Sutherland’s Pride (18 page)

“I know Johnny is my son. It’s my own fault that I’ve missed out on two years of my son’s life, and three years I could have spent with you. Can’t you let that rank as sufficient suffering to redeem me in your eyes?”

“You’re mistaken if you think I want you to suffer,” Pride said. “Since there isn’t any proof I can offer you, you’ll have to take my word for it that I forgive you for not believing me three years ago.”

Flynn searched her face. Whatever he saw there seemed to satisfy him. “There is some proof you can offer me.”

“What is it?”

“You can kiss me.”

“What will that prove, other than the fact that I find you sexually attractive?”

Flynn smiled, a sudden expression of pure joy that wiped the severe look from his face. “Do you find me sexually attractive?”

Pride felt heat rising in her cheeks once more and refused to meet his gaze. “I slept with you, didn’t I? The proof of that is lying in the middle of your sofa at the moment.”

“That was then. This is now.” He drew her inexorably closer. “I need some current proof. I need to know you’ve forgiven me. I need to know if you still feel anything at all for me.” He closed the small distance between their bodies. “I need you, Pride. Please kiss me.”

If he’d tried to force her, Pride could have resisted, but she had no defense against the humble plea. She closed her eyes and let him turn her chin up.

“Pride,” he whispered.

She opened her eyes.

“That’s better,” he said and kissed her.

The warm pressure of his lips on hers made her tremble. His hand at the small of her back brought her closer still, and his brown eyes looked into hers as he touched his lips gently to hers.

She parted her lips, sensing his desire, and he accepted the unspoken invitation. His tongue invaded her mouth, and she sighed her pleasure.

It felt wonderful to kiss Flynn, knowing that there were no more secrets between them. She closed her eyes, moaning softly as he deepened the pressure of the kiss.

“Pride, you feel so good,” he said, at last. “You go straight to my head, just the way you always did.”

She could say the same thing. Inhaling Flynn’s favorite citrus cologne and feeling the brush of his hair on her forehead made her senses spin. The warm pressure of his body against hers finished her off, and Pride went down without a fight.

“Am I proving anything?” she asked, her voice a throaty murmur.

“Other than the fact that you’re driving me insane?” His faint laughter sounded choked. “You make me want to go crazy.”

He ran his hands over her body, and the slight tremor in them enchanted her.

“Yes,” she said, smiling. “But am I proving anything?”

His brown gaze sharpened. “I’ll let you know. Do you think you could kiss me again?”

She closed her eyes once more and locked her arms around his neck. Flynn answered her by crushing her against him and kissing her fiercely. His tongue thrust into her mouth with a desperation that encouraged her to slant her face to give him better access. She ran her fingers into his hair and locked him into place.

Flynn kissed her again and again, and Pride encouraged him in every way she knew. His masculine feel and smell made her feel wild and wanton. Being with him constantly these past days reactivated every nerve ending in her body that had ever responded to Flynn Sutherland.

“When you make those little moaning sounds, I want to take you straight to bed,” Flynn muttered.

Pride welcomed the idea. She pulled his face back down to hers.

“Pride, stop,” he said. “Don’t, darling. I want you too badly. If I kiss you again, I won’t be able to stop.”

Would it be so terrible to make love with Flynn again? Pride thought not. Perhaps she’d even get pregnant again. She kissed him again.

“Pride, will you marry me?”

Flynn shifted her in his arms so that she could put her arms around him and feel the powerful muscles of his back and arms. Pride took full advantage of the opportunity.

“You see?” Flynn said. “I want you more than ever, and I’m no longer stupid enough to waste time while I figure out how to remind you that I can’t have children.”

Pride tensed. “You aren’t sterile, Flynn.”

“If I have problems with the concept of sterility,” Flynn said, “don’t you think it’s possible you have problems with the concept of trust? You were right when you said the real definition of my condition was a low sperm count,” Flynn said in gentle tones. “Dad was so hung up on the idea of grandchildren, he defined it as sterility.” He ran his hand over the back of her head. “It’ll be a while before I get accustomed to thinking of myself as a reasonably fertile male.”

