Wanderlust: A Holiday Story (A Heroes and Heartbreakers Original) Read Online Free PDF Page B

years of longing, and his touch had been underscored with a gentleness borne of them knowing each other so well.
    She stroked his hair as he kissed her, his mouth a slow drift over hers as their breathing calmed, heartbeat to heartbeat.
    “We should have done that a long time ago.”
    “Yeah,” she said shakily, half-laughing. “We should.”
    “Did you feel it…” He laid his hand over her heart. “Right here?”
    Ruby scrunched her nose, her heart aching as she laid her hand over his. “Right there, Ford.”
    He moved her hand to his own chest and covered it with his own. “Me too, Ruby red.” He settled his lips against her forehead. “Me too.”
    Ruby traced the outline of the star tattooed on his skin with her fingertip, slowly, point by point.
    “So I always know where home is,” he murmured, and Ruby closed her eyes against the unexpected tears that welled there.
    Some time later, he lifted his head.
    “Fancy road-testing that bath?”

Chapter Six
    Ruby lit the candles, and Ford ran the bath. It wasn’t a tub for two, and it definitely wasn’t a tub for a man of his height. It was a bath designed for one, and for another to watch. He turned off the taps and swirled the foamy water with his fingers.
    “It’s ready,” he said, holding his hand out to Ruby on the bed.
    She’d often imagined how it might be to use that bath, to share this room with a lover, and tonight she was learning that she’d made all the right choices when it came to designing a room for seduction. The amber glow from the fire crackling in the hearth and the many candles dotted around lent the suite the feel of a boudoir, and the carefully selected, sumptuous fabrics and antiques shouted decadence and sex. Velvet-studded armchairs, silk padded counterpanes, and plump soft pillows all said come in, relax, make love.
    He stroked his hand down her spine as she stepped into the warm bubbles, and she sighed with contentment as she sank down into the water. It was every bit as blissful as she’d always hoped it would be. He ducked under the eves into the sitting room and returned a few moments later with a bottle of red wine and two glasses. She closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of him removing the cork, the gentle glug of the wine into the glasses, and then Ford settling himself on the shaggy rug next to the bath.
    “Where are you in your dreams, Ruby red?” She could hear the lazy smile behind his words as he stroked a fingertip down her nose.
    “Right here,” she said, because she couldn’t dream any place better than this one.
    Ford’s hand travelled down her face, lower into the bubbles at her throat. She drew her top lip into her mouth and sighed when his fingers tightened around her nipple, rolling it leisurely.
    She opened her eyes then and turned to look at him, his head resting on his forearm laid along the ceramic bath edge. His hand played across her breasts, his eyes heavy with lazy lust.
    It wasn’t exactly relaxing. It was too sensual, too sexual to be relaxing, but it was unhurried, and meltingly erotic.
    “Let me take care of you,” he said, his voice quiet and thick with longing.
    His hand stroked down over her abdomen, lower still to part her thighs.
    “Relax,” he murmured. “Close your eyes.”
    The warmth of the water and the silk of his voice had her boneless as he caressed her with infinite, languid care. He stroked her, letting just the tips of his fingers graze momentarily over her clitoris. He slipped his other arm beneath her shoulders, cradling her, kissing her as he opened her with his fingers to give himself full access to her sex. She granted it willingly, resting her head back on his warm forearm and opening her mouth to let his tongue in.
    He worked slowly between her legs, touching her everywhere except for her clit until she was desperate for him. When her breasts jutted above the water, Ford broke off from kissing her to suckle them, choosing his moment to slide two fingers