Colt pinned her to the mattress, gave her a slow, seductive smile and dipped his head to take first one, then the other nipple into his mouth. Her scent filled his mind. The soft sighs she made fed the desire licking at his insides and pushed him on, wanting more, needing more. Lips, tongue and teeth teased her, toyed with her until she was writhing beneath him, gasping his name.
Hunger pitched higher in them both and he swept one hand down the length of her body to dip his fingers into her slick, wet heat. She lifted her h*ps and rocked into his touch, setting a rhythm that threw Colt’s control down a slippery slope. He wanted. Needed. He felt her desire as his own and let the heat consume them both. He gave himself up to the fire within, jumping eagerly into the flames.
He looked her over, head to toe, and seared the image onto his brain. Sunlight dancing on pale skin. A few golden freckles lying dark against that paleness and the thatch of dark red hair at the juncture of her thighs. Perfection. She was all. She was everything. His heart stuttered in his chest as new and unexpected realizations rose up in his mind. Deliberately, he shut his brain off, letting his body take over. He didn’t want to think now. Didn’t want to acknowledge anything beyond this moment.
The only thing that mattered now was feeding the beast crouched inside both their bodies. He pulled his hand from her heat and she whimpered at the loss.
“Don’t stop,” she said on a heaving sigh. “Don’t you dare stop.”
“Not stopping, trust me,” he managed to grind out. He couldn’t have stopped touching her if it had meant his life. The feel of her beneath his hands, the flick of her tongue over her bottom lip and the glazed passion in her eyes all came together to twist him into knots so tight they might never come undone.
He flipped her over onto her stomach and ran his hands up and down her spine, cupping the curve of her incredible behind. She parted her legs, tossed her hair out of her way to look over her shoulder at him and whispered, “Oh, yes.”
As if he’d needed any encouragement.
She licked her lips again as if she knew what that action did to him and enjoyed the power of it. Then she went up on her knees, silently inviting him to take what they both wanted so badly.
Her behind was full and curvy and he smoothed both hands over her soft flesh, kneading, exploring. He slid one hand down to cup her heat and she groaned, pushing into him, wiggling h*ps that drove him crazy.
“Don’t make me wait, Colt. Don’t make us wait. Take me where only you can,” she whispered, desire-filled, forest-green eyes fixed on him.
“Oh, yeah.” His voice was scratchy, words pushing through the knot lodged in his throat. He knelt behind her, pulled her in close and entered her in one long, smooth stroke.
She gasped in pleasure and he barely heard the soft sound over his own groan of satisfaction. She was tight and hot and he had to get a grip on the lust nearly choking him or he would explode in an instant.
Penny moved into him, wriggling those h*ps again, pushing back against him, taking him deeper, higher, and he felt every one of her movements like a caress. He moved into her, retreating and advancing, following the frantic rhythm set by his own heartbeat. He heard her gasps, her whispered moans. He felt her passion climb with his. He held her h*ps in a firm grip and set a pace that she hurried to follow.
Again and again, they climbed together, reaching for the peak that awaited them. And when he felt the first tremor begin inside her, he reached around to where their bodies were joined and thumbed the sensitive spot that held so many fragmented sensations.
She turned her face into the mattress and cried out, her shriek of pleasure muted but no less rousing. And an instant later, Colt followed her, jumping into the void with her, holding her close as shards of light and shadow erupted all around them.
* * *
A few minutes later, with Penny tucked close to his side and sunlight dancing in the room, Colt’s old fears rose up to gnaw on him again.
He loved her. Loved her as he’d never believed it possible to love.
He couldn’t tell her. She would expect...what she had every right to expect from a man who loved her. But he couldn’t give her what she wanted. Needed. He couldn’t take that chance.
Panic reared its ugly head, but he fought it down. His gaze locked on the small scar from the operation she’d so recently had. She was almost healed completely. And when that happened, he would leave her. As he’d known all along that he would.
Love. He didn’t even want to think the word. It left him vulnerable. Worse, having him love her made Penny vulnerable and that he couldn’t stand. Instead of being the blessing that most people might consider it, Colt knew that love wasn’t for him. That ephemeral feeling only fed the deep-seated guilt and shame that were never far from his thoughts.
Penny sighed, nestled her head on his chest and draped one long, shapely leg across him. And even as he drew her closer, Colt began to plan his escape.
* * *
Over the next several days, Penny and Colt fell into a routine. They tag-teamed the twins and she had to admit, at least to herself, that life with two babies was infinitely easier when you had someone who could share the work and the fun.
Of course, whenever that thought appeared in her mind, Penny did her best to ignore it. Love filled her, but had nowhere to go. She wanted to trust him, but she knew that Colt wouldn’t stay. He’d made that clear from the beginning. So she locked her love up deep inside her where he couldn’t see it. Where she wouldn’t be reminded of it daily.
She tried instead to simply enjoy this time with him while she had it. And when he was gone, she’d learn to go on without him. Again.
They left Colt’s spectacular house on the cliff and moved the twins back home. Penny loved the cottage, always would, but now she saw the limitations of it. Oh, it was filled with good memories and it was perfect for her and the twins—at the moment. One day, she’d have to leave because the house would be too small. It wouldn’t fit her growing family. So the cottage was pretty much like her and Colt. Perfect in the present but no promise of a future.
Penny thought about Colt’s place and couldn’t help wondering how things might have been. At the cliff house, there had been laughter and passion and so much sky and sea and lawn—open and beautiful. But it wasn’t the house she missed so much as the closeness she and Colt had found there, and she knew it. It didn’t matter that they spent their nights together now, making love and exploring their passions.
Because every day, she felt him slipping further and further away from her. Soon, even though he might be standing in her tiny kitchen, he would be too far away to touch.