She smiled. “I told you, a lot depends on finding a truly compatible woman.”

She found it hard to remember that Flynn might start mistrusting Johnny’s parentage when he held her like this.

“That’s you,” Flynn said.

While in his arms, Pride knew he was right. She felt the warm pressure of his lips on hers and sighed with pleasure. He rocked his lips against hers, until she parted for him, then his tongue entered her mouth and stroked her tongue gently.

She shivered with delight and explored his mouth in the same way he explored hers. His arms tightened around her until she almost had trouble breathing, and she enjoyed the feeling thoroughly.

His skin grew heated beneath the cotton shirt, and Pride ran her hands over the hard muscles of his shoulders and arms, savoring the heat of him beneath her palms. If possible, the muscles grew even harder as she stroked lightly over them. The scent of his favorite citrus aftershave tantalized her further.

“Touch me,” he whispered and waited while her fumbling fingers struggled with the buttons of his shirt.

Pride tossed the shirt aside at last, and he fairly ripped his undershirt off. She ran her fingers into his hair covering his chest, stroking her palms over his pectoral muscles.

Flynn groaned his pleasure in her explorations and encouraged her to explore him further. He drove his tongue into her mouth with greater urgency.

Pride answered his desire and locked her arms around his neck. He molded her against his body, and she felt the heat his skin gave off increase as her skin contacted his. Before she knew it, he’d pulled her T-shirt off over her head, and her bare breasts were flattened against his chest.

An astounding thing happened. One moment, she was enjoying the pleasant, physical contact with his strong, male body, and the next moment she wanted to force him down on the bed so she could ravish him.

Pride reversed the kiss. Where he had been kissing her, now she kissed him. She unlocked her arms from around his neck and used her hands to explore his body, until he was gasping with pleasure as she forced him to yield to her wishes.

Flynn had no reserves about yielding to a woman. He let her force him to lie beside her on the bed so she could kiss his chest and taste him to her heart’s content. When her tongue flicked over his nipple, his body jerked and he groaned.

His fingers gripped her shoulders. She felt the cool air on her bare breasts before she realized he had lifted her to expose her to his enraptured gaze. An instant later, he reversed their positions yet again.

He hovered over her, arching her body up to his mouth. He closed his lips over one breast and drew warmly at it.

The fierce pleasure electrified her. Moaning, she dug her fingernails into his shoulders and lifted toward him.

“Pride, you’re so beautiful,” he murmured. “I want you more than ever. Will you marry me?”

Her eyes flew open. His tanned face was taut with desire, and his brown eyes glowed with emotion. His mouth hovered over her breast, as if tantalizing her with pleasures to come if she said yes.

She drew in an audible breath, unable to speak.

Flynn lowered his head and took her into his mouth again. She flung back her head as the warm drawing started a shivery desire in the pit of her stomach.

“We can have more children,” he whispered against her skin.

Pride groaned, realizing that event could be more imminent than she thought. Flynn’s warm tongue flicked across her bare breast, his breath tickled her skin and his hands tormented her with their gentle massage of her waist and buttocks.

She lifted toward him, almost sobbing her desire. She’d think later. Her body had succeeded in shutting her mind down entirely.

“Say yes,” Flynn commanded, kissing her neck while his fingers teased her breasts. “Don’t you think it’s time you put me out of my misery?”

“Stop talking,” she said, and fumbled with the buttons on his trousers.

His mouth covered hers. This time, his kiss was an expression of his desire for her, as well as his hope in their future and his longing to give to her.

And to her great relief, he replaced his words with action.

Pride awakened in Flynn’s arms and lay unmoving while she tried frantically to orient herself. For a moment, she had no idea where she was, until Flynn’s tanned shoulder came into focus.

Flynn lay on his side with one arm across her waist as if to make sure she couldn’t leave without his knowledge and slept soundly. She listened to his rhythmic breathing for a moment while she scanned as much of her surroundings as she could see without moving and possibly disturbing him.

