Page 29 of Shy Innocent In The Spotlight

CHAPTER NINE

ELSPETHSENSEDTHEurgency in him all the way to his bedroom. She could feel it in the bunched muscles of his arms as he carried her, she could feel it in the blisteringly hot kisses he planted on her lips along the way, she could feel it in the charged atmosphere. An electric charge that threatened to combust at any moment. Her own body was on fire with need—a smouldering simmering need that heated her inner core to boiling.

Mack shouldered open the master-suite door like a hero from an old Hollywood movie. Her heart rate spiked, her pulse leapt, her body burned. He laid her on the bed and set to work on her clothes, only stopping long enough to help her with his.

Finally, they were both naked, their limbs tangled, his mouth coming down on hers in a kiss that nearly blew the top of her head off. His tongue slipped between her lips with erotic purpose, sending a wave of raw lust coursing powerfully through her body. Her back arched in delight, her spine loosening vertebra by vertebra, clawing need spiralling through every cell of her flesh.

‘I can’t get enough of you,’ Mack said, bringing his mouth to the sensitive skin of her neck. ‘I want to kiss you all over.’

‘You only get to kiss me all over if I get to do the same to you. Deal?’ Elspeth was constantly amazed at how brazen she was with him. Brazen and bold with no hint of the shyness that had plagued her most of her life. It was as if she was a completely different person when she was with him. A sensual, adventurous person who was not afraid of expressing her primal needs. But then, he was the only man who had ever made her aware of such needs. She had been asleep before she met him. Locked in a sensual coma that one kiss from him had rescued her from with such stunning impact she could never be the same again. She wouldn’t be able to go back to being the quiet shy person she used to be. The person who had convinced herself she was satisfied with her lot in life. The person who had given up any hope of having a partner and family. The person who lived in the shadow of her outgoing twin and was resigned about doing so.

That girl was gone.

She had morphed into a woman with sensual needs that could no longer be ignored.

Mack MacDiarmid had changed her. He made her want things she had denied herself for so long. But there was no denying it now. Her need for him was shouting out from every corner of her body, every blood cell throbbed with it, every heartbeat carrying its primal message.

He captured her hand and pressed a warm kiss to the middle of her palm. His eyes held hers in an intimate lock that made her spine loosen even more. ‘I don’t want you to feel pressured to do anything you’re not comfortable doing.’

‘Here’s the thing...’ Elspeth tiptoed her fingers from his lower lip to the base of his chin and back again. ‘I’m completely comfortable with you. I want to pleasure you the way you pleasure me.’

His eyes glinted and he pressed another kiss to her palm, his lips making her skin tingle right the way to her core. ‘Everything you do pleasures me.’ He brought his mouth down to hers in a long kiss that simmered with passion. His tongue began a playful dance with hers, cajoling hers into a duel that made her insides coil tightly with lust. She stroked her hand down his lean jaw, her softer skin catching on his stubble. He groaned and deepened the kiss even further, his breathing becoming as heavy and laboured as hers.

Elspeth ran one of her hands down his muscled shoulders and the long length of his spine. Touching him was such a delight to her, a thrilling delight that filled her with excitement. His body was hard, toned, tanned and powerful and yet he was so gentle and careful with her.

Mack rolled over to his back, taking her with him so she was lying on top of him, her legs splayed either side of his pelvis. Her hair hung in long tresses, dangling over the hard wall of his chest. His hands held her by the hips, his eyes roving over her naked breasts and belly, his pupils flaring, his breathing going up another notch. ‘I could look at you all day. Just like this.’

Elspeth leaned down to press a kiss to his mouth. ‘I like looking at you too. But maybe later, because I have something I want to do first.’ She wriggled down his body until her mouth was close to the potent length of him. He sucked in a harsh-sounding breath, his hands gripping the bedcovers either side of his body.

