“Don't be afraid of me, sweetheart,” he said. “Close your eyes and relax. Feel what I'm doing to you. Feel it all the way to your bones."
Claire could already feel it. She was enjoying what Garrett was doing so much she feared that she'd turned into a brazen hussy. When his tongue began to circle one of her nipples, she arched her back, wanting more of the deliciously sinful caress. Garrett obliged her. His mouth was hot and wet and when he closed his lips around the nipple and began suckling, Claire groaned a deep, soft female sound.
Garrett continued stroking her, adoring each curve and valley of her body. He could feel his desire boiling in his veins, scalding him on the inside, and he marveled at the depth of emotion this woman could make him feel. He was quickly learning that there was more to making love to Claire than joining their bodies. Entrusted with the gift of her virginity, Garrett wanted to make her sacrifice something she would treasure, not regret. He fought the burning desire that was testing his control. He wanted the lovely, naked woman lying in his arms to feel as much pleasure as he could give her. He'd always been a generous lover, but tonight he wanted that generosity to go beyond the limits of his past experience.
Claire was too caught up in the throes of newly discovered passion to realize that Garrett was slowly, but surely, stripping away the remainder of his clothes. His shoes made a muffled sound as they hit the carpet, but his wet tongue was drawing tiny circles around her navel and the sensation numbed Claire's ears as well as her ability to do more than lie there on the bed and let Garrett make a feast of her.
Raising his hips, Garrett slid his trousers down and inched them off his legs, until he was as naked as Claire. He pressed a kiss to her quivering body and rested his cheek, slightly rough with a day's growth of beard, against her soft breasts.
Claire cupped her hands around his head and held him close to her heart. She knew she should be ashamed of what she was doing, but it felt too right, too wonderful for her conscience to condemn her. Tomorrow, or the day after, depending upon the strength of her ankle, she would go to Chinatown and find her brother. But tonight, she wanted the dreams that had fueled her heart for the last two months to become a reality. She wanted this special moment. She needed to love Garrett as much with her body as she did with her heart.
Garrett stretched out beside her, letting Claire feel the intimacy of his naked body. He held his breath as hers gushed out in a short gasp of surprise. He kissed her, a slow thorough kiss that stole her fears. His lips played and teased, while his hands caressed her. When he mumbled something low and earthy into her ear, Claire blushed, but her hands didn't stop exploring. She tested the resiliency of his muscles and the warm texture of his naked back. Mouth to mouth, skin to skin, they lay beside each other, learning things about each other they'd only imagined up to now.
Finally, unable to take the sweet torment of Claire's untutored touch a moment longer, Garrett pulled her to him and rolled her over onto her back. He raised his head and stared down at her, their bare legs entwined, his naked chest pressing lightly against her bare breasts.
“Trust me,” he said as he inched down her body, kissing and licking his way through the natural valley of her breasts. He kissed the soft, pliable skin of her lower belly as his hand brushed through the curly nest of honey brown curls lying at the junction of her legs.
His hands swept slowly up and down her legs, easing the muscles she'd tensed out of female fear and embarrassment. His touch ignited another fire in Claire and she arched up against him, wanting instinctively what he had to give.
The innate sensual movement made Garrett grit his teeth. He wanted to plunge his body into hers, to join them so intricately, so beautifully that it would bring tears to Claire's eyes, but he was afraid that he might hurt her.
“Easy, sweetheart,” he whispered reassuringly. “Let me love you awhile first."
Garrett moved his hands under her, cupping the soft globes of her bottom and lifting her against him. Holding her gently, he pushed his hips against her, letting her feel the hard proof of how much he wanted her. Claire's eyes popped open.
“Don't be frightened,” Garrett told her. “We were made to fit together. Spread your legs a little, sweetheart, let me rest against you."
Claire wasn't as confident as Garrett that her body could oblige his, but she shifted her legs, opening them until he was cradled between her pale thighs. Claire looked up at him with a cautious gaze.
