A Guilty Affair (14 page)

She moaned fitfully, her hips undulating in response, nearly making him come.

He dragged his mouth from her breast and kissed her—a long, carnal kiss that left them both panting.

Voracious now, Noah reached beneath her skirt and tugged at her panties, unbearably aroused to find the crotch already damp. He slid the black lace down her legs and over her wedge sandals, pocketing the underwear like a souvenir. He then knelt between her thighs, his mouth homing in on the hot, wet gift that awaited him.

Riley cried out at the erotically intimate kiss, her fingernails digging into his shoulders through his shirt. Lust raged through his body, throbbing relentlessly in his groin. Grabbing her hips, he rasped his tongue over her slippery feminine lips, murmuring huskily, “You're so sweet, so damned sweet.”

“Noah…”
She moaned his name over and over as he licked, nibbled and suckled her, filling his mouth with her essence. He tortured her until he thought she might shatter apart, her hips lifting off the table to press into him, her breath loud and gasping.

He had to have her. He'd wanted this for so long, wanted to make her scream his name and shudder in his arms. But when it happened for the first time, he wanted to be buried deep inside her. He wanted to feel her wet heat surrounding him, contracting, pulling, driving him toward the exquisite end.

He surged to his feet, intending to pick her up and carry her to his bedroom. Of all the times he'd fantasized about making love to Riley, he'd never imagined taking her on a pool table, as if they were acting out some scene from a book or movie.

But when she unbuttoned the snap of his jeans and impatiently unzipped them, then reached inside his boxers, he knew they wouldn't make it to the bedroom.

He sucked in a harsh breath as her warm fingers encircled his penis, then began stroking up and down the swollen length until he thought he'd explode in her hand.

Placing his hand over hers, as he'd done during the pool lesson, he guided the tip of his shaft between the wet, inviting folds of her body. The first touch of her blazed through him, scorching his nerve endings and setting him on fire. The urgency he felt made him thrust deep with a single stroke, penetrating her as far as he could. Riley cried out sharply, arching tautly against him and throwing back her head. He swore under his breath, closing his eyes as if he were in agony. The tight, silken clasp of her body was like nothing he'd ever imagined, and for a prolonged moment he remained perfectly still, afraid the slightest movement would push him over the edge. He wanted to take his time with her, savor every moment of this incredible experience like it would be his last. Because it probably would.

Opening his eyes slowly, he began moving inside her, pacing himself, willing himself to go slow and not ravage her. But then she tilted her hips to take him deeper and did something with her inner muscles that snapped his resolve.

With his heart pounding violently, he began pumping harder, faster, deeper inside her. She spread her thighs wide to accommodate him, her arms braced on the table to support herself as he withdrew, then thrust again and again in a heavy, pounding rhythm that made their breath come in ragged spurts.

Noah couldn't take his eyes off her exquisite face, at the ripeness of her beautiful breasts, at their urgent coupling. How many times had he imagined this moment, making love to the woman of his dreams? And as vividly erotic as his dreams had been, nothing could compare to the mind-blowing reality of this night.

He grasped her bottom and lifted her off the table, driving into her until she arched against him with a loud cry. He felt the rapid contractions of her climax as he kept thrusting, plunging into her until he reached his own powerful release. He shuddered and groaned loudly, his entire body growing taut with the force of the spasms that gripped him in the most intense orgasm he'd ever had. Fitting that it should be with Riley, the first and only woman he'd ever loved.

For a long while they remained locked in that position, Riley's legs wrapped around him, neither willing to end the embrace. Slowly he eased her back down onto the table and kissed her closed eyelids, then her lips.

As her lashes fluttered open, he gazed deep into her eyes, searching for any signs of regret. When he found none, he cradled the back of her head and drew her close for a stirring, openmouthed kiss.

“Okay?” he murmured, when they at last pulled apart again.

She nodded, her mouth curved in a dreamy, tantalizing smile. “I don't think I've ever been better.”

His heart soared. Even as he told himself she couldn't possibly know what she was saying, he lifted her into his arms and strode purposefully from the game room, in search of a bed for round two.

I
n
hindsight, Riley realized she probably shouldn't have insisted on learning how to play pool. But she'd been in trouble long before Noah picked up that cue stick and began his lesson on “anatomy.”

She'd been in trouble the moment she hopped into her car and drove all the way across town to his house.

As he carried her from the game room and down the hallway to his bedroom, she clung to his neck and pressed her face against his chest. She felt vulnerable and wonderfully protected at the same time.

