Okay, yes, he was being a little self-serving, he told himself. Because he did want Melinda more than his next gulp of air. But it was also true. He wouldn’t be staying with her. And if he could get her past wanting to bury herself, then they would both be able to walk away a little easier when their time together was done.
A wistful smile lifted one corner of her mouth, and he took his first easy breath since entering this room.
“I didn’t mean to have a meltdown,” she said.
“It’s okay—”
“No, it’s not,” she said firmly. “I was fine, really. I came up here and I was going to shower and wait for you when I saw—” Her voice trailed off as she glanced at the facedown photo. “And suddenly, it all hit me. He’s gone. I’m here. With you. And I felt bad because I was feeling so good. And that doesn’t make any sense at all, does it?”
“You’re wrong about that, too. It makes perfect sense.” Sean brushed her hair back from her face and felt a gentle warmth slide through him as he pulled her in and held her. This wasn’t the heat he felt when he touched her. This was something more. Something deeper. Something he couldn’t describe—and he didn’t think he should try.
She leaned into him, and his arms just naturally tightened around her.
“Big day, huh?” she whispered.
“Yeah. You tired?” he asked.
She looked up at him and shook her head.
He smiled. “Glad to hear it.”
When he kissed her, Melinda melted against him, giving herself up to the truth of the moment. She was alive, as Sean had said, and she wasn’t going to hide from life again. She was going to set guilt aside and reach for what she wanted.
And what she wanted was Sean.
In a few seconds, they were naked. Sean grabbed a condom, sheathed himself, then sprawled across her bed with her. She felt the delicious slide of Sean’s skin against hers. He kissed his way down her body, lips and tongue tracing fiery lines across her flesh. He suckled at her br**sts until she was arching blindly beneath him, desperate to ease the coiled tension inside her.
But there was more. He didn’t stop. Whispered words became muffled as he continued to gently torture her. Her breath was labored and she stared up at the ceiling, losing herself in the sensations that only he could cause.
His hands explored her every curve, his mouth tasted every inch of her, and when he moved down, kissing his way past her abdomen, she tensed. He spread her legs and kneeled between them, scooping his hands beneath her to lift her h*ps off the bed.
“Sean…”
“Just enjoy,” he said and covered her core with his mouth.
She gasped and moved into him, loving the feel of his tongue on her most sensitive skin. Again and again, he licked and nibbled at her center, until she was wild with need. With banked passion spilling up and over, inside her.
Her first cl**ax hit her hard, and she called his name brokenly as her body quivered and shook and then finally exploded into shiny shards of pleasure. She was still quaking with release when his body slid into hers, pushing her into another orgasm, even more profound than the one before.
She reached for him, locking her feet at the small of his back, holding him to her, taking him deeper. Her h*ps rocked with his in a rhythm that was both breathless and timeless. Their bodies moved as one. Melinda looked up into his eyes and fell into those blue depths that were so filled with old pain and new promise.
He kissed her, and she took him inside, tangling her tongue with his. When he broke the kiss and smiled down at her, she smiled back, feeling freer than she ever had. Happiness dropped down on top of her, and she hardly recognized it. He had done this, she thought wildly. He had opened her heart, her body, her life.
That last, improbable thought dissolved an instant later when her body reached its peak and she gave herself up to the overwhelming crash of something amazing. She held onto him and cried out his name as she broke apart again, safe in his arms.
She held onto him as his body joined hers and, together, they slid into oblivion.
In the quiet, Melinda realized that she cared for Sean, far more than she should. But it wasn’t love. Couldn’t be.
Because if it was, she had set herself up for even more heartbreak.
Two days later, Sean stood up from his desk and turned to look out his office window. Couldn’t keep his mind on work. Couldn’t really think about anything but Melinda and this mess he’d landed them both in.
He’d thought to seduce her. Hadn’t really planned on his own reaction to the plan. Funny, he had once warned his brother Lucas to pull back from his idiotic idea to use Rose Clancy as a means of revenge against her brother Dave. Sean could remember telling Lucas that his plan was going to turn on him. And damned if it didn’t. Although, that had all worked out in the end, since Lucas and Rose were happily married now—not to mention the parents of the cutest three-month-old boy in the world.
“Should’ve listened to your own advice,” he muttered, disgusted with himself. But no, true to King form, he’d figured he could handle his own life just fine. Now, he was stuck in the middle of a damn soap opera.
A marriage of convenience to a woman still mourning the death of her once fiancé—and getting deeper and deeper into…what? Lust? Love?
That thought backed him right up. It hit him hard, and he shook his head as if he could wipe away even the silent mention of the word. He wasn’t in love. He didn’t do love. He’d tried that once only to get kicked in the teeth for his trouble.
“No, not love. Serious like, maybe,” he hedged and winced at the idiocy of that statement.
He really hated to admit that his brothers had been right. He never should have married Melinda. It had been asking for trouble right from the jump, and it was only getting worse the longer this marriage lasted. Even if he wasn’t in love, he was definitely feeling something for Melinda. Something that had him worried enough that he wondered how the hell he was supposed to deal with this for the next several weeks. He’d already decided that he would go out of his way to not have to come back to Tesoro during the length of the construction job.
Once he was gone from the island, he was going to stay gone. No sense putting him or Melinda through unnecessarily awkward situations. But damned if he wanted to think about leaving, either.
Sean stared out the window and realized that though he had only been on Tesoro a couple of weeks, he’d already become accustomed to the view here.
At first, it had all been foreign to him. Every time he looked out a window, he expected to see Long Beach. Busy streets, tons of people and his favorite Mexican restaurant on the corner. He had felt out of place, and he’d missed his water tower home and the familiar feel of Sunset Beach.