Melting Into You (Due South Book 2) (26 page)

They wouldn’t make it to a bed—they’d be lucky to make it onto the Oriental rug. Ben pulled her close, fi
tting them, finally, skin to skin. The damp length of him pulsed against her stomach. He kissed her mindless again and lowered her to the rug.

“Don’t you dare move.” He reached for the small box she’d dropped. His gaze flicked to her. “Forget that. Touch yourself until I suit up.”

“Ben!” His name joined a startled laugh on her lips.

“Pretty please.”

How could she resist him? Easy. She couldn’t. Kezia slid her fingers down her stomach, gliding them into slickness and stroking her swollen flesh.

“Baby, this’ll fuel my fantasies for years. You’re so fucking beautiful.”

Kezia closed her eyes with a smile. “Hurry.”

Cellophane crinkled, and then the box plunked to the ground. Foil tore and he returned, running roughened hands up her legs
and moving her out of the way.

“My turn.” He caressed her once, twice, his thumb gliding over her core.

Her eyes flickered open. A sensory overload of golden-tanned man-flesh, his jeans riding dangerously low on lean hips. “Ah—your clothes?”

“No time. We’re in a hurry.” He grinned at her and surged forward, covering her with his big body.

His smile. One glimpse of it and she was a goner. She dragged him down by the lapel of his shirt, kissing him with every pent-up desire, every second of lust-filled agony she’d spent imagining this moment.

Bracing on forearms either side of her head, Ben placed an open-mouthed kiss on her throat before he nailed her with a hot, unwavering gaze. He pulsed at
her entrance, pushing an inch inside her because she was slippery with need.

They sucked in a ragged breath together—then a
nother, as his hips thrust forward. Her body stretched around his thickness, a delicious fullness so all-encompassing that she whimpered as he ground into her again. Nothing mattered but the connection between them.

A slow dance sped into a frantic coupling, her nails lanced into his broad back, urging him faster, harder, a wordless order to take her higher and higher.

She flew—soaring out of herself and into the deep blue sky. Everything focused on the pleasure flinging her over the edge. Strong arms caught her as she cried out, his face buried in her neck as he continued to move within her, each stroke demonstrating raw power restrained. She could only hold fast until he shuddered, following her over with a muffled groan.

The
floaty drift down to Earth was heralded by the deadweight of a satisfied man deliciously squishing her, and a curious scratching sound from the direction of the door.

Kezia rolled her hea
d to the side, and Ben groaned.

“I think you broke me.” He applied his lips to the curve of her throat
and sucked on a patch of skin.

He twitched deep inside her and her i
nternal muscles clenched tight.

“Nope. Not broken after all,” he said.

Kezia lost the staring contest with the little sparrow hopping across the floor, the bird’s chattering likely a shocked statement about her being in flagrante delicto before an open door. A wide open door, with their parked rental car and a broad expanse of public road behind it.

“Ah, Ben?”

Warm lips nibbled her earlobe. “Mmm?”

Erogenous zones fired off warning alarms. In the distance, a lawnmower buzzed to life, the sound too close for comfort.

“Ben!”

Ben propped himself up on his forearms, making room for cool air to drift over her breasts. Her nipples sprang to attention. Again.

“Pretty.” Like a magpie spotting a shiny prize, his gaze zipped down, followed seconds later by his lips.

Wicked, wicked lips.

The sparrow chattered disapproval and flitted outside.

Threading her fingers through Ben’s hair, Kezia e
xerted upward pressure until her nipple popped free, then turned his face in her hands.

“Door.”

He twisted his head back and grinned. “So?”

She squeezed her internal muscles again. His sleepy-sex-sated eyes widened.

“Round two, since I didn’t break you?” she said.

“Oh. Yeah.”

“Door,” she said firmly, pulling him closer to kiss the smirk off his mouth.

“Yes, mistress.”

Chapter 13

Ro
und two finished in the shower.

Round three in the kitchen, after they’d rinsed their champagne glasses.

Later, Ben took Kezia’s hand as they left the bistro where they’d eaten dinner. They crossed the road to lean against the stone-walled promenade overlooking Lake Wakatipu’s shore.

She squeezed his fingers with a sheepish smile. “Do you mind if I give Zoe a quick call? I told her even though I was staying with a friend, I’d ring her tonight.”

“Course not.”

While she dug in her purse, he snuck another glance at her ass, unfortunately covered in a wool coat. The clingy dress underneath it fuelled his intention to strip it off ASAP. He couldn’t get enough naked-skin time with
Kez. He’d kept her holed up all day in the house, so he’d felt compelled to take her into the town center for a meal.

Other couples strolled past, their footfalls echoing, their laughter swirling through the cool breeze blowing
off the lake. Nothing pierced the little bubble separating him and Kez from the crowd of holiday makers. Hyper aware of her—down to the flowery scent of the shampoo he’d used on her hair in the shower—he moved closer.

Zoe’s voice squeaked out of the tiny speaker, then a flurry of ear-splitting yaps, intermingled with laughter and Jade
’s shouted instructions.

His daughter’s voice was unmistakable, and som
ething tugged inside his chest. Was she okay? Was she having fun with Piper and West? Had they remembered she liked to sleep with Bolt every night? Did she miss him at all? His hand flexed, itching for his phone. Maybe he should give the kid a quick call—not because he missed her, but to reassure her he’d be home soon from his “catch up with an old friend.”

Kezia chuckled, spoke a few words in Italian, and hung up. “They’re having a great time. They went to a movie with Piper, helped Shaye weed Mrs. Taylor’s garden, and kicked a ball with West. Now they’re
knackered
and about to play a few hands of Go Fish before bed.”

