wedge of hair that tickled her nose. She discovered the dark disk of his nipple just within reach of her tongue. She circled the sensitive flesh, enjoying the taste and texture of Raven. It was delicious to have him all to herself, to slowly awaken him as he had always awakened her – deep within the hot, silken web of his sensuality, fully aroused by erotic sensations that were both dreamlike and very real, flying even higher as he merged with her and brought her the ecstasy that came only on the glittering black wings of a wild raven.
Now it was Janna’s turn to savor the sleeping power of the man she loved. She might never have another chance to awaken Raven with slow, hot caresses. She might never again know the pleasure of bringing him from sleep into ecstasy.
Janna eased aside the bedcovers and looked at Raven’s naked, beautifully masculine body. She knelt over him as her fingertips smoothed each ridge and swell of muscle, her touch soothing, encouraging him to remain within his dreams. He shifted beneath her caresses, responding even in his sleep, moving closer to the warm hands stroking him. Smiling, wondering what his dreams were like at the moment, Janna tasted Raven’s skin with slow, catlike touches of her tongue while her palms savored the heat and muscular lines of his torso. As she nibbled and softly nipped her way from his chin to his hips, she sensed him awakening. The tip of her tongue circled his navel and then filled it with hot, delicate caresses.
Beneath Janna’s hands Raven’s thighs were hard, corded with muscle, powerful even when relaxed. The dense thatch of hair that lay between was an irresistible lure to her. She eased her fingers into it, seeking and finding all the changing textures of his masculinity. The differences between his body and her own fascinated her. She cherished those differences with her fingertips, her palms, her hands holding and caressing him as he changed to meet her touch. His potency compelled her in an elemental way. She wanted to know him with the same searing, wild intimacy with which he had known her.
„You’re fishing in rocky waters again,“ Raven rumbled, his tone both amused and thick with arousal.
„Yes,“ Janna said, cradling his very different flesh in her hands, „I know. This time, I know.“
Raven smiled as he remembered the first time they had awakened in bed together, when Janna hadn’t recognized the distinctive male flesh rising hard and hot beneath her hand.
„I want to… touch you,“ she said softly, caressing him. „Do you mind?“
„Do I look like I mind?“ he asked, his voice gritty.
Janna looked from the heavy-lidded sensuality of Raven’s eyes to the hard flesh that she was caressing. „No,“ she agreed huskily, „You don’t look like you mind. But there are other ways of touching, ways that appalled me before I knew you.“ She smiled slightly, thinking of that shelf of books she had thrown away after her divorce. „There are whole chapters I want to explore. With you, Raven. Only with you. Would you mind that?“
She felt the sudden, savage tightening of his body as he understood what she was asking.
„Whatever you want, small warrior,“ Raven said, his voice dark, caressing, thick with anticipation. „However you want it.“
„‘For as long as you can take it,’“ Janna added, smiling, remembering what Raven had once said to her. „I’m glad you’re an unusually strong man,“ she whispered, bending down to him. „Very glad.“
The long, wide beach uncurled in front of Raven and Janna like an immense ribbon. The wind that had swept away clouds and mist alike had also stirred the ocean into a dark blue mass where whitecaps flashed and vanished only to reform again atop other metallic blue swells. Lines of breakers rolled toward the beach in creamy ranks, adding a rhythmic thunder to the deep baying of the wind. Neither picnic tables nor trash cans marred the sand’s pristine surface. There were no footprints, no people, nothing but the wind and the sea and the distant keening of gulls.
„I feel as though I’m trespassing,“ Janna said, looking behind at the tracks they were leaving in the sand.
„The tide will wash it clean again,“ Raven said. „It will be as though we were never here.“ He looked at the position of the sun in the sky. „We have some time before Angel and Hawk are meeting us. Want to explore?“
Raven caught the sensual, almost secret smile that came to Janna’s lips and didn’t know whether to laugh or swear at the sudden hot rush of his blood.
„I was referring to exploring the beach,“ Raven continued, „but I’m open to suggestion.“ Knowing he shouldn’t, unable to stop himself, he bent and kissed Janna slowly, savoring the taste and textures of her mouth. „In fact,“ he said, unzipping her wind shell and sliding his hand up beneath her sweater, „I’ve got a few suggestions of my own.“
Janna threaded her fingers deeply into Raven’s hair. „You know,“ she said, biting his lower lip with sensual precision, „I ought to call your bluff. Because after this morning, bluff is all it could be!“
„Wanna bet?“ he asked, smiling darkly.
Raven knew he should release Janna from the net of his sensuality. That was why he had come to the beach of illusions – to let her go. Yet his free hand was even now caressing her buttocks, kneading the firm flesh as he pressed her body tightly against him.
Janna’s breath came in swiftly. Raven was as hard and ready as though they hadn’t just spent the morning hours exploring his strength and endurance.
„Yeah,“ Raven said, smiling oddly when he saw Janna’s expression change. He moved his hand up to caress a velvety nipple that hardened beneath his fingers. „It’s the damnedest thing,“ he admitted „I never had this problem until I met you.“
„Neither did I,“ Janna said, feeling sensual heat rush through her as she arched her body against him in a long, intimate caress.
„So which one of us is going to be sensible about it?“ he asked.
„How do you define sensible?“
„Not making love on a public beach,“ Raven said succinctly.
„Oh.“ Janna sighed. „Damn.“
„Yeah.
Janna laughed softly. „Covering me up? Since when?“
„Since the first time I saw that ripe berry peeking out from beneath a corner of the survival blanket, that’s when,“ he retorted. „All I wanted to do was take you into my mouth and feel you change as my tongue loved you.“
Suddenly Janna remembered the moment when Raven had tucked the blanket around her shoulders and she had been devastated, thinking that he was utterly indifferent to her as a woman.
„You wanted me then?“ she whispered, hardly able to believe it.
„I wanted you the instant I saw you fighting the storm,“ he said flatly.
„You should have taken me, Raven. I was yours the first time I heard your voice calling to me over the waves, telling me that I wasn’t alone. I was yours before I even knew who you were,“ she whispered. „I still am yours. I always will be. I love – “
Janna felt the heat and sweetness of Raven’s mouth as he kissed her, stilling the torrent of whispered words. It was a long time before he released her, laced his fingers through hers and led her farther down the untouched sands. For an instant Janna closed her eyes, walking blindly, trying to ease the pain of not being allowed to speak her love. The wind combed through her hair, freeing it from restraints, making it a soft cinnamon radiance around her face.
The doubts that faded each time Raven made love to Janna came back to her now with redoubled force. He was an honest man, a compassionate man, a kind man. If he didn’t love her, he would try very hard not to hurt her. And one of his kindnesses would be to make certain that she wasn’t left to hear her soft
