“It’s very safe in Bar Harbor. And whenever I do decide to lock the door, I always manage to lose my key, so I end up having to bust in through a window anyway.” She gestured to the formfitting pencil skirt of her dress. “Shimmying through a window wearing this isn’t easy.” She dropped her bag onto the entryway table, then said, “Why don’t I open a bottle of wine? We can take it into the living room. And then we can finally compare notes.” She’d never felt quite as sexy as she did walking into the kitchen, knowing his eyes were drinking her in with every step she took. “Merlot okay?”
But instead of answering from the entryway, his voice came from just beside her ear. “It’s perfect.”
As he wrapped his arms around her, it was wonderful to relax into his chest, closing her eyes, breathing him in. It took her far longer than usual to get the cork out of the bottle and pour the wine.
Turning slowly in his arms, she handed him a glass. “To tonight and all the wonders yet to be discovered.”
“To you, Lola Sullivan, the most incredible woman I’ve ever met.”
They clinked, sipped…and then wine was forgotten, their glasses left on the kitchen counter as they couldn’t wait another second to unleash their passion.
Passion that had been building from the first moment they had set eyes on each other.
Passion that couldn’t be denied.
Passion that Lola knew was going to fulfill every sexy fantasy she’d ever had, while also filling her heart.
Duncan’s mouth found hers again, tasting, taking, giving. His kiss was everything she wanted, somehow both gentle and rough at the same time. Raw and desperate and breathless.
And so, so, so good.
And then he was raining kisses over her cheekbones, claiming her mouth again before moving south over her chin and then her neck. She arched against him as his mouth and hands sent unparalleled pleasure through her.
He ran his hands down the length of her body—from curve to hollow and back again—as he kissed her. His touch brought every inch of her to sensual life. She felt teased, tempted, as he deliberately moved so slowly that she was constantly on the verge of crying out for him to rip off her clothes and take her right then and there against the kitchen cabinets.
At last, he approached her breasts—moving even slower now, so slowly that she thought he might never get there. Her heart was beating halfway out of her chest, pounding against his hands, and she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t manage to inhale any oxygen at all. Not until he…
She gasped as he finally curved his large hands over her breasts. “Duncan.” She’d never felt like this before, never been so incredibly glad for her abundant curves. Not until this very moment when he touched her this way.
He captured her lips again, their kiss even more desperate now. His eyes were burning with such heat his gaze nearly seared her as he said, “I need to feel you, Lola. I need to see you. All of you.”
“Yes.” She had never begged a man for anything before. Even when she was eighteen and still hadn’t come fully into her own, she’d understood that it would be akin to giving up her power. But she knew instinctively that she didn’t need to hold the word back with Duncan. Not when he would never, ever use her need for him against her. “Please.”
He carried her over to the couch, but instead of laying her down on it, he put her on her feet, letting her curves slide against his hard heat until she was standing again.
Her heels had barely made contact with the floor when, without saying a word, he put his hands on her hips and turned her so that she was facing away from him.
His silent command of her body rode the edge of dominant. It was so damned sexy that her knees nearly went out beneath her.
She knew he’d never do anything to hurt her, but that didn’t mean she wanted him to treat her like porcelain either. She’d never been able to find that perfect middle ground where she could give in to her innate sensuality without being reduced to a sex object. But with Duncan, she could finally be sexy without worrying about how he’d see her afterward.
With Duncan, she could finally be herself and open her heart all the way.
And if she hadn’t been one hundred percent open with him earlier when they were talking about their pasts? If she hadn’t yet confessed her most secret fears? Well, she told herself, there would be plenty of time to get to all of that. Soon.
But not tonight. Not when she didn’t want to focus on anything except Duncan’s kisses and caresses and the growly sound he made deep in his throat as his lips skittered over the bared skin between her neck and shoulder.
Her dress was perfectly fitted to her figure, and she’d felt comfortable in it all day. But now the fabric felt as though it was scratching her overly sensitive skin, and with her breasts on the verge of overflowing the bodice, she was desperate for Duncan to take it off.
And as he ran his hands up from her waist to the top of the zipper, she felt as though he was marking every inch of her as his.
Oh yes, she was all his.
Lola held her breath as she waited for him to drag the zipper down. Instead, he continued to tease her with his left hand, sliding it around to her front so that he could pull her against him.
As her hips nestled against his erection, her breath came out in little pants. “Please,” she begged again.
“Tell me what you want.” His words were hot against her skin, his touch even hotter as he finally drew the zipper down. “Tell me what you need.”
“You.”
Duncan turned her to face him again and captured her mouth with his. She melted even more into him, so lost in his kiss that she didn’t realize he’d started to slide her bodice from her shoulders until he broke away from her mouth so that he could strip it away completely.
Before he could tease her any more than he already had, she reached for the clasp at the front of her bra and undid it, shrugging it off a second later. Taking his hands in hers, she drew them over her bare breasts.
Oh God. It felt so good. He felt so good. The heat of his hands, the slightly callused skin cupping and stroking her flesh, the ragged sound of his breath as he took everything she wanted so badly to give him.
She was this close to tipping over the edge when he stopped and said, “I don’t deserve you.”
She didn’t know why he was saying that. All she knew was that he was wrong. “You do. And I deserve you too.”
And then she was threading her hands into his hair and kissing him. He tasted so damned good, his skin faintly salty as she ran her mouth over his five o’clock shadow.
Lola wanted to memorize every moment in his arms so that she could mark this in her mind as the moment her life changed forever.
At last, she’d found the happiness she’d secretly been searching for.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Duncan had never felt so lucky.
No man could ever be worthy of Lola Sullivan. No mortal could possibly deserve the crazy pleasure of having her luscious curves pressed against him while she rained kisses over his face and lips.
And yet, somehow, some way, Duncan had found his way to Lola.
To her smile.
To her laughter.
To her open arms.
To the sinfully sexy sounds she made when she was desperate for his touch.