Page 43 of An Heir Made In Hawaii (Hot Winter Escapes)

Next time, he promised himself as he finally pulled back and sank down in front of her.

“I want to feel you, Anika. All of you.”

Her eyes widened as his meaning hit her.

“I guess we don’t need birth control anymore,” she said with a soft laugh.

“I’m clean.” He reached out and grasped her hand, threading his fingers through hers and bringing her up to kiss her knuckles. “I had my annual appointment at the end of the summer. I haven’t been with anyone but you.”

The slow smile that spread across her face hit him square in the chest.

“I’m clean, too.” She sucked in a trembling breath. “I told you I’ve only been with one other man. I’ve never made love without a...” A becoming blush stole over her cheeks. “Without protection.”

That sense of possession returned, burned bright in him as his hand tightened on hers. “Neither have I, Anika.” He turned Anika’s hand over and kissed the sensitive skin of her wrist, savoring the shudder that ran over her body. “I want to make love to you without anything between us.”

Slowly, she nodded. “I want that, too.”

He lowered her back onto the carpet. Firelight bathed her body in a golden glow. She gazed up at him with faith in her eyes. His heart shuddered. Never had a woman looked at him with such trust.

It unnerved him as his gaze drifted down to her belly. He could take care of her, and the baby. Financially, he could ensure they wanted for nothing. But was he capable of being the man they needed, the father they deserved?

Anika raised her arms up, reached for him. The simple action banished his unvoiced apprehensions. He couldn’t have resisted her for anything in the world.

Their lips met, melded together in a kiss blazing with heat and some unnamed emotion that added a sweetness he had never known he craved until now. He pressed his body against hers, groaned when her naked curves molded to him. He reached down, placed his erection against her wet core and slowly slid in.

The sensation of sliding into Anika’s molten heat nearly undid him. The intimacy of it stole his breath, as did Anika’s sharp, beautiful cry in his ear. He dragged out each second, easing himself in inch by inch until he was fully joined with her.

He paused, savored the sensation of being buried inside the woman who had ushered in so much change to his life, who surprised and astounded him on a regular basis with her strength, her confidence, her resilience.

The woman who carried his child within her.

He started to move, long, slow strokes. Anika clenched around him, her hands moving over him restlessly as she rose up to meet his thrusts. When she cried out, he eased back.

“Did I hurt you?”

“Don’t stop!” she gasped, her hands coming up to grasp his shoulders in a fierce grip. “Don’t you dare stop, Nicholas.”

The sound of his name on her lips, along with her urgent plea, sent him higher. Fire built at the base of his spine as he succumbed to the spell woven by the incredible woman in his arms, the intimate setting, the glow of the fire. All of it combined, spiraled upward as Anika arched her hips up and took him deeper. A moment later her body tightened. Her nails dug into his back.

“Nicholas!”

She came apart in his arms, her skin flushed, her cries like music. He followed a moment later, heat spiraling through his body as he spilled himself inside her, groaning her name before he lowered his head and claimed her with a kiss.

He quickly rolled to the side and gathered her sweat-slicked body in his arms. She snuggled into his embrace, her head cradled on his shoulder.

“That was incredible,” she murmured.

“It was.”

Slowly, his hand drifted down over her breast, her ribs, then rested on the slight swell of her belly. He heard her breath catch, felt her body tense against his.

Then, slowly, she brought a hand up and laid it over his.

Emotion swamped him. The joy he’d seen on Anika’s face in the doctor’s office had given him a glimpse of a future he hadn’t imagined for himself since that day long ago on the streets of Belgravia.

He tightened his arms around her and glanced down. Her eyes were closed, her lashes dark against the paleness of her skin. The steady rise and fall of her breasts told him she’d fallen asleep in his arms.

His gaze drifted down to where their joined hands rested on her belly. Fear drifted up, tried to steal away the moment. Seeing their baby had strengthened his resolve to be a good father. But what if he could never let go enough to experience the same kind of happiness Anika had experienced today? Would he be able to give their child the kind of uninhibited love they deserved?

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