Beckett carried Lily into her room and laid her on her pink satin bedspread under her pink tulle swag canopy.
“Oh my God.” Eden’s whisper came from the doorway, where she stood looking around the room.
Beckett had to admit, it was even a little much for him some days, and he’d had lots of time to get used to it.
“Yeah.” He turned toward a dresser and pulled a nightgown—Lily’s favorite pink one with sparkles all down the front—from the bottom drawer. “I let Sarah and my mom decorate. That’s the last time I give them free rein with my credit card when they’re buying for Lily.”
At the bed, he knelt on the floor and pulled Lily’s shoes off, then dragged her pants down and eased her arms from her jacket and T-shirt. Once her nightgown was on, he pulled down the covers, then picked her up and gently laid her head on her pillow, then tucked her soft blanket next to her and pulled the covers over her.
He straightened and stared down at her. Lily filled his heart in so many ways. He couldn’t imagine living without her. If Kim pushed, he was going to unleash the wrath of his wealth on her.
Eden moved to the foot of her bed. “I can’t believe how hard she sleeps. Won’t she have to go to the bathroom?”
He shook his head. “All the girls stop getting drinks at eight p.m. She was wetting the bed almost every night when I got her. Stopped right about the same time she stopped crying every night.”
Eden stroked a hand up his back and leaned into him. She pressed her head to his biceps. “You’re such a great dad. She’s so lucky to have you.”
Warmth gathered in his heart. He turned and slipped his arms around her. “You couldn’t give me any bigger compliment. Not even if it was about hockey.” He walked her backward toward the door, whispering, “Unless it’s how well I make love to you.”
He used one hand to close Lily’s door at his back. Then he leaned down, tightened his arms, and lifted Eden off her feet. She wrapped her legs around his hips and her arms around his neck.
“Are you sure?” she asked, still whispering. “I really don’t mind going home. We can find another time—”
He kissed her again, showing her exactly how sure he was. And Eden opened to him, sank into the kiss, and moaned. Beckett lit up like a struck match. She was so raw. So vulnerable, yet so strong. A complex contradiction in so many ways. And right now, she wanted him. Knowing that want had grown so intense he’d become a need shot a hot thrill through his veins.
She slipped her hands down his shirt and worked on the buttons. He closed his bedroom door, and instead of laying her on the bed right there, he walked her to the side where the windows cast quiet lights of the night across the room. He released her enough to let her slide down his body until her feet touched the floor, then pulled her sweater over her head, followed by the camisole underneath. Kissing a path from her ear to her shoulder, he unclasped her bra and let it fall off her arms. Moonlight spilled over her beautiful face, her full breasts, her flat belly.
“God, you are gorgeous.” He let his mouth move over the soft mounds of her breasts, and closed his teeth over one nipple until she gasped. Then he released her and spiraled his tongue around the tight bud until she moaned. And started all over again on the other side.
He loved the way she shivered, the way she clenched her hands in his hair, the hungry kitten sounds she made. Loved her smell, her feel, her taste. And as she worked his clothes open, pushed her hand into his pants, and closed her fingers around his cock, he definitely loved the way she handled him.
Fire burst through his groin and spread. Pressure built across his hips and collected at the base of his spine. Beckett worked her jeans and panties down her legs, which dislodged her hand and gave him a moment of relief. She’d taken off her boots at the door and now stepped out of her jeans.
Crouched there, he looked up at her. “You look amazing in the moonlight.”
She smiled and combed both hands through his hair.
Beckett kissed his way up her body, and when she took his mouth with enough passion for Beckett to drown in, the urgency kicked up a notch. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and broke the kiss to pull a condom from the folds.
“Let me this time,” Eden said before taking it from him and ripping the package open. Her hands were steady and sure, exactly what he’d expect of a competent EMT. But she wasn’t the least bit medical when she slowly stroked his cock as she rolled the condom over his length, making him see stars.
When her fingers hit the base of his cock, he gripped her waist and dragged her up against him. Her lower belly cradled his erection, creating a delicious gentle pressure. With one arm holding her close, he slipped the other into her hair. “You fuckin’ make me crazy, Eden. I just want more and more and more.”
