He stopped her with his hands on her waist. “Take your dress off.”
“Jay, we don’t need to draw this out. I want you inside me now.”
“No,” he told her, his tone serious. “I want to take my time with you tonight, Aly. Do what I said.”
His firm voice excited her that much more and she frantically ripped at her own clothing trying to get the dress off. Her arms got tangled in it and Jay helped her free herself. She was naked except for the lacy demi-bra she wore.
“Straddle me.”
She did as he ordered, climbing on his lap. He lowered his head and kissed the full globes of her breasts, which were bared by the demi-bra. His hands slid down her back to her buttocks and he drew her forward so that she rode the edge of his cock.
Her grip on his shoulders tightened and she tried to shift around to bring the top of his erection to her opening and get him inside her, but he wasn’t going to be rushed.
One of his hands slid up her back and unfastened her bra. The straps loosened and he used his teeth to pull the fabric away from her breasts. She felt the tip of his tongue on her areole, stroking it until her nipple tightened. Then she felt the warmth of his mouth on her nipple as he sucked on it.
She reached between them and took his cock in her hand and positioned him exactly where she needed him. She thrust herself onto his cock, driving him deep to the heart of her. She rocked her hips back and forth while he continued to suckle her.
He tore his mouth from her breast and looked up at herthrough half-closed eyes. His hands came to her hips and he began to thrust harder and quicker. She lost control of their embrace as he tilted her head toward his and slipped his tongue teasingly into her mouth as he came inside her.
She shuddered as her own orgasm overtook her. She kept on riding him to prolong her orgasm and then collapsed against him. She relaxed, tracing the lines of his pectorals and drawing a heart over it. She closed her eyes trying not to let her emotions get the better of her, but she knew the truth as soon as he looked her in the eye.
She loved him.
She wanted to say it but knew better than to say anything. She was still too afraid to trust herself or him.
India’s words came back to haunt her. Where was the passion that she was using to embrace life? How was Jay ever going to know that she needed him to stay until she told him?
“Jay?”
“Shh...don’t talk,” he said. He lifted her, stood and walked down the short hall to her bedroom. He set her on her feet in the doorway of the bathroom, and she watched as he went to her garden tub and slowly turned on the taps.
“But I think there is something I need to say.”
“I’m sure there is, but there is something magical going on between us right now and I don’t want it to end. I want this one night, Aly. Is that okay?” he asked.
She nodded. She wanted it, too. She wanted to pretend that this was a world she’d never been in before. That all of her dreams were coming true with this man. She gathered candles from under the sink as he filled the tub with water and her rose-scented bubble bath. She lit the candles and set them on the edge of the tub.
Jay lifted her into water that was the perfect temperature and then climbed into the tub and sat down behind her. She lowered herself gently into the water and settled back againsthim. His arms were around her and she rested her head once again on his chest. She felt his big arms around her and knew that falling in love with Jay hadn’t made any of her problems disappear. He was still a man at a crossroads, and who knew what path he was going to choose? But for tonight she didn’t regret falling for him.
He had mended her broken heart and given her back some of the romantic dreams he’d stolen from her. He slowly bathed her and she felt tears sting the backs of her eyes as he treated her so tenderly. Jay was a rough man through the life he’d lived but tonight with her he was as gentle as any man could be and he’d found his way right back into her heart.
JAY DIDN’T ALLOWHIMSELF to think beyond this night. He’d had a few experiences in his life that he kept protected in his memory. Most of them involved this woman and he didn’t want anything—not even himself—to mar this night.
She was special to him. More so than he’d realized when he’d come back to San Diego looking for answers. Now he had those answers and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Alysse was the only woman in the world that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
And if life were as easy as television shows and Hollywood movies made it seem, that would be all it would take for them to commit themselves and spend the rest of their days together. But this wasn’t a TV show or movie and he knew that despite his good intentions he’d never be the man that Alysse needed.
She knew it, he suspected, but because they’d spent so much time with each other she was probably thinking, as he was, that there was some way to make the magic last for them.But the truth was there was no elixir that would cure him of his past. No potion that would make his shattered soul whole and no real chance that he’d be able to live in this cute little suburban house with Alysse for the rest of his days.
The water was starting to cool, so he stood up and climbed from the tub, drying himself off quickly before helping Alysse. He dried her carefully from head to toe, lingering over her entire body because he’d never have enough of touching her. He dreamed of her skin and the softness of it when they were apart.
“Why are you treating me like I’m made of glass?” she asked.
He wasn’t sure what to say. Didn’t know what was the right or wrong thing and looking into her amazing blue eyes he settled for the truth. “To me you are the most precious thing.”
She swallowed hard and then threw herself into his arms and he held her close, breathing in the floral scent of her skin. He closed his eyes and tried to figure out a way he could keep Alysse without shattering her dreams for the future.
But he’d seen the way she’d looked at Lucien and India tonight. He knew she wanted a relationship like that and he couldn’t give that to her. He just wasn’t that kind of man.
