Forbidden Stranger Read online

  They’d cuddled on and off all day. Kissed a few times, but had not been making out or anything like that. She thought he was holding off because of their earlier conversation. Giving her room. Respecting her. She liked that about him, but she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the night before. The press of her mouth on his. The way he tasted. Nina had no idea how long it had been since the last time she’d been kissed or hugged, much less ravished the way Ewan had ravished her last night. Or she had ravished him, she wasn’t sure there was a difference.

  He was in love with another woman, she reminded herself. He’d already tried resisting her, so maybe she ought to feel guilty about ogling him. But how could there be guilt when there was a fire and wine and a gorgeous man in front of her? It wasn’t like he could read her mind, she told herself as she cut her gaze quickly before he could turn around and catch her staring. She focused on her tablet, but she’d already read this page at least twice without being able to retain anything. She set it aside as he turned.

  “No good?” he asked. “The book, I mean.”

  Nina pressed her lips together for a second. “Oh, it’s fine. I just can’t seem to concentrate.”

  The glass in the windows rattled as a gust of wind spattered hard rain against them. Ewan glanced in that direction, then crossed the room to stand near her as he looked out. Oh, stars and galaxies, she could smell him. Breathing deeply, Nina drew in Ewan’s scent with a shiver of delight.

  She had no idea if she’d always been so attuned to the subtle but distinct odors that made up every person, most particularly the man standing next to her, but there was no denying it right now. Every breath sent a wave of rising arousal through her, until her throat and cheeks heated with a blush she desperately hoped he couldn’t see.

  From outside, bright white light lit the window. In the next moment, the lamps went out. The fire went out, too, plunging them into darkness. Nina gave a low, startled cry, then bit it back in embarrassment. It wasn’t like she was really scared. Not of the dark, not of a storm. Still, she set her tablet carefully aside and got to her feet to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ewan so she could look out the window.

  “The generators need to run through a reset cycle,” Ewan said as he leaned forward to peer through the glass. “The lights will come back on soon.”

  They did, faster than they had the first time. Ewan put an arm around her, staring through the glass. The rain showed no signs of letting up. His fingers drifted along her arm, slowly. His touch sent shivers through her.

  “Another movie?” He turned his head slightly to look down at her. “Game of cards?”

  “No,” she said.

  He made a questioning noise. Nina couldn’t stop herself. She pressed against him, one hand curling behind his neck and drawing his mouth to hers. The kiss was hard, bruising, electric. When Ewan’s lips parted to release a moan, Nina slipped her tongue between them. He cried out louder when she took the tip of it between her teeth. His body pushed hers. Her hand went between his legs to cup his growing hardness.

  The lights went out again. It was easier in the dark, she told herself and knew it was a lie. Once this started, it could have been as bright as daylight, and she would not have stopped.

  “Been going crazy, wanting you all day,” she said into his kiss.

  He backed her up to the couch so quickly that she let out a low cry. Her hands clutched the back of the sofa as he half-lifted her. Ewan’s hands gripped her hips. Nina shuddered as waves of desire rippled up through her. Ewan stepped between her legs, and she hooked her calves over the back of his thighs to hold him closer.

  “ . . . Are you sure . . .” He said this against her neck, his teeth pressing for a moment. He pulled away. His face lit in a flash of lightning, his mouth thin and grim and his gaze intense.

  She was the one who should be asking him that. Nina grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down to her mouth, holding him close but not touching. “Are you really going to ask me that, after last night?”

  “Yes,” he said as the tip of his tongue teased the center of her bottom lip. “I promise I won’t ask you every time, but I need to know right now.”

  Every time. The idea of it, that there would be more than this, sent desire boiling through her. “I’m sure. Now. Here. I want you, Ewan. Please . . . touch me. Make me feel good.”

  She did not expect him to drop to his knees in front of her, to push up the hem of her flannel gown and press his face between her legs. He breathed in with a shudder and a moan, and the heat of his breath on the bare skin of her thighs was enough to send a heady, dizzy rush all through her. Ewan’s mouth pressed the soft fabric of her panties, and before she could so much as murmur an assent, he’d hooked them to the side to get at her bare flesh beneath.

  Nina let out a cry, her head lolling back as her fingers dug deep into the back of the couch. Ewan pushed her thighs apart. His tongue stroked her clit, then lower to slip between her folds with delicate precision. She cried out and found the thick softness of his hair, gripped tight in her fingers, as she held him against her. Her hips bucked, pushing herself against his mouth harder. She was already so close to the edge, every muscle tight and tense and fairly vibrating with the intensity of her desire. Had it always been so easy for her to climax? She didn’t know or care. It was this easy with Ewan, and that’s what mattered right now.

  “I love the way you taste.” Ewan’s mutter gusted more hot breath against her.

  She could no longer hold back. She didn’t want to. This, all of it, his mouth, his voice, the pressure of his hands on the backs of her knees, everything sent her tumbling toward climax. It wracked her.

  Nina cried out his name, or tried to. She gasped. Moaned. The sound of her own pleasure in her voice sent another wash of it over her. She was still shaking when she tangled her fingers deeper into his hair and pulled him to his feet. She could taste herself on his kiss. She wanted more. More of him, of this, of everything.

  Her hands dove inside his pajama bottoms and pushed them over his hips. His cock, hard and straining against his briefs, throbbed in her grasp as she stroked him through the material. It took only a moment longer and he was freed from the confines of his clothes. Nina guided Ewan inside her, no hesitation or holding back. Both cried out when he was seated inside her.

  His voice broke on the syllables of her name. He moved, at first slowly as though he meant to draw this out, but Nina couldn’t wait. Already, desire was rising inside her again. She pulled him closer, urging him to go faster. Desperate for it.

  She had been a desert, and he was the rain. Beneath his kisses and the smooth, sliding caress of his hands, she bloomed. Fierce passion ripped through her with every thrust, until all she could do was beg for release.

  Harder.

  Faster.

  Please, oh, please, don’t stop. Don’t ever stop.

  I love this.

  I love.

  I love you.

  Nina’s eyes widened as her second orgasm left her plundered and spent. Her fingers hurt from how tightly she’d gripped the front of Ewan’s shirt. He kissed her, and she opened for the delicious swipe of his tongue on hers. He shuddered, moaning into her mouth, then buried his face against her neck and went still.

  She had to move. This position on the couch was twisting her into an achy pretzel. She was surprised they both hadn’t tumbled head over heels over the back of it. Gently, she pushed him up. Her gown fell around her thighs as he pulled up the pajama bottoms he hadn’t even kicked all the way off.

  “What’s wrong, baby?” Ewan asked, voice full of concern, his brow furrowed.

  Nina opened her mouth to protest the endearment. They weren’t there yet, were they? In a place of pet names and love words? Yet the flash of memory had stolen her voice, and all she could manage to do was shake her head. She forced a laugh. Found her words.

  “Just a little cramped,” she told him. “I’m limber, but not that acrobatic.”