smells, sounds. Your mind cataloged them all until it created a perfect mate. And when you find the physical manifestation of those qualities, then you have no choice but to take up the chase.”
“And what about you?”
“If I didn’t find the qualities I wanted in you, then I wouldn’t have let you touch me.”
“So it’s all that simple?” he asked.
Rachel shook her head. “Actually, that part is pretty complicated. It’s the desire that’s simple.”
Dec slid his palm up to cup her breast, teasing at her nipple with his thumb. “Funny, this doesn’t seem simple.”
She sighed and tipped her head back. “No, I suppose it doesn’t. But what’s happening inside our bodies and inside our minds is.”
He dipped his head down and ran his tongue over her nipple. Rachel shuddered and then groaned softly. “So what do we do now?” he asked.
“We could have sex,” she suggested. “Or we could…”
“Or we could what? We could wait?”
“It’s often best to prolong the anticipation,” she said. “Find other things to occupy our bodies and our minds. Then, when it does happen, it will be much more intense and pleasurable.”
Dec nuzzled her breast, inhaling the scent of her skin, sweet and flowery. He straightened, then dropped a kiss on her mouth. “I’d be silly not to trust the expert, right?”
“Right,” she replied. He kissed her neck, sucking gently. “Or maybe not,” she added.
He grabbed her waist and set her back on her feet, then carefully retied her robe. Though it took every ounce of willpower Dec possessed to remove his hands from her body, he knew they’d made the right decision. When he made love to Rachel, it wouldn’t be just good, it would be incredible. And for that, he was willing to wait a little longer.
They walked hand in hand to her bedroom. Dec kissed her softly as they stood beside the bed, his fingers tangling in her hair. It would take so little to move beyond this, he mused. They could simply lie down and let their desire take over. As if she’d heard his thoughts, Rachel took his hand and pulled him down with her onto the bed.
He stretched out on top of her, his erection pressed between their bodies. She hadn’t touched him, at least not as openly as he’d touched her, and for that he was grateful. If she wrapped her fingers around his cock, he knew he’d be lost.
But he could do this, taking everything more slowly, prolonging the chase. It was like sex was brand new again, untarnished by his experiences in the past. He’d never wanted a woman more than he wanted Rachel, but then, he’d never had a better reason to wait.
As they continued to kiss, she pressed her hips against his, gently rubbing until they rocked in a slow, delicious rhythm. He hadn’t enjoyed such basic pleasure since he was a teenager, taking his very first steps into the world of sexual experience.
Reliving that first passion made this seem even more intense-and forbidden. He tried to hold back, unwilling to admit that his control was no better than that of a fourteen-year-old boy. But as she seduced his mouth with her lips and tongue, Dec gradually slipped into that place where he could no longer control what he felt.
And then, the world shifted and he could no longer hold back. His climax overwhelmed him and he came, spilling his pleasure onto the soft fabric of his boxer briefs. A groan slipped from his throat as the spasms continued and her body arched beneath his.
When he was spent, Dec pushed up on his hands and stared down at her. A tiny smile curled her lips. “You’re a very naughty girl,” he said.
Rachel nodded.
Dec let his arms collapse and nuzzled his face in the curve of her neck. Then he bit her gently, just enough so that she’d know what she’d done to him. The damp spot between them began to grow and he rolled off of her. His cock was still stiff but the ache to relieve himself was diminished. “The things you do to me,” he murmured.
“I figured we could take care of it together or you could take care of it on your own. Either way, you weren’t going to get back to sleep until it was taken care of.”
“Thank you for thinking of me.” He stood and walked to the door of her bedroom, then turned and looked at Rachel, now curled up on the bed hugging her pillow. “This better not be some sadistic game you’re playing just to screw with the bodyguard.”
“It’s not,” she said. “Trust me. It will be worth it.” Rachel smiled. “Besides, you always have a choice. You could choose to strip out of those boxers, walk across the room and have your way with me right now. And I wouldn’t stop you.”
“You wouldn’t?”
She shook her head and Dec groaned. This experiment in denial was intriguing, but it was also frustrating as hell. He’d done it all and then some with the women he’d bedded. But he’d never done this. Dec hadn’t even thought he was capable. And who knows where it might lead? If Rachel was right and the result between them was the best he’d ever had, then he was willing to wait.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” Rachel said, her gaze dropping to the damp spot on the front of his boxers.
Dec chuckled softly as he walked out into the hall. This was a hell of a thing to happen between them. It wasn’t exactly normal, but it was damn interesting.
He turned and walked to the bathroom. As he cleaned up the remains of his orgasm, Dec caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror. He stopped and stared. This was different, he could feel it in his gut. And though he didn’t know where it was leading, Dec sensed that it was going somewhere important. Could he be falling in love with Rachel?
He cursed softly. Hell, twenty-four hours ago, she was dousing him with pepper spray. People didn’t fall in love that quickly. “Jaysus, Declan, this isn’t love,” he muttered. “It’s just a real bad case of lust.”
As he laid down in the narrow bunk, Dec’s mind was filled with images of Rachel, her hair brushing his chest, her mouth teasing at his cock, her naked body sitting astride his. It would all happen, and when it did, his feelings would be sorted out. But until then, he’d have to exist in this state of delicious torture-and annoying confusion-for just a little while longer.
RACHEL HAD BEEN UP FOR two hours by the time Dec wandered out of his bedroom. To her relief, he’d decided to put on jeans, rather than wear his boxers all day long. It was difficult enough being around him without having him always walking around half-dressed and completely aroused. Still, he’d neglected to button them up, or put underwear on beneath them, leaving her a tantalizing view of his belly and the dark shadow of hair beneath.
It was odd how they’d managed to be intimate, yet had done it in little fits and starts. She’d seen him naked, but only through the door of the bathroom. He’d seen her naked, but only in the faint light on the porch. She’d touched him intimately, but only with her foot. He’d come, with her help, but they’d both been dressed.
Rachel felt a warm flush color her cheeks at the thought of his hands on her body. He had a way of finding just the right spots on her skin, where the nerves seemed to tingle with anticipation. And when his lips followed his hands, Rachel forgot how to breathe.
“Morning,” she murmured, handing him a mug of coffee.
He set the coffee down and stretched his arms above his head, working the kinks out of his back. Her gaze dropped to his belly and then lower, and she wondered if he’d slept in the nude last night. An image of him, lying in bed, sated from his orgasm, the sheets twisted around his limbs, flashed in her mind. She grabbed her coffee and took a quick swallow.
Dec sighed as he leaned over the counter, bracing his arms on the butcher block top. “Did you sleep well last night?”
She nodded. “How about you?”
“Like the dead,” he said, a crooked grin playing on his lips. “What exactly happened between us last night? I mean, I know what happened in my boxers, but what happened before that?”
“Desire,” Rachel replied.
“I assume you know how that works?”
She nodded and boosted herself up on the counter to sit beside him. “It’s pretty straightforward.”
He reached over and ran a finger down the outside of her bare leg, then up the inside of her thigh. “Tell me.
