Marry in Haste... by Karen Rose Smith Page A

you were fully conscious?
    The excited tingles that danced through her bodymade her grab her pink bikini bottom and slip it on quickly. When she fastened the top, she suddenly realized that this bathing suit wasn’t a whole lot better than being naked around Reed. But it would have to do. Leaving her clothes, she snatched her towel and carried it to the spot where Reed had waded in.
    She stepped into the water slowly. It was cold but felt delicious against her hot skin. Gradually she went in farther, then splashed water on her neck and arms. Finally she ducked under the water and swam across the lake. They both swam for a while until Mallory floated into more shallow water and stood, appreciating the beautiful sunset, the orange, purple and pink streaks shooting through what was left of the blue sky. She heard a splash of water and sensed Reed swimming up beside her. When he stood, she could feel the immense masculine power of him, as awe inspiring in some ways as the sunset.
    Clasping her shoulder, he nudged her around to face him. His hair was wet and he must have brushed it from his forehead when he came out of the water. Droplets glittered on his shoulders and in his chest hair under the last rays of the sun. “Are you glad you came?” he asked.
    She nodded, her voice sticking in her throat. She couldn’t take her eyes from his, and caution warned her to move away. But she couldn’t. Not when anticipatory excitement was making her heart race and her breaths shallow.
    â€œI shouldn’t have lost my temper with you yesterday,” he admitted.
    It seemed hard for him to make the apology, and she guessed that it didn’t come easy for him.
    â€œDoes that happen often?” she teased lightly, so he’d know she’d accepted it.
    But he didn’t smile. “Only when I care about something a great deal.”
    The power in his blue gaze seemed to pull her closer, and she recognized it as desire. She felt her body leaning slightly toward his. His hand on her shoulder slipped to the small of her back, and she knew she could still pull away. She should be cautious. She should run….
    His head bent to hers and she raised her mouth for his kiss.
    His hand was large and gentle on her back, and soon it was joined by his other one in a sense-stirring duet caressing her spine. When he reached her buttocks, he raised her to him and his tongue invaded her mouth. She gasped at the erotic contact and wrapped her legs around him. He was hot and hard, and she’d never known a sensation so pleasurable, so fulfilling, yet not quite fulfilling enough. His briefs, her suit, both wet, were little less than a film between them, making the contact even more tantalizing. His groan echoed through her and she responded to his tongue by stroking against it, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on for dear life.
    Reed finally broke the kiss and when her gaze found his, she saw controlled desire there. “I want my hands over every part of you,” he said. “I want to sink into you until the sun comes up. Is that what you want?”
    Still dazed by a passion she didn’t understand and a desire that was as new as her marriage, she could hardly comprehend what he was saying. She knew hewas talking about pleasure and satisfaction and sex. Isn’t that what had gotten them into this mess? Because his fiancée had dumped him? How could she have forgotten that even for a moment?
    â€œNo,” she said breathlessly, and then louder, “No!”
    His expression changed. The desire faded from his eyes and became a blue wall. “Once is enough, Mallory. There’s nothing wrong with my hearing.”
    She remembered Winston trying to kidnap her and how many times she’d said no. Her wishes hadn’t mattered to him and she wondered if it would have been any different in the bedroom. But Reed—
    Suddenly she remembered too well what her mother had confided in her