Author: Bella Andre

Too soon, he took his mouth away from hers, but she instantly forgave him when he lowered his head to her breast, laving first one and then the other. While the hand between her legs continued to stroke her nerve endings in the most delicious way, his free hand slid over her other breast.

It was too much. The way her lips still tingled from his kisses, and now his mouth, his hands on her, covering her, caressing her, tormenting her.

“This feels so good, even better than before,” she moaned as she arched up off the bed into his hands and mouth and taut muscles, needing to press even closer to the man who was loving her as no one ever had before. Waves of pleasure rolled over her, going on and on like the sea, dragging her out with them until she was doing no more than bobbing in and out of them trying desperately to catch her breath.

But Jake wouldn’t let her fill her lungs as his mouth came back over hers. His tongue swirled with hers, his hands moving to grip her hips. His skin felt even rougher against her softness, and she reveled in the slight scratch of his large hands, the calloused fingertips that so deftly played over her, inside of her.

He shifted so that his entire weight was over her and she instinctively opened her legs wider to give him room to settle between them. He pulled the black T-shirt up over her head and threw it to the floor. The head of his shaft slipped and slid over her sex and she arched into him again, but he held her hips still in his big hands, holding himself just as rigidly above her as he lifted his mouth from hers.

“You’re absolutely sure you’re pregnant?”

She didn’t know why he was asking her that question. “Yes. I’m sure.”

“I’m safe, Sophie. I just had a blood test and I swear I’m safe.”

Somehow, through the lust-filled haze that clouded her brain, she realized what he was saying. He didn’t want to use a condom. She didn’t want anything between them either, wanted Jake and Jake alone to fill her.

The thought made her so wild with need, she could barely get out the words, “I am, too.”

“Thank God,” he said, and the words really did sound like a prayer of thanks falling from his lips.

She held her breath waiting for him to slam into her the way he had their first night together. Instead, he gently slid his hands out from beneath her hips. Not to fondle her breasts. Not to tease her skin the way he had just a little while ago. But to reach for her face, to hold her jaw so gently with those big hands that were capable of such strength.

He didn’t kiss her, just stared at her with those dark eyes, and she was held completely in his thrall. “You’re mine.”

This time there were no sage, protective inner voices to stop her from agreeing. How could there be when they were all on the edge of anticipation?

“I’m yours.”

The word Mine sounded in the room again as he slowly entered her, his eyes still locked with hers. Sophie had never known such intensity, in or out of bed, as Jake’s presence wrapped itself around her just as his arms had, cradling her, holding her steady when she otherwise would have broken apart.

She had to tell him, needed him to know. “I’ve never felt like this before.” Pleasure so sweet couldn’t possibly exist. And yet, she now knew it did. “I never knew.”

It was what she’d said to him after their first kiss, and now she was saying it again as he made love to her in his big bed as the sun rose higher in the sky and washed over them.

“All those books, and you never knew.”

Her eyes widened as she realized he was teasing her, the corners of his beautiful mouth curving up for a split second before he bent down to press one soft kiss against her forehead, and then each cheekbone, before moving lower to the curve of her neck, her collarbone, the upper swell of her breasts.

If their lovemaking after the wedding in Napa had been a fierce staccato of desire and unquenchable need, the way Jake now lingered over every inch of her skin was like a beautiful sonata, playing slowly as the soundtrack to their coupling.

She knew sex was simply part of their one-week agreement, had thought she could hold part of herself back from him while still finding pleasure in his touch. Only, now she had to face just how impossible that goal really was.

After loving him in secret for so long, to have him touch her like this, to know his intention was to convince her to let him be a part of her and her baby’s life...it was too much for Sophie to resist.

And in the end, it was his tender attention, along with his unexpected smile, that had her crying out in the ultimate pleasure, his mouth capturing the sounds as he moved with her, taking her higher and higher with every stroke of his body into hers.

Together, they moved, sweat-dampened skin slipping and sliding, mouths taking and giving in equal measure as her inner muscles gripped him so tightly that he had to fall with her, just as far, just as hard, just as long. As she felt him explode inside of her, she leapt to an even higher peak she hadn’t known to reach for, one where it felt as if the explosions would continue forever, ripples of pleasure that had no end.

She’d thought she needed fast and rough, had believed her urgency to be taken by him warranted nothing else. But she’d been wrong.

Because after everything that had happened, she’d needed to be loved.

And, oh, how Jake had loved her.

Chapter Thirteen

Jake lay over Sophie, pressing her into the bed, her slim arms wrapped tightly around his neck, her gorgeous legs wrapped around his waist. He could stay like this with her forever, never wanted to let go—

Oh no! He scrambled off her, practically jumping out of the bed.

“Jake? What’s wrong?”

“I can’t believe I forgot.” He grabbed pillows and shoved them under her knees while she stared at him like he’d lost his mind.

She tried to sit up, tried to reach for him again. “What are you doing?”

