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Her voice was teasing, her body wasn’t.
His fingers skimmed over the crotch of her panties to find them hot, wet. Her juices were plastering the silk to the bare curves of her pussy and tempting him beyond endurance. The hard catch of her breath as his fingers stroked over the material had his jaw clenching as he fought for strength.
She would come so easily for him, he knew. She would unravel in his arms, spill her sweet cream around his cock and scream his name.
“When I get you home, I might not make it to the bedroom, Courtney. You’re in danger of being fucked on the stairs. ”
“Mm. ” She wiggled in his lap. “However you must do it, Ian. As long you’re inside me. I feel so empty. I need you inside me. ”
His eyes closed at the emotion he heard in her voice. He had a feeling she had more in mind than just his cock filling her.
She snuggled against his chest again, her head resting against his shoulder as her hair fell like a ribbon of silk over his arm to the seat. His hand buried in the mass, something inside him clenching painfully.
Now he knew why he had kept his relationships purely superficial. Why he never allowed himself to get close to the women he took to his bed. Because he knew the dangers inherent in letting himself feel again.
Unfortunately, Courtney was asking for nothing. She never had. From the first moment he had seen her as a young child, she had moved into his reluctant heart with her open smile and generosity. She had been a child. He thought himself safe loving her. Hell, he needed someone to love, and she had asked for now more from him than a smile at that time. He had never imagined the changes that time would bring.
As she lay against him, Ian rested his chin against her head, his hand still stroking the soft flesh of her inner thigh, so near, and yet so far from the heat he craved. His eyes closed as the silence wrapped around them, the intimacy of the moment weaving through his soul.
“I love you, Ian. ”
Her voice was soft, the words slipping out as she relaxed against him, sliding into sleep with all the innocence and trust of a child.
His teeth clenched as a shattering sense of hunger overwhelmed him. As though the words had opened something inside him, torn it loose and left him grasping for a tenuous hold on his rapidly slipping control.
I love you, Ian…
The words drifted around him, echoing through his senses and leaving him with a hollow ache he couldn’t make sense of, one he knew he couldn’t live wi
th.
Love. A child’s dream. A young girl’s fantasy. But Ian was a man, no longer a child, and without a drop of innocence left within him. And love, he knew, could hold no part in his life.
Chapter Nine
Courtney groaned miserably as she came awake the next afternoon, her eyes fluttering open in the dim light of the room. And it shouldn’t be dim. Her bedroom faced the afternoon sun, the filmy curtains doing little to hold it at bay as it spilled into the room.
Opening her eyes further, she gazed across the expanse of a huge bed, into the cool dim room as an unconscious smile tugged her lips. She was in Ian’s bed. Not that he was there with her, but he had been.
Her hand reached out to smooth over the pillow beside hers, the slight indention in it assuring her had slept beside her.
Had he held her as she slept?
She moaned miserably. What the hell was she thinking the previous night to drink so much? She had known she couldn’t stay awake. Wine was more effective than any sleeping pill where she was concerned. Her foolishness had caused her to miss a night she would have given anything to remember.
The feel of his arms holding her. If he had held her.
She stared pensively around the masculine room. Heavy dark furniture emphasized the dimness of the room and added to its air of protective comfort. Here, Ian had surrounded himself with furniture of comfort. The chest and dresser and wardrobe were definitely antiques and beautifully preserved. The rolltop desk on the far side of the room looked a bit incongruous with the laptop that sat on its polished surface.
And the bed. She stared at the heavy foot posts, rising a good foot from the mattress. It was huge, obviously custom-made and superbly comfortable. She could lie there for hours. Ian’s scent wrapped around her, his blankets warming her, his bed cushioning her. Everything she needed was here, except Ian.
She settled deeper into the warmth of the bed as she stared at the glow of the sun’s warmth behind the heavy drapes. Last night had been informative. Not just in the information she had learned about Ian, but things she had learned about herself. She had believed she would be uncomfortable having to actually acknowledge any female Ian had fucked within a relationship. But where Kimberly Raddington had been concerned, there had been no jealousy.
The woman was warm, friendly, and so obviously in love with her husband that Courtney had quickly gotten over any ill feelings toward her. Yes, Ian had touched her, often. He had been the third in her marriage for many months now. But it had ended the night Courtney had arrived. He hadn’t been back since, and the most encouraging bit of news the other woman had dropped, was that Ian had informed her and her husband Jared, that they would need to find another third to fulfill the balance they both sought in their sexual relationship.
But Ian still hadn’t made any moves to complete his relationship with her. She bit her lip in indecision as she tried to figure that one out. She knew he wanted to. Knew he ached to do it. She could feel the tension whipping through the air each time another male came around them. She could also feel the tension rising in Ian. When he touched her, he was so obviously restraining himself, tamping down the wild lust she ached for.
She had thought just getting him into her bed would be enough. That the rest would automatically follow. She was finding out it wasn’t.
