Nameless Series Boxed Set (39 page)

Erin wasn’t
sure if Seth was just in a hurry or if he actually thought she hadn’t wanted to
use her mouth this time. Either way, his assumption didn’t seem worth countering.
Instead, she simply answered his question. “Oh, I don’t remember. You pick
things up. There was a time when I actually had a social life, you know.”

It seemed ages
ago now—the time when Erin had dated a lot, when she’d had sex more than twice
a year. Even now, in the antique bed of a suite in an expensive inn with Seth Thomas,
she felt far removed from that kind of life.

Seth smiled
quietly. “There was a time when I did too.”

She wasn’t sure
if she felt tender, or amused, or a little nervous about his comment and about
the silent understanding in his gaze.

So she decided
she’d just concentrate on the matter at hand instead. She adjusted herself on
the bed until she was stretched out beside him. “You know, my thighs are kind
of tired, so I think I’ll let you get on top this time.”

“Sounds good to
me,” Seth agreed, positioning himself between her parted thighs. He reached his
hand down to explore her intimate flesh. “How are you doing?”

She knew
exactly what he was asking, and—although he could obviously feel the answer for
himself—she replied, with a quick intake of breath as his fingers slid inside
her, “Ready to go.”

Without further
ado, Seth reached down and, holding his cock with one hand, lined himself up. Then
Erin bent her legs and pulled her knees up as he slid in.

Seth inhaled in
pleasure as he sunk into her, but his eyes remained opened, and he planted his
hands on either side of her shoulders, straightening his arms to hold his upper
body above her.

Erin arched
beneath him, the sensations from the penetration filling her tightly and making
her squirm. “Have I mentioned,” she began breathlessly, her arms reaching up to
stroke his shoulders and neck, “that I really enjoy doing this with you?”

Seth gave a
grunt of amusement and eased his pelvis back a bit before thrusting forward.
“Likewise.”

Her fingers
tightened reflexively into the hard muscles of his shoulders, and she couldn’t
hold back a moan of languorous pleasure as the friction sent shudders pulsing
out. “I can’t figure out,” she continued, determined to keep up her end of the
conversation for as long as she possibly could, “if you’re particularly
talented in this or...”

He pulled back
and then sunk into her again, his time levering up with his hips. Her words
were cut off with an involuntary gasp as a jolt of pure sensation caused her to
buck up her hips and flail one arm out to clutch at the sheets.

Seth’s face was
now set with concentration, and his eyes were fixed steadily on her face. She
saw again that deep, disturbing expression there. “Or
what
?”

Erin had to
summon all of her control to keep from pumping her hips frantically beneath him.
Determined to match his leisurely rhythm, she forced herself to only move her
hips to meet his thrusts.

After two more
thrusts from him, several broken gasps from her, and a few helpless tosses of
her head, Erin managed to complete her earlier thought. “Or if we just happen
to be particularly in sync in bed.”

Seth’s body was
tight, the muscles in his arms and shoulders rippling as he held himself up, as
he pumped into her with steady strokes. “Very likely both.”

Erin—dealing
with a number of feelings between her legs and in her heart—was really glad
that he sounded breathless too.

His speed
didn’t accelerate, but he’d added a roll of his hips to his lever up on each
thrust, which was really working for her. She had let go of his shoulder by
now, since it took too much concentration to keep reaching up. Instead, she clung
to the nearest bedpost with one hand and clawed at the sheets with the other.

Her body felt
like it was swelling with the lush friction and motion, but she used the last
of her focus to grit out, “Or maybe
I’m
...really...talented...at this.” Her
feet had flattened on the mattress, and she was thrusting her hips up urgently
to meet him in an effort to get as much pleasure as possible.

“Definitely...that,”
Seth agreed, his words coming out more like grunts.

On his next in-stroke,
Erin intuitively squeezed her inner muscles around the hard substance of his
cock.

Seth let out a
muffled exclamation, and his rhythm picked up immediately.

