Maya Banks - Sweet Temptation

“Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

Before she could answer—and really, what could she possibly say to that?—he lowered his mouth to hers in a surprisingly tender kiss.

Heat blistered over her skin, but the warmth went deeper, beyond her heart and straight into her soul.

“I love you,” she whispered against his lips.

He drew away, still stroking her cheek with careful fingers. “I love you,” he said seriously. “Do you know that, Julie? Do you believe that?”

He kissed her again, sweeping the words away before she could speak.

“I wonder sometimes if you aren’t waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like maybe you don’t think I’m in this for the long haul.”

She let her hands wander up his arms, to the thick column of his neck and then down to his chest. One thing she wouldn’t do is lie. Not to Nathan. He was the one man she could be herself with, and that meant letting him see straight into her heart.

“Sometimes,” she admitted. “I don’t doubt you, Nathan. I’m just scared. I know I can be difficult, and I worry that one day you’ll decide I’m not worth it.”

He parted her thighs with one insistent hand and found her heat with his fingers. She arched helplessly into him, her mouth falling open in a tortured moan.

He stroked. Petted. Slid his fingers insider her and then eased up to her clit, spreading her moisture over the straining bundle of nerves.

“For such a smart woman, sometimes you can be so dense,” he muttered.

Her eyes narrowed just as he added a third finger and stroked the walls of her pussy.

“Ah hell. How am I supposed to argue with you when you’re doing that?”

He found her lips again, silencing her with his mouth. And then his tongue. Like rough velvet, his tongue stroked over hers, warm, spreading his taste, and God, he tasted so damn good. He smelled good. He felt good.

“I think the idea is that you’re not supposed to argue.”

“Me not argue? Like that’s ever going to happen.”

He smiled and withdrew his hands. She wiggled in protest, wanting them back.

“I have something better,” he murmured.

He shifted his body, pushing her thighs farther apart. He positioned his cock at her entrance and pushed in the tiniest bit.

“You’re such a damn tease!”

He chuckled and inched forward, barely stretching her. She wrapped her legs around him and arched up, trying to make him slide deeper.

Finally he accommodated her and thrust all the way in with one forceful push.

She cried out. No matter how often he made love to her, she still felt the shock of that first penetration all the way to her toes. He was big and thick and she pulsed around him like warm honey. He just made her go all gooey, and she loved and hated him for that.

Still buried deep inside her, he put his arms down on either side of her head and levered himself up enough so that he wasn’t crushing her. He looked down at her, his green eyes so serious that for a moment she was worried. Until she remembered that he was as deep inside her as he could be. Who the hell broke off a relationship while they were buried to the balls?

“We need to get something straight, Julie.”

“Hell of a time for conversation,” she muttered.

“Oh, I think it’s a damn good time because you can’t escape me. You can’t run. You can’t avoid me.”

He flexed his hips, and she tightened her grip on his shoulders until her nails dug into his flesh.

“I love you, woman. And you damn well ought to know that.”

“I do,” she gasped. “Now fuck me please.”

“I’m not leaving you. I don’t want anyone else. You’re it for me, Julie. It.”

Her eyes widened and she went completely still beneath him.

“What are you saying, Nathan?”

He let out a string of curses. “Nothing I haven’t said to you a million times already. I’ve told you with words, with actions. I tell you with my body every damn time we get together, but you’re so determined only to see what you want to see. When are you going to get it into your head that unless you kick me to the curb, then this is forever?”

She honestly couldn’t formulate a response to that. Her mouth hung open as she stared into his eyes. He was serious. There was no hint of deception in his gaze. Just earnest ... love.

“I’m never kicking you to the curb, dumbass,” she said in a low voice.

He withdrew and then rolled his hips forward, eliciting another gasp from her.

“Good. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I vote we talk about making our relationship a little more permanent.”

Fear, excitement, joy and trepidation all went a little nuts on her. But still she wasn’t about to make any assumptions. And not only that, but what she was almost assuming scared the shit out of her.

“How permanent?” she asked cautiously.

