Page 48 of Lawless in Leather

Mal let her set the pace for a minute or so, and she watched as his stomach muscles tightened and his face went all intent while he did. He was so obviously holding himself back that it made her stomach flutter to think what he might do when she finally pushed him over the edge. She increased the pace. His hands tightened around her sides, moving with her, keeping her steady.

Keeping her safe.

Oh. God.

She moaned then and he smiled. One hand let go of her, found her clit again, and pressed hard, which made her lose all sense of what she was doing as the pleasure blasted through her.

Then somehow—God, the man had good abs—he sat up, coming up to kiss her while he lifted her so that she was sitting in his lap, legs wrapped around his waist.

She’d dated strong guys before—dancers tended to be pretty powerful—but never one as strong and tall as Mal. He made her feel tiny. But not smaller. How did that even work? She couldn’t figure it out. Just kissed him back when he kissed her. Wrapped herself around him as tightly as she could. Because right in that moment, she couldn’t imagine letting him go.

Not that she had to. He moved again, bringing her with him, so that he stayed inside her. Now he was on top and he started to move, slow and sure at first, finding a rhythm as steady as a drumbeat.

One that made her stop thinking, boneless with it, unable to do anything but find the movement that matched his, that turned this into a dance. A dance with no music other than the beat she felt in her head and through her body. Fierce and hungry and not gentle as he picked up the pace and she moved to meet him and there was nothing but the slide and the heat and the weight of him above her and his fingers tangled in hers above her head and the pleasure that grew darker and hotter until she let it take her over a second time and she shuddered around him, calling his name as he didn’t stop, didn’t pause, just kept driving into her, dancing with her until he came, too, and the world stopped a moment.

Mal rolled to one side and Raina felt the loss of him, but he reached out and pulled her close against his chest. She rested her forehead on it and felt how fast his heart was pounding. She’d done that. It made her smile. She tipped her head back.

“Hello,” she said.

She saw his mouth curve up though his eyes remained closed. “You know it’s kind of cruel to expect a guy to talk straight after sex, right?”

She laughed and snuggled back down. “I’m sure it’s good for your brain. Take advantage of all that extra post-exertion oxygen surging around.”

“I’m pretty sure that all the oxygen left my body a way back there.” His arms tightened around her and they lay still for a moment. Then she heard a rustle as he turned his head.

“Crap.”

She blinked. “That’s not exactly the reaction I was expecting.”

“It’s after six,” he said.

She yawned. “Probably.” Then her brain started working. “Crap. You have to go. You have a flight.” Her instinct was to grab him, tell him he couldn’t go. She made herself stay still. This was Mal. They’d slept together exactly once and he owned a baseball team. Which meant he had to travel.

“I have a debriefing with my team and then a flight,” he said.

“When are you back?” she asked. She was proud of herself for sounding casual.

“Thursday. Our next home game is Friday night.”

She knew that. Because she knew the schedule of days the Angels had to work. But she hadn’t previously figured out the implications. That the team being away meant Mal being away. Damn. She wanted him again already.

Which maybe meant it was just as well he was going.

“Are you going to travel with the team whenever they go?” she asked. She pulled herself out of his arms. Made herself sit up and look around for her robe. It was usually draped over the end of her bed but they’d obviously dislodged it.

Mal looked regretful as he watched her. “Not every time but as many as I can for the start of the season. I want to get a feel for the other stadiums. See how they do things. Let the team settle into their routine.”

Well, that was something. He wouldn’t be gone all the time.

But he was leaving now. And despite all the logical arguments, she wasn’t happy about it. She ducked down to pick up the robe. “You grab a shower, I’ll make coffee. There are clean towels in the cupboard in the hall.” She slipped into the robe and out of the bedroom before she could do something stupid like ask him not to go. He had to go.

Wash made a sleepy meow as she passed through the living room on the way to the kitchen. Then he jumped down from the sofa and trailed behind her, making his usual eager-for-breakfast noises. She wasn’t usually up this early, but that didn’t seem to bother him. Nothing bothered Wash when it came to food.

She started coffee, heard the shower start, and fed Wash while she tried to figure out how she felt. Physically fantastic. She should have been exhausted but apparently sex with Mal was as good as a few hours of sleep.

But emotionally, she wasn’t so pleased with things. First nights were meant to end in breakfast in bed and sleeping in and more sex.

“Suck it up, princess,” she muttered to herself. She got out mugs and found the sugar. She drank her coffee straight black. She had no idea how Mal drank his.

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