Page 38 of Temporary Wife Temptation

A predatory light flared in his eyes, but he didn’t lean down for the kiss she was expecting. She could see him holding back, fighting for control. Then she understood. He was as helpless as she was against their crazy attraction, and that vulnerability tipped her over the precipice.

Natalie closed the distance between them and kissed him. Garrett stood as still as a sun-warmed boulder, but his lips parted against hers, inviting her to explore him.

So she did.

She kissed his hot, smooth lips, and she wanted to venture further—to taste more of him. When she eagerly sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, Garrett moved. With a low groan vibrating in his chest, he pushed her up against the wall and flicked his tongue across her lips. He took advantage of her startled gasp to deepen the kiss. His heat, his smell and the carnal pleasure of his touch invaded her. His lips and tongue teased and danced with hers. So wet. So hot.

An onslaught of sensations blanketed her and instinct took over. She plunged her fingers into his thick, dark hair and pushed herself up into his kiss. She hummed with satisfaction as the evidence of his desire pressed against her stomach. He moaned and slid his hand down the back of her thigh, then hitched her leg around his waist.

Lust burned through her veins. Pure, basic and animal. The hunger to touch and be touched threatened to consume her. The tepid kisses she’d experienced in the past hadn’t prepared her for this man.

He ravished her lips as his hands explored her body. She braced her hands on his chest and a decadent sigh escaped her as her fingertips met his hot, bare skin. Desperate to feel him against her, Natalie dropped her towel to the floor. With an impatient growl, Garrett cupped her breasts and dipped his head to run kisses across the sensitive skin.

Instinct was a funny thing. She’d never been touched like this—the few men she’d been with were clumsy and awkward in comparison—but she knew exactly what she wanted. Gripping handfuls of Garrett’s hair in her fists, she held his head against her chest and arched her back, demanding more. She whimpered when his tongue licked one taut peak. When she scraped her fingernails across his scalp, he groaned and took her fully in his mouth.

At first, she didn’t even hear her phone ringing. It was coming from the bedroom.

Then she heard his phone ringing from his pants on the floor.

“Don’t answer it,” she breathed.

When the hotel phone rang in chorus with their cell phones, panic sliced through her lust-addled brain.

“Oh, God.”

The last time every phone near her started ringing had been the night Traci died. Cold fear replaced the heat of desire. She recognized this dread. She’d felt it that night, too. Natalie ran to her phone and picked it up.

“Yes, this is Natalie.” She was shivering so violently her teeth were clacking against each other.

“You need to put this on.” Garrett wrapped her in a bathrobe and stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

“What happened?” she asked in a hoarse whisper.

“Natalie...” Steve Davis’s voice broke on the other end of the line. “It’s Sophie... Lily was carrying her down the stairs and her hip gave out. She managed to break her fall but she lost her hold on the baby...”

“How badly is Sophie hurt?” Natalie’s mind went bright white. Garrett cursed then wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, his chest solid behind her back. She leaned back, grateful for the support.

“Mostly scrapes and bruises.” The poor man choked back a sob. “But Lily’s worried Sophie might have bumped her head. They’re running more tests on her to rule out a concussion.”

Natalie didn’t recall the rest of their conversation. Once she hung up the phone, Garrett turned her around to face him and wiped the tears spilling down her cheeks with the pad of his thumb.

“Sophie fell down the stairs.” Her voice sounded distant and foreign. “She might have a concussion.”

“God...” Garrett didn’t try to comfort her with empty words. He pulled her into his arms and held her until her trembling subsided.

Then he snapped into action, punching numbers into his phone and barking out orders. Natalie heard him mention a helicopter. They needed to go to Sophie—the sooner, the better.

As she stood rooted to the spot, Garrett pulled on his clothes then proceeded to dress her, maneuvering her limp limbs into compliance. “Sophie needs you.”

The helicopter ride took less than half an hour, but it felt like a lifetime. As they landed on the hospital roof, Garrett kept his eyes on Natalie. She’d stopped crying but she was too still and quiet. Tugging her head into his chest against the rush of the propeller’s wind, he ushered her downstairs.

When they got to the waiting room on the pediatric floor, they found Lily weeping silently into Steve’s shoulder. Adelaide and James sat close together. When Lily spotted Natalie, she walked toward her, limping slightly, and hugged her tightly.

“I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault. I’m so sorry.”

“It was an accident. It’s not your fault.” Natalie stepped back from the older woman and scanned her. “Are you okay? Did you hurt your hip again?”

“No. I’m fine.” Lily didn’t sound too happy about that. “I should’ve protected the baby, but I couldn’t hang on. I’m sorry, Natalie. I was so selfish to keep her with me...”

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