Come A Little Bit Closer (The Sullivans #7)(34)

The gentle jolt of his yacht as the engine was turned off stopped him less than an inch from her mouth. “I’ve got to help Billy dock up,” he said in a voice raw with the passion he was trying to keep from unleashing for just a little while longer, but Lord knew he could barely move his arms from around Valentina to go and do it.

Her eyes were full of so much sensuality as she said, “I’ll help, too. Just tell me what you need me to do.”

His body responded immediately to the idea of Valentina letting him take charge, and he couldn’t resist dropping his mouth to hers for a quick, hard kiss in the few seconds before they made it to the dock.

“I’ve never seen you take orders from anyone.”

She nipped at his lower lip before murmuring, “That’s because no one has ever had the guts to give me any before.”

His entire body responded to her way-too-tempting challenge as she shimmied past him and out onto the deck.

Working quickly and efficiently—or, as efficiently as Smith could given that watching Valentina tie a perfect sailor’s knot made his fingers slip on the ropes more than once—the three of them brought his boat in and secured it to the dock. And then, finally, they were saying goodnight to Billy and were back in Smith’s car.

He was gunning out of the parking lot when Valentina said, “I think we need to set some ground rules before we get to your house.”

Her words still held that note of sensuality that had been present ever since she’d kissed him earlier, yet he could tell she was completely serious. Smith had never liked being constrained by rules. He knew when to respect them, whether he wanted to or not...and he also knew when it was absolutely imperative to break them.

So even though he was beyond desperate to get her into his bed, he pulled over on a dark street and turned the engine off. “All I want is to give you pleasure, Valentina. More pleasure than you’ve ever imagined.” But that wasn’t enough. He knew he had to offer her more than just pleasure. “I promise I won’t do anything, not one single thing tonight, that you don’t want.”

She blinked at him, her gaze full of a mixture of longing and lingering worry that tugged hard at his heartstrings. And when she said, “I know you won’t,” her softly spoken response pulled them even tighter.

“Whatever happens when we get to my house—” He paused, knowing he couldn’t let either of them hide from what was about to happen. “—and to my bed, I don’t want either of us to regret tonight.” Or any of the nights that I know will come after that.

Her pause was longer this time before she said, “I won’t regret it.” She slid her hand over his. “I want tonight just as much as you do.” She paused again before adding, “But only tonight.”

Her thumb brushed over his palm the same way his had across hers on the boat, as if the gentle touch of her skin could in some way soften the fact that she’d just made her intention to spend one night with him, and one night only, perfectly clear.

He lifted her hand to his lips, knew that was as close as he could get to kissing her again until they were behind the locked doors of his house—unless they wanted to get arrested for indecent exposure in his car.

As sure as Valentina was that this couldn’t go past one night, he was even more sure they were going to end up in it for the long haul. Just like his siblings and their mates. Just like his mother and father.

Chapter Thirteen

As soon as they were parked in his garage, Smith jumped out of his car, yanked open Valentina’s door, and scooped her up into his arms.

“Don’t forget the cupcakes.” His brain was barely getting enough blood by that point to wrap around the fact that she actually still wanted dessert until she whispered, “As soon as I saw them, I pictured us eating them naked in bed.”

Jesus, he thought as he paused only long enough for her to reach down and grab the box of cupcakes, he was as close to losing it as he’d ever been, despite the fact that they both still had their clothes on and they were a good hundred feet from his bedroom.

But as much as he wanted her in his bed, naked beneath him as he made love to her the way he’d been dreaming of for too damn long, he couldn’t keep his mouth off hers any longer. Not when he was finally holding her in his arms, and she was looking at him with such heat in her beautiful eyes, a flush of sensual anticipation staining her high cheekbones and coloring her unpainted lips a dark rose.

Standing holding her in the middle of his living room, Smith lowered his mouth to Valentina’s in a kiss so soft, so sweet, it was more a breath than a meeting of their lips. Low down, his gut twisted tight as he tasted the exotic spice of her with a long, slow swipe of his tongue over her full bottom lip. Her soft moan of pleasure at the sensual touch had him tightening his hold on her, and his lips pressing deeper against hers. When her tongue found his and stroked against it, it was his moan sounding in the room.

Finally, he was getting to kiss her, hold her. And as she stroked one hand over his jaw while opening herself up even more to his kiss, and kissing him back with unabashed passion, she was so much sexier, so much sweeter, than he’d dreamed.

Again and again he tasted every inch of her mouth, the sensitive corners, the curves and contours of the cupid’s bow at the top of her upper lip, then back yet one more time to nip at the fullness of her bottom lip before laving over the small hurt with his tongue.