Page 44 of Substitute Bride

“I’ll be good,” she promised, squeezing around him again. “But you’re feeling pretty amazing, so if you don’t start soon, I’m just going to start without you.”

He couldn’t hold back the chuckle at her words, and his emotions surged up with the physical pleasure. It was so much like Rose. Understated. Clever. Generous. So warmhearted.

“Oh baby,” he gasped, pulling back to thrust because he couldn’t hold still anymore. He wanted to take her, claim her, make her his. As deeply as he could get.

“Yes,” she breathed, bending up her legs more and adjusting herself around him. “James, yes.”

It took a few false starts, but they finally found a pleasing rhythm, both of their bodies moving together. It was exactly right, exactly what James wanted—and exactly who he wanted to be with.

Rose was rocking beneath him, meeting his thrusts, her motion growing more urgent. Soon she was raking her fingers down his back and biting her bottom lip again as she was clearly on the edge of orgasm.

“That’s right, baby,” he grunted. “Give yourself over to it. You’re doing so good. Come for me.”

She cried out as she shuddered through what looked like a hard orgasm. As her body clamped down around him, he couldn’t hold back anymore. He choked out a helpless sound as he felt the pleasure tighten and then release in deep waves of pleasure. He felt himself jerking against her, heard himself saying something he wasn’t even sure were words.

When both of them came down, he leaned over to kiss her softly, loving her expression and the softness of her body beneath him.

“That was so good,” she whispered, stroking his back as if he were something precious. “James, I needed that so much.”

“Me too.” He kissed her again and then relaxed beside her, taking her in his arms, never wanting to let her go.

And it wasn’t until several minutes later that he started to wonder what she’d meant when she’d said she needed that.

Maybe she meant she needed him, the way he needed her.

Or maybe she just meant she needed the physical release.

He hoped to God it wasn’t the latter.

9

Rose woke up at three thirty the next morning, sore and overly warm.

She soon discovered why since she was squeezed between James’s body and the mattress, and his body seemed to be generating an unnatural amount of heat.

She raised her head and breathed deeply, and then she eased herself out from under him. He was still sound asleep and he rolled over with a mumble, so she sat up on the side of the bed and breathed some more.

Last night had been… incredible. But the night was basically over now, and she had to come to terms with the consequences.

One of them was the fact that her head was pounding from drinking too much last night.

Another was a soreness she could still feel between her legs.

And the most serious was sleeping on the other side of the bed. She glanced back, her heart clenching at the sight of his bare shoulder and messy hair.

With a weird little gasp, she stood up, gathered her clothes, and hurried silently out of the room and down the hall to hers.

She got a glass of water from the faucet in her bathroom and drank it all down in one go. Then she got right into the shower, trying her best not to cry.

Last night had offered her everything she wanted, but there was no guarantee of it continuing. Neither one of them had been in their normal state, and James had always been clear in saying that nothing about their professional relationship was going to change, no matter what happened between them during this interlude.

He wanted his wife back. He wanted the woman who had first worn that beautiful ring. And since he couldn’t have her, he wanted the closest approximation he could find.

That would never be her.

She’d known it all along, so she didn’t let herself fall apart. She got out of the shower, dried off, put on sleeping shorts and a tank, braided her hair, and crawled into bed.

She had a few more hours before she needed to get up for the day, and she wanted to postpone the morning for as long as possible.