“Have you ever told anyone before? About your sister?” Colin smoothed her hair, tucking a wisp behind her ear.
Alicia shook her head, rubbing against his shoulder. This prosaic little gesture, affirming what he had already suspected, felt warm and intimate. Trusting in a way that even their lovemaking hadn’t been.
“No,” she finally said. “I’ve never told anyone. I don’t talk about my family. I don’t know why I told you, except that what you said today forced me to think about it.”
Colin pressed a kiss to the top of her head and felt her relax a little more against him. “Well, I’m honored that you trusted me enough to tell me.”
Alicia turned toward him a little, her cheek pressing against his shoulder now. She toyed with a button on his shirt. “You’re not what I expected when I met you.”
Startled, he huffed a brief laugh. “What did you expect?”
She glanced up at him through her eyelashes. “I don’t know…rich, a know it all, used to getting his own way, mistrustful…”
Colin’s eyebrows lifted. “Not an attractive prospect. What changed?”
Alicia focused again on the button, touching it lightly with a fingertip and biting her lip. “Oh, you were attractive. Are attractive. And you can be a bit of a know-it-all. But when you let your guard down…you’re kind. You listen. You don’t assume.”
Considering this, Colin let his fingers drift up to tease at the short, soft hair that bristled at the nape of her neck. She shivered and shot him a reproachful look. “Sorry,” he said. “I was just reflecting that we both have let our guards down, haven’t we?”
Alicia merely nodded again.
“How long have you been alone, Alicia?”
He expected her to stiffen, to reject the implicit statement behind his question. But she closed her eyes and leaned harder into him.
“Since I left home. Since I was eighteen,” she said.
Fifteen years. Alicia shut her eyes. Her head ached. Colin’s large, warm fingers began to massage her neck, and she let herself relax into him another fraction. His chest was solid and warm against her body.
“That’s a long time to be alone,” he finally said.
“Yeah.”
“Setting out on your own at eighteen…that can’t have been easy.”
“It wasn’t.”
“You’re rather remarkable. You know that?”
Alicia tried to laugh, but it came out as a sort of watery gurgle. She shut her eyes and forced back the tears that threatened.
“Hey.” He moved, shifting away and then turning to cup her cheeks in his broad palms. “Are you all right?”
She nodded, trying to smile. “Just…tired.”
“Understandable.” He pressed his lips to her forehead, and Alicia sighed. “Should I go?”
“Only…only if you want to.” Alicia began to sit up, but Colin’s arms pulled her back against his chest again.
“I don’t want to,” he declared. “I’d rather stay here and have this impossibly sexy little haircut tickle my nose.”
“You like it, huh?” she asked, spearing her fingers through her hair so it flipped against his face. He blew the strands away, his breath puffing across the top of her head.
“I do, you minx.”
“Most guys seem to like long hair.”
He shuddered. “Now that I’ve seen that photograph, the only thing long hair makes me think of is underage girls, and I want nothing to do with that.” He pointed at the picture lying on the coffee table. “Why was it so long, anyway? It looks like it had never been cut.”
“It hadn’t. Dad didn’t let us.”
Colin blinked, almost not comprehending what she had said. “He didn’t allow you to cut your hair?”
“No. The girls at least.”
“That seems…extreme.”
She shifted in his arms, shooting him a look over her shoulder. “Colin, I left home the day I turned eighteen. You don’t do that if things aren’t more than a little…extreme.”
“Fair point,” he said, feeling stupid.
She shifted her weight, sitting back so she could swing her legs across his lap, then curling against his chest again. He settled a hand onto her leg, rubbing the smooth skin of her calf.
“So…what was your childhood like?” she murmured.
His hand stilled its stroking. “Mostly unremarkable,” he said with an attempt at lightness. “We lived in southwestern England. Devon. I think you know my father is a doctor. Mother had been a nurse—that was how my parents met—but she stayed home to raise us.”
“And you have a brother and a sister?”
“Yes. Both older.”
