Blaze of Winter: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance (25 page)

“Body heat’s the best thing when you’re cold. Your own clothes weren’t keeping you warm, but I can.”

Her teeth clacked together and she could only nod in agreement as Theo’s warmth slowly began to seep into her. He was better than a space heater, and after a few minutes, her teeth stopped chattering and her body stopped shaking. Soon, she could feel her extremities again.

“There,” he said, stroking her hair. “Feel better?”

Leagues better. His warm, strong body felt heavenly pressed up against hers. “Yes, but I’ll feel even better when the pins-and-needles feeling passes.” Her toes and fingers still tingled unpleasantly.

“Who does this for you in Boston?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No one. I’ve been so wrapped up in work that I haven’t really had time for relationships. But I’m sure you probably guessed that.”

He chuckled. “Well, some guy was really missing out. You said before that you can’t really picture me growing up here. Well, I have a hard time seeing you living in Boston.”

“Why’s that?” she asked, peering over her shoulder at him, a bit taken aback. He raised an eyebrow.

“Despite all your protestations that everyone in town knows your business, I think you kind of like it.”

“What?” she said, struggling to pull away from him even as he held her more tightly. “How can you even say that?”

“Don’t deny that you like folks looking out for you, making sure you’re doing all right. I bet you that as soon as they find out about Kate, people will come out of the woodwork to help you. Babs Kincaide will be here with bells on. So will Luke, Andy, and Lexie, to name just a few.”

“I do okay on my own,” she said, turning away from him and flexing her fingers to get rid of the annoying tingling. “But it might be nice to have some assistance. On Kate’s behalf, of course.”

“C’mon, you like getting help, too. Like what I’m doing for you right now.” He rubbed a warm palm up and down her arm, eliciting a tingling sensation that had nothing to do with the cold.

“If you hadn’t insisted we go out tonight, you wouldn’t need to be doing this for me. I would have been happier staying inside.” That wasn’t
quite
the truth, but at the moment, she didn’t care.

“Would you have?” he murmured, his breath tickling her neck. It felt more than pleasant. “Absolutely,” she fibbed. “At a minimum, I’d be warmer,” she sniffed, unable to resist the dig.

He chuckled. “Oh, you’re getting warmer all right. But I know a way to make your temperature rise even higher. For instance, what if I did this?” he asked, just before letting his lips graze her ear.

A delightful shiver ran through her.

“Or this?” He ran a single warm finger from the tip of her shoulder up her neck to her hairline. Another shiver, this one stronger, tingled down her spine. She inhaled sharply. “Feel good?”

“Yes.” She couldn’t lie to him about that. Not after the intimacy they’d shared.

He buried his face in her hair. “Winter strawberries. Incredible.” He caressed her neck with one warm hand, then swept it around to her collarbone and slid it down until he was cupping one of her breasts. Her already hard nipple tightened in his palm as he kissed her neck. “You’re so beautiful, I just want to bury myself in you,” he groaned.

She turned back to look at him and swept her gaze over his features. He was gorgeous, all right. The best-looking man she’d ever seen. But there was so much more to him than his exterior. She thought back to their first meeting. She’d gotten the intelligence, even then, but how could she have missed the depth of purpose in his eyes? Slowly, he was peeling back layer after layer to show her what was hidden inside. He was different than she’d imagined he would be. More grounded. More real. Though she still had her doubts about them as a couple, she liked what she saw of him. What she didn’t like was her own reaction to him.

She hated being out of control. Letting herself go was not an option. At least, it hadn’t been before now. Yet with every one of his heated kisses, another defense fell. She was warming to the idea of opening up to this man. Why should she close herself off when it was natural to ride the ebbs and flows of happiness and sadness? She should learn from her emotions, embrace them, not hide from them.

“What are you thinking?” he asked huskily, taking off his glasses and placing them on the bedside table.

She couldn’t tell him about her struggles, nor could she fight her feelings anymore. So she gave in. “About how much I’d really like for you to kiss me right now.”

Something molten flickered in his eyes. “Now
that’s
something I can get on board with.” His lips pressed against hers, firm and insistent. As her eyes slid shut, she pushed away the confused buzzing in her head and focused only on how he was making her feel.

Each time he kissed Avery seemed like the first. The exhilaration hadn’t faded one bit, and Theo doubted it ever would. For just a moment, it had seemed as though she was about to shut him out again. But then she’d let down her resistance and welcomed him in. Thank God. Having Avery ripe and nearly naked in his bed was almost too much to bear. That he’d held himself in check spoke volumes about his self-control. Now, all bets were off. He’d claim her again and again before the night was through.

Wanting to make it as good for her as he knew it would be for him was his top priority. Turning her to him, he reached around her back and gently undid the hooks of her bra. He swept it off and threw it onto the floor before cupping one of the gorgeous pink-tipped mounds. He bent his head and wrapped his lips around the taut nipple. Arching her back, she pressed up against him, tacitly offering herself to him. And he was going to take everything that she offered. Mouth busy on one breast, he teased her other nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

She moaned and gasped, her little cries the sexiest thing he’d ever heard. She was letting herself go. For him. With him. He wouldn’t disappoint her.

When her cries turned to pants and she started to squirm in his arms, he swept the sheets aside and pulled down her little panties. They were the same color as her bra—blush pink. He tossed those onto the floor, too. Then he shifted down on the bed, pushed her legs apart, and bent his head.

“Oh, my, God,” Avery gasped, trying to twist as he spread her folds and licked her most intimate spot. “Theo!” She bucked against him and squeezed his shoulders hard.

Ah, there it was. That enthusiasm she didn’t quite know how to control. He’d help her harness her passion. It would be his pleasure.

