Unfortunately, the sound of the bolt clicking into place—echoing loudly in her head as she realized they were now locked into the suite together—had her smile falling away as if it had never been there at all. She spun around and blurted, “Maybe this is a mistake.”
Adam slid his hand through hers, and somehow, instead of it feeling as if he were trying to hold her down, it was more like he was trying to share his warmth.
“It isn’t.”
There were so many things she should already have done, all of them starting and ending with keeping her distance from him. But just as she hadn’t been able to pull that off thus far, yet again she couldn’t make herself pull her hand away from his. Still, she needed to ask, “How can you be so sure?”
“I was sure the first moment I set eyes on you that this is exactly where you and I are meant to be. Together.” His eyes heated even further. “About to get naked.”
She couldn’t stop her next breath from catching in her throat. She wasn’t used to playing this kind of sexy game. Wasn’t used to any of this.
“I don’t know what you’re expecting from me.”
Her words were almost a whisper, the opposite of the image of strength she’d hoped to give him. All her life Kerry had tried so hard to get everything right, but tonight, she just didn’t know up from down. Right from wrong. All she knew was that some crazy longing, some fiery desire had sent her to this hotel to meet Adam tonight.
But what if that longing, that desire, fizzled into disappointment and regret?
“I’m only expecting one thing from you tonight, Kerry.” Adam’s words weren’t much louder than hers had been. But they were completely steady. And utterly certain. “For you to let me give you pleasure.” He used their connected hands to tug her just the slightest bit closer, close enough that she could feel the heat of his body. “More pleasure than you’ve ever had before.” He took her other hand in his and rubbed each thumb in a circle over the palms of her hands. “More pleasure than you ever thought was possible.”
Did he know that his words—and just the barest touch of his hands on hers—were already getting her more than halfway there?
And yet, the still barely rational part of her needed to know, “What about your pleasure?”
He smiled then, a smile with so much heat behind it that she lost what was left of her breath. “Making you feel good is what’s going to give me pleasure.”
Was he for real? None of the men she’d slept with before had considered her pleasure to be theirs, too. Was he just saying it to make sure she stayed long enough to take off her clothes?
He looked deep into her eyes. “Will you trust me, Kerry? I’m not asking for forever, just for tonight.”
They were exactly the words that should have sent her running. After all, she’d been waiting her whole life for forever.
But, amazingly, it was the knowledge that one hot night didn’t have to turn into a lifetime that had her shoulders finally relaxing.
Fun. She could just have fun tonight without it ruining the rest of her life. And pleasure, too. More pleasure than she’d ever had before. More pleasure than she’d ever thought was possible.
She didn’t need to keep doubting, didn’t need to keep worrying.
For one night she could just let go and feel.
“I will.”
The words were barely out when he lowered his mouth only a breath from hers to seal the deal. And if somewhere in the back of her head her I will sounded a little too close to the marriage vows she’d heard countless brides say to their grooms, she forced the recognition away.
Adam Sullivan would never be her forever and she could never let herself forget it. No matter how good he might be able to make her feel.
Starting with a first kiss she wanted more than she’d ever wanted anything in her entire life.
* * *
Adam swore he could taste Kerry’s lips already, even though he hadn’t kissed her yet. So sweet, but surprisingly spicy, too. And hot. So hot that he already knew their first kiss would blow every other one out of the water.
Lord, he wanted her. Wanted to strip off her clothes and have her naked beneath him. Right here in the suite’s entry, and then again in the bathtub, and then in the enormous bed—all in a desperate attempt to try to sate his appetite for her. But at the same time, a part of him wanted to draw out the anticipation as long as possible. He’d always known anticipation was hot, but he hadn’t had a clue it could be this hot.
And maybe he would have kept them just like that, their lips a breath away from touching, their bodies just as far apart, had it not been for the desperate little sound Kerry made. One that demanded his kiss as much as it begged for it.
As his lips finally touched hers, he found out that she truly did taste better than anything else ever had. The urge to devour nearly broke him, but he somehow managed to rein it in. Again and again he deliberately brushed his mouth so gently, so softly against hers that he knew she couldn’t possibly be thinking about anything other than his next kiss. And with every brush of his lips against hers, she not only relaxed more and more, she also began to press her sweet curves closer and closer to him, her hands moving from his to come around his neck.
He cupped her hips with his hands at the same moment that he slicked his tongue over her lower lip. When she gasped with obvious pleasure, he couldn’t resist taking the kiss deeper. Thankfully, she was right there with him, her tongue tangling with his as gentle-and-soft gave way to raw desire. He was a heartbeat from pressing her up against the door, tearing off her clothes, wrapping her legs around his waist, and driving into her when he forced himself to drag his mouth away from hers.
Her usually perfect lipstick was gone and her eyes were beautifully fuzzy as she looked up at him. “Adam?”
He now knew that her gorgeous mouth could strip his control away like nothing else ever had, but just hearing his name on her lips in that slightly breathless voice meant he had to tangle his hands in her hair and kiss her again.
There wasn’t even a pretense of slow and soft this time as they jumped straight into the middle of the hottest kiss of his life. A kiss made even hotter by the way Kerry was rubbing against him as though she couldn’t get close enough.
Just as he’d known it would be, it was even harder to pull away this time, and he groaned at the effort it took to hold himself in check, at least long enough to take off her clothes.
“The first time I looked at you, I wondered what you’d look like with your hair tangled from my hands, your mouth swollen from my kisses, your skin flushed from the heat between us.” He took her hands in his and slowly moved them from his neck so that he could take a step back and look at her in her pretty dress with her hair falling over her shoulders. “I want to remember this, want both of us to remember the first time I stripped you bare.”
Her breath caught again as he let her hands go and brushed her long hair back from her shoulders, then ran his hands down her back to her waist. Neither of them looked away from each other as he slowly untied the sash that held her dress closed. He could feel how hot her skin was beneath the thin silk and how sensitive she was to even the slightest touch as his fingertips brushed over the skin he was baring.
He slid open the fabric, pushed it all the way off so that it pooled around her feet, and stared, awestruck, at Kerry wearing nothing but sheer lace and heels.