Garrett smiled. “Do you know how good you feel?” he asked before he bent his head and licked at her nipples again. “Perfect,” he said. “So damn perfect, I'm not sure I can last much longer. But I will, I want you to enjoy this as much as I am."
“I do,” she replied in a soft whisper that cooled the hot skin at the base of his throat.
“Not enough. Not yet,” he said, knowing that her body would resist him at first.
Garrett allowed her to become accustomed to the new sensation of their naked bodies touching while he kissed her. It was a deep, unrestrained kiss, and when she arched against him again, Garrett let his hand find the sweet, warm center of her being. His fingers combed through the soft nest of curls to find the warm, honeyed core of her womanhood.
Claire flinched at the unexpected caress but she didn't fight it. Garrett's fingers were doing wonderful, shameful things to her, and she didn't want the feeling to end. When he entered her, his finger gliding smoothly into her feminine channel, she couldn't stop her moan of surprise and delight.
Garrett stroked her on the inside, testing her readiness to take him and the natural resistance of her untouched body. He was relieved to find that her virgin barrier was as fragile as the control he was maintaining over his raging desire.
When Claire was making soft pleading sounds, Garrett eased his fingers out of her snug silky center and raised up on his knees. His hands moved from her dainty ankles up her legs, slowing easing them wider apart, then he bent his head and kissed the inside of one thigh.
“Oh, my goodness,” Claire said. She'd never imagined a man kissing a woman all over.
Years of practice proved invaluable as Garrett slowly calmed her again. While his teeth nibbled and teased, his fingers found the sensitive nub protected by a nest of tight curls. He touched her then, making her jerk in reaction, then moan out loud as her nails dug into the skin of his shoulders.
When his mouth joined his fingers, Claire almost shot off the bed like the fireworks she'd missed on the Fourth of July. His stroking fingers became bolder and his mouth moved with determination, bringing Claire closer and closer to the mysterious, unknown edge of something wonderful. She pressed up against him, giving herself, offering all that he wanted, unable to hold anything back.
Never in Garrett's wildest dreams had he imagined a woman feeling so wonderful, wanting with such honesty and daring. The incredible joy of giving Claire pleasure welled up inside him and Garrett moved his hand more insistently. His tongue dipped and curled around the bud of Claire's desire until he felt her stiffen, then begin to tremble like a rose petal shaken by a summer breeze.
“Garrett,” his name was a question and a plea combined.
“Trust me,” Garrett said, lifting his mouth away for a brief moment. “Trust me and let go, sweetheart. I'll keep you safe."
Claire let her body relax and felt the flames of desire burn out of control. She forgot that Garrett was stroking and kissing flesh that no one had touched before. She forgot his grandmother sleeping down the hall and her brother somewhere in the inner city. She was lost to everything but the hot, burning need that raked her body, then found its completion in the glide of Garrett's fingers and the quick, hard pressure of his mouth as he pushed her over the edge into an abyss of swirling, shivering sensations that made the world turn upside down.
“Hold on to me,” Garrett said, ending the kiss. “Bite me if the pain's too bad, but don't cry out."
Claire buried her face in the hot curve of his neck and held on. Her body was still vibrating with
the wonders of what Garrett had done so far and she couldn't imagine him hurting her. His entry was smooth and firm and she flinched as a prick of pain started then turned into a stretching, throbbing sensation. She could feel Garrett inside her, pushing gently but surely until their bodies seemed to be one.
It's so beautiful, Claire thought. I love you, she ached to say. I love you and I have to believe that you love me. At least for this one special night.
“God, you feel good,” Garrett said in a muffled moan as he rested his forehead against hers. “You're like hot silk and warm honey."
He held himself still, giving Claire time to adjust to the sensation of sharing her body with a man. He kissed her and soothed her with words she didn't understand, but she clung to the words the same way she found herself clinging to the man as Garrett began to move. His hard, hot body stroked her slowly, pulling out, then gently returning until she was arching up to meet the sensual movements and pleasure began to boil inside her once again.
