“Trust me,” he whispered as he pulled her close and pressed his mouth to hers.
She melted into the kiss. His mouth was that impossible combination of firm and soft. Just the way she remembered, she thought, as heat began to steal through her. His lips moved against hers, rediscovering her, letting her rediscover him. She liked that he went slow, brushing against her over and over, teasing with his tongue at the corner of her mouth, but not dipping inside. Not yet.
Instinctively she raised her hands to his shoulders. From there she slid one into his hair and rubbed the other up and down his back. He was exactly as she remembered-hard and unyielding. Thick muscles shifting as she touched them. He cupped the back of her head, as if he was afraid she would bolt. She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t going anywhere, but she didn’t want to break the kiss long enough for her to speak.
He dropped one hand to her shoulder. As his strong fingers began kneading away her tenseness, his tongue swept across the seam of her mouth. She instantly parted for him-opening to let him inside.
Even as they began the intimate dance she recalled so clearly, her body surrendered to desire. Her breasts swelled, becoming exquisitely sensitive. Low in her belly, a shiver trickled through her. It moved down, between her thighs, making her ache with longing. She could feel herself readying for him. Her woman’s place remembered the feel of him inside of her-how he’d always had the ability to bring her the most perfect release.
But this was more than just needing ease from sexual tension, she thought, as his tongue teased hers and made her moan low in her throat. She desperately wanted the connection with Del. She wanted to be in his arms, held close. She wanted to feel skin on skin. She wanted tenderness as well as sex.
The need made her feel vulnerable, which made her uncomfortable. But not wanting to deal with it didn’t make it go away. So she concentrated on his warm breath and the heaviness of his hand on her waist.
Del shifted slightly, as if he were going to lie on the bed. Without thinking, she moved to straddle him. Her on top was a position they’d always favored. She half turned in her seat and raised her left leg to slid over his. Instantly pain ripped through her, making her gasp aloud and collapse on the bed.
“Josie?” Del bent over her, stroking her face. “What happened? What hurt you?”
She couldn’t speak. It was as if someone had set fire to her bones…and not in a good way. Pain seared her, making it impossible to talk. She could barely breathe. Humiliation joined the agony, making her want to scream her frustration. It wasn’t fair. Please, God, why couldn’t it be fair?
“Josie?”
“I’m fine,” she managed, breathing out the words more than speaking them. “Just give me a second.”
She rubbed her thigh in an effort to ease the sensation. Del’s hand pressed over hers.
“Does rubbing help?” he asked.
She nodded.
He pushed her fingers away and began to move in a slow, deep circle. He was stronger than her and he had the advantage of being able to sit up and press into the movement. At first his ministrations only made it worse, but gradually the tension eased and she was able to move again.
“Thanks,” she said as she sat up. She was careful not to look at him. Embarrassment flooded her. If she’d been able, she would have left his room and then his house, without once looking back.
But she couldn’t leave. At least not yet. She could only sit there and search for words to explain.
“I told you I couldn’t do the things I’d done before.”
She knew the statement sounded like an accusation. As if it was Del’s fault.
“I understand. So what went wrong?”
She laced her fingers together. “I tried to swing my leg over yours. I thought I’d straddle you. But I can’t lift my leg in that direction.”
“You hurt yourself. Is it temporary or do you think we should get you to the doctor?”
“I’m fine.”
“Do you still want to make love, or did that kill the mood?”
She couldn’t believe he’d asked. She turned to glare at him. “I know you can’t want me anymore. Not like this.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t recall saying what I wanted. I asked about you. How do you feel?”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because you’re half this team.” He leaned close and kissed her. “What I learned from what just happened is that we have to be really careful. I’m happy to do that. What I need to know is if you still want this or if you’re too sore.”
Words failed her. He still wanted to do it? Now? After she’d demonstrated how different it was going to be?
“But we might have to use pillows to support my hips,” she said uneasily. “And I won’t be able to wrap my legs around you or anything.”
“Wow. That’s pretty terrible. I’m completely grossed out.”
As he spoke, he angled his head so that he could kiss the side of her neck. She shivered at the delicate contact.
“You’re not being serious.”
“You haven’t given me a reason to be. Do you like this?”
He took her ear lobe between his teeth and gently bit down. Another shiver rippled through her, this one erasing the last of the pain. Suddenly she could feel the dampness between her thighs and the ache in her breasts. Tension spiraled through her, making her blood run hotter and faster.
She pulled away so that she could see his face. “Are you sure?”
He smiled then. That “I’m so damn male” smile men got when they knew they were about to get lucky. “Oh, yeah.”
She couldn’t help smiling, as well. “Promise you won’t be grossed out too much.”
“You have my word.”
He shifted so he could slide one arm behind her back and the other under her legs, then he moved her so that she was lying on the mattress.
“Just relax,” he told her as he stretched out next to her. “Let me do all the work. Your only job is going to be giving me instructions.”
She tried to ignore a flutter of nerves in her stomach. “I like doing that.”
“I know. So have at it. Tell me if you want more or less or harder or faster. Whatever seems right at the time.”
As he finished speaking, he bent over and kissed her. At the same time, he reached for the front button of her dress and unfastened it.
Josie told herself to concentrate on the feel of his mouth against hers, on the way their tongues instinctively moved together in a pattern they’d established years before. She tried to focus on how right it felt to be with him, to be next to him, in bed with him. But she couldn’t. All she could think about was the row of buttons giving way beneath his questing fingers and how he was going to pull her dress open at any second and then he would be able to see a lot of her body and it wasn’t very pretty and he was going to want to call the whole thing off and he wouldn’t know how so she was going to have to do it but she really, really didn’t want to because-
One hand settled on her breast. The contact startled her, making her gasp against his mouth. But the quick exhalation came more from how good his palm and fingers felt than from horror. In fact there was less and less horror as he began to move against her curves. The lace of her bra was barely any barrier at all.
She knew she was fuller than she’d been the last time they’d made love. He slowly discovered all her fullness, then gently rubbed her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. The attention was exquisite, making her arch slightly against him.
She wanted to raise her hips and part her legs, but she didn’t. She was careful to keep her movements small so she wouldn’t set off any more pain explosions.
As his fingers teased her breast, his tongue teased her mouth. The combinations of contact made her want to whimper. Everything he was doing felt so very good. She’d been skin-starved for so long. The thought of another man doing this to her was impossible to imagine, but with Del she suddenly knew she would be safe.
“Josie,” he whispered against her mouth as his hand began to slip lower. Fingertips drifted across her belly,