Inside his bedroom, he switched on the bedside lamp and lowered her gently onto the king-size bed, his body following hers. She reached up to pull off his shirt and toss it aside, then his lips covered hers again, hot and coaxing. She opened her mouth to welcome his probing tongue as they shared a long, deep, provocative kiss.

They stripped off the remainder of each other's clothes, hands tangling in their haste. A simultaneous ripple shook them as their naked bodies joined on the bed, skin to skin, hard against soft.

Desperate to touch him, Riley found the flat brown button of his nipple and caught it between her teeth. She rubbed the tip of her tongue back and forth against the tiny bud, then opened her mouth and suckled, drawing a low, agonized groan from him. Her hands stroked down the corded muscles of his back and over the taut firmness of his buttocks while he watched her through heavy-lidded eyes.

She gasped as his hand moved between her spread thighs and found her wet, pulsing center. He parted the delicate folds of her flesh with his fingertips and slipped one thick finger inside. She moaned and arched against him, her head rocking back and forth against the bed, her fingers clenching a handful of the sheets as she felt herself building toward another orgasm.

She whimpered in protest as Noah pulled back, reaching into the nightstand and removing a condom from the top drawer. Dimly it occurred to her that they hadn't used protection the first time. But she'd been too far gone to notice or care, and now all she wanted was to feel him buried inside her again.

He sheathed himself quickly and mounted her, cupping her bottom and fitting her to his length. Holding her gaze, he entered her with one hard, steady thrust, burying himself to the hilt. She cried out, wrapping her legs tightly around him.

He withdrew a little and thrust again, his eyes intent on her face. And she felt, in that moment, a powerful sense of connection that went beyond the joining of their bodies. This was more than sex. This was lovemaking—life-affirming, earth-shattering lovemaking that brought a rush of hot tears to her eyes.

Seeing her tears, Noah paused mid-stroke, looking concerned. “Am I hurting you?”

Riley shook her head. “No,” she whispered quickly. “Don't stop. Please don't stop.”

“I won't,” he vowed, looking at her with an intensity that made her shiver. “Ever.”

As he began thrusting deep inside her, she clung to him with desperate hands, her nails digging into his back as each demanding stroke drove her closer to the edge. He wasn't gentle, nor did she want him to be. All she wanted was him, the fierce possession of his body locked into hers, the wondrous sensation of belonging to him.

Bracing himself on both arms, his hands on either side of her head, Noah increased the force and tempo of their lovemaking, plunging in and out of her, reaching deeper with every stroke until Riley began climaxing. She cried out at the strength of it, holding him tight as her body convulsed around his penis, milking an orgasm out of him. She felt him come, felt the sudden rigidity in the muscles of his back as he thrust one final time, then called her name hoarsely, almost reverently.

Then stillness…the only sound their ragged breathing. Neither of them moved.

Riley waited for the recriminations to rush to the surface of her mind. But all she felt was warm and deliciously satiated. And something else.

She felt an overwhelming sense of…completion.

After another moment, Noah rolled off her and drew her into the protective strength of his arms. Closing his eyes, he brushed his lips across her temple and stroked her damp hair. “Stay with me,” he said huskily.

And she did, obeying without question. Because she knew, in that moment, there was no place else she'd rather be.

For the first time in weeks, she slept long and hard, and awakened at some point during the night to find her and Noah spooned together in the large bed, the covers drawn up to their waists, his arm resting lightly on her hip. She didn't move for several moments, marveling at how perfectly their bodies fit—a thought that was scary enough to galvanize her into action.

Slowly, so she wouldn't wake him, she eased toward the edge of the bed and sat up. As she scanned the moonlit darkness, trying to remember where her clothes had been discarded earlier, he stirred. She froze.

“Don't go,” he murmured, low and gruff.

Without turning around, she closed her eyes. “I have to.”

“No, you don't.” She felt the mattress dip slightly as he moved toward her, placing a warm, gentle hand on her shoulder. She trembled at his touch, already feeling herself weakening.

“Riley,” he said in a voice that reached deep into her soul. “Stay.”

She was lost, helpless to refuse him as he drew her back onto the bed and into his arms. He leaned down and kissed her, a deep, drugging kiss that burned away the last of her resistance. She moaned softly as he slid between her legs and filled her with one long, possessive stroke. She closed her eyes and surrendered to him, allowing herself to be swept away.

In the morning, when daylight brought clarity, she would deal with the guilt and recriminations she knew would be waiting.

The guilt hit hard.

So hard that the moment Noah stepped into the bathroom to take a shower, she bolted from the bed where she'd been feigning sleep and scrambled around the room throwing on her discarded clothes. It was only as she peeled away from the house that she remembered Noah still had her panties, which he'd tucked into his pocket before they made love.

