The Virgin's Revenge: Rancho del Cielo, Book 4

by Dee Tenorio

  Anything. Now that was a heady offer. His body? Oh yes, please. She wanted so much to be free to touch him, explore him and memorize every exquisite second of the experience. But as she looked down into his earnest face, tracing his bottom lip with her fingertip, she knew it wouldn’t be enough.

  God, she was in love with this man.

  More than she ever had been before. She loved his humor and his kindness. The ways he constantly tried to give her what she needed, even if it wasn’t exactly what she wanted. These last few months had to have been miserable for him, even if she didn’t know why he was going through with it. But she did know, somehow, some way, he was doing it all for her.

  You don’t have to save me from anything, Cole.

  But she couldn’t bring the words to her lips. Because she was just selfish enough to want this one night with him. To need it. To need him, even if it was all a lie.

  “I want you, Cole. Just you.” For the rest of my life. But she couldn’t ask that of him. Couldn’t expect it or even hope for it. She closed her eyes and leaned down to kiss him.

  He met her light kiss with one of his own, rising from the chair as he gave her another. A firmer one. Hands settling on her waist, he pulled her against him as he got to his feet. Securing her right where he wanted her.

  As if she were going to go anywhere else…

  There was nowhere else.

  His lips caressed hers, the lightest lick of his tongue across the bottom curve. She opened more for him, hungry for the next taste. He didn’t disappoint, deepening the kiss, his fingers tightening over her hips. His thumbs slipped under the hem of her tank top, grazing small circles over her skin.

  She moaned and his grip tightened.

  Long moments passed, the two of them just savoring one another, twining around each other. His hands moved up her back, but when one of his thumbs caressed the underside of her breast, she pulled away in surprise. He followed her lips, his smile something she felt more than saw. There was no way she could lift her lashes more than the tiny bit she already had. Sensuality had already turned every inch of her languid.

  “We should…go…” She couldn’t think with his thumb stroking over her nipple that way. It was both exciting and not exciting enough. She wanted more. His hands on her skin. His mouth.

  “Bedroom,” he murmured with a small nod.

  “Uh-huh.” And yet, she couldn’t move. If she moved, this spell might break. Her dream might end.

  “Amanda,” he whispered against her lips.

  “Hmm?” She licked his in response.

  “Baby, if I don’t get you somewhere else, I’m going to take you right here.”

  “On the table?” It was sturdy, but she didn’t think it could handle their weight. Especially not with their plates still on it…

  Cole shook his head. “Against the wall.”

  Her eyes opened at that. She’d read about wall sex. A lot. “Can we?”

  He leaned away to peer at her through slitted eyes. He turned to the wall behind him, then back to her. For a second, she thought he really considered it, but finally he shook his head. “Maybe later.”

  Taking her mouth, he shuffled her backward, kissing and steering her this way and that until she had no idea where she was, nor did she care.

  “I want to lay you down,” he said softly, his hands easing over her shoulders and sliding the little sweater off them. “I want you spread out, so I can lick every single inch of you.”

  Oh God… “Promise?”

  He stopped moving. Their eyes met, his so rich and dark that she wondered if he’d mesmerized her with them. Or maybe it was that purely masculine smile. “Oh, yeah. I promise. Twice, even.”

  “The promising or the licking?” Even quivering with need, she couldn’t stop herself from teasing him. That smile invited it, so playful and hungry. And oh, she was so hungry too…

  “Both.” He guided her backward until the backs of her thighs found the edge of her bed. Then farther, as he leaned over her for another kiss, not stopping until her back had settled into the softness of her own duvet. “Definitely both.”

  His knee dipped into the bed between her own, urging her to scoot up the bed, him following her until they could both stretch out, his body half over hers, their mouths fused, hands wandering.

  Her hands found their way under his shirt, and she reveled at the sleekness of his skin, the rippling firmness of his belly. His body was so warm, the crisp hairs under his navel tickling as she followed them to his waistband, then back up over his chest. His textures were so different from hers, and she wanted to feel every one.

