by Lucy Monroe
Despair gripped Alex's insides. He couldn't lose her, not now. Not when he had finally accepted just how much he needed her. Driven by a desperate longing to make Isabel return his kiss, he opened his mouth and ruthlessly pushed against the seam of her lips with his tongue. He had to show her that the passion they shared was real. He needed to know that her desire for him had not vanished after the day's revelations.
Isabel felt the ice that had surrounded her emotions since going to her father's house shatter under the impact of Alex's kiss. Need buffeted her. It was more than a physical reaction to Alex's kisses; it was a gut-level emotional response. And it wasn't just hers. Alex's desire for her came off of him in waves of sensual heat and desperation. Desperation that had finally broken through her apathy. The fear in his eyes, eyes that always held such self-assurance, had been her undoing.
She opened her mouth to his questing and he growled low in his throat in approval. Then he swept inside and she forgot to think. Tongue sliding warmly against tongue, teeth clashing, lips crushed together in relentless craving. No words could describe his taste, the sensation of intimate sharing their kiss elicited. The air became trapped in her chest as she forgot to breathe, only to rush out in one big shuddering whoosh when her lungs could take no more.
But the kiss did not stop, Alex's heat reaching out to warm the places chilled by the visit with her father. She fumbled for a place to set her wineglass and dimly heard a clunk when she missed the table and the glass fell to the floor. Then she locked her fingers onto his shoulders, dragging him as close as she could get him. Her tongue sparred with his as the urgency of the kiss consumed them both.
Frantic to feel his skin, she unbuttoned his shirt and slid her hands inside. Alex's entire body shook at the contact.
"Yes, baby, just like that. Touch me. I need to feel your hands on me." His guttural demands against her lips sent delight zinging along her nerve endings.
He settled his palms under her bottom and she couldn't help squirming into those big hard palms. He groaned and stood. At first, her legs just hung there, her feet not touching the floor as his male arousal rubbed against her lower belly. Then he hitched her higher and she instinctively wrapped her legs around him, locking her ankles behind his back. Her sarong-style skirt opened and the sensation of her bare thighs rubbing against his sides sent blood rushing through her veins.
She felt light-headed and very, very desperate. Alex pressed against her bottom, forcing her femininity against the bulge of his hardness, and she moaned, rocking against him. He carried her out of the room without breaking contact with her mouth. She didn't know where he got the strength to do it. She couldn't have stood on her own two feet right now, much less walked. Each step increased the erotic stimulation of his arousal pressed against her and the fabric of his clothes rubbing against the smooth skin of her thighs.
The sensation of disorientation and shifting told her he was taking her upstairs. She hoped they got wherever they were going soon. She was greedy for him to assuage the ache between her legs. She'd never wanted anything so much in her entire life. The world tilted, and then she was on a bed with Alex propped above her. He'd added his rocking to hers and she felt pressure building, building, building.
She tore her mouth from his. "Alex."
He kissed her neck, under her ear, making a sucking motion, and the pressure in her feminine center grew almost unbearable. She moved her head from side to side on the bed. "Alex, please. Do something. I can't stand it."
Hot breath in her ear sent more shivers down her spine. "I'll do whatever you want, sweetheart."
The promise was every bit as erotic as his hands kneading her backside, but she didn't know how to ask for what she wanted. She only knew if she didn't get it, she was going to die—or go insane. "Please," she whispered.
He stopped kneading her backside and pushed himself up and away from her.
"No, Alex. I need—"
He silenced her protest with a finger against her lips and pulled her into a sitting position. "I want to see you, Isabel. Let me see you." The aching need in his voice so matched her own right then, she could not have denied him anything.
Speech was beyond her, so she kicked off her shoes in answer. He smiled, his brown eyes turning even darker with desire, and she could not stop herself from leaning forward to kiss the sexy dimple in his cheek. Then she just had to taste the skin she had kissed. The saltiness of his skin tantalized her, and she ran her tongue down his jawline. Alex used the time to slip off her bolero jacket, then pulled the amber-colored silk tank top she wore under it out of her skirt. His hands slipped under her top and caressed the heated flesh of her midriff, the touch searing her skin.
She wanted to feel all of her skin pressed against his.
When he took too long to remove her tank top, she did it for him. Tossing it to the side of the bed, she looked at him uncertainly. She wanted her bra off, too. Skin against skin. Her nipples were puckered and pressed against the thin silky cups. She wanted to feel them against his chest, wanted to rub them across the hair that grew in a triangle over the rippling muscles.
Was it possible to actually catch fire from excitement? She didn't know, but she was certainly burning up.
But she didn't know if she could take off her bra and follow through on her brazen desires. Alex had stopped moving and stared at her, his eyes intense, and that intensity paralyzed her. She licked her lips, waiting to see what he would do next.
For a full five seconds the answer was—nothing. Then he slowly reached out and cupped her breasts, as if he thought moving too fast would make them disappear. He squeezed gently, and her erect nipples began to throb for more direct stimulation. He seemed to know just what she needed because his thumbs began rubbing those aching little peaks in tantalizing circles, and still she wanted more.
