Page 75 of Home Team Advantage
“Hush,” he commanded, striding away from the helm and toward the deck. There, he laid her out and began to unwrap her like a present, silencing any further protests with his mouth on her flesh.
When she was completely naked, he sat back and looked at her. She was glorious. Her skin, flushed with passion, glowed beneath the moonlight. Her eyes, heavy-lidded and lust-drunk. Her hair, fanned out around her.
“You’re so beautiful.” His voice was nothing but a guttural growl, but she seemed to like it.
She opened her arms and spread her legs in invitation, and he was so there. He shed his clothes quickly, then positioned himself between her legs, letting his cock sit heavy above her sex.
Was it fast? Yes.
Did he care? Not a damn bit, not as long as she was right there with him, egging him on.
She lifted her hips, trying to get him where she wanted him, but he wanted to savor the moment. There would be many, many more times like this, but they would only ever have one first time.
He relished the feel of her body beneath his. Her perfect breasts pressing against his chest. The smooth glide of her inner thighs along his hips. Her nails dug into his shoulders. His back. His ass.
Coaxing. Encouraging.
When he could stand her begging pleas no longer, he positioned himself at her entrance. His wet tip slid right into place in her slick sex. Then, he eased forward, spearing her, basking in the feel of her legs wrapping around his hips, pulling him in deeper.
He made love to her beneath the stars, witnessed only by the sky above and the water below. Slowly and thoroughly, wanting to imprint himself on her so deeply that she felt him inside her always. Only when she gasped his name and clenched around him so hard that he saw stars of his own, did he give himself over to his own release.
Chapter Forty-Three
ANNA
Matt was … well, he was everything she’d ever dreamed in a lover and more. Passionate. Generous. Extremely skilled. She pushed away thoughts of how he’d become so skilled and concentrated instead on how she’d reaped the benefits.
They made love twice more before another type of hunger made itself known. Sexually sated and blissfully sore, they ate their candlelight dinner right there on the deck, wrapped loosely in blankets. After the intense heat of their bodies coming together, the cool breeze coming off the surface of the water felt good.
“Can I ask you something?” she said, focusing on the buttery roll she was pulling apart with her fingers.
“Of course.”
“What happened?”
“I’m sorry?”
She shifted, repositioning her legs. “What changed? Since that night at the hospital, you haven’t spoken two words to me. Now”—she waved her arm to encompass the boat—“you do all this. Not that I don’t like it—because I do. I just want to know why.”
“Because I’ve decided to stay in Pine Ridge.”
“You weren’t going to before?”
He shook his head, seemed to think about something for long moments, then said, “I’ve been in the service for the past ten years. For the last four, I’ve been in a highly classified division of special forces. I was on assignment in Central America. I nearly didn’t make it back.”
Anna’s eyes went to his side, where she’d seen the bloody bandage, finding only a scar there now. She hadn’t even thought about it while they were having sex. She’d been too busy focusing on other things.
“Yes,” he said, guessing her thoughts. “I was very lucky. When I made it back onto US soil, my direct superiors made me an offer. A promotion, if you will. If I accepted—which I planned to do—I had to give up everything. I had six months to tie up any loose ends and say goodbye to my family. Without them knowing, of course. I knew it was going to be hard, but it was what I wanted. Or thought I did.”
Anna sucked in a breath. She knew exactly how hard it was to leave one life behind for another. The difference was, Matt had a good life and a family who loved him.
“What changed?” she asked again. Same question, different context.
“I realized a lot of things weren’t what they appeared to be. Including you.”
Anna kept her expression calm when she said, “You thought I was taking advantage of Mrs. Campbell.”
“I considered it as a possibility at first, before I met you,” Matt admitted. “But once I did, I knew you didn’t have it in you.”
