He kissed his way up her body until he reached her mouth. “There’s more to come,” he murmured against her lips.
Bella coasted her fingertips over his lower lip before settling her palm against his cheek. Her gentle touch was as much about claiming him as surrendering to his will.
“I’m glad.”
Moving quickly, he stripped off his pants and rolled on a condom. Her arms came around him as he rejoined her on the bed. Where a second earlier her body had been limp and sated, as he positioned himself between her thighs and sucked her nipple between his lips, she became a living flame once more. Her fingers wandered across his shoulders and down his spine. The scratch of her nails along his sides startled him.
Before he could ask her if she wanted to stop, she spoke.
“Enough with the preliminaries. I need to feel you inside me.”
She bumped her hips upward, nudging his erection and making him quake with yearning. Never one to keep a woman waiting, he positioned himself at her entrance and claimed her mouth in a long, deep kiss. Then he thrust gently. She was so wet and aroused that he was nearly seated all the way in before he stopped himself. After a brief pause to gather much-needed air, he began moving with a smooth rocking motion that she matched as fluidly as if they’d made love a thousand times.
The ease of their connection caught Blake by surprise. It occurred to him that he knew Bella well and at the same time didn’t know her at all. From the first she’d intrigued him. Later, her contrary behavior had frustrated him. There was so much yet to discover about her. So many unanswered questions. And he would have most of the summer to ferret them out.
“Blake.” Her clutching fingers told him she was close to another climax.
He’d been distracting his mind to prolong their encounter, but as her nails dug into his back and her cries grew more frantic, Blake loosened the hold on his willpower and thrust powerfully into her. Capturing her pleasure in a hot, demanding kiss, he slipped his hand between their bodies and touched the knot of nerves that would send her spinning into another orgasm.
As her body contracted, he let his own climax catch him. With a final thrust, he buried his face in her neck and gave her everything. Shuddering, his arm muscles unable to support him any longer, he collapsed on her.
“Now, that was amazing,” he said, chest heaving as he struggled to recover.
Eyes glowing with contentment, Bella parted her lips to respond, but before she could, a cry erupted from beyond the room. Recognizing the quality of the cry, Blake nevertheless willed his son back to sleep. It was a fruitless proposition.
Another unhappy wail filtered in from the nursery, this one of longer duration than the last. Drew didn’t sound as if he was going to settle down on his own.
Blake put his forehead against Bella’s shoulder and heaved a sigh. “I’d better get him.”
“Let me.”
With an abrupt shake of his head, Blake pushed away from her warm, silken skin, grinding his teeth as he was pummeled by the room’s cool air. “I’ve been through this with him. I’ll have an easier time getting him back to sleep.” He covered her with the sheet and bent down to buss her cheek. “Sleep.”
“Sure.” She gave him an uncertain smile.
Blake’s movements felt jerky and uncoordinated as he slid back into his clothes. His muscles hadn’t fully recovered from the mind-blowing sex with Bella. He cast a final look her way before he headed for the doorway. What he saw gave him pause.
If not for his son’s escalating distress, Blake would have lingered to reassure Bella that he too had been affected by the power of what had happened between them. The last thing he wanted with any woman was to take her to a vulnerable place and abandon her there. He sensed Bella wasn’t the sort of woman who took sex lightly.
Which meant leaving her so soon after being intimate would undo some of the rapport they’d established. She’d had her doubts earlier, but he’d been able to reassure her. Abandoning her in his bed would give her ample time to reestablish her defenses.
But there was nothing to do about that. His son needed him. It was something Bella understood. She’d often put her family’s needs above her own; it was a big part of what appealed to him about her. On the other hand, when she’d decided to cut off all ties with Drew, she’d demonstrated that like his ex-wife, she had a selfish side.
And what of his decision a mere three hours ago not to complicate their relationship by acting on his desire for her? He certainly hadn’t been thinking about what was best for his son while he made love to her. What he needed was a mother for Drew. Bella wasn’t interested in the role.