“West and my sisters know how to have fun with the girls.”

She dropped her phone into her purse and slipped her hand through the crook of his elbow. “They’re not the only ones, you know. You’re the boss of fun—according to Zoe and Jade.”

He looked down. “Get out.”

“It’s true. You taught them how to change tap washers—”

“Practical life skills—not fun.”

“They loved it, especially when you had a water fight with them afterwards.” She grinned. “And you’ve taken them fishing—”

“Every kid should know how to fish.”

“Played The Secret Ninja Strikes Again.”

Ben clapped a palm to his face. “Oh, hell, they told you about that?”

She arched up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “I would’ve loved to have seen the three of you hiding and jumping out at each other.”

He dropped his hand a little, squinting through his fingers at her wide smile. “Four. The dog played too.”

“You’ve turned out to be a good dad, Ben.”

“I think it’s more that Jade’s a good kid. I only feed her, send her to bed on time, and help her with her homework. That doesn’t count for much.” He tipped his chin toward the parked car. “Shall we go?”

Puddles of golden light mottled the sidewalk as they walked along the lakefront, pausing by the sculpture of Queenstown’s founder, William Gilbert Rees.

Kezia patted the ram’s horns at the sculpture’s feet. “It counts with Jade. You’re her rock, someone she can depend on.”

Although the description still didn’t sit right, the thought of being his kid’s long-term caregiver no longer made him break out in hives. He’d accepted the buck stopped with him—so he’d pulled on his big-boy Y-fronts and tried to be her dad. Tried, being the operative word. He wasn’t sure of the quality parenting she received.

He removed Kezia’s hand from the sculpture and brushed his lips across her knuckles. “We’ve esta
blished I’m up for Father of the Year. That I’m a man who knows how to have fun…” He waggled his eyebrows. “Race you to the car?”

Ben tugged her past touristy gift-shops and noisy bars. They ran, laughing like es
caped lunatics, to the Holden.

Driving to Harley’s house with Kezia’s hand on his thigh, he was tempted to handbrake slide into the gra
veled driveway—a rally driver on the last stretch to the finish line. Somehow, he resisted his inner speed-demon and parked carefully. Wind whispered over the car, and the motor ticked as it cooled.

Kezia unbuckled her seatbelt and flicked her hair off her shoulders. “Think we’ll mak
e it to the bedroom this time?”

“Not if the Secret Ninja catches you.”

“I like this game already.” She opened the door and clambered out, revealing a length of silky thigh as her dress slid up.

She had a four-second head start while he tried to figure out if she had panties on.

He flung himself after her, spinning her around and scooping her up over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold. Listening to her swear at him in Italian—he assumed the words strung alongside his personal favorite,
stronzo,
were curse words—Ben copped a delightful grope of her bottom as she hammered her fists on his back.

Yep. No panties on his hot little captive.

“Put me down!”

He unlocked the front door and stepped inside.

Wheezes of laughter and another thump. “Neanderthal.”

“Are
n’t I your teddy bear anymore?”

She snorted and wriggled her sweet little
tush some more in an effort to get away.

“Or am I your toy-boy, since, technically, you are two years older.”

Her weight shifted and a second later, a sharp slap landed on his butt. “Let me go, or I’ll make you my chew-toy!”

Ben lowered her to the ground, kissed her to shut her up, and backed her down the hallway. He peeled off her coat and ran fingers up her spine until he located the zipper tag, desperate to get them both naked. God, he throbbed for her, a full-body ache. He wanted to slow down and lick every inch of her bare skin as he had in the shower earlier. But the drive to claim her, to lose himself in the blind pleasure of her, was overwhelming.

Clothes whispered to the floor, the only other sounds in the huge, still house their rasping breaths, the hiss of his zipper, and Kezia’s soft moans as he sank onto the stairs, pulling her onto his lap.

Heaven. Each part of her, every touch, every stroke of her tongue in his mouth, dragged his soul out of hi
ding. He suckled the tip of one breast, savoring the pebbled texture of her nipple. Her fingers threaded through his hair and tightened as she ground her slick folds against his cock. Heaven. He cupped the swell of her ass and lifted, settling her into position.

She leaned back and sank down, drawing him deep inside her body with a soft cry. Her warm wetness gripped him, and it was all he could do not to cry out with her.

She rode him ruthlessly hard, taking all she wanted. He gave her everything, compelling her to greater heights with his hands and mouth, matching her stroke for stroke. Need boiled through him, his senses dizzied by her silky skin, her nails clawing his shoulders, the heady taste of her kisses. His name on her lips tore Ben’s control to rags. She came, and the spasms of her body rocked him senseless. He shattered moments later, folding her in his arms as she slumped against his chest.

Damp skin bathed in a sheen of sweat, faces pressed into each other’s necks, his huffed breaths shockingly loud in the silence, they held each other. Stair treads dug into his spine hard enough to bruise. Blood poun
ded through his groin, because God knew, every drop had drained from his skull. There were places more uncomfortable than a flight of stairs to have wild monkey sex—only he couldn’t think of one now.

He curled his hand on her shoulder and
gently pulled her back. “Okay?”

Eloquence was beyond him, but the warm light in Kezia’s chocolaty
gaze indicated she didn’t mind.

“More than okay.” She cupped his jaw, her thumbs scraping over his evening shadow.

Her tenderness coiled through him, and a fluttery sensation stirred in his gut. He shifted on the hard step. The movement sent a bolt of awareness to his dick, which in turn fired a memo into his fogged brain: you’re not wearing a condom, dumbass.

Oh. Shit.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t use a condom, are you on the—?”

Her eyes widened and her lips formed a pale slash across her face.

Guess that was a
no
.