Summer of Love - Carly Phillips Page 0,33

her so deeply. She didn’t get how she felt so good around a guy who represented the opposite of the unstructured life she enjoyed. Oh, she knew he was sexy, but that wasn’t enough to explain the reason she’d come to his motel room after knowing him such a short time.

It was the combination of all of Ryan’s decent qualities that attracted her. Like how he tried his best to understand Sam, a kid who meant nothing to him except a continuation of bloodlines. He treated Zoe’s whole nutty family with respect, when in reality, he probably had every right just to pick up Sam and walk out, and would likely win against the Costas clan in any court. And then there was the tenderness and desire she saw in his gaze each time he looked at her. The same way he was looking at her now.

She sat on the edge of the bed and watched as he pulled off his jacket and shut off the overhead lights, leaving on only one bedside lamp. She swallowed hard and extended one hand toward him.

Ryan strode forward, tall, imposing and breathtakingly male. When he pushed her onto the bed and came down over her, she appreciated the breadth of his shoulders and the strength in the muscles normally hidden beneath his suit jacket. And when his lips came down hard on hers, all the pent-up passion they’d held in check since their first meeting rose to the surface.

Her entire body trembled as she returned his kiss. Letting her eyes shut and her mind go blank, she focused on feeling—his lips nibbling at hers, his tongue tangling and swirling inside the deep recesses of her mouth, and his teeth taking light nips as he devoured her every way he could.

She worked at the buttons on his shirt with shaking hands, eager to get him naked as soon as possible. Apparently, he shared a similar goal because at the same time he pulled her shirt upward. She sat back and helped, lifting her top over her head and tossing it to the floor.

Within minutes they were both free of clothing and once more his body covered hers. “Damn but you feel good.”

He nipped at her earlobe and tremors shot straight to her core. Liquid heat trickled between her legs, making her even hotter for him than she already had been.

“You’re pretty impressive yourself. Who knew you hid such a fantastic body beneath those fancy suits,” she said.

He chuckled, then taking her off guard, he rolled so he was on his back and she lay atop him, her breasts heavy against his chest and their lower bodies perfectly entwined.

Skin against skin, his heat seeped into her pores, and as he laced his fingers through hers and raised her arms above her head, she suddenly became aware of the intimacy of the moment—the intensity, which she’d never experienced to this degree with another man. Something else she just couldn’t explain away as pure physical attraction.

“Can I ask you something?”

“I don’t see why not,” he said, his breath against her ear.

“Does your need to follow the rules extend to the bedroom?” As she asked, she rose until she straddled his hips, wanting to see his face during this particular conversation.

He burst out laughing, his grin causing somersaults in her stomach. “Are you trying to tell me you’re kinky?”

She shook her head, hoping her cheeks weren’t bright red by now. “I just want to know whether I need to be…restrained.”

A part of her worried that his more conservative past would lead him to want a sedate woman in bed, yet she had a feeling that sex with Ryan would be nothing short of mind-blowing. If so, there was no way she’d be able to maintain any type of pretense. Nor did she want to. With the emotions this man aroused, she needed him to accept her for the expressive, open woman she was.

His warm gaze held hers. “Aah, Zoe, I think I’d be disappointed if you were restrained.” He cupped her breasts with his hands, and her nipples grew hard beneath his touch. “In fact, if I didn’t hear loud moans, I’d worry that I wasn’t pleasing you.”

His seductive stare never wavered as he began to slowly massage both nipples between his thumb and forefingers, teasing and arousing her with his deft touch. The desire he built traveled directly from her breasts straight to the damp place between her thighs, making her want to clench her legs together