“I have a hard time imagining you as the baby, big guy.” Her voice had dropped to a sexy murmur, and he laughed.
“My mother was from northern England. My uncles look like Viking throwbacks. But yes, my brother is still resentful that I grew taller than he did.”
“And broader, I am sure.”
“You like muscles, do you?” His arm tightened around her, and she looked up at him, her eyes crinkling with humor.
She traced the line of his shoulder with a slow palm. “Not always. I like yours though.”
“Do you now?” Tightening his grip further, he encouraged her onto his lap. She responded, moving one leg so she was straddling him, settling her weight back onto his thighs. In this position, her face was almost on a level with his. He brushed her fringe away from her eyes with gentle fingertips and saw her pupils had spread across her irises, the flecks of amber almost completely hidden in the velvety blackness.
Her fingers traced along his lips, and he nipped at her, capturing a finger in between his teeth.
“Naughty,” she said warningly, her eyes glinting with challenge. In response, he sucked, swirling his tongue around the tip. She slid down his thighs until her hips were flush with his, pressing against his hardening length.
Releasing her finger with a pop, he murmured, “Naughty indeed,” leaning forward to taste the salt at the hollow of her throat, pulling her hips tighter against him. Feeling her hands tunneling into his hair, he groaned and tugged at the neckline of her tee shirt where it scooped low across her chest. Her hips undulated against his, and he groaned again, hands tightening on her ass.
“Please tell me I can take you to bed again,” he said, lifting his head and brushing his lips against hers.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Alicia squeaked as Colin stood, hefting her body with ease. Her legs tightened around his hips, and her hands slid from his hair to the back of his neck, gripping tightly.
“I won’t drop you,” he murmured, nipping at the angle of her neck and shoulder. “Bedroom back there?” His head tilted in the direction of the kitchen, toward the back of the apartment.
“Not much choice, is there?”
“No, but it seemed the gentlemanly thing to inquire.” Alicia laughed as he began to move, crossing the small space with long strides.
“You’re silly,” she said, brushing her lips across his.
“Guilty,” he said, stopping to kiss her, eyes closed, lips crushing against hers. Alicia let her tongue play along the seam of his lips until they opened and his tongue met hers. She moaned, her muscles relaxing against him as she dissolved into his kiss, grinding her hips against his erection.
“Mmm,” Colin said, pulling his head back and looking at Alicia with heavy-lidded eyes. “You need to stop that or I’m going to walk us into a wall.” He released his hold on her a little, and she slid slightly down, legs and arms tightening to stop her descent.
“Whatever you say,” she replied, nestling her face into the angle of his neck and shoulder, nipping and teasing with her tongue.
Colin’s chest heaved in a sigh, and she chuckled as he began to walk again.
“You’re lucky this place is so bloody small. Otherwise we might never have got here,” he said as he bent to lay her on the bed. Alicia gripped his hips with her legs as he tried to straighten and he relaxed on top of her with a laugh. “I’m going to crush you,” he said.
“No, you’re not.” Alicia took a deep breath as he supported himself on his elbows. “See? Easy.”
“Rather difficult to get your clothes off if I’m on top of you, though.”
“And yours. But don’t be in such a hurry.” Alicia fisted her hands in his hair, tugging him closer. “Just kiss me for a while.”
“And here I had been thinking I needed a haircut,” he murmured as his lips descended.
“No. I like it,” she murmured, smiling then giggling as he bypassed her mouth and teased at the sensitive column of her neck. His fingers traced up the sides of her ribs, feather light under her tee shirt, and she shrieked with laughter, squirming and helpless.
As Alicia laughed, Colin sank down, nuzzled her neck again and slid his hands behind her back. “Mmmm. Your skin is so silky.
“Tickling isn’t fair, Mr. St. Cyr,” she whispered, her lips touching his ear, sending electrical shivers across his skin.
“No. But you already have an advantage over me,” he responded, punctuating his statement with a nip at her earlobe.
