Corporate Affair

„Oh, Rand,“ she breathed helplessly, finding his tanned throat with her questing lips. „I shouldn’t be here…“

„But you are and that’s all that counts,“ he interrupted in a passion-roughened voice. He trembled beneath the touch of her lips and Kalinda was thrilled to be able to arouse him as he aroused her. It was crazy and it could only happen between them once but she was twenty-nine years old and she was suddenly determined to sample the depths of true desire. All the arguments against one-time encounters with virtual strangers could be dragged out later when she was back in the reality of Denver. This was a stolen moment out of time that would never come her way again. How could she pass it by?

„Kalinda, Kalinda, I want you so much and I was so afraid at times during the night that you wouldn’t come to me…“

She shook her head wordlessly, her lashes dusting her cheeks as she lowered her eyes from the flaming want in his gaze. She hadn’t known herself that she would come to him like this. Nor did she want to think about her own actions in that moment Instead she clung to him with an intensity that amazed her. She felt the lean strength in his hips as her hands searched out the feel of him beneath the tight jeans.

„Why are we standing here? I have the perfect place for us,“ he rasped and swung her high into his arms. Kalinda pressed her lips to his now-naked shoulder and closed her eyes once more as he strode down the cream- carpeted hall to a bedroom full of caramels and browns.

He settled her gently on the sun-dappled bed, her light-colored hair fanning out across the rich golden brown bedspread. For a moment he stood gazing down at her and then he sat beside her, his hands going to the long tendrils of hair.

„It’s almost the same color as my bedspread,“ he half-smiled, stroking luxuriously. „Your skin looks like cream in the morning light.“ His eyes roamed warmly over her as he slowly unbuckled the web belt of her khaki trousers and finished undressing her.

He performed the task with infinite care, pausing to caress each inch of skin revealed until she lay naked beneath his hands. He stroked his fingers in languid, delicious little circles along the length of her leg from ankle to thigh. By the time he reached her hip Kalinda was trembling with desire.

Apparently satisfied with his efforts, Rand pulled away for a moment, sliding quickly, impatiently out of his jeans and returning to her welcoming arms with a hoarsely whispered exclamation of need.

„I was going to head straight back to Denver after calling David this morning,“ she whispered as he gathered her close. „But somehow I couldn’t leave without seeing you…“

„I would have gone mad if you hadn’t.“

He buried his lips at the curve of her shoulder, nipping gently at her skin while his hand closed possessively over her breast The firming nipple beneath his palm seemed to arouse him further and Kalinda reached down to touch him with intimate wonder.

„Did you really spend the night pacing the floor?“ she asked breathlessly, as his body stirred ardently against hers.

„What does it look like?“ he growled ruefully. „But it was worth it to open the door this morning and find you standing there. I took one look at you and knew I didn’t have to worry any longer!“

He raked a trail of pleasure across the taut nipple, down her sensitive stomach and along her thigh, following his hand with his lips. Her fingers twisted passionately in his hair as he slid lower on her body and when his exciting kisses found her secret core of desire she cried out.

„Oh, my God, Rand! You’re driving me wild. I’ve never known this kind of… of aching!“

He turned his head and kissed the inside of her thigh. Her leg shifted reflexively, her knee lifting alongside his body.

„I know exactly what you’re talking about,“ he murmured thickly, his fingers squeezing into the softness of her curving bottom. „After 1 took you back to the motel last night I told myself I was a fool, that I should have kept you here and taken you to bed regardless of what you thought you wanted at the time. But I knew it would be better if it happened this way…“

„You seem to have known me better than I knew myself for a while,“ she admitted, twisting restlessly against him. Her breathing came in short, broken little pants as she felt the raging hunger take control of her.

„And now I’m going to know you even more thoroughly,“ he vowed. „I’m going to make you mine this morning, Kalinda Brady. I have to!“

She saw the smoldering fire in his eyes as he raised himself with sudden intention and her own whirling senses spun chaotically out of control.

Rand trapped her ankle with his leg and an instant later he settled along the length of her, covering her soft, curving body with his hard, thrilling strength.

But even as she reached up to cling to him and draw him down to her, Kalinda was aware that he was determined to hold off the ultimate union a little longer.

„Please,“ she whimpered, becoming incredibly aroused as he stoked the fire in her ever higher. „Please, Rand. I… I need you!“

His response was to move against her with a teasing, provoking movement that nearly drove her out of her mind when he failed to complete it.

„Tell me,“ he commanded, a yearning tone lacing the fierce order, „Tell me how much you need me; how much you want me…“

„More than I’ve ever wanted any man,“ she confessed raggedly, her head thrown back against the pillow, her body arching with consummate pleading into his. „I’ve never even known how… how necessary it could be!“ That was nothing less than the shattering truth. Never had she felt like this, wanted a man so desperately.

„That’s how I need you,“ he swore deeply. „I had to hear you say it. I had to know!“

His hands gripped her shoulders and his body surged passionately against hers, claiming it utterly and completely. Kalinda’s breath caught in her throat and she could only cling and cling and cling to the powerful masculine body. Instinctively she sought to envelope his strength, make him a part of her.

Rand held her so tightly they seemed to merge into one being. He licked at the sheen of perspiration that shimmered on the slope of her breast as he set the rhythm of their desire.

„My God, sweetheart,“ he groaned. „You’re flaming like a torch for me!“

Kalinda could only gasp her wonder and desire. No man had ever beckoned to her deepest needs with the irresistible lure of such honest and overwhelming male hunger. It was primitive and it was real yet it was astonishingly tender at times. It cut through all the layers of civilization and sophistication.

She cried out as the threshold was reached, her body shivering with a sudden convulsive energy she’d never known before. It arched her throat, tautened every muscle in her and brought a mind-spinning sense of release.

Above her she heard the harsh, muffled shout of satisfaction and male triumph as Rand followed her over the magic threshold, wrapping her rightly to him in preparation for the long, languid descent on the other side.

„Kalinda, my sweet Kalinda,“ he breathed over and over again as the sunlight played across their damp, naked bodies. The fragrance of the mountains drifted through the open window, combining with the earthy, honest scent of their passion and Kalinda inhaled it deeply.

„Tell me the truth,“ Rand grated urgently. „Do you have any regrets about not seeing that other man? Any at all?“

She turned against him, lifting her eyes to meet the surprisingly vulnerable expression in his own.

„None,“ she smiled softly.

He closed his coppery lashes for a long moment and she felt the gratitude in him.

„You had me so damn scared,“ he admitted wryly, leaning back against the pillows to stare intently at the ceiling. „So damn scared!“

„Somehow I can’t envision you scared of anything,“ she retorted lightly.

„You should have seen me at four this morning!“

„Were you really so concerned about me?“