Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Can - By Kat Martin Page 0,40

once loved and the son he had never known. His ghosts were haunting him tonight, and there were times even a strong man like Ben needed to connect, to feel the closeness of someone who cared.

Claire moaned as his hands slid into her hair, holding her in place as he ravished her mouth. Her own need swelled. It was wrong, she knew. There was too much at risk. Sam’s life was at stake.

But what about Ben? His child was missing, a child he might never know. Sam needed her, but so did Ben.

It took a moment for her to realize he had paused, that he was no longer touching her. When she opened her eyes, she stared into a pair as pale and hot as the tip of a flame. He was waiting, holding himself back. Keeping his word.

Claire read the need in those ice-blue eyes, and her heart expanded. Rising on her toes, she cupped his face between her hands, felt the roughness of his late-night beard and very softly kissed him.

Ben groaned and the dam of his control suddenly burst. Hard hands moved over her breasts, her belly, slid beneath her nightshirt, smoothed over the globes of her bottom. He had left the decision to her, and she had silently given him her permission. Now there was no turning back.

His fingers moved under the elastic of her white panties. Claire gasped as he ripped them away. Ben caught the sound in her mouth, kissing her deeply, taking control of her body and perhaps a little of her soul. She barely heard the buzz of his zipper sliding down, barely noticed the protection he pulled out of his back pocket, ripped open and slid onto his powerful erection.

Then he was lifting her, stroking her softness, finding her more than ready, feeling her tremble. A single deep thrust and he was buried to the hilt, drawing a low moan from her throat. For a moment he stilled, giving her time to adjust to his size and length, fighting for control.

Claire didn’t want control. Not now, now when she had taken the irreversible step and given herself to him. Sliding her fingers into his hair, she pulled his mouth down to hers and kissed him wildly, deeply, urging him on, wanting what his hard body had promised. Ben lifted her, propped her back against the wall, wrapped her legs around his waist and started to move, slowly at first, then faster, deeper, harder.

Fierce, pounding thrusts sent pleasure spinning through her. She felt consumed and on fire, clinging to his neck, trembling as he took her more deeply, took her until all she could think of was the pleasure, and Ben, and how good it felt to have him inside her. She didn’t expect the powerful climax that seized her, forced a cry from her lips. She shuddered with the force of it and just hung on.

An instant later, Ben’s powerful body tightened and he followed her to release.

* * *

Claire. Her name rang in his head. Claire. He hadn’t expected what she’d given him tonight. When she’d stepped out into the moonlight looking like the dark-haired angel he called her, he’d told himself to leave her alone, that she was only offering friendship. But he had needed a woman tonight, needed to feel a woman’s arms around him, needed the taste of a woman in his mouth, the scent of a woman wrapped around him. He hadn’t meant for that woman to be Claire.

Then he’d looked into those wide green eyes and seen something in their uncertain depths, something that reflected the same need he was feeling. Her soft kiss had been his undoing, and for a moment, he’d lost control. He’d wanted her badly, had since the morning she had talked her way into his living room. But he didn’t want to hurt her, didn’t want to break the trust she had given him.

He loved sex. Loved women who loved sex. Women who wanted what he had to offer and took it freely. Even then, some of them he’d wound up hurting. More than a few. He’d didn’t quite know why. He’d always been open and honest, never pulled any punches.

He was who he was, and he figured that wasn’t going to change.

Now everything had changed. Now he was a father.

Now there was Claire.

He took care of the condom, tossing it into the waste can out on the deck, shifted her into his arms and carried her toward the sliding