He'd been a fool to think he could plan a damned thing where Kerry was concerned. Not when he wanted her this much.
And not when she clearly wanted him just as much.
He lifted his mouth from her breasts at the same moment that he slid one hand down into the lace that covered the vee between her legs. And, sweet Lord, did he ever love the way her eyes widened at the sensation of his fingers slicking against her wet, hot skin.
"Adam." She instinctively moved against him, and her lids lowered as he moved inside of her. "Good. It's so good." She bit her lower lip for a split second before she whispered, "Too good."
He wanted to watch her come apart for him. But even more, he wanted to feel her come apart against him--her mouth beneath his, her heart beating against his, her breasts pressed to his chest.
He slid deeper and swallowed her gasp with a kiss. With his free hand, he lifted one of her legs up around his hips, and she immediately rocked harder, faster, into his hand. The vibration of a moan rose up from her chest as her inner muscles began to pulse over his fingers.
Adam was still fully clothed, but even without taking anything off, this was the hottest sex he'd ever had in his life.
She rocked into him again and again, both of them taking her higher and higher until she stilled on a gasp, then shattered--utterly shattering him at the same time. And even when she finally started to settle against him, her breathing ragged, he continued to kiss her.
Adam couldn't get enough of any part of Kerry, especially her mouth. Their kisses had gone full circle already, from soft to desperate and back to sweet--but he knew it wouldn't be long before desperation caught them again. Especially when he swept her up into his arms, their lips still pressed together so that he drank in her sound of surprise and then her laughter at being carried through the suite.
Laughing while kissing wasn't something Adam had ever done before. But he suddenly found himself wanting to brush his fingertips over all the sensitive parts of Kerry's body and kiss her while she laughed and he laughed with her. He loved making her smile, loved knowing he'd pleased her. All he wanted tonight was to please her over and over and over again.
He lowered her onto the big bed, only moving his lips from hers because he needed to taste the rest of her. Needed to run kisses over every inch of her beautiful skin as he finally stripped her completely bare.
Thankfully, she wasn't nervous anymore, wasn't at all shy as he moved his hands and mouth down over her curves, from her shoulder, where he lightly sank in his teeth so that she shuddered, to the soft and sensitive undersides of her breasts. He moved lower then, dropping one kiss after another over her stomach and the upper curves of her hips. Lace still covered her, but not for long as he slowly tugged it down until she was finally completely bare. Totally perfect. And all his.
His.
Her beauty tugged at him, made him feel possessive.
Protective.
Ravenous.
In one quick move he had her thigh over his shoulder, his mouth on her core, and his tongue playing over the sweetest flesh imaginable. Her hips came off the bed, and he slid his hands beneath to help bring her even closer.
She was liquid heat against him, burning like fire from the inside out, and as she climaxed again against his lips and tongue, the sounds and sensations of her pleasure were nearly enough to send him over, too.
Making a woman who was always so controlled lose hold of it was the sexiest thing imaginable.
*
Kerry had never known such mind-bending pleasure. Had never actually thought anything so sweet, so sinful, could exist.
And if she had known it?
Well, she thought with a smile she couldn't possibly contain, she would never have waited so long to experience all of the shockingly good benefits of tangling with a bad boy. Especially when both of them clearly knew that what they shared beneath the sheets--or outside of the sheets, she thought with another smile--would never leave their hotel suite.
Knowing no one would come to harm from tonight, or any other night they decided to play these wicked and wonderful games together, made it easy for her to reach for him as he kissed his way back up her naked body. And to say, "It's my turn now."
Adam was much bigger than she, but desire--and desperation to get him out of his clothes--made her strong. Strong enough to turn them over in the bed so that he was beneath her and she was pressing a kiss over each inch of his chest that she bared as she undid his shirt.
"You taste so good." She licked out against the flexing muscles of his abdomen and they jumped beneath her tongue. "Amazingly good." She lifted her eyes to his as she put her hand on his belt buckle and said, "I want to taste more."
He groaned, and she felt him pulse against the palm she'd just laid flat over his erection. She could feel how big, how hard he was, had felt it as they'd kissed by the suite's front door. But it wasn't enough to feel him through fabric anymore--she needed him skin to skin.
Clearly wanting the same thing, he got the rest of his clothes off within seconds. Her brain scrambled as she looked at all those muscles, all that tanned skin, all that hunger for her. Jumbled enough that the only word she could think was mine.
For tonight at least, Adam Sullivan, with his dark, intense eyes, with a mouth made for kissing, and with those magical, knowing hands, was all hers.
Hers.
And then there was no room for thinking, no space for anything but instinct. And pleasure. She lowered her mouth to his chest first, running her lips south with soft and teasing kisses until she couldn't stand to tease either of them anymore as she ran her tongue over him. His hands tangled in her hair, her name falling from his lips again and again. Pleading and pleasured all at the same time. And then, finally, she took him inside on a hum of pleasure she couldn't contain.
His growl echoed in the room as she found herself suddenly lying back against the mattress, Adam kissing her with ferocious passion. He drew back from her lips just far enough to say, "Now, Kerry. I need you now."