“And what’s that?” She shivered as she undid the top button of his shirt.
“I find you so mind-blowingly sexy that my brain turns to mush.” His lips skimmed her jawline. “I need to regain all the advantage I can.”
“Hm.” She undid another button, and he raised himself on his elbows again, looking down at her.
“Is there such a thing as a mutual disadvantage, or do those things just cancel each other out?” she said.
“What exactly are you saying, Ms. Johnson?”
Her fingers moved more rapidly down the row of buttons, releasing the rest of them as she said, “What, my open admiration of your body and the fact that I can’t keep my hands out of your hair aren’t enough? I need to tell you that your face is gorgeous too?” She raised an eyebrow, opening his shirt and smoothing her hands across his chest, fingers toying with his nipples.
Colin closed his eyes and pressed his hips to hers, his desire for her all too evident. Her hands slid across his shoulders, and he shrugged out of his shirt, standing and letting it fall to the floor. She reached for the waistband of his shorts, and he covered her hands with his.
“Slowly,” he said, bending to kiss her, teasing at the hem of her shirt with his fingers, gathering the fabric into his hands. “I thought you wanted to go slowly.”
“That was a few minutes ago. An age. A lifetime.” She smiled as he began to draw the soft, thin cotton upward.
“Fickle,” he murmured as he pulled the shirt over her head and dropped it on top of his.
She tossed her head to the side, her eyes twinkling mischievously. Her bra was a white, lacy confection that she knew managed to look innocent and sinful at the same time. He groaned.
“What’s the matter?” she said, rising to her knees on the bed and placing her palms on his cheeks.
“Abso-fucking-lutely nothing,” he said, sliding his hands to her ass and pulling her against him.
“You Brits and your proper language.” Alicia laughed with delight as Colin removed her bra and tossed it to join their other clothing. She reached for the button of his shorts again at the same moment he reached for hers and they grinned at each other as they shucked the rest of their clothing, Alicia stepping off the bed to let her shorts and underwear slide off.
Colin spun her as she stepped out of her clothes and she gasped as he pulled her to him, sliding one hand up to cup a breast and the other down to dip between her legs. His erection was hard and hot against her back and she moaned as his fingers plunged inside her and his teeth scraped across her neck.
“So hot. So wet,” he murmured into her neck. She ground into his hand as his fingers pulsed inside her, his other hand teasing at her nipple, pinching almost to the point of pain, the sensations shooting through her and making her shudder.
“Inside me. Now.” With an effort, Alicia pulled away from Colin, coming to her hands and knees on the bed and looking back over her shoulder at him.
He looked almost dazed, his eyes traveling across her body, then bending to pull his wallet from the pocket of his shorts and extracting a condom. Alicia smiled as he ripped it open and rolled it on, stepping forward and grasping her hip with one hand and positioning his erection to enter her with the other. Her eyes closed in rapture as he pushed home, and she arched her back, tilting her hips to take him deep inside her.
A groan rolled out of him, and his fingers found her clit, rubbing in time with his thrusts. Alicia dropped her head, her eyes closing as she coalesced into one bright, ecstatic point that suddenly exploded outward, ripping a shuddering cry from her throat. She braced herself, falling to her elbows and pushing back against Colin as his hips flexed, finally stuttering to push inside her ever more deeply as he shouted his release.
Alicia gulped air, trying to recover herself as Colin’s warm hands roamed over her back. All too soon, he withdrew, stepping to the bathroom without a word.
A little bereft at his abrupt exit, Alicia slid under the covers. She heard the toilet flush and the water run. When the bathroom door opened again, she scanned Colin’s face, but couldn’t read his expression.
“Scoot over,” he said. Alicia wriggled away from the edge of the bed, and Colin slid in behind her, his knees fitting behind hers, his arm drawing her snug against his chest.
“Now…we cuddle?” Alicia resisted the urge to giggle.
Colin’s deep voice rumbled against her back, and his lips brushed the nape of her neck. “Now we cuddle.”