Illegal Motion: A Loveswept Classic Romance Page 11

  EIGHT

  Nick led the way back to the foyer. He held only her hand as they went up the stairs, afraid if he touched any more of her, they might not make it up the entire flight. As they reached the door to the master bedroom, he turned to her, needing to make sure she hadn’t had a change of heart.

  Pure desire, and something else he was afraid to examine too closely, shone like a beacon in her eyes, welcoming him in from the solitary storm he’d battled for almost a year.

  In that moment he knew he’d been fooling himself if he thought that once was ever going to be enough.

  Bright sunshine poured through the blinds, but Willa’s only impression of Nick’s bedroom was from sunbeams playing across the midnight-blue bedspread, highlighting the waves of his dark hair as he sat on the edge of the king-size bed, pulling her down on top of him. After that, everything became hazy.

  As one, they slowly rolled to their sides, their gazes locked as tightly as their embrace. Willa trusted Nick with her heart, knowing that making love with him would be as special and unique as the bond they shared.

  And it was love. Pure, if not simple.

  She made a weak attempt to mask the depth of her feelings, but Nick was staring at her so intently, his eyes mirroring the desire in hers, she abandoned all pretense. He pulled her closer, the strength of his desire pressing against her belly. Confronted with his very real response to her, she was unable to suppress a delighted smile.

  A slow, lazy grin spread across Nick’s face. They might have only a short time together, but he was obviously not about to rush things. “Want to let me in on the reason for that sultry little smile?” He reached out, twining a curl around his finger.

  “Sultry? I don’t think I’ve ever been sultry.”

  “Trust me. You could give lessons on being sultry to a New Orleans summer.” Nick punctuated his statement with a kiss on each corner of her mouth. “All this talk of heat is making me feel way overdressed. You?”

  “Uh-huh.” Any doubts she had about being nervous with Nick vanished. His gentle teasing and slow, seductive smiles were guaranteed to keep her right there with him. She shifted back to pull off her shirt when he stopped her.

  “I was kind of looking forward to doing that.” His expression was priceless and Willa knew then that he’d never be satisfied until she was. A concept Eric had been light-years away from understanding.

  Letting go of the last of the demons and doubts Eric had so expertly woven into her mind, she practiced that sultry smile again. “So was I.”

  “You’re trying to burn me alive with those green eyes, aren’t you? Why don’t I work on getting you naked, and if we still have any strength left when I’m done, you can return the favor.” Willa’s eyes widened at his suggestion, revealing how little she knew about playing in bed, and Nick felt his heart fill so tightly he thought it would burst with the tenderness he felt for her. “Just follow my lead, and I promise we’ll both have fun.”

  Willa nodded, too busy biting her bottom lip as he bent to nudge the hem of her shirt with his nose, trailing his tongue over her stomach as he worked it slowly back over her breasts, to say anything.

  “You’re perfect. I knew you would be.” Nick’s hoarse whisper fanned across her skin as he traced the swirling design on her silk bra with his tongue, watching her nipples create a new pattern under the exotic print. He slowly drew back the emerald lace trim that pressed into her skin, strained by the growing fullness of her breasts.

  Willa gasped as the cool air caressed her newly bared skin. Nick pulled the dusky beaded tips into his mouth, gently sucking each one in turn. She arched into him, needing more. She reached out to him, needing to feel the warmth of his skin, assure herself that this was real.

  “Uh-uh,” he murmured against her soft skin. “My turn first, you promised.” He pushed at her hand, held it gently beside her head until he was sure she would keep it there, then returned his attention to the waistband of her slacks. “Just relax.”

  “But I want you to feel this way, too.”

  “Then you have no idea how much this is turning me on. Believe me, I am supremely happy. In a perfect world, I’d stay right here, tasting you, touching you, all day.” Nick smiled at her, loving the way her pupils dilated even further with every suggestive comment he made. Dear Lord, he was going to enjoy opening her up to the knowledge of how wonderful lovemaking could be. He winked at her, then bent his head to her zipper. He lowered it with one hand, then looking at her, he put his finger in his mouth and traced the outside edge of her belly button with it.