He slid his hands down her body again, cupping her ass as he hauled her up. Now on his knees, he drove relentlessly into her, the force of his thrusts making her breasts jiggle uncontrollably.

“Shit, I love it when they do that,” he muttered as he lowered his mouth to one straining peak.

He devoured her breasts, moving from one plump swell to the other. There wasn’t a part of his body that wasn’t touching hers. His hips met the backs of her thighs, and his balls slapped the crack of her ass. He rode her hard, and when he was hopelessly deep, he lowered himself back to her, gathering her tenderly in his arms.

“Very permanent,” he said gruffly. “So permanent that you’ll never doubt how much I love you and how much I want to be with you.”

“I think I could go for that,” she said softly.

He paused and looked deep into her eyes, and for the first time she saw vulnerability that took her breath away. He was worried. He was as scared as she was.

Feeling shattered, she reached up to touch his face. Her fingers smoothed over his forehead, down his cheeks and then over the roughness of his goatee.

“I want forever, Julie. Marriage. You tied to me, legally, emotionally. The whole nine yards.”

Her heart fluttered in panic, but at the same time a tidal wave of sheer joy swamped her from head to toe.

“My ring on your finger,” he whispered as he swept her lips into another kiss.

“I like jewelry,” she murmured.

“And I like you. Naked.”

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. She followed suit with her legs, curling them around his waist.

“Ah damn I love it when you wrap yourself around me,” he groaned. “You’re so damn warm and soft. I love how you feel.”

“I love the way you make me feel,” she said seriously. “You make me feel beautiful, Nathan.”

He scowled, his brows drawing together until he looked positively ferocious. “You are beautiful. You’re fucking gorgeous. I swear to God I can’t breathe around you sometimes.”

“You have to stop or, swear to God, I’m going to cry.”

“Ah hell, anything but that.”

He gathered her tight, holding her so that no space separated them. Flesh against flesh, her breasts molded to his chest, her body curved around his.

His hips flexed, his body arched as he thrust into her, keeping a leisurely pace.

What she’d said was true. He made her feel so very beautiful. No man had ever made love to her the way Nathan did. Sure, they had hot, dirty sex, and she loved every minute of it, but just as many times he took things so slow and loved her so sweetly that it was all she could do not to burst.

Her chest ached. Her soul ached. She couldn’t live without this man. She didn’t want to.

Just jump.

Take the leap.

Fly.

And she did. Straight into his arms. He held her tight as she burst into a million tiny pieces. Love and warmth flooded her. She soared. She floated. He was there to catch her.

“I love you,” she said brokenly as her orgasm splintered through her groin.

He buried his face in her neck, kissing the tender skin just below her ear. “Ah, I love you too, honey. So damn much. Hold on to me, baby. I’m coming.”

She arched upward, gripping him tightly. Her nails dug into his back just the way he liked, and then she slid her hands down to his tight ass and cupped him as he pumped into her body.

His teeth sank into the column of her neck and an agonized groan burned over her skin. His entire body tensed over hers, and his warmth flooded her.

He collapsed onto her, driving them both into the mattress. She lay there, holding him, stroking his back up and down. He didn’t stir right away and she was content to lie there, with him in her arms.

She kissed his muscular shoulder and then ran her hand over his bald head.

“Stay,” she begged when he started to move away.

“Don’t you know, honey? I’m never going anywhere.”

He kissed her again and then rolled to his side, carrying her with him. He was still buried inside her, and their limbs were all tangled up like some crazy knot.

“I love you,” he said gruffly. “That ain’t going to change. Ever.”

She smiled against his chest and for once didn’t begrudge the shimmer of tears that welled in her eyes.

“You know, Tucker, I think I just might believe you.”

Micah balanced the tray and headed up the stairs toward the private rooms. He’d mentioned sleep, but he knew he wouldn’t sleep until he’d had Angelina again. Far from sated, his entire body ached with unfulfilled need.

When he pushed open the first door, he saw her draped naked across the bed, her long hair fanned out. Her arms were folded, her head resting at her wrists as she lay on her belly.