Kara Lennox - The Good Father

“ Our first. Your drawings are what tipped the scales.” He didn’t let her go, because it just felt too good holding her. She didn’t seem eager to escape, either.

Suddenly they were kissing like mad, making out in his front seat like teenagers necking on a lovers’ lane, except they were in the middle of town in broad daylight.

Max’s body ached for more. “It’s a good thing I don’t have a backseat,” he murmured against her ear.

He expected her to laugh, but she didn’t. “My boat is five minutes away.” She kissed him again, harder this time.

“So’s my condo.” He barely breathed the words.

“We can’t. It’s the middle of the day.”

“Is that all that’s stopping you?” More. He needed more of her. He buried his face in her soft hair and breathed in the scent. “We have to take a lunch hour.”

His cell phone rang.

Jane pulled away. “Get it. What if it’s important? What if you’d ignored that last phone call?”

He saw from the Caller ID that it was Carol. “What?”

“What happened?”

Oh, right. He was supposed to have called her. “We got the account.” The triumphant feeling returned, surging through his body and mixing with his lust for Jane, transforming into a potent mixture.

“Oh, my God!” Carol screamed. “That’s great! We need to have a party. Can I plan a party? I’m great at parties.”

“As long as it doesn’t cost me anything,” Max said with a laugh. “Listen, I’m going to lunch. I’m turning my phone off. I’ll be back by one-thirty.”

“Okay, see ya then.”

He turned his phone off and looked at Jane, who was studiously repairing her lipstick in the rearview mirror. “Change your mind?” he asked.

She looked at him, raising one eyebrow. “Did you?”

“Are you kidding? I just bought us-” he looked at his watch “-an hour and fifteen minutes.”

Jane looked like she was about to burst. “What are you waiting for? Drive.”

Max turned the key. “Where to?”

“Your place.” She didn’t want to make love with Max on the Princess II, where memories of Scott might intrude. “My bed is tiny.”

Jane applauded Max’s control. He didn’t break any speed limits driving to the Shell Beach Condos. But he didn’t dilly-dally, either. After whipping into a parking space, he was out of the car and opening her door before she could even get her seat belt off.

They practically sprinted to the front door. Max opened it, punched in the security code to silence the beeping alarm, and before she could take a breath he had her up against the closed door.

He could take her right here on the tile floor and she wouldn’t object. She’d never been so hot for any man.

With Max’s help, she shed the silk blouse and tailored skirt she’d so carefully chosen this morning and threw it on the ground. Standing there in her plunge-front bra, high-cut panties, stockings and heels while Max’s gaze devoured her only made her hungrier.

“Bedroom’s this way.” Rather than waiting for her to follow, he scooped her up and carried her up the stairs like some medieval maiden about to be ravished by the castle laird.

The image made her shiver with anticipation. In fact, pretty much everything increased her eagerness-the cool air-conditioning on her bare skin, the sight of his enormous bed, the faint traces of his scent on the pillow as he set her down on soft, cotton sheets.

He yanked off his dress shirt while she worked on his belt buckle, but he didn’t need much help from her. In seconds he was down to his silk boxers, but she had only a moment to admire how he looked in sexy underwear before he shed those, too, and he was standing before her gloriously naked and awesomely aroused.

As he climbed into bed with her and covered her body with his, Jane reveled in the exquisite contact of hard muscles against her softer flesh. He radiated heat and desire, and his gaze burned with intensity as he stared into her eyes.

“You really are the most beautiful-”

“Yeah, you, too,” she said distractedly as she unhooked her bra. She wanted his hands on her breasts. His mouth on her breasts. His mouth everywhere, oh, yes. No need for pretty words.

He slid her panties off with deliberate slowness, grazing his fingers along her bare thighs as he removed the wispy garment, making her whimper with wanting. He slid off her heels, too, but he left her thigh-high stockings on.

She was coming unglued. If she didn’t have him inside her in the next ten seconds, her whole body was going to go up in flames. She beckoned him to her, grasping his muscular hip with one hand and his beautiful arousal in the other as she opened herself to him.

“Wait, honey, wait.”

“Wait?” Did he have no idea how desperate he’d made her?

But then she realized he was reaching for the bedside drawer. He was thinking about protecting her, and all she could think about was getting her satisfaction.

Thank goodness one of them had a shred of sanity left.

He took care of that little detail in one smooth movement, no fumbling, which reminded her that Max wasn’t exactly inexperienced when it came to women. The image of his little black book sprang to her mind for just a moment, but she banished it.

Who cared about the past? Or the future, for that matter. Max was here and now, and in moments he was going to be inside her and she was positive it would be the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Max resisted the urge to just dive into Jane’s luscious body. He’d dated a lot of women, gone to bed with quite a few, too. But none had made him feel like this, like he wanted to sip and savor and create an experience that would live in their memories forever.

Moments ago he’d been in a rush. He couldn’t get her or himself naked fast enough. But now that they were committed, he wanted to take it slower, to look and touch and taste.

“Max?” Jane asked a little desperately, and he realized he’d gone still while poised above her and was just looking, taking it all in.

He leaned down and kissed her, hoping she could feel even a fraction of what he felt right now.

Again she opened herself to him, and this time Max accepted the invitation, taking it slow, letting her grow accustomed to him. Every time he moved she made a little noise in the back of her throat, like a wild creature. The sounds only inflamed him further.

When he was perilously close to losing control, he plunged all the way in.

“Ah, yes, finally,” Jane said, and he smiled, thinking she probably hadn’t meant to speak aloud.

His movements steadied into a rhythm. Jane met him thrust for thrust, her eyes open and gazing into his, trusting, giving, generous. He pressed his cheek into her hair, inhaling the intoxicating fragrance as he tried to make it last.

“Oh…oh…” She seemed to hold her breath, then looked almost surprised as the spasms overtook her body, taking them both over the edge of sanity to a place Max had never been before.

Max rode the crest of the wave for what seemed like an eternity. By the time it was over and they lay together, limbs entwined, sweaty, her hair in glorious disarray, Max wasn’t sure how much time had passed. He discreetly glanced at his bedside clock and was amazed they still had thirty minutes left of their lunch hour.

He fingered a strand of her hair, then tickled her nose with it. “Wish I could lie in bed all day with you.”

“Mmm.”

“On the other hand, showering with you would be nice.”

Finally she opened her eyes, looking a little dazed. “That was crazy good, wasn’t it?”

He laughed. “I’d say so. Maybe even worth the possible lawsuit.”