The stiff scrape of Donovan’s afternoon stubble was like the finest grade of sandpaper. No. She used a lot of sandpaper while working on this beach house, and none of it had felt as erotic as his face on his way down her neck, nipping at a spot right above her collarbone that Lani had never realized was an erogenous zone.
He lifted her, just as she’d fantasized, and this time carried her into the adjoining room and laid her on the bed. The fake fur was soft and lush against the backs of her legs.
“Damn.”
His frown carved deep furrows in his brow. “What’s the matter?”
“I hate it when my brother’s right.”
Donovan’s answering chuckle came from deep in his throat, hitting her heart like an arrow. “You had me scared there for a minute,” he said as he nuzzled her ear. “I thought you’d changed your mind.”
“I have,” she admitted, weakening as his fingers trailed lazily up the exposed length of her thigh. “Too many times to count.”
“And?”
“And I keep coming back to the fact that I want you.”
Donovan looked down into green eyes darkened with such open desire and felt the now-familiar movement in his chest. Over the years, he had come to think of himself as a rock—unemotional, immovable. Somehow, during their short time together, he’d discovered that he was a hell of a long way away from being the self-controlled, impervious man he had worked so hard to become.
Go with your instincts.
“That’s convenient. Because I’ve wanted you from the beginning. You’ve been all I could think about from the first moment I saw you, with the sun striking sparks in your hair. I felt as if I’d been hit by lightning.”
Lani stroked his cheek. “I felt the same way.”
“And now?”
“As hot as you look, we need to get you out of those city clothes, Detective.” After pulling the tie over his head, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt, ripped it open and raced her lips over his chest, causing him to groan deep in his throat before she was forced to stop when she hit the barrier of his damn belt.
Because his hands were steadier than hers, he unfastened it and yanked down his zipper, displaying a pair of crimson knit boxer briefs that confirmed what Lani had already figured out for herself. Donovan might be city detective cool on the outside, but he had a red-hot volcanic core.
Once they were finally skin to skin, she continued to plant wet kisses down the happy trail leading below his navel, but before she could create an eruption, he’d regained control and turned the tables, using his hands and mouth to burn heat everywhere on her body, until she was writhing beneath him, wishing she’d never taught him the concept of island time.
Then finally, just when she didn’t think she could take any more, Donovan covered her with his beautiful body, and yes, she did grasp his very fine ass as he slid into her, fitting so perfectly, filling all those spaces inside her she hadn’t even realized had been so empty, that tears came to her eyes.
And then, as he buried his face in her damp neck, and she wrapped her arms and legs even more tightly around him, there were no more thoughts.
* * *
Had it been hours or only minutes? Days or an eternity? Lani lay in Donovan’s arms as she struggled to orient herself. The fiery glow of sunset had melted into yawning shadows that created deep blue silhouettes on the walls.
Outside the open window, all was quiet as the birds settled down for the night. The only sounds were the rustle of palm fronds disturbed by the gentle trade winds and the soft sigh of the tide as it washed onto the beach.
“Okay,” she purred, arching her back like a lithe, pampered cat, “I surrender.”
Donovan ran a hand that had created such havoc to her body lazily down her side. “I thought you already had.” There was no mistaking the satisfied smile in his voice.
“I was talking about the fact that any man who can make me feel the way you do could probably make me confess to anything. No wonder you’re so good at your work, Detective.”
He brushed a few strands of still-damp hair off her forehead and pressed his lips against her temple. “It’s only been that way with you, Lani,” he said truthfully.
Lani laughed as she turned in the circle of his arms and tangled her legs with his. “And isn’t that exactly what you’re supposed to say?”
“Seriously.” His lips nibbled at hers as he punctuated his words with kisses that had her wanting him again. And again. “I’ve never met a woman who can make me lose control the way you do.”
“I like the idea of being able to make you lose control,” she decided as she trailed a slow, lazy finger up his inner thigh.
“If you needed any more proof…” Donovan took her hand and held it against the straining evidence of his renewed arousal. “You’ve been making me crazy from the beginning.”
“You’ve got no idea how happy I am to hear that,” she said, as she wrapped her fingers around him and drew him inside her. Where he belonged. “Let’s be crazy together.”
15