  He levered up to a sitting position, seemingly reading her mind as he pulled his shirt up and over his head. Smooth skin, lightly tanned, filled her vision. Her mouth watered. Where to start?

  “You’re looking at me like I’m candy,” he rumbled. Was that shyness she heard? Hard to imagine, but it was possible. He was baring himself to her the same as she was to him. Changing the rules irrevocably.

  “You are,” she whispered, deciding on her spot. She crawled up onto her knees, pressing her face into the crook of his neck. A taste was all she wanted. A lick of him while she breathed in his scent. His arms came around her, welcoming her, his hands molding her.

  He let her take her little sucking kisses, the kind she’d already learned made him growl, but this time his hands didn’t lock on her hips to keep her from undulating. No, this time, his fingers hooked onto the strap of her tank top, pulling it and the white elastic strap of her bra off her shoulder and replacing them with his mouth. Hot moisture against her skin had her gasping and squeezing her thighs together.

  She arched backward, her senses reeling when his hands each cupped a breast, plumping the tops over her round collar. Then, oh God, he licked a wet trail over the swells he’d made. Her nipples hardened, aching until they stung, craving his mouth to come to them as well.

  She clung to him, arching farther, willing him to keep pushing the shirt and bra out of his way, but he continued feasting on her flesh as if they had all the time in the world. She bit back what she suspected was a sob of some kind. He didn’t know, he couldn’t know, how badly she wanted him to lick at them, suck on them. If he did, he’d be there already.

  “Wait, wait, wait,” she snapped, unable to take it anymore.

  Cole let her go, his cheeks flushed, but he stopped as if she’d suddenly caught fire and started backing up.

  Amanda grabbed his waistband and grinned at his swiftly indrawn breath. “I said wait, not stop.”

  Before he got any other dumb ideas, she whipped her top over her head. Rather than deal with this twice—he might get it in his head to take off before she caught him next time—she unhooked the back of her bra too, shrugging out of it and throwing it…somewhere.

  Cole sat back, looking pole-axed long enough that the nerves she’d thought burned away came back full force. He just stared. Mouth slightly hanging, like a man gone completely slack. She started to cross her arms over her nudity, but he caught her arms to her sides, shaking his head. “Don’t.”

  “But—”

  “Just don’t. I want to see you.” He looked her in the eye then, his desire so stark on his face that she almost couldn’t breathe. His hands came up, just the fingertips touching her skin, his thumbs circling the pale peach tips on each breast. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Amanda. You have no idea.”

  She didn’t, but she was glad he did. She relaxed, though she still shook. Which was strange, because she wasn’t cold. Her body had a heat to it she’d never experienced before. But still, she shivered. Especially when his palms grazed the sensitive points, making it almost impossible to breathe. To stay up, even though she wanted more than anything for him to really touch her.

  “I want to suck you.” The rawness of his voice made her stomach clench. Made her more aware of the moisture starting to flow between her thighs.

  “I want that too,” she admitted, trying not to pant. Espec
ially when her mind wandered and her clit throbbed, putting in its vote. “Everywhere.”

  Was that a growl coming from him? “We need to get you out of that skirt.”

  She glanced down, realizing he was right. “Leave the panties on or off?”

  “Off. Now.” Oh yeah, definitely a growl.

  “What about your pants?”

  His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything. Just clenched his jaw and then started undoing the button on the fly.

  Wow, if she’d known all it would take to get him out of his pants was to take hers off first, she’d have done it years ago!

  Her back settled on the comforter, the simple cotton somehow silkier, more sensual than ever before on her bare skin. She undid her own button and zipper, then put her hands on each side of her hips and began pushing the skirt off. Hooking the waist of her panties with her thumbs, it only took a small shimmy or two to shuck them both to her knees. Cole abandoned his open pants to help her pull the useless clothes free.

  Finally, nothing blocked the way between her and the heat of his gaze. The devastating need on his face.

