He was on fire for her, desire roaring through him, tightening his muscles, making his erection shriek now, now, now! He barely leashed the urge to race her off to bed. Fast was wrong. She’d think he only cared about getting sexual relief, using her to do it. If she’d only had selfish lovers, adding himself to that list wouldn’t win him any stay of judgement on her leaving him to his own life. He had to ease back, slow down, stay in control.
Merlina was so caught up in the throes of passion, a guttural little moan of protest scraped from her throat when he withdrew his mouth from hers, bringing a halt to the intense flow of excitement.
‘It’s all right,’ he soothed, whispering the words in her ear, making it tingle as he tucked her head into the curve of his neck and shoulder, then rubbed his cheek softly over her hair. ‘You’ll have me exploding if I don’t take a breather.’
A gurgle of laughter bubbled out, erupting from the relief of having him dismiss the nervous fear that she was an inadequate kisser compared to the more experienced women he’d been with.
‘You think it’s funny?’ he queried in a wry tone.
‘No…no…’ She scooped in a quick breath and planted a happy kiss on his throat. ‘I think it’s great,’ she murmured with a rush of heartfelt pleasure at having him find her so desirable.
‘Oh, you like having that kind of power over me, do you?’ he said teasingly.
A wild recklessness seized her. Suddenly freed from the dreadful bank of inhibitions that had previously almost paralysed her, she lifted her head back and grinned at him. ‘Yes, I do.’
He laughed as though he loved the unexpected burst of honesty from her. His eyes sparkled with wicked mischief. ‘You’re challenging me to drive you into the same state of urgency.’
‘You’ve done a fair job so far,’ she said archly, entering into his playboy game. It was who Jake was, and nothing was going to change him, so why not let herself enjoy it for once?
‘Fair…’ he repeated assessingly, his eyes gathering dangerous glints of sexual intent. ‘An escalation is definitely needed here. I think I’ll start by getting rid of this belt which has been sticking into me.’
He swiftly dropped his embrace, his hands deftly undoing the plaited rosette which fastened the soft leather tie around her waist. Her stomach contracted as the belt loosened and dropped to the floor. This was the first stage of undressing. Don’t think ahead, she fiercely told herself. Just let it happen.
But as he disconnected the hook and eye which kept the wrap-around silk dress in place, she desperately wished she was wearing a sexy suspender belt and stockings instead of plain, comfortable pantihose. The creamy silk bra and knickers were okay, not exactly alluring but she liked them and if Jake was used to more exotic female underwear, well…tough luck! Surely getting down to basics was the aim, anyway, and she wasn’t ashamed of her body.
‘Mmm…silk hair, silk dress, silk bra,’ he purred approvingly, his hand shifting the dress aside enough to slide under the fabric and close around the fullness of one achingly sensitive breast. His mouth curved into a very sensual smile, his eyes simmering with sexy appreciation. ‘What does that tell me about you, Merlina?’
She wanted to close her own eyes and just feel him feeling her, focus inwardly on the gently kneading fingers, the tantalising sweep of his thumb over her extremely erect nipple, the intense pleasure flooding from his touch. Yet if she did so, wouldn’t it tell him how deeply he was affecting her? Better to keep the banter going, treat everything lightly.
‘That I’m a silk worm and you should feed me mulberry leaves?’ she tossed out.
He laughed, delight dancing over his face, dimples flashing, and the hand caressing her breast forgot its seductive intent and squeezed in avid possession as he sobered and said, ‘I’d rather feed you me.’
Her heart slammed around her chest at the suggestive imagery of those words. Somehow her mind was still alert enough to zap out a snappy reply. ‘Careful, Jake! I might chew you into little bits.’
‘Well, you’d only do that if you found me tasty.’
‘Or too difficult to swallow.’
‘Guess we have to test that out.’
A joyous confidence glowed from him. His hands started sliding around her back and Merlina knew her bra was about to be slipped from its moorings. Attacked by another panicky wave of vulnerability, she wildly seized on a bold move of her own.
‘You’re wearing too many clothes for tasting,’ she pointed out, hoping to put him on the naked spot first.
He grinned. ‘Did I ever tell you I love the way your mind works?’
Love? That one word rattled all the skeletons in Merlina’s emotional closet. She barely caught breath enough to say, ‘No, you never did.’
‘Always put me on my mettle. Thrust, parry, thrust…exciting stuff.’
Not exciting enough to want to be with me all the time, she thought rebelliously, telling herself not to get sucked into the love pit. That was too dangerous with Jake. Besides, her defensive tactic had worked. Instead of undoing her bra, his hands had whipped down to the bottom of his shirt, which he was gathering up for lift-off. She quickly removed her arm-lock on his head and stood looking on in awed fascination as he not only stripped off his shirt but all his other clothes, as well.
Her stomach felt weirdly hollow as her eyes skated down his magnificent, male physique and fastened on the sexual equipment which was certainly primed for action. With her this time. Forget the women he’d had in the past, she fiercely told herself. She had put him in this high state of arousal and despite common sense cautioning her to keep everything light, a primitive sense of possessiveness was clawing through her, wanting to take and hold and forge an inseparable connection with Jake Devila.
Her man.
For tonight, anyway.
Though maybe it would stretch into months.
And what then?
Stop thinking about that.
Just take what you can…what’s on offer right now…reach out and take it…
‘Merlina…?’
He was asking her to. She could hear it in his voice, asking why she wasn’t touching, wasn’t tasting. But she couldn’t make herself do it. Her hands were clenching and unclenching at her sides instead of moving forward. It wasn’t a game. Not for her, it wasn’t. She couldn’t play it as though it was.
‘Don’t be frightened of me.’
His voice was soft, serious, tapping at the truth. Before she could find wits enough to answer, to brush the idea of fear aside, he moved, sliding her dress from her shoulders. It slithered down her arms and dropped to the floor, pooling around her feet. Then his arms were around her again, drawing her into a terribly intimate embrace and she knew she’d gone past the point of no return, and everything within her quivered an acceptance of it.