Harlequin Special Edition October 2015, Box Set 1 of 2 by Christine Rimmer

kiss, brought her hands up between them and went to work undoing the rest of the buttons down the front of his shirt. It didn’t take long. She spread the shirt wide and pressed her palms to his broad chest, to that beautiful tattoo with his little girl’s name in the middle of it. His skin was hot, wonderfully so. Sandy hair formed a tempting T across.
    And down.
    Best of all, she could count the strong beats of his big heart. She whispered against those velvety lips of his, “I should have made a move on you back in high school.”
    He chuckled, the low rumble sending a thrill shivering straight to the core of her. “That wasn’t your style—and I wasn’t your type.”
    â€œOh, but Quinn. You
were
my type. What a fool I was then. I took what I thought was the safe way—and it wasn’t safe in the least. It turned out all wrong.”
    â€œHey.” His voice was heaven, the perfect blend of rough and tender. He kissed the tip of her nose. “No regrets, huh?”
    â€œBut I do have regrets.” She slid her hands up over his thick, hard shoulders, and clasped them around his neck. “And I can’t just wish them away.”
    He shrugged out of his shirt and let it fall. Then he bent his head lower, smoothed her hair aside and pressed his hot mouth to the crook of her neck. “Forget ’em, then.” His breath so hot across her skin, branding her, burning her. “For now, at least?”
    She threaded her eager fingers up into his hair. “Help me with that?”
    â€œHappy to.” He breathed in through his nose. “You smell so good...” And then he scraped his teeth where his lips had been.
    She shivered and moaned as he kissed his way back up over the curve of her jaw to claim her lips again. She opened for him. Heat speared through her as his tongue swept her mouth.
    He lifted her hair off her neck with one hand. With the other, he took down the long zipper at the back of her dress and guided the dress off her shoulders. It dropped to the floor. She broke the lovely kiss in order to step out of it. He bent, picked it up and tossed it on the nearest chair.
    Unbuttoning and unzipping, flinging articles of clothing toward the chair as soon as they had them off, they undressed each other.
    Finally, when the only thing left was her pearls, he ordered gruffly, “Turn around.”
    She showed him her back. He unhooked the diamond clasp and took the necklace away. She faced him again in time to watch him reach over and lay the double strand on the nearby side table.
    That was it. They were naked. Completely naked. And it seemed such a very long way to the bedroom.
    Good thing she’d planned ahead.
    He asked roughly, “What are you smiling about?”
    And she pulled open the little drawer in the side table and took out the condom she’d tucked in there. Just in case.
    â€œGod. Chloe.” He hauled her close, licked her ear and whispered in it, “You think of everything.”
    She whispered back, “A design teacher I had once told me that what I lack in imagination, I make up for in efficiency and good planning. I was really insulted at the time.”
    He took her earlobe between his teeth and tugged on it, biting down just a little harder than he needed to.
    It felt so good it made her moan.
    He whispered, “Put it on me.”
    She pulled back a little, far enough to meet his eyes. They were the color of some tropical sea right then, so deep, going down and down to deeper blue. Focused so completely on her. “Right now?”
    For that she got a slow, deliberate nod from him.
    She started to tear the top off the pouch.
    â€œOn second thought...” He caught her hand. “Wait...” And he pulled her close and kissed her some more. She gave herself up to that, to the taste of his mouth and the heat of his breath, to the feel of him, fully erect against her belly, making her burn for