She knew it was his way of asking her, yet again, if she was ready for this. Ready for him. Even after what they'd already done--their hands and mouths all over each other--he obviously needed to know that she was still okay with taking the final step.
If any part of her had still been cold, his concern would have warmed her up completely. But she was already there--beyond ready to be with him. So instead of answering with words, she reached for one of the condoms he'd put on the bedside table and together they sheathed him. By the time his mouth found hers again, she was already wrapping her legs around his hips. In one perfect upthrust of her hips, she took him all the way inside.
In a heartbeat, he was unleashed. No more reserve, no more worry. Just wicked, sinful passion.
She met him thrust for thrust, stroke for stroke, gasp for gasp. And just as she'd never known there could be pleasure this sweet, she'd also never realized that she could become part of someone else. That Adam's heartbeat could mesh with her own. That his sweat could become hers. And that his pleasure would take her even higher than the very highest peak.
Together they climbed.
And together, wrapped in each other's arms, they fell.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Kissing.
And kissing.
Then kissing some more.
Kerry drank in every one of Adam's sweet kisses while his mouth never left hers. Her arms and legs were still wrapped all around him, his hands were tangled in her hair. And she had never felt so good in all her life.
Their post-sex make-out session kept her heart racing just as fast as it had when she was coming apart beneath him, her temperature just as high, her need just as desperate. There was no room, no space in their kisses for her to take a breath, but she didn't want that room. Didn't want that space. Not when everything felt so perfect, so right.
So beautiful.
He was heavy over her, but she loved his weight pressing her down into the mattress. Loved how
secure it made her feel to know that he was as close to her as another person could possibly be. And that he didn't want to break their connection, either.
Finally, he lifted his mouth from hers, but only to rain kisses over her face. Again and again he'd press a half-dozen kisses over her cheek, or her eyelids, or the curve of her ear, or the tip of her chin, before returning to her mouth. And every time he came back, she was even hungrier for his lips against hers. For the slow stroke of his tongue over hers. For the nip of his teeth as sweet turned wild before turning breathlessly soft again. For the chance to drink in his groans of pleasure as she kissed him back just as passionately.
Forever. She could have kissed him like this forev--
Her phone rang, one of the two ring tones that she would never, ever ignore no matter what. Tonight, it was her sister's that was chiming barely a few feet from where she and Adam were wrapped around each other on the bed.
By the second ring, all the heat had drained out of her, replaced immediately by worry.
"Kerry?" Adam had clearly felt her tense up.
"I have to get that."
She could hear both the worry and the frustration in her own voice and knew that Adam wasn't at all the kind of clueless male who would miss it. Because even though she should be glad that Colleen had just saved her from letting her post-sex emotions, and all of Adam's amazingly passionate kisses, run away with her heart, she still couldn't help but be upset that the moment was now completely ruined.
Adam moved to let her slide out from beneath him. When he'd been lying over her and she'd been wrapped around him, she'd been so warm. But now, as the cool air in the room rushed over her skin, she couldn't repress a shiver.
He'd seen every inch of her tonight, but she still felt horribly exposed as she all but leapt off the bed to grab her phone before it went to voice mail. Because if her sister couldn't reach her, who knew what she'd decide to do next? Or how bad it would end up being.
"Colleen? It's Kerry--tell me what you need. Where are you?"
Her insides twisted as soon as she heard her sister's voice while Colleen gave her the name of a bar in a really bad part of Seattle. Slurred. High. Either on the verge of laughing or crying or both in that manic way Colleen often had when she went out on Friday nights to try to numb her emotions.
"I'm coming right now to get you," Kerry told her. "Don't go anywhere with anyone. Promise me you'll call me again if anyone tries anything."
But instead of giving her that promise, her sister hung up on her.
Kerry grabbed for her clothes and began to yank them on, not even the slightest bit concerned about her nakedness anymore. "I have to go," she told Adam, even though it had to have been obvious from him hearing her side of the conversation.
"I'll go with you."
He was already putting on his clothes as she told him, "Thanks, but I can handle this myself."
"Kerry." He was magnificent standing in front of her in only his pants, his chest bare. "The volume on your phone was up loud enough that I could hear the name of the bar you're headed for to pick up your friend."
"My sister."
"I get that your sister needs you, but I don't want you going to that part of town at all, let alone by yourself at this time of night."
"I've been there plenty of times to get her," she began, but even as she said it, she couldn't help remembering how scary most of those times had been. Or how last week her sister had been so wasted that Kerry could barely get her over to the car.
A car she didn't even have tonight, since she'd taken a taxi to the hotel.
She looked up into dark eyes that were comfortingly steady. "How fast can you drive?"
"As fast as you need me to go."
*
Kerry was glad that Adam didn't expect her to make conversation as they drove. He didn't waste any time trying to find a parking spot, either, just turned on his hazards and left his car right out front. Any other guy with an expensive car would have been freaking out about leaving it here. Heck, every time she left her car in this neighborhood to go into a bar and get her sister, she'd been relieved that it was still there by the time they got back outside. But Adam simply put his hand on Kerry's back as if to steady her while they walked through the crowd smoking cigarettes on the sidewalk.
