Best Man with Benefits (Wedding Dare, #4, McCade Brothers, #3)(40)
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her the truth about why he’d dragged her to dinner that night, but admitting that any part of his actions stemmed from his promise to Colt would undermine the trust he desperately wanted from her. Besides, in truth, she’d caught his eye that night in the lobby before he’d even known who she was, and the attraction had been immediate, so the fact that Colt had asked him to take her under his wing was largely irrelevant.
“Were you wearing snug jeans and leaning all over the concierge desk the first night?”
She sniffed, looked at him, and wiped her cheek. “No.”
“Well, there you go. Mystery solved.”
Now she gave him a watery laugh. “Be serious. You did not notice me because you liked the way my butt looked in jeans.”
He reached over and dragged her onto his lap, splaying his hand across the butt in question. “Have you seen your butt in jeans? Until you have, you’re not qualified to comment.” He squeezed, just for the fun of watching her squirm, and then looked her in the eye. “For the record, the night of the bachelorette party was the night I arrived at Beaver Creek, after working nonstop for weeks in what turns out to have been a wasted effort to give myself enough breathing room to detach from Defy Gravity for a minute. I was functioning on less than three hours of sleep and I barely knew my own name. The only thing that really sticks out in my mind about the first night is that I lost my room key—which could have been my own damn fault considering I was, essentially, a zombie.”
“Really?”
“Really. But, Soph, I’ve been noticing you like crazy ever since.” He pushed her hips down so there was no way she could miss exactly how much he was noticing her at the moment. “You make me stand up and take notice. And not just because of all these mind-boggling curves wrapped in silk and lace—though I’m certainly not complaining. Your honesty, your sense of adventure, the way you can’t turn down a dare…those things grabbed my attention, and I’ve been captivated ever since.”
Sophie sucked in a breath, and then melted against him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “That’s the nicest thing any man has ever said to me.”
The feel of her breasts crushed against his chest, her nipples drilling into him through the skimpy bra, the stirring little hitch in her voice—it all had a predictable effect on him. He eased back and brought his lips down on hers, taking almost savage satisfaction in the way hers instantly parted and her tongue darted into his mouth to mate with his. Her hungry moan only added fuel to the fire.
Seducing an angry Sophie had its merits, and he’d reveled in every second of her reluctant capitulation, but keeping up with cooperative—hell, enthusiastic—Sophie unleashed a whole new level of need. Watching her shed her inborn reserve, her inhibitions, enthralled him in a way nothing else ever had. Or ever will, a fatalistic voice in the back of his mind added.
Her fingernails raked lightly over his scalp, down his neck, and then dug into his shoulders, transmitting an urgency he understood all too well. He broke the kiss. “There’s a box of condoms in the nightstand. Let me—”
Before he could finish, she shifted off his lap and crawled over the mattress until she could reach into the nightstand. Okay, definitely beyond inhibitions, he thought as he stretched out and took in the view. But when she scooted back down the bed, tore open the wrapper, and reached for him, he intercepted her eager hands. “Nope. Sorry. If you do that, this particular phase of tonight’s entertainment will last about three seconds.”
Instead, he flipped her onto her back and straddled her. They both watched as he rolled the condom down his cock. Job done, he looked at her. She licked her plush, pink lips.
A heavy, almost debilitating ache built somewhere behind his balls. “Christ. Don’t even think about it. Just…” He slipped a hand behind her knee and hitched her leg up, opening her to him, and positioned himself at her threshold. Then he played there a few seconds, rubbing the head of his cock over her clit to make sure she was ready.
“Logan!” She raised her hips to try to take him in. “I’m so empty. All day I’ve put on a calm face for everyone, and tried to pretend that my body wasn’t so painfully empty I might die if you didn’t come and fill me. It’s like some kind of punishment. You’ve got to make it stop, so I can think straight again.”
“Holy shit, Sophie—” But it was too late. Her words broke the restraints he’d put on his desire. He reared back and drove into her, grunting as she closed around him like a slick, tight fist. He felt gigantic inside her, and still ached to go deeper, but he froze when she inhaled sharply and winced.
Goddammit. She was small, and delicate, and the “punishment” she’d endured all day had a lot to do with the fact that he’d spent most of last night pounding into her like a jackhammer. He knew better than to go at her again so soon, but he’d forfeited every bit of finesse he owned as soon as she’d shown up in that red dress tonight. He buried his face in the curve of her neck and held still.
“Please,” she cried, trying desperately to rock her hips even though his weight effectively pinned her to the mattress. “Don’t stop.”
He kissed the soft curve where her neck and shoulder met. “Shh. Baby, I’m not stopping. But you’re so tight, and I don’t want to hurt you. Hold on.”