Page 22 of Conner's Choice
Realizing he was on the verge of losing her, Conner tore his mouth away from hers and pulled his robe tighter around her. “For the record, Elizabeth, you’re the only woman I want to sleep with. And you’re adorable when you’re jealous, by the way.”
Gasping in outrage, Elizabeth removed herself from his embrace. “I’m not jealous!” she declared indignantly. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
Conner watched in amusement as Elizabeth stomped toward the laundry room. When she joined him a few minutes later, she retrieved her cell phone from her purse.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling a taxi, obviously,” she retorted.
“Put your phone away, Elizabeth,” he commanded. “I’m driving you back to your car.”
“Sometimes, Conner, your highhandedness irks me,” she declared as she followed him to the elevator.
He grinned. “Aw, you know you love it.”
Elizabeth ignored him, and he chuckled.
As they drove through streets slick with rainwater in his Jag, Conner began in a quiet voice, “None of the other women I slept with since I broke up with Melissa meant anything to me except Britain. I fell hard for her, but she was already in love with Christian. I never stood a chance with her once he came home from Europe and offered to marry her. I’m over her now. Just thought you should know.”
“Why?” she shot back. “Your love life is none of my business.”
“No?” he teased her. He grabbed her hand, threaded his fingers through hers, and caressed her wrist’s soft, sensitive skin with his thumb. “I merely thought to allay your jealousy by assuring you that my heart is free from entanglements.”
Conner brought her hand to his mouth and pressed his lips against her pulse. It leaped, and he chuckled. “Your heart is racing, Elizabeth.”
She snatched her hand out of his grasp. “Yes, because you are so infuriating, Conner.”
They fell silent as a second wave of stormy weather engulfed them. When they reached Conner’s office building, Elizabeth used her key fob to unlock her car but was instantly soaked again when she jumped from the Jag into the driver’s seat of her BMW. Blinding rain slanted across her windshield, dropping visibility to nearly zero. She considered pulling over until the storm abated again, but she was tired, aggravated, and…well…frustrated. Conner was incredibly sexy and kept her off balance in a constant state of arousal. Once she turned onto Highway 10, however, Elizabeth forced Conner from her mind and focused on the road ahead.
Whenever headlights shone in front of her, she feared being struck by someone unfamiliar with the winding twists and turns of the mountain road. She gripped the steering wheel tightly, squinting to see through a curtain of rain, and then it happened. A van splashed a wall of water onto her windshield, and startled, she lost control of her BMW. It hydroplaned, careening into the opposite lane. Elizabeth shrieked, fighting with the steering wheel until the car abruptly stopped on the shoulder of the road next to the mountain. Panting hard and in shock, her chest rose and fell with each breath. When her panic eased, she checked to ensure the road was clear before pulling into her lane. She drove slowly through the pounding rain and arrived at her house without another incident.
Elizabeth burst into the kitchen through the multi-car garage and sagged with relief as she leaned against the granite countertop. Kevin wasn’t home. Feeling like a drowned rat with her wet clothes clinging to her body and her hair plastered to her head, she retrieved a bottle of Merlot from the wine rack and checked it for tampering. It appeared intact, so she carried it with her upstairs to the master suite, along with a crystal goblet.
She turned on the huge porcelain tub’s brushed nickel faucet in the bathroom, adjusted the temperature, and added a few drops of rose-scented bubble bath. Elizabeth sank into the warm, fragrant water and let out a grateful sigh. She popped the cork on the wine bottle and filled the goblet. She drank it in one gulp and poured a second glass, which she quickly drained, too.
Elizabeth poured a third glass, took several sips of the Merlot, and sank a little lower in the tub. Already feeling the mellow effects of the two glasses she hastily imbibed, she murmured, “Looks like I’m getting drunk tonight.”
She drank more wine and, sighing again, leaned back and closed her eyes. With the fragrance of roses swirling around her and the warmth of the water and the pleasant alcoholic haze lulling her senses, she indulged in an erotic fantasy about Conner.
Naked, with well-defined muscles, rock-hard abs, and a full erection, he entered the bathroom. Grinning sexily, his deep brown eyes shining with desire, he lifted her out of the tub and held her wet, slippery body against his as he claimed her mouth in a slow, deep, passionate kiss. Tongues mingled and sparred as Conner’s hands roamed over her body, learning every curve, tantalizing her with his caresses while his mouth moved down her neck and discovered her rosy nipples. Imagining Conner’s tongue stroking her between her thighs caused Elizabeth’s face to flush with heat.
“Conner,” she moaned aloud and reached for her glass of wine. She couldn’t believe how quickly she fell for him.
Refilling her glass, Elizabeth recalled her romance with Kevin. She didn’t fall instantly for him. She grew to love him. And she did. She loved him passionately. She was a loyal, faithful, and loving wife until he killed her love with his infidelity and broken promises. And she’d stayed with him through those early affairs, anyway. The good wife. But what she felt for Conner was different. Unexpected. New. Mature. She couldn’t wait to be free from Kevin so she could explore these exciting feelings she had for Conner. She knew he wanted her.
My heart is free from any entanglements.
She would hang on to that.
By the time she rose from the tub, she’d drunk nearly the entire bottle of Merlot and was inebriated and on fire for Conner. Remembering how he felt in her hand, long and hard and with skin as smooth as a baby’s, she wanted him inside her, pumping fast and furiously until she screamed from the pleasure he gave her. Elizabeth knew he’d be a fantastic lover from the way he kissed her. Slipping into a short satin nightie, she climbed into bed and fell asleep, still fantasizing about Conner.
Conner lay sprawledon Christian’s sofa after driving through the thunderstorm to his friend’s house in West Bend. Tossing a throw pillow in the air, he moaned, “I can’t believe I did it again, Chris! Fell so hard and so fast for another dark-haired beauty with the most incredible gray eyes I’ve ever seen. Sometimes they’re blue depending on Elizabeth’s mood or what she’s wearing.” He punched the pillow. “I even told her that my heart is free. Have you ever heard anything so pathetic in your life? She’s the last person in the world I should fall for. Well, next to Britain,” he added a trifle nastily.
Christian stared sympathetically at his best friend. Conner had always been a romantic rogue, wearing his heart on his sleeve and yearning for a home and a family while Christian was a first-class cad. A breaker of hearts. The ruination of women foolish enough to get involved with him until he met Britain Sherwood. She’d turned his entire world upside down and paid for it because he was too stupid, too stubborn, and too proud to admit he’d fallen in love with her. And too afraid to tell her the truth about Julissa blackmailing him with their son.
Christian let out a deep sigh. “I fell for Britain the moment I first saw her in the Bahamas. There was something about her I’d never encountered in another woman. I couldn’t believe she wanted a man like me. I still don’t. And I let her down when she placed her trust and faith in me. We were building a life together, and I deliberately deceived her. Let her think the worst about me and Julissa.” He paused as his eyes turned dark with determination. “Our baby is due in three weeks. After it’s born, I’m telling Brit the truth. I just hope she forgives me.”
Conner sat up and blurted, “I know your secret, Chris. You talked about it when you got drunk at my place on Valentine’s Day. I could have told Britain but didn’t because I was angry and jealous. I’m sorry. I could have saved both of you a lot of hurt and pain.”
