By Request Collection April-June 2016. Оливия Гейтс

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ are you?” she asked.

      “We should be evenly matched.” He partially blocked the first blow. Still, it sang up his arm to resonate in his shoulder. Then he had to shift quickly to prevent a well-aimed kick from connecting with his chin.

      She was fast and agile. He kept his moves defensive as he tried to assess her strengths and weaknesses. Which were damned few, he decided, as her foot connected solidly enough with his hip to send him stumbling back a few steps. Admiration streamed through him along with the zing of pain.

      Overhead, the thunder clapped loudly.

      He was going to have to go on the offensive. Or he might just end up on his back with her foot on his throat. The next kick, which sailed past his guard and into his rib cage, confirmed his decision.

      After five sweaty minutes, he was breathing hard and she seemed to be just hitting her stride. The rain had begun to fall in needlelike pellets. They ignored it. He’d been absolutely correct in his prediction that they’d be evenly matched. Except that he was taller, heavier, and his reach was longer. He might even have used one of his advantages if he hadn’t decided that fighting with her was almost as absorbing and enjoyable as making love with her. Then without warning, she slipped close enough to hook her foot behind his and flip him to the ground. He landed hard on his backside just inside the stone arch.

      The instant before her foot came down on his throat, he grabbed her ankle and jerked her down on top of him. Then he rolled so that she was trapped beneath him. To his surprise, he found the struggle wasn’t over. He had to use his full weight to keep her there as he pinned her hands above her head. And thanks to a bright flash of lightning, he read the intent in those golden eyes and shifted out of the way just in time to prevent her knee from connecting with his groin.

      For seconds, neither of them moved. He was winded. A first for him. And she wasn’t done. The heat of battle was still strong in her eyes. In the dim light, they gleamed at him as tawny and challenging as those of Alice’s Cheshire cat. Duncan felt his heart go into free fall, and it seemed to be the most natural thing in the world to lower his mouth to hers. The instant their lips met, he felt what he’d known from the first. She was right for him. Just simply right.

      He wanted to show her that there was lovemaking beyond what she’d described in her fantasies. And he wanted more from her than convenient buddy sex. So for both of them, he kept the pressure of the kiss light, letting his lips toy with hers, then drawing back just far enough to feather kisses along her jaw to her ear. The rain was loud now, pounding on the stones overhead and pouring in a thick sheet over both entrances to the arch. He couldn’t hear her sigh above the noise, but he felt the quick expulsion of breath against his cheek and the beat of her pulse beneath his lips.

      Then he returned to her mouth, nibbling first, then slipping his tongue in to taste. Her flavor was different, warm instead of hot, and as sweet as melting ice cream on a hot summer day. Unable to resist, he deepened the kiss, degree by degree, pulling them both under. His reward came slowly as he felt the tension drain slowly out of her. She gave him what she hadn’t offered, even at the end of their fight. Pliancy and surrender. And he was utterly seduced.

      DUNCAN. THAT WAS THE ONLY WORD she could form in her mind as his mouth toyed with hers. Her mind had emptied and filled with him. No one had ever kissed her like this, as if he had hours and hours to spend and intended to do just that. With his mouth alone, he weakened her, drained her and sent her floating. Pleasure ran through her like a slow-moving river that penetrated deeper and deeper into her system with each passing second.

      He spoke at her ear. “Let go, Piper. Let go.”

      The echo of the words whispered through her head, and she did just what he asked. How could she not?

      He released her wrists and began to touch her then, skimming his fingers down her arms, lingering at the curve of her elbow, then tracing her shoulders. He undressed her slowly, too, easing her shirt off, then drawing her shorts down, touching and tasting each inch of her that he uncovered. No part of her was ignored. Her nipples tingled from the brush of his fingers, the nip of his teeth. The back of her knees ached and the curve of her ankles throbbed with the memory of his caresses.

      While the storm raged outside, she could focus on nothing but the slow, powerful one that he was so intent on building in her body. Each press of his fingers, each stroke of his tongue left a bright foreshadowing of the flash of lightning and the outrageous heat to come. But for the moment, his tenderness forestalled it, invading her, consuming her.

      She was his. Only his.

      The words swirled in a thick mist in her brain and hammered in her heart. It was as if he was trying to keep her just this way, trapped in pleasure. But he seemed to want to give her more, take more using his mouth and tongue alone to drive her to a climax.

      The pleasure slammed into her like a bare-knuckled punch, going beyond anything she’d ever imagined, anything she’d thought she could endure. Shuddering, she hungered for more.

      He gave her more. And took more. In the arch of the stone walls, she knew only him—the taste, the scent, the feel of him. She would have given him anything he asked. Each time she thought he would have to end it, he found a new way to send her up and over a new crest.

      “More.”

      He drew her up then so that they were kneeling, body to body, eye to eye. Still gripping her shoulders, he mouthed the words, “I want more. I want everything.”

      The sound was inaudible above the noise of the storm. But her eyes flashed as brilliant as the lightning, in triumph, in need. They worked together then to get rid of the barrier his clothes presented. Once he’d dealt with the condom, she eased him back onto the stones and straddled him. He reached for her to grip her hips, but she forestalled him by capturing his hands.

      “Take more,” she said as she straddled him, then lifted her hips and took him inside. “Take all of me.”

      His fingers gripped her hips, but trembled as she began to move. “Take everything.”

      Eyes locked, hands linked, they rode the storm.

      AFTERWARD, THEY LAY TOGETHER beneath the stones. The fury of the storm had passed, but the rain continued to pour in sheets off both ends of the short tunnel. There was a part of Piper that wished they could stay right where they were, tucked away from the world. She knew that was a dangerous thought. It was always a mistake to wish for more than you could have.

      But she was pretty sure the mistake had already been made.

      Reality check, she lectured herself. And it was then that she remembered just how she and Duncan had ended up naked beneath the stone arch.

      He’d invaded not only her privacy, but the privacy of her sisters, as well.

      Raising her head, she looked him dead in the eye. “If you think that counts for make-up sex, you’re wrong.”

      His burst of laughter filled the space.

      She frowned and poked him in the shoulder. “Not funny.”

      “I know. Sorry.” More laughter bubbled up. “I’ve just never tried to sort sex into so many different categories. Maybe it’s a difference between the male and the female brain. I’m still trying to sort out buddy sex and monkey sex.”

      “Right. Now it’s my turn to laugh.”

      To СКАЧАТЬ