When he began to stroke her, Ellie couldn’t stop a moan. She was wet. So impossibly wet. Clay set up a sensual rhythm that brought her to the edge of frenzy, then he shifted, came up over her, and she felt his erection pressing against the entrance to her core.
Closing her eyes, she arched toward him, wanting him to ease the ache that burned there . Clay eased the tip of his shaft inside. He stopped when he felt her tense.
“Easy, love, I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Don’t stop, Clay,” she said softly.
“I don’t want to rush you. Try to relax.” He eased forward a little farther, and Ellie bit her lip. He was so big. Much larger than she had expected. She liked the feeling of fullness, but it hurt a little, too.
Clay inched forward, then stopped. “Are you always like this?” When she looked into his face, his worried expression made the decision for her.
“You feel wonderful, Clay, it’s just...”
“Just what, love?”
“I’ve never been with a man before.”
“What?”
“I said I’ve never—“
“I know what you said.” Clay’s soft look turned dark. “I think this little game has gone far enough. If you have some sort of physical problem I should know about, you’d better tell me now.”
Ellie pushed against him, trying to drive him farther inside. “Don’t stop, Clay, please. We can talk about this later. I just didn’t want you to worry about hurting me.”
“Damn you, do you think I’m a fool? I know about Flex and Gerry.”
“Gerry?”
“Yes, Gerry. Flex told me about him.”
Ellie thought if Flex were there in that moment, she might kill him. “Flex made it up. Please, Clay, can’t we talk about this later?”
Clay looked at her hard. “Why in God’s name would he do that?”
“It was a joke. Please, Clay—“
“A joke!”
When she felt him begin to withdraw from her body, Ellie clutched his neck. “Don’t go. I promise I’ll explain later.” She tried to kiss him, but he pulled away.
“You’ll explain now.” Clay rolled away from her. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and strode immodestly into the bathroom. He returned wearing a thick white terrycloth robe. He tossed a second robe to Ellie, who pulled the huge garment up over her, but didn’t put it on.
“Now, let’s start all over. Are you telling me you’re a virgin?”
“Does it make a difference? Surely it doesn’t mean you won’t make love to me. I mean everyone’s a virgin until the first time.”
“Let me get this straight. You’ve never been to bed with Flex, and you’ve never been to bed with Gerry.”
“Flex made it up. He said you’d go crazy if you thought he could get me in bed and you couldn’t. And I didn’t want you to laugh at me,” she added softly.
The words had a ring of truth Clay couldn’t deny. He couldn’t deny her tight little passage either. “You’re a twenty-four-year-old virgin,” he repeated, still trying to convince himself. “Am I supposed to expect blood on the sheets?”
Ellie flushed and toyed with the sash on the robe. “I doubt there’ll be blood. I’ve been riding horses for years.”
Clay felt the most ridiculous leap of joy.
“It isn’t a crime, you know,” Ellie said, beginning to get defensive. “Besides there were extenuating circumstances.”
