“Oh, my…” It was the best she could manage. And even at that, the two little words were a triumph. Her body still rippled and shuddered, and his hand, warm at her center, kept her grounded yet ready for the next trip into wonder.
“Damn,” Ron muttered thickly, steering the car adroitly through another sharp curve, “tell me why I brought you to a restaurant so far from my place.”
Lily laughed and felt it bubble from her throat like fine champagne. Turning her head on the seat back to watch him, she said, “Because it gives us so much more time to practice?”
He shot her a quick look, and the raw hunger in his gaze reached out and caught her in a trap more binding than the seat belt still notched tightly across her body. Breath labored, he nodded sharply and said, “A lot to be said for a good practice session.”
“My thoughts exactly,” she said on a sigh of completion.
“Glad you feel that way.”
“What’s not to like?” She hadn’t been this relaxed, this…unwound in months.
“You know what they say, though,” he said, his voice still rough with desire.
“What?”
“Practice makes perfect.”
“Sure, but—” She broke off as his thumb stroked her again. “Ron…”
“Lily,” he said, scraping the pad of his thumb across a single sensitive spot, “shut up.”
She hissed in a short breath and held it. “Right.”
It was a long ride back to Ron’s house.
Three and a half climaxes to be exact.
By the time he pulled the car into the driveway at his condo, Ron’s body was on full alert, and he could hardly draw breath. It was a miracle they hadn’t been killed on the highway.
But once he’d started touching her, he couldn’t have stopped if his life had depended on it. Her responses, her sighs, the way her body contracted around his fingers when she climaxed only made him want more. Stolen glances in the soft light of the dashboard had only fed the fires consuming him. He watched his hand on her. Saw her body open for him and wanted more than anything else in his life to push his body into hers. To claim what he’d been dreaming about, thinking about, for months.
He had to have her.
Naked and under him.
Over him.
Surrounding him.
And he had to have her now.
He hit the garage button, pulled the car inside, threw it into gear and shut the engine off. As the automatic garage door hummed into life, shutting them in, she was already undoing her seat belt. He dealt with his quickly, then half turned in the seat, reached for her and pulled her onto his lap.
He couldn’t wait. Not another minute. Not another second. He had to taste her.
His mouth came down on hers and she parted her lips for him in a sweet rush of hunger that clawed at him. Their tongues twisted, mated, plunging in and out of each other’s mouths, tasting, exploring, driving the need between them to even higher peaks.
He tugged at her blouse, pulling it free of the waistband of her skirt, and in seconds his right hand swept beneath the hem of the silky material. He cupped her breast and even through the lacy fabric of her bra, he fingered her nipple and relished her soft groan.
More.
He tore his mouth from hers and stared down at her through half-crazed eyes. “Lily, I need you, bad.”
Breathing hard, the pulse at the base of her throat pounding, she reached up, caught his face between her palms and pulled his head down for another long, hard kiss. When she released him again, she only said, “Now.”
Nodding, he muttered, “Come on, then.”
He pushed the car door open, then climbed out, still holding on to her. When he set her on her feet, she wobbled unsteadily, then grabbed him to maintain her balance. “Legs are a little rubbery.” She threw her hair out of her eyes and gave him a wicked grin. “Your fault.”
He grinned back. “My fault, so I’ll fix it.”
Bending down, he swept her up into his arms and headed for the connecting door to the kitchen.
“Wow.” She laughed aloud and kicked her legs like an old movie star. “No one’s ever carried me before.”
“Good to know I’m the first,” he said, opening the door and stalking through. A man on a mission, he never slowed down. He went through the kitchen, down the hallway and then up the stairs to the bedroom. Need tore at him. Hunger reared up and chewed on him. Every cell in his body was screaming for the release he could only find in her arms.
In her body.
Lily opened the buttons on his shirt and skimmed one hand across his chest.
Ron sucked in a gulp of air and swallowed it, half afraid it might be the last easy one he’d be able to take.
He kicked the partially opened bedroom door and sent it crashing into the wall. He didn’t care. Hell, he didn’t care if a tornado touched down—as long as he first had the chance to bury himself in Lily’s warmth.
Striding to the bed, he kept a tight grip on her and bent down to grab the comforter. Tossing it to the foot of the bed, he then dropped Lily onto the mattress and smiled tightly when she laughed and bounced.
“Practice is over,” he said, reaching for the top drawer on the bedside table.
“Then let’s get going,” she answered. Sitting up, she pulled her blouse up and over her head, then fingered the front clasp of her bra. Her breasts spilled free, and Ron’s mouth watered at the sight of her.
She sat caught in the silvery moonlight and looked like some wild nature nymph. Her black skirt pooled around her, and as she shimmied out of it, he lost what was left of that breath he’d been saving.
His heart jumped as she toed off her sandals, then leaned back on her hands, watching him. Not a shred of modesty about her, thank heaven. And she didn’t have a thing to be modest about. Her body was just as a woman’s should be. Full and lush and curvy. The kind of body most men dreamed about touching.
And for tonight she was all his.
With that thought in mind, he tore off his own clothes, grabbed a handful of foil packets and tossed them onto the bed.
