Weekday Brides: Married By Monday - Weekday Brides: Married by Monday Part 26
Library

Weekday Brides: Married by Monday Part 26

His words brought warmth over her skin. She envisioned his internal debate while she slept. Funny, she didn't think of him as an insecure person. But apparently, when it came to seducing her, there was a hit of doubt. "I'm not the one who fell asleep last night."

He groaned and clicked his tongue. As he spoke, he made good on his threat and inched his way up her thigh with a slow ascent. "Guilty. I'm sorry about that."

"We were both exhausted."

She spread her palm over his chest. Her new ring sparkled off the sunlight streaming in from the window.

"I woke around three and climbed in with you. I hope you don't mind."

His fingers danced over the curve of her hip, maneuvered under the silk of her panties, and she shivered with anticipation of more. "I don't mind."

Carter shifted to his side, and Eliza gazed into his eyes. "Good morning," he whispered.

He captured her lips in the softest of kisses. A slow gentle exploration. She could still taste the mint of his breath, which left her feeling guilty for not having the same fresh taste to offer him.

The slow pace he set with his kiss proved he didn't mind. He probed her mouth open with little nips until his tongue played with hers. Eliza didn't realize she was rigid beneath him until all her muscles relaxed. Carter pressed her into the soft cotton sheets and ran his free hand up her waist, pushing aside her nightgown.

He kissed like a man who should be paid to do so. He didn't leave anything untouched and only moved away when he needed to breathe. When he did, she ran her fingers over his chest. When did he find the time to work out? Or was the definition of muscles from his gene pool? She'd thought about touching him more than she'd admit. Thinking about it and enjoying the feel of his warm skin were nowhere near the same.

He brushed his thumb beside her breast, coaxing her skin awake.

"You're really good at that," she told him as he moved to kiss the side of her neck.

"At kissing?" He playfully bit her ear.

"At making me feel like the only woman in the world."

His hand left her breast and moved to her cheek. He leaned back and she opened her eyes to find him staring at her with his dark, blue eyes. "You are the only woman in my world, Eliza."

Who knew Carter's thoughts ran deep? The compassion she found behind his eyes made her admit something she'd never done before. "It's Lisa. My name before...it was Lisa."

His hands hesitated on their discovery trip over her body, and he lowered his voice to just above a whisper. "Have you ever told anyone else that?"

"No," she whispered. "I never wanted to until now."

The smile on his face reached his eyes, and he held her closer. "When we're here, I'll use your real name."

Tears welled in her eyes, which was silly. Her heart wasn't filled with sadness, but joy in having trust in another human being. "I'd like that."

She slid her thigh between his and moved deeper into his embrace. She sought his lips and languished in his taste. His stiff arousal pressed firmly against her stomach. He sleeps in the nude. She notched the information into her brain and soaked in his slow, titillating touch.

The leisurely kisses proved maddening as her skin heated and her body began to ache. Carter didn't seem to feel the same urgency to move faster, and yet he kept devouring her mouth, face, and neck.

Eliza found a sensitive spot on his hip and dug her fingernails into his dense muscles, marveling at his perfection. Everywhere she touched she liked, wanted more. Soon, the friction of his leg pulsating between hers wasn't enough. She followed his hip and ran the tip of her finger over his erection.

Carter groaned and moved his lips and tongue to the flesh below her collarbone. Her breasts ached, wanting his touch. With a gentle nudge, she guided him to where she wanted him. Lord he took his time pushing away her nightgown before swirling his tongue around one pert nipple. He licked her as if she was made of the finest cream, and he wasn't going to stop until the bowl was empty.

Suddenly the clothing she wore felt like a noose around her neck and the urgency to feel him skin to skin overwhelmed her. She stopped teasing his erection and tugged at the fringes of her lingerie. He took the hint and stripped it away.

High color reached his cheeks as his gaze traveled her naked body.

"I work out," she teased.

"I can tell. I always knew you'd be spectacular."

She squirmed under him, constantly aware of his heated sex and how close it was to bringing them both pleasure. "You thought about me?"

"All the time." He kissed her nipple again, and the one scrap of clothing she had left on dampen.

"Even when we argued?"

He moved lower, kissing under her breast and tasting her stomach. "Especially when we argued. You're all fire and passion. I've always wanted a sample of that." He ran a finger under her panties.

She gasped when he found her moist aroused state.

"You're killing me," he said.

She laughed and lifted her hips to help him ease off her panties. He watched as she wiggled her hips.

"Death by sex. I don't know if that's happened in real life. Fiction maybe."

He found her sex again, the way he had before all those weeks ago in her kitchen. "I want to taste you...all of you. But I don't think I can wait much longer," he told her.

The waiting was killing her, too. "Then don't wait, Hollywood." She opened her thighs a little wider, enticing him.

Carter reached to the table on his side of the bed. There he found a condom he must have placed there the night before.

"I'm on the pill," she told him.

He hesitated with the package. "Are you suggesting we don't use this?"

Am I? She was a twenty-first century woman, she never slept with a man without one. The risks weren't worth the pleasure. "I-I don't...I've never not," she told him. "But if we wanted to..." What am I saying? "If we didn't use it, we'd be safe. We've never talked about these things."

He palmed the condom, leaned in, and kissed her again. "I'm clean," he whispered between kisses. The awkward moment she'd just had disappeared like pixie dust on the wind.

He stopped kissing her long enough for her to open her eyes.

"Make love to me without a barrier, Lisa."