  Willa arched against the damp roughness of his finger. She’d never thought of her navel as an erogenous zone before, but as he dipped his tongue into the slight depression, she experienced a rush of moist heat between her legs that was almost painful. “Nick, I …”

  “What, Willa? Tell me what you want.”

  What she wanted was for him to bury himself inside her deep enough to extinguish the flames licking at her core. But she couldn’t say that to him, not yet. “I want”—she broke off to clear the rough edges from her throat—“I want my turn now.”

  Nick rolled her pants down to her hips. “Let me take these off first.” He slid them the rest of the way off, then turned and pulled himself across the bed to lie beside her, trailing a hand along her body as he moved. “I barely got started, you know.”

  Willa didn’t answer, she was already working at his shirt. He cheated by pulling it over his head for her. She didn’t mind. She was too busy staring at each sculpted ridge of his body. She lifted a tentative hand, wanting to touch him everywhere at once and not knowing where to begin.

  “Touch me, Willa.” He pressed her hand over his heart and their eyes met. Her fingers felt the rapid pulse beneath his skin. “Yeah, it amazes me too. All that from just a look. Now tell me what I taste like, Willa.”

  Unable to resist, she lowered her head and swirled her tongue against his nipple. It pebbled immediately and Nick groaned. She looked up to find him staring at her so fiercely that she wondered what she’d done wrong. “You okay?”

  “You really want to know? Ask me what I want, Willa. I’m not too shy to tell you.”

  Willa swallowed hard. His voice was like gravel, a rasp so low it vibrated across his skin. He wanted her. Badly. The very idea thrilled her as much as it frightened her. He must have seen it in her expression because he pushed up onto one elbow and tilted her chin up with his other hand.

  “Am I making you nervous?”

  “No.”

  “Don’t lie, Willa. Do you want me to stop talking?”

  She looked him straight in the eye. “No.”

  “Then take my pants off before they won’t come off.”

  Her hands trembled badly as she unsnapped his jeans. She couldn’t have prevented the moan from escaping her lips if she’d tried when she discovered that nothing came between Nick and his Levi’s. “You’re beautiful.”

  “Hey, that’s my line.” He flopped back on the bed, groaning as she pulled his jeans off and tossed them on the floor.

  “Does your knee hurt?”

  “I wouldn’t know. I can’t feel anything below my—”

  “Nick!”

  “Willa!” he mimicked. He smiled gently when she looked up at him. “Come here.” He pulled her over his body, groaning into her hair as his erection rubbed against her belly. “Do you want me inside you as badly as I need to be there?”

  Willa nodded slowly, admitting to herself that she was beginning to like the way Nick talked in bed. It took some getting used to after Eric’s grunting directions and sighed disappointment—but she could soon become addicted to his provocative verbal foreplay. “You’re incorrigible, you know that?”

  “I think the word you’re looking for is corruptible.”

  “So, corrupt me and I’ll corrupt you.”

  Nick let out a shout of approval and rolled over, pinning her beneath him. “I knew we were made for each other.”


  Willa’s smile faded and her heart began pounding so hard she couldn’t hear. More than anything she wanted that to be true. “ Love me, Nick.”

  Nick growled low in his throat and captured her lips in a soul-searing kiss. He moved between her legs, pressing against her, then stopped. Abruptly he rolled back over and pushed up to sit at the edge of the bed, Willa straddling his lap.

  “Nick?”

  “Wrap your legs around me.” Nick twitched involuntarily, his need for her intense. “I think I’m gonna die. Reach behind you and grab one of those packets.”

  Willa picked up the condom and handed it to him.

  Nick merely looked at her.

  “You want me to …”

  “I believe in sharing the responsibility of birth control.”

  Willa caught the twinkle in his eyes and smiled herself. She fumbled with the packet, her fingers too shaky to get a grip on the slippery plastic.

