The Ashtons - Cole, Abigail & Megan

shook his head. “Do you know how?”
    She nibbled her lower lip as she shook her head. “Not really. But it can’t be that hard.”
    Laughing, he guided her hands to him. “That’s the problem. I think I’m harder than I’ve ever been in my life.”
    Her cheeks colored a pretty pink. “I didn’t mean…”
    “I know.” Grinning, he gave her a quick kiss, then lay back against the pillows. He’d never had a woman take the initiative to arrange their protection. He found Abby’s taking charge immensely exciting. “I’m all yours.”
    Fascinated by what she intended to do, Russ watched her for several moments as she tried to figure out how to put the condom on him. Smiling, he showed her what to do, and in no time, they had the preventive measure in place.
    He turned her to her back, then leaned over to kiss her eyes, her nose and the hollow below her ear. “Now, that wasn’t too difficult, was it?”
    She shook her head. “It wasn’t hard at all.”
    He chuckled as he moved closer and pressed his arousal to her thigh. “Like I told you before, honey, being hard isn’t an issue.”
    “I, uh, think I understand.” Her breathless tone heated his blood further and had his heart racing at about a hundred miles an hour.
    Without a word, he moved over her. But when he started to make them one, she gently brushed his hand aside and took charge again. Guiding him to her, her emeraldeyes sparkled with a hunger that matched his own need, and as he slowly sank himself in her moist heat, Russ was filled with an emotion deeper and more meaningful than anything he’d ever experienced. If he had let himself think about it, it might have scared him spitless. But with her body wrapped around him like a silken sheath, all of his senses were focused on completing the act of loving her.
    Their gazes locked, and as Russ set a slow pace, he watched Abby’s expression change as her passion began to build. Her cheeks flushed with the rosy blush of desire, and the hungry fire glowing in her eyes made his heart hammer in his chest. She was sharing more than her body with him. She was sharing her heart, her soul.
    All too soon, he felt her body begin to tighten around him and he knew she was close to the peak. His own body responded with the need to empty himself inside her, but he held back. He’d made her a promise—that he intended to take her with him when he found release from the storm—and, reaching between them, he touched her intimately.
    Her feminine muscles held him to her, as if she was trying to make him a permanent part of her, a moment before they quivered around him as she found the ecstasy they both sought. Unable to restrain himself any longer, Russ let go of the control he’d fought so hard to maintain. His own muscles contracted, then surged, ashe gave up his essence and joined her in the mindshattering release.
    Completely exhausted, he used his last ounce of strength to wrap her in his arms and turn them to their sides. Abby was the most responsive, incredible woman he’d ever known, and there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the feelings filling him at that moment went further than the fulfillment of desire, or a man and woman simply coming together out of mutual need.
    His heart hammered at his ribs so hard, he was surprised it wasn’t deafening. Could he be falling in love with Abby?
    When she snuggled against him and dozed off into a peaceful sleep, Russ hugged her close as he stared at the ceiling and tried to come to grips with what he suspected. What happened to his plan of showing her a good time while she was in Napa, then settling back into his old routine once she returned to Nebraska?
    But as he lay with her soft, warm body pressed to his, he shook his head at his own foolishness. He had a feeling that he’d never had a chance. Unless he missed his guess, he’d been a goner from the moment their eyes met that first day in the stable.

Chapter Eight
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    W ith her hand in Russ’s, Abby took a deep breath to steady her nerves as they followed Mercedes and Craig across the Ashton estate’s east-wing veranda. Not only was she apprehensive about breaking an ankle in the three-inch heels that Mercedes had insisted she buy, now that they were actually ready to enter the home of Spencer Ashton, Abby was having second thoughts.
    What had she gotten them all into? Would Mercedes be treated well? Or would Spencer’s wife and children descend on her like a flock of vultures?
    Abby