Claiming Her Billion-Dollar Birthright(18)
Author: Maureen Child

“I don’t know…” Erica sighed and shifted in the water, letting the heated water push into her back, easing tension she hadn’t even really been aware of.

“Up to you of course,” Melissa told her. “But for me, if there was a guy I wanted, I’d go get him.”

Her words were said so forcefully Erica had to wonder if there was a particular man her sister was talking about. But an instant later, the timer for the jets shut off and silence dropped over them.

“I’ll think about it,” Erica said, climbing out of the water and reaching for a fluffy white towel.

“Less thinking, more kissing is probably the way you want to go,” Melissa advised, “but maybe that’s just me.”

Maybe Melissa was right, Erica thought as she and her sister toweled off and moved toward the locker room to get dressed. Because really, why was she making it easier for Christian to ignore her? Could be that what she should be doing was spending more time with him, not less. Talk to him. Lean into him. Keep him so close that he wouldn’t be able to pull away from her.

After all, ignoring him hadn’t hurt him and had been driving her insane. So, she’d turn the tables on him. Take Melissa’s advice and make him so miserable that he wouldn’t be able to avoid her. And, since she’d just spent the last three hours being buffed and polished and styled, today was the perfect day to set this new and much more interesting plan in motion.

Christian threw a rock into the river and watched it hit the water and sink. Just how he felt, he thought. He’d been carrying around a sinking feeling inside him for the last two weeks and it was only getting worse.

Being here at Jarrod Ridge had always given him a sense of satisfaction that he’d found nowhere else. He’d studied back east and had been eager to get back to Colorado. He’d traveled the world and never found another spot as beautiful as this one. But now…

There was an unsettled feeling inside him.

And its name was Erica Prentice.

Hell, he couldn’t even enjoy standing alongside the river anymore. Because he saw her here, now. She was everydamnwhere in Aspen, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get away from her.

“Well,” a too familiar voice said from behind him, “you look furious.”

He turned around to watch Erica approach him. The sunlight was fading as twilight edged closer. She wore a short, lemon-yellow skirt that stopped midthigh and a pale green short-sleeved T-shirt that displayed her tanned, toned arms and clung to her narrow waist. Her hair was soft and shining in the last of the light and her eyes were locked on his.

“So,” she asked as she came nearer, “did you want to be alone with your fury or can you stand some company?”

“Alone,” he ground out, because he knew if she came any closer, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from reaching for her.

“That’s a shame, because I prefer company,” she said. She whipped her hair back from her face and continued down the slope, passing within inches of him as she walked to the water’s edge.

“What’re you doing here, Erica?”

She glanced back at him and shrugged. “I came to look at the river.”

“And you could only see the river from here. This one spot. On the whole resort.”

She smiled slowly. “I like this spot.”

His hands fisted at his sides and he deliberately relaxed them, taking a long, deep breath into his lungs at the same time. Unfortunately, that only brought him a whiff of her scent, which made his insides tighten into knots. She smelled like peaches and flowers and all things soft and beautiful.

“Fine,” he said. “Enjoy the view. I’ll go.”

“Okay, so will I.” She turned and headed back toward him.

“What are you playing at?” he demanded when she stood right in front of him.

She shook her head and looked up into his eyes. “I’m done playing, Christian. No more games. No more teasing. I’m here because I want you and you want me.”

His teeth ground together and he hissed in a breath, hoping to find some equilibrium. He didn’t.

She lifted both hands to his shirt front and smoothed her palms over his chest.

His body went from hard to aching in under a second. He caught her hands in his and stilled them. Then he stared into her eyes and whispered, “Why are you doing this?”

“Because you won’t,” she said and went up on her toes to slant her mouth over his. Once, twice, a soft brush of her lips to his and Christian felt the heat of her rush through him.

He knew he was a dead man. He had to have her. Couldn’t have turned away now if someone had a gun to his head. She was everything he wanted, needed. She was all he could think about. All he cared about. It didn’t matter if he would regret this later or not. Or, if being with her would only make the situation between them harder.

For now, he was lost.

He grabbed her then, as if half-afraid she might disappear on him if he didn’t hold on to her tightly. Pulling her up close to him, he took her mouth with a desperation he’d felt clawing at him for days. Again and again, his tongue delved deep, claiming her in a mimicry of what his body wanted to be doing to hers. In and out, he dazzled, he took, he gave, his heartbeat racing, his blood pumping, he gave himself over to the demands of his body, clamoring to meet her demands.

As a soft summer wind caressed them both, Christian took the hem of her shirt and pulled it up and over her head. She threw her head back and laughed in delight as the air touched her heated skin. In that moment, Erica looked more beautiful to him than she ever had before. He unhooked her bra and spilled her br**sts out into the palms of his hands.