“You didn’t say
where
you wanted me to kiss you,” he murmured.

With firm hands, he held her hips steady and refused to let her go as he pleasured her with his mouth. She was intoxicating—her little mews of excitement, her taste, and best of all, the way she was slowly unraveling in his arms. He slowly pushed one thick finger up and into her body. Gasping, she clenched around him, then exploded with a sharp cry. He squeezed her hips, giving her one last lick before grabbing a condom from his nightstand drawer.

He reached down to put it on before realizing that he was still wearing his pants. Laughing at the absurdity of the situation, he quickly stripped off his cords and boxers, put on the condom, then propped himself on an elbow beside her.

Avery’s face was flushed with desire, her eyes were closed, and she was still breathing rapidly. She wasn’t cold now, that was for sure.

Her fingers wound through his hair, holding his head to her breast. She was greedy, unabashed about the way she wanted to take her pleasure. Theo liked that, a woman unafraid to embrace her carnal side. Gladly, he obliged her, sucking one nipple and playing with the other until she arched her back—the signal that she wanted more.

Reaching down to ensure that she was ready for him, he eased his finger back inside her tight body, then brought it out to tease her. “You’re wet again, Avie.”

“Not again,” she whispered. “Still.”

He groaned and rolled her beneath him. “God, I want you.” Carefully, he eased into her slick channel. Breathtakingly tight, she fit him as if she were made for him. Bracketing her head with his forearms, he bent to capture her lips with his. He thrust slowly, giving her time to accommodate him. She slid one hand down his back. Then she did something he would have
never expected her to do. She wrapped her hand around his ass and pushed him down toward her.

So his guarded little Avery wanted him to move? This time he didn’t hesitate, thrusting heavily into her. It felt so good that he groaned, and she answered in kind. Catching her cry in his mouth, he began to pump deeply in and out of her tightness. With every moment that passed, he grew more mindless in his pursuit of release. Eagerly, she rose to meet him thrust for thrust, lifting her hips off the sheets in time with his movements.

The novelty of making love to a woman who inspired him, both in bed and out of it, ratcheted him closer to the peak. Every sigh, every touch, every taste of her stoked his fire, fueling it higher and higher. He was almost there and she was right there with him, her broken gasps unbelievably sexy. Taking his release without her was not an option. With one hand he reached between their bodies and stroked, even as he continued to thrust. In seconds, she was there, shouting out his name. Her voice ringing in his ears, he followed immediately after, his mind-blowing release the sweetest one he could ever remember.

CHAPTER 21

Theo relished the moment when Avery opened her eyes. Slowly, she adjusted to the gloom and then turned to him. Her guardedness gone, there was a satisfied look on her face.
He’d
done that to her. Sprawled out on his side next to her, he examined his fiery little beauty.

Her hair was strewn out around her shoulders and she was still completely naked, though he’d made sure to tuck her beneath the sheet and coverlet. The flush had gone from her skin, which had returned to its usual creamy white. A surge of protectiveness raced through him, coupled with something else. Permanence. With her. He could see it so clearly. The only question was, could she?

Avery glanced out the window and yawned. “What time is it?” she murmured sleepily.

Theo squinted over her at the small clock on the nightstand. “Two-thirty.”

“Can you see without your glasses?”

“Not well. Distances are tough and so is reading. But this close, my vision is just fine.” Giving her a sexy smile, he stroked his fingers through her hair and kissed her. Her swollen lips felt delicious against his. He deepened the kiss and demanded entry with his tongue.

“Wait,” she murmured, in between kisses. “What are we doing?”

“I think the word you’re looking for is foreplay,” he said, grazing his lips along her jaw.

She shoved at his chest and he moved a few inches away, still stroking his hand through her hair. “You know what I mean,” she said, giving him a warning look.

“I do,” he said, cocking his head at her. “But I’m surprised that you actually want to talk.”

Avery had the grace to blush. “Yes, well, I … I just want to set some ground rules.”

He stilled, not liking the sound of that. “Ground rules?”

“For whatever
this
is.” She looked at him meaningfully.

Ignoring the way she’d characterized their relationship, he changed tacks. “Why do we need rules?”

“It’s always good to have rules, especially in a situation like this.” She spoke cleanly and crisply.

He couldn’t ignore the subtext this time. “A situation like what, exactly?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

“
This
.” She gestured between the two of them. “Star Harbor is just a temporary way station for both of us. As soon as I figure out whether I want to return to the Center, I’ll be heading back to Boston.”

He blinked with surprise. “Really? And why is it that you think Star Harbor is just a temporary way station for me?”

“I assume that you’ll be out of here as soon as your work on your book is done.” He was less surprised by that assertion. A month ago, it might have been a safe assumption, but now that he’d rediscovered his inner self—his true self—he wasn’t going anywhere. Not for a long, long while. “It’s all right, though,” she continued. “I understand.”

“Actually,” he said carefully, “I’ve been thinking about staying on in Star Harbor. My writing is going well and my family is here, at least most of the time.” Not to mention
her
, but somehow he knew if he told Avery that now, she’d completely shut down on him, something he really didn’t want to deal with.

She looked surprised for just a moment. “Well, I think we both know
this
,” she said, making the gesture again, “is temporary, even if we do end up staying here.”

“You’re so certain of that.”

“Yes,” she said firmly. “This can’t last. We’re too different and we have different paths ahead of us.”

The conversation was going downhill, fast. He had to act quickly before her mask slipped fully back into place. There was only one way to get her to open up again. Luckily, he was becoming an expert in the art of Avery’s seduction. “We don’t have to make any decisions now,” he said, nuzzling her neck. “Let’s just see where
this
goes.”