Then
“You’re not listening. Mitch, what do you think you’re doing?” She shoved away his busy hand, the one so full of hairpins. “It isn’t…valuable?”
“The fig tree?” He found the last pin, dropped them all next to the couch and combed his fingers through her hair until the strands lay smooth and silky around her face. Finally, after far too many hours, she was Kay again. Like a soft, insistent whisper, his mouth brushed hers.
And a long, low drum roll sounded at the back of his head, like a warning. He tried to banish it. When you sign up for the big leagues, you’re expected to play ball. There was nothing strictly wrong with that; he definitely wanted to play ball. And he knew damn well he was overly worried about high standards of performance, but if he got enough practice in, there was just a slim chance she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a seasoned player and the greenest rookie.
Halfheartedly she tried to escape from his kisses. “Mitch. I can’t possibly accept something with that kind of valu-”
His lips stilled her protest. His palm slipped inside her black top, finding the satin flesh over her ribs; he savored her quick intake of breath. She actually wanted him to touch her. She actually loved his gentle kneading on her breast; he could feel the soft orb tremble and then swell in his hand, its tip hardening.
He moved slowly, searching for the least sign that she wanted him to stop. He didn’t receive any signs. She murmured approvingly when his hand slipped behind her to find the catch of her bra.
A year later, he figured out it was the front-hooked kind. Damn it. At fifteen, the girls he’d known had all worn back hooks.
He managed, and without once interrupting the exchange of tongues going on in a completely different world. She gave pleasure so naturally, so sweetly. Her fingers had already unbuttoned his shirt, were splaying in the curling hair on his chest, climbing near his heart. His heartbeat was deliriously erratic. Once, that would have instantly aroused alarm bells; now, he only worried that she had it all wrong.
He didn’t want to take but to give. To offer as much pleasure as Kay would let him give. If the desire he felt was a torment of frustration, there was still the greater desire simply to love her for the woman she was. His hands moved slowly, testing, as his mouth started exploring the soft skin of her neck.
One way or another, he got her top off and flung it on the floor. He knew he should have hung it up or… whatever a man usually did when he was removing a woman’s clothes.
Except that her skin was so pliant in his hands… Her faint whimper of pleasure caused his thighs to tighten unbearably, his lips to turn boldly possessive. “I love your pleasure sounds,” he murmured. “More, sweetheart. More, Kay…”
Her spine arched for the touch of his hand on her breast, and in response his lips sealed, hard, on hers. When her legs curled up, he couldn’t help sweeping a palm up and down the length of her stockinged calf and thigh. His fingers strayed to the top of her stocking and discovered a lace-edged garter. A fierce, primal craving flooded his bloodstream. There was something irreversibly exciting about garters and stockings. At least about
Trying to ignore the runaway images in his head, he concentrated on listening to those soft, abandoned murmurs of hers, on touching her in a way she clearly wanted.
She very clearly liked the soft lap of his tongue in the hollow of her throat. She liked the caress of his hand on her thigh; her breath caught at the slightest touch of her breasts…but she didn’t breathe at all when he rubbed her nipple with his thumb. Her whole body turned warm for him; her eyes turned dark, sleepy, intense with emotion.
And the only problem with wanting to please her was that he couldn’t take much more. Her hand dropped in his lap-he was certain she didn’t mean that the way it felt, but unfortunately there was hell to pay. A certain portion of his body was so swollen he was in pain.
“Mitch?”
He’d been waiting for that faint sign of hesitation, but it still hit him like a grenade. A shudder racked his whole body, but he regained control. With immeasurable tenderness, he simply wrapped his arms around her and held her close until his teeth were able to unclench and his heart at least tried to batter out a normal beat. He’d meant to say nothing at all, yet the hoarse voice was clearly his. “Stay here tonight, Kay,” he whispered. “Just…stay with me. Lie with me.”
Chapter Nine
“Yes,” Kay said breathlessly.
“I won’t push you into making love. I just want to wake up with you in the morning, that’s all.” He tilted her head back to see a strange play of emotions on her face. “I mean it. We’ll just sleep. I won’t-”
“All right, Mitch.” Her voice had all the solidity of Jell-O. Her bones, too. When he picked her up in his arms, she wound her hands around his neck, her eyes frantically searching his face as he carried her over to the bed.
Just
Kay was touched as well as startled. Touched that he was willing to be that sure of her feelings before they made love. An old-fashioned man was terribly hard to find. Someone who respected as well as wanted her, someone who wanted to love as well as be loved.
He slid back the spread and blankets and eased her onto the cool sheets with a soft, lingering kiss on her mouth. Looking down at her, his eyes were as dark as his black opals, with just as much latent fire. Leaning over her, he unbuttoned and then tugged off her skirt with a single glance up, as if to confirm that she didn’t object to the intimacy.
She didn’t. When he drew the covers over her, he kissed her again. “Give me a minute to get the lights,” he murmured.
She waited, feeling both bemused and bewildered. When she heard him downstairs, turning off lights, she slipped off her stockings and settled under the covers.
The wind had become a wintry howl. Mitch was back in short order. In the darkness, he removed his pants and shirt and then slid into the bed beside her. Most possessively, he tucked the thick comforter around her chin before deliberately shifting to his side of the bed.
Kay waited expectantly. She had the measure of exactly how aroused he’d been just a short time before; the man took fire at even the slightest touch, but in the most giving way. He was special, so damned special.
And he was going to reach for her; she knew he was. And when he did, she would certainly forgive him for his good intentions. The point was that he’d meant them honorably, and anyway, at the moment she wasn’t overflowing with good intentions herself. It had been a very long time since she’d really wanted someone. It had been forever since she’d wanted anyone as badly as she wanted Mitch.
But he didn’t reach for her. She could hear his breathing; he wasn’t asleep. In time, she edged toward him, and then a little closer, and then curled around him like a kitten. At first, he reacted with utter stillness, but then his arms wrapped around her and he drew her cheek to his chest. His heart thumped a staccato beat in her ear, making her half smile. Mitch was not going to find it all that easy just sleeping.
She didn’t expect to either, but she was so incredibly surrounded by warmth. Desire became a narcotic, the darkness like a lover’s curtain. Such total trust…she couldn’t remember feeling that with another human being. With a sigh, she closed her eyes.
Watching her sleep, Mitch was fascinated. Dawn was sending the faintest light in at the windows, a gray color tinged with dusty rose that just barely illuminated the room. Kay’s lashes curled up on her cheeks, like black velvet
