The Cottage Next Door Read online

  “This is nice,” she said after they’d turned around and started back. “Matt never had the patience to just take a walk. Everything he did had to be training for the next big adventure.”

  How did he respond to that? He didn’t want to say out loud that her husband sounded like he had been a selfish jerk who didn’t appreciate what he had. But Hunter knew he’d been guilty of acting like a jerk with Sylvie too. He didn’t want to bad-mouth her dead husband. Still…

  “He missed out then,” Hunter said, squeezing her hand. She beamed up at him, and his heart slammed against his ribs. “How long are you here for?”

  “End of the month.”

  Anticipation made his blood rush through his veins. “So three more weeks.”

  “Yep.”

  He stopped and tugged her around to face him. Riley jumped around them, kicking up the sand. “No strings. Three weeks.”

  Her eyes were wide as she nodded slowly. “Agreed. No strings. We’ll help each other get over that hump.”

  Hump? More like a brick wall.

  They began walking again toward the cottages, fingers entwined. She didn’t say anything more, and neither did he. Did she feel the same mix of excitement and nervousness that he did?

  It was just sex. A few weeks away from reality before they both went back to their lives. She’d buy her house in South Carolina and he’d go back to New York because really, where else would he go?

  Hell, he could go anywhere he wanted. He could sell the apartment he and Jenny had lived in. Maybe move out of the city and get a place with a yard for Riley.

  Sylvie stopped walking, and Hunter realized they’d reached the cottages.

  “Are you okay?” she asked him. “Change your mind? It’s okay if you want to wait a little longer or…”

  He cupped her face and kissed her gently. “I haven’t changed my mind. I was just thinking maybe I should buy a house too. Someplace for Riley to run.” He took a deep breath. “It’s the first plan I’ve made for the future.”

  “Congratulations.” She threw her arms around his neck. “Now about that next novel…”

  Hunter laughed. A rumble that came from deep inside him and felt fucking good. “Forget it.” He swept her up in his arms because right now that felt fucking good too. She shrieked and grabbed on to his shoulders.

  “My place or yours?” she asked, her voice light and breathy.

  “Yours.”

  Chapter Four

  Sylvie waited on the deck while Hunter let Riley into his cottage and got him some water. She felt lighthearted and scared to death at the same time.

  Maybe it would have been easier to jump his bones last night in the dark. They could have said they were overcome by passion. By the spur-of-the-moment need. But now…this was thought out. Planned. Agreed to.

  They were going to have sex. No strings attached and with an end clearly in sight.

  Hunter joined her at the door to her cottage. She avoided his eyes as she opened the door. He followed her in and closed the door behind him. The small cottage seemed to shrink down to miniscule. Hunter wasn’t huge, but he took up a lot of space in the little living room. A buzz of nervous anticipation danced along her skin.

  He was a stranger. He had Fletcher’s stamp of approval, but that didn’t mean she felt all that comfortable about taking off her clothes in front of him. She wasn’t as young as she used to be. And no other man but Matt had seen her naked.

  Hunter tipped her chin up with one finger. She hadn’t realized she’d been staring at the floor.

  “Okay, now it’s my turn to ask you if you’re all right. Are you changing your mind? Do you want to go slower? I could take you out for lunch and—”

  Sylvie forced out a laugh and grabbed his forearms. “No. God, no. We don’t need to go out on a date. That’s not what this is about, right?”

  He studied her for a moment. “You look like you’re having second thoughts to me.”

  “No. I’m so horny I can hardly think straight. That’s not the problem. I want to have sex. With you. I’m just nervous.” She chewed on her lower lip for a moment and then admitted, “I feel like this is the first time for me. I know it’s dumb, but I’ve never had sex with anyone but Matt, and I don’t know how to do it with anyone else.”

  “I think we all probably do it the same way,” he said softly. He was most likely trying not to laugh at her.

  “I know. I’m being silly.”

  “I have a confession to make.”

  “What?”