  “You don’t know how long I’ve dreamed of seeing you like this.” His palms settled on her calves, warmth seeping into her as he leaned over her.

  Was it as long as she’d dreamed of seeing him the same way?

  Probably not, but she wasn’t thinking about that right now. Nothing was going to ruin the fact that Cole was finally here, in the flesh, with her. Nothing could.

  Candlelight flickered over his skin, loving every contour of the muscles of his shoulders, chest and abdomen. She wanted to reach up and stroke him. Run her fingers over his arms, savoring the skin-to-skin contact. She just wanted, so badly, to have all of it at the same time and drown herself in him. To feel him drowning in her.

  If the look on his face meant anything, he just might.

  His gaze devoured her, the heat of it taking away the urge to chatter her teeth. His jaws clenched, which for some reason was just damn sexy. Then, finally, his hands moved. Up her legs, stroking the sides of her thighs, to her hips and higher, as he settled on his stomach next to her, taking only the briefest second to toy with the belly gem he always seemed so enamored with. His fingers smoothly slid over the canvas of her ribs before pulling her flush against his chest and taking her mouth again.

  She moaned at the feel of their bodies finally coming together skin to skin, but so did he, so she didn’t feel silly about it. In fact, she didn’t feel anything but the hum in her body and the restrained power of his. When his mouth left hers, she was gasping, arching as he made his way down to her breasts.

  His lips feathered over her skin until his breath teased her left nipple. She watched, fascinated, as he considered how to approach his first lick. She couldn’t figure out exactly what made it so difficult for him, but finally, he met her gaze, and took the turgid tip into his mouth. Sensation flew from her breast to all the nerve endings on her body, lighting her up like a Christmas tree. And when he began to suck, drawing on her hard before flicking the tip with his tongue, she may have accidentally shrieked.

  How exactly does a man smile like that with a nipple in his mouth and still look so sexy?

  She didn’t keep her eyes open to find out because he switched to the other breast and somehow, that one was even more sensitive than the first. Her hands were fisting in his hair before she knew it, and his throaty laughter was making her crazy.

  Finally getting him to give up his prize, she scowled at him. “You haven’t kept your end of the deal, Engstrom.”

  “I’m getting there.” He bent his head to nibble at her forearm, and she let go of his hair. But he didn’t get up, instead taking those wet kisses of his and working his way down her belly, slowly rubbing the muscles of her thighs into opening for him. She rolled onto her back, wondering where the oxygen in the room had gone, not at all prepared when his palms lifted one of her legs at a time and fit them over his shoulders.

  She stared down, dazed, to find Cole studying her folds much the way he’d been looking at her breast.

  “You might want to grab a pillow,” he warned, licking his lips.

  “What? Why?” Her voice was so breathy. Why wasn’t he breathy?

  “Because I have a feeling this is about to get loud.” He lowered his face—still smiling, the jerk!—and she screamed.

  He licked through her folds—nothing gentle or fluttery like she’d read about, either. Oh, hell no. Not Cole. He licked at her with wide, firm strokes that caressed her clit, teasing it to hard attention. Then he rubbed it between his lips, laving attention on it until she was a single electric nerve that danced to his tune. His fingers joined the act, caressing, parting her, dipping inside.

  She did grab the pillow then, pulling it over her face, unable to completely stifle the cries he kept plucking out of her. One finger, then two, stroking inside her in a way no toy from the shop had ever been able to do.

  Her entire body shook, coiling tight toward a pleasure she just couldn’t reach. She lifted her hips for him, rocking against his mouth, his fingers, the fast thrusts getting her so close and yet nowhere near completion at the same time.

  “Please, Cole, please…” Could he even hear her from under the pillow? He must have, because he centered his attention on her clit, sucking it with fast, drawing pulses of his tongue and his fingers curled within her. Suddenly, sensation broke over her. Her body bowed, and her scream couldn’t be held back, no matter how she tried. She shuddered, her entire body quaking as wave after wave of exquisite pleasure washed through her. All the way through, he rode them with her, soothing her even as he drank her down.

