He’d never been so impatient to have a woman naked in his life. His hands were shaking when he fumbled with the zipper on Isa’s dress. She backed toward the bedroom, but he wasn’t going in there. He wanted to show her he could take care of her in the way she wanted—in the way she deserved. As good as having her on top on his office chair or in his bed had been, he wanted her a different way.
His way.
He spun her and walked her through the living room instead, stopping at the wall that hid his office. Better a smooth, painted surface than pushing her against the craggy brick wall. Tugging her dress, he put a kiss on one satiny shoulder. Her exhaled sigh filled his ears.
“Sable,” he murmured against the soft flesh of her neck.
Her fingers raked into his hair, sending a shock of heat through him. His hips shifted and he ground his pelvis into hers almost desperately.
She reached between them and cupped his erection, giving him a light squeeze. He slammed his lips over hers and yanked her dress so hard, threads popped.
“Fuck. Now I owe you a dress, too.”
Her laugh was brief, interrupted by his sharp gasp when she continued to stroke him. Her tongue devoured his mouth anew. Eli didn’t want to leave her lips again, but he did for a good reason—to lift the red material over her head. When he tossed the dress to the floor, her breasts were heaving, her hair was everywhere, and her eyes were fiery and honed in on him.
She ripped open the button on his pants and pulled his zipper down, tucking her hand inside at the same time he slipped one hand beneath the lace of her thong. He groaned and not because Isa was massaging his cock with tenderness…well, not only because of that. He groaned because her folds were smooth and velvety. She was so ready for him, he hated the idea of a layer of latex between them. What he wouldn’t give to skip that part.
“Fuck me,” he swore out of exasperation.
“Is that a request?” A foxy little smile decorated her red mouth.
“Fuck yeah, it is.”
He pushed her hair away from her face and wound it in his fist before laying his lips on hers again. She kissed him, then his beard, then down his neck, all the while her hand working him into a lather.
“Condom in my wallet,” he managed. Barely.
“Do not want,” she whined before she bit his neck, soothing the mark with her tongue.
“Me neither, but—ahh—” His grunt was because she’d given his cock another squeeze that obliterated the decision-making part of his brain. She moved her hand to redirect his wandering fingers and Eli clamped his jaw tight as he ran them through her slickness.
“Oh!” Her gasp was high and tight as he slipped and slid over her clitoris. To her mantra of, “Eli. There. Yes. There,” he continued touching her.
“I have you.” He watched her face, enjoying every pleat and crease, the way her beautiful eyes vanished behind smoky eyelids when she closed her eyes and parted her lips, and finally, came.
“Eli. Eli.” His name evaporated on a weak gasp as she shuddered. His hands left her body long enough to dig the condom from his wallet and roll it on. Then he was back to her, sliding a hand around her ass and lifting one of her legs to hook around his hip.
“Tilt,” he instructed.
“Here?” she panted the word, surprise coloring her face.
“Yeah, honey. Right here.” He liked surprising her. He would make love to her here, him in control. No chair or bed needed. He wanted to please her more than anything.
Obeying, she tilted her hips. He positioned himself at her entrance and slid to the hilt in one smooth, mind-mangling thrust.
Hell.
Yes.
“Sable.” Her name left his lips like a prayer of thanks when his forehead dropped to hers, their breaths knotting in the air between them.
“You feel so good.” Her eyes were open, hooded and filled with leftover lust from her ebbing orgasm.
“Not as good as you feel,” he said, sliding deep again. He stayed in that moment for a while—embedded deep, lingering. Letting her breath waft over his face, the spicy scent of her perfume permeate his every sense.
He took control and she let him, holding on to his shoulders for purchase as he thrust his hips. He drew cries from her throat and when her head fell back, he laid a row of kisses over her neck. Those cries wound into whimpers of delight as he moved. He couldn’t hold on to his release much longer.
Hand tight around the back of her neck, his fingers digging into one of her plush ass cheeks, he pumped once, then twice before spilling into the condom with a sound that might qualify as a roar.
That buzz of electricity he always felt with Isa spread like fire through his veins, across his chest, and down to his toes. He dropped his head onto her shoulder and caught his breath, one hand still around her hip, the other flat on the wall behind her. He was spent and not because of the sex or the challenge of standing while doing it, but because Isa spent him in a way he had never experienced.
Heart and soul.
He lifted his face to kiss her. She smelled of spice and citrus. She tasted of oaky, buttery chardonnay. With her scent, flavor, and pussy surrounding him, he couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be than right here, right now with her.
“Mmm,” came her soft hum, a smile following. A shiver shook her.
“Cold, or aftershocks?” He palmed her bare shoulder and rubbed one of her arms to warm her, his chest swelling with undiluted pride. He’d wanted to show this fantastic woman exactly what he could do for her—and he had.
“Would you believe both?” she asked.
“I would.” He pushed her hair from her shoulder and smoothed his palms down her arms again, leaving a trail of goose bumps behind. “How about a bath?”