Claire wrapped her legs around him to keep him close. Garrett continued moving. Long, slow sensual strokes that aroused and tormented and promised. They moved and moaned and clung to each other in a sensual dance as old as time. The bed creaked and the night air cooled their feverish skin, and they kept on moving. Each needing something from the other, each wanting, each loving in their own private way.
Slowly, expertly, Garrett made love to her, giving more of himself than he'd ever given any other woman, wanting more in return than he'd ever expected from previous lovers. He knew that having Claire was different, so different that his fears of caring for her vanished as he rode her harder and deeper, moving his body in and out of hers in hard, urgent strokes that tested his endurance. He felt as if his body belonged to Claire, not him. He moved to please her, to torment her, to push her over the edge again.
Claire moved with him, unable to control the need that had instinctively invaded her mind and body. Her pelvis arched and her arms clung to his neck, while she absorbed the buffering, sensual attack. She could feel every male inch of him, lying on top of her, probing inside her, surrounding her as completely as the darkness of the night and the tangled bedcovers that absorbed the sweat of their bodies.
“Don't fight it, sweetheart,” Garrett groaned as he felt the sensual tightening of her body and knew she was close to climaxing. “Let go and give yourself to me."
Claire didn't think she could belong to him more than she already did, but she was wrong. Garrett changed his pace, driving deeper inside her as her legs locked around his lean hips. He pumped into her, his body tight with the effort of holding his own release back until she gained hers again. When she buried her face against his damp chest and bit him, Garrett could barely control his reaction. Every muscle in his body flexed and he surged deep, letting go of the world right along with Claire.
Claire's arms stayed around him and her hands eased up and down his spine, needing to touch him as she came back to her senses. Garrett was heavy, but Claire didn't mind his weight. It felt wonderful and she closed her eyes against the tears that threatened to spill down her face.
It took Garrett a little longer to find his composure. God, he'd never felt his body catch on fire the way it had with Claire. He'd been too consumed by desire to think of protecting her and the darkness hid his smile as he thought of her slender form rounding with his child. A few months ago, the thought of creating a new life would have scared him to death, but not now.
Now, he knew what he hadn't known then. He could fall in love.
Garrett eased off Claire and onto his side, bringing her close and kissing the tip of her nose. He wanted to tell her that he cared for her, but he was afraid she'd rebuke his words, thinking them a sad conclusion to his seduction. Instead of words, Garrett gave her soft, tender kisses that slowly turned her face toward his. He looked into her wide, questioning eyes and smiled. He kissed away the tears gliding down her face. “I want to hold you until you fall asleep. Will you let me?"
Moonlight covered their naked bodies. Claire looked at him, loving the intimacy they had shared, her shyness now a thing of the past. Her heartbeat doubled as her gaze moved over him, learning by sight what she already knew by touch. He was a magnificent man. She'd never imagined that a naked man could be beautiful, but Garrett was. His body was a delight and he'd taught her more about her own body than Claire could ever have imagined.
“I like the feel of you next to me,” she said in a soft whisper.
She rested her head against his chest. Garrett's arms encircled her and she breathed deeply, taking in the scent of the man lying naked beside her. Her hands roamed over his chest, wanting to touch him again, needing to feel his heartbeat drumming deep and strong inside his body.
Garrett stilled her hand with his, then brought it to his mouth. “Go to sleep, sweetheart."
The words didn't come easy. Garrett knew he could take Claire again and again, sating his desire only to have it return until the sun eased over the horizon and he was too tired to leave her bed. But he couldn't. She'd been a virgin and although her transformation into a woman had been easier than most, she was tender and he didn't want to hurt her.
Claire allowed Garrett to hold her, knowing that leaving him would be the hardest thing she'd ever do. But leave him she would. As much as she loved him, and having no regrets over the passion she'd shared with him, Claire couldn't become his mistress. She wanted more than stolen nights and Garrett's body. She wanted his heart. As naïve as she might be about life, Claire knew that passion was a poor substitute for love.
Chapter Fourteen
“Your grandmother is here, sir."
