* * *
Dina held him long after the last aftershocks of what could only be called a nine-point-five on the Richter scale slowly faded away. She’d never known anything like that. Hadn’t even guessed that her body was capable of feeling so much. Oh, she wasn’t a virgin, reacting to the first experience of a male-driven orgasm. But in a weird way, the fact that she’d had three previous lovers only underlined the extraordinary truth of what had just happened.
Until tonight, she would have said that sex was good and orgasms were pretty nice. But those pitiful words didn’t come close to defining what had just happened to her. With his every touch, Connor had set her body and soul on fire. She’d felt him right down to her bones and even they had trembled under his sensual onslaught. Now, with his weight pressing down on her, she felt...complete somehow, in a way she never had before.
And that’s when it hit her. She loved Connor King. Dina didn’t know when it had started, or when she had taken that last slippery slide into love, but it was here now. She was sure of it. Oh, God, how clichéd was that? Have incredible sex and assume you’re in love?
She squeezed her eyes shut as her brain raced. This wasn’t just about the sex, her brain argued. It was about everything else—the way he handled the triplets, his loyalty to family, his willingness to include her, even his stubbornness—and the amazing orgasms were pretty much just the icing on an incredible cake. Yet another part of her mind demanded to know how this was even possible. She’d known him about two weeks. It shouldn’t have been feasible to love someone after such a short period of time. It was nuts to even think it, but this feeling she had was undeniable.
Opening her eyes again, she stared up at the ceiling as the irony of her situation sank in. For most of her life, Dina had avoided situations that could lead to love, and here she found herself loving the very man she’d been at odds with from the beginning. It had to be a cosmic joke at her expense.
But while she worried over the implications, she also couldn’t help relishing the moment. Love. Whether it would eventually bring her joy or pain, she didn’t know. Sliding her hands up and down Connor’s back, she relished this moment, this realization, even though it terrified her. For right now, she was at an Irish castle, in bed with the man she loved, and she wasn’t going to waste another second worrying about what tomorrow would bring.
There would be time enough to tangle her thoughts around trying to trust that a man could accept her as she was without expecting her to change and be what he preferred. Plus, there was the fact that the only thing holding her and Connor together was the triplets. If he got custody of those babies, he wouldn’t need her anymore and she’d be gone. She knew that and hated it.
Oh, loving him was a tremendous blunder, but God help her, she didn’t know how to correct that error now, when it was too late to turn back.
“Are you okay?” he asked, lifting his head to look down at her.
Could he sense what she was thinking? Feeling? No, she told herself firmly. If he could he would be leaping off the bed and putting some distance between them. So she buried her newly realized emotions deep and kept her response light. “I’m great,” she said, smiling into those ice-blue eyes.
He gave her a brief, hard kiss. “Me, too.” He skimmed one hand over to cup her breast and she gulped. Amazingly enough, her body, hardly recovered from that first incredible round, was clearly ready to go again.
She felt him pulse inside her and knew he felt the same. “Connor—”
He shook his head, his smile gone, replaced by the stamp of fresh need on his features. “I want you again. And again. And again.”
“We should probably talk about this—”
“Yeah, not really interested in talking.” He eased away and off the bed. “Don’t move,” he ordered.
She didn’t think she could move if she had to. Besides he was back a moment later. He grabbed a fresh condom, slid it on and was joining her in the bed an instant later.
“No more talk,” he whispered, sitting on his heels, drawing her with him until she straddled his lap, holding his hard length deep inside her. Dina shook her hair back from her face, looked into his eyes as his hands settled on her hips and dismissed the notion of some awkward conversation. There would be plenty of time for that later.
She squirmed on top of him, twisting her hips, creating a delicious sort of friction that rekindled the fire still licking at them.
“Ride me, Dina. Take me to the edge and then jump off with me.”
She nodded, breathless at the explosion of sensation rocketing through her. Moving on him, she set a blistering pace, helped along by his strong hands at her hips. The only sound in the room was their eager gasps and the good, healthy slap of skin on skin.
She took him deeper, higher than she would have thought possible, until Dina was convinced he was actually touching the tip of her heart. She moved her hands from his broad shoulders to cup his face and then she kissed him, parting his lips with her tongue, demanding entry. Demanding he give her all that he had and then just a little more.
He threaded the fingers of one hand through her long, thick hair and held her head in place while he gave her just what she needed. And this time, when their shared release crashed down on them, their mouths were fused and each swallowed the other’s moans of indescribable pleasure.
When it was over, they stared at each other and Dina wished she could read what was in his mind, his heart. Did he feel anything for her beyond desire? Was there caring and affection, too? Could that turn to love if given enough time?
And would they have that time? This move to his house was temporary and she knew it. Now, especially, she couldn’t continue to live with a man she loved knowing he didn’t love her in return. Could she?
He bent his forehead to hers and fought to steady his breathing. Their eyes met and he smiled. “Give me a half hour and we can go again.”
Since her body was still buzzing with the kind of pleasure she’d never known before, she liked that idea. “It’s a deal,” she said, still willing to put aside all of her recent revelations until she could be alone with the craziness now settling in to stay in her mind.
“You are definitely my kind of woman,” Connor said, grinning now as he rubbed her nipples with his thumbs.
She sighed, loving that near electrical charge zipping through her system. “Keep that up and we’ll never make your half-hour timeline,” she warned.
“I’m willing to risk it,” he said, dipping his head to plant his mouth at the pulse point at the base of her throat.
Dina tipped her head back to give him access and felt the deliciously slow build of excitement stirring in her again. “You’re not playing fair.”
He smiled against her skin and whispered, “I’m a King, honey. We always get what we want.”
Her heart turned over. He wanted her. But for how long?
From across the room, the baby monitor erupted with a half cry that splintered the haze of passion as surely as hitting a light switch chased away darkness.
Sighing, Connor pulled back and looked at her. Smoothing her hair from her face with his fingertips, he said, “Duty calls.”
Duty. Why had he chosen that word in particular? Were the triplets merely duty, in spite of the way he treated them? The way he acted when he was with them? Was she a duty? Or was she simply handy?
“Yeah,” she said, shifting to move off of him as her thoughts darkened and doubts spilled through her veins like tar. “I should go take care of that before whoever it is wakes up the other two.”
“No,” he said, catching her hand as she moved to grab