Crying out in
relief, Erin matched the faster tempo as she rocked beneath him. She clung to the
bedpost for stability and tossed her head against the pillow restlessly,
causing her hair to fall into her mouth the way it always did.

Seth was
panting above her, but he wasn’t saying anything now. His eyes...his eyes never
looked away from her face. Their expression was that nameless one—the one that
spoke so much, even without any words.

When Erin
looked up blurrily, trying to focus through the rising haze of her deepening
pleasure, she saw more in his expression than she’d ever seen before.

There seemed to
be
everything
there—a rich, overwhelming flood of feeling—all of it
visible, tangible in his gaze. All of the feelings he always suppressed, that
he hid behind his cool control.  More than he’d ever admitted to. More than she’d
ever dreamed possible. All of it—there—in his eyes.

Erin closed her
own eyes against it, the depth and magnitude of the emotion terrifying her. She
wondered how she’d ever thought this man was cold and unfeeling.

Wondered if
anyone else had ever seen what she'd just seen in Seth—all the raw, naked power
of it.

She turned her
head to the side and squeezed her eyes shut, but even then she could still feel
him watching her. Could feel how much this meant to him.

It was too
distracting. And too overpowering. If she dwelled on it she’d lose the building
pressure of her orgasm. So she kept her eyes closed, tried to block out his
gaze and all that it implied.

Thought about
how their bodies were moving together in urgent rhythm. Thought about how his
hard cock was sliding inside her, stimulating her in the most intimate of ways.
Thought about how her body was rocking and shaking beneath him, about how she
was whimpering now in pleasure.

Found herself
close to coming again.

The sensations
had built up inside her until the pressure was overwhelming, so—with a sobbing
sound—Erin stopped clutching the bedcovers and moved her hand down in between
their bodies. She squeezed her fingers into position, until she could reach her
clit. Rubbed at it frantically, needing release from the peaking sensations.

Needing release
from the entire experience.

“Yeah,” she
choked out, as the clumsy massage of her clit pushed her closer to climax. “Yeah!”

Her body
writhed desperately until the tension finally shattered. She released a
breathless, wordless scream.

Seth was still
thrusting into her—making hard little pushes into her clenching pussy. His eyes
had closed for the moment, but his expression still revealed his effort and
pleasure.

When the
intense throbbing of her orgasm faded into a rich, lingering spasms, Erin
realized that her breasts had leaked again. She grabbed the towel once more, clumsily
wiping herself off as Seth continued to move over her, inside her.

Then his eyes
opened, and he met her gaze as the tension in his body reached its limit.

“Erin,” he
rasped.

For a moment,
the intensity in his eyes was blinding, suffocating. Erin literally couldn’t
breathe.

Then, with two
more hard pushes, he froze. Then came, once more choking out her name.

Erin
watched—couldn’t look away—as his face transformed and his eyes fell shut at
last. His body finally began to relax, and his elbows buckled before he caught
himself.

And Erin was
scared again—wasn’t sure she could handle this kind of intensity, wasn’t sure
if she could stand to be needed so much, especially since she wasn’t even sure
why.

Part of her
thrilled at it, longed for it. But that was a small, clinging part of her soul
that she rarely gave any attention to. The rest of her—the cynical, ironic
self—couldn’t take it, needed to break the rush of feeling before it drowned
her.

So, as soon as Seth
started to relax, she squirmed beneath him. “Condom.”

He opened his eyes
and pulled out of her.

“I’ll throw it
away,” she offered, rolling out of the bed and taking the damp towel with her. “I
want to clean up a little anyway.”

He nodded
silently. Tied the condom off and handed it to her.

Erin hurried to
the bathroom, relieved to get away for a moment.

She cleaned
herself off, wiping off her breasts, her belly, and between her legs. Then she
washed her hands with soap and splashed cold water on her face. Stared at
herself with hazel eyes that were almost wild.

Her heart beat
frantically, and it wasn’t just from the exertion of their lovemaking. She felt
like a cornered animal, like she was momentarily frozen from the shock of a
threatening danger.

