Page 57 of The Beat Match

17

Annie woke with a start. It took a moment to remember she was in Wes’s sumptuous bed, her head resting on his cloud-soft pillow. His cozy duvet was draped over her lower body, the thing likely stuffed with swan feathers and unicorn hair. A heavy arm was latched over her waist.

A handsome arm. Wes’s arm.

Nothing had ever felt so right.

His hand was locked around her ribs, the tips of his fingers brushing the underside of her breast. The way her shirt was twisted around her waist, all that separated her from the man of her dreams was her underwear and his ridiculous linen pants. I sleep naked. I’ve never slept with a woman before. I can’t imagine sleeping next to anyone but you.

She shifted slightly, fluttery tingles slipping through her body, traveling lower, tugging on her belly and every sensitive nerve. Wes groaned softly, tightened his grip on her until she felt him against her backside, crazy hard and ready for her. She wasn’t far behind, wetness gathering. She had no choice but to move. She pushed back slightly and wriggled.

His hot breath rushed against her ear. “Don’t do that again.”

She did exactly that again.

“Annie.” Wes’s body turned to stone, his arm a vise around her. “If you rub against me again, I’m not sure I’ll be able to remain a gentleman.”

“Who said I wanted a gentleman?” True, she’d been a hesitant mess last night, but sleeping next to Wes, hearing his confession, seeing the sincerity in his eyes as he’d admitted a fraction of his fears had both calmed and aroused her. “I want you, Wes. I’m done waiting and second-guessing everything.”

She swiveled her hips again, tried to turn in his arms, see his face. All she managed was to twist her head. Wes’s cheeks were flushed, his striking bone structure sharper than ever, but his eyes had a dazed look, his eyelids still heavy with sleep.

“We haven’t talked yet,” he said, as though each word pained him.

“Maybe I don’t want to talk. I just want to feel for once. Forget our tangled past and where this is going, enjoy each other before we weigh everything down with our worries. Unless…” She paused, suddenly unsure, feeding off his hesitation. “Unless you don’t feel the same.”

He dropped his gaze, loosened his hold enough to turn her toward him. Deep lines puckered his brow. “Trust me, I feel the same. I want to be next to you, over you, around you, moving inside of you so badly I can’t think straight. I am consumed by you, Annie.” His eyes lifted, catching her in waves of uncertainty. “But I’m damaged and scared I’ll hurt you if we do this before you know what you’re getting into. There are things I haven’t told you.”

She feathered her fingers over the strong bones of his face. A sculpture of raw intensity. “I know you, Wes. You think I don’t, but I do.”

“You don’t know this.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

She wasn’t exactly sure what had him holding back, but she had a guess: his commitment issues. Wes had remained single through adulthood for a reason. Losing Leo and his mother had likely done a number on him, making him leery of reopening himself up for that kind of hurt. She understood the hesitation, but living in a bubble wasn’t truly living.

She traced his frown lines. “I know we have things to discuss, and we both have morning breath, which is usually a hard limit for me, but after all we’ve been through, don’t you think we deserve to just feel good? Shake off the past, forget the future for a minute. Any talk you want to have can wait. Let your mind relax for once and quit planning ten steps ahead.”

His legs shifted, a restless slide beneath the sheets as his breathing picked up. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said again.

“Like I said last night, it looks big, but not that big.” He laughed. Mission accomplished. She kissed his mouth gently. “You can’t hurt me, Wes. Not when I know exactly what I’m doing. I want this, and if you think denying me is smart, remember I have a key to your home and can fill your shampoo bottles with hair remover. I also have half a mind to kidnap Felix and set him loose with the other rabbit-squirrels before the breed goes extinct.”

Another sleep-roughed laugh rumbled from him. “Your brain fascinates me.”

She reached down and cupped the hard ridge of him through his linen pants. “This fascinates me.”

Air hissed through his teeth as a myriad of emotions crested his face—hesitation, worry, anger? Then he surged, his powerful body rotating on top of her, no longer playing nice, the gentleman replaced with the rake. He notched his hips between hers, kept her controlled under his bulk as he lowered his head and captured her lips. She moaned and opened for him. She was rewarded with a harsh grunt. They moved together, wet and deep, his lips bruising in their demand. She may have kissed him once before, oblivious to the man he’d been, but this was different. It made her feel miles more vulnerable, yet powerful. Weak and strong at once. And, God, he was between her thighs, rubbing right where she ached.

“Open your eyes.” He licked the beauty mark beside her lips, a playful move that had her smiling.

She did as she was told, gasped when he rolled his hips.

He groaned. “I’m not Falcon. I’m not some guy you forget by dating someone else. When we’re together, I want your eyes open so you remember who it was that rocked your world.” Another hip thrust. She cried out. “We clear?”

“You’re even bossy in bed. And rock my world? You really are old, Herbert. Maybe I should have rethought this.”

“Wicked woman,” he murmured and kissed her roughly.