Read Online Forbidden by Pat Warren - Free Book Online

ambition would forever take precedence over his feelings for her.
    He dropped his hands, turned aside. “All right. I told you, no seduction unless we both want the same thing.”
    She stared at him, feeling torn, feeling frightened. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Then, before the tears could fall, she hurried
     out, closing the door behind her.
    At the window he watched lightning split the night sky. He felt like hitting something hard. He’d let her go without a fight,
     which wasn’t like him. He, who had persuaded many ahostile jury to his side. Jamming his hands into his pants pockets, he asked himself why.
    She wanted him. He was certain of it. He was bordering on obsession with her, yet to let her go was unthinkable. To hell with
     his own rules. He couldn’t lose her.
    Adam raced for the elevator and prayed on the ride down that he’d be able to find a cab in this downpour. Rushing outside,
     he headed for the street, then stopped. Her Mercedes was still parked where he’d left it. A low-hanging fog had moved in.
     Shielding his eyes against the rain, he peered around.
    She stepped out from alongside a jacaranda tree, her hair plastered to her head, her blouse and jeans drenched. Slowly he
     walked over to her. In the pale light from the lampposts on the entryway, he saw the confusion in her dark eyes.
    “I tried to walk away from you,” she finally managed. “I tried so hard.”
    “I tried to let you.”
    “You’re all wrong for me.”
    “You’re probably right.”
    “I’ve struggled with my feelings since the first day I met you, Adam.”
    Adam remembered her story of Nancy. The bad sister and the good sister. The one who disappointed her parents and the one who
     never did. The wild one and the repressed one. Rain dripped down his face, beneath his collar. He ignored the discomfort.
     “Life’s a crapshoot, Liz. There are no guarantees. I wish I had more answers, but I don’t. Tell me what you want.”
    There was a roaring in her ears. She was nearly overwhelmed with her need for this man. She ached with it, throbbed with it.
     What did she want? “You,” she answered, her voice husky. “I want you.”
    If only she knew how completely she already had him, Adam thought. For that split second of hesitation, he’d been ready to
     go down on his knees to her, to beg. Slipping a handbeneath her knees, he gathered her into his arms and carried her back to his apartment and into his bedroom.
    Aroused beyond belief, Adam knew this first time there’d be few preliminaries. He paused only long enough to turn on the lamp
     on his bedside table and to grab a towel for each of them. Liz dried her hair while he mopped his face.
    There was no time to be nervous, and Liz was grateful. With fingers made clumsy by haste, he pulled her sodden blouse from
     her as she fumbled with the buttons of his shirt. All the while, his mouth skimmed her cheeks, her chin, settling on her lips.
     Their clothes hit the hardwood floor with a wet plop. When her hands unfastened his belt buckle and moved to touch his zipper,
     he stopped her by easing her onto the heavy navy quilt covering his four-poster bed. In the soft lamplight she watched him
     hurriedly yank off the rest of his clothes, then follow her down.
    His mouth took hers, and his hands went exploring. Flesh to flesh they tumbled on the twisted sheets, touching everywhere,
     tasting everything, caressing each secret place. His need huge, Adam held on to his control by a thread as he sent his lips
     on a wild journey over her. He tasted the rain on her skin, inhaled the heady fragrance of passion as she warmed to him.
    Shifting restlessly beneath him, Liz felt her stomach muscles quiver. Closing her eyes, she emptied her mind and gave herself
     up to the incredible feelings. She hadn’t made love often and not for some time. But none of it had ever felt like this. She’d
     never before wanted to taste a man’s rich male flavors, never before been so desperate