When Chemistry Wins (The Dark Horse Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  How touching. Kerri appreciated the gesture, but she didn’t let the sweetness show as she pushed herself into Hunter’s hold and grinded against his pelvis. Oh, there it is. The hard bulge pushing into her rear. She wondered how long it would take for him to do something with it.

  “And if I tell you that you’re wrong?” Kerri also wondered how long she could prolong this game. “What then?”

  Hunter released her breast. “I’ll leave. I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll leave.”

  “And why would you be disappointed?”

  “Because you’re an interesting woman, and it would be a good end to a good night.”

  “What’s ‘it’?”

  Hunter’s hand grazed the side of Kerri’s rear, making her suck in her breath as she tittered between her lips. “That thing adults do when they damn well feel like it.”

  Before Hunter could pull away from her, Kerri turned and kissed his cheek again. It did not take long for him to interpret her intentions this time – he tilted her chin up and placed his lips upon hers.

  You definitely didn’t misinterpret anything. Kerri wrapped her arms around his shoulders and put the passion she had into kissing this man she just met.

  Once upon a time Kerri was like most girls, wishing for a prince charming to come riding up on a horse and sweep her off her feet. She wanted a Romeo for her Juliet and to have a man change her life with one look. Over the years, Kerri came to realize that such men did not exist, even though her mother swore they did. The same mother who lived in another world where cooking sherry was a good substitute for a bottle of wine at dinner.

  Not once during her adult life did Kerri think she would meet a man who ticked the boxes she set for herself years ago, when she watched those beautiful fairy tale cartoons with deliriously happy endings. Of course they didn’t exist, and Kerri wasn’t stupid enough to think that Hunter was any different. But she did admit that the moment Hunter lifted her off the ground and swung her onto her bed, she felt that thrill of prince charming, her Romeo, making his grand entrance into her life.

  Oh, well then… Kerri hid her smile as Hunter loomed over her, his fingers caressing her cheek before he bent down to kiss her lips, her hands pulling against the jacket of his suit. Any time now. He could take these damn clothes off any time now.

  Hunter must have sensed how aroused Kerri was from the way he teased and indulged in her taste, feel, and scent. Her legs spread around his hips, welcoming him to thrust his clothed pelvis against hers – his thrusts were strong, steady. Kerri moaned before Hunter could even kiss his way from her throat to her chest, his tongue sinking into the cleft between her breasts as his fingers pulled down the bust of her dress.

  Kerri shouted when Hunter’s tongue discovered her nipple.

  She was wild now, wilder than she was before and wilder than she would be in another day’s time. The way this stranger instantly knew where to touch and pleasure her – his hands wandered the length of her leg and tugged on the softness of her ear – was like destiny brought them together for this night of passion.

  “You’re going too easy,” she said, although her body begged her to moan as if they had their own private island. “You’re holding yourself back.” Kerri felt it in the tension rippling through Hunter’s shoulders while he attempted to shirk his jacket and unbutton his shirt. “I’m not made of glass.”

  She sat up once Hunter relieved himself of his jacket. Her nimble fingers helped him undo his shirt, and she bit her lip in anticipation as her hands touched his skin and the hardness of his muscles beneath.

  Which meant he was strong enough to lift Kerri by the thighs, drawing her groin toward his. Kerri groaned as his bulge pushed against his trousers and her lingerie beneath her dress. Heat flooded between her legs and begged to be released.

  But Hunter was more concerned with their clothing, to get right to the action. He pushed her down into her bed, his hand holding one of her breasts while the other hand undid his trousers and pulled on her dress. Kerri attempted to help him with this undressing, but Hunter was adamant: he could take care of it.

  Just get on with it… Kerri writhed in anticipation as her dress both tugged up and down on her torso, exposing her chest and leaving little mystery remaining between her legs – only her lingerie prevented Hunter from seeing what she kept there. In turn he was nearly naked now as well, aside from a pair of black silk boxers hiding his growing bulge. Kerri fought her desperation to know him in the biblical sense. Hell, even the non-biblical one!