‘Elspeth, you don’t have to... Ahh...’ The rest of his sentence faded away as Elspeth got to work on him. She used her lips and tongue in ways she hadn’t thought she’d ever have the courage or even the desire to do. But it was a form of worship to caress and pleasure him in such a raw and intimate way. She was rewarded by his deep gasping groans and hectic breathing. But before she could tip him over the edge, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her off him.

‘I want to be inside you.’ His voice was husky with need. ‘But I need a condom.’ He gently eased her off him to access a condom from the bedside drawer. He put it on and she straddled him again. Seeing him so turgid with need ramped up her own excitement, her body craving his possession as an addict did a forbidden drug. ‘This way you can control the depth,’ he said, guiding himself into her entrance.

The sensation of him entering her this way took her breath away. Her body gripped him, her intimate muscles welcoming him, pleasure rippling through her as she began to move. He was right—she could control the depth and speed and it gave her shivers to rock with him in such an erotic way. She ached for more friction and discovered that with just a slight tilt of her body she could get it right where she needed it. The sensations trickled through her, slowly at first, then rising to a crescendo. Tension built in the most sensitive part of her, the surrounding nerves on high alert, waiting for the point of no return. And then it came with a rush of feeling that fanned out in pulsing waves from her core to the farther reaches of her body. She shook, she shuddered, she screamed with the cataclysmic force of it.

Within seconds, Mack followed with his own shuddering release. Watching him in his moment of bliss was both thrilling and deeply erotic. His face screwed up tightly in pleasure, he expelled a deep agonised groan, his body bucked and rocked and then finally relaxed.

Elspeth stayed where she was, perched on top of him, his body still encased in hers. She stroked his chest with her hands in slow-motion movements, watching as his breathing gradually slowed down. ‘You look like you had a good time.’

He opened one eye and smiled a crooked smile. ‘I did. Did you?’

She leaned down to kiss the tip of his strong nose. ‘You know I did.’

He placed his hand at the back of her head and kept her mouth pressed to his. His kiss was slow and sensual, a kiss that sent shivers through her flesh and a flicker of hope to her heart. Could he be developing feelings other than lust for her? Their lovemaking was so physically passionate but there was another element to it that made her wonder if he felt an emotional connection as well.

Or was she fooling herself? Perhaps he made exquisite love to all his lovers. Perhaps they too were stunned by his touch, his kisses and his ability to give them mind-blowing pleasure. Was she being a silly little romantic fool to make more of their lovemaking than what was there? They desired each other, they had indulged that desire and he had made no promises that anything more lasting would come out of it.

But she couldn’t help wanting more than a casual fling. Her feelings for him were growing by the second. They weren’t something she could control. How could she have thought she could? They just were there. Feelings she had never expected to feel for someone so quickly but how could she resist Mack? He had stunned her from the moment she met him. Wasn’t that why she had fought to stay in her twin’s persona when in his presence? Because he spoke to her in a visceral way from day one. She was falling for him as an autumn leaf was programmed to fall from a tree. She couldn’t stop it. It was like a force of nature, a primal thing that swept her up in a world of intense sensuality, one she never wanted to leave.

But how could she hope to stay with a man who didn’t want anything more than a fling? A man who had never been in love and was convinced he would never fall in love?

Mack broke off the kiss and, after disposing of the condom, began to stroke his hands down her arms from shoulder to wrist, his touch gentle and yet electrifying. He lifted one of his hands to her face, stroking from below her ear to her chin and back again. He didn’t say a word but his expression was cast in lines of contemplation, as if he was mulling over things in his mind. There was a small frown between his brows and a faraway look in his eyes.

Elspeth brushed her fingers through his hair in a tender caress. ‘What are you thinking?’

He blinked a couple of times and gave a smile that didn’t quite make the full distance to his eyes. ‘Not much.’ He gave her cheek another stroke and then placed his hand on the small of her back. ‘I should feed you. Are you hungry?’

‘A bit.’

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