He put his hands on her shoulders and gently laid her back against the bed. “I was crushing you. I could have hurt you, could have hurt the baby.”

He’d noticed this morning that her stomach had a slight swell to it. Not big enough that anyone would notice the change if they didn’t know she was pregnant. But he knew, and that knowledge had already changed him. He’d never felt like this, so protective and pleased...and proud.

Sophie’s laughter broke through his thoughts. “I can’t believe you think that a little sex is going to hurt anything.”

He couldn’t believe she was laughing at him. Or that she’d taken what had just happened between them and reduced it to practically nothing. What had happened to the quiet, mild-mannered girl he’d known for so long?

“I wouldn’t exactly call what we just did ‘a little’ sex.”

Again, her mouth curved up with laughter, but when she saw that he was serious, she said, “I feel fine, Jake.”

She clearly didn’t understand. It was his kid in there. He’d planned to put her on her hands and knees, to take her from behind so she couldn’t look at him with those big, hopeful eyes, and so he wouldn’t crush her with his weight.

But he hadn’t been able to do that. Because he had to look at her. Had to see that beautiful expression of pure joy come over her face when he came into her with nothing between them this time.

He shouldn’t have wanted to hear her say she loved him again...but he had. More than he’d ever wanted anything in his life. Even worse, looking at her lying beneath him, so open, so giving, so sweet, had made crazy things rattle around inside his head. And his chest. He’d made himself cover her mouth with his before either of them could say something they’d regret later.

And in the end he’d lost all control, taking her without any thought at all to the life she carried inside.

“I’m pretty sure sex is perfectly fine during pregnancy,” she told him in a reassuring tone.

“I’m going to ask the doctor.”

Her frown came back. “Oh no. No way. We are not doing this.” She threw back the sheets and got out of the bed, giving him a mind-blowing view of her naked curves as she bent over to pick up her clothes.

Now it was his turn to say, “What are you doing?”

He was pretty sure she didn’t remember she was completely naked as she faced him, clearly irritated. “I am not made of porcelain. I get that you’re all freaked out, that you want to control everything around you, but I absolutely will not let you control me!”

“Wait a minute.” He advanced on her. “I’m not trying to control you.”

She lowered her voice into a bad imitation of his. “Seven days, Sophie. Of course you’re moving in with me. And sex is non-negotiable as long as you keep those pillows under your knees and worry about every single thing you do all day and night from now on to keep my precious baby safe.”

He wasn’t going to laugh. But it didn’t help that she was not only the sexiest naked woman he’d ever seen, but also the cutest. Sophie had always seemed so serene, borderline submissive. But ever since the wedding, she’d been full of sparks and fire.

And it aroused the hell out of him.

Unfortunately, she saw his barely repressed laughter. “You should know, any progress you just made with me on your weeklong marriage quest has just been eradicated by that stupid smirk on your face.”

She moved to whirl away from him and into the bathroom, but he reached out to snake an arm around her waist and pull her against him, the clothes and shoes she’d been holding falling to the floor. Her breath was coming fast as she looked up at him.

“I made some progress, huh?”

She made a furious little sound, then laid both of her palms flat against his chest and shoved, hard enough that he actually fell back on the bed.

“The orgasms might have won you a few points,” she told him in a voice that could have cut through steel, “but the way you’re acting now just put you back into negative territory. Way back.”

With that, she reached into his closet, grabbed a long, blue and red striped dress shirt, gathered up yesterday’s clothes and shoes, and stomped into the bathroom, slamming the door hard enough that his windows rattled.

Jake knew he should be worried about pissing her off, but the truth was he liked seeing this side of her. Not just because she was gorgeous with flushed skin and flaming eyes when she cut him down to size...but because he’d never expected her to be full of such fire.

Yet again, little Sophie Sullivan was surprising him. In—and out—of bed.

But the surprises weren’t over yet, because when he heard the shower turn off and she came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, she was wearing his shirt like a dress, belted around the middle, stopping at her knees, her legs bare in her heels. Her hair was wet around her shoulders and she looked as sexy as it was possible for a woman to be.

“You look beautiful.”

On a disbelieving snort, she said, “I look like a poster from the eighties. But it’s better than putting on dirty clothes.” She wrinkled her nose. “I hate that.”

“Wait a minute,” he said as he approached her, “are you saying you don’t have anything on under my shirt?”

Her eyes got big and she started backing away from him. “We should go soon. The appointment is in forty-five minutes and we still need to stop by my apartment so I can put on normal clothes.”

“Forty-five minutes?” He pretended to think about it for a moment. “That should be enough time for what I have in mind.”

A look of pure lust shot across her face. But a moment later, she had on her best librarian expression, the one that told him he was being too loud and unruly and was on the verge of being kicked out of the building if he didn’t shape up right away.

“Go shower and get dressed, Jake.” He could tell how much she wanted to look down at his boxers to see if he was aroused...which he was. Hugely. But she determinedly kept her gaze on his face. “I’ll be waiting for you in the kitchen.”