Swearing silently, he knew that whatever control he’d managed to find was quickly slipping away.
He concentrated on her face, watching the shock, and then the pleasure unfurl like a pink rose on her cheeks as he brushed over her. Gently at first, letting her get used to the sensations taking hold of her body.
He gave her breast one last long suck and then released it as his finger slipped inside. Mimicking what he was doing between her legs, he flicked his tongue out over her nipple, circled and stroked. Teasing her with soft breaths of warm air against the damp skin until her back was arching and her hips were lifting in silent plea for release.
She was so damned beautiful, his need for her so intense, he couldn’t tease it out any longer. Keeping his eyes on her face, he sucked her breast hard and caressed that sensitive spot with his thumb as he pressed the heel of his hand against her and gave her that friction she needed.
She gasped. Stilled. And broke apart with the sweetest cry he’d ever heard. Her face went soft and dreamy with euphoria as her body shuddered and contracted. He felt the heat, the rush of dampness, and every spasm of the pleasure that claimed her.
It was almost perfect. Next time it would be, because next time he would be inside her. In about two seconds, as that was about as long as he could wait.
Cate felt like she had died and gone to heaven. Surely that was what it must feel like to float among the clouds. Well, perhaps not float. Shoot, soar, and tumble was probably more accurate.
Her body was still tingling when her gaze cleared enough to see him propped over her. His face was strained and tortured in the shadows. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and kiss him, but she didn’t have any bones left.
The warmth of his hand left her body as he started to work the ties of his braies.
Curiosity perked her up a little, as she looked down just in time to see him free himself.Good God!She flicked her tongue nervously over her lip as she took in the thick column of flesh that seemed even bigger and more powerful than when she’d been holding him. It might have been carved from marble, it was just as shiny, polished, and perfectly formed as the rest of him.
He made a tortured sound low in his throat. “Keep looking at me like that, sweetheart, and this is going to be over before it has started.”
She didn’t know what he meant, but it sounded like she was doing something right. “Do you like it when I look at you?”
He bit out a laugh, mumbled something like “hell yes,” and then looked at her with that bone-melting, knee-weakening smile of his that had probably felled more hearts than she wanted to think about—including her own—and answered simply, “Aye.”
A wicked and, she suspected, very cat-like gleam came to her eye. “You liked it when I touched you also, didn’t you? Can I do it again?”
He swore, and seemingly incapable of saying anything else, he nodded. She wrapped her hand around him, momentarily shocked by the warmth and velvety softness, which seemed impossible given how hard he was. He was like marble all right, with a thin, velvety layer on top. But hot marble with a life beating underneath.
“Does it hurt?”
“God, no.”
The muscles in his stomach and arms holding him over her tensed as she started to explore his length, tentatively at first and then with growing boldness as his increasingly strained growls of pleasure encouraged her. She wanted to grip him, so she did, and the results were rather spectacular. His expression transformed into something so rapturous, she felt like a goddess.
After moving her hand up and down a few times the way he’d shown her how to do before, however, she felt his hand clamp down on hers.
“No more.” His jaw was clenched, his gaze was distant yet his eyes were full of concentration, and every muscle of his body seemed drawn up tight like he was fighting some kind of secret battle.
She pulled her hand away. “Did I do something wrong?”
His gaze met hers. “What you are doing is perfect. But I want to make this last, and if you keep doing that, I’m not going to be able to do that.”
She didn’t know what he meant, but the admission made her heart swell and her body go soft all over. She smiled, reached up, circled her hands around his neck, and dragged his mouth down to hers.
It was as if a dam had burst. All the passion he’d been holding back as he brought her pleasure came rushing out in a torrent of raw need. His body came down hard on top of hers. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around his as he settled himself between her legs and kissed her.
It seemed the most natural thing to have him on top of her. To have their bodies stretched together, legs twined, chest to chest, hip to hip. To have the thick, solid weight of him wedged between her thighs.
Good lord, he felt good.Everythingfelt good.
The sensations built again. Faster and hotter this time, as she now knew where it was leading. He was kissing her so perfectly, with long, deep strokes of his tongue that beckoned to a primitive place inside her. Her hips started to lift and circle against him. Her body started to tingle. The need for friction and pressure grew at a frenzied pace. She grabbed hold of his shoulders as if he were a rock to anchor her in the storm building around her.
But he pulled her back before she broke apart again. “Not yet. I want to be inside you this time.”
Her chemise was twisted around her legs, and it took him a moment to find the edge to lift it.
“This damned thing is in my way.” He gave her a boyishly impatient look. “Next time it’s coming off.”