  “I’ve never had sex with anyone but Jenny.”

  “Really?” She couldn’t stop the hint of skepticism from sliding into her voice.

  “Yeah, I know. Guys are supposed to have had sex with lots of women, but I wasn’t that way. Jenny was my high school sweetheart. My only love. I didn’t want anyone else.” He swept her wispy hair back from her face. His hand was warm on her cheek. “Until you.”

  She shivered. “So here we are, almost like a couple of virgins.”

  “I don’t know if I’d go that far.” He brushed his lips over hers, oh so slowly. “I’ve learned a few things since high school.”

  Her lips tingled. So did the rest of her body. “That’s good to know.”

  She couldn’t believe they were really going to do this. For all her fantasizing, reality was scarier than she thought it would be. She did feel like a virgin in Hunter’s arms. No matter how much she wanted this, she wasn’t sure how to proceed. Did he want to take charge? Did he like to take it fast? Slow?

  “Hey.” Hunter pulled back to look her in the eye. “You tensed up. Are you okay?”

  She nodded. Smiled at his concern. “Virgin nerves.”

  He chuckled softly. “No expectations. We can take things slow.”

  “Slow,” she repeated. Why was she disappointed? What had she expected, that he would take her hard and fast because he couldn’t help himself? Matt had been in love with her and they’d never had sex that way.

  Hunter ran his lips along her jaw and over her throat. “Your skin is so soft,” he murmured. His hands rested on her hips, heavy and warm, but he didn’t move them over her body. His lips were all that were moving. He didn’t slip his fingers beneath her shirt to feel her bare skin. He didn’t slide a palm up to cup her breast. She ached with the longing for him to do just that. Her breasts felt heavy. Her nipples prickled.

  He wasn’t rushing her. Sylvie supposed she should be grateful for his consideration, but she’d wanted this for days. Nights. She grabbed his arms, right below the edge of the short sleeves. The hard, warm skin nearly burned her hands. She curled her fingers into his flesh, holding on tight when her knees began to tremble.

  God, she needed this so badly. To feel like a desirable woman again. To slake this need with a hot, hard man.

  She whimpered and tipped her head to the side to give his mouth better access to the sensitive crook of her neck.

  “Easy,” he murmured. Then—finally—he slid his hands beneath the hem of her shirt. He settled one large hand in the small of her back and let the other skim her ribs until his fingers found her breast. He squeezed her through the bra. “You have pretty nipples,” he told her. “I couldn’t help but notice earlier.”

  She groaned, felt her face grow warm. “I was so embarrassed when I remembered I was wearing that nightshirt.”

  “I’m not complaining.” He withdrew his hands from beneath her shirt, and she was disappointed for a moment until he grabbed the hem. “I’d love to get a better look.”

  “Okay.” Sylvie raised her arms and Hunter stripped the shirt from her body.

  His eyes flashed. “Take off the bra.”

  She reached behind her back and unhooked the bra. She let it drop to the floor, not taking her eyes off the appreciative look on his face. Her heart pounded. “I’m not very big.”
She’d never had much on top.

  “You’re beautiful,” he whispered.

  The awestruck tone in his voice made her actually believe it.

  He stepped close and cupped her breasts. Shivers of delight spread over her skin. “A perfect handful.”

  She swallowed. “Your turn.”

  He grinned and pulled his shirt off. Now she could appreciate the male body in front of her. He wasn’t as hard and lean as Matt had been, but Hunter was definitely trim and obviously in good shape.

  She caught Hunter’s face in her hands and pulled him in for a deep kiss. His lips were firm, and he wasn’t shy about using his tongue to drive her crazy with need. It was almost enough to push Matt completely out of her mind. She didn’t want to think about him when she was getting naked with another man.

  Sylvie grabbed Hunter’s hand and drew him into the bedroom. The sheets were still rumpled from her restless night. They silently undressed the rest of the way, their heavy breathing the only sound besides the roar of the ocean.

