He was rewarded by a shuddering groan and she rolled her hips, seeking to deepen the stimulating tension. Her thighs were clenched, her muscles cushioning him in wet heat. With each successive thrust, he was on edge himself, holding back only by sheer force of will.
“Chase.”
His name on her lips surprised him. For as intimate as they’d been, as close as he felt, talking had been minimal. He forced his heavy eyelids open.
Dilated green eyes met his. “Roll over.”
His eyes opened wide. “What?”
“After today, I need to be in control,” she explained as she nudged him with her body, and together they flipped positions until he was flat on his back while she straddled his thighs. A shudder racked her body as she took him deeper than he’d been before. “Oh, God.”
He swallowed hard because he felt it too, but along with sensation came knowledge. For her, tonight was about so much more than easy sex. She was running from something and using him to forget. But his body wasn’t about to give him time to ask questions.
And with her gorgeous face, and full breasts poised over him, he wasn’t about to argue. “Whatever works for you,” he told her.
A flash of gratitude flickered over her features, and then, thankfully, she started to move, rocking her hips and milking him with her inner muscles until the tidal wave started to rise once more. Without warning, she stretched over him, kissing him full on the lips while her hips continued a systematic, gyrating movement. One that kept up the tension and let it build higher as her feminine mound pressed intimately against him, working him in a way he’d never felt before.
With each thrust of her pelvis grinding downward, she let out a soft, arousing moan. She was close and so was he, and she kept up the insistent pressure, bringing him closer and closer until his world imploded. Now he had but one focus: this woman and the intense sensations she pulled from him as her body continued to milk him, long after he’d come.
Even as he finally started his slow descent back to reality, she continued to shudder above him in one long, continual climax. Minutes later, Chase’s breathing returned to a slower, more manageable rhythm. So did his thoughts. He was thirty-seven years old and he’d never had that kind of mind-blowing sex with any woman ever before.
Never. And he needed a minute to absorb the feeling.
But before he could think, she rolled over and started to rise, taking him completely by surprise.
“Wait.” He reached out, but his hand merely skimmed her bare back. “What’s the rush?”
She turned, but he couldn’t see more than her mass of tangled hair and elegant profile. “I thought you’d want me to go.”
She let out a laugh that was so obviously forced, it touched something inside him.
“This way we could avoid the awkward morning after,” she said by way of explanation.
He understood why she’d take the easy way, but he wasn’t finished with her just yet. And he hoped she wasn’t finished wanting him. “I’d rather you stay.” He rose onto his elbow and ran a finger down her spine. “If that’s what you want.”
She pivoted back to him, shock and confusion evident in her eyes and her open expression. He understood since he felt it all too.
“This is crazy,” she said.
“I agree.” He ran a hand through his hair and waited.
“I’ll stay,” she said at last.
“Good.” He excused himself for a quick trip to the bathroom, and when he returned, he pulled her into his arms.
“Sometimes crazy’s good, I guess.” She laughed and her body vibrated, warm and delicious, against him.
He rested his cheek against her long hair, inhaling the fragrant strands. “I needed crazy tonight. Up till now, my life has always been predictable.” He thought about the same routine he’d followed for the last nineteen years. “Expected,” he continued, recalling raising his siblings and providing the perfect example for them. “And mostly lived for others.”
“Sounds pretty much like my life,” she murmured.
He brushed her unruly hair off his face and let her snuggle deeper into him. He didn’t want to think how bizarre it was that he wanted to spend the night holding on to this soft, willing female. For once, he only wanted to do what felt right for him. “I promised myself tonight was the start of a new life. One I’d live only for me.”
She sighed. “That sounds wonderful.”
“So why don’t you live by my example?” he asked. Chase hadn’t a clue what was bothering her or dragging her down, but like him, she’d obviously allowed herself to be free tonight. She shouldn’t go back to a life of confinement, or one lived for others.
“I have people relying on me,” she said drowsily. “Even if my entire life has been a lie, I’ll still be expected to do the right thing.” Her voice grew sleepier as she spoke.
His curiosity was aroused. Not just because he was a reporter and ambiguous statements led to questions, but because she intrigued him. Too much. He was just beginning his search for fulfillment. He didn’t need someone else’s problems or needs weighing on him. He’d had too much of that in his life and he was too prone to doing right by others. It seemed to be the Chandler way.
So it was a damn good thing they’d be going their separate ways come the morning, he thought, drifting off himself.
The soft sound of crying woke Chase from a deep, sated sleep. It took him a minute to get his bearings, and when he did, he realized he was in a dark hotel room in D.C. with a woman he’d met the night before. A woman who’d blown him away with an incredible sexual encounter. One he’d begged to stay when she’d tried to leave.
An uncomfortable feeling of guilt and unease tore at him. She’d rolled to the far end of the bed and he reached out to touch her shoulder. “Regrets?” he asked her. Because shockingly, he had none.
“About last night? No. About my life and the way I’ve lived it? Oh yes.”
The vise clamping around his heart loosened. Regrets and recriminations were something he didn’t want to deal with. “There’s not much you can do about the past except put it behind you and go forward.”
She exhaled hard. “Wise words.”
“What can I say? I’m a wise guy.”
“Funny, but you struck me as more of a straight shooter.”
He caught her joke and chuckled. “Think you can get back to sleep?”
“If you rub my back, maybe.”
She wiggled toward him and he did as she asked, massaging the tense muscles in her shoulders.
“Mmm.”
He nuzzled the soft, fragrant skin at her neck. She smelled and tasted delicious. “I was about to say the same thing.”
Pulling himself up, he lay over her, his stomach aligned with her back, his groin settled between her buttocks. She let out a purr of contentment mingled with satisfaction and he hardened in an instant.
“I know what would really help me sleep,” she said, wriggling her hips beneath him, before clenching her legs, capturing his erection between them.
Her desire was obvious. “You want me to exhaust you, huh?”
“Oh yes.”
Chase didn’t need a second invitation. He reached for the condom he’d left on the nightstand earlier, just in case, and quickly sheathed himself before poising himself to enter her. “Like this, okay?” he asked, his face buried in the nape of her neck as he slowly entered her moist femininity.