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His forearm wrapped around the small of her back, pulling her tight, while he teased her nipple to a peak, eliciting a moan from deep in her throat. Her body was beginning to sing, her skin flush with reaction.
His kisses moved down her neck, to her shoulder, to her breast. His strong hands kneaded her bottom, and he moved lower and lower, kissing her belly, her navel.
“Seth,” she hissed.
His breathing was ragged. “I’m sorry. I know this is too fast. But I can’t wait. I want to kiss every inch of your body. All of it. Right now.”
His hands slid down her thighs, urging them apart. She braced her hands on his head. Soon, his kisses became excruciatingly intimate, and she dug her fingertips into his thick hair.
“It’s not too fast,” she assured him.
If anything, it was too slow. They’d spent too much time apart. She’d thought of him, dreamed of him, ached for him. Her legs began to tremble; she wasn’t going to be able to stand much longer.
He rose, his eyes dark as midnight, scooping her into his arms and carrying her to the bedroom.
He deposited her on the thick four-poster bed, watching her with sheer animal possession as he stripped off his jacket and tie.
Arousal still shimmered through her body. She lay there naked, loving his gaze on her, loving the rushed determination as he took off his clothes. She reveled in the sight of his broad chest, muscular shoulders, rock-hard abs.
He, too, kicked off his shoes and stripped off his pants. In seconds he was naked, and she sat up, perching on the edge of the bed, reaching out to him, wrapping her hands around his solid body. She leaned forward, tasting the salt of his chest, his belly, farther downward until he gasped.
He braced his hands on her shoulders, easing her back onto the bed. Then he followed her down.
“Don’t wait,” she whispered to him, parting her thighs.
“You sure?”
“Now, please, now.”
“With pleasure.” He smoothly entered her body.
Her head tipped back, and she moaned with satisfaction as he filled her tight, sending hot tingles of pleasure from her belly to her toes. She kissed his mouth, squeezed him against her, lifting her hips to meet his long, hard thrusts.
Everything in her world disappeared. Nothing mattered but Seth. Nothing existed but Seth. Her climax built and built to impossible heights, hovering on the brink, tearing his name from her lips, until a rush of light and sound catapulted her over the edge.
He called her name, but it seemed to echo down a tunnel, coming from a long way.
“Darby,” he rasped again. “Darby, Darby, Darby.”
His weight came down on top of her, pressing her warmly into the soft mattress. He twined his fingers with hers, holding her hands on either side of her head. He kissed her swollen, tender lips, softly, almost reverently.
“Are you okay?” he breathed on a rush.
“Good,” she managed.
“I didn’t hurt you?”
“Not that I noticed.”
He raised himself up on his elbows, tracing a line from her shoulder to her belly. “Oh, man, I’m in big trouble here.”
“Why?” she asked, with a quick glance around the room, wondering if they were caught.
“Not that kind of trouble.” He smiled and brushed her messy hair back from her face. “I’m afraid that every night from here on in, I’m going to wish you were here.”
She smiled at him. “That’s a very sexy line.”
He eased himself to her side, and she immediately missed his weight.
“It wasn’t a line,” he told her, a little edge to his voice.
She shifted to come up on one elbow. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
He met her gaze. “How did you mean it?”
“I meant it was a nice thing to say. A woman likes to think she’ll be remembered.”
“Darby, I didn’t mean I’d remember you.” He cupped her chin, gaze boring into hers. “I meant I’d ache for you.”
“Okay, that one was even better. I was half afraid I was going to regret doing this again. But that’s a line that’ll keep a girl going for months.”
He let his hand drop. “I have a feeling we’re having two different conversations here.”
“If you’re saying we’re fantastic together, then we’re on exactly the same page.”
His expression perked up. “You think we’re fantastic together?”
She traced her own line down his chest and over his belly. “You, cowboy, know exactly what you’re doing.”
His lips curved up in a satisfied smile. “You want to do it again?”
“Absolutely.”
Ten
Though his private suite didn’t have a kitchen, Seth was able to find a tin of chocolate-covered blueberries and some California wine to stave off their hunger. Both had been gifts from the mayor of San Diego.
“Saddle broncs, maybe,” he answered Darby’s question. “But Travis still rides bulls.”
“I’ve never even ridden a horse,” she said.
She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, enveloped in his black robe. He’d pulled on his slacks and lit a couple of candles. The tin of blueberries sat half-empty between them, and they’d started on a second bottle of Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon.
“I could teach you,” he offered.
“I don’t know, Seth. A month from now, one of us is not going to be speaking to the other.” She popped another dark-chocolate–covered blueberry into her mouth.
“You think it’ll come to that?” He felt a twinge, thinking about Danielle down in Denver right now, and what was about to happen to Darby’s hopes of winning.
“If you win, I’ll be leaving Lyndon,” she said.
He sat up abruptly. “Why?”
“The business will close. I’ll have to sell out. The sale price will barely cover the outstanding mortgage, and I’ll have nowhere to live.”
Everything inside him balked at the idea of her leaving. It was frightening to think about why he felt that way.
“Of course, if I win, only good things happen,” she continued.
“Sure. Except for the part where Lyndon loses the railway, and the part where I get kicked out of office.” He was exaggerating for effect.
He reached for the wine bottle and polished it off between their glasses.
“I don’t think they can impeach you for losing a referendum,” Darby mused. “Though, I suppose you might not get re-elected next year.”
Seth replaced the empty bottle on the bedside table. “I doubt I’ll run for re-election.”
“Seriously?” She looked up at him as she took a sip.
He hadn’t told his family or his staff yet, but he was questioning the wisdom of having gone into politics in the first place.
“It’s a frustrating job,” he admitted.
For some reason he wanted to share with her in a way he hadn’t with his family. Maybe it was because they were half-naked. Maybe it was the wine or the candlelight. Or maybe it was because she had shared some of her unguarded thoughts with him.
“Did you expect it to be easy?” she asked.
He was surprised by the challenge in her tone. “No.”
“The most rewarding things in life are hard fought and hard-won.”
“What makes you think I don’t know that?”
“Because you’re talking about quitting. I felt like quitting during basic training. I felt like quitting all the time. But I’m eternally glad that I did not.”
“You eventually did quit the army,” he pointed out, feeling slightly defensive. Maybe he shouldn’t have shared his true feelings with her.
Her tone turned reflective, her expression less challenging. “Because I thought I could do more good on the outside.”
“Bingo. I can’t do what I expected to be able to do as mayor.”
“Because of me?” There was a surprising look of guilt in her green eyes.
“If I say yes, will you give up the fight?”
She seemed to think about it for a moment. “If I believed you, I might.”
He tried to put a wounded tone into his voice. “You don’t believe me?”
“I don’t believe you.”
It was Seth’s turn to think about it. “You’re a very intelligent woman, Darby Carroll.”
“You’re probably just a bad liar.”
“I thought mayors would concentrate on the big things, issues of strategic importance that could impact the citizens, change lives, improve the community. But it’s the little stuff, the crazy-making stuff that sucks up all your time.”
“Like what?” She leaned over to place her glass on the bedside table.
The robe fell open, baring one breast, and he realized he was hungry for her all over again. She was so indescribably beautiful, almost angelic. He could make love with her, talk with her, or simply sit here and gaze at her forever.