  Nick took it from her, tore it open, and gently lay back on the bed, shifting her off to his side. “Hurry, or it will be over before we begin.”

  She rolled it along the length of him, barely finishing before he pulled her under him and nestled between her thighs. She automatically wrapped her legs around his lean waist, instinctively rising to meet him.

  “Are you ready for me?”

  “I think I’ve always been ready for you.”

  Nick kissed her soft and deep as he pushed slowly into her. His biceps bunched under the strain of keeping himself from plunging. “So hot. So tight.” He let out a slow moan as he eased more deeply into her. “So mine.”

  Unable to keep his body from establishing a faster rhythm, he began to move inside her. He reveled in the intensity of their lovemaking as she matched him thrust for thrust. All too soon she drove him to the edge. “Willa, I can’t …” His words died as he clenched his jaw and drove as deeply into her as he could in his release.

  As soon as he stopped shuddering, he rolled to his side, keeping her with him. He buried his face in her hair. “I am so sorry. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

  Willa was still too awed by the force of his powerful body filling hers to understand what in the world he was talking about. When his words finally sank in, she reached for his face, turning his head to hers. “Do you mean it could actually be any better?”

  Nick’s mouth dropped open, then quickly snapped shut as a devilish smile carved a tiny dimple into his cheek. “Oh, yeah, Princess. It gets a whole lot better.”

  He swept her into his arms and began a slow assault on her mouth. By the time he’d reached her breasts, she was writhing beneath him. His mouth dipped lower, touching off sparks as he nibbled around her belly button. “Nick, please.”

  “Please what?”

  “I need.… I—”

  “This?” Nick slowly tucked his tongue into the moisture between her legs. He was rewarded with a gasp as her hips surged forward, pressing more intimately against him.

  Willa felt like she’d just stepped off the edge of an active volcano. Nothing in her limited experience had ever prepared her for this. The need for release was so great that hot tears seeped from under her closed eyelashes. She must have whimpered because Nick stopped abruptly.

  “Am I hurting you?”

  “Please don’t stop now or I’ll die.”

  His laugh was so provocative she arched her hips again. “A knight would never leave his damsel in such obvious distress.” He touched her again, but she wriggled away, pushing at his shoulders.

  “What’s wrong, baby?”

  “I don’t know. I’m so close to … Nick? I need you inside me.”

  He would have thought it impossible, but those softly spoken words, so achingly vulnerable yet beautifully strong, accomplished in seconds what should have taken an hour.

  He pulled her on top of him, gripping her hips, and they quickly established a rhythm that was both universal and uniquely theirs.

  It couldn’t possibly get any better.

  She was wonderfully wrong.

  Willa moved over him in a wanton abandon that would have shocked her only a few hours before. It felt perfect. He felt perfect. She ran her hands over his chest and shoulders, gripping his powerful biceps as he bucked against her. The heady combination of their passion, intertwined with the intense desire to please each other, proved to be a powerful force of nature. As Nick moved he touched off a coil of heat that slowly started to spiral—winding tighter and tighter in her body until she thought she would surely be torn in two. Just when she thought herself incapable of containing it any longer, Nick thrust deep inside her—reaching her core in his release and releasing her as well. The tightly wound spring uncurled in a whiplash of molten desire.

  Nick pulled her tightly against him. He’d never known a union so strong that he could lose himself to the extent that he didn’t know where he ended and she began. The idea that they shared such a powerful bond should have scared the ever-loving daylights out of him, but it didn’t.

  She chose that moment to snuggle against him, her sighs mingling with his. He looked down at her, soft curves and sleek strength. She matched him perfectly and he knew he’d never again feel this close to another person. What if it hadn’t affected her the same way? He hated to admit how afraid he was to find out.

  As if sensing his inner battle, Willa tilted her head up to look at him. What Nick saw sent a rush of relief shooting through him, followed swiftly by a sense of pride so strong he was almost embarrassed by it. His voice came out in a husky rumble. “Your smile would put the Cheshire cat to shame.”