“Take all you want,” she said, her eyes reflecting the same desire, heating Beckett to the core. “I’m yours.”
His heart skipped a beat.
A little voice whispered in his ear, Yes.
Before he could even think about getting out of his clothes, Eden walked him to the edge of the bed. She pressed both hands to his abdomen and eased him down. “Lie back.” The words were more of a sultry suggestion than an order, and the look in her eyes matched the tone, spurting gasoline on his fire. “You played hard today.”
She leaned into him until Beckett’s back was against the mattress and she hovered over him, propped on elbows and knees. He reached into her hair and gently pulled at the elastic band holding it in a bun. The thick mass fell all around her face, making her laugh, and Beckett pushed it back with both hands. Then he drew her to him and kissed her, her lips still curved under his.
His life was perfect. Right this minute, playing for the Rough Riders, living close to his family, Lily happy and safe in her bedroom across the apartment, Eden loving him in his bed—his life was fucking perfect.
Too bad every single one of those elements was on the verge of change.
Beckett tilted his head and opened to Eden with an urgency to hold on to this. Hold on to her. She read his need, and her humor melted as she put equal passion into their kiss. He loved the way she seemed to know what he wanted or needed without having to ask. The way she fulfilled his wishes so completely. The way she was now, stroking her tongue against his while she slipped one hand between their bodies and rubbed his erection.
She positioned her body over him and eased back, pushing the head of his cock into her heat. Beckett opened his eyes and found her gaze on him as she took him deeper. He clenched his teeth around a groan. His hands slid down her body, and he gripped her hips, pushing her slowly, steadily onto his cock.
Eden’s eyes rolled back before they closed on “God.”
A little negotiation with their bodies, and he was imbedded deep inside her, surrounded by tight, wet heat that made his breath come fast and his heart hammer. And tonight, something that had been growing between them spilled over for Beckett.
All his life, sex had been sex. Sex had been inserting tab A into slot B, repeatedly. Sure, some women turned him on more than others. Some women were more playful or more creative or nastier than others. But in the end, sex was still sex.
Until now. Because as Eden straightened over him, with her hair falling around her face and the moonlight and city glow cast across her beautiful body, Beckett knew this was different. Eden was different. And something Grant said when he’d returned from the Christmas break last year with Faith beside him returned to Beckett now.
“Sex is just sex until you have sex with someone you love. Then you’re talking a whole different hockey game. Then you’re talking the Stanley Cup of sex.”
And as Eden rocked her beautiful body to pump him in and out of her succulent heat, the emotions swirling inside him jacked his physical excitement, pushing him toward orgasm at an exponential rate.
He pulled himself into a sit-up, wrapped one arm around her, cupped her neck with the other hand, and kissed her. Deeply. Tenderly.
“God, Eden…”
“Mmm.” Her hips quickened. She pressed her face against his neck. “Beckett,” she whispered. “So good.”
This was crazy. Nothing pushed him over the edge this fast. Nothing but the feel of Eden’s pussy clenching around his cock. The bite of her nails at his shoulders. The vibrations of her pleasure against the skin of his neck.
She must have felt it too, because she rose fast. Her hips quickened, her moans deepened. And within minutes, she squeezed his cock.
Beckett’s climax slammed through him like a bomb in his pelvis. It exploded deep in his body, streaked up his spine, through his cock, down his legs. The pleasure shattered his brain into tiny pieces that glowed bright white and drenched his body in carbonation until every inch of his skin tingled.
Eden kept one arm clasped around his neck, her breath hot and quick against his skin. She was quiet, and Beckett felt something shift between them. A seriousness that seemed to weight the air.
He’d never been in love before, but somehow he knew this was that feeling that made the guys around him do stupid, crazy things. ’Cause, yeah, he could envision himself doing stupid, crazy things for Eden to hold on to this. To hold on to her.
Only his life wasn’t his own to wield anymore. He had Lily to think about.
So instead of letting the words roll out like he wanted, Beckett eased back, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her, then whispered, “You are so amazing, you humble me.”
And she smiled. The simple sight swamped him with emotion.
Oh, hell yes. He was most definitely in love.
