Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Can - By Kat Martin Page 0,108

been thinking about for more than a week.

Ben looked up, surprised to see her still there. “What is it?”

“I’ve been thinking.... The other day...when you made your ugly proposal...”

He frowned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to be ugly, just practical.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about your practical proposal. If I’d said yes, what did you plan to do about women?”

His frown deepened. “Women?”

“We both know you have a voracious appetite for sex. To the best of my knowledge, that involves women.”

He shrugged. “I like sex. I’m pretty sure you do, too.”

“That isn’t the point. You aren’t a one-woman man. Were you planning to fool around on the side? Maybe you thought if you were discreet—”

He was out of his chair in an instant and pressing her up against the wall. “I wasn’t planning to cheat on you. I don’t believe in that. I haven’t been with another woman since I met you. I sure as hell wouldn’t do it after we were married.”

She swallowed, surprised by his answer and the fact she knew he meant it. “I just... I was curious.” She tried to move away, but he didn’t let her go, just bent his head and kissed her. A deep, wet, ravishing kiss that turned her body liquid and warm. His tongue was in her mouth, tasting and coaxing, and she melted against him.

She could feel every hard muscle, feel his powerful erection, and though she told herself to resist, he was Ben and she loved him. And she ached for him to touch her the way he had before.

“I want you, angel. God, I want you so much.”

“Oh, Ben. I want you, too.”

He kissed her again, softly his time, then more deeply. She loved the way he kissed, loved the taste of him, the feel of his hard body. No man could ever compare, not for her.

Lifting her into his arms, he carried her down the hall into his bedroom. In an instant, the borrowed T-shirt was gone, her panties stripped away. She helped Ben take off his clothes, then naked, he carried her over to the bed.

The loving started slow and easy, in seconds turned hot and wet, deep and erotic. He knew just how to touch her, how to stir her body until she couldn’t think of anything but him, couldn’t stand another moment without him inside her.

He drove deep, took her hard, drove her to frenzy. She bit down on her lip to stifle a cry as she reached a climax, then another. A few minutes later, Ben followed her to release.

Afterward they lay entwined, Claire nestled against his side. She traced a finger over his powerful chest. “I should go. Sam might wake up.” Thank heaven he was a deep sleeper.

Ben pressed a kiss on her forehead. “Not yet.” For a while he just held her, and she wondered at his thoughts. She was back in his house, but nothing had changed. Leaning over, he kissed her again, came up over her and slid himself inside. This time they reached their peak together and slowly drifted down.

Ben didn’t stop her when she eased out of bed, grabbed his T-shirt and her panties off the floor, went into the bathroom. When she walked back out, he was wearing his jeans and nothing else, standing in front of the door, blocking her escape from the bedroom.

“We’re good together, Claire.”

She reached up and touched his cheek, felt his late-evening beard. “I know.”

“Will you think about it?”

She didn’t have to ask what he meant. She had been thinking about his “practical” proposal for days. But until that very moment, it hadn’t occurred to her that she might actually accept it. Now as she looked into his hard, handsome face, she thought how much she loved him, thought how lonely her life would be without him.

And what if Sage was right and Ben really did love her? Would it be possible for them to be happy?

But what if Sage was wrong and the reason Ben was marrying her was exactly what he said. A practical solution to the problem of sharing Sam?

Could she live with a man who didn’t love her? Claire knew she could not.

And yet she heard herself saying, “I’ll think about it,” as she turned and walked out of the bedroom.

* * *

Ben drove Claire to work the next morning.

“Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” she said.

“It’ll only be for a day or two, till Castillo gets a line on things. We need to be sure