  “You are a beautiful woman,” Hunter said with a husky voice. It caused Kerri’s toes to curl long before he touched her again. “Just thought I would say that before I lost the sense to.”

  Her eyes did leave his skin as her hand pushed between his thighs and grazed his bulge. Hunter hissed, his pelvis pulling back along with Kerri’s curious hand. He was hard. For me. Kerri would not fool herself into thinking this was more than a random encounter, but she was flattered anyway.

  She was really flattered when Hunter abstained from entering her, instead lowering his hand to her abdomen. Her Romeo kissed her stomach, drawing her legs up and out as her lingerie pulled against her slit. The heat could not escape yet.

  Not even when Hunter continued his sojourn south, stopping to kiss the insides of Kerri’s thighs, as his chin drew a hard line down her center. She gasped, awoken, and his teeth nipped her lingerie until his tongue found a way inside.

  Kerri arched her spine and snapped back her legs the moment his tongue dipped into her hole and licked her most delicate spot. The sound coming from her throat could only be described as nymph-like.

  Once he tasted this first access, Hunter pulled down her lingerie and had at it.

  Kerri didn’t know that it was possible to writhe like she did now, with her legs shaking in the air and her shoulders pummeling her pillows. Hair swept across her face as she looked this way and that, the rest of her body responding to this intimate act by curling up in more heat and threatening to explode. Hunter was damn good, a mark of a man who had experience with pleasuring women – yet the way he tenderly ran his tongue around the circumference of her center said that he respected her enjoyment.

  “Don’t stop,” Kerri begged, as Hunter’s tongue punched into her before coming up her slit. Shocks split her abdomen as her arousal attempted to reward Hunter. “Don’t…”

  One of his fingers teased her center, and she cried out in an attempt to say more than yes.

  Groans filled the air; fingers filled her. Kerri grabbed the pillow behind her head and panted in her arriving climax as Hunter concentrated his tongue on her clit. Beneath it, her center welcomed his fingers, letting them burrow deep inside, both satisfying and wretchedly agonizing.

  But not as agonizing as when he pulled them out, kissed her wet lips, and sat up to drop the last of his clothing.

  Kerri was famished for him to finish her off. Especially when she saw what came out of his clothes: an attractive, thick hardness, as erect as it could be without driving him too crazy. Poor man must need some relief. Kerri pushed herself up and wrapped a hand around it, pleased to find it as gratifying as it looked. Her frustration mounted the longer he refused to mount her.

  “Be careful,” he said, that gruff edge still in his voice. “I have plans for that.”

  “Tell me.” Kerri looped an arm around him and kissed his prickly cheek. And do me. Her other hand reached between her legs and checked her wetness. Now was his chance to take her.

  Hunter pushed her back down, this time remaining with her as they crashed onto the bed and pillows. “I’d rather show you.” It was the last thing he said before pushing his tip into her.

  Kerri was rarely so into the moment as she was then. Her previous partners could be good, but she was always aware of other things going on around them as they made love: the wind outside, a blinking clock, the creak of the bed. But with Hunter she noticed none of these things. She was fixated
on the scent of his sweat and the taste of his skin as he slowly pushed himself into her. As he filled her with his girth, Kerri clung to him with both her arms and legs, gasping into his broad shoulder until he had pushed himself in as far as he could go.

  They had one moment of romantic intimacy before Hunter began to thrust.

  He wasted no movement and spared no strength as he pushed into her over and over again, the tip of his cock constantly burying itself in the core of Kerri’s being. She welcomed him, sometimes groaning, sometimes muttering her joy, but always aware of every sensation as they flooded her loins and the rest of her body. Hunter brought her closer to him, angling her hips so he could thrust into her at the most favorable angle – an angle that made her shriek into her pillow as he found her most hallowed spot inside of her.

