Jennifer Lewis - Bachelor's Bought Bride / CEO's Expectant Secretary

“Okay.” Her voice may have quavered a bit but he didn’t seem to notice.

After a smoky head-to-toe glance that threatened to light her skin on fire, he took her hand and led her into his bedroom.

He switched on a soft light, which threw out just enough illumination to reveal dark blue sheets on a wide wooden bed with sleek modern lines. Blinds covered the floor-to-ceiling windows. Gavin shrugged off his shirt—which was barely on to begin with—and held out his hands. Bree walked into his inviting embrace.

Her skin hummed under his exploring fingers. Breathless and a little nervous, she reached for his belt buckle. She wasn’t experienced but she knew she shouldn’t sit back and wait for him to do everything. He was probably used to temptresses like that woman at the party, who could drive a man to heights of distraction with one flick of a manicured fingernail.

She was surprised when the thick leather belt came easily through the thin buckle. Her knuckles grazed his thick erection, which throbbed under her touch.

He really wants me. She still could hardly believe it. How could everything have turned around so quickly?

One minute she was plain old Bree Kincannon, going about her usual dull but pleasant existence. Now she was standing in a strange man’s apartment in her underwear, apparently on the brink of making love.

Love?

No. No one had said anything about love. Still, she couldn’t deny that she felt a special connection with Gavin. And he obviously felt it, too. Isn’t this what falling in love must be like?

“Oh!” She let out a little exclamation of surprise as he unzipped her jeans. He slid them down her thighs, caressing her skin with his mouth as he went, leaving her in only her lace-edged panties.

“You’re breathtaking,” he murmured.

Bree tried to hold up her end by undoing his jeans. Her eager fingers fumbled with the button and Gavin helped her slide them over his tight backside and down his thick, powerful thighs.

Oh, my. She’d never seen thighs like that. At least not outside an underwear commercial. Heart in her throat, she tugged at his dark gray boxers and couldn’t help gasping as his arousal sprang free.

Gavin guided her gently onto the cool sheets and tugged her panties down over her thighs.

Now she really was naked. Excitement and fear prickled in her veins.

He climbed over her, his big muscled body making hers seem almost insubstantial, and lowered himself carefully onto the bed beside her.

A gentle kiss on the lips soothed her rattled nerves. Gavin’s broad fingers roamed over her belly, leaving tingles of sensation in their wake. She tensed up slightly as he strayed between her thighs, but she parted her legs and let them in.

His fingertip probed into her warmth and she sucked in a breath as it found a sensitive spot. Her hips twitched slightly as he moved his fingers, stimulating secret places no one else had cared to explore.

Eyes closed, an expression of pleasure lighting his chiseled features, Gavin looked more heartbreakingly handsome than ever. Bree’s heart squeezed. Could he be the one?

She’d more or less given up hoping that Prince Charming would come sweep her off her feet. Every little girl has that dream, but a grown woman of twenty-nine has learned that most frogs don’t improve all that much upon kissing.

Ooh. She wriggled as Gavin’s fingers sent a shockwave zinging through her. A tiny moan escaped her lips. Gavin’s eyes opened a crack, and a wicked smile played at the edges of his sensual mouth.

Hot and slick under his touch, she felt more aroused than ever in her life. Gavin eased closer, until their bodies pressed together all the way from his broad shoulders to his sturdy thighs. Then he raised himself up onto a powerful arm, rolled on a condom with expert ease, and climbed over her.

She couldn’t help an involuntary shudder as he entered her. All her nerve endings were alive and buzzing. Eyes closed, she gave herself over to the sensation. Her fingers dug into the hard muscle of his back as he slid inside her, slow and gentle, opening her like a secret chamber left unexplored for far too long.

Once inside her, Gavin released a throaty moan—a sound of relief mingled with pleasure. He started to move, and Bree’s hips automatically joined in the dance, just as her body had flowed with his so readily on the dance floor at the charity gala. Maybe they were meant to be together….

She let the delicious thought flow through her as she followed him into a new realm of pleasure. Gavin’s hands roamed over her body, squeezing and enjoying every inch of her, as they moved together. She explored the muscled ridges of his back and the firm curve of his backside.

Desire fluttered in her chest—and in all kinds of places she didn’t know existed—as Gavin deftly shifted them into different positions. Heat pulsed through her and her thoughts jumbled and scattered as primal sensation shoved thought aside. Her body cleaved to his, writhing and twisting, steamy and slick.

She arched under him, taking him deeper, her breath coming in unsteady gasps, until suddenly everything exploded.

Or imploded.

Her body convulsed and twitched as tidal waves of wringing pleasure crashed through her bloodstream.

Then a low groan filled the air and she felt Gavin’s arms wrapped around her like a vice. He throbbed inside her, sending further sparks of nuclear fission to her fingers and toes.

“Wow.” His voice, thick and rough, echoed her exclamation after their kiss.

“Uh-huh,” she murmured back, half amazed that she could still use language. Her brain seemed to have switched off for a few moments there. She opened her eyelids a tiny bit and her gaze locked onto Gavin’s. His gray eyes dark with passion, he gazed at her, wrapped up in her completely.

Bree’s chest tightened, filled with too much emotion. Gavin Spencer was too much for her. Way too much. Sweet, kind, caring, thoughtful—and ridiculously handsome. Things like this didn’t happen to her. She was boring old Bree, the one you could always count on in a pinch because you knew she’d be free.

Or was she?

Maybe, after Elle’s clever alterations, and with the help of Gavin’s experienced touch, she’d truly morphed and changed into someone new. Someone exciting and desirable, whose life would now unfurl and brighten like a flower after the rain.

“I’ve never met anyone quite like you, Bree.” Gavin rested his head on the pillow, peering at her through sleepy, half-closed eyes.

“Me? There’s nothing special about me.” She kicked herself for giving in to the familiar urge to run herself down.

A frown furrowed Gavin’s brow. “Everything about you is special.” He stroked her chin with his thumb. “You’re warm and kind and caring. You’re clever and creative and artistic.”

Bree swallowed. She’d heard those before. They were the kind of compliments her starchy aunts offered, usually after critiquing her posture and lamenting her lack of marital prospects.

“And you’re the best looking woman in San Francisco.”

“Only in San Francisco?” She couldn’t help teasing. His smoky gaze roamed over her naked body making her feel like the most beautiful woman on earth.

“Definitely in the whole Bay area. And the State of California. And the entire West Coast.”

Bree mock pouted. “And there I was hoping for the Midwest, as well.”

“I haven’t spent much time there so I’m not an authority.” His narrowed gaze twinkled with mischief.

“Never mind then.” She tossed her curls. Gavin took one in his fingers and tried it on like a ring. “That’s rather suggestive,” she murmured.

“Perhaps that’s my intention.” He cocked his head slightly.