Big Easy Temptation (The Perfect Gentlemen #3)(94)

She needed more of him. She plunged her fingers into his hair and drew him as close as two people could possibly be. Mouths fused together, breasts to chest, his cock deep inside her.

It didn’t matter that she’d just come. Holland felt the urge building again, the need ratcheting up with every deep, rhythmic slide inside her until she clawed at him. He kissed her as his hips worked, grinding and thrusting. She rocked with him, following his every motion with ease.

Everything about this moment with him took her breath away. It was as if they’d never ended the relationship and never stopped making love. In this, they were still one.

He grabbed her hips and captured her mouth again as he thrust up hard. Holland went flying all over again, clinging to him and calling out his name. He lost control, plunging inside her again and again until he finally stiffened and roared out his own pleasure.

As they came down from the euphoric high in a tangle of breaths and sweat-dampened limbs, he sighed in satisfaction against her skin. “I’ve needed that for three years.”

She held him close but said nothing because she was fairly certain she’d need him for the rest of her life.

Despite the pleasure still humming through her, she was afraid.


*

Dax woke up with a smile on his face.

Was there anything a night of amazing lovemaking couldn’t cure? He was fairly certain there wasn’t. He hadn’t merely had sex with Holland or simply fucked her. They’d made love—three times, in fact, before she’d fallen into an exhausted sleep.

He turned on his side, careful not to wake her. She was deep in slumber, her body nestled against him. He wondered if she knew how much she resembled a soft little kitten when she slept.

Here, when she was most vulnerable, she trusted him. What would it take for him to win that trust back all the time?

“Are you watching me sleep?” she murmured with her eyes closed.

He couldn’t help but smile. They were in the middle of a damn murder investigation, trying to unravel a conspiracy that might reach all the way to the White House, but he was grinning like a loon. “Yes.”

“Weirdo.”

Maybe, but he was her weirdo.

Dax sighed. They could stay in bed longer. Whatever was going on in the outside world could wait another thirty minutes. Besides, Connor would knock if something really craptastic had happened. Hell, Connor was probably finding delicious ways to wake up his own wife.

Wife. He meant to marry Holland, and they would do it right. No more quickie-Vegas shit. He and Holland would have a real wedding. He would wear his dress whites and she would find some gorgeous bridal gown. Gus would likely be the maid of honor and sleep with every groomsman she could.

“What are you laughing about?” She stared at him suspiciously with one eye open.

He sighed and settled against her, kissing her shoulder. “I was just thinking that Gus is going to be an interesting maid of honor.”

Holland went still beside him. “Maid of honor? Who’s getting married?”

Damn it. Would he ever get this right with her? He rolled over, his head propped on his hand. “Us.”

“Us?” She sat up, tugging the covers around her body.

Which left him naked. Luckily, he didn’t mind and it wasn’t exactly chilly. He’d been warm lounging against her, and his cock was already straining. “Eventually. Sorry, I know that wasn’t exactly romantic, so forget I said anything. Come back to bed.”

“You’re thinking about marriage.”

“Of course I am, Holland. I never stopped wanting to marry you. That can’t be a secret, so what’s wrong? Like I said, I know I’m not very romantic, but you don’t want me to do the whole crazy dancing thing in the middle of the Quarter.”

She stiffened, then stood and turned to him. “I never asked for marriage, Spencer.”

Shit. They were back to Spencer. “I think asking is traditionally the man’s role.”

“I never asked you to ask me.” She flushed, her skin going a lovely shade of pink as she glanced down at his erection. “Can’t you do something about that?”

He grinned. “I certainly can if you’ll come back to bed.”

“Be serious for a minute, Dax. You just talked about marriage. I thought I made myself clear last night.”

He didn’t like the way this conversation was going. He sat up, trying to ignore his still-hard cock. “Yes, we were clearly together. Last night meant everything to me. It was a promise between lovers.”

“It was inevitable because we are really good in bed together. We’ve always had combustible chemistry, but I’m not ready to marry you for it.”

His first impulse was to lash out at her for rejecting him. The pain felt too familiar. Was this her form of revenge against him for marrying Courtney? She’d been the one to break faith with him, shove him aside. She hadn’t trusted him.

Why was she making him into the bad guy?

He jumped to his feet and grabbed his pants, beyond ready to have it out with her. After last night, after all they’d been through, she thought she could dismiss him?

Then he looked at her—really looked at her. She stood there so proud and tall, chin lifted, shoulders straight. If he simply took her at face value, she seemed cold. But he knew better.

He’d once made the mistake of hearing her words but not really listening to her. It had cost them three years.