  Kerri tried to tell him to unleash himself into her. She tried. But the moment was too great to ruin as their union dominated their lives.

  Hunter released a groan from his throat. At first it was steady, a constant beat to his thrusts as they made Kerri easier to penetrate as the minutes wore on. And then it became more urgent, the sign of a man about to lose himself in the woman he joined with.

  Kerri welcomed that too. In fact, it was her favorite part.

  She held her own climax back as long as she could. She wanted to join Hunter’s as it began, first with slow, careful thrusts deep into her core as her legs dangled in the air around his hips. A squeak escaped her as she realized what was happening. Time to do what her body had been begging to do from the moment she took Hunter into the gardens.

  “Oh!” Orgasm claimed her, letting her release the heat that had built up for so many minutes now. The sensation of her climax must have inspired Hunter to hurry, for before Kerri could scream in delight, he increased his thrusts again, moaning loudly into the pillow before kissing Kerri with his tongue halfway down her throat. Just as Kerri reached the heights of her pleasure, she felt the warmth return: this time it was not hers, but Hunter’s, settling inside of her as they both sighed in relief.

  Hunter pulled out much too soon, but he collapsed on top of Kerri before falling off. His weight pushed onto her as their legs entwined and his breath hit her neck. Arms wrapped around her chest, and Kerri pushed the hair out of her face as she felt Hunter’s facial hair tickle her back with his kisses. Kerri took on a special kind of satisfaction as the remnants of their lovemaking trickled out of her. Hunter didn’t seem to notice.

  “I’m glad we did that,” Kerri said, one of Hunter’s fingers playing with the edge of her mouth. She let it in, sucking the tip like she wished she could suck the tip of something else. Maybe next time. If there is one. She hoped so. “If for no other reason than I will be busy soon, and putting off something like that so we could date would have killed me.”

  Nonsensical words vibrated against her skin as Hunter grumbled something into her shoulder. When he lifted his lips, he said, “It probably would have killed me too. It’s for the best we got this out of the way.”

  “As long as you don’t think I’m, I don’t know, easy.” She said that with her tongue firmly in her cheek. Kerri was easy when it came to men she wanted to eat alive. Hunter fit that bill nicely that night. “Now we’re working backward. You have to woo me now, Mr. Hunter.”

  “Hall, actually. It’s Mr. Hall.”

  Kerri’s eyes briefly opened. That name sounded familiar, but her post-euphoria buzz helped her relax back into Hunter’s hold. “Fine, then, Mr. Hall. Help a girl out and take me out on a date sometime soon. There’s more of this where it came from if you play your cards right.” If he didn’t, oh well. At least Kerri had this round in bed with her beautiful stranger.

  “I may be able to oblige,” he said. “But I will be busy too.” Hunter kissed her once more before pulling away, abandoning Kerri’s mussed form on the bed. He grabbed his clothing from the covers and the floor before beginning to put them back on. Damn. Screw and run, why don’t you? Kerri didn’t blame him, given where they were. They would only have so much privacy for so long. She picked her cell phone off her nightstand and saw multiple texts from her mother, asking her where she was. Kerri fired off a made-up answer before the CIA was called in to find her. That would buy them a few more minutes.

  She sat up and draped herself over Hunter’s shoulders as he buttoned up his shirt again. Curly hair fell across her face and down Hunter’s chest. It was tangled, thanks to what he did to her in bed. “Busy doing what, Mr. Hall? You got a campaign to run too?” She was half-joking.

  His fingers slowed. “Yes, actually. Well, I’m not running it. But it appears that my father is running against yours this election, and like you, I will be called in to do my child’s duties. Maybe we’ll be in back-to-back commercials on cable TV.”

