Bachelor at Her Bidding (Bachelor Auction Book 2)(27)

And he did. Slow and easy at first, brushing his mouth against hers until his skin was tingling, then nibbling at her lower lip until she opened her mouth and let him deepen the kiss.

Her arms wound round his neck and her fingers slid into his hair, urging him on.

Unable to resist, he undid the buttons of her shirt and traced the edge of her bra with the tip of his finger.

And then he was aware that her body had gone tense. Her fingertips had stopped moving against his scalp, and he could feel the rigidity in her frame.

“Rachel? What’s wrong?” he asked softly.

She bit her lip and looked away. “Ignore me. I’m being stupid.”

“Tell me anyway,” he said, gently cupping her chin in one hand and turning her face to him again.

“I…”

“I’m not going to laugh at you, Rach.” Just to prove his sincerity, he brushed his mouth briefly against hers and then wrapped his arms round her. “I need to know what I did wrong, so I don’t do it again and I don’t hurt you.”

“It wasn’t you. It was my ex.” She swallowed hard. “I told you that he cheated on me.”

Ryan just about managed to stop his hands curling into fists. Whatever Mardie said about him being a lover rather than a fighter, right now Ryan wanted to punch Rachel’s ex on the nose. Hard enough to break it. “And you already know I think he’s an idiot,” he said.

“What made it worse was that the woman in question was, um, his ex.”

“Oh, honey. That’s horrible for you.” Though Ryan still didn’t get why Rachel had tensed up on him. He wasn’t a cheat. He wasn’t her ex – and hopefully he didn’t remind her of her ex. It had to be something else. But what?

“And Esme… she was much curvier than I am.”

The words sounded as if they’d been dragged from her. And then Ryan realized. This was it. The thing that had hurt her. The thing that could get in their way, if they let it. Petite and delicate and slender, she’d clearly been compared to someone with lush curves – and not kindly, either.

So they needed to face it. Get it out in the open. And they’d slay this particular dragon for her together.

“And?” he asked, as gently as he could.

She closed her eyes. “Nick told me I wasn’t enough for him. Esme was everything he wanted – and I wasn’t.” She dragged in a breath. “He said I was like a boy and she was a real woman.”

Just as Ryan had suspected. Anger surged through him. Whatever had possessed Rachel’s ex to be so cruel? Or maybe it had been his way of justifying himself, with attack being the best form of defense. Even though Rachel had done nothing wrong. “So he wasn’t just a bastard – he was a stupid bastard,” Ryan said.

She dragged in a breath. “What Carol Bingley said about my sister and my friends needing to buy me a date –”

“–that was just Carol Bingley being Carol Bingley, and it’s not in the slightest bit true,” he cut in. “That woman has the social skills of a buffalo. She doesn’t speak for the rest of the town and she most certainly doesn’t speak for me.” He still couldn’t believe that Rachel’s ex had made her feel so inadequate, trying to make her take the blame for his behavior and his own shortcomings. “Have you ever heard the expression, ‘more than a handful is a waste’?”

She said nothing; but she also wouldn’t meet his gaze.

He put one finger under her chin, tilting it up until she looked him in the eye. “You’re lovely as you are, Rachel Cassidy.”

She didn’t look as if she believed him. And didn’t they say that actions spoke louder than words? So he’d show her. Prove it to her. “If you were super curvy, I wouldn’t be able to do this.”

He walked her backwards until they were almost at the kitchen door, lifted her up and eased her back against the wall, then lifted the hem of her skirt and bunched the material up round her waist so she could wrap her legs round him.

“Oh, now these are pretty – hold-up stockings.” He traced the lacy edges with the tip of his forefinger. “Did you wear them for me?”

She blushed. “I hoped you’d like them.”

“I do. Very much.” He let his fingers drift up a little further until they were cupping her sex through her panties. He could feel the heat of her sex, and he was dying to bury himself deep inside her. “If I’d had any idea about this at work today, I would’ve burned everything.”

She laughed. “I don’t believe that. You’re a perfectionist about your job.”

“But you are the ultimate distraction. I’ve been thinking about you all week. Wanting to touch you. Taste you. And what I really want to do…” He dragged in a breath. “Hold on,” he said and rummaged in his pocket. He opened the foil packet with his teeth; with one hand he undid his jeans, pulled his boxer shorts down far enough and then rolled the condom onto his cock.

“I can’t wait for you anymore. I’m so hungry for you,” he said. “And I’m very glad you’re not wearing jeans or pantyhose.” He pushed the gusset of her panties aside. “Because then it would have stopped me doing this.” He fitted the tip of his cock to the entrance of her sex and slowly, slowly eased into her.