She sucked in a breath as he cupped her, rolling her n**ples between his thumbs and forefingers. She sighed, arching into him, offering herself to him as the sun’s last golden rays played across her skin.

Her eager response fed the fires within him and Christian groaned, bent his head and took first one nipple and then the other into his mouth. Her skin was soft and smooth and smelled of peaches. His lips and tongue and teeth nibbled and suckled at her, drawing sighs and moans from deep in her throat. Her fingers slid through his hair, holding his head to her, as if worried that he would stop, that he would suddenly pull away and tell her no, they weren’t going to do this.

But that wasn’t even a glimmer in his brain.

They’d passed that line and there was no going back.

If he didn’t have her now, he knew he’d die of the want.

With one last, lingering draw on her nipple, Christian straightened, caught her hand in his and said, “Come over here.”

“What? What?” Dazed and unsteady, Erica followed him, her hand tucked into his. “Where?”

“Right here,” he said, picking a blanket up off the ground and spreading it out beneath the trees.

She laughed a little, surprised. “You came prepared?”

He grinned, feeling lighter than he had in weeks. “Sometimes I sleep out here on warm nights. Good to have a blanket handy.”

“It is,” she agreed and went to him eagerly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on, kissing him deeply, slowly. Until finally, Christian growled, pulled his head back and lay her down on the blanket.

“Let’s get you out of those clothes.”

“You, too,” she urged and immediately wiggled out of her skirt and pushed her panties down and off. She kicked out of her sandals and lay across the pale blue quilt like an offering from the gods.

Christian took seconds to strip and join her on the blanket, going up on one elbow to kiss her while his left hand stroked up and down the line of her body. He defined her curves, explored every valley and took the time to tease her rigid n**ples until she moaned into his mouth.

Her hand moved over his back, sliding across his shoulders and down the length of his spine. Every touch inflamed him until his body was so hard and tight, he could hardly think beyond the need hammering at his mind, his heart.

He slid his hand down over her belly and past the nest of curls to find her center. She gasped and lifted her h*ps for his touch. He obliged, sliding his fingertips across those heated folds, finding her damp warmth and realizing that she was as ready for him as he was for her. He dipped one finger inside her and stroked those inner muscles until she whispered his name with a hunger that matched his own.

“Christian, don’t wait. Take me now, be inside me now. I need this. I need you.”

“No more waiting,” he promised and shifted to cover her body with his. He knelt between her thighs and parted them wider, opening her up to his gaze.

She twisted beneath him. “Christian,” she said, licking her lips, “please. Now.”

“Now.” He pushed his body into hers with one long stroke and instantly experienced the wild rush of being a part of the only woman who mattered to him.

She was tight and hot and caressed his length every time he withdrew only to surge forward again. Her legs came up, wrapped around his middle and took him deeper on every stroke. She curled her fists into the blanket beneath her and lifted her hips, rocking into him, following the rhythm he set and matching him move for move.

“Open your eyes,” he ordered, staring down into her face as he took her. Her eyes flew open and met his. He read his own desire reflected back at him and saw in those amber depths the passion he’d waited too long to see.

She released the blanket so she could touch him, scraped her palms up and down his chest, up and over his back and dug her fingernails into his shoulders as he increased their pace. Hips pistoning, he took her higher, faster than either of them had ever been before.

Together, they raced toward a completion that had been waiting for them for weeks and together, they crashed over the edge and fell.

Nine

Erica was spent.

Every cell in her body was whimpering with release and pure pleasure. Her legs were trembling and her arms felt as if they weighed a ton. Christian was sprawled on top of her and though he was heavy, she didn’t want him to move. Didn’t want to lose this connection they had. She wanted to keep his body joined to hers for as long as possible.

Staring up through the thick branches overhead, she spotted small slices of a deep purple sky. The sun was down and the first stars were coming out. Beside them, the river rushed on, and here, on this blanket, the world was standing still.

“I want to roll off of you,” he muttered, his voice muffled against her skin. “But I don’t think I can move.”

She smiled, delighted that she’d brought such a man to his knees, so to speak. Christian was more than she’d thought when she first met him. Then he’d seemed so locked away, so suit and tie and cool distance. Now she knew what he kept hidden beneath that very businesslike exterior. And she didn’t ever want to lose him.

“I don’t want you to move anyway. I love the feel of you against me. In me.” Love.

Erica’s breath caught in her chest and she smiled to herself as she realized it was true. She did love him. Why hadn’t she realized it before? It all seemed so simple now. So clear. It didn’t matter how fast it had all happened. It was as if she’d been heading here. To Colorado, to him, her whole life. Days, weeks, time had nothing to do with it. When it was right, it was right, she told herself firmly and gently stroked her hands up and down his broad, muscular back.