Page 26 of The Baby Behind Their Marriage Merger

As he started to turn the images in her head into reality, she wondered what it was about him that made her feel this way, why he was the only one who could make her feel out of control and how he could make her always active brain shut down. When he kissed or touched her she was able to disassociate herself from her life. She moaned as he switched his attention to her other breast, gently sucking her nipple so that it touched the roof of his mouth. He, and the way he made her feel, was all that was important.

Addi rested her weight on her elbows as she watched Jude’s progress down her body, loving the way his lips skimmed across her rib cage and how he dipped his tongue into her belly button. He gently nipped at her hipbone with his teeth and that tiny hint of pain ratcheted up her pleasure, lifting her to another level.

If he didn’t touch her soon she’d lose her mind—she desperately needed him to focus on her feminine secret places, where pleasures started and ended.

But Jude continued to tease her, kissing the inside of her thigh, inspecting a scar on her knee, running his tongue down her shin bone and sucking the soft spot on the inside of her ankle.

He’d done nothing more than kiss her, and stroke his long fingers over her super-sensitive skin, but she felt as though she was a bubbling cauldron about to overflow. But, as much as she wished to let loose, she wanted to give him some of the pleasure he’d given her, make him yearn, squirm and hopefully burn.

Wiggling away from him, she pushed his shoulders to get him to lie down and, when he rested on his back, she kneeled beside him, just taking her time to look, to pull in the details. His nipples were flat discs and the layer of hair on his chest was just enough to be sexy. It veered down into a thin trail across his hard, muscled stomach, and she traced the tan line across his lower stomach. His skin had tanned easily, turning the deep brown of surfers and sailors. He had the long legs of a runner and big, but surprisingly elegant, feet.

She ran her finger from the back of his broad hand and traced an upraised vein, stopping to inspect a scar just below his elbow. He lifted his other hand to put his hand behind his head, his biceps bunching, comfortable in his nudity. He had another scar just below his collarbone, the thin line suggesting he’d had surgery. She wanted to know what had happened and when, desperate to know everything about this man.

That was foolish, she thought as she dropped her head to place a kiss on his sternum, to drag her tongue down. They had a deal and, while they might be off-the-charts attracted to each other, they couldn’t go tiptoeing around in each other’s psyches. They had to keep their thoughts—and especially their feelings—out of this deal. If they didn’t—and by ‘they’ she meant herself—life would become very complicated indeed.

Business deal, with some fun thrown in on the side.

No harm, no foul.

Taking her cue from him, Addi nipped his hipbone with her teeth and an instant later found herself on her back with Jude looming over her, his knee nudging her legs apart.

‘I need you, Addison.Now.’

His voice was growly with need and desire, and Addi nodded, sighing when his erection probed her entrance. Instead of pushing inside her, Jude pushed his hand between her legs, and she released a low groan when his thumb brushed her bundle of nerves. He dragged his fingers through her warmth and wetness and his eyes glinted when they met hers.

‘You’re so damn sexy, sweetheart.’

She didn’t need words, she needed him inside her, so she lifted her hips and pushed, sighing when he entered her. But it wasn’t enough; she needed him inside her, as deep as he could go. Touching her soul, if possible.

‘You feel like heaven,’ Jude muttered as he rocked into her. ‘Hook your legs around me.’

She obeyed his rough command and he slid a hand up her lower back, angling her up, and moved further inside her, as deep as he could go. This was what she needed, what she’d dreamed what sex should be.

Heat, passion, an intense build-up, rocketing hard and fast and detonating when she hit the edge of space, exploding into colour and sensation, into shards of nothing and everything.

Addi dug her nails into Jude’s backside, dimly aware of his harsh breathing, his tensed body. She felt his release deep inside her and thought that making love with him without a condom felt more intimate, more intense. As she gathered her thoughts and her shattered pieces back together, she ran her hands up and down his broad back, over his firm buttocks. She loved his body. Loved the way he made her feel.

And she was terrified that, if she wasn’t very, very careful—if she didn’t keep a sharp eye on her rebellious emotions—she could love him.

That would be a disaster of magnificent proportions.

Jude looked at Addi lying face-down in his bed, fast asleep. She had a white line across the middle of her back from her bikini strings, and he winced at her otherwise red skin.

He hadn’t thought of her sunburn when he’d taken her, hadn’t thought that the linen might aggravate her tender skin. Hell, he hadn’t thought atall. He’d just wanted her and, as soon as she’d given him the green light, nothing but being inside her had entered his head. She’d chased every thought but being inside her out of his head.

She was so slim, Jude thought; nobody would think she was pregnant. Maybe she was one of those women who wouldn’t look pregnant until she was way down the process, the ones who looked like they carried little balls under their shirts. He didn’t mind what she looked like when she was pregnant—tiny or big and bold—as long as she and the baby came through the experience healthy.

He ran his finger down her spine, feeling each bump and admiring the delicious curve of her butt. He could stare at her for hours but, unfortunately, his rumbling stomach was demanding food. The moon was up and he lifted his left hand to look at his watch—it was nearly eight. If he wanted sustenance, he’d better order food soon.

Rolling off the bed, he pulled down the mosquito net and left Addi to sleep. Pulling on his swimming shorts, and a T-shirt, he decided to amble to the dining room, place an order and take a quick swim while he waited for their food to be delivered. Moving a screen in place so that the waiting staff wouldn’t see Addi if they arrived at the cabin while he was swimming, he hit the beach, the light of the moon guiding his way.

He’d ordered line-caught fish for them both—he vaguely remembered something about pregnant women needing to avoid shellfish—and, after thanking Miguel, started the walk back to thecasinha. He pulled off his T-shirt and ran into the sea, ducking under an incoming wave.

Jude bobbed in the waves, enjoying the moonlight dancing on the sea. The water was stunningly warm and it was a perfect night, with a slight breeze settling on his skin. He’d just had amazing sex, and was about to have a wonderful meal, but there was a little part of him that worried that this had all been too easy, that something was bound to go wrong.

At his next meeting with the Council of Three, he’d inform them of his marriage, that Addi was pregnant and assure them that the baby would be born legitimate. He’d remind them that his personal life fell under the NDA and that he’d sue if news of his marriage reached the papers. But, because he believed in sticksandcarrots, he’d also send them an additional, unexpected, bonus.

He wasn’t worried about the trustees ratting him out to the papers—money was an excellent motivator and he had lots of it. Unless a reporter got suspicious and went looking, they wouldn’t unearth their quickie marriage, and Addi and him could quietly divorce after the baby was born.

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