No way in hell was she going back for them.

In fact, if she never saw Noah Roarke's house again, it would be too soon.

What had she been thinking? She'd made love with Noah, breaking Rule Number One in the book of what
not
to do with your fiancé's best friend. She'd not only slept with Noah; she'd enjoyed every earth-shattering moment of it. And that
had
to be Rule Number Two in the book—don't enjoy the act of betrayal.

Because there was no other word to describe what she'd done. She'd betrayed Trevor by making love with his best friend, a man who'd been like a brother to him. As if it weren't bad enough that she'd returned to San Antonio to launch a private investigation into Trevor's murder, an investigation that could prove his involvement in illegal activities. Wasn't that betrayal enough? Did she have to add sex with his best friend to her rap sheet of crimes?

Riley groaned as she got off at the next exit. Her first mistake of the night had been showing up at his house at ten o'clock. She'd gone there to tell him about her encounter with Trevor's mother and to gauge his reaction to Leona Simmons's strange remarks about her son. She'd been prepared to plead her case for why Noah should help her investigate Trevor's shooting. Instead she'd found herself receiving a lesson on how to play pool. Never could she have imagined how arousing such an innocent thing could be, starting from the “anatomy” lesson laced with innuendo, to the sexually charged demonstration on how to use the cue stick.
A little smoother
, he'd murmured in her ear, sliding the long pole between her hand.
Not so hard
. The memory of it made a shiver of warmth puddle in her groin. She'd never look at another pool table the same way again.

Still, even if she could excuse the first encounter between them, what about the second, third and fourth time they'd made love? What about the fact that she'd had unprotected sex with him, something she'd done with no man but Trevor? She hadn't been on the pill in three years. What if, God forbid, she got pregnant?

She didn't even want to think about accidentally conceiving a child with Noah.

Yet she couldn't stop thinking about how explosive their lovemaking had been. After losing Trevor, she'd never expected to find sexual compatibility with any other man. But what she and Noah had shared went beyond sexual compatibility. The moment their bodies joined, she'd felt a powerful connection that transcended the physical act of sex. She'd felt a sense of…rightness.

But how could that be? How could she feel right about something that was so inherently wrong?

Minutes later, she pulled into the driveway of her parents 'home and cut off the ignition. The house was silent when she crept through the door, like a teenager sneaking in after curfew. She tiptoed through the living room and had made it halfway upstairs when she was halted by her grandmother's distinctly amused voice.

“Must've been quite a long talk you and Noah had.

You left at nine-thirty last night. It's now six-thirty in the morning.”

Busted. Damn
.

Without turning around, Riley said casually, “Yeah, well, we had a lot to discuss. Important stuff.”

“I'm sure it was.” There was an unmistakable smile in Florinda's voice.

Riley flushed. “I, uh, need to take a shower and get ready for work.”

“Of course. Would you like some breakfast before you leave? You and Noah probably worked up quite an appetite…talking.”

Riley's face grew hotter. “Gotta run, Grandma,” she said in a rush, taking the rest of the stairs two at a time. “I'll grab something on the way to the office.”

“All right, baby,” Florinda called after her. “Be sure to give Noah my best.”

“I will,” Riley promised, then smothered a groan at the thought of seeing him again in a couple of hours. With any luck, he'd spend another day out of the office, saving her the trouble of having to avoid him.

Too bad she'd never put much stock in luck.

When Noah emerged from the bathroom and found Riley gone, he wasn't surprised. He'd fully expected her to bolt at the first opportunity. And maybe it was for the best. He needed to be alone to sort through what had happened between them last night, and he couldn't think clearly with her around.

He'd made love to Riley, his best friend's fiancée, a woman he'd sworn he could never have. He'd made love to her not once, but several times during the night. He'd whispered erotic things to her, had pressed his mouth to the feminine heart of her and ridden her through one mind-numbing orgasm after another. He'd exulted in her cries of ecstasy and had taken satisfaction in the way she'd screamed his name and clawed his back.

He should be hanging his head in shame, racked with guilt and regret over what he'd done.

But how could he regret what had been the most incredible night of his life? Nothing he'd ever experienced could compare to the indescribable pleasure of making love to Riley. He'd dreamed about it so many times, had tortured himself with fantasies that now paled in comparison to the reality.

He'd made love to her, and although he knew deep down inside that Trevor wouldn't have approved, Noah couldn't summon an ounce of regret.

What kind of man did that make him?

A grim smile curved his mouth.
A man who's in love. Deeply, hopelessly, in love with the wrong woman
.