He hadn’t made much use of the tub in the master bedroom, but now was a good time to start.
“And candles?”
He thought for a second. “No promises, but maybe.”
“Bubbles?”
“For you, anything.” He held her eyes as he slipped out of her body. A satisfied groan left both their throats. “Damn, Sable.”
There was more to say, but he couldn’t find the words. More to say about how different she was, how different she was making him. How differently the time passed whenever they were together.
He offered a hand and she accepted. Side by side they walked to the bedroom at the end of the hall.
* * *
Isa lifted her foot, wrapped her toes around the faucet, and spun the hot water off.
“That is a talent.” Eli’s lips closed over her ear as his hand slipped through the water—with bubbles—and over her belly. “You have many.”
Warm and luxurious, the water slid like silk between them. She’d tied her hair up, so it wasn’t in the way when he moved his mouth from her ear to kiss a trail up her neck.
“I didn’t know you were hiding this bathtub.” A candle flickered at the corner of the tub. “Or a jar candle.”
He grunted against her damp skin before tonguing her earlobe. Even though he was turning her brains to mush again, Isa pondered the candle. It obviously wasn’t his. It was pink, and “sensual vanilla rose” was an odd scent for a Marine.
“Maybe Crystal left it here,” she said.
His lips halted their exploration.
She shouldn’t bring up Crystal Billings, but she couldn’t help it. Seeing him sitting across from a woman who used to share his bed—his life—had sent Isa’s quills standing on end. Oh, she’d maintained her politeness and gave him privacy, but Isa hadn’t stopped thinking about the one woman Eli had shared his home with. This home.
“Maybe,” he said, finding her hand beneath the water and linking their fingers. Soap bubbles slid as she tightened her grip and realized much in the same way he’d found her beneath the suds, Eli had sneaked past her defenses and into her heart.
“You didn’t tell me what the two of you talked about.”
He hummed.
She wanted to know what that hum meant. “What did you talk about?”
“The past. The present,” Eli answered after a deep breath. Isa thought he wasn’t going to say any more until he did. “She asked if I was happy.”
Isa’s heart pounded a hectic beat and she dug deep to find the courage to ask him how he’d answered. But there was no need. He told her anyway.
“Happy is an elusive animal for me. But this…I like this.” A droplet fell from the faucet and hit the bathwater with a splash. Eli linked his free hand with hers and crossed both her arms over her breasts as he enclosed her in a hug. His voice was deep and reverent, vibrating against the shell of her ear when he said, “I like you, Isa.”
I like you. Her heart suffered a tiny fissure at that pronouncement, because while it wasn’t bad news, it wasn’t the extent of what she felt for him.
“I should hope you like me.” After making love to her against the wall…Another thought zapped her brain and this time it tumbled out of her mouth uncensored. “We weren’t making like in there.”
Eli breathed a long, low sigh. Isa kept her arms folded, trying to imagine his facial expression. Dread? Anger?
“No,” he finally agreed. “We weren’t.”
The faucet dripped again. Eli’s hands found her shoulders and massaged gently. He was trying to be kind, or maybe he was attempting consolation, but either way it frustrated her. He only gave as much as he wanted; then he retreated. She shrugged his hands away and started to stand, but Eli cupped her breasts and pulled her back against his chest.
His beard brushed her shoulder, lips kissing her shoulder.
“Sable.”
“What?” She could absolutely throttle her heart. Didn’t it know any better than to fall for a man who was as emotionally inaccessible as Eli Crane?
Eli turned her so she was on her side and facing him. Breasts pressed to his chest, her own arm captive against her body, she surrendered when he dipped his lips to kiss her. By the time their tongues were gently exploring, she was measuring his heartbeats against her own.
Too soon, she lost the heat of his mouth. He studied her face before speaking, a completely forlorn expression on his own. When he spoke, it was a plea.
“Give me time.”
If she wasn’t sure she was in love with him before, she was sure now. Because learning he was still holding back all but shattered her.
* * *
They were the only words he could push out of his throat, and saying them made him half sick. It wasn’t what Isa wanted to hear. Hell, he was sure it wasn’t what any woman wanted to hear. But it was his truth.
She wanted him to open and he’d opened as much as he was capable. Crystal had pointed out tonight that he had a problem with going all in. He hadn’t liked hearing it, but she hadn’t been wrong. He didn’t know how to go all in unless he started chipping away at it bit by bit. Maybe commitment was a lot like relearning to walk—it took practice.
The rest would come, or it wouldn’t. And he had no earthly idea if that meant Isa would leave him before he had a chance to clear out the shit in his head and be able to evaluate what they have. But he wanted to try. She deserved a real promise, not one he blurted out to smooth over an awkward moment.
“I’m here,” he told her, hoping that explanation sufficed. His fingertips stroked down her cheek and over her full bottom lip.
“I’m here, too,” she said.
He nearly collapsed with relief. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
They didn’t make any further promises. There were no accusations, no future plans. The moment was in perfect present tense.
Right now.
He could handle that.