Lily glanced at them, then turned that wicked smile of hers back on him. “I love a confident man.”
Chapter Ten
The word love seemed to hover in the air like an unwanted bee at a picnic.
Ron’s chest constricted and he fought for breath. No one had said anything about love. And he didn’t want this to be about love. This was raw, pulsating hunger. Need driving two consenting adults into an affair that would be mutually satisfying.
This wasn’t about love.
Seconds ticked past, and he simply stood there, staring down at the woman who had been driving him insane for months. She waited, warm, lush, naked, and as he looked at her, he saw anxiety and hesitation blossom in her eyes. The one thing he didn’t want.
“You all right?” she asked.
“Why don’t I show you?” he answered, and joined her on the bed.
Shadows still clouded her dark-brown eyes as she hitched a breath and met his gaze. “Ron—”
“No.” He cupped her face with his palm and shook his head. “No worrying tonight. No thinking tonight.”
She laughed a little. “It’s not an easy thing to shut my brain down.”
Ron smiled and leaned into her. “Watch me.”
He kissed her. Long and deep and warm, he took her mouth and gave her everything inside him that had been waiting for just this opportunity. His mouth claimed hers, his tongue demanded entry, and when she surrendered, he stroked her heat with hungry caresses that had her sighing into him.
He slid his hand from her face, down her throat and across her chest to touch first one breast, then the other. She moaned from the back of her throat and arched into him, half lifting from the mattress to press herself against him. His thumb and forefinger tweaked her nipples, inflaming them both with the teasing touch.
Breaking the kiss, Ron lifted his head and looked at her through eyes glazed
with a passion that was singeing him. “Gorgeous,” he muttered thickly, pleased that he’d been able to get that one word past the knot of need pulsing in his throat.
She laughed, a soft, low chuckle that rippled through the air and settled over him like a gift. “Gorgeous? Now there speaks an eager man.”
He smiled and let his hand sweep along her body. “Trust me on this. I said gorgeous. I mean gorgeous.”
Something in her eyes flickered, and she reached up for him, scraping her palms across his chest. He sucked in air through clenched teeth.
“You know something?” she said, lifting her gaze to meet his. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
He grinned at her, feeling everything inside him spark to life. Then he lowered his head to kiss her once more, briefly, passionately, before shifting, letting his lips trail along her jaw, down her throat. He wanted to taste all of her, to mark her body with his mouth as if branding her.
Tonight she was all.
Tonight the world existed in a pair of warm brown eyes and welcoming arms.
Tonight he finally had Lily exactly where he’d wanted her for so long.
“Ron…” His name drifted from her lips as she writhed beneath him, caught, trapped by his ministrations.
“Let me have you, Lily,” he said, his breath dusting across her flesh just before his lips and tongue found first one nipple, then the other.
“You had me,” she whispered brokenly. “On the ride over here, remember?”
“More,” he murmured, drawing her nipple into his mouth and suckling her with exquisitely torturous moves.
“Yes,” she answered. “More.”
He smiled against her breast and took her higher, sucking, drawing, pulling at her flesh until she twisted against him, moaning. He ran the edges of his teeth across the tip of her rigid nipple and drew a hiss of appreciation from her.
While he tasted her, indulging his need, his hand swept along her body, caressing her rib cage, her abdomen and then lower. Once more he touched her heat, the center of her need and the answer to his.
She opened for him, her legs falling wide, inviting a deeper caress, and he smiled again, despite the hunger now clawing at the base of his throat and echoing throughout his soul.
He dipped one finger into her depths, and she lifted her hips, rocking against his hand. His body tightened until he could hardly breathe. She ran one hand down his back, and he felt every one of her fingertips like a tiny match, skimming fire along his skin.
He cupped her, his hand covering her heat, his thumb stroking the sensitive bud that held the secrets to her climax. She practically jumped straight up at that small contact, and Ron lifted his head to look down at her.
“Not again,” she whispered, licking her lips and shaking her head against the mattress.
“No?”
“No.” She looked up at him and her eyes looked hazy, soft and unfocused. “You already gave me three with nothing for you.”
One eyebrow lifted as he grinned at her. “Three and a half.”
“But who’s counting?”
“Me.” Just remembering her passionate cries as he touched her on the ride here fueled the fires inside him until he could hardly breathe. “We didn’t finish that last one—”
“Ron—”
“So I owe you the other half at least,” he said, continuing his gentle assault with his fingertips.
“But…I…want…you…inside…me.” Every word stood alone. Every word she managed to speak was a triumph of will.
“Soon,” he promised, hoping he could hold out against his own need long enough to drive her over the edge again. Selfishly, he wanted to watch her eyes as she went over. He wanted to feel her body tremble. He wanted to be the man who could make her shatter.
He shifted, moving along her body, trailing lips and hands, feeling her move and twist beneath him. He kissed every inch of her, luxuriating in the smooth, warm feel of her flesh beneath his lips. So lush, so full, not a sharp angle on her, he thought wildly, fiercely. She was a woman built for loving. Built for joining with a man and making him insane with hunger for her.
