Page 56 of Moonshine and Magnolias
His hand trailed over her in long, smooth strokes, each one getting closer and closer to the center of her heat. When his fingers slid past her belly button, she placed her hand on his to still the movement. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “I’m fine.” Aside from his fingering her against the door, it was the closest she’d come to an orgasm with someone else in a while. But how could she lose herself while her body took pleasure? To let Rob see her that way. Not losing herself to the vulnerability would keep her from being crushed when he left.
Chapter 11
Well, damn. The last time Rob had left a woman unsatisfied was when he was too new at the sex thing to take his time. Now feeling a woman’s muscles tighten around him and her hands dig in to his back or claw at the sheets when she came was an aphrodisiac. Wendy hadn’t been faking her passion. She had crossed the brink to blind instinct when she had pulled back.
He kissed her, long and hard and deep, trailing his hand down the smooth skin of her belly, alongside her hip, and then up to her breast. He used his thumb over her nipple until it tightened.
She rested her hand on top of his.
If her communication was any clearer, it would be vodka. He tucked his hands under the pillow to keep from touching her again. “Next time,” he said. “You go first.”
“I did. Against the wall, remember?”
Like he could forget her dripping on his hand. That wasn’t what he meant. He opened his mouth to respond, but she sat up in one fluid movement, presenting Rob with her back.
“I think your underwear is over there somewhere.” She nodded toward a corner of her room.
Ouch. “Yeah.” He kissed her shoulder and inhaled her peach scent one last time before shuffling around to get his clothes. She pulled on her pink shirt and waited by the door.
She gave him no other opportunity to talk. He had barely finished zipping his pants when she poked her head into the hallway. “All clear.”
He stepped out of the room. Before he could tell her goodnight, the door closed with a definite click.
And that, apparently, was that. For now, anyway. He shook his head at the unfamiliar weight in his stomach. Something had happened to her. He’d have to wait until tomorrow to figure out what, but one thing he did know. One night with Wendy was never going to be enough.
A soft scratching noise sounded at the door to the stairwell, like a cat wanting to get inside. Rob waited it out. It matched the pattern his family had established for convert communications. What could his brother possibly want with him at one in the morning?
He eyed the servants staircase at other end of the hall. If he went that way, he could avoid Hal. Maybe even leave him in the stairwell overnight. With a sigh of regret, he opened the door for his brother.
“Took you long enough.” Hal kept his voice low. “I’ve been scratching for two hours.”
“I’ve been busy.”
Hal gave him a slap on the back. “So. Got laid, did you?”
Rob said nothing.
“Dude, you smell like sex and you think I’m not going to ask?”
“What are you doing here? I mean, aside from stalking me.”
“Fine, don’t share.” Hal paced slowly down the hallway, inspecting the first door he came to. “You know I’d tell you all the salacious details if I had scored.”
Whether Rob wanted to hear them or not. “That’s because you’re an asshole.”
“Yeah, true.” Hal grinned, then his face turned serious. “Uncle Louis mentioned the third floor and the attic in his journals. He was here much longerthan his job should have required, actually, and was treated almost like family.”
His confidence surprised Rob. “When did you figure all this out?”
“Anita helped me. And you’ve done a good job keeping everyone out of my way. It gave me time to go exploring and follow up on what we’ve found. I swear, I’ve gotten more done on this trip than we usually do. This ploy of seduction is really working for us. Though not how I expected it to.”
Rob clenched his hands for moment, then let them go. It wasn’t a ploy. His attraction to Wendy started when he first saw her in the kitchen, even with her no nonsense glare and shuttered reactions.
Rob’s chest tightened when he looked at his brother. “Wendy said you told her the reason we’re here. So, thanks for that.”
Hal flinched as if expecting retribution, but then relaxed and smirked. “I thought it might put you in a better light if she heard it from someone else.” He crept to the next door. “I hope everyone’s sleeping.”
Something about Hal’s tone didn’t sit right. Rob poked at it. “It was a thoughtful and self-sacrificing thing to do, not knowing how she’d react to us lying to her.”
