LITMIR.BIZ

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all.”

      Of course he was surprised, she told herself. He’d left her only an hour ago with the promise that they’d meet tomorrow to talk some more. But she hadn’t been able to sit still once he was gone. She’d waited eighteen months to see him again, and now that he was home, she didn’t want to wait another minute.

      “I know we said tomorrow,” she said with a shrug, “but I thought … why put off till tomorrow what we could—?” She stopped, smiled and shrugged again. “You know.”

      “Yeah.” He shoved his free hand into his pocket, and Kelly’s gaze was drawn to the action. Naturally, she also noted the distinct bulge in his jeans, and another shiver coursed through her. Her knees were shaky, so she locked them in place to keep from melting into a tidy puddle in front of him.

      “Where’s the baby?” he asked. “Uh, Kieran’s staying with her.” Thankfully, she had one brother at least who was a romantic at heart. He’d come as soon as she’d called and hadn’t said a word when she told him where she was going. He’d only said that she should take her time, and that he was prepared to spend the night if she needed him to.

      Of course, if Jeff didn’t make her feel a bit more welcome pretty soon, she could be home again in ten minutes.

      As if he knew just what she was thinking, he stood back, held the door wider and said, “Come in.”

      That’s a start, she thought and stepped past him into the shadowy interior of the hotel room. The curtains were open on the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony, and moonlight poured into the room. The sheer white drapes ruffled in the ocean breeze and almost looked like ghosts writhing in the darkness.

      The door closed behind her, and she felt Jeff step up close, pause, then move past her, farther into the room. He flipped a switch on the wall, and a small pool of lamplight banished the shadows.

      Kelly swung her shoulder purse off her arm and tossed it onto the closest chair. Now that she was here, she wasn’t at all sure where to start. She ran her damp hands down the legs of her jeans and told herself to say something. Heck, say anything.

      “I know Emily was a big shock …” Well, duh.

      “Yeah,” he said, taking a step toward her, then stopping again. “You could say that.”

      “Jeff, I would have told you earlier if I’d had any way of getting in touch with you.”

      “I know that.”

      “And I’m sorry my brothers were there.”

      “Can’t blame ‘em,” he said stiffly. “I figure my name hasn’t exactly been popular around here for the last year and a half.”

      That was putting it mildly, she thought. Ever since she’d found out she was pregnant, her brothers had wanted nothing less than either a marriage—or Jeff’s head on a plate. And they really hadn’t cared which it came down to, either.

      But that decision wasn’t up to them, as she’d spent the past eighteen months telling them. This was between she and Jeff. No one else got a vote here.

      “Let’s leave them out of this for now, okay?” she asked, not really wanting to talk about her brothers at the moment.

      He nodded and pinned her with a look that nearly set fire to her jeans. “Trust me. I’m not thinking about your brothers right now.”

      Oh, man. Kelly swallowed hard and walked toward him, one slow step at a time. “What are you thinking about?” she asked, and was amazed that she’d managed to squeeze that many words past the knot of pure, soul-deep hunger lodged in her throat.

      He shook his head. “You know damn well what I’m thinking about, Kel. The same thing I’ve been thinking about and dreaming about for the last eighteen months.”

      “You, too?” she asked before she could stop herself. It probably wasn’t playing the game to admit to a man just how badly you wanted him. But then again, who was playing here?

      She took another step and came within reaching distance. His gaze moved over her face, her hair, her body like the tenderest of lover’s touches, and her heartbeat quickened into double time.

      “Every night,” he said, his voice a low scrape of sound in the stillness, “whenever I closed my eyes, you were there. Your scent. Your taste.”

      Her knees wobbled dangerously.

      “Your touch,” he whispered, and lifted one hand to smooth his fingertips along the line of her cheek and jaw.

      She trembled and fought for breath.

      “It’s been a long time,” she said softly, her gaze locking with his.

      “Too damn long,” he agreed, and cupped the back of her neck with one hand, drawing her closer still.

      She went willingly, laying her palms against his chest, feeling the hard, solid warmth of him. His heartbeat pounded quickly beneath one hand, and she knew her own heart was keeping time. Her blood felt hot and thick in her veins. Her head spun dizzily at his touch, and her breasts ached.

      Kelly stared up into those blue eyes of his and read the hunger written there. Seeing his desire, so naked, so pure, touched a match to her insides and ignited an inferno within. Slowly, so slowly, the expectation was darn near painful, he lowered his head toward hers and she rose up to meet him.

      This, she thought. This was why she’d come. This was why she hadn’t been able to wait until tomorrow. She’d needed to have his hands on her. Needed to kiss and be kissed. Needed to hold and be held. Needed to lie beneath him, feeling him fill the emptiness inside.

      And then his mouth came down on hers, and she stopped thinking. Her brain clicked off and her body clicked on. Sensation rippled through her, and she slid her palms up his chest and around his neck. Holding on to him tightly, she felt his arms slide around her and lock like twin steel bands, pinning her to his body with an easy strength she remembered all too clearly.

      He parted her lips with his tongue and claimed her anew. Breath mingling, sighs exchanged, their tongues met in a clashing dance of need and want. He shifted one hand to the back of her head, threading his fingers through her hair and holding her for his kiss. A kiss that gave, as well as took. She clung to him, tasting him, teasing him, aligning her body along his. And it wasn’t nearly enough. There were too many clothes separating them. She needed to feel his skin against hers.

      His hands swept around and up, cupping her breasts, thumbing her nipples through the soft angora sweater she wore. Kelly tore her mouth free of his and moaned gently at his touch. “Jeff …”

      “I know, baby,” he muttered thickly. “Me, too. I need to feel you. All of you. Now.”

      “Yes,” she murmured, opening her eyes briefly to look up at him. “Now. Please.”

      Jeff’s hands dropped to the hem of her sweater, and in one swift move, he had it up and over her head. Tossing it to one side, he ran his hands up and down her back while his gaze locked on her lace-covered breasts. Fuller, he thought. Rounder than before. And still so damn perfect.

      She trembled against him, and that gentle movement echoed inside him. Reverently, he lifted both hands to the front clasp between her breasts and deftly undid it. She sucked in a huge gulp of air as the bra came loose and stood perfectly still when he scooped it off her shoulders and down her arms.

      “Beautiful,” he whispered, and cupped her breasts in his palms.

      “Jeff …” she said on a sigh.

      His thumbs and forefingers tweaked her already rigid nipples, tugging and pulling gently until her breath came short and fast. She reached out and held on to his forearms, curling her fingers into his skin until her trim nails dug into his flesh. Then he dipped his head and gave into the urge riding him. Taking first one nipple and then the other into his mouth, he tasted her, rolling the sensitive tips with his tongue, swirling across

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