A Wife for a Westmoreland - Brenda Jackson [54]
There was something about her tone of voice that sounded contemplative and reflective, as if she was wondering, considering just how that would be for a man to love her that way. For a moment he didn’t know what to say, so he decided not to say anything.
Instead, he did something he always enjoyed doing to her. He touched her chin, making rotary motions with his thumb on her soft skin before tilting her head back to lower his mouth to kiss her.
The sound of her sensual purr fueled his desire, making him so aroused his erection thickened painfully against the zipper of his jeans. And when she wrapped her arms around his neck as he deepened the kiss, he went crazy with lust for her.
Not able to hold back any longer, he swept her off her feet into his arms and carried her upstairs to the bedroom.
“Why haven’t you mentioned Ashira’s visit to Derringer, Lucia?”
Lucia glanced over at Chloe. They had just finished a business meeting and she’d known something had been on her best friend’s mind all morning. “And how do you know I haven’t?”
“Trust me, had you told him, all hell would have broken loose. He’s never appreciated Ashira’s possessiveness.”
Lucia shrugged. “For all I know they could have an understanding just like she claims.”
“I can’t believe you would think that.”
“In all honesty I’m trying not to think about anything regarding Derringer and Ashira. I’m just taking one day at a time.”
Chloe frowned. “She would never have come into my office with that haughty I’m-Derringer’s-real-woman foolishness, trust me.”
“Because you know Ramsey loves you, I can’t say that for Derringer and me. I know he doesn’t love me,” she said softly.
Later that night she lay in Derringer’s arms with her naked body spooned intimately to his. His arm was thrown over her and he slept with his hand cupping her breast. His warm body and the scent of his musky masculinity surrounded her and she became aroused by it. That was something she couldn’t help.
Since becoming sexually involved with Derringer, she had become more aware of herself as a woman, particularly her needs and wants, mainly because he made her feel as if she was the most enticing and alluring woman he’d ever met. And coming from a man like Derringer, that meant a lot.
She then thought about her conversation with Chloe earlier that day. Maybe she should have mentioned Ashira’s visit to her office to Derringer. And yet a part of her didn’t want to draw him into any women-over-man drama. Besides, time would tell if what the woman said was true.
She knew the moment he’d awakened by the change in his breathing. The other telltale sign was the feel of his erection beginning to swell against her naked backside. And then he began touching her. With the hand that wasn’t cupping her breast he started at the dip in her thigh and let his fingers do a little walking, tracing a line toward her waist. It then followed the curve toward the juncture at her inner thighs.
“Shift open your legs for me, baby,” he leaned over to whisper in her ear. “I need to touch you there.”
She did what he asked and moments later she was moaning at his exploratory touch. And then when the hand cupping her breasts began doing its own thing by torturing her nipples, she clenched her lips to keep from crying out his name.
“You’re so passionate,” he murmured close to her ear. “You are the most sensuous woman I know.”
She wanted so much to believe him. She wanted to believe it was her that he wanted and not Ashira. And when she couldn’t take his torture any longer, she cried out for him to make love to her.
“My pleasure.”
He then eased her onto her back and straddled her, and before she could draw her next breath, he entered her, melding their bodies as one. And each time he stroked into her and retreated, she ground her body against him ready for his reentry.
Over and over, back and forth, performing the mating dance the two of them had created as he thrust in and out of her and all she could do was continue to groan out her cries of pleasure. And when a guttural moan flowed from Derringer’s lips,