the hell should I know? We have been…estranged for four years. You just came back into my life. And there’s all this other stuff with Zoe.”

“I know. Which is why I haven’t brought it up. But I meant it when I said I would be here for you, Rose. Any way you want me. If I get my way, eventually you’ll marry me. I won’t rush you or pressure you, but it is what I want.”

“And in the meantime, you brought condoms.”

He grimaced.

“That was very presumptuous of you.” She stopped him when he opened his mouth. “And very thoughtful.”

In fact, his actions did more to prove his honorable intentions toward her then he could have guessed. Because if he was here to coerce her into marrying him, the best way to do that would be to get her pregnant again. The fact that he wasn’t actively working to manipulate her that way made her heart swell. She pulled him close and kissed him.

When he raised his head again, she was panting and no longer thinking clearly.

“Does this mean I should go get one of the condoms?” he asked, sounding breathless too.

“One. Or two. Depending on your stamina.”

He kissed her hard once and leapt away so fast the move made her bounce and the bounce made her giggle. He was back as quickly, with two condoms. He set one aside, slipped one on, and returned to kissing her before she had time to feel the chill in the room.