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“Darcy, say something.”
“I know what it’s like to want something you don’t have. I understand being confused. But I need to know this isn’t a joke or a game for you. Whateverthisis. I understand being confused, but I don’t want my heart broken.”
“I don’t want to break your heart.” He settled himself more comfortably against the back of the couch. “I don’t want to mislead you, and the last thing I want to do is hurt you, Darcy. I don’t know where I stand on a lot of things and you’re one of them. All I know is that right now, right here, I’m where I want to be. Is that enough for you for now?”
Chapter 21
HER FANCIFUL IMAGININGSwanted her to think there was a reason she’d had the accident that night. A reason Garret was the one to find her, the one with her now. But she had learned to be a realist. “Why would you want me?”
The question emerged raw, revealed her vulnerability. But her own family didn’t want her, why would he? Especially in the condition she was in.
God has the best in store for us, but you have to believe to receive, Darcy. You remember that and you’ll have a good life.Nana’s voice filled her head, bringing forth a rush of memories and emotions. Rolling out pie crusts on summer afternoons, the radio on an oldies station, Nana in her flowered apron singing “You Are My Sunshine.”
But how could she believe in anything—trust in anyone—after what had happened to her with Stephen? After what happened repeatedly to her mother at the hands of the men in her life?
Garret pulled her close, kissed her gently, his mouth lingering on hers. “Because you’re you,” he murmured against her lips. “Because you look me in the eyes and you’re honest with me about what you feel. Honesty is…hot.”
She laughed at him. At them. “I’m scared of screwing up.”
“Me, too.”
There it was again, that fairy-tale feeling. Why was she doing this to herself?
“You are the last thing I expected to enter my life at this point, but I’m glad you did,” he said.
She nuzzled her nose against him. “This is crazy messed up. You know that, don’t you? I’mhuge.My back hurts, my ankles are puffy and I shouldnotbe thinking about you this way.”
“But you are?” Garret’s eyes warmed with blatant interest. In the space of a heartbeat an arrested expression crossed his face, one of hunger and excitement and curiosity that made her body tighten in response. “Come here.” He snagged her with a hand behind her nape and kissed her. Not the sweet, chaste kisses of before, but hungry, urgent, drowning get-to-know-what-you-like-best strokes that turned her muscles to mush.
Darcy moaned, unprepared for the onslaught of desire Garret unleashed, and found herself gently pulled upward onto her knees and shifted about, until she was draped across his lap and well able to feel the steely strength of his arousal against her hip. Oh, yeah, he wasn’t kidding her. That couldn’t be faked.
Garret raised his head briefly as though to check to make sure she was okay, but when she didn’t utter a complaint he kissed her again, using his teeth to nip, his tongue to soothe, delving inside to explore. He didn’t rush her and she knew if she were to protest, Garret would immediately stop. But she didn’t want him to. No, she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back, shivering when his broad palm slipped from her thigh to her breast and squeezed.
“Beautiful. Do you have any idea how many times I thought about doing this?”
Yes.Because she’d dreamed of him doing it more than once. This morning she’d donned a baby-doll style dress, scoop-necked at the top and loose around her belly, the bottom of which reached midthigh, and lace-trimmed leggings beneath, and now she relished her choice when the material posed little barrier to Garret as he smoothed his hand back down her body to her knee, up again. When he reached her shoulder he dragged his knuckles along her collarbone, into her cleavage and then slipped beneath the material and her bra to cup her again, this time flesh to flesh.
“Oh.”Her breasts had never been all that sensitive, but with her pregnancy they were. And the feel of him touching her—“Garret, please.”
“You’re killing me, sweetheart.” He kissed her mouth, her cheek, her neck, following the course of his hand, all the while giving her gentle little scrapes of his thumb. Back and forth, so slow. The arm supporting her back tightened, lifting her toward him and she held her breath, waiting for the moment his lips touched her, laved and sucked with all the pent-up hunger she felt radiating from him. The shock of it shot straight to her core, and she stiffened before curling into him, desperate for more.
Garret groaned. “Beautiful.” Still holding her so that he could play with her breasts, he slid his hand to her knee and raised it, settling her foot on the couch just so, before he went back to what he was doing. Touching, tasting, making her gasp and moan, his decadent mouth on her throat, her chest, his free hand meandering up and down her body and leaving a blazing trail behind. What was he doing to her?
Garret’s heart thudded beneath her ear, his breathing unsteady, proof that he was enjoying himself and wasn’t simply going through the motions or doing this for her. He wanted to, because he wanted her. Amazing. Dangerous to her heart, but amazing all the same.
A rough sound escaped him, a growl, a chest-deep rumble, and he shifted so that she laid more fully across his lap, more open to his touch. His hand slipped lower, inward on her thighs, between.
“Garret.”
He cupped her, the thin barrier of her leggings not protecting her from the heat of his thumb, each movement sending a sizzle of excitement through her until she could scarcely keep from crying out. Over and over he touched her, kissed, rubbed, his mouth on hers long enough to capture her moans before moving on, lower, focusing on her breasts since they brought her pleasure—a devastating suck and stroke that made her writhe. If someone had said she could feel like this now…
Then Garret’s hand found exactly the right spot. “There.” He kissed her, hard and fast and sexy rough, his breath hitting her cheek when he broke contact to laugh softly. “Ah, yeah, sweetheart, right there. I love the look on your face.”
He repeated the motion, varying the pressure and angle of his touch until she clutched his shoulders, kissing him, desperate, for more. Harder, faster,more.Whimpering, moaning, struggling to breathe as Garret built the tension inside her body to an unbearable degree. Finally, oh,finally,he cupped his hand around her and pressed, palming her and taking her mouth with his as he ground his hand against her until she shattered, her soft scream of pleasure captured by his mouth.
Darcy laid sprawled on his lap afterward, her nose buried in Garret’s neck. Doubts, fears, total embarrassment bombarded her, but she shoved all the emotions aside to enjoy the moment, knowing she felt more for Garret than she ever had for Stephen. How scary was that? How sad? She’d known Garret a matter of weeks and yet he meant more to her than her baby’s father? What did that say about her?
But it was true. She’d spent almost every evening talking with Garret, getting to know him, and what they’d just shared? It was nothing short of…magical.
