CARRIED AWAY Read online

  He groaned, or maybe it was her. All she knew was that her legs were not going to keep her upright much longer if he insisted on— Dear Lord. Her knees buckled as he yanked off the top, then moved his hands down her arms, lowering them so he could slide her bra straps down over her shoulders, pulling the soft cotton down over her breasts, over her now fully hardened nipples. "Trevor," she rasped.

  "So warm, so soft," he said, almost reverently.

  "Can't … stand … up," she managed.

  He laughed and went to swing her up into his arms. That galvanized her into action. She stumbled back, avoiding certain humiliation. She was not a small woman, in height or stature, and it was one thing for him to toss her over his shoulder like a sack of flour, or carry her all stiff and trussed-up like a Thanksgiving turkey, but quite another to scoop her up all mushy and relaxed, a hundred and—

  "Ooph!"

  "Tabletop, couch or bed?" he asked, grinning down at her stunned expression.

  He was strong, and hungry … and it was her he was going to devour. She shivered in delicious anticipation. "Bed. Loft. Upstairs." She gestured in the general direction of the open staircase that wound to the second-floor loft. But it was hard as she was pretty sure her eyes had rolled to the back of her head when he tucked her up higher so he could sample her nipples again.

  That squeal was definitely hers. The delighted laughter was his. Dear God, couldn't he climb the damn stairs any faster?

  The storm raged outside, but the one inside her was the only one commanding her attention at the moment. That and the one in his blue eyes. It was dim in her loft, with only scant illumination from the lamp in the living room below, but he found her bed with no problem. They were both panting, more with need than exertion, when he finally climbed onto the bed with her still in his arms … only to leave her there and quickly hop right back off again. Before she could question his sudden abandonment, he looked up and said, "Wet jeans."

  "Oh. Right." So hurry up and get them off, she silently demanded. Then realized she was in her scrub bottoms as well and started to skim them down her hips. It gave her something to do instead of looking at him. Because all of a sudden looking at him completely naked seemed too overwhelming, too personal, too— She peeked. Then didn't look away.

  The bottom half of him was as sculpted … and rigidly formed … as the top half. He was total perfection. And he was going to be all hers.

  Her hands stilled on the drawstring of her pants. Yes, he'd seen her in her underwear, but he hadn't been thinking of her that way at that point. Now…

  "Take off your pants, Christy."

  "What?" She was staring … and not at her pants.

  "Slide them down your hips for me."

  He took a step closer to the bed. "Or would you like it if I did it for you?"

  It wasn't a threat. It was an invitation. And he made it sound damn inviting, too. Oh the dilemma.

  He kneeled onto the bed, ready for her and completely unashamed of it. "Let me see you."

  She couldn't explain the sudden shyness. It really made no sense, considering he'd already seen almost all of her anyway. But he was so damn perfect … and she was so … not.

  He bent down and put his hands over hers on the drawstrings. "I dream about you, Christy. Your warm skin, how your curves feel under my hands." He tugged at the string and her hands fell away. But as he slid them down her legs, his gaze stayed directly on hers. "But that's just part of it." He tossed away her pants and levered himself over her. "Your body is beautiful and lush enough to keep me aroused for hours, days…" He lowered his weight onto hers and they both gasped, then moaned at the contact. But before she could react, he looked directly into her eyes and said, "But it's hearing your laugh, seeing your smile, that got me this way in the first place. It's about all of you, Christy. You wanted this to be about more." He nudged between her legs and her hips lifted to his as naturally as if she had indeed been made just for him. He slowly pushed inside her. "And it is. A whole lot more."

  * * *

  Chapter 10

  « ^ »

  Trevor shook, both with the impact the reality of his words had on him … and with the tight feel of her all around him, taking him in, so deeply, so surely. There was no going back, not with their bodies or anything else. He knew it, and looking down into her eyes as he began to move inside her, he saw she knew it, too.

  He should be scared, terrified even. He'd avoided this very thing for so long. But he realized now that he hadn't avoided anything. It simply hadn't happened. Because there was no avoiding it when it did, indeed, happen.

  Her hips rose to find him, meeting his thrusts. She gripped his arms and wrapped herself completely around him, body, heart and soul. He sunk into all that she offered … and did it willingly. It was scary, and even a bit terrifying … but only because it felt like home. There was no other way to describe it. He had searched the globe, coming back to the only place that had felt like home, and only now did he realize home wasn't a geographic location.

  He thrust deeper, growling as he gave himself completely over to the unbelievable wonder of his discovery. She met him, thrust for thrust.

  "Trevor," she panted.

  "I know," he said, and kept saying it as they both climbed higher and higher. She was thrashing beneath him now, her cries wild and uninhibited, shoving him right to the brink. He wanted to tell her, somehow make her understand what he was feeling, but it was all a jumble of want and need and his body was taking control.

  He gripped her head and took her mouth, kissing her with everything he had inside of him, stunned at the depth of it. The force of his climax shuddered through him, eliciting a long, low growl. But he was rocked even further by the mystifying, yet certain knowledge that she was the one. Home would forever be wherever Christy Russell was.

