“Please, Alex,” she said raggedly, her green eyes enormous. “Don’t tease me. I need you…need you inside me.”
Her words were fuel to a fire. Alex liked foreplay, the kind that went on for hours, but right now he’d be lucky if he lasted two minutes. And besides, he told himself as he positioned himself at her entrance, he and Holly had already had about eighteen years of foreplay. He wasn’t going to wait one more second.
He thrust inside her, hard and deep, and the shock reverberated through both their bodies.
He went still. No woman had ever felt like this. He stared down at her, every muscle in his body taut, and saw she was frozen like he was, her eyes wide with the astonished awe he knew was mirrored in his own.
Then she was moving against him, her fingernails raking down his chest as she moaned. Her hips arched up against his and he couldn’t stop himself from rocking into her again.
Alex’s jaw clenched as he tried to go slow, knowing he didn’t have long. But Holly was gripping his arms, her legs wrapped around him, and she was gasping, “Not slow—Alex, please—” And then he was driving into her with all the passion of repressed desire, his rhythm hard and fierce and brutally possessive, and Holly was biting her lips to keep from screaming.
Her eyes flew open and she stared at him, panting, and he saw the very moment she fell over the edge, her body jerking beneath him and her head arching back, and then she did scream, calling out his name, and the sound pulled him over the cliff with her as he came, harder than he thought possible, collapsing on top of Holly as he fought for breath and the world shattered around him.
It took a long, long time to come back to earth. As soon as he could move again Alex rolled over onto his side so he wouldn’t crush the woman lying spent and lovely beneath him, drawing her close and wrapping her up tight, as if he intended to hold on to her forever.
It was an endless time before Holly could move again. It might have been hours. It seemed to take at least that long for her heart rate to slow and her breathing to return to some semblance of normal. Cradled against Alex’s chest she could hear his heartbeat better than her own, as it slowed gradually to a strong, regular rhythm.
She kept her eyes shut, not wanting this moment to end, until the contrast between the warmth of Alex’s body and the cold floor beneath her became uncomfortable and she began to long for a bed, a warm, soft bed they could burrow into and hibernate in till spring.
But to say that out loud seemed presumptuous.
As Holly felt the wonderful sexual haze start to dissipate, she pressed herself closer to Alex in an effort to recapture the warmth. He responded immediately, his arms tightening around her and one hand moving to stroke her hair.
It should have been reassuring.
Holly hid her face against Alex’s broad chest, which was ironic considering he was a big part of her fears, the fears that were flooding back now as if they’d just been waiting in the wings, driven out of her mind by earth-shaking sex. Probably they’d go away permanently if she could make love with Alex forever, but physically it just wasn’t possible. She could barely move her arms and legs now.
She took a deep breath to steady herself, but then she was inhaling the clean male scent of Alex, soap and rain and the faint tang of salty sweat, and she had to close her eyes.
What did he think about what had just happened? He had talked about wanting her, about lust and desire, but he hadn’t said anything about…
Holly stopped herself in time. Don’t even think that word, she admonished herself. The only thing that had happened here was great sex. The only thing Alex had promised her was great sex.
And boy, had he delivered. Only a fool would go scrambling for more right now. Alex wasn’t the ever-after kind of guy. He was danger and volatility and mind-blowing lust, and while those things might be amazing, they didn’t usually come attached to a Hallmark card and a bottle of Chianti.
Alex was a great friend—unless they’d just messed that up tonight—and an unbelievable lover, but it would be asking way too much to expect him to be a boyfriend, too. It would go against his nature.
Holly turned her head so her cheek was pressed against Alex’s chest and she could hear his heartbeat again. She didn’t really want a boyfriend right now, anyway. Especially not one like Alex, who could fog her brain just by looking in her direction. She needed her mind clear right now. She had a job to focus on, and a son to take care of, and a destroyed home to recreate for both of them.
If she let herself rely on Alex for things he couldn’t provide, it wouldn’t be fair to either of them. Who knew better than she did that the moment you let yourself get comfortable was usually the moment you got the rug jerked out from under you? And honestly, she didn’t think she could take it if that happened again. She had to make herself remember who and what Alex was. He was a good friend to her and to her son, but when it came to man-woman stuff he was nitroglycerin, the kind you left in the bottle if you valued your peace of mind.