  The room fell silent. What? Kerri pulled herself away from Hunter, hair obscuring the whites of her eyes, as her mouth dropped and those good feelings dissipated into the air of her bedroom. The same air that still contained the scent of their lovemaking. “Hall,” she said. “Terrence Hall. That’s the name of the man running against…” Kerri didn’t pay too much attention to political candidates until the last minute when she decided who to vote for. Too many years in this world had taught her that paying attention to such things as they happened were frivolous when she had other things to concentrate on. Like falling in love, or at least lust for a night. Lust with the son of her father’s primary opposition. “You’re…!”

  “As I said.” Hunter stood up, fussing with his jacket as he turned to face Kerri, still naked on her bed. Suddenly she was not impressed with what she felt mingling in the folds between her legs. Not disgusted, but definitely not impressed. If only her father knew who came into her body that night! “That’s my father.”

  “You knew this when you met me!”

  “Of course I did. I’m sorry.” Hunter sat on the edge of the bed and tried to take Kerri’s hand. She snatched it away. “I didn’t mean to mislead you. But I wasn’t sure when to bring it up. I certainly did not anticipate that… well, when I approached you earlier, it was because I was curious about what kind of person you were, not because I was trying to get into your pants. That happened organically, I assure you.”

  “What kind of person I was?” A trap? To find out how much of a slut the governor’s daughter could be? Kerri didn’t usually fret about her open sexuality, but that was before she let the son of Terrence Hall stick his cock in her. “I swear to God, if you go to the press I’ll…”

  Hunter silenced her with a peck to the cheek. Just like the ones she gave him earlier. “I won’t. I never had any intention to.”

  “Then why are you telling me this if not to shame me?”

  “I’m not trying to shame you.” Hunter stood up again, this time with an air of finality. “But it’s something you should know before we go forward with anything. If we date, it can’t be out in the open.”

  “No shit!” Kerri pushed herself up onto her knees to make herself bigger next to Hunter. She realized that this exposed her whole body to him again, including whatever now dripped down her thigh, but she couldn’t impel herself to care. “I stand to lose a lot more than you if this gets out. Not just my father, but me.”

  “I understand. I’m sorry. Truly.”

  “Oh, you’ll be sorry all right. If I get one whiff of a scandal about to come my way…”

  “It won’t.”

  “Good.” Kerri had to stop looking at him. He was too damned handsome and annoying to look at right now. Last thing I need to feel is more arousal. To think she had been on the verge of asking if he would like to go again before he started to get dressed. The sad thing was that Kerri fleetingly thought of it again now. “You better hurry out of here.”

  “I shall.” Hunter tried to kiss her cheek again, but Kerri pushed his instead. “However…”

  “What now?”

  Was that a sheepish look on the man’s face? Kerri could hardly believe
it. Hunter held all the cards right now. Why would he be embarrassed in front of her? “I really did enjoy my time with you tonight. Would it be impossible for us to date?”

  “Are you crazy?”

  “I know it would be madness, granted who we are. But if we took that away, you would still be a woman I would like to date.”

  The terrible thing was that Kerri was still interested in him. Aside from his identity as Hunter Hall – and withholding that as long as he did – Kerri wanted to date him. She had already built up in her head that they would go on a few dates, maybe fool around some more, and see where things went from there. But the son of Terrence Hall? Kerri didn’t care one whiff about party lines, but she had to admit it would be suicide if they were caught.

  “I’ll think about it,” she said. “But don’t be surprised if I decide no. I’m looking for some fun and maybe more, but not at the expense we’re talking about.”

  Hunter nodded, albeit with disappointment lining his mouth and eyes. “I’ll be sad if you say no. But like I said, I understand.”

  “Good. You should leave now.”

  Before Kerri knew it, Hunter tipped her chin up and kissed her again. The tenderness behind it melted what anger she harbored, and she sighed as he nibbled her ear and gently sucked her throat. Her body became aroused again, being so bare and vulnerable before this handsome man who had already proved to be quite capable in bed. Kerri shoved him away and told him one more time that he should leave.

  She waited until he was gone before collapsing and screaming her frustration into her pillow. Politics had again ruined something that could have been so beautiful.