  Still trembling, he looked down into her face, pushing away the hair that clung damply to her heated skin, stroking her until she opened her eyes and looked at him. It awed him, this sense he had of the complete rightness of their being together. And it wasn't diminishing now that his body's needs had been sated. In fact…

  He opened his mouth to tell her, find the words to make her understand … and realized he couldn't. She wanted more, yes, but this was so overwhelming, he wasn't sure she was ready for it. Hell, he wasn't sure he was ready for it!

  If he tried to explain it all to her, she'd probably think he was insane and run screaming into the night. Major tactical error. No, he'd simply have to show her. Here in her bed. Out of bed. In the morning, the middle of the night … and all those times in between. Until she knew. Like he knew.

  "What?" Her voice was barely more than a rasp. He stroked his fingers down her cheek, feeling both immensely satisfied and antsy with anticipation of what was to come.

  "What what?" he asked, still toying with her hair.

  She smiled, looking languorous and content. "That smile on your face. It's quite … predatory."

  He grinned and kissed her. "Well, I'm feeling a bit … predatory."

  "Are you?" She laughed when he pretended to pounce on her neck, then sighed as he slid his mouth to that tender spot on her shoulder. "How can you … after what we…" The rest was lost on a low moan of pleasure as he moved to the plump side of her breast. "You're still—" She inhaled sharply as he pulled her nipple between his lips and suckled it

  "I'm still," he said, moving his mouth across her stomach. "But you won't be. Move for me, Christy." He dipped his tongue into her and she bucked her hips hard off the bed. He moved his body to pin her down, grinned as he lost himself between her legs, pushing her right up to the edge … and then screaming right over it.

  He kissed his way back up her still-shuddering body and pulled her into his arms. "Now I'm full."

  For now, he thought, already planning how their morning might unfold.

  Waking up next to her… He smiled at the thought, then paused, wondering if she'd even let him stay the night. Might want to slow down
here, McQuillen, he schooled himself. One step at a time. But he didn't want to go slow. And they didn't seem to move step by step, more like leaps and bounds. He was fine with that.

  He'd simply have to make sure she didn't want him to leave. If she wanted to sit up all night and talk, distract herself from the storm, fine. There were a lot of things they had to say to each other yet. If she wanted other sorts of distraction, well that was fine, too. Whatever it took.

  She snuggled against his chest then, curling a leg over his and snaking her arm around his waist. He grinned in the darkness and pulled her closer. They would have to talk, but right now just feeling her falling asleep in his arms was pretty damn wonderful. The talking could wait. He tucked her head under his chin just as thunder shook the house and lightning lit up the room. She didn't even flinch.

  "Sweet dreams, Christy," he whispered. Then he let himself drift off to sleep, a smile on his face.

  * * *

  Something was nibbling on her shoulder. Christy swatted it away, grumbled something, then tried to pull her pillow over her head. No alarms were going off so it wasn't time to get up yet. But her pillow was stuck or something.

  She didn't want to open her eyes, so she tried to roll over and pull the covers over her head instead. Something big and hard and warm was in her way, however. She blinked her eyes against the morning light and felt around in front of her. Definitely hard, definitely big. And very warm.

  "Morning."

  She screamed. Okay, so it had come out as more of a muffled croak, but that didn't stop the adrenaline from pumping through her. She tried to fight off the covers and sit up, but something hard and very strong was holding her down.

  "Christy," said the same deep voice. This was followed by a warm, very wonderful kiss on her shoulder.

  She decided not to fight the warm, hard thing. It felt pretty good. She sunk back into her covers, sighing in pleasure as the warm kisses continued, moving along her neck to her jaw, then down to her earlobe. She snuggled more deeply against the warm thing. "Mmm," she murmured as the kisses moved along the shell of her ear.

  "Good morning," he whispered, then pushed her hair out of the way so he could kiss her along the back of her neck.

  She rolled on her stomach, thinking this pretty much beat the hell out of having to set half a dozen alarm clocks every morning. Why hadn't she thought of this solution sooner? She groaned as warm hands ran down along her back, then upward again, into her hair. Suddenly she was being rolled to her back and her eyes blinked open as warm lips found the side of her breast.

  A blurry image of Trevor lifted his head and grinned at her. "You taste wonderful first thing in the morning."

  "Hunph." She let her head flop back on the pillow, but moved rather quickly to hold his head where it was when he would have moved it away.

  "Ah," he said teasingly. "Your morning verbal skills leave a bit to be desired, but you more than make up for that with sign language."

  She grunted something that was supposed to sound like "Yes, sir," but his lips closed over her nipple just then and she found she really didn't care that much about clear diction.

  He slid his body over hers as he moved to her other nipple, nudging her legs apart as he continued his most excellent morning wake-up routine. He lifted his head, and when she whimpered in protest and grabbed at his hips, he said, "Look at me, Christy."

  She blinked her eyes open again. He filled her vision this time and so she kept her eyes open until he finally came into focus. "Hi," she said, smiling sleepily.

  He pushed just a tiny bit inside her, and grinned when her hips jerked. "Hi."

  "You are going to finish what you've started, right?" she asked, her voice all raspy. "Because I'm not up to homicide this morning. Besides, they frown on that in my line of work."