"Colleen is taller and thinner than I am, with dark red hair to her shoulders."
Her sister was a beautiful woman. At least she had been until she'd started drinking and partying so hard. Colleen was too old, and too smart, for places like this. Kerry knew Colleen was hurt by what had happened between her and her ex-boyfriend, but how could her sister think that this was any way to fix it?
"I don't see her outside."
Kerry was more than a little frantic. Please. She prayed Colleen hadn't gotten into a car with some guy who would take advantage of her.
And as Kerry and Adam pushed through the crowd and into the bar, she was so thankful that he was there and that he'd insisted on coming with her. The sea of rough-looking men and women instinctively parted for him without him having to say or do anything threatening at all. Just from his sheer presence.
Thank God, it didn't take them long to find her sister dancing and drinking, although the guy she was with looked more than a little scary. Over the pounding music screaming from the speakers on the ceiling, Kerry yelled, "Colleen, I'm ready to take you home now."
Colleen's eyes were blurry and red as she turned to look at Kerry. There was barely recognition there, let alone any thanks that Kerry had rushed over to get her. "Go away," Colleen said as the song changed to one that allowed them all to hear. "I'm finally happy now with--"
"Zane."
Colleen gave him a big, messy smile and ran her hands down his arms. "Mmm, Zane. Make my little jailor go away."
Adam immediately stepped in and told the guy, "Colleen is going to have to take a rain check tonight."
Colleen's gaze shifted to Adam, at last. She tried to whistle, but she couldn't control her lips quite well enough, so only air came out. "Where did you come from, gorgeous?" Zane was instantly forgotten as Colleen reached for Adam.
Kerry had never felt so mortified in all her life. She'd assumed her previously perfect night with Adam couldn't get any worse.
She'd been wrong.
"Colleen, please," Kerry begged, "let's go home."
Her sister turned on her then. "Not all of us want a cold bed. Just because you're too uptight to know how to have a good time doesn't mean that the rest of us don't." She turned back to Adam. "Right, baby? That's why you're here, isn't it?"
Kerry knew her sister was too drunk to know what she was saying. But that didn't make it any easier to blink back the tears that were threatening to spill.
Fortunately, Adam still had his wits perfectly about him. "It's a nice night, Colleen. How about we go outside and get some fresh air?"
He didn't speak to her sister as if she were a loser. There was no pity in his voice. No revulsion, either. And Kerry had never appreciated anyone more.
Colleen shot her a triumphant look over her shoulder as Adam put his arm around her and began to lead her out of the bar. And thank God he was holding her up, because she could barely walk, and certainly not in a straight line. Kerry got on her other side, and together she and Adam all but dragged her sister toward the exit. They hadn't yet made it to the front door when Colleen let out a groan and went limp. Adam didn't miss a beat, catching her and lifting her into his arms to carry her outside.
"I'm sorry," Kerry said.
"Don't be."
And the crazy thing was that he really seemed to mean it. He didn't seem the least bit shocked by what had just happened. He simply laid her sister down in the backseat and was so kind as he took off his jacket and tucked it around her that Kerry found herself almost in tears.
"Where to?" he asked.
"I have to take her back to my place to make sure she's okay during the night."
Given that it was the absolut
ely worst possible ending to what had been the best night of her life, Kerry couldn't help but wonder if it was karmic punishment. Some sort of retribution for breaking her number-one rule: Don't hook up with a man who didn't have the potential to be the one.
Not that she would get the chance to make that mistake again, of course. Because she was absolutely certain that, apart from official wedding duties, she'd never see Adam again. Kerry had known their fling would end, of course, since that had always been the plan.
She just hadn't known that it would end on the same night it began.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Adam parked in the downstairs lot of Kerry's building, one of his favorite buildings in Seattle. He'd been honored to head up the historic restoration a decade ago, one of his first major projects.
The building fit Kerry well--classy and elegant, but not stuffy. Granted, he hadn't been willing to see that the first time he'd met her. No, he'd wanted to take her at face value. The glossy swing of her hair, the impeccably tailored and pressed clothes, the perfect face that seemed to be carved out of marble by a master.
But if he hadn't already learned just how wrong he was by now, tonight would have taken all of his assumptions and crushed them to bits. As soon as his hands had been tangled in her hair and her mouth had been beneath his, he'd realized that she was made up of more raw, elemental heat, more unfettered desire than any other woman he'd ever known. And after her sister had called, he'd realized just how hard Kerry had been working to project perfect. Only, it was clear her life wasn't even close to perfect. Because if she had a sister who needed to be saved from herself on a regular basis, what else was lurking in Kerry's shadows?
Before she could try to get her sister out of the backseat, he lifted Colleen into his arms.
"My place is just up on the second floor," Kerry said, leading the way over to the elevator. As they waited for it to make its way down to the garage, she gently brushed a hand over her sister's hair. Colleen didn't open her eyes, but he noticed the way she leaned into Kerry's touch.