Hearing her name from his lips for the first time made her want to cry. "I'd like that."

The grin that stretched over his lips spread for miles. He tossed the condom to the floor and moved between her legs.

He gazed into her eyes as he slowly pressed his heated flesh into hers. It had been quite a while for her, but Carter murmured for her to relax and take him in. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he dropped his forehead to hers. "So wonderful," he whispered.

And it was. The heat, the tenderness of his touch. The trust she felt for the man making love to her. She'd trusted men before him, with her body, but never without protection and never with her given name. He was her husband and somewhere this felt more like an act of love than just sex.

The word caught on her mind, and she swept it away. Love opened people to vulnerability and Lisa hated feeling vulnerable.

With a tilt of her hips, Carter was seated inside her and releasing tiny gasps. His fit was perfect. She was already contracting around him, wanting more.

Eliza never imagined Carter to be so complete in his lovemaking. She'd fantasized about him in bed more than once, but never thought he would make her want to roll him on his back and take over, yet at the same time, want to wait and see what he would incite from her next.

"Carter?"

He thrust his hips to hers and pulled away slowly. "I feel like a teenager again. I want to devour you slowly one minute and work you over the next."

She wrapped her legs around his waist and grinned. "You've devoured. It's time for the work over."

"Thank God. Hold on."

For a minute, Eliza thought he was teasing, but then he started to move. Holding on became increasingly difficult as he pressed her deeper into the bed with each pass of his sex over hers. The intensity of his pace and the speed in which he brought her desire to a peak startled her. He found the perfect stroke and friction.

She gripped his back and moaned, "Yes..." She tilted her hips, moving faster. He kept her there, hovering over her release. "More," she cried. "Please."

He gave a soft laugh and surged into her with such intensity she couldn't breathe. Her orgasm was instant and full of fireworks.

Breathing was an effort, and Carter wasn't anywhere near done. He whispered sultry things in her ear that kept her captivated.

The sheer masculine power that was consuming her made her want to weep.

"I want to make you scream," he told her. He pinched her breast with his words and she nearly did. Her teeth found his shoulder, and she gave him a love bite that made him moan.

Perhaps their playful banter out of the bedroom would transfer into their love play. How fun would that be?

Carter brought her to the edge again making her breath hitched in the back of her throat. "Yes," she gasped.

And then he emptied inside of her. The feel of his warmth filling her catapulted her into a place of rainbows. Her body couldn't get enough of him as she shuddered, milking him dry.

Carter collapsed on top of her, his heart beating wildly in his chest. Eliza...no Lisa, he reminded himself, struggled for air and damn that made him feel like a God. Her body accepted every last drop of his seed. That felt damn good. He'd had sex without condoms, when he was young. With Lisa, it was a gift. One he would cherish and hold dear.

"Hot damn, Hollywood."

"You like?" He hosted his weight off hers enough to look at her satisfied face.

The inner muscles of her womb constricted around him.

He groaned.

"If I told you how amazing that was, it would feed your already over-inflated ego."

He kissed her nose. "And we wouldn't want that."

She wiggled her hips and ran her foot down his leg. "No we wouldn't."

With a swift move, he positioned himself under her but kept himself tangled intimately within her.

She sat tall and thrust out her perky breasts. He palmed them both instantly. He hadn't paid enough attention to this lovely addition to her body.

"This position does have possibilities."

"Yes, yes it does." Carter pulled her down for a kiss and explored those possibilities.

Chapter Twenty.

They ate, drank, laughed, and made love like happy fools on their honeymoon. Carter wanted to play the happy fool for as long as he could. Sadly, their time on the island was drawing to a close.

They sat under the stars with Tiki torches and hula dancers. A native Hawaiian band played the drums so the women wiggling their hips could do so to a beat. He and Eliza drank sissy drinks and applauded the dancers when they finished.

"I can't believe we leave tomorrow," Eliza leaned into him, comfortable in his embrace.

"I was thinking the same thing."

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just stay here? No bad guys, no phones, not shoe-eating dogs?"

The last thing he wanted to think about was the man responsible for her distress at home. Reality started to crash around him. He married her to keep her safe, but what if he couldn't?

God he hated that thought. His eyes traveled to the guards who kept constant watch over them.

But what if it wasn't enough?

He kissed the top of her head and stared at the fire pit in the middle of the luau. "I'll keep you safe."

She swirled her finger on his thigh, drawing invisible shapes. "I know. But if something were-"

He jolted with the words she attempted to utter. "It won't! Nothing will happen to you."

She tilted her head up and kissed him softly. When she pulled away, she placed a finger on his lips, keeping him silent. "If... I wouldn't blame you."

In an instant, he pictured her lifeless and pale. The vision left him ill. He tightened his jaw and forced the image away. "I'll never let that happen. Don't think like that. Don't talk like that." His harsh words brought a scowl to her face. "Please," he added. Telling Eliza to do anything was like daring her. "Please," he said again.

She stopped and attempted to smile. "Okay."

When they made love that night, he didn't leave an inch of her untouched, unloved. As she fell asleep in his arms, he lay awake, thinking of her words, of her worry. He had to do something to remove the threat. In order to do that, he needed every scrap of information, every piece of evidence about Ricardo Sanchez. His day tomorrow would begin with a flight home and then a conference call between his father and his best friend was in order.

"Don't you look like a contented kitten," Gwen said shortly after Eliza walked in the door of the Tarzana home.

"Hawaii was beautiful."

"It's more than that."