Robin Gianna - Her Christmas Baby Bump

His hand dropped hers to cup her cheek, warm against her cool skin, and his thumb slipped across her cheekbone with the same feathery touch he’d used on her fingers. Hope quivered as her thoughts suddenly turned to how those fingers might feel against other parts of her body.

“I meant I’m not in a place where we could spend any time together other than tonight.”

“Other than tonight?” His dark brows raised slightly, his eyes now looking both perplexed and slightly amused. “Got to say, a woman saying she wants to kick me out the door after one night together is a first.”

“Wouldn’t be kicking you out, because it’s your own house.” She managed a breathless laugh. “I admit it’s a first for me, too. But that’s all I can offer and...and...”

As she struggled to figure out what to say he touched his lips gently to hers. “And what?”

“And I’m offering it.” She gulped in disbelief that the words had actually come out of her mouth. But as his lips sweetly, softly pressed against hers, warm and tender and oh-so-delicious, her disbelief and uncertainty faded. She lifted her hands to the sides of his strong neck as heat radiated from him, warming her even through her coat. It all felt so good, so wonderful, so right, she knew she wouldn’t regret being with him tonight. Just one evening of excitement and passion with a strong, sexy man before everything in her life changed.

He pulled back, and the eyes staring into hers were that smoldering, dark onyx again. “You might not believe it, but I’m not normally a one-night-stand guy. If that’s all you’re willing to offer, though, I find it’s damned impossible for me to say no. We’ll go to my apartment and have that nightcap, and you can decide then where, if anywhere, you’d like the rest of the evening to go before I take you home.”

His hand wrapped around hers again, and he led her up the stone steps. He was moving fast, and she nearly tripped in her heels. He looked at her feet and slowed down as his hot gaze lifted to hers again. “Sorry. I forgot you had those things on. Very sexy,” he said, leaning down to brush his warm lips against her cheek. “But not so great for walking, hmm? Thankfully, we don’t have to go far.”

They didn’t speak again on the short trek, and Hope’s breath was short, but not from the walk. Her chest was filled with a crazy excitement that completely overwhelmed the nervous butterflies in her stomach.

They trotted up short steps to a gorgeous Victorian-style stone building with two ornate front doors, and Hope had to pause to admire it.

“Is this a semi? Do you own this one side?”

“Yes, it’s a duplex and my neighbor is a nice, quiet, older lady. But since I move around a lot, renting is always the way to go.”

Apparently it was true that the man wanted nothing to tie him down, but it wasn’t any of her business why he felt that way. His hand palmed her back as she stepped inside the door on the right, the butterflies now flapping a little more insistently. He shut the door behind them, and his eyes met hers for the briefest moment before he wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close and kissed her.

There was nothing sweet or gentle or teasing about this one. It went from zero to sixty in a split second, hot and intense, his tongue exploring her mouth with a thoroughness that weakened her knees and melted every brain cell. She let her hands slip up his chest and the sides of his neck into his soft thick hair, mussing it even more than the breeze had, and found herself pressing his mouth somehow even closer to hers, deepening the kiss until she was quivering from head to toe.

“I keep my home pretty chilly. But kissing you has definitely warmed me up.” The dark hunger in his eyes as he pulled back made it hard to breathe. Even harder when he reached to flick her coat buttons open one by one. He tossed the coat on a chair behind him, then took off his own. “You warmer now, too? Would you like that brandy we talked about? Or a glass of wine?”

His voice was husky, and Hope was surprised at the sincerity in it, considering the gleam in his eyes and the shortness of his breath that mirrored her own. He clearly had truly meant what he’d said about giving her time to decide what she wanted from the evening. It added one more layer to his already delicious appeal, and every last vestige of doubt slid away as she tugged at the bow of his tie until it lay loose around his neck.

“Would you be surprised if I told you that every time I saw you at the hospital, fantasies of kissing you and being with you usually followed? So even though we don’t really know each other, somehow I feel like we do. Like those fantasies were real.” It was true, and she was surprised she didn’t feel embarrassed to tell him. To help him understand why she felt good about being here with him tonight. “So right now I don’t want a drink. What I want is for those fantasies to truly become real.”

His gaze slid to her mouth, to the beading on her dress above her breasts, before slowly meeting hers again. “You can be sure you’ve starred in my fantasies as well, Hope Sanders. I always assumed a woman like you would already be taken by some lucky guy, and I’m more than glad to learn that’s not the case.” His lips tilted in a slow smile. “But I know it must be because you dump all the men eager to be with you as soon as you’ve had your way with them.”

That hadn’t been her failing, but she was glad he didn’t know what was. “Not quite accurate, but I’m finding it rather fun to pretend to be that woman tonight.”

He grasped her shoulders and turned her around. Cool air swept her hot skin as he tugged on the tab of her zipper, his soft, moist mouth pressing against the side of her neck.

His lips crept along her skin as he lowered the zipper inch by inch, his hands trailing after in a slow, shivery path so heart-poundingly delicious she feared she might pass out from the intense pleasure of it. Over her shoulder blade, her spine, sliding the dress off as he went, ending with his hands grasping her hips and his tongue caressing the indentations above each buttock.

“Your skin feels so soft,” he whispered. “Tastes so good.”

Trembling, she could have stood there for ever savoring the feel of his hands and mouth, the rumble of his low voice against her flesh. Except she didn’t want to be the only one standing there half-naked, and she turned. Trembling even more when she realized he’d crouched down to kiss her back, and that his mouth was now just above her panties. Slowly, excruciatingly, kissing all across the lacy top before lazily licking her skin beneath.

Part of her wanted him to just keep going with all the licking and kissing that was short-circuiting all thoughts except how incredibly good it felt. But the part of her brain that somehow still worked had her grasping his arms to tug him upright before she just lay down on the floor and begged him to make love to her.

“Not fair for me to be standing here freezing while you’re still dressed.” Though freezing was about the last word to describe how she really felt. “I’d undo your shirt, except I don’t know what to do with those little pearl buttons.”

“I’m perfectly happy with things staying unfair, but if you insist.”

He stood to tower over her—something she wasn’t used to at five feet eight inches. “How tall are you, anyway?” she asked absently, staring with fascination as his fingers flicked open his buttons one by one, slowly revealing dark brown hair in the center of his chest that tapered down to a taut stomach.

“Six foot three or so.”

His shirt slipped off him completely, showing smooth, broad shoulders and a torso that was thickly muscled and masculine and so sexy, her mouth watered. She’d thought the man swoon-worthy in a suit and tie, scrubs, or tux. None of that had prepared her for the sheer, male beauty that was Aaron Cartwright.