Always On My Mind (The Sullivans #8)(48)

She still wasn’t happy about having to be upright again, but at least she was getting a really nice eyeful of his naked body—not to mention an erection that wouldn’t quit. After he went to pick up one of the unused condoms that had fallen onto the floor, she reached for him with both hands.

He took them, but didn’t move into her arms. “I don’t know if I can control myself with you. You’re too beautiful.”

Her ex’s sweet words had been little more than lies to get what he wanted. But Grayson never said anything but the truth. Knowing he truly thought she was beautiful meant everything to her.

“Well, I know I can’t control myself with you.” She tugged at his hands. “Now come here and let’s both lose control again.”

Before she could even blink, Grayson had the condom on, then was lifting her up so that her back was pressed up against the tiled shower wall and her legs were around his waist.

“I wanted to seduce you this time, damn it,” he said in a grumbly voice against her earlobe that sent shivers up her skin. “Slowly.” He bit down on the soft flesh, then added, “Gently.”

“Later,” she said as she tightened her legs around his waist so that she could keep her hands free to run down over his shoulders and magnificently muscled back. “Right now this is what I want. You’re what I want.”

She lowered herself onto him just as he plunged up into her. Wet skin slid against wet skin, hands grasped, moans sounded as he angled his hips up perfectly to send her spiraling off yet one more time into such incredible pleasure she wondered if she was strong enough to survive it. Especially when he found his own pleasure and sent her rocketing off even higher with every rough, deep stroke of his body inside hers.

A few minutes later, Grayson moved her away from the shower wall and she unwrapped her legs from his waist, but even as the water grew colder they continued to kiss, going from hungry to sweet, then back again. After he’d toweled off both of them, carried her back to his bed, and drawn the sheets up over her as she yawned, she was snuggling into him spoon-style when she felt the evidence of his ongoing arousal pressing thick and hard into her hips.

“I’ve always really loved sex,” she teased him over her shoulder, “but you’re insatiable. Tell me again, when’s the last time you got some?”

“It’s not just the sex, Lori,” he said in a voice that held both desire and sleepiness—and maybe even a little momentary contentment, she hoped. “It’s you.”

Less than a heartbeat later, she was rolling over for the slow, sweet lovemaking they hadn’t been able to get to in the shower. As they kissed and ran their hands over each other, as he wrapped his arms around her and she wrapped her legs around him, as he slid into her on a groan and she sighed with pleasure while lifting her hips into his to take him deeper still, Lori couldn’t remember ever feeling so safe. So incredibly good.

Grayson gathered her even closer to bury his face in the damp crook of her neck, and after the force of his climax triggered yet one more beautiful release for her, too, he rolled her over so that her head lay on his chest and her legs were entwined with his.

The last thing she was aware of before she fell asleep was the soft press of his mouth against her forehead as he kissed her good night.

Chapter Nineteen

It was the first time in three years that Grayson had slept past sunrise.

Sunlight was streaming in his bedroom window as Lori slept in the circle of his arms. Actually, it was more that she was sprawled completely over him so that he was both her mattress and pillow. But even though he’d always preferred to have plenty of space to himself in bed, he found he didn’t mind the way she’d unconsciously claimed his entire bed—and his body—as her own.

Lori Sullivan wasn’t just Naughty, she was a force of nature.

He’d tried like hell to push her away a dozen times this past week, but she was still here. Even last night, when he’d asked her for so much more than he deserved, she’d not only given it to him without reserve, she’d made love to him with a wide-open heart, too.

“You’re an awesome bed,” she said as she slowly flexed and stretched her limbs one at a time over him, which brought every inch of his body completely awake. “I make a pretty good blanket, don’t I?”

He loved the way she woke up with a smile. “Not just good. Amazing.”

“I know I am,” she said with a teasing grin as she rested her chin on her hand and gazed down at him from where she was perched over his chest. “Now tell me, is it my sparkling personality, my wicked hot moves in the sack, or my deft hand with pig feed that’s got you in raptures this morning?”

He knew he should just grin back, continue her teasing. But he hadn’t awakened with a woman in his bed in three years—especially not one this beautiful, this giving—and he couldn’t think of one thing he’d done to deserve it now.

“How can you forgive me again and again for what I’ve said to you? For the way I’ve acted?” In his experience, forgiveness was the hardest thing of all.

Her hand immediately moved to stroke his cheek, her eyes softening as she looked down at him. “My brothers and sister and I fought a lot when we were kids. Most of them were stupid fights about dolls or the last brownie or who won the race. But sometimes, we went too far and really hurt each other. Not just with bruises and black eyes, but with words that we didn’t know how to take back.” She smiled, thinking about her family. “When my mother’d had enough, she’d take us by the scruff of our necks like we were unruly cats, and then she’d lock us in a room together.”