THE BACHELOR'S BED Read online

The only sounds in the room were the rustling bedcovers, the rain against the window. And then deepening silence as he slowly pulled back to gaze, shocked, into Lani's face.

  The room went bright as day with a bolt of lightning, followed by a boom that rattled the entire house.

  Lani jerked.

  "It's okay. It's getting farther and farther away."

  "I know." But she swallowed hard. "I'm not afraid anymore."

  Those huge eyes of hers were full of secrets that he didn't know. He didn't want to know, or so he told himself.

  She took his hand in hers and placed it over her racing heart. His long fingers skimmed over warm, giving flesh and curves, and he groaned. He liked the helplessly aroused sounds escaping her throat, the way she'd plastered her delectable body to his. He liked—

  He liked her.

  And no amount of distancing himself was going to change that.

  "Colin—" She tried to wrap him closer.

  He was losing himself in her, unable to remember why this shouldn't happen.

  "Now," she whispered in a voice that told him exactly how much she needed him.

  In response, he found himself raining open-mouthed kisses down her slim neck, over her collarbone, nudging her plain white T-shirt up as he went until he got to … ah, a ripe, warm curve, just begging for his touch.

  She gasped. "More. Hurry."

  "I'm exploring," he muttered around her heated, sweet flesh. "Don't rush me."

  Her arms slipped from around his neck, down the taut muscles of his back. Unable to keep still, he undulated his hips, thrusting against the soft core of her, caught up in a rhythm as old as time.

  And suddenly, he wanted to hurry every bit as much as she did.

  Lani gave him everything, her lips, her tongue, her passion. He'd expected an awkwardness, that first-time ineptitude. Bumping noses, grinding teeth, but with Lani, there was none of that, nothing except for a horrifying feeling that this was exactly as it was supposed to be.

  He'd had women before, even women he knew less well than he knew Lani, but never had he felt as though he'd been given so much. It made him want to give in return, as her hunger fueled and fed his own. Both tenderness and savagery tore through him, equally mixed. He should have known it would be this way with her.

  He kissed her again. His hands danced over her body. Her legs were bare. Beneath his fingers, her body quivered.

  "Colin…"

  His name had never sounded so sexy before. Her eyes drifted closed, but they flew open again, dazed and unseeing, when his hands cupped her breasts.

  "Colin!"

  He thought maybe he could get used to the way she cried out his name, all throaty and full of yearning. In fact, he wanted to hear it again, so he held back, just palming her warm curves.

  Her fingers clenched and unclenched on his chest, her head tossed on the pillow and, when his thumbs rasped over her tight, puckered nipples, she again gasped his name.

  He smiled in satisfaction. "Is that what you wanted, Lani?"

  She made some unintelligible sound that turned him on even more. This was like a project, he thought with hazy delight, only better, much better. He wanted to take her slowly apart and watch her explode, then help put her back together again.

  "Lani?" He pulled her T-shirt all the way off, exposing her to his gaze. She was perfect, beyond perfect. He bent over her, his mouth hovering as he let his fingers tease. "Does this feel good?"

  She squirmed beneath the torment. "Yes!" she gasped, reaching for him. "More. Please, more."

  "Like this?" He drew a taut, aching peak into his mouth, laying the very tip with his tongue, switching sides in tune to Lani's soft, seductive moan. "And this?" he wondered. "Are you sure—" his tongue swirled over her, then he sucked strongly "—this is what you wanted?"

  Her hips were rocking against his and he knew she was nearly mindless. He didn't know what had come over him to tease her like this, he himself was dying, hot, and so unbelievably hard. It had been so long for him, and he'd thought all he wanted was to plunge into her and seek the oblivion that sex always provided. But he realized he wanted more. He wanted her to take that wild journey with him.

  "Colin…"

  His name again, in that breathless, sexy, hoarse, needy whisper. "I'm right here," he promised.

  She reached up to pull him to her.

  "No, no stay like that," he whispered. He didn't think he could take her touch, not yet, so he held her hands above her head for a moment until he knew she would keep them there. "Let me … Lani, let me…"

  And he slid down, down her body, delivering hot kisses over every inch he passed until he was kneeling between her legs, gazing down at her gorgeous, straining body. In the pale glow of the night, her skin was creamy and lustrous. "You're … stunning," he whispered thickly, unbelievably close to the edge and she hadn't even touched him. He was going to lose it, just staring at her.

  He jerked when her fingers brushed against the taut skin low on his belly, and he gripped her hand in his. "No," he whispered, knowing if she touched him again, it would be over in one second, maybe two. "Don't, Lani." He held her immobile, staring deep into her hungry eyes. "Don't move."

  * * *

  Chapter 5

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  Lani lay still with an effort, aware of how exposed she was, of the way Colin was looking at her while she lay spread and vulnerable. It was nothing less than thrilling—with his nostrils flaring, his chest rising and falling rapidly, all that power and passion within him barely leashed.

  Heat suffused her, and it wasn't embarrassment, but need, sharp and unrelenting need.

  His hands cupped her face, surprisingly gentle. "You're beautiful, Lani."

  She'd never been told that before, much less even thought it, but Colin's soft, genuine voice made her believe it.

  His fingers trailed slowly, ever so slowly, down her throat, around her breasts, lingering, then over her belly. He met her gaze as he drew her panties down past her thighs, her calves, then finally off, tossing them over his shoulder as he rose up, towering over her. He touched his mouth to her neck, sucking and nibbling. Then he kissed her, long and hard, drawing the need out, intensifying it.

  "Colin … touch me."

  He merely smiled against her skin and dragged his mouth down to a nipple, where he spent another long moment.

  She was going to die. "More!"

  Keeping his mouth to her breast, he trailed a hand up her trembling, restless legs. "Where?"

  He wanted her to tell him? In words? She didn't know if she could. Yes, somehow she'd lost every ounce of inhibition she'd ever had, but to actually tell him what pleased her…

  "Here?" he wondered, stroking behind her knee.

  Her hips thrust upward impatiently and he let his fingers trace higher and higher, circling ever so close, but not quite close enough.

  She nearly screamed. Her body arched, her eyes closed tightly and she reached for him, stroking him through his pants once, twice before he managed to stop her. "Not yet."

  It was his turn to gasp when she ignored him and stroked again. "I'm ready!" she whispered impatiently. "I am!"

  "Hmm. Maybe after this … if you're good." He scooped her hips in his hands and brought her to his mouth, where he introduced her to yet another sort of delicious torture.

  His talented, greedy tongue dipped, slid, probed and languidly lapped, coaxing an earth-shattering climax out of her. When she floated back down to earth, the rain had lightened.

  No more thunder or lightning.

  Her fear of it was long gone.

  And she was cuddled in Colin's arms, against his rock-solid chest. His face was buried in her hair.

  She realized he was the one trembling, his big body taut as a bow. "You didn't—I mean, don't you want—" The words tumbled awkwardly to a stop. "Colin?"

  He kissed her, pulling away when she would have deepened the connection, backing from her when she tried to tug him over her.

  "W