Part 19 (2/2)

He reached for the waistband of her shorts. She lifted her hips and he eased the shorts and panties down her legs. She could feel herself trembling, as if a low-voltage shock were going through her body. ”Easy,” he said and whispered her name.

The high-wire tension built inside her until she felt as if she couldn't bear it. He touched her gently, running his hands over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her stomach, her hips. But it wasn't enough. ”Please,” she whispered.

Breaking the kiss, he ran his tongue along her throat to her collarbone and kissed her there. She could feel his palms flat against her belly. Her pulse jumped when his fingers brushed against the curls at her V. Alison opened to him. She cried out his name when he slipped two fingers inside her.

”Oh, Drew.” Her body arched involuntarily when he began to stroke her. She'd never considered herself a s.e.xual being. Alison had always defined herself as a mother and wife. But for the first time in her life she was totally out of control. A slave to the sensations streaking through her.

The contractions began deep within her womb. She rode the waves, let them carry her, and she was awed and amazed by the power of them. All the while, Drew stroked her, never giving her a respite, never giving her a chance to catch her breath. Her release came with the same vengeance as the storm breaking outside. With the same force of the wind and rain las.h.i.+ng the windows. She heard his name on her lips, her name being whispered in her ear, of his long, thick fingers stroking and teasing and driving her to slow insanity.

A mewling sound broke from her lips when he took a taut nipple into his mouth. He suckled her hard, laving the engorged tip with his tongue. She could feel the waves building again, but it wasn't enough, and they didn't crest. She writhed beneath him when he trailed kisses down to her navel. Her body went rigid when his mouth reached the crisp curls at her mound. Alison wasn't a prude, but her first instinct was to stop him. But by the time the command reached her brain, he had opened her with his fingers and set his mouth against her most private part.

The pleasure blinded her. She heard herself cry out his name. Undulating waves washed over her. She felt the contractions beginning again. Too powerful. Too deep. Too fast. She felt as if she'd tumbled into a freefall. All the while he stroked her with the wet heat of his tongue. Long, deep strokes that jumbled her mind and drove her to the razor's edge of pleasure.

The o.r.g.a.s.m crashed over her like a tidal wave obliterating everything in its path. Alison cried out his name again and again. She felt him s.h.i.+ft slightly away, but she couldn't bear not having him close. She reached for him. His arms went around her, and he held her tightly.

”I need you inside me,” she whispered. ”Now.”

He trembled as he moved over her. But when he took her face in his hands, his kiss was shatteringly gentle. He kissed her mouth. Her temple. Her chin. ”Open to me,” he said.

Drinking in his kisses, Alison relaxed. He moved between her knees and entered her with devastating slowness. There was a moment of discomfort as he filled her, and then a hot burst of ecstasy when he began to move within her. He stroked her with long, steady strokes that sent brilliant streaks of pleasure through her body. The power of it wrenched an animal sound from somewhere deep inside her. It was as if her senses had overloaded and were shorting out one by one. Her brain couldn't process the onslaught of sensation. She tried to focus, but the room dipped and spun as all the blood seemed to leave her head.

Vaguely she was aware of him speaking to her. Kissing her. Stroking her. Filling her. Touching her heart with his. It was too much to comprehend and yet it wasn't enough. It would never be enough.

”Alison...Alison...”

The rush of blood through her veins drowned out his voice. But it didn't matter. Alison didn't need words to know what he was feeling, because she was feeling the same thing. They were one in every sense. She could feel him moving within her, his arms trembling, his body as taut as a wire. She gazed into his eyes, realized they had gone dark with pa.s.sion and were focused on her with an intensity that left her breathless. It struck her that no one had ever looked at her the way Drew was at that moment. As if his entire world revolved around her, and this most intimate of moments they shared.

”Alison...” Jaw clenched tightly, he quickened his tempo, emotion starkly visible on his face. She could feel the pulse of that emotion moving through him and into her. She could feel it in the way he trembled against her. Hear it in the way he spoke her name. In the way tears of joy built behind her eyes.

She began to move with him, opening wide and lifting her hips to meet him, straining to take more of him inside her. She could hear the ragged cadence of her breathing, feel her lungs straining for air. Sweat slicked their bodies, but it wasn't enough to douse the fire burning between them. Pleasure pounded through her until she thought she would shatter. But he didn't slow, he didn't give her a reprieve.

Saying her name over and over, he filled her and stroked her and the pleasure became a starburst in her brain. He was inside her body. Inside her head. Inside her heart. Oh, her heart was shattering.