He kissed her belly, swirling his tongue into and out of her navel, just to hear her gasp. He smiled against her flesh, then kept going, lower, lower, until he knelt between her legs. Scooping his hands under her bottom, he lifted her from the mattress and held her, pinned like a butterfly to a board.
Meeting her gaze, he watched her eyes widen, then darken in anticipation.
“Ron, you don’t—”
“Lily,” he said, already bending his head toward her center, “you’re talking again.”
“Right.”
She shut up fast and bit down hard on her bottom lip as his mouth claimed her. Lily tried to close her eyes and concentrate on the sensations pouring through her. But she couldn’t help herself. She had to watch. Had to watch him take her in the most intimate fashion imaginable.
His tongue caressed her. He licked and stroked with exquisite care, pushing her higher and higher toward the peak she’d already reached so many times tonight. Lily’s mind raced, her heart stuttered, her pulse pounded. She grabbed fistfuls of the sheet beneath her and held on as if afraid she might slide off the edge of the earth. But she was safe in Ron’s strong hands. And tortured by his mouth.
She rode the wave cresting inside her and forgot about everything else except what was happening to her. Concentrating, focusing on the feelings mounting within, she kept her eyes open and watched him take her to the edge of the moon and then over. Lily screamed his name as she took the plunge and lay quivering in his grasp.
Before the last of her inner contractions were over, Ron eased her down onto the mattress, then grabbed up a condom and sheathed himself. Desire was a living, breathing thing inside him now. He needed Lily more than his next breath. Needed to be a part of her. To be buried so deeply inside her that he couldn’t find his way out again. Needed to feel her close around him and hold him to her.
“Now,” she whispered, reaching for him.
“Oh, yeah. Now.”
In the moonlight spearing across the wide bed, she looked impossibly beautiful and completely irresistible. Her scent, a faint blend of flowers, reached for him, invading his senses, capturing him—mind, soul, heart.
He moved into her embrace and felt her hold him, her arms wrapping around him tightly, pressing him to her as he pushed his body into hers. She lifted her legs, winding them around his hips and then moved with him, sliding instinctively into the ancient rhythm that bound all lovers into the same dance.
Together, they fed the flames consuming them. Lips met, tongues caressed, breath mingled and heartbeats raced in tandem. The healthy, wonderful sound of bodies meeting in the otherwise still room pushed them faster, harder toward completion.
Ron moved within her and felt a connection he hadn’t known in far too long. Her body cradled his. Her soul met his. This felt…so right. So…good. Lily had somehow become more than need. She was now…necessary. And even as that thought darted quickly through his mind, he pushed it aside, forcing himself to concentrate only on the rocketing pleasure climbing within.
She reached around and cupped his cheek with her hand. He pulled her hand free, linked his fingers with hers. Joined together they found that peak and, together, fell over the edge.
Hours later Lily felt as though she’d been wrung dry of every emotion and sensation her body was capable of feeling.
She turned her head on the pillow and looked down toward the foot of the bed, where Ron lay sprawled, breath huffing from his chest. They’d worked their way around the king-size mattress as if it was a racetrack. Once, she’d even fallen off the end of the bed to land on the thick, plush, beige carpet. But that hadn’t slowed either of them down for long. Ron had simply joined her on the floor and hadn’t missed a step in taking her to staggering new heights.
“Wow,” she whispered and winced slightly. Her throat was dry, her mouth felt like cotton. If she thought
she could stand up, she’d wander downstairs, find the kitchen and get something to drink.
But that wasn’t going to happen.
She could hardly lift her eyelids.
“I was thinking the same thing,” he muttered from the foot of the bed.
Lily smiled and felt as though it had cost her a great effort. “Your self-confidence was well placed.” She swept one hand out lazily and encountered a pile of torn condom wrappers.
“I aim to please.”
“Oh, I think it’s safe to say you pulled that off.”
“Same goes,” he said, lifting one hand in salute before letting it drop to the mattress again.
Laughing to herself, Lily gathered her pitiful reserves of energy and pushed herself into a sitting position. Every muscle ached. Every cell in her body felt charged up and electrified. Her blood rushed expectantly through her veins, and deep in the core of her, sensitive skin awaited the next bout of delight.
Apparently, she was just as indefatigable as Ron. Which surprised the hell out of her. She’d never been that big a fan of sex. She’d always assumed she just didn’t have much of a sex drive. After all, she’d managed to go very long stretches without being the least bit tempted.
But Ron was different.
He touched her, and she went up in flames.
He looked at her, and her body went liquid and welcoming.
He stopped touching her, and she wanted to scream in frustration.
Lily pushed one hand through her hair and wasn’t surprised to find her fingers trembling. Heaven help her, she wanted him again.
“You’ll have to give me a few minutes,” he muttered.
“What?”
He sat up, too, and they were facing each other on the rumpled sheets. Reaching out one hand to her, he trailed his fingertips along her arm, then let them drift across her body to caress the tops of her breasts.
Lily sucked in a breath and shivered.
He smiled. “I said, if you keep looking at me like that, I’m gonna need a few minutes. Not as young as I used to be.”
Forever…Again Page 11