By raising her head off the pillow just the tiniest bit, she could see his bedside clock. Eight o’clock, she realized with vast relief. She hadn’t slept long, and if she was very, very lucky, Johnny still slept soundly on the sofa.

She listened but heard nothing. She considered that a good sign. If Johnny awakened and found himself alone, he would probably go in search of her.

On the other hand, if Johnny went searching and found something interesting, he might abandon his search for his mother in favor of getting into trouble with whatever he had found.

No one could say she didn’t know her duty. “Flynn?”

He stirred and opened his eyes. “Is it morning?”

“It’s eight o’clock at night, and there’s hopefully a little boy still asleep on your sofa.”

Flynn stretched and yawned then pulled her closer. “What do you mean hopefully? Didn’t you say he sleeps the night through now?” He investigated her neck with his lips.

“If he wakes up, he won’t know where he is.” Pride struggled to sit up. “He’ll go looking for someone.”

“In that case, he’ll find us right here.” He used his arm across her middle to hold her in place.

Pride reminded herself that Flynn had yet to learn what happened when Johnny went looking for anything. “This is your son we’re talking about. What do you think will happen if, on his search for us, he happens upon something interesting to eat or take apart?”

He froze a moment then sat up. “Okay. What do we do now?”

“You let me get up to go check on him.” Pride sat up. Flynn had turned off the lights, but she could see well enough in the darkened room to find her shirt where he had tossed it on the floor. A moment later, he draped his robe around her shoulders.

“Don’t get dressed,” he said. “If he’s still asleep, you’re coming back to bed.”

Pride said nothing. Her brain dashed around in search of a reason to leave and came up with nothing. Was she really thinking about spending the night with Flynn? Looking forward to it?

She was, especially if Johnny still slept deeply on the sofa, because then she could excuse her actions by saying Johnny needed to experience spending the night with his father.

Johnny slept as soundly as she hoped, thanks to his busy day. When she turned to go back to the bedroom, Flynn stood in the door watching her and wearing only his trousers.

Pride halted and looked back at him in grave silence. In the dim lighting, his tanned skin glowed golden and his sun-bleached hair framed his face like a halo.

“You look like Apollo,” she said and took a step toward him.

He held out a hand to her. “And you must be a sea nymph. You aren’t going to vanish on me, are you?”

“Is that what usually happens with sea nymphs?” She walked toward him slowly and put her hand in his.

“Sometimes.” He pulled her into the bedroom and closed the door once more. “But I’m hoping the nymph decides to stay with me this time.”

He had apparently divined that asking her to marry him made her uncomfortable, so he changed his tactics. Pride stepped into his embrace and rested her face against his chest. So long as Flynn accepted her boundaries, she told herself, she might as well enjoy herself with him. After all, the chances that she would get pregnant again must be almost nil.

In all the time they had spent together three years ago, Flynn had always used protection. Now, she noted as he skimmed his robe off her shoulders and lifted her in his arms, he no longer made the effort.

Maybe he thought Johnny needed a little brother or sister.

On the other hand, maybe he still doubted that Johnny was his, in spite of all the evidence.

“What is it, Pride?” He halted in the middle of the bedroom, with her in his arms.

She opened her eyes, startled. “What do you mean?”

“Something is wrong.” He carried her to the bed and sat down, still holding her. “What is it?”

“I just realized that you’re no longer taking precautions the way you used to,” she said. “Why not?”

He reached over to switch on the bedside lamp. “Because you’re the right, compatible woman for me, and I want more children with you.”

Well, that answered her question and left her without another word to say.

He placed her carefully on the bed and worked her shirt off over her head. “I want to look at you. Do you mind?”

“Only if I can look at you.” Looking at Flynn was sheer pleasure. “Just in case nobody ever told you, having a baby changes a woman’s body and not necessarily for the better.”

“I don’t know about that.” Flynn’s brown gaze traveled slowly over her breasts with rapt attention. “You’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

She started to question that but thought better of it. If he wanted to say she was beautiful, who was she to argue, so long as she bore in mind the fact that Flynn wanted very badly to marry her, for Johnny’s sake.