“Oh, Tanner…” She pushed up on her elbows to look at him and she was still watching him when he first tasted her. She gasped aloud and moved against his mouth.
He ran his tongue along her slick folds and tasted her as if she were running with honey. Her scent flooded him and Tanner gave himself up to the fantasy of having her at his mercy, na**d and writhing.
Again and again, his lips, tongue and teeth worked her most sensitive flesh. The only sounds in the room were the sighs of her breathing and the slapping of her hands against the mattress as she fought for something to hold on to.
He relished her and when he felt her coiling for release, her body tightening, he stopped, pulled back and grinned at her outraged squeak of “Don’t stop now!”
She was shaking with unanswered need and Tanner skimmed the tips of his fingers across her center. She jolted and then settled down again, waiting breathlessly for him to finish what he’d started. And when he couldn’t wait another moment, he did just that. He flicked his tongue across the one spot that held so many sensations and then he suckled her as she splintered in his grasp, crying his name.
When her cl**ax at last ended, he rose up, joined her on the bed and rolled her over onto her stomach. She sighed blissfully as his hands rubbed up and down the length of her spine, tracing every curve, every line of her body. His mouth went next and he licked and kissed his way across her skin until he knew her body as well as he did his own.
She squirmed against him, rubbing her bottom into him and the fires inside him roared.
“Again,” he muttered thickly. “I need you again. Now.”
“Now,” she agreed and when he pulled her up to her knees, she threw her hair out of her face and looked back over her shoulder at him. “Be in me, Tanner. Be with me.”
“Grab hold of the headboard,” he said and moved to cover her body with his. When she had a grip on the intricately carved oak wood, Tanner held her h*ps still and entered her to the hilt. He buried himself as deeply as he could and knew it would never be deep enough.
He loved the feel of her hot, slick flesh surrounding his. He groaned at the perfection of the moment and gave himself over to the demands of his body. She moved with him, into him, her soft gasps and heavy sighs creating a sort of music that sent his own blood into a dizzying dance.
With every stroke, he claimed her. With every touch, he adored her. With every breath, he hungered for her. He felt her cl**ax shudder through her and before the last of it had died away, he joined her and the two of them fell into a scatter of stars.
Three hours later, Ivy turned her head on the pillow and looked at the man lying next to her. They’d come together again and again as if neither of them could bear the idea of being apart even momentarily. She’d never experienced anything like what Tanner made her feel. Just looking at him turned her heart over in her chest and she realized with a jolt that she was falling in love with him. Ivy bit back a groan and closed her eyes briefly. How had this happened? She hadn’t wanted this. Hadn’t expected it. Hadn’t been looking for it.
And now that she’d found it she wasn’t entirely sure how to handle it. The problem here was, when Tanner had been just a neighbor—a potential friend—a small white lie hadn’t seemed like such a big deal. Now though, she knew that everything had changed. What she felt for Tanner was so much bigger than what she and David had shared, she almost felt guilty admitting it to herself. But it was true and the other undeniable truth was, when Tanner found out she’d been lying to him, this relationship would be over.
She didn’t want it to be over.
Idly, she wondered what might have happened if Tanner hadn’t had the foresight to have a condom handy. Lost in the throes of a passion she’d never known before, Ivy had completely disregarded the need for protection. If Tanner had forgotten too, might they have made a baby tonight? And what then? If they had, would she allow a lie to remain between them?
“What’re you thinking?” he asked quietly.
She came up out of her thoughts and pushed them all to the back of her mind. Worries for another day. Another time. Right now, she didn’t want to risk spoiling what they had.
“Nothing, really.”
“You looked pretty somber for nothing.” He went up on his elbow and reached out with his free hand to rub her shoulder.
Just that simple touch was enough to stir her up again and she wouldn’t have thought that was possible. Would it always be that explosive between them? Would she forever erupt into passion so easily around him?
Would she get the chance to find out?
She took a breath and gave him a small piece of the larger truth.
“I was just thinking I was grateful that you’d had the presence of mind to remember a condom,” she said, then admitted, “I wasn’t thinking very clearly at the time.”
His features tightened. “You should. No kid deserves to be an accident.”
The words came so fast and harsh, it stole her breath from her. There was pain glittering in his eyes and the rigidity of his jaw told her that she’d inadvertently struck a nerve. Carefully, she tried to smooth things over. “If I were to get pregnant, I’d never consider my child a mistake, Tanner.”
“Maybe not,” he allowed, his gaze locked with hers. “But others would. Have.”
There was a chill in his voice now, to match the darkness in his eyes.
He pushed one hand through his hair and shook his head as if disgusted with himself for opening this conversation. “All I meant was, I don’t make bastards,” he said simply. “That’s my father’s thing.”
The casual use of the ugly word jabbed at her. His beautiful eyes were shuttered as if sealing her out. There was old pain there, she caught just a glimpse of it before he disguised it behind a layer of nonchalance. “Tanner…”
“Please,” he said on a sharp laugh. “I don’t need sympathy. I grew up fine. I’ve got more half brothers and cousins than anyone should have. I’m only saying that I’m careful.”
He brushed aside her concern and she understood the need to cling to your own pride so she wouldn’t offer him compassion when he clearly didn’t want it. But she also wouldn’t let him back away from a subject that obviously needed to be spoken about. “I get that. But there’s more, isn’t there?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
It meant that she was beginning to see why Tanner was so closed off from people. He’d had a lonely childhood despite what he was saying and the memories, if not the hurts of it, were still vividly with him.