The unbearably sweet ache between her legs grew stronger.
With one deft movement, he unclasped the front closure on her bra. Slipping her straps off over her shoulders he removed the lingerie slowly, teasing her skin with the feel of the fabric sliding against it. Gooseflesh broke out on her arms as her lips parted and her breath came in shorter and shorter pants.
"You're so damn hot, baby. I'm going to incinerate before we even finish getting you undressed." His sexy growl sent shivers of lascivious longing prickling through her.
And then he was standing up, pulling her with him. When she was on her feet, he undid the tie on her sarong skirt and let the garment fall to the floor. She stood in front of him, naked now except the high-cut French briefs that she'd bought on a whim to match her bra. They were made of the same almost-sheer stretchy material, and she felt his gaze burning through them to the heated center of her feminine core. She wondered at her lack of embarrassment, so unlike that other time.
Alex made her feel things she would never have believed herself capable of experiencing, things that made it impossible for her own nudity to embarrass her.
He didn't speak. He didn't move. He simply looked.
"Alex?"
"You're so beautiful, Isabel. It hurts to look at you."
She didn't doubt his words. She couldn't. He looked like a man in pain. He didn't stop looking at her, although he started removing his own clothes, and she let her eyes feast on him like a dieting woman faced with a buffet table of chocolate desserts. First his shirt went, landing on the floor at his feet. Smooth, slightly tanned skin over taut muscle certainly looked good enough to eat. Then he toed off his shoes and socks, revealing masculine feet, the sight of which turned her temperature up a notch.
Sexy feet? Alex had them.
She watched in fascination as he unzipped his pants and then slid them carefully off. As the bulging muscles of his upper thighs and well-sculpted calves came into view, the breath caught in her throat in appreciation.
He stopped when he got to his briefs, and the obvious bulge in them made her suck in that caught breath. She couldn't help it. She reached out and touched him wi
th one fingertip, allowing it to slide down the length of his penis, so blatantly hard and yet mysterious behind its dark cotton covering.
Making a feral noise, he pulled her into his arms and she got her wish—her breasts pressed against his chest. She moved side to side and felt the roughness of his hair against her nipples. The sensation was so incredible that her knees almost buckled, so she did it again.
Alex's hands were inside her panties in the back pressing her intimately against him. "Isabel, honey, you are unbelievable. You're so damn passionate."
"It feels so good," she tried to explain as she made another side to side movement against his chest.
"You sound surprised. Doesn't it usually feel this good?" His voice echoed with masculine pride.
The words dissipated some of the passionate haze around her. "No, but I don't have a lot of experience," she admitted. Though she doubted that if even if she did, what she was experiencing with Alex could have been duplicated with anyone else. Her response to him in every other way was unique.
He tipped her chin up and forced eye contact with his own dark pools that hid his thoughts. "Are you trying to tell me that you're a virgin, sweetheart?" He sounded disbelieving while he looked like the idea both worried and excited him.
She shook her head. She might as well be, for all the practical experience she had had, but she wasn't. Not quite anyway. "At twenty-eight? I don't think so."
She hoped she sounded more blasé than she felt.
Interpersonal relationships were just not her strong suit and making love fell under that category. Though she had to believe that judging by her response to Alex so far, she wasn't going to fail so miserably at it this time.
His eyes glowed with dangerous lights and an atavistic thrill went through her.
Chapter 10
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Alex refused to feel guilty for the primitive satisfaction that coursed through him at the knowledge that Isabel didn't have a lot of experience. She was unique in every other way, why not this one, too?
Her passion belonged to him.
He could tell that her own responses were surprising her and that added an excitement all its own to their lovemaking. What man did not want to be the one to bring out his woman's sensuous nature? But for all her passion, she was also nervous, and he didn't want her nervous. He wanted her hot.
Leaning down, he kissed the corner of her mouth, teasing the edge of her lips with his tongue. She sighed and her body melted into him. He kept up the tender kisses until he felt the fires that had been banked by their little discussion rekindle in her. Her breathing grew ragged once again, and she was making those sexy little noises that had been driving him wild since the first kiss.
The firm round cheeks of her backside beckoned his hands and he cupped her there, pulling her farther into the heat of his body. Isabel moaned, her head. Calling back on her neck, and did that thing where she brushed her nipples against his chest again, only this time slowly, voluptuously, and he almost lost it right there.
Changing tactics, he moved one hand to her back and pressed her against him in a way that didn't allow movement. "Baby, you're doing bad things to my control."
She laughed with wholly feminine satisfaction. "I don't want you controlled." She nipped his earlobe. "I want you to feel as amazing as I do."
And she thought he didn't? "If I felt any more amazing, I'd embarrass myself."
"Mmmm."
He couldn't help but smile. That little hum could mean anything, but he was pretty sure it wasn't an agreement to his ending the party early. Temptation to tumble her back on the bed and bury himself inside her roared through him with the power of a rocket launching, but he couldn't do it.
