Page 60 of After the Spy Seduces

She landed on her back with a soft bounce on a thin mattress that covered every inch of the cabin’s narrow floor, only to gasp when he followed after her and slid his tall, broad body over hers.

His mouth came down against hers. The kiss possessed a single, determined purpose to pour into her the relief he felt that she was back with him, safely delivered into his arms. But it also worked to make her melt helplessly into a puddle beneath him.

When he finally lifted his head to break the kiss so they could recapture their breaths, she stared up at him in the darkness. The worry and affection for her that she saw on his face made her heart stutter beneath the enormity of it.

“Christopher.” Her fingers trembled as they traced his widening smile, then matched it with one of her own. Happiness unlike any she’d ever known filled her to her soul. For the first time since Garrett went missing she had faith that everything would be fine. “It’s all over, and we—”

“Shh.” He touched his lips to hers to silence her, then lowered his mouth to murmur into her ear. “We don’t want anyone to hear us. We just want to float away with the tide, like a boat that broke away from its mooring.”

But being overheard was the last concern on her mind when his mouth returned to hers. The slow and sultry kiss he gave her tasted of comfort and solace, of heat and yearning.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and arched herself invitingly into him, lost in the joy of knowing Meri was safe and in the deliciousness of being in his arms, of having his weight pressing down upon her and his strength pulsing into her with every heartbeat. Her fingers sifted through the soft curls at his nape in silent encouragement to deepen the kiss, and he did just that, teasing at the seam of her lips with the tip of his tongue until she opened to him.

With a soft groan, he plunged his tongue inside and took exploring sweeps into her mouth, tasting and plundering in equal measure. She shivered hotly when he stroked his tongue seductively along the length of hers, to tease her into responding. When she did, tentatively circling her tongue around his, a growl sounded from the back of his throat. He shoved his hand into her hair, to hold her head still as he began to thrust wickedly between her lips in a relentless rhythm that left her trembling.

But this was only a kiss, and she yearned for so much more. She wanted the peace and reassurance she knew she would find in his arms, a few hours of selfish pleasure when she could forget all her troubles and simply feel warm, feminine…wanted.

She tore her mouth away from his and slid her lips back to his ear, her arms tightening their hold around him. With her cheek pressed against his like this, his heavy body lying over hers, she could feel his quickening breath and the pounding of his heart. It wasn’t from being chased.

“Please,” she breathed into his ear. That single word swept through him with a masculine shudder, a tensing of muscles, and a hardening of his limbs as they lay tangled up in hers. “Meri’s safe, and so are we. And for right now, we’re together.” She placed an entreating kiss to his earlobe, and he inhaled sharply in response. “Make love to me.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, regret gripping his face. “You deserve better than one night. But that’s all it can be—one night of physical pleasure, nothing else. Certainly no future. And in the morning, you’ll hate me.”

“No,” she breathed out, her whisper nearly lost beneath the soft lapping of the water against the hull of the boat. “I would never—”

“You’ll hate me,” he repeated firmly. “Because I will gladly take everything you offer, but I can give nothing back. Icannot.” He rested his forehead against hers, her mouth so close that the warmth of his breath tickled over her lips. “Dear God, Diana… Don’t you understand? I can’t give you the security and stability that you’re seeking. I can’t give you any kind of future beyond dawn.”

“I know that we have only tonight, that everything will change in the morning.” When he began to argue, she leaned up to capture his mouth with hers and kiss away all his doubts, the way they’d all vanished inside her. The brutal truth tore from her— “But I’d rather have one night with you than none at all.”

A pained expression gripped his face, his head slumping with a faint shake. “I don’t want you to ever go through again what you went through with John Meredith.”

For once, the mention of John’s name didn’t pierce her with grief. Sadness still lingered inside her, and always would. But she no longer mourned. The past held no sway over her. Now, there was only this moment and the joy that this night with Christopher would bring.

Touched by his concern, she reached trembling fingers to brush through the hair at his temple. “I won’t get with child tonight.”

He hesitated, as if he’d meant something else. But for the life of her, she couldn’t imagine what. Then he said quietly, “You deserve so much better.”

Better than the man who rescued her tonight and made certain that she was safe in the darkness? The man who was here in Bradwell only to help her rescue her daughter when he didn’t have to, who could have taken the diary and used it for his own gain, abandoning her family when they were in need?

Better than making love to a man who was a true hero?

“No, I don’t,” she whispered, capturing his face between her hands and turning him toward her to kiss him. She murmured against his lips, “Make love to me, Christopher.”

This time, his hard-won restraint snapped. He pulled her into his arms and rolled over onto his back beneath her before she could catch her breath.

Chapter 18

Kit flipped her over to bring her on top of him. Her ripe mouth formed anOof surprise.

With trembling fingers, he reached up to caress her cheek. Dear God, she was beautiful. She lay along the length of his body, with her breasts pressed against him and her skirt and legs tangled around his. She clutched at his shoulder to steady herself. Beneath her fingers, his muscle tensed, revealing exactly how much he wanted her. So did the hardening bulge in his trousers that now pressed indelicately into her lower belly.

“Tell me to stop,” he warned, his voice a husky rasp, “and I will.”

“No,” she breathed out, as soft as the night surrounding them. Her fingers trembled as they curled into his jacket to keep him close. “I won’t say that.”

Thank God. Because wild horses couldn’t have pulled her out of his arms.

He reached up to remove the pins from her hair and threw them away. They pinged softly against the end wall of the tiny cabin. His eyes never left hers as he ran his hands through her hair and spread it over her shoulders, until the ends fell forward and tickled his chest.