  Finally, her body sank back to the bed, boneless, her mind just barely able to process the slow kisses he trailed up her open thigh. Soothing, gentling kisses. When those stopped, his hands continued to caress her legs, her belly, twirling the gem there a few more times.

  When the pillow lifted, he was lying full length next to her again, and the smile in his eyes was beyond teasing. Beyond pleased. But not quite satisfied. She could still see the hunger, the strain at the corners of his mouth.

  “Promise kept,” he said softly, smoothing her hair from her face before bringing their lips together for a slow, deep kiss. She tasted herself, mixed with him, and the carnality of that threatened to spark the upward climb of her senses again.

  “Actually,” she replied, breathing him in, savoring the intimacy, “when I mentioned your end of the deal, I was talking about your pants.”

  They both looked down to the denim still hanging desperately onto his hips. The zipper had parted, revealing the dark hair she wanted so badly to touch. To feel against the same place his mouth had just been.

  Just like that, her hunger doubled on itself. She reached for him, curling her body toward him, her hand sinking into the black silk of the hair at his nape and taking his mouth for her own.

  “Now, Cole,” she demanded. “I can’t wait anymore.”

  “You don’t have to.” The urgency had hit him too, she knew it. Could feel it in the way he rose up, pulling her with him before grabbing her pillows and shoving them up behind her.

  Amanda sank into the pile against her headboard, torn between closing her eyes and watching him shove his jeans from his body as if getting them off was all that kept him from heaven itself.

  “Where are those condoms of yours?”

  She looked to the nightstand drawer, where she’d dumped them all like it was a giant candy dish. Before she could lean over to get to it, he was already there, stretched across the bed and pulling open the drawer.

  “Holy shit, that’s a lot of condoms.”

  She covered her laugh with her hand when he just stared at the treasure trove of golden packets. Filled to the brim, the little drawer almost couldn’t open without spilling them. It was kind of awe-inspiring actually. A drawer full of anticipation.

  Though it might look like desperation to anyone else.

  “What
do you think?” she asked, starting to worry when he couldn’t seem to move.

  He smiled and winked at her. “I love you so much right now.”

  She laughed—with the crazy rightness of this moment she couldn’t do anything else. This was the same Cole she’d always known. Boyish grin, intensely masculine face, rakish fall of ebony hair over his eyes, and her heart ached so much in that second, she thought it might actually stop.

  I love you too.

  But she couldn’t say it. Couldn’t ruin this time, so she said the next best thing. “Get over here, dumbass.”

  She’d barely had the words out before he was there again, their mouths mating through fading laughter, their arms around each other. As eagerly as they kissed, she could still feel his smile against her lips. Could he feel hers? Did he have any idea how happy he made her? Would he ever know how much he’d given her, how much he meant to her?

  The questions faded from her mind, all of them sizzling away. She gave herself completely to the experience of making love to the man she loved.

  He fit the sheath over himself then moved into the cradle of her open thighs. She lay back into the pillows, her hands lightly holding her own knees apart for him, watching intently as he slid the thick head of his cock back and forth between the lips of her sex.

  “Tell me if I do anything you don’t like,” he said tightly, stroking his shaft as he stroked her.

  “I’ll like anything we do, as long as you don’t stop.” She wanted to let her head fall back and close her eyes in bliss, but she didn’t want to miss a second of what he was doing to her. With her.

  He pushed slowly inside, gliding deeper and deeper. Carefully. Giving her time to adjust to the sensual invasion. Or maybe simply enjoying the clasp of her body as she took him in inch by inch. Maybe both, she decided, because he was watching them join just as intently as she was. Breath held, just like her.

  Finally, he was completely within her.

  Wholly a part of her.

  He laid his forehead against hers, their shuddering breaths melding. “Amanda?”

  “Yes?” Less a word, more a sound they both pretended to understand.