The Cinderella Mission (Family Secrets #1)(46)
Author: Catherine Mann

She gripped his hands and flattened his palms to her br**sts in a bolder move than she would have expected from herself on her first time. But she had to pack a lifetime of memories into the moment, in case there wasn’t another with this man.

Kelly cut that thought free with the clean precision of a florist’s scissors. “Finish.”

A low groan rumbled up from Ethan’s chest. His hands gentled against her, one sliding around to palm her back and draw her closer. His head dipped as she rose to meet him halfway. Chambray rasped a gentle abrasion against her skin.

Live for the here and now, she reminded herself. Take a page from Aunt Eugenie’s book and savor the moment. Although Kelly didn’t think Aunt Eugenie’s plans would have necessarily included Kelly jumping her nephew in the greenhouse.

Yet was she really doing any jumping? No, she’d been too caught up in a sensual haze of allowing Ethan to take the lead. Making the most of this moment included doing everything she could imagine to bring Ethan as much pleasure as his hands on her body brought her. While she might be lacking in experience, she’d always had a fine imagination.

Kelly arched up into another kiss, gliding her hand down his chest to his jeans and palming the rigid length encased in faded denim. Even her fine imagination didn’t do him justice. Her fingers explored his length, while her tongue explored the warm recesses of his mouth.

He tasted so good, like crisp, snowy air and maybe a hint of one of those peppermint sticks they’d shared. She’d dreamed of being with him, what it would be like having all that roguish experience devoted entirely to her.

Except he wasn’t sending one of his wicked smiles her way now. Between deep heady kisses along her mouth, her throat, her br**sts, he studied her with such somber, intense eyes. With a hint of reverence that humbled her even as he elevated her.

No, he wasn’t the kick-ass bad boy from their office here. He was turning into someone she barely knew, but found no less intriguing.

Trapped between their bodies, her fingers worked the buttons on his shirt free, found the rigid planes of his chest, his stomach, finally the fly button on his jeans. He shrugged out of his shirt and kicked his jeans and boxers free with barely restrained impatience.

Reality was so much better than any of her fantasies.

Of course she never would have thought to place any of those fantasies in a greenhouse. All the same, she welcomed the haven of heat in the middle of winter.

Ethan lowered her to the blanket, flowers crushing beneath the press of their weight. A fragrant blend of perfumes clung to the humid air.

He hitched a finger in the waist of her leggings and waited until she smiled her consent. He peeled them down, one inch at a time, as if unwrapping the best Christmas present ever and enjoying every second of the process. Only once he’d tossed them aside did his gaze travel to her hip.

His low growl of approval sounded much like her dragon come to life.

“You like it?” she asked, as if she couldn’t already tell from the leaping response under her hand.

A second growl offered a resounding affirmation just before his mouth lowered to kiss the tattooed patch of skin. The heat of his mouth seared her skin much as the needle had. His hand swept around, finding a purple tulip he’d rescued from somewhere. She didn’t care where. Didn’t care about anything but Ethan continuing.

While he rained hot kisses along her hip and her belly, he caressed the flower up the inside of her leg. Higher. Higher still.

Until.

She couldn’t think at all.

The combination of the silken flower and his roughened fingers teased her into a world of sensation so intense the burn, the need, reached an almost painful clench of nerves.

And then he slid to his side, tore open the small packet and sheathed himself. Ethan kissed her once, twice. “Everything okay so far?”

She didn’t want any reminders of the past. Being with Ethan had nothing to do with violence, but his concern touched her all the more. “Much better than okay.”

Kelly reached for him and he rolled to his back, pulling her with him. “You’re in control, Kel. Your pace. Whatever you want.”

The position of command tightened her desire. Too intense. Her fingers dug into the steely wall of his chest. “I want to finish.”

He guided her hips and she wasn’t fool enough to reject the tutelage. He eased her down, slowly. The full, thick pressure giving her momentary pause, the stretch stinging until she tensed. She didn’t want pain to play any part in their time—

Ethan’s hands worked a gentle massage against her hips. “That’s it, hon. Easy. You’re almost there.”

And she was. The stinging eased, her years of limber meditation paying off.

She looked down at Ethan. Tendons in his neck strained with his effort to hold back while he waited for her and she fell a little bit more in love with him. Maybe a by-product of the moment, but she couldn’t pull up the will to stem her emotions for once.

So she smiled at him and moved against him, coaxing him to join her. No holding back. His answering smile painted itself on the back of her lids as her eyes slid closed and she savored. Man, did she ever savor every stroke. Her pleasure and his a focal point in a ritual far more mind-altering than what she’d stepped into the greenhouse seeking.

If only they could achieve the same synchronicity with their clothes on.

She squeezed her eyes shut against thoughts that would steal this moment from her. The glide of their bodies against each other, the touch of his skilled fingers, built the intensity, narrowed the focus. Tighter. Closer. Until…

The pinpoint exploded in a shower of sensation. Kelly arched against Ethan’s bracing hand as wave after wave sparked through her. Each bolt of pleasure tearing a fresh cry from her. “Mon amour. Mon jules.”

Words wrenched from her by the strength of her release. My love. My lover.

Again Ethan plunged upward, his deeper stroke and hoarse shout of completion triggering an afterglow through her shuddering body until she sagged against his chest.

Her words echoed back in the wind. In her heart.

Mon amour.

Ethan sprawled in a tangle of gray satin sheets, Kelly tucked against his side as he stared up through his skylight at snowflakes swirling above them in the starlit sky. He’d expected to regret being with her. But he didn’t. He couldn’t regret something so damned perfect, both times. Once in the greenhouse and again in his bed.

Which left him where?

About five minutes from hunting for a ring and begging her to take it.