“Too many other things on my mind.”
He nodded in understanding. “Well we can’t have you starve.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and walked nude over to the bellrope. When Masterson appeared at the door moments later, Gray requested a tray of food be brought up immediately.
While they waited, he arranged pillows in front of the fire and beckoned her over. She slid from the covers and padded over to sit beside him. Moments later a knock sounded at the door and Gray walked over to retrieve the tray of food.
He set it in front of them and settled back down beside her. They sat cross-legged eating in silence. Jenna stared into the fire, unable to think beyond the fact that this would be the last time she enjoyed his companionship. She looked down at the tart in her hand, tears splashing onto her wrist.
His hand cupped the side of her head and pulled her to his chest. She dropped the tart onto the platter and wrapped her arms around him. “I don’t want to go,” she whispered.
“And I don’t want you to go.”
Ask me to stay, she silently pleaded. But he didn’t. She knew he wouldn’t, and she couldn’t even if he did. “How much longer do we have?”
“A few hours yet,” he replied. “Don’t worry about the time. Let’s enjoy the present. I won’t let you leave late.”
She snuggled further into his arms forgetting about the food in front of them. “I want you to know something, Gray.”
“What’s that?” he asked softly.
“You are the dearest friend I ever hope to have.” She pulled away and sat up to look him in the eye. “I know that sounds so ridiculous, but it’s true. I don’t want you to think that I only came to you because of our original agreement.” Her face grew hot as her awkwardness grew.
“I know what you mean. You needn’t explain yourself.” He cupped her chin rubbing his thumb over the curve of her cheek. “I too have enjoyed our companionship in a way I never dreamed possible. You are a very special woman, Jenna. I don’t hold hope of ever meeting a woman of your equal.”
She got up on her knees so that she was on eye level with him. She placed her hands on either side of his face, her fingers splaying out over his cheekbones. Lowering her mouth to his, she kissed him. Tentatively at first, but with more demand as she gained confidence in what she had decided to do.
This last time they would be together, she wanted to love him, to show him the depth of her feeling. Pressing on his chest, she pushed him down to the pillow. Her tongue tangled with his, and her hair fell over his chest in a silken curtain.
She rained a trail of kisses from his neck, over his chest, licking and nipping at the firm contours. Already he was hard against her belly, proof that he wanted her as badly as she wanted him. She kissed the skin just above the nest of curls at the base of his manhood, and he arched convulsively against her.
The tips of her breasts brushed against his thighs as she raised her head over his erection. Slowly, gently, she took him in her mouth, loving him, caressing him with her tongue. Her need was fast overcoming her. She raised her head and looked into Gray’s smoldering eyes. “I want you inside me.”
With a growl to rival any lion, he raised up and bore her to the floor. He parted her legs and was inside her in one hard thrust. She moaned and wrapped her legs around him, trapping him against her.
“Tonight, my love, I am going to teach you more about passion than you ever dreamed.”
She shivered, nearly sent straight over the edge by his whispered promise.
Abruptly, he withdrew, leaving her bereft. Then his fingers found the spot between her legs that pulsed with need. With his chest, he pushed her legs back, her knees doubling. He continued to manipulate her with his fingers until she was convulsing beneath him.
With her knees pressed firmly against her chest, he plunged within her again making her gasp as he reached further into her than she thought possible. She dug her nails into his shoulders as he pressed firmly against her feet with his chest and thrust again.
He touched spots that she didn’t dream existed as he strained against her, planting himself further into her being. She would die if she didn’t gain release from the unbearable pressure that was building. He inserted his hand between them, reaching down and brushing his thumb over her quivering bud as he thrust forward again. It was more than she could withstand.
She screamed his name as she broke into a thousand pieces. But he didn’t stop. She writhed beneath him in agony of pleasure, begging him to stop, begging him to never stop. Impossibly, she began a slow climb as he continued to torment her with his hands and with his body.
His pace increased, rocking her body forward as he continued to thrust into her. “Oh God, Gray, I can’t...”
“Yes, you can. Let it happen. Don’t fight it.”
She let go. He plunged within her one last time and rolled the tips of her breasts between his fingers. Flashes of color shot across her vision, and she feared she’d lose consciousness. The most exquisite pleasure she’d ever experienced in her life infiltrated every pore of her body.
She no longer felt the hardness of the floor beneath her, or his weight over her. She was floating on a cloud, weightless, euphoric. His weight settled over her, a comforting blanket over her shaking body.
She wrapped her arms around him, not wanting him to move off of her. They stayed that way, bodies entangled, one taking up where the other left off. Their hearts beat in a steady rhythm, counting down the remaining minutes they had together.
Finally he eased from her, rolling to the side, taking her with him. Their damp bodies glistened in the light of the fire, the flames seemingly dancing on their bare skin. Would that she could stop time.
A distant clock chimed the hour. Funny, she’d never taken notice of it before. But now it echoed harshly in her ears, a reminder that daybreak was coming. She resisted the urge to pull a pillow over her ears and hide from reality.
