Deadly Little Secrets Page 0,73

then purred loudly as he put his head down on his paws and closed his eyes. Sandwiched between Gates and the cat, she decided to just close her eyes for another minute. Just another minute, then she’d get up.

“Ana?” Gates murmured her name into her hair. His arms were banded around her, his body a furnace of warmth that made her want to stretch like Lancelot and luxuriate in the feeling of being held so tight.

“Mmmm? Hey,” she replied, eyes still closed, just enjoying being able to run her hands over his chest, feel the springy hair tickle her fingers, trace the muscles that excited her so much.

“We have to get moving. It’s nearly eight.”

His words hit her brain like a bucket of cold water and she sat up. “What? What? How can that be?” She pushed her hair out of her eyes, staring at the clock. Sure enough, it read seven forty-two. “Oh, my God, I have to get to work.”

“Whoa, whoa!” He stopped her frantic attempt to unwrap the mummifying blankets and leap up. “Both of our bosses practically ordered us to sleep in. We’ve followed orders very nicely, I think.”

“Yes, but—”

“No. No buts. We both needed the sleep, and now,” he grinned wolfishly, “we need a wake-up call.”

She shoved at her hair again, sure that it was a rat’s nest and that she must look like something the proverbial cat dragged in. “I look like hell,” she said, trying to get loose. She wanted to be sexy for him, as beautiful as she could be, since he seemed to think she was attractive.

I should brush my teeth, at least.

“No,” he growled, hovering over her, the blankets making a cape on his back. “You’re gorgeous, sexy, and rumpled, with your sleepy eyes and your hyper-responsibility. I’m going to make us both late,” he said, swooping in to kiss her. “Very late.”

“Gates!” she protested, but it was half-hearted, because his mouth was working magic on her neck, the curve of her ear, and her mouth. Oh my God, it’s even better in the morning.

She met him kiss for kiss, caress for heated caress. “Here, touch me here,” she moaned.

“Yes, like that,” he directed as she shifted her hips to meet him, making them both groan with ecstasy as the maneuver brought a fresh wave of sensation to taunt them, bring them higher.

“Ohhh, yes,” she said, pulling him into her, deeper and faster. “More. I want more of you.”

“Look at me, Ana.”

She did, and what she saw in his face, in his eyes, made her heart race even faster. The wild passion was there, but so was something else. A tenderness, a desire that transcended the physical.

It made her want to weep. It made her want to dance. Instead, she arched up to claim his mouth, to fuse them together.

They broke the kiss only to gasp out their completion as they soared together over the edge into orgasm.

In the aftermath, he flipped them, holding her steady where she lay limp and spent on his sweaty chest. Her hair draped in damp ropes over his arm, and her head rose and fell with the powerful depth of his breathing.

He smoothed a possessive hand down her back, resting it for a moment in the spot he seemed to like at the small of her back. His fingers drew patterns there, lulling her mind, derailing all thought.

“Good morning, Anastasia,” he finally murmured as his restless fingers continued their lines and curves.

“Good morning, Gates,” she said, the words muffled by his chest and the fall of her heavy hair. With effort, she swished it to the side, freeing the dark strands from her mouth and using her fingers to untangle it from the chain she wore around her neck. The simple cross had twisted to the back and lay warm and heavy on her spine.

“This is a superior way to wake up,” he said. She could feel the chuckle that accompanied the words, heard it echo in his chest.

“I think I have the superior position, but yes, it has a lot to recommend it.”

He sighed, and she decided it sounded regretful. “Much as I don’t want to move, I guess we should.”

She propped herself up, sweeping more hair out of the way to look at him. “You stopped me from rushing out of here, so I guess we’ll just take our time. You want the first shower?”

His grin was wicked. “How about we share? I’ll wash your back.”

The mental image of that was divine.