She dragged her foot up the back of his calf, hooking her leg around him, rocking her hips against him. He shifted his attention from her lips to her neck, licking along her collarbone before reaching her br**sts—his mouth on one, his hand on the other. He touched and tasted her with an intuition for what she craved and more, finding nuances of sensitive patches of skin she hadn’t realized were favored spots.
And she wanted to give him the same bliss.
Her fingers slid between them until her hand found his erection, exploring the length and feel of him. His forehead fell to rest against her collarbone. His husky growl puffed along oversensitized skin as she continued to stroke. Her thumb glided along the tip, smoothing a damp pearl, slickening her caress. Her mind filled with images of all the ways she wanted to love him through the night, with her hands and her mouth, here and in the shower. She whispered those fantasies in his ear and he throbbed in response in her hand.
Groaning, he reached out to snatch up the box of condoms. Rolling to his side, he clasped her wrist and moved her hand away, then sheathed himself. She watched, vowing next time she would do that for him.
Next time? Definitely a next time. And a next night.
Already she was thinking into the future and that was a scary proposition. Better to live in the now and savor this incredible moment. She clasped Rowan’s shoulders as he shifted back over her again.
He balanced on his elbows, holding his weight off her. The thick pressure of him between her legs had her wriggling to get closer, draw him in deeper. She swept her other leg up until her ankles hooked around his waist. Her world filled with the sight of his handsome face and broad shoulders blocking out the rest of the world.
He hooked a hand behind her knee. “Your legs drive me crazy. Do you know that?”
“I do now. I also know you’re driving me crazy waiting. I want all of you. Now.” She dug her heels into his bu**ocks and urged him to…
Fill her.
Stretch her.
Thrill her.
Her back bowed up to meet him thrust for thrust, hushed sigh for sigh. Perspiration sealed them together, cool sheets slipping and bunching under them. In a smooth sweep, he kicked the comforter and tapestry pillows to the floor.
Tension gathered inside her, tightening in her belly. Her head dug back into the mattress, the scent of them mingling and filling every gasping breath. He touched her with reverence and perception, but she didn’t want gentle or reverent. She needed edgy; she needed completion.
She pushed at his shoulder and flipped him to his back, straddling him, taking him faster and harder, his heated gaze and smile of approval all the encouragement she needed. His hands sketched up her stomach to her br**sts, circling and plucking at her ni**les as she came, intensifying waves of pleasure, harder, straight to the core of her. She rode the sensations, rode him, taking them both to the edge…and into a climax. Mutual. She bit her bottom lip to hold back the sounds swelling inside her as she stayed true to their vow to keep quiet. Rowan’s jaw flexed, his groans mingling with her sighs.
Each rolling wave of bliss drew her, pulling her into a whirlpool of total muscle-melting satisfaction. Her arms gave way and she floated to rest on top of him. Rowan’s chest pumped beneath her with labored breaths. His arms locked around her, anchoring her to him and to the moment.
Her body trembled in the wake of each aftershock rippling through her.
Exhaustion pulled at her but she knew if she slept, morning would come too fast with too many questions and possibilities that could take this away. So she blinked back sleep, focusing on multicolored lights beyond the window. Yachts, a sailboat, a ferry. She took in the details to stay awake so once her languid body regained strength, she could play out all those fantasies with Rowan.
She wanted everything she could wring from this stolen moment in case this night was all they could have before she retreated to the safety and order of her cold, clinical world.
* * *
“Are you asleep?” Mari’s soft voice whispered through Rowan’s haze as he sprawled beside her.
He’d wanted Mari for years. He’d known they would be good together. But no way in hell could he have predicted just how mind-blowingly incredible making love to this woman would be.
Sleep wasn’t even an option with every fiber of him saturated with the satiny feel of her, the floral scent of her, the driving need to have her again and again until…
His mind stopped short of thoughts of the end. “I’m awake. Do you need something?”
Was she about to boot him out of her bed? Out of her life? He knew too well how fast the loyalties of even good people could shift. He grabbed the rumpled sheet free from around his feet and whipped it out until it fanned to rest over them.
She rolled toward him, her fingers toying with the hair on his chest. “I’m good. This is good, staying right here, like this. The past couple of days have been so frenzied, it’s a relief to be in the moment.”
“I hear ya.” He kissed the top of her head, thinking of the bracelets he’d bought for her from the market and planning the right time to place them on her elegant arm.
Her fingers slowed and she looked up at him through long sweeping eyelashes. “You’re very good with Issa. Have you ever thought about having kids of your own?”
His voice froze in his throat for a second. He’d given up on perfect family life a long time ago when he’d woken in the hospital to learn he and his brother were responsible for a woman losing her baby. Any hope of resurrecting those dreams died the day his brother crashed his truck into the side of a house.
Rowan sketched his fingers along Mari’s stomach. He’d built a new kind of family with the Brotherhood and his patients. “I have my kids at the clinic, children that need me and depend on me.”
“So you know that it’s possible to love children that aren’t your blood relation.”
Where was she going with this? And then holy hell, it became all too clear. She was thinking about the possibility of keeping Issa beyond this week. “Are you saying that you’re becoming attached to the little rug rat?”
“How could I not?” She leaned over him, resting her chin on her folded hands as she looked into his eyes. “I wonder if Issa landed with me for a reason. I’ve always planned not to get married. I thought that meant no kids for me—I never considered myself very good with them. But with Issa, I know what to do. She even responds to my voice already.”
She was right about that. They shared a special bond that had to be reassuring to an infant whose world had been turned upside down by abandonment. But questions about the baby’s past would be answered soon. He thought of Hillary and Troy working their tails off to find the baby’s family. He hated to think of Mari setting herself up for heartache.