Page 166 of Her Reluctant Hero
“After three years without a word?” She pushed to her feet and walked to the railing, her arms crossed tightly. “Why are you telling me this?”
He put down his fork and leaned back. “Because I don’t think you believed me when I told you I loved you.”
She lifted a trembling hand to hold her windblown hair away from her face. “Oh, I believed you. I just—if you loved me—no. It’s an old fight.”
“If I loved you more than I loved my job.” He came up behind her, stood close but didn’t touch her.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” She turned to him. “I said I love you. I want the past to stay there, all right?” She put her palm on his cheek and rose to kiss him softly, an invitation to take it further.
So he moved away. “If we don’t fix it, we might break it again.”
She shook her head. “I can’t think about that now. Everything else hurts too much. I can’t go back there. Please, Adrian, let’s just move forward.”
If only it was that easy.
Mallory stood in the stateroom doorway wearing one of his T-shirts, the SCUBA one that proclaimed him a Sex Crazed Underwater Bad Ass. She’d bought it for him years ago. He’d always liked it better on her, the way the thin fabric clung to her curves and just hit the tops of her thighs. God, he loved her legs, long and smooth, loved skimming his hands over them. He sat forward on the bed and beckoned. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and approached, her hips rolling seductively, a playful light in her eyes. Oh, good. He liked that kind of sex. He surged off the bed to stand in front of her.
Her breath hitched, her eyes flicking to his lips, but she didn’t move away as he lowered his mouth to hers. Her taste was hot and salty, so he dived in, cupping her head in his hands. She leaned into his kiss and slid her tongue over his lower lip. With a groan, he took her calves in his hands, parting her legs for his body, hooking them around his hips. She curled her hands around the back of his head as he scooted her back on the mattress.
Shifting her hips, she brought him into the cradle of her own, digging her heels into the backs of his thighs, and his already inflamed desire decimated his self-control. Ticklish, she flinched when he slipped his hands under her shirt, and he smiled against her mouth before he covered her breast with his palm.
She wore one of those insubstantial lacy things that she never used to wear, and he circled her nipple. Gasping, she arched into his touch. He fumbled for the hem of her shirt, bunched it up under her arms, and broke the kiss to look down at her. Damn, she was gorgeous.
She wriggled the rest of the way out of her shirt, the movement causing interesting sensations where their hips met. Sensations he wanted to explore further. But she was moving, her legs tightening about him as she tried to sit up, sliding her hands over his bare chest, her fingers exploring the grooves of muscle, moving so lightly he had to grit his teeth against the pleasure. As she touched him, she held his gaze, as if looking away would break the spell. Okay. So he wouldn’t look away, either, even as she leaned in for another kiss.
He linked his arms behind her hips and dragged her closer, positioning her heat right over his erection. He reached down the back of her panties, squeezed, and she rolled against him. Oh, man. Much more of that and he wouldn’t last long.
Okay, maybe one more time. He ground his teeth and broke eye contact to slip his hand between them, finding her center of pleasure easily, with the practice of a thousand times. He caught her head with his free hand and dipped his mouth to her throat. As his teeth scraped the sensitive skin above her collarbone, she pressed against him and exploded.
That was all he could take. His hunger for her devoured the last of his selflessness.
“Adrian.” His name came out a throaty growl as she reached for him.
The blood pounded in his ears. Now. Now. Now. He reached under her arms and lifted her over him, straddling him, her hair falling between them, stroking his already sensitized skin, feeding his need.
And then he was inside her, driving into her, his hands splayed on her hips, holding her as he nuzzled the line of her throat.
Not good enough. He couldn’t get deep enough. He tumbled her onto her back and hooked her legs around his elbows. Her cry broke through his desire-maddened haze. She looked so pale against the dark comforter, and he could see the marks his stubble and teeth left on her skin.
Damn, not again. He would not leave bruises on her again.
“Did I hurt you?” he rasped, struggling for control, for sanity, which hovered just out of reach.
She shook her head, her eyes a little frantic. With shaking hands, he smoothed her hair back, holding still inside her when every instinct told him to take her. He lowered his head to kiss her softly, ignoring her attempts to make the kiss more erotic. With his body buried in hers, he gave her a courting kiss, gentle, exploring.
She eased beneath him, opening to him, wrapping her arms around him, sliding her hands over him in the rhythm of the kiss.
It was the sexiest damn thing he’d ever felt in his life.
He started to move, slowly, easing in and out of her in a pace he’d never attempted and now he regretted the lack. He could feel so much more this way.
She started trembling beneath him, violently, and tossed her head back. He continued the excruciating pace until he drew a keening sound from her, felt the flutter of her muscles around him. He dragged it out as long as he could before they both tumbled into pleasure.
Adrian’s movements were jerky as he checked his gear, his jaw locked. They’d anchored over the wreckage ofThe Mysterious Miss Mand prepared to dive, to look for some sign of Toney and the others. Fear bubbled in Mallory’s own throat. She didn’t want to be the one to discover the bodies, but worse, she didn’t want Adrian to find his brother, not like this.
But she couldn’t ask him to wait. She leaned over to inspect the gauges on his tanks and squeezed his shoulder. He grimaced, turned her to give her own gauges a once-over, then tucked the regulator between clenched teeth and tumbled over the side of the boat.
For the first time since she’d dived this trip, the water didn’t calm her. In fact, the deeper she swam, the tighter her stomach knotted. Ahead of her, Adrian’s strokes were strong and sure. Determined.
