A Bride for the Black Sheep Brother

Eight


Portia moved before he had a chance to, rising on her toes and pressing her chest against his. He barely noticed her room key dropping to the ground. Her hands burrowed into his hair, angling his head so their lips could meet.

Everything about this surprised him. From the way she took full command of the embrace to the instant heat of her kiss.

After an hour of watching her nibble at a slice of pie, he expected a hesitant peck. After all her talk of being a nice girl, of being the boring one, he expected timidity. He expected another kiss like the one in the hall. He thought he’d have to be the aggressor, that he’d have to gently tease a response out of her. Instead, she was greedy. Enchanting.

Her hands clung to him even as her tongue traced the crease of his lips. She didn’t have to ask twice. He opened his mouth to her, nearly shuddering with desire when her tongue, eager and fast, darted into his mouth. She was almost clumsy. There was no artifice to her. No planning or thought. No seduction. Just pure, searing desire. Whatever else he thought about her, he knew this: she was here because she wanted this. Because she wanted him.

The thought that Portia wanted him—that this amazing, smart, unbelievably beautiful woman picked him, got him hard faster than he would have thought possible given that he’d just stepped out of glacially cold shower.

Yeah, sure. He’d taken plenty of beautiful women to bed, but this was different. She was different. Because this was Portia. The woman he’d wanted for a third of his life. The woman he’d never dreamed he could have. She was his fantasy. She was the dream that woke him up in the middle of the night, hot and hard and aching. And she was reaching for the towel at his waist with eager hands. If he didn’t slow this the hell down, he was going to come the second she touched him.

There was no way he was going to let that happen. This was his dream. There was no way he was going to let her control it.

He grabbed her wrist, stopping her just shy of pulling his towel off.

She paused for a second, pulling back from the kiss. Her eyes were wide with confusion and doubt. Just looking at her made him go rock hard, but at the same time, that question in her gaze slayed him. Still, after everything he’d said to her, she doubted that he really wanted her. After all this, after the very physical evidence of his desire that she had to have noticed, she still doubted.

He opened his mouth to reassure her. There were a thousand things he wanted to say. And every one of them scared the hell out of him. So instead of speaking, he grabbed her other wrist and whirled her around so her back was up against the wall. He pinned her wrists to the wall on either side her of head and crushed her mouth beneath his. She tasted like red wine and cherries. He couldn’t get enough of her. He had the heart-stopping, terrifying thought that he’d never get enough of her.


He shoved the thought aside and pressed his body to hers. She was tall for a woman and fit against him perfectly. There was no finagling, no floundering to position their bodies together. There was just her against him. His mouth on her neck. Her hands plowing through his hair and his erection nuzzling the V between her legs. Like they’d been made for one another. Pure perfection.

Her leg crept up to the outside of his thigh, and she bumped against him, groaning as he nipped at her honeyed skin. His hand slipped under her sweater, up over the silken lace of her bra to cup her breast and pluck at her nipple. Her head tipped back, and she let loose a groan that rocked him to his very core.

She arched onto her toes, straining against him. When he cupped her ass and lifted her, she wrapped her legs around his hips, grinding herself against him. Her hands moved greedily over his shoulders and back. He sucked in a breath as he felt her heels kicking his towel aside. That was it. She had on entirely too many clothes. If he was going to be naked, then damn it, so would she.

He might not have intended to push her, but turnabout was fair play. He stepped away from the wall, squeezing her delectable ass as he carried her across the hotel room to the bed. It took only a few seconds to yank the bedspread off. Then he lowered her to the bare sheets. But he didn’t follow her down. As much as he wanted to bury himself inside of her, he didn’t want to rush this. He’d wanted her for years. He could wait a few more minutes to make sure this was as mind-blowing for her as it was for him.

He undressed her slowly, lavishing attention on every inch of silken skin. First, he stripped off her cream sweater and pulled off her jeans. The sight of her nearly naked sent desire rocketing through him. Her perfect breasts were encased in a hot-pink bra that matched her panties.

Because she dressed so conservatively, he never dreamed she’d be wearing something so damn sexy underneath. It wasn’t hot-pink kitty panties, but it would do.

Somehow the combination of hot-pink silk and her naked flesh cast in the half-light was almost too much. She was too perfect to look at; she had to be felt to be believed. She had to be tasted.

He shimmied her panties down her hips and kissed his way to the sensitive flesh he’d just revealed. He parted her flesh to reveal the delicate bud of her sex. He lapped at her folds, intoxicated. Desperate. Until she was as needy as he was. Until she bucked against his mouth. Then he slipped a finger inside her. And then another. He suckled her bud as she rode hard against his fingers, groaning. Panting. And finally screaming. Screaming his name as she fell to pieces around him.

The sound of his name on her lips as she came was almost too much to bear. He almost came, too. Without her even touching him. Somehow, he managed to hold back, until he’d found a condom and plunged into her. Thankfully, she was still on the brink. The spasming muscles of her sex were enough to send him over the edge. He came almost immediately. Her voice echoing in his ears, her name on his lips.

* * *

Cooper woke up early, content with the knowledge that whatever else happened, this bargain he’d made with Portia was the smartest thing he’d ever done.

He had no doubt her plan was going to work. She was going to convince the board that he could get financial backing all on his own, which would win them over more quickly than any of his arguments had. She was going to help him achieve the goal that had dominated the past year of his life. And he’d slept with her.

Now as far as he was concerned, any day he woke up with a beautiful woman in his bed was bound to be a good day, but with Portia, it was different. Because she was Portia. The one woman he’d always wanted and could never have. Now he’d had her. And if he had his way, he’d have her again. As often as possible over the next month.

Which would be plenty of time to get her out of his system. Portia would never fall for a guy like him. She’d made that clear enough with all her jabs about Swedish models. They had no future together. Which was fine. He didn’t want a future with her. Or any woman for that matter. No woman he’d ever known had held his attention for longer than a couple of months. Tops. So there was nothing to worry about with Portia. There was no reason they shouldn’t continue sleeping together as well as working together. And he had no doubt that she would agree. No one would turn down sex that explosive. That right.

All he had to do was think of the way she’d come against him and he got hard all over again.

Her body was warm and soft against his, her buttocks nuzzling his growing erection. He could wake her up slowly, kissing the back of her neck. She’d make that little sound in the back of her throat, halfway between a yummy noise and a groan.

Except they’d made love twice more in the night and now she was deeply asleep, her breathing deep and even.

So instead of waking her, he propelled himself from the bed and got dressed, heading downstairs for an early morning jog. He’d burn off some of this extra energy and grab breakfast before she even woke up. He’d ply her with coffee and fresh croissants and then make love to her again. He didn’t need to wake her up now. They had all the time in the world.