  Hunter took her hand and led her over to the bed. The room was so small the double bed had to be pushed against the far wall to make room for a dresser. He stretched out beside her and let his hands and mouth roam over her body. She did the same, learning him by touch, by taste. They slid closer together. Her nipples brushed his chest. His erection rested heavy on her hip. Her sex tingled and softened, readying her body for him to take her. To fill her. To ease this ache inside.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled her body flush against his. Incredible sensations ran over her body, so many she was overwhelmed. It had been so long.

  He slid his hand between them. One finger, then two slipped easily into her slick center.

  “Hunter,” she cried, arching her body into him. “Yes. God, yes.”

  Hunter froze. “Shit.”

  Sylvie stared up at him, her eyes passion-glazed, her confusion clear.

  “Condoms,” he groaned. “I don’t have any condoms. Do you?” Hunter had thought he might drink himself to death while he was here, but he’d never expected to have sex again.

  Her body sagged, and she fell onto her back on the mattress. “No. Wait.” She scrambled over him to get out of bed. She disappeared into the bathroom. He heard doors slam. “Fletch stocked the medicine cabinet with just about everything else. You’d think he could have stashed a spare condom on one of the shelves.”

  She reappeared, looking way too sexy with her hands on her naked hips and her expression a combination of frustrated and annoyed. “I thought guys always kept a spare condom in their wallets.”

  Hunter sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the mattress. His erection was a pulsing ache. “Only if they’re expecting a hook-up.”

  “Right.” She stepped between his legs, placed her hands on his shoulders. His arousal rubbed against her stomach. “I’m sure we’re healthy since we only had sex with our spouses, but I stopped taking birth control pills after Matt’s accident.”

  “I guess we need to take a drive to the store.”

  Sylvie groaned and leaned against him. Her breasts were nearly mouth level. He captured one of her delectable nipples with his lips and laved it with his tongue. Her fingers tightened on his shoulders.

  He was glad to see she was as frustrated by this interruption as he was. From his sampling of the heat between her legs, he knew she was aching as much as he was.

  He scooped her up and placed her on the mattress again. “I can take care of you, at least.”

  Her breath caught and she squirmed beneath his gaze.

  “I’ve been dying to taste you.” He grasped her thighs and spread her legs. Her trimmed curls glistened, revealing her pretty pink flesh. He leaned over her and sampled her intimate taste with a long lick. Her hips rose off the mattress and she cried out his name again.

  “So sweet.” He licked some more, loving the tang of her, savoring the scent of her arousal. Her fingers tangled in his hair, holding him in place. When he rubbed his tongue over her swollen clitoris, she exploded. Her screams bounced off the walls. He drank her in as her body danced beneath him.

  When she finally settled back onto the mattress, Hunter reluctantly lifted his mouth and sat back. He couldn’t pull his gaze away from Sylvie. Her skin was flushed, her eyes closed, her lips parted, her chest rising and falling with her quick pants.

  He was still watching her when she lifted her lids and met his gaze. A slow smile spread across her face. She lifted herself up onto her elbows. “Wow. Thanks. I needed that.”

  Hunter threw back his head and laughed. “Glad I could help.”

  Her grin grew wider and she got up onto her knees on the mattress. She placed her hands on his chest and pushed. He fell back onto the mattress before he had time to think about what she was doing.

  “Now I can take care of you,” she said, then parted her lips and took him deep.

  Hunter moaned as the wet heat of her mouth surrounded him. She circled the base with her hand as she rode her lips up and down his length. That felt amazing. It had been a long time coming for him too. The pressure built more quickly than he would have liked. He would rather have spent much more time right where he was.

  He grabbed her shoulders. It wouldn’t be long now. “Sylvie. God, that feels great but I’m going to come.”

  She nodded and kept right on moving over him, licking. Sucking. Smiling around him. He knew some women didn’t mind swallowing, but Jenny wasn’t one of them. The sounds coming out of Sylvie’s throat were definitely pleasant. And when she began to hum, the erotic vibration was enough to send him over the edge.

