10 Ways to Handle the Best Man by Heidi Rice

stepmother who had judged him and always found him wanting?
    Oh, shut up, Sabrina, you don’t know the first thing about this guy or his past—and you don’t want to.
    ‘You didn’t do anything. Really, it’s just me being silly.’ She lifted her chin and his fingers dropped away. ‘I should go back to my own room.’
    But as she turned to make a dignified exit—or as dignified as it could be while she was sporting panda eyes and a runny nose—he scooped her into his arms.
    She yelped, stunned as he strolled back into the bedroom. ‘Connor, put me down.’
    ‘Nothing doing.’
    He settled into a large armchair, with her still in his arms. She tried to stand, or at least get off his lap, but he simply banded his arms around her waist, holding her in place.
    ‘Let me up, this is ridiculous.’ As was the renewed jolt of emotion making her throat hurt. If he made her burst into tears again, she’d have to kill him—and herself.
    ‘Not as ridiculous as you being too embarrassed to tell me what freaked you out.’ He nuzzled her ear and nipped at the lobe. ‘When I’ve been so deep inside you I could swear I felt your heart beating.’
    Heat pulsed in her abdomen and sunk lower as his hand swept beneath the folds of terry cloth, skimmed across her belly and settled on her ribs.
    ‘I told you it’s nothing. I’m just tired. It’s been a long day.’
    ‘Try again,’ he replied, his wandering thumb stroking the underside of her breast.
    She sent him a glare, but it wasn’t one of her best.
    ‘Was it the spanking?’ he asked, sounding oddly unsure of himself. ‘You should have used your safeword. I would have stopped.’
    She shivered as his thumb brushed her nipple, lazily seducing her all over again. She sighed, stupidly touched by the casual caress, the moment of uncertainty. ‘The spanking did not freak me out.’
    ‘Sure it did—you’re a vanilla girl.’ The lazy stroke of his thumb made her nipple pucker, but the ache to be touched was languid, seductive—unlike the too sharp ache in her chest when he said, ‘I should have been more careful with you.’
    ‘I had a multiple orgasm while you were spanking me. So I’m obviously not that vanilla.’
    His grin was quick and knowing, and unbearably sensual. ‘But afterwards it made you feel ashamed. I know how that goes.’
    ‘How do you know?’ The question came out before she could stop it.
    His thumb stilled on her breast and he gave a heavy sigh as his brow touched her shoulder. She waited, convinced he wasn’t going to give her an answer, when his head lifted and he murmured, ‘Because I spent most of my childhood being ashamed of stuff. And I know how shitty it makes you feel.’
    He shifted her on his lap.
    The thick ridge in his boxers pressed into her bottom through the robe. And she felt suddenly bold. She’d gotten a tiny glimpse behind the mask. Why shouldn’t she probe?
    He’d spanked her, for goodness’ sake. They’d had mind-blowing sex. He’d given her her first and then her second multiple orgasm—or did that count as one mega-multiple orgasm? Whatever.
    The point was, while this might not be a big deal for him, it was an enormous deal for her. Why shouldn’t she want to know more about him?
    ‘What stuff were you ashamed of?’
    Instead of answering her question, he lifted the flap of her robe, exposing her breasts to his gaze. She stretched as his finger toyed with her aching nipple, sending darts of sensation arrowing down to her sex. He leaned forward to lathe the tender peak and capture it between his lips.
    She gasped, her nipple drawing tight under the exquisite torture as he sucked it to the roof of his mouth. ‘Are you trying to distract me?’
    He breathed a laugh, letting her go. ‘Is it working?’
    She threaded her fingers into his hair, to tug his head back. ‘You didn’t answer me. What stuff did you do that was so terrible?’
    A small line appeared on his brow. ‘Why do you want to