Page 30 of Second Act
Yanking the hem of his sweater upward to bare his chest, she tore her mouth away from his to tongue his nipples, a touch he’d enjoyed in the past. “Oh dear God, Jess,” he rasped out, his grip on her bottom turning convulsive. She reveled in her power to drive him over the edge.
For the second time, she found herself swung up in his arms as he carried her to one of the huge velvet sofas that curved through the living room. “I want to feast on you,” he said, lowering her onto the cushions before he ripped his sweater off over his head and stared down at her. “I want to touch every inch of you.”
His words made her writhe with frustration. “That will take too long. I want you inside me now.” She opened her legs in invitation and knew she would get her wish when his face went incandescent with lust.
“I wasn’t expecting...,” he said, an expression of near pain twisting his lips. “I don’t have a condom.”
“The bathroom,” she said. “They stock everything in there.”
“Of course.” A look of such relief crossed his face that she nearly laughed. Except she was suffering from frustrated arousal as well. He strode toward a door she hadn’t noticed, hauling it open and disappearing while she heard the bang of drawers being opened and closed.
The noise sent a splinter of sanity through her brain, making her sit up and pull the edges of the bathrobe back together. She should leave now, get away from this man who could fascinate and destroy her at the same time.
“Found them!” he shouted, holding the box of condoms aloft in triumph as he stalked toward her with long, impatient strides and a look on his face that turned her insides into pure, molten desire.
She tore off the bathrobe and lay back against the caress of the plump sofa cushions.
He knelt over her with one knee between her thighs and a foil envelope between his teeth as he jerked his belt buckle open and unzipped his trousers. She reached up to take the condom from him and pull it out of the packet while he stripped off the rest of his clothes.
“You’re so beautiful,” she said, stroking the condom down over his cock before she traced her fingers over a bulging muscle in his thigh. His body was more defined now, all youthful roundness honed away.
He came down on top of her, braced on his forearms, his hips between her thighs. “You have the beauty,” he said. “Inside and out.” He lowered his lips to hers and slid into her at the same time.
Her mouth opened on a cry of delight and his tongue drove into it as his hips flexed in the same rhythm. His weight held her in place while he moved inside her at a relentless pace, the exquisite ache within impelling her body into an upward arch, her nipples brushing the soft hair on his chest.
“Hugh,” she said on a moan when he lifted his head to look down at her, his jaw tight with restraint. “Please!”
“You liked this,” he said, shifting so he could slide his hand down between them. He found her clit with his fingertip.
Her focus drew in so that all she felt for a long moment was his touch on that one tiny, intensely sensitive spot. Then the sensation exploded outward, shooting fireworks into every nook and cranny of her body while her muscles slammed into orgasm around him.
“Ahh, Jess!” he shouted as his climax pumped in counterpoint to hers, amplifying every twinge of pleasure.
And then they collapsed into the sofa, gasping and panting and quivering with release. Hugh lay partly over her, so she could feel his heart pounding against her while his breath whistled past her ear. Shudders of after-pleasure trembled through her as she sucked oxygen into her depleted lungs.
“I was not expecting that.” His voice came out in a rasp from somewhere near her shoulder.
“You said that already.”
“I did? I can’t remember anything before the cataclysm that just hit me.”
“It was a good one,” she said on a breathy laugh.
He rolled so that he lay on his side with his back against the sofa’s cushions, his head propped on one hand. “Watching you come always set me off.” He smoothed some damp, clinging hairs off her forehead.
The present broke over her. Despite his earlier vulnerability, this was not the Hugh Baker she had once fallen asleep with every night. This man was rich beyond belief, had a face recognized by hundreds of millions, and was a lover of glamorous women. His burning ambition for all those things had destroyed their relationship. What the hell was she thinking?
Goose bumps rose on her arms as she felt the chill of reality. Yet when she lifted her gaze to his, he smiled like a cat who’d found a whole pond of fat goldfish. If it was an act, it was a darned convincing one.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop it,” he said, tracing a line along her collarbone and down over the swell of her breast.
Her skin seemed to shimmer wherever his finger roamed. “What if I’m thinking that you’re the greatest lover of all time?”
He snorted. “Then you wouldn’t look like someone just threw a bucket of cold water over your head.”
It was that actor’s eye, always watching other people in case he could use something from them in his work. It made him far too perceptive when it came to reading her.
“What’s bothering you, Jess?” His finger gently circled her nipple.