Garrett looked up from his desk. What was his grandmother doing in the city? “Show her in,” he said to the clerk who had worked for him less than a month. He couldn't remember the man's name, Harvey or Harry, or something like that.
The moment Grams walked into his office, Garrett knew that his and Claire's lovemaking hadn't been as quiet as he had hoped. His grandmother was wearing a look that didn't bode well and he knew he was in for a tongue-lashing of the worst degree. Thinking to salvage what he could of a bad situation, Garrett came to his feet. “You shouldn't be out in the heat."
“Don't lecture me about the weather, young man,” Grams replied. “I'm old enough to know when I should and shouldn't do something. It's unfortunate that I can't say the same thing for my grandson."
He pulled out a chair and waited until his grandmother had made herself comfortable. After a long pause, Grams looked up at him. “I assume you know why I'm here."
“I have a fairly good idea,” Garrett said, returning to the leather chair behind his desk.
“Excellent,” she retorted. “Then we can dispense with the formalities and get down to the heart of the matter. I've instructed Henry to wait for me in the carriage. I plan to stop by the printing office on my way home and give Mr. Davidson the information for your wedding invitations. A month from today should give the few guests that are being invited enough time to prepare themselves. The wedding will be a small, private affair followed by a reception at the Landauer Hotel."
He was about to reply that his grandmother was rushing things a bit, then realized that her reply would be to say the same thing of him. Instead, he asked, “Have you spoken with Claire?"
“No,” Grams told him. “I have no intention of embarrassing the girl by letting her know that I'm aware of what happened last night.” His grandmother's pale eyes bored a hole through him. “Of all the foolish things I've seen you do in your life, Garrett, this has got to be the worst. My God, what were you thinking? You don't seduce your own fiancée, young man. Claire is a lady, not a..."
“Claire is still very much a lady,” Garrett interrupted. “What happened last night is entirely my fault."
“Of course, it is,” his grandmother agreed hastily. “And I expect you to do the right thing. I won't have people counting the days between your wedding and the birth of my first great-grandchild. A
nd I won't have Claire's reputation tainted by your lack of self-control."
“And you think that a short engagement and a rushed wedding won't taint her reputation,” Garrett remarked. He'd been thinking about marriage to Claire ever since he'd left her room before dawn, but he didn't like the idea of it being shoved down his throat. But then, there was the possibility that he'd given her a child. That in itself was enough to demand that they marry as soon as possible.
“I think that everyone will believe what I believe,” Grams replied. “You love Claire and you want to marry her."
Garrett didn't dispute his grandmother's opinion. How could he? He did love Claire. And he did want to marry her. The question was did Claire love him? He suspected she did, and her response to him last night had come close to convincing him, but there was still the problem of her brother. Once Claire discovered that he intended to expose any illegal activities Donald Aldrich might be engaged in to the authorities, would she marry him?
“I'll talk to Claire,” Garrett told his grandmother. “Don't send out the invitations until I tell you. I wouldn't want a wedding without a bride."
“That's unlikely,” Grams said. “I've never seen a woman more in love."
Garrett certainly hoped so.
He escorted his grandmother to the waiting carriage. “I may be late this evening. I've spent more time at home than usual and I have matters that require my attention."
“Don't be too late,” his grandmother said. “Claire needs your reassurance now, more than ever."
As the carriage pulled away, Garrett found himself doubting what he'd been certain of last night. Had he seen love in Claire's eyes or had he pursued her because he'd been half crazy with lust and any excuse would do? He was behind his desk again before he called himself a fool. Grams was right. Claire was a lady and a lady didn't give herself easily to a man. In that one mad moment of their mutual climax, Garrett had felt more than he'd ever felt in his entire life. He'd been more aware, more alive, than he'd ever been before. He'd stared into Claire's eyes, eyes that had haunted his dreams and hadn't given him a moment's peace since the day she'd strolled into Christopher's office, and he'd felt the love as surely as he'd felt her passion and her ecstasy. Suddenly, a month seemed like forever.
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