should be embarrassed to remember their intimacy, to look at his nakedness, to sense with such clarity her own nudity beneath the flimsy lace. But she wasn’t embarrassed. She had never felt more alive and yet more at peace than she did with Caleb. There was a rightness in being his woman that went to her very soul.
«I wouldn’t take my innocence back,» Willow whispered, kissing the calloused masculine fingers that were pressed against her lips. «I would never find a better man to give it to than you.»
The lines in Caleb’s face tightened as he heard Willow ’s soft words and felt the warmth of her lips whispering kisses against his hand.
«How do you feel?» he asked. «Still cold?»
Willow shook her head. Golden hair rippled and shimmered, falling over his hand like captive sunlight.
«No aches and pains?»
Despite the heightened color in Willow’s cheeks, her slight smile was as old as Eve. «No pains.»
«No aches, either?»
«None that can’t be cured. What about you? Do you ache?»
As Willow spoke, her hand moved beneath a veil of golden hair until she could touch the blunt masculine flesh between Caleb’s thighs. He jerked reflexively at the caress and his breath hissed between his teeth. Startled, Willow snatched back her hand.
«I’m sorry,» she said quickly. «I didn’t mean to hurt you.»
Caleb let his breath out, trying to still the violent beating of his heart. «You didn’t hurt me.»
«You — moved.»
«Have you ever been so close to a lightning bolt that you could feel currents racing through you? That’s what it felt like when you touched me. Only it was pleasure racing through me, not pain, and the force of it surprised me.»
Willow’s eyes widened.
Caleb smiled despite the fire still coursing through him. «Go ahead, honey. Explore. You won’t take me by surprise again.»
«I don’t want to hurt you,» she said hesitantly.
«Then you better pet me again, because I want those soft hands on me so much I ache.»
Willow looked from Caleb’s rather fierce smile down the length of his body. He was kneeling beside her, facing her, sitting on his heels, his thighs flexed to take his weight. The long, powerful muscles of his legs stood out in relief. So did the quintessentially male flesh that was so responsive to her touch. She could count his heartbeats without even resting her fingers against him.
Despite their recent intimacy, in many ways Caleb’s body was still a mystery to her. Hesitantly, Willow allowed her hand to settle on his thigh, curious about the elemental differences between male and female. The hair on his legs was thick, black, shiny, hot from the sun. His skin was warm and supple, and the muscle beneath was shockingly hard. His skin was darker than her own, though much lighter than the skin on his chest.
«You work stripped to the waist, don’t you?» Willow asked without looking up.
«Sometimes.»
Caleb’s voice was thickened by desire. He was discovering that being looked at by Willow was almost as arousing as being petted by her. The sensuality, curiosity, and approval in her eyes made him feel as tall as a mountain. And as hard.
«But never all the way naked,» Willow said, noting the fine pale skin sunlight had never touched before now.
«I told you, honey. In some ways this is as new to me as it is to you.»
She smiled. «I like that. I like knowing I’m touching you in ways no one else ever has.»
«You’re barely touching me at all,» Caleb pointed out hungrily, «but you’re right just the same. No one has ever been like you, Willow. You make it all new.»
Smiling, watching Caleb’s face, Willow traced the thick upper muscle of his thigh with her fingertips. She saw the narrowing of his eyes, felt the tightening of his legs, heard the swift intake of his breath as she came closer and closer to the hard reality of his desire. Her fingers tested the thick cushion of hair that surrounded his very different flesh. Hesitantly, then with greater assurance, she stroked the length of him, enjoying the heat and shifting masculine textures. When she reached the blunt tip, she made a surprised, approving sound.
«No wonder you didn’t hurt me. You feel like satin, all warm and sleek and smooth.»
Caleb’s answer was a groan and a wild wave of desire hammering through his veins. If he hadn’t already been on his knees, Willow’s words and the skimming caress of her fingers would have brought him down. He couldn’t prevent the potent response of his body, the silky residue glistening on her fingertips in stark testimony to the uncontrollable passion she called from him.
Willow’s hand stilled.
«I’m sorry,» Caleb said huskily. «I didn’t mean to shock you.»
«You didn’t,» she murmured.
«I sure as hell shocked myself,» he said.
Willow glanced up at him, surprised.
«I’m not used to losing control like that,» he said bluntly.
«Oh.»
«I’m not used to this at all.»
«Do you…» She hesitated. «Do you like having me touch you?»
Caleb smiled. «What do you think?»
Willow let her breath out in a rushing sigh. «I think I’ve never touched anything quite so fascinating. You make me shameless, Caleb. And I don’t even care.»
He bent down and kissed her gently. «There’s no need for shame between us. Shame is for people who cheat and steal and destroy. Being together like this is part of creation, and it’s good.»
«Yes,» she whispered. «It’s good. Lock and key. Woman and man. Two halves of a beautiful whole. All my life I’ve known that withoutreallyknowing.» Willow smiled at Caleb. «How dull the world would have been if male and female were the same.»
Caleb laughed, then his breath caught as one of Willow’s slender hands glided between his legs, seeking more of the primal differences between male and female. Enjoying her open curiosity, Caleb shifted, allowing her to find what she sought. He was rewarded by a gentle exploration that brought him to the brink of losing control once more. He groaned, trying to stifle the overwhelming pulses of ecstasy. He was only partially successful.
With a soft sound, Willow touched the liquid silk of passion once more.
«How long,» she asked softly, «do you think it would take you to get used to losing control?»
«I don’t know,» he admitted in a rueful voice, «but I get the feeling you’re planning on finding out.»
«Do you mind?» Willow’s voice was as gentle as her fingers curling around him, exploring and memorizing him with slow movements of her hand even as she cupped him in her palm. «I’m discovering that I like touching you where you’re most a man. I like seeing your eyes narrow and your whole body tighten as you fight against losing control. You’re so strong, Caleb. I love that strength.»
One of Willow’s fingertips skimmed the blunt satin flesh whose smoothness and taut heat fascinated her. A sultry drop formed beneath her touch. She shivered visibly as her own body secretly answered. Her hands moved lovingly, cradling him, testing him, teasing him, admiring him.
Caleb shuddered in response to Willow’s honest sensuality. A lightning stroke of desire surged through him. He heard her quickened breath and felt her fingertips gliding over his hot flesh, enjoying the result of the silky pulse that had escaped his control.
«Do you mind?» she asked again.
«Touch me any way you like. Let me touch you in the same way,» Caleb said, words pouring recklessly from his lips as hungers he had never known existed were called from him by Willow’s hands. «Let me show you everything I ever wanted with a woman. And then let me give you things you can’t even imagine with a man.»
«Yes,» Willow whispered, drawing her nails very lightly down his straining flesh. «As long as I can keep touching you.»
Caleb made a thick sound while her hand moved warmly, pleasuring him, enjoying him with an honesty that aroused him to the point of agony.