The beautifully passionate creature in his arms deserved more than slam, bam, thank you ma'am, and he was determined to give it to her. He maneuvered her back toward the bed, pushing her gently down onto it when her legs hit the extra-high mattress. He pulled back from her, stepping away to take in the sight before him. Her hips were almost on the edge of the bed while her legs dangled over, her toes barely touching the floor.
Pleasure so acute that it was pain shot through his groin. Her panties practically begged him to tear them off, the way they didn't quite cover the soft curls of her femininity.
"Alex?" Her eyes were heavy-lidded with desire and a soft pink flush covered her creamy skin.
"Yes, baby?"
"Are we done?"
He knew she was teasing him. He almost laughed, but he didn't have it in him. "No, we are a long way from done, but I want to see you. Do you mind?"
She shook her head, her honey-brown tresses fanning out across the pewter-colored comforter. "I like looking at you, too."
The admission had the same affect that her gentle caress to his penis had earlier. It rocked him. He knelt down at the end of the bed between Isabel's knees. Taking one dainty foot into his hands, he lifted it for his kiss and then nuzzled the instep. A sound of feminine need came from the bed and he smiled.
"I want to kiss you all over."
He didn't wait for her to agree but moved his lips along her ankle and up her calf, placing baby kisses on the silky skin as he went. By the time he reached her inner thighs, she was moving restlessly on the bed, her hips rotating sexily.
"Please, Alex. I need you now."
He nuzzled the apex of her thighs, inhaling the unique scent of her passion. She went completely still. The triangle of lace still covering her was damp and her musky fragrance attested to her readiness. He flicked his tongue out and gently caressed the skin along the elastic line of her panties. Isabel arched off the bed, and he couldn't resist sliding one finger under the small piece of fabric. Wet and swollen flesh closed around his finger and he damn near came in his briefs.
Unwilling to give up his kissing expedition along her body or the incredible pleasure of touching her sultry flesh, he kept one finger inside her while lowering his head to kiss the soft round mound of her belly. She shuddered and cried out. Her hands came away from where they were gripping the comforter to lock onto his hair. She tugged.
"I want you," she cried out.
"I want you, too, honey. All of you."
He let her tug him as far as her breasts and then he stopped. Using his one free hand, he squeezed first one beautiful mound and then the other. Taking one nipple between his thumb and forefinger, he gently tugged.
She cried out.
He locked his mouth around the other nipple and sucked. Hard. The wet flesh surrounding his finger grew more swollen until he could barely move his finger back and forth. Using his thumb, he rubbed her clitoris. Her entire body tensed.
"Marry me, Isabel."
Sensation trembled through Isabel. She felt as if her entire body were going to detonate, and she both craved and feared the explosion. She wanted to demand that Alex stop teasing her and finish it, but her throat would not work except to make keening cries. She couldn't think, much less beg, with his fingers and mouth doing such amazing things. She bucked her lower body against his hand.
She felt more than helpless with her legs dangling off the bed and his hard male body tormenting her own.
How could he expect her to answer a marriage proposal in this condition?
She felt each of the muscles in her body tense but most especially those surrounding Alex's finger. Her world shattered into a million pieces of sensation as wave after wave of pleasure shook her body. She screamed so loudly that when she stopped, she felt waves of vague embarrassment wash over her. Alex continued the ministrations with his fingers, softening the caresses until her body relaxed against him. He kept touching her, though, and her body jerked in response to the renewed pleasure.
She reached down with one leaden arm and touched his forearm. "Stop," her mouth clumsily formed words, "too much."
He seemed to understand because he slowly withdrew his hand and released her nipple from his mouth, giving it one final kiss before he moved her completely onto the big bed. H
e curved himself around her, cuddling her sweaty body close to his. She felt his erection, hard against her thigh, and realized that it wasn't yet over for Alex.
"Was that just round one?" she asked, not sure her body or her heart could survive another intimate encounter with Alex.
He brushed his hand down her arm. "Round two comes after we're married, sweetheart."
She digested his statement before lifting her head so she could see his still-passion-filled features. "Are you saying that you won't go any further unless I agree to marry you?"
He smiled, his expression so primitive he belonged in a museum exhibit with Cro-Magnon man. "No marriage, no baby, Isabel."
She rolled her eyes. "There are ways to prevent conception, Alex. I'm not asking you to give me a baby." She wasn't sure she was asking for anything, but she didn't like the idea that he thought he could call the shots like this.
"I don't have anything." The frustration in his voice allayed some of her pique. "I wasn't expecting this."
The admission made her feel even better. As arrogant as Alex was, he wasn't prepared for the eventuality of her falling into his arms. Besides, if he didn't have anything on hand, that implied he hadn't needed anything for a while, didn't it?
She did some quick mental calculations in her head. "It's a safe time for me right now."
His smile was rueful. "No such thing. Not one hundred percent anyway, sweetheart, and remember, no marriage, no baby."
She glared at him, her lower lip protruding into the first sensual pout of her life.
He gave a husky chuckle. "It can wait until we're married."
The hard male flesh, which continued to pulse unabated against her outer thigh, said otherwise. She reached over and brushed it, feeling satisfaction as his body jerked against hers.
"Cut it out, honey. We aren't going any further until my ring is on your finger."
