“I’ve got it.” He retrieved the key and thrust it into the lock, but before they could step inside he grabbed her shoulder. “Wait. Are you sure, Martha? Answer quickly.” His tense jaw was a sign of the self-restraint he was exercising, and it made her feel better about her own out-of-control response.
“Yes. I’m a great decision maker, didn’t you know that? I never doubt myself.” She tugged him into the room, kicked the door shut behind her and pulled him against her. “Come on you meat-eating, broccoli-avoiding, water-hating but seriously hot guy—”
His hands were in her hair, his mouth on her neck, her cheek, her forehead. “You think I’m seriously hot?”
She reached for the buttons of his shirt, fumbled again and decided there had to be something wrong with her fingers. “No, I’m doing this to please Kathleen.” She moaned as he cupped her face in his hands and delivered a long, slow deliberate kiss to her mouth, and she thought to herself that the word kiss was too generic because she’d been kissed before and it had never felt like this. She was breathing hard, unraveled by the intimacy of his kiss and his sure, knowing touch. Her heart was doing an intensive workout of its own and she thought he could probably feel it because his hand was on her breast, teasing and then his mouth and she closed her eyes, awash with sensation as he ripped impatiently at his clothes and then did the same with hers.
They hadn’t bothered turning on the lights, but the moonlight through the window allowed them to stumble their way to the bed without bruising shins or banging elbows and she tumbled onto the mattress and grabbed his shoulders as he came down on top of her. His face was shadowed in the semidarkness, the details blurred by dim light.
She felt the weight of him, the solid power of his shoulders as he levered himself up, and then the skilled pressure of his mouth as he kissed her. She dug her fingers into his shoulders, desperate, urging him not to hold back, but he wouldn’t be rushed.
His mouth moved from her lips to her jaw, and from there to the skin of her throat and then her shoulder. He lingered there, breathing her in, tasting every segment of her skin as if she was a meal he was only going to get to savor once in a lifetime. She’d never felt so much all at once and she shifted under him as excitement escalated. Her body shivered with the contrasts—the chill of the air-conditioning and the warmth of his hands, the slow drag of his tongue over her breast and the rapid pounding of her heart. And she explored him back, touching and tasting, hearing the change in his breathing and the soft murmur of words.
His touch unraveled her but he kept up the intimate exploration until there was no part of her left unexplored, until she was quivering and writhing and focused on nothing but feelings. Muscle and strength. Heat and kisses. Arousal and need.
And then he eased inside her, infinitely gentle and for a moment she stopped breathing because underneath the electrifying excitement was the knowledge that nothing in her life had ever felt so completely right before. She’d never experienced anything like this thrilling, intricate tangle of the physical and the emotional. Never felt so connected to anyone. She was caught in a dizzying whirl of need and he responded with his own urgency until there was nothing but heat and sensation as they tumbled over that peak together.
And afterward, even after the wildness of the storm had eased, they stayed locked together, bodies entangled as they talked in hushed voices, each exchange flavored by the new intimacy.
Often in the past she questioned her decisions, but she wasn’t questioning this one. And even if this one night was all they had, she knew she wouldn’t regret it.
He curved her against him and she felt safe, and needed, and wanted and so many good things all at once.
Josh said nothing, and after a moment she lifted her head.
“Are you all right?”
“Mmm.” His eyes were closed and she wondered if, maybe, she’d read this all wrong that he was having regrets.
“What are you thinking?”
He stirred and finally opened his eyes. “That Steven was a fool to let you go, but his loss is my gain so I can’t be too angry with the guy.”
She glowed. “Marrying him wasn’t a good decision, but I do make some good decisions.”
“I count at least five in the past hour.”
She grinned. “Josh Ryder. Are you being a scoundrel?”
“I don’t know.” He shifted her underneath him in a smooth movement. “Tell me what scoundrels do, and I’ll tell you if I fit the description.” He lowered his head and kissed her. “You’re incredible, Martha.”
No one had ever called her incredible before. “Just for the record, which bit of me is incredible?”
“All of you, from your cute curly hair to your amazing butt. Mostly your nature. You’re the kindest, most generous person I’ve ever met.”
She ran her fingers through his hair feeling it fall, silky soft, between her fingers. “Are you saying I’m a doormat?”
“Doormat?”
“A pushover. Weak.”
“Kindness isn’t weakness. Kindness is a quality that is often underrated—” he rolled onto his back, taking her with him “—except by me. I’ve always been good at spotting value. It’s one of my talents.”
“You have other talents.” She trailed her fingers over his chest and down his abdomen. “Want me to list them?”
She’d been beating herself up about making bad decisions, but every decision she’d made had led her to this moment. If she’d made a different choice at any stage of her life, she wouldn’t have been here now. And she wouldn’t have missed this moment for the world.
He ran his hand down her bare back. “So now you’ve got your confidence back, I suppose you’re going to go back to your room.”
“This is my room.”
“Ah. Right. Good.”
“And I always think confidence is a funny thing—” She slid her hand lower and heard his sharp intake of breath. “It’s fragile. I probably still have a way to go. I might want to use you for a bit longer. Your teeth are clenched. Are you okay?”
He grunted and then rolled her on her back and covered her with his body. “I have a proposal.”
“No proposal. One divorce is enough.”
“Not that kind of proposal. The kind that involves you gaining your confidence in various places along the Pacific Coast.”
She kissed her way down his chest. “What exactly are you suggesting?”
“If you want me to give you a coherent answer, you’re going to have to stop what you’re doing for a few moments.”
She lifted her head but left her hand where it was. “I’m distracting you?”