Sean's Reckoning - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,69

whole lot like heady exhilaration swept through her. Still, she noticed that he didn’t look all that happy about the discovery that his feelings ran that deep.

“But?” she asked cautiously.

His gaze held hers. “That’s it. I know you aren’t interested in having a relationship, and I’m not convinced I’m any good at them, and here I go changing the rules.”

Despite his somber tone, she couldn’t contain the rush of pure joy. Until she’d heard the words leave his lips, she hadn’t realized just how desperately she’d been wanting to hear them. She laughed and launched herself into his arms. “It’s about time, Sean Devaney. The wait was getting on my nerves.”

He caught her and clasped her to his chest, then leaned back to scan her face. “You’re not furious?”

She was almost as stunned by that as he seemed to be, but there it was. She was ecstatic, not angry.

“Furious?” she echoed, not even attempting to disguise her own amazement. “I guess not.” To prove it, she kissed him, not pulling back until their breathing was ragged.

A grin tugged at his lips. “Do you have any idea how much I want to make love to you, Deanna Blackwell?”

She wriggled against him. “As a matter of fact I think I do,” she teased.

“Well?”

“The bed’s made. There’s nobody around to interrupt. I’d say we have all the time in the world.”

Sean’s expression turned serious. He reached out with fingers that trembled slightly and brushed a stray curl away from her cheek. “You’re absolutely certain this is something you want?”

She touched a finger to his lips. “Not if you intend to talk it to death.”

He laughed. “No more talking?”

“Nope. I think all the important stuff has already been said.”

“Not all of it,” he said. “You haven’t said how you feel about me, about us.”

“Haven’t I? I thought I had,” she said, kissing him thoroughly. “Not clear enough? I love you, Sean Devaney. I never thought I would say that to another person, but it’s true. Not even I could be stubborn enough to go on denying it, when it’s staring me in the face. I love you.”

His expression brightened. Before she could guess what he had in mind, he rose to his feet, still holding her in his arms, and headed for the freshly painted bedroom. At the doorway he hesitated.

“Shower first,” he said. “Of course, I won’t have any fresh clothes to change into afterward.”

Deanna grinned. “I don’t think clothes are going to be a necessity for the rest of the night.”

“You going to join me in the shower? Or do you want to go first?”

Normally she would have wanted to go first, maybe use the time to steady her nerves before she took this next step, but right this moment she couldn’t imagine being separated from him even for a second. Despite his claim to love her, there was still a chance he could change his mind about making love. Obviously, he knew, as she did, that they were about to cross a line from which there would be no turning back.

“I’ll scrub your back if you’ll scrub mine,” she said lightly.

His eyes darkened. “Deal,” he said, his voice suddenly hoarse.

The bathroom was fairly large, with an old-fashioned claw-footed tub with a showerhead installed above. The tile floor was cool beneath her bare feet. Deanna suddenly shivered, overcome with an attack of jitters.

Sean studied her. “Change your mind?”

“No,” she said staunchly. But the transition from fully clothed to buck naked intimidated her.

Sean seemed to guess what was going on in her head. Eyes locked with hers, he reached for the faucets and turned on the water, then faced her and reached for the hem of her T-shirt. Ever so slowly, his gaze never leaving her face, he lifted it over her head.

Then he skimmed his knuckles across her bare skin, avoiding her breasts, on his way to releasing the snap on her cutoff jeans. A leisurely push had the shorts skimming over her hips and sliding down her legs.

Then she was standing before him in bra and panties, watching the desire darken his eyes. He kicked off his sneakers, then shucked his T-shirt and jeans and stood before her in briefs that did nothing to conceal the full state of his arousal. A smile played across his mouth.

“If it would help, we could jump in like this, pretend we’re going swimming,” he suggested.

One tiny part of Deanna wanted to do just that. In fact, there was something amazingly provocative about imagining how