One-Amazing-Night Baby!. Heidi Rice

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СКАЧАТЬ as a six-foot emu, Australia’s flightless national bird, trotted by.

      ‘I feel as though I’m pulling teeth.’ Cooper stuffed his empty wrap into his back pocket. ‘Will you tell me what you were researching, or do I get worried?’

      She shook the rest of her bag’s contents onto the ground, and two more wallabies edged over on their long tails and hind legs.

      He wanted to know.

      She inhaled deeply.

      Okay. She would tell him.

      ‘Fluctuating hormones.’ She knew she ought to zip her lip now, but a force greater than common sense seemed to spur her on. ‘Some women experience a phenomenon where their sex drive increases in the second trimester. Husbands sometimes complain they can’t keep up.’

      She stole a glance at Cooper.

      His lopsided grin said, I can keep up.

      Avoiding his eyes, she moved towards the smooth dimpled bark of a giant gum tree. ‘It also says that this phenomenon might be linked to women’s basic need for reassurance during this time.’

      That’s quite enough, Sophie.

      After dusting his hands on his chambray button-down shirt, Cooper joined her.

      Pressed against the trunk, hands fanned behind her at the pit of her back, she still couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze. Not even when he stood close enough for that mesmerising innate heat to seep though her clothing, burrow through her skin, and find that secret place deep inside. The force was so tangible she pictured red and blue flames leaping to life.

      They’d made love for an endless night and half a day. Had seen each other dressed in nothing but desire. Yet her cheeks burned with the blatant implication of her own words. Did she want to take them back?

      Sophie’s shoulders sagged. Foolish or not, she wanted the safety of his strong sinewy arms around her. The urge for contact had become so overpowering lately that twice this week vivid dreams had woken her …

      Cooper’s hard-muscled body above her.

      Adoring lips nipping hers.

      Hot male scent convincing her more and more.

      His sable voice wove out to soothe her. ‘If you can’t say it, Sophie, I will.’

      She closed her eyes and shivered as his warm breath stirred her hair and hot fingers threaded back the curls fallen over her face. He cupped her hip and scooped till he’d prised her away from the wood.

      ‘We want each other,’ he told her. ‘We’re not kids. Nothing is bad or wrong with feeling strong physical attraction towards a person you care about.’

      Sophie’s heartbeat skipped, then she smiled. He cared about her? As much as she’d come to care for him?

      Cooper murmured against her crown. ‘Here’s something else to think about. What if we make love two or three more times and the sparks fizzle and die? Shouldn’t we find out whether our physical attraction is long-term or just a flash in the pan?’

      Sophie grinned. Oh, he was smooth. She had a big feeling her sparks for him would never fizzle.

      Which sounded romantic, but in reality wasn’t necessarily a good thing. If this trial failed—if she still believed he wanted to marry the chicken who had incubated his egg rather than the person he respected, valued and, yes, maybe even loved—she didn’t want to be hung up on a lost cause all the lonely years of her life.

      He brushed aside more stubborn curls on her brow. When he dotted a soft kiss on her hairline, her core squeezed with the unmistakable sweet pang of longing. Concentrating on the rapid rhythm of her heartbeat, she breathed in and out, then, forcing herself over caution’s edge, walked her fingers up his shirtfront.

      Thing was, he did have a valid point. Didn’t he? Maybe they really ought to check out whether their compatibility in the bedroom was not only as real and wonderful as she remembered, but also whether it would last beyond a night … a week … a month …

      His hand framed her face as his thumb worked a light, relaxing circle at her temple. ‘We need to check those waters out thoroughly.’ His mouth caressed the spot. ‘Very thoroughly.’ He groaned and held her closer. ‘Very, very thoroughly.’

      Her mouth drifted over and skimmed his. ‘Cooper?’

      ‘Yes, sweetheart?’

      Sweetheart.

      She smiled. ‘I get the picture.’

      Smiling back, he tasted her parted lips.

      Her arms gradually linked around his neck, and he gathered her in for a passionate and meaningful no-holds-barred kiss.

      A thunderbolt of searing heat fell through her middle and down her legs, before gushing back up in a fanfare of tingling bright lights. Hanging on tight, she invited him in fully, revelling in the fire that burned and leapt inside her. Time converged in on itself, a twirling, giddy spin that left her breathless, weak and needing more.

      Needing it all.

      When the kiss ended, Cooper’s breathing was laboured, his voice thick. He nipped her bottom lip. ‘We need to go home or the kangaroos are going to sell tickets.’

      She floated up from her dreamy haze to see an audience of marsupials arced around them, eyes bright, apparently most eager to witness the next stage.

      He found her gaze. ‘I might not believe in black cats and lucky charms, but I do believe our night together wasn’t a mistake. This isn’t a mistake. I want you, Sophie.’

      He stole another penetrating kiss that melted the last of her resistance before reluctantly drawing away.

      His smile was soft. ‘Let’s go home.’

      With the afternoon’s cool shadows growing longer, and their arms looped around each other’s belts as they left the reserve, Sophie so wanted to take heart in Cooper’s confidence. But that annoying part of her which wasn’t affected by raging hormones niggled and whispered all the way home.

      Whether or not she’d been a party to it, ultimately Cooper had got his own way. As of tonight, his bed was her bed.

      CHAPTER ELEVEN

      ‘DROP the bathrobe—but only if you’re naked underneath.’

      Freshly emerged from a steamy shower after their big day at the zoo, Sophie enjoyed a delicious shiver at the authoritative tone evident in that deep, masculine voice. Sexual awareness climbed as, poised in the en suite bathroom’s doorway, she allowed time for her eyes to adjust from the brighter light to the bedroom’s corner lamp glow.

      The commanding silhouette towering before her gradually acquired features. As Cooper’s hooded gaze became clearer, so too did his hungry smile.

      The plateau of his chest was dusted with the wiry hair she adored driving her fingers through; the toned ridges СКАЧАТЬ