“Me too,” she whispered at once.
“It’s hard, you know? Hard to watch your best friend go through hell and you can’t do a damn thing about it. You were a wreck for a whole year after the divorce. It killed me, Lex.Killedme.”
“I know. We shed more than a few tears together.” She gave him a wan, grateful smile, remembering how wonderful and attentive he’d been to her during those dark, bleak days when all she’d wanted to do was curl up in the fetal position and never leave her bed. Quentin had often left work early and brought over dinner from the restaurant just to make sure she ate. They’d played cards and video games and watched movies together. He’d coaxed smiles out of her when no one else could. And sometimes, when she’d just needed to be held, he’d done that, too. Lexi knew she couldn’t have gotten through the painful ordeal without Quentin. He was her Rock of Gibraltar.
She swallowed, drew a deep, shuddering breath and slowly exhaled. “I’m sorry, Quentin. We were having such a good time tonight. I shouldn’t have brought up Adam. It’s just that… Having you here with me… On my anniversary…” She trailed off, suddenly too embarrassed to continue.
But Quentin reached up and grasped her face between his hands, forcing her to meet the piercing directness of his gaze. “Finish what you were going to say.”
She licked her lips. “You’re the first man I’ve slept with since my divorce.”
A range of emotions crossed Quentin’s face—surprise, tenderness, relief. Gratitude. “You gave me the privilege of being your…first?”
“Yes,” she whispered, gazing earnestly at him. “And I wish to God you reallyhadbeen my very first lover.”
With an agonized groan Quentin crushed his mouth to hers, kissing her so hungrily and fiercely her head spun. She clung tightly to him as he swept her up into his arms, stood and started purposefully from the living room.
When she realized where he was heading, she panicked. “Quentin, the guest bedroom is—”
“I know where the hell it is,” he snarled. “I’m not taking you there. And I’m not a damn guest!”
“But—”
He silenced her with a look that warned her the fun and games were over. This was serious business, and the outcome of this match of wills could change the course of their lives forever.
He strode into the master bedroom with the single-minded determination of a general storming the gates of a fortress. If the door had been closed he would have kicked it open, crashing it against the wall.
Lexi trembled as he gently laid her on the king-size bed and lowered his body over hers. His hot, possessive gaze drilled into hers, stripping away her defenses. Laying her bare.
“I told you,” he growled. “No more walls. No more barriers. No more ghosts from the past.”
“Quentin—”
“I know what this is about. You’ve been stonewalling all night, and now I know why. You didn’t want to bring me in here because in some warped way, you feel like you reallyarecheating on Adam. Like you’re justifying his crazy, jealous accusations by being with me.” He pushed his face into hers, scorching her with the feral intensity of his gaze. “But you didn’t do anything wrong. Do you hear me?Youdidn’t doanythingwrong!”
He seized her mouth in another deep, mind-blowing kiss that left her reeling. And then he was sliding lower, slowly kissing his way down her trembling body. His lips ignited brushfires everywhere they touched, his hands stroking and exploring her flesh until there was no part of her he hadn’t claimed as his own. She was burning with fever, shivering with need. By the time he reached the aching place between her thighs, she was so primed that all it took was one stroke of his tongue against her swollen clit and she arched off the bed like a rocket had gone off inside her.
“That’s right,” Quentin crooned with dark satisfaction as she convulsed and keened with helpless pleasure. “There’s nothing wrong or dirty about what we’re doing. Nothing in my life hasfeltmore right than making love to you, Lex.”
He moved over her, and their lips and tongues met and meshed until they were both breathing harshly. Quentin drew back, pushing himself to his knees. Lexi followed him, her hungry gaze fixated on the long, engorged penis jutting insistently from his body.
Her eyes locked with his as she wrapped her hand around his shaft and eased him into her mouth. He groaned and shuddered convulsively. He was big, the blunt head easily reaching the back of her throat and beyond. His skin was hot, thick and firm, a steel bar drenched in melted chocolate. She slid him in and out of her mouth, working her lips and tongue as she simultaneously massaged his engorged sac. His guttural moans intoxicated her, made her drunk on her own sensual power. And somewhere deep inside her, a naughty, vengeful little voice whispered,Yes, Adam, heisbigger, thank you very much!
And then Quentin was shuddering and climaxing, his penis pulsing and contracting violently as he exploded inside her mouth. He watched her swallow his seed, his heavy-lidded eyes glittering with fierce adoration.
And she stared back at him, shaken by the profound intimacy of this moment. A moment shared with the one man she was never, ever supposed to want.
Lovingly Quentin stroked her hair. “We can do anything we want, sweetness,” he said huskily.“Anything.”
He lowered his head, slanting his mouth over hers. They shared another kiss. Languorous, achingly slow, lips parting and coming together again. And then he turned her around, keeping her on all fours.
“If I want to take you from behind—” he thrust into her, tearing an animal cry from her throat “—we can do that, too.”
Gripping her hips, he began rocking against her, a slow, measured pace that had her moaning and grabbing fistfuls of the bed linens. Sweat soon coated their bodies, making their skin so slick that each thrust echoed in a wet slapping sound. Quentin caressed her butt and cupped her swinging breasts, brushing his thumbs over her tight nipples until her moans grew wilder.
Whispering rough-tender endearments, he leaned over her, embracing her as he kissed between her shoulder blades and nuzzled the nape of her neck. Her skin was so sensitized that the scrape of his bristled jaw sent electric shivers racing to her engorged clit. Before she could reach down, his nimble fingers were already stroking her, soothing the raw ache. She gyrated and ground her hips against his, needing him to go faster. But he maintained his slow, relentless rhythm, every plunge and glide of his hot, silken hardness driving her closer to the edge.
And then, without warning, he pulled out of her and rolled her onto her back. He pushed her legs open, braced himself on his arms and reentered her with one deep thrust, capturing her sobs in his mouth.