Overwhelmed by the sensations coursing through her, and the emotions pounding through her, she pressed her face against his shoulder. ”I love you,” she whispered. ”Drew, I love you.”

He hesitated, but he didn't stop. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Alison knew she shouldn't have said it. She knew they were words he didn't want to hear. Until this moment she hadn't even been able to put her feelings for him into words. But she'd spoken from the heart at a moment when she'd been at her most vulnerable. And now she was spiraling out of control.

Completion bore down on her. Alison didn't want to let go, didn't want to lay herself open. Even with her senses overloaded and her heart stripped bare, she knew his instant of hesitation meant something. Something profound that she should have foreseen. But her body didn't care, and Drew didn't give her the chance to take it back. He took her to the precipice. Alison fought him, knowing deep in her heart that once she went over the edge with him, she would never be able to find her way back.

And then she tumbled into a freefall.

Drew stared into the darkness and listened to the rain pummel the roof. Next to him, Alison slept. Her body was soft and warm against his, her breathing slow and deep. He should have been exhausted considering it was nearly 3:00 a.m. and they'd spent the last three hours engaging in the most mind-blowing s.e.x he'd ever had in his life. But his mind was troubled. The reality of what he'd done weighed heavily on his heart.

I love you.

He couldn't get her words out of his head. He couldn't stop thinking about what those words meant in terms of their relations.h.i.+p. He'd believed talking to her about Rick would explain why he was so determined not to get involved with her. Instead, talking about what happened that night had only brought them closer-and made things infinitely worse. He couldn't go on letting her think there could be something between them.

Not because he didn't love her. No, he thought darkly. He'd loved Alison for close to six years now. Loved her with his whole heart. His body. His soul. He'd fallen for her the instant he'd set eyes on her. Only he had never been able to admit the truth to himself because Rick had been there first. Drew had respected and cared for Rick and he'd taken a giant step back and sworn to never interfere.

He wouldn't change his mind now. Even with Rick gone, nothing had changed. Drew might be in love with Alison Myers, but there was no way in h.e.l.l he could ever have a relations.h.i.+p with his deceased best friend's widow.

The decision should have been a comfort, but it wasn't.

He thought about Kevin and another wave of pain broadsided him. That little boy was everything a man could want in a son. He was exuberant and smart and sweet. More important, he needed a father. A father who had it together a h.e.l.l of a lot more than Drew did. A father who didn't run when life got too complicated. A father who didn't spend so much time thinking about the dead.

Drew didn't want to hurt Alison. She was a good person with a kind soul. She'd already endured her share of pain. He didn't want to screw up her future. The last thing she needed was a man like Drew walking into her life and messing things up.

How the h.e.l.l was he going to handle this?

Restless and unsettled, Drew started to get out of bed, but Alison stirred and looked at him. In the dim light coming in from the streetlamp outside the window, he could just make out her features. Large eyes that were cautious even in sleep. A full mouth he had spent half the night kissing.

Even with her hair mussed, he'd never seen a more beautiful woman. They'd made love less than an hour earlier, but he was already hard again. He already wanted her. And when she smiled, something vital s.h.i.+fted inside him.

”Are you okay?” she asked. ”You look...troubled.”

”Just restless,” he said. ”I didn't want to wake you.”

She turned to face him and propped her arm under her head and frowned. ”Sounds serious.”

”It is.”

”Anything you want to talk about?”

”Not right now.”

”You don't think I'm going to let you brood like this all night, do you?”

He stared at her, keenly aware that he was now fully aroused. But he was just as aware of how wrong it would be for him to do anything about it.

”We may be lovers now, Drew, but I'm also your friend. You can talk to me.”

”I know.” He sighed. ”I think that's the problem.”

”The fact that we're friends?”

”Sometimes we say things in the heat of the moment that we really don't mean.”

Uncertainty flashed in her eyes. ”I've never been good at hiding the way I feel. I'm sorry if that's not what you want to hear, but it's the truth. It's been true for quite some time. I just didn't realize it.”

He stared at her, aware that his heart was pounding. He didn't know what to say, and that made him feel like a fool. Any normal man would give his right hand to hear a woman like Alison Myers tell him she loved him.

”Alison...” Reaching out, he pushed a lock of hair from her eyes, let his hand linger against her face. She pressed her cheek into his palm and kissed his fingertips. Her skin was incredibly soft. A sharp wave of affection washed over him. More than anything he wanted to lean forward and set his mouth against hers. He wanted to tell her all of the things that were in his heart. He wanted to make love to her again.

”You know I love you,” he said.

She smiled and his resolve not to touch her began to melt. ”As a friend.”

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