Was so scared
of what might happen when she returned to the bed, returned to Seth. Was scared
he would take her in his arms, that he would say things she wouldn’t know what
to do with, that part of her might actually want to hear them.

Really wanted
to run away. To grab her clothes and run out of the room, without talking to him,
without looking at him.

As she dried
her face though, she shook herself off. She wasn’t about to do that. She wasn’t
going to hurt Seth again—certainly not in any way she could help. While she
wasn’t in the same place that he was—and part of her felt horribly guilty
because of it—she
did
care about him deeply.

And she wasn’t
going to mess things up between them again. Not if she had a choice.

So she screwed
up her courage and went back to the bedroom. Found Seth lying on his side, his
back in her direction.

Something about
the tense lines of his body made her gut clench with an entirely different kind
of anxiety.

She got on the
bed and scooted over toward him. Pressed herself against his back and draped an
arm over to stroke his chest and belly.

“Hey,” she said
softly.

“Hey.” He
didn’t turn his head back to look at her.

He seemed
different now somehow. Not the careful, reticent father. Not the suave,
cosmopolitan sex-god. Not the cold, hard lawyer.

He was
something else—something almost young, almost vulnerable.

Erin swallowed
hard. “Are you...I mean, you look...do you regret this after all?” She was
really scared of hearing his answer, but better to get things out in the open
so that he wouldn’t feel like he had to withdraw from her again.

He finally
turned to look at her over his shoulder. “No.
I
don’t. Do you?” His eyes
were sharp and observant, and she suddenly wondered how much of her panic a
minute ago he had recognized.

 “No. I feel a
little...strange and confused. But I don’t think I regret it. It was...good.”

Something
softened in his eyes and his body, but his expression still looked rather wary.
“Do you think you might want this to continue?”

Erin was silent
for a long time, trying to be honest and considerate both. “I...don’t know. It
all happened in such a rush. I think I need a little time to work through the implications
of everything. I’m sorry.”

Seth rolled
onto his back so he could look at her more easily. “Don’t be. It's entirely up
to you. There’s no obligation. You don’t have to feel guilty, even if you
decide against it.”

She squirmed a
little and burrowed into his side. “Honestly, I
do
feel guilty, a
little.” Before he could object, she went on, “But I won’t let it affect my
decisions. What happens between us is going to affect Mackenzie’s future, so I
really want to make sure we do the right thing. I'm not going to keep jumping
into bed with you if it's going to later cause problems between us. So I hope
you don’t regret this, after all.”

He nodded
silently. He must have found his cool defenses again because he smiled without
a hint of conflicted feeling. “No chance of that.”

Erin exhaled
deeply, relaxing beside his warm body, relieved to once more see the Seth she
was used to.

***

The drive back was quiet and
thoughtful, but not awkward as Erin had feared.

When they
finally arrived at Erin’s apartment, it was nearly four o’clock in the morning.
She realized that she was going to have to confront Liz—who she was pretty sure
would immediately discern what had happened.

So Erin tried
to steel herself as Seth walked her up to her apartment door.

He looked
drained and a little tired, and his clothes were uncharacteristically rumpled
from how they’d been wadded up on the floor for several hours. As Erin pulled
out her key, he said mildly, “I suppose Mackenzie will be asleep.”

Erin was about
to give an automatic assent, when she realized why he was asking. She suddenly
felt for him deeply. She couldn’t imagine what it was like for him to not be
able to see his daughter all the time.

So she said,
“Probably. But she’ll likely need to be fed pretty soon anyway. So if you want
to come in and say hi, you can.”

Seth just
nodded, and the two entered the dim apartment quietly.

The television
was on, but the volume was turned very soft. And they discovered Liz stretched
out on the sofa.

When Erin
cleared her throat, Liz jumped up. “Hey. I wasn’t sleeping. Just resting my
eyes.”

Erin chuckled,
and even Seth smiled a little. “How was she?” Erin asked.

“Great. She’s
been asleep for hours.” Liz’s eyes were skimming over Erin and Seth
assessingly, and Erin could only imagine what her verdict was. “Did you have
fun?”