Page 42 of Substitute Bride

Not tonight.

Soon James’s hands were all over her, feeling her in places she desperately wanted to feel him. She was so aroused she was whimpering from it, and she was completely unaware of time, place, or logic as she surrendered to her need for him.

The only thing that broke through her haze was the feel of the car pulling to a stop. James pulled back slightly and she glanced outside, realizing that they’d already gotten home.

And she hadn’t had nearly enough of him.

“Oh, God,” she breathed, clutching at his shoulders.

“Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “Yeah.”

“We should go in. Kelly is waiting. We can’t…” She trailed off, assuming he’d know she meant they couldn’t stumble inside, halfway in an embrace, and end up making love on the living room sofa, when Kelly was in there waiting for him.

“Okay.” James pulled back farther and straightened up, obviously trying to get himself under control. “We’ll go in. Check on the girls and thank Kelly. Then if you still want this…”

“What?” Rose prompted, desperate to hear what he’d say.

“Then come to my bedroom. If you get inside and think things through and still want this, then come to my bedroom.”

“Okay.” She felt rattled and aroused and rumpled and half-embarrassed by how shameless she’d been a minute before.

“You go in first. I need a minute.”

It didn’t take a genius to know why he needed a minute, so she climbed out still throbbing with arousal but in better shape than he was to walk.

She went inside and tried to make conversation with her sister, who teased her about drinking too much.

Better to be thought drunk than horny, she concluded.

James came in shortly after her, and they managed to get rid of Kelly pretty quickly. The girls were already asleep, so all that was left was to go to their respective bedrooms.

Rose closed her door and thought for a minute, but everything inside her wanted to do one thing.

So she did it. She hurried down the hall and knocked on his bedroom door.

He must have been waiting right in front of it because it opened immediately. With a rough sound, he pulled her into his arms, shutting the door behind him.

James no longer cared if it was wrong or not. It couldn’t be wrong. He didn’t care if he was Rose’s boss or if they’d been thrown together through an unnatural situation that might have heightened their responses to each other. He didn’t care that they’d both drunk too much wine.

Rose seemed to want this, and he’d never wanted anything as much.

The only thing that concerned him was that Rose might be feeling pressured into this—even though she’d told him she wasn’t—so he made sure to give her an easy way out if she wanted it.

He desperately hoped she wouldn’t want it, and he waited just inside his bedroom door after they’d gone to their rooms for the night, waiting to see if she would come to him.

He really hadn’t been sure—even if she wasn’t feeling pressured, she might have let sense catch up to her and start to question whether this was the wisest course for them to take—so he was intensely relieved when he heard the light tap on the door.

He swung it open and pulled her toward him unable to hold himself back anymore.

He was kissing her immediately, and she was clutching at him, just as hungry as he was. He slid his tongue into her mouth and waged a duel with hers, sliding his hands down to her hips and pulling her tightly against him.

He’d had good sex before—plenty of times—but he couldn’t remember ever feeling so out of control.

They stumbled over to the bed, still in the embrace, and when Rose’s legs hit the edge of the bed, they both tumbled down onto the mattress. He moved over her, claiming her mouth again, drinking her in, wanting to feel her in every way.

She was fisting her hands in his shirt and rocking her body up into his. He loved how eager she felt, how she was so caught up in feeling that she couldn’t help but respond to him this way. He wanted her to let go even more.

He wanted her to give all of herself to him, holding nothing back.