said softly.
“While you’re thanking me...” Could he be any more awkward in this situation? “Like I said, I brought some gifts for Lindsey. I wanted to get her something.” He stepped forward and handed her two of the gifts, keeping the last one. Hers.
“Oh—thank you, Chase. I’m sure she’ll love anything you’ve picked out. I just wish you hadn’t gone overboard with the skis.”
They stood close together now, the presents the only barrier, and Chase was transfixed. Tana’s dark eyes were the most complicated shade of chocolate and gold he’d ever seen. Her lips were full, perfect...and begging to be kissed. She took shallow breaths.
Chase’s heart pounded. Could he handle another crushing disappointment after his accident? Was Tana worth the risk? It would be the end of him, just like it had been the end of his skiing career. But he couldn’t resist the hot pull between them.
“Here,” he said, his voice thick. “Let me just—” Chase took the packages out of her arms and set them on the kitchen counter, propping the skis in the corner. One step back, and he took Tana in his arms.
She melted into him, tiny moans of pleasure coaxing him toward more. Tana kissed him back, hard. It wasn’t right, he knew it wasn’t right—or at least it was dangerous. But this wasn’t a relationship, was it? This was two adult people who needed each other. Physically.
Tana undid the zipper of his coat and pushed it off his shoulders, and after that it was a race between them to see who could get naked first. Tana won, stripping down to nothing seconds before he stepped out of his pants. Their bodies came together again, and Chase felt like an electric light—burning up everything around them. Bedroom, he thought through the haze of touching her.
Somehow, they made it, though Tana bumped into the wall halfway down. This time, she pushed him back onto the bed and crawled over him, pressing heated kisses onto the ridges of his abs and all way up to the line of his jaw. She kissed him while she reached for her nightstand.
Her arms didn’t quite make it, and he rolled her closer, holding her tight around the waist.
Tana ripped the foil packet open and deftly slid it on for him.
“You don’t have to do that.” He pulled her on top of him and kissed the hollow between her breasts. “I can handle it.”
“It’s done. Don’t think, just—” Tana eased herself down on his length and tipped her head back with a groan. “Move,” she urged. “I have to go soon.”
Chase stopped thinking and started doing, loving the feel of her. The hot slide of her up and down. Their hips meeting. The softness of her skin beneath his hands. The way her nipples peaked when he brushed the pad of his thumb over them. How sweet her voice sounded, saying his name. Her weight kept him grounded in the moment. There was no job out west, no decision to make about what they were or weren’t, nothing but her body and his.
He let her ride him until a pulsing need rose in him. It was his old, physical call—the one that made him go into professional skiing, the one that spurred him on to push off at the top of the hill. Chase sat up, and Tana clung to him as they kissed. Then kissed again. He was so close. It was like he’d been thinking of her nonstop since last night, which in fact, he had.
With her legs wrapped around his waist, he slid off the bed. Holding her like this was worth the pain in his leg. He’d deal with that in the morning. Right now, it was all about Tana.
“Oh, Chase—what are you—what—” Tana could hardly speak. She let out a sigh when her back contacted the wood, and he wanted to hear that sigh every day for the rest of his life. He wanted to feel how she clenched around him. He wanted the sexy pain of her nails biting into his shoulders and the deep, aching pleasure of her orgasm when they were joined. Oh, it was good. It was the best thing he’d ever experienced in his life.
He lost himself to the pleasure, and his release barreled into him at the speed of light. He pushed Tana harder against the door, bracing them both, and rode the wave all the way down to the bitter end. When it was done, he eased her down