Stone Cold Surrender - Brenda Jackson [21]
Seeing the look of uncertainty on her face, he knew she was a long way from accepting the possibility that her mother and his uncle were lovers. As strange as it seemed, he had come to terms with it and eventually she would have to do the same. “I suggest that you get a good night’s sleep,” he said, moving toward the door. He intended to open it and walk out without looking back.
But he couldn’t.
He turned and reached out and pulled her to him, encircling her waist and resting her head on his chest. Some inner part of him just knew that she needed to be held in his embrace. And that same inner part of him also knew that she needed a kiss, as well.
A tenderness fed by a burning flame of desire raced through him, making his heartbeat quicken and his body go hard. She must have felt his arousal and lifted her head. Their gazes locked. Words weren’t needed, sexual chemistry had a language all its own and it was speaking to them loud and clear.
She parted her lips on a sigh and he lowered his head and captured the very essence of that moan with his mouth. The taste of her was tempting, and he immediately thought of silken sheets, burning candles and soft music. He thought of touching her all over, loving her with his mouth and his hands until she groaned out his name, then placing her beneath him, entering her, thrusting in and out in the same rhythm he was using at that very moment on her mouth. All during the previous night he’d had a hard time sleeping because his body had silently yearned for her. And he knew tonight, tomorrow night and all of the nights after that wouldn’t be any different.
After a long moment, he broke off the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. Kissing her was exhausting as well as stimulating. He could have continued kissing her forever if he hadn’t needed to breathe.
“Stone?”
He inhaled and tried to get his body to relax, but her scent filled his nostrils making regaining his calm downright difficult. “Yeah?”
“This isn’t good is it?”
He chuckled against her ear. “You don’t hear me complaining, Madison.”
“You know what I mean.”
Yes, he knew exactly what she meant. “If I go along with your way of thinking, that we should place our full concentration on your mother and Uncle Corey and not on each other, then I would have to agree that it isn’t good because the timing is lousy. But if I adhere to my own thoughts, that I feel whatever is going on between my uncle and your mother is their business and that you and I should place our full concentration on each other, then I would say it is good.”
He said the words while a barrage of emotions raced through him. They were emotions he wasn’t used to dealing with. A part of him suddenly felt disoriented. Totally confused. Fully aware.
The woman he held in his arms was as intoxicating as the most potent brand of whiskey and she had his senses reeling and his body heated. “I’m going to leave the decision as to how we should handle things up to you, Madison. I suggest you sleep on it and let me know what you decide in the morning.”
Leaning down, he kissed her again; this kiss was tender but just as passionate as the one before. He pulled back and released her, opened the door and walked out into the cool Montana night.
Clinging to the strength of the decisions she had made overnight, Madison opened the door for Stone the next morning. The eyes that met hers were sharp, direct and she immediately felt herself wavering on one decision in particular as she inwardly asked herself: how can I stand behind my decision to make sure that nothing happens between us?
Of the two decisions she’d made, that had been the hardest one and, as she glanced at the strong, vital and sexy man standing in the doorway, she knew it would be the hardest one to keep. Stone wasn’t a man any woman could ignore and being alone with him for the next few days would definitely test her resolve. If she were smart she would put any thoughts of a relationship between them out of her mind completely. She had never been involved in any sort