Page 4 of The Cottage on Pelican Bay

Four years was a long time, Zara thought, and figured he had to still be hurting. Maybe not to the same extent as she was since his wasn’t as recent. Since she didn’t know the details of why he and his ex-girlfriend had broken up, she might be all wrong in assuming he was still going through pain. He may have very well managed to get on with his life.

It didn’t really matter and Zara pushed all thoughts of his ex and hers from her mind. His closeness was causing sexual hunger to stir in her midsection, and a need to be close to him was hammering away at her senses. Taking a step closer, she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You know what I think?”

His penetrating gaze held hers, making her pulse flicker and leap. “No, what do you think?” he asked.

“Their loss is our gain.”

The spread of a smile across his lips was just as arousing as the rest of him. Regardless of what he called himself, she had a feeling this man was no saint. But then, she was no angel. “I totally agree,” he said in that husky voice she loved. “Now, will you tell me the remedy to not tasting you, Angel?”

Her body grew heated. “Yes.”

“Okay then, what is it?”

“This.” Leaning up on tiptoes, she pressed her mouth to his.

Saint couldn’t remember ever feeling this consumed with desire while kissing a woman, or more precisely when a woman kissed him. He was letting her take the lead for now and thought she was doing a pretty good job of it. It was as if she was putting all she had into it, and every single cell in his body was responding in kind.

He liked her taste, and the sensuous movement of her tongue was driving him toward the edge. Never had he engaged in a kiss so energetic, so vibrant and so damn erotic. When she released his mouth and he gazed down at her, the depths of her hazel eyes basically told him everything he needed to know. She’d enjoyed the kiss as much as he had.

“So, what do you think, Saint?”

Her arms were still wrapped around his neck and his were around her waist. It didn’t take any time for him to reply. “I think that your taste is as stirring and electrifying as you are. Had it lasted any longer I wouldn’t have been able to hold myself back.” He wondered if she thought he wasn’t holding back now, if the hard erection pressed against her middle was anything to go by.

“I don’t want you to hold back anything tonight. I don’t want you to act like a saint because I have no intention of behaving like an angel. Understood?”

Yes, he understood. For whatever reason, they were both dealing with their own personal disappointments that included broken hearts, life burdens and overall stress. Tonight they would kick back, erase everything from their minds and concentrate solely on pleasuring each other.

Saint definitely didn’t have a problem with doing that. He needed it. She would be the first woman he would make love to since his breakup with Mia. Although he felt he had moved on, there were some days when he truly wondered if he had. “Yes, I understand.”

He lowered his mouth to hers. The moment their lips locked again his tongue went into action. The last time she had dominated the kiss. Now it was his turn. Desire was sweeping through his body, and he channeled every ounce of passion stirring inside him into their kiss.

Saint drew her closer, needing the contact. He convinced himself that was the reason his hands had moved from her waist and were resting firmly on that ass he’d liked looking at when she’d left the bar. He’d sat there a full ten minutes after she had walked out just thinking about all the things he wanted to do with her—naked and in the flesh.

When he deepened the kiss, the erotic moans she began making stirred a need within him. To him, nothing was headier than a woman’s response to a kiss. When breathing became a necessity, he broke off and her last moan was in protest. That was when he swept her into his arms and moved toward the bed.

When he reached it, he placed her in the middle of it. Then his hands were all over her. The way she’d returned his kiss had fired up his blood, and molten heat had begun escalating all through his body. He needed to touch her and was glad she was just as anxious as he was to satisfy this sexual need between them.

Quickly pulling back, he reached out and gently cupped her face in his palms and stared into the depths of her eyes. The last thing he wanted was to come across as pushy. Leaning closer, he asked, “Are you sure about tonight?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

He took note of her kissed swollen lips and flushed cheeks, the way she was breathing, which was erratic like his. Lowering his arms, he took her hand in his and whispered, “I believe there’s a reason we met tonight, Angel. Two strangers with broken hearts. We have healing to do and tonight could be a start.”

Her hazel eyes smoldered back at him. “I think you’re right, Saint.”

To prove that, he again captured her mouth with an intensity that hopefully gave her a preview of what was to come. He loved her taste and had no problem ravishing her mouth to let her know it. This time she was the one who broke off the kiss to whisper, “Make love to me.”

He pulled back and in a frenzy began removing his clothes while watching Angel remove hers. Within moments their clothes were in a pile on the floor. He then sheathed himself with a condom and had gotten even more aroused seeing the look on her face as she watched him. When he joined her on the bed, his tongue went into action and after kissing her again, he began a journey to lick every inch of her skin, starting at her neck.

By the time he’d reached her breasts he was convinced he had located at least two of her hot spots. Namely, her neck and the center of her chest. Her moans were a dead giveaway. When he reached her breasts and slipped a nipple between his lips, he knew he’d found a third. He’d never known a more passionate woman in the bedroom. The thought of that was consuming him, making him feel a yearning that was causing his entire body to ache.

Finally finished with her breasts, he leaned back on his haunches to stare down at her. She was beautiful. Stunning. From the top of her head, past her breasts to her stomach with a colorful tattoo of a pelican taking flight right above her navel. Then his gaze drifted to the area between her legs. The gorgeous sight made his erection throb and his tongue feel thick in his mouth for wanting to taste her there. He released a deep, guttural groan at that very thought. Easing toward her, he kissed her all over her body again, starting with her mouth but bypassing her breasts as his concentration was on moving south.

He licked her pelican and loved how the texture of the tattoo felt against his tongue. Her moans continued. Glancing up, he saw she’d closed her eyes. Spreading her thighs apart, he slipped them to his shoulders and buried his head between her legs. The moment his tongue tasted her there, he growled low in his throat; her scent and taste were rocking him to the bone.

Zara nearly shot off the bed the moment Saint’s tongue contacted her flesh. When he deepened the invasion and claimed her clit, like he had every right to do so, her hands grabbed hold of the bedcovers. She couldn’t stop the moans flowing from her lips. The way he was kissing her down there set off sensations that were bound to overtake her mind and senses. He was gobbling her up like she was a meal he’d gone without and was intent on getting his fill—the more he tasted, the more he wanted.

When he lifted her hips for his tongue to go deeper, she felt herself losing control. Unable to help herself, she pushed her body against his mouth. Suddenly, something within her exploded and she screamed out his name.

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