Jill Shalvis - Animal Magnetism

They stayed that way, locked together, for a long time, each of them gasping for air, unable to say a word or move a muscle, shaking with the exertion and the aftershocks. Finally Brady rolled them to their sides. He had his arms around her, apparently just as content as she to prolong their connection. And as she drifted off, she realized that had been the most intimate experience she’d ever shared with a man.

Lilah came awake in slow degrees, aware only of being deliciously warm. Opening her eyes, she realized she was face-first in Brady’s throat.

Mmm. A damn fine place to be.

She was also practically on top of him, a leg and an arm thrown over his body like he was her very own personal pillow.

And that wasn’t all.

He had a grip on her, too, one hand cupping the back of her head, the other firmly on her ass.

His breathing was slow and deep and steady.

Unable to help herself, she pressed her lips to his throat and gently rubbed back and forth, knowing exactly when he came awake because his breathing changed. “Hey,” she whispered. “Don’t look now, but we’re cuddling.”

The hand on her ass tightened possessively, making her smile. “So whatcha doing?”

“Sleeping.” His voice was morning rough and gravelly and sexy as hell. “But that’s going to change quickly.”

“I was hoping you’d feel that way.” She gently bit the tendon where his neck met his shoulder, and in one smooth motion he rolled her beneath him.

“Let me guess.” He lifted his head, his eyes and mouth soft in a way she hadn’t seen from him before. “You don’t want to waste our last condom.”

“Well, that’d be a crime, right?” she whispered.

“Wrap your legs around me.” Another command, uttered in that quiet but utterly authoritative voice of his, but since following his directives always brought her mind-blowing pleasure, she wrapped her legs around his waist and hummed her gratification. It was all she could manage because he was hard, deliciously hard and teasing them both. “Are we going to-”

“Oh yeah.”

“And then again?” she murmured hopefully, sucking in a breath because his mouth was at her jaw working its way to that sweet spot beneath her ear, the one that, when he kissed it, made her want to offer him anything, anything he wanted…

“Greedy little thing,” he accused.

He was right. When it came to him, to this, she was greedy. She was greedy as hell.

“Only one condom,” he reminded her. “We used the other a few hours ago. We’ll have to get creative.”

Thank God. He was good at creative. Really, really good. They kissed and rocked up against each other for a few moments, the room quiet around them with the exception of her own heavy breathing and low moans, until she couldn’t take the teasing any longer. “Brady.”

He lifted his head and looked at her with lidded eyes. “Tell me.”

“More,” she said, making her own demands now. His big hands gripped her hips and tilted her in a way that pleased him, tugging a groan from deep in his throat. “Yes,” she said. “More of that.”

“Anything you want.”

I t was midday by the time Brady replaced the gauge on the Bell and got them back in the air. For the return flight, he plied Lilah with a glass of wine first.

She denied that it helped, but he could tell by how relaxed she looked that it did-though that might have been from all the orgasms. Hard to tell.

She was quiet this time. Not so unusual for him, but absolutely unusual for her. Halfway home, she turned to him, nibbling on her lower lip.

He braced for the worst.

“About whatever it was that you wanted to talk to me about in your hotel room last night before I-before we…” She grimaced. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you with wild sex.”

That made him smile. “Yes, you did.”

“Okay, true, I did. But I’ll listen now to whatever you wanted to say.”

He slid her a look.

She smiled at him, completely unrepentant, and he blew out a breath. “I wanted to warn you off of me,” he told her.

“I like being on you.”

He let out a low laugh. “Lilah.”

“You like it, too.”

“I love it,” he admitted. “And you know what I mean.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m a big girl, Brady. You’re leaving soon. I haven’t forgotten. I wanted this.”

This won him another heart-stopping smile, which he told himself was the wine.

It was early evening when they landed. Lilah had checked in with Cruz several times, but she still headed right off to the kennels to make sure everything was okay. Brady went through his postflight maintenance, then walked across the meadow to Belle Haven.

Twinkles was lying beneath a tree out front looking glum, but he went bat-shit crazy when he saw Brady, wriggling, waggling, rolling in ecstasy when Brady stooped low to rub the dog down. He tried to remember the last time he’d come back from a trip and had this sort of reception but couldn’t.

It was after closing time, and Dell and Adam were in the parking lot playing basketball like it was a war zone. Having clearly finished up at the kennels for the day, Cruz was playing, too, the three of them taking their game very seriously.

“Thank Christ,” Adam muttered when he saw Brady. “It’s these two idiots against me, and they don’t know a foul from their own ass. We’re skins.”

Brady peeled off his shirt and joined the game.

In less than two minutes both Dell and Cruz were pissed. “You can play,” Dell said to Brady in disgust. “When did you learn to play, because you were shit in high school.”

It was true. He’d been shit at basketball in high school. “I played in the army every night with the guys in my unit. They were street players, hard core.”

Adam grinned and passed the ball to him. Brady caught it, pivoted, and shot, making a very sweet three.

Dell swore viciously.

When the game ended, they were all sweating like hookers in a confessional, and Adam and Brady had won by two. He turned to grab his shirt and found Lilah standing there, his camera around her neck.

“I’m back,” she said, and handed him his camera. “Nice game.”

“Thanks.” Brady watched her head off into the center. He took Twinkles and headed to the loft to shower, then checked in with work via e-mail to see if Tony was still pissed.

He was.

Brady closed the e-mail program and downloaded the pictures from his digital and realized he was in many of them.

Lilah had seen to that.

There was a photo of him flying the Bell, a look of concentration on his face as he spoke on his headset. Another of him glancing over at Lilah, eyes still serious, and then yet one more taken in the next instant, when he’d softened for her, a warm, caring smile in his eyes and on his mouth.

He would have sworn on his own life that he never looked at anyone like that, and yet here he sat staring at the proof.

Lilah had taken several pictures of the view, and they weren’t half bad. There were also his shots from the restaurant, of Lilah. She was laughing in all of them, a silly, sweet little smile on her face, her eyes lit up with pure joy.

There was one of him at the table, clearly absorbed in watching Lilah. He had yet another small smile on his face, but that wasn’t what caught him about that picture.

It was his eyes and the heat in them. The hunger.

The need.

A little shocked at the naked longing he’d displayed, he turned to the next group of pictures, which were of the basketball game, including a close-up of him sweaty and grinning from ear to ear as he came down from a layup.