  He came with a roar, and Sylvie didn’t back away. She took it all without complaining as his cries bounced off the walls. Then she placed a soft kiss to the head of his penis before sitting back and smiling at him. “Feel better now?”

  Now that the blood was rushing back to his head, the big one, Hunter couldn’t stop thinking how different Sylvie was from Jenny. Sylvie had a great sense of humor—not that Jenny didn’t, but sex was always serious, important. Sylvie could go with the flow where Jenny was always out of sorts if things didn’t work out the way she’d planned. And that blowjob. Holy cow, the suction of her talented little mouth while he was coming, that was the best thing he’d ever felt in his life. Jenny would never even try it.

  But he didn’t want to be thinking about Jenny at all when he was having sex with another woman. Didn’t want to be comparing them. Didn’t want to think one of them was better than the other in any way.

  He’d chosen to have this encounter at Sylvie’s cottage so the ghost of Jenny, the memories of her there after their marriage, wouldn’t haunt him. But it seemed that he was going to be haunted by her memories no matter where he was.

  And he didn’t want to forget about Jenny. God, that was the last thing he wanted to do. That was the reason he didn’t want to get involved with Sylvie. Why he didn’t want to get involved with any woman.

  Sylvie was still sitting beside him, waiting for an answer. Hunter took a deep breath. It wasn’t her fault he’d changed his mind. He wasn’t that much of an asshole that he’d walk out thirty seconds after he got his orgasm.

  But they couldn’t do this again.

  He cleared his throat and sat up, but didn’t meet her eyes. Looked down at her small hands resting on her thighs instead. “Sure. I needed that too.”

  Her hands curled into fists. “Is something wrong? Did I do something wrong?”

  “No.” He climbed out of the bed. “That was amazing, Sylvie. Really.”

  She got a little crinkle between her brows when she frowned. “Then why do I feel like you’re retreating?”

  “No. I’m not. I just…” The stricken look on Sylvie’s face hit him like a kick in the gut. He sat back down and pulled her close. He might have turned a corner, but he was still messed up.
She’d been trying to help him. At least she deserved the truth. “I didn’t expect to feel so guilty.”

  She didn’t laugh it off. Didn’t tell him he couldn’t betray a dead woman. Instead, Sylvie nodded slowly. “That hump’s higher than we thought, wasn’t it? I don’t think I made it all the way over either.”

  “No?”

  “I kept comparing you to Matt, and that’s not fair to either one of you. And it kept getting in the way of the pleasure.” She leaned against his shoulder. “So I understand. Still…” She placed her soft hand on his thigh. “I think we should try again. What do you think?”

  “I don’t know,” he said on a rough sigh, when he’d been so sure he would answer with an emphatic refusal. He was already reacting to Sylvie’s touch, his body hardening, his heart picking up the pace. But what about Jenny? He couldn’t do this to her.

  He glanced down at Sylvie’s hand resting on his leg. Sex between the two of them wouldn’t mean a thing. They’d agreed on that already. This was purely physical. He bit back a groan as he imagined sliding into her welcoming body. Imagined giving each other the pleasure they’d denied themselves up until now.

  Hunter covered her hand with his. “Do you really think we can do this?”

  “Sure. It probably was too optimistic to think we could scale that mountain with the first attempt.”

  “I thought of it more like a brick wall,” he admitted, but the guilt seemed to have lifted and anticipation had taken its place.

  “I guess you can still get over a brick wall with enough time and the right equipment.”

  “Equipment?”

  She grinned. “Condoms.”

  After sharing the tiny shower with Hunter, Sylvie climbed into the passenger seat of his SUV. Riley jumped in the backseat and rode most of the way into town with his head hanging out the window. They drove by dozens of motels and condos. Shops selling beachwear or surfboards or souvenirs. Restaurants serving anything from seafood to pizza.

  “There’s a drugstore down at the end of this block,” Hunter murmured.