  "Oh, I'm going to finish. I just wanted to make sure you were all the way with me."

  "All the way," she said on a sigh. "All the way sounds really good right now."

  "Like this?" He slid in partway and she clutched at him, groaning in pleasure.

  "Something like that," she managed, fighting to keep her eyes open when they wanted to roll to the back of her head. "More. I want more."

  "More?" He nudged a bit more. "Like this?"

  "No." She hooked her ankle behind his and before he could read her intent, she flipped him onto his back, rolling with him. As soon as her body lifted over his, she sank fully down onto him, groaning in absolute ecstasy as she did so. "Like this," she said, bracing herself on his shoulders.

  "Ah," he said, grinning up at her.

  She moved on him, making him groan and squeeze his eyes shut as she continued to slide her body on his. "No," she said lustily. "That would be ahhhhh."

  Trevor pulled her down, sinking his fingers into her hair so he could hold her head while he kissed her. Deep, soul kisses that reached even further into her than his body was. She felt fully penetrated by him, every part of her, mind, body and soul. And she didn't want it to end. She only wanted to penetrate him just as fully.

  He locked his ankles over hers and pulled her taut on top of him, continuing to thrust up into her with strong, deep strokes. She moved his hands and pinned them to the bed, dipping down to kiss him where she wanted, how she wanted, for as long as she wanted even as he continued his assault on her from below. They each claimed the other, even as they were claimed by the other. She thought it was the perfect union.

  She climbed higher and higher toward release, wishing she could stave it off, but relishing the intensity she knew awaited her when she peaked.

  "Christy," he said hoarsely.

  She felt him gather beneath her, his hips moving faster and faster. "Trevor," she said gently. Dipping her head down, she took his mouth in a tender kiss that was totally at odds with the ferocity of their coupling.

  He came the instant her lips touched his, spiking her over the top an instant later. She felt his deep-groaning release vibrate against her lips as their kiss continued long after their climaxes subsided.

  He shifted them to their sides and pulled her close. "I could kiss you for hours," he said.

  "Haven't you been?" she said, blinking up at him.

  He smiled. "It feels like I've only just started."

  Something blossomed inside her chest then. It felt a whole lot like her heart. Only it couldn't be, because that would mean she was falling in love with him. And she wasn't ready for that yet. She couldn't be. Too risky.

  She had a fleeting thought of Viv and what she was going through. She didn't want to be in a position to worry about those kinds of risks, that potential for pain. And yet, when she looked into the blue eyes gazing back at her right now … she honestly didn't want to be anywhere else on the planet.

  "Wheels are turning in there," he said.

  "I might take a while to wake up, but when I do—" She paused to playfully push at him when he rolled his eyes.

  "Hey," he said, laughing, "I'm not the one with a dozen alarm clocks all over my bedroom."

  "There's only six," she said primly. "And, as I was saying before being so rudely interrupted—" She was interrupted again, this time by a fast, deep kiss that left her breathless.

  "You were saying?"

  "I have no idea."

  "Works every time."

  She smacked at him, but he snagged her hand in midswing and tugged her back on top of him. She flipped him back. He grabbed a pillow, she grabbed him … and a pillow fight wrestling match ensued that ended with them both on the floor in a tangle of bedclothes and each other.

  They were both laughing so hard neither one of them could speak. Christy was sprawled helplessly across his chest, thinking this was the absolute best morning of her life. She was a heartbeat away from telling him that, but stopped herself. Those sorts of declarations probably weren't a good idea. Not yet, anyway. He was here and not in any hurry to leave apparently. For now, that was enough. She had to take this one step at a time.

  Now if only sh
e could just find a way to make her heart understand the logic of that plan.

  "Are you a big-breakfast person?" Trevor asked her as he disentangled himself from the twisted sheets.

  "Not normally, no."

  "Today?"

  She gave him a look. "Ravenous."

  He winked at her. "I meant for food."

  "That, too."

  Laughing, he caught her off guard and wrapped her in the sheet before she knew what he was about, then scooped her up ridiculously easily and plopped her on the bed. "Shower or bath?"

  "Depends," she tossed back. "Solo or with company?"

  "Depends. Breakfast now? Or breakfast later?"

  She grinned. "Later. Shower with company, please. We wouldn't both fit in the tub."

  "Is that a dare?" he asked, leaning over her, totally unselfconscious about his nudity.

  Which was a good thing, she thought, since she found she'd become totally unselfconscious about looking at him naked. "It could be," she responded.

  "If I win and we both fit?"

  "Then I'd say we're probably both going to be winners," she answered with a laugh. "Or needing the services of my emergency-room staff."

  He scooped her up again. "I think we can manage this without their help." He carried her to the adjoining bathroom. "When did you say you had to be back at work?"

  "Not till tomorrow afternoon."

  He grinned and kissed her. "Good. We just might be done by then." He kicked the door shut behind them.

  * * *

  Trevor unlocked the warehouse door, then reached in to flick on the lights. "This is the training center. The other building is offices and classrooms. Or will be. I don't have all the rooms set up yet, just enough to start my first class next weekend."