  “Yeah, well, you look ready to crow yourself,” she responded, her smile provocative, her voice whiskey rough.

  Nick placed the pad of his finger against her lips, stroking their bruised fullness. “I should have been gentler, gone slower the first time.”

  She shook her head; the way he looked at her made her feel strangely invincible and she wanted him to feel the same. “You said before that my response to you was beautiful because it was honest. Do you know how incredible you made me feel? I have never felt so desirable in my life.” She slowly pulled the tip of his finger into her mouth and began to suck on it—amazed and incredibly pleased that there was no awkwardness between them. Her eyes widened when she felt him stir inside her.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” he admonished. “You’re the one tempting fate.” At her quizzical look he said, “I want you. Don’t ever doubt that. It’s just that—well, you may not be sore now, but by tomorrow you might wish you’d never laid eyes on me.”

  Willa’s immediate reaction to his teasing assumption was to deny it vigorously. Her fingers dug unconsciously into his shoulders. “Nothing could ever make me regret what we just shared.” Nick’s muttered expletive startled her, and she belatedly realized how tightly she must have been gripping him. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

  “No, baby, never.” He stroked her hair and kissed her gently before easing out of her. “Hurting is having to leave this bed, and you. That’s my only regret.” When Willa still looked confused, he added, “It’s late and we have to get back to the club.”

  The club! How could she have completely forgotten about her job—not to mention what was in store for her later this evening. She glanced at Nick and found him absorbed in studying the shiny curl he had wrapped around his finger. You know exactly how it happened. In that moment she could have blanked out the world if it meant keeping him here with her.

  “I’ll use the shower in the guest room. You can use the master bath.” Nick smiled at her obvious disappointment. “Next time we’ll shower together, I promise.” He pressed a kiss between her eyebrows and rolled out of bed.

  The pain in his knee was intense as the blood rushed through his legs, but it was a small price to pay. He scooped up his scattered clothing and limped to the door.

  Next time … Willa was completely besotted and couldn’t have taken her eyes off Nick’s beautifully sculpted body if threatened wi
th death. As he strode to the door she noted with delight the curved sides of his muscled buttocks. He was built like a statue. She dipped her head, suppressing a giggle. This man was definitely not made of stone—just hard as one. Oh Willa, you’ve got it bad!

  Nick turned at the door and caught Willa’s supremely feminine smile. He flashed a like-what-you-see grin and a sexy wink—totally at ease with his nudity—then ducked out the door to escape the fluffy pillow she heaved at him.

  Willa clasped her arms around her knees, wrapped in a sensual fog and unwilling to let it fade. Making love with Nick had far surpassed her wildest expectations. His complete absorption in her had caused that seedling of hope within her to grow, nurtured by the golden light of their lovemaking.

  They did have a chance. She knew it.

  Sitting on the bed in his guest bedroom, Nick waited for the sound of the shower running in the master bath before dialing the phone. He rubbed his throbbing knee while he punched in Willa’s home phone number, his shaky fingers a testament to how affected he still was by what they had shared. He let it ring once and hung up, pausing a moment before dialing the number again. After several rings a masculine voice came on the line. Nick sighed in relief. “Sky, thank God, I was afraid you’d already left.”

  “I was just about to leave. What took so long?”

  Sky was Nick’s closest friend, but Nick wasn’t ready to tell him about the change in his relationship with Willa. “I guess her key was still under the rock. What did you find?”

  “I had to turn over a dozen rocks before I found the damn thing, but it was there. I guess it turned out to be a lucky break that she told me where her spare was hidden after locking herself out one night.”

  “Yeah, lucky. What did you find?” Nick didn’t know how long he could talk safely and hoped Sky would hurry up.

  “Well,” Sky explained, “this is a big house and Miller could have stashed the drugs in a million places, but I concentrated my search on the first floor.”