Nudging her opening with the blunt tip of his shaft, he asked, “Now?”
She arched up—“Yes, now”—and felt the beginning of his possession.
Then he reared backward, pulling out completely, a particularly vile four-letter word coming out of his mouth.
“What?” she asked in shock, her heart hammering against her ribs.
“I almost forgot the rubber.”
“You mean we don’t have one?” she asked, ready to blow something up or take an unforgivable chance if he said they didn’t.
He lunged across the bed without answering and jerked the drawer open on the small night table. He grabbed something and then went up on his haunches, the evidence of his desire and his body leaning intimidatingly over her. With shaking hands that shocked her more than his withdrawal, he ripped open the package and then rolled the condom on.
“The suite came supplied with condoms?” she asked in disbelief as he came back over her.
“They do if you pay the concierge enough.” Then his mouth locked with hers again, his tongue thrusting between her lips with exciting force, making it impossible to speak anymore.
Once again, he looped her legs over his arms and pushed them wide, but this time he didn’t ask if she was ready. He had to know she was beyond ready. His broad head pressed inside her, and while she felt as though she was stretching beyond what her body should allow, she experienced no real pain.
He rocked against her, sending sensation arcing through her body with each deepened thrust until he was seated to the hilt and their pubic hair meshed.
She felt impaled and couldn’t move, but she wanted him to.
“Are you all right?” he asked, his brow glistening with sweat, the effort it took to hold back reflected in the tense lines of his hard face, the rigid set of his shoulders.
“More than all right.”
“Are you okay if I move?”
“Please…” She bit her lip, trying not to yell demands at him, but gave up when the movement he made was so small it was more torture than assuagement. She grabbed his head, her fingers curling into his dark, silky hair, and held on tight. “Move, Daniel. I want you to come inside me!”
Something seemed to break within him. Maybe it was his control. He began moving, pounding in and out of her with the power and speed of a jackhammer.
She loved every second of it and felt another stunning climax begin to build deep in her womb. Incredibly, he grew inside her. It should have been impossible, considering the condition he’d been in to begin with, but he got even harder, massaging her core in ways she couldn’t fathom.
She clenched around him in involuntary spasms, on the edge of an explosion bigger than any bomb she’d ever built. He gave a deafening shout as his whole body went rigid in sexual ecstasy, and the explosion hit, rocking her foundation with its power.
She couldn’t even scream, the pleasure was so great, and her mouth opened on a silent, prolonged cry as her body convulsed around him.
Afterward, he collapsed on top of her, his face turned away on the pillow.
His dark hair was wild and wet with sweat, and she kissed it, emotion tearing at her insides with too much beauty to be borne. “Thank you.”
He mumbled something, but she couldn’t understand what, and then didn’t say anything else. She smiled, resting her face against his head. Her eyes drooped, and she felt herself slipping into sleep.
Daniel forced himself to disengage from Josie, so he could take care of the condom. Otherwise he probably would have stayed inside her all night long. And smothered her to death.
She was so tiny compared to him. She’d laugh in his face if he told her he thought she was fragile, but it was how he saw her, and that would probably never change. He’d seen her hold her own in combat, but that didn’t seem to matter to the part of him that claimed her as his woman.
For now.
Not even a woman raised to be a soldier could stay in his life forever. He wasn’t capable of that kind of permanent intimacy, but they had now. He was going to revel in the present, for once dismissing both his pain- filled, guilt-ridden past and the certain loneliness of the future.
Josie woke surrounded by heat and hard muscle. The room was dark, the heavy drapes on the window blocking everything but a crack of light from the streetlights outside. She could make out the murky shape of the dresser against the far wall, the one practically covered by a huge bouquet of roses. She could still smell the sweet fragrance of the flowers, but Daniel’s scent was even more tantalizing.
The man-woman aroma of their lovemaking clung to him, enveloping her in an intimacy she’d never known. Josie snuggled in closer, becoming immediately aware of hard flesh pressing against her backside as a stifled groan sounded from Daniel’s throat. She wiggled again, as intoxicated by his reaction to her as the memory of the way he made her feel.
He sucked in air as if she’d hit him, and a hard hand clamped on to her hip, stilling her movement. Did he think she was asleep?
She scooted out from under his hand and turned over to face him. Pressing her body against his, she welcomed the feel of his erection against her belly.
His big body shook, and he groaned again, this time a lot more loudly.
She looked up at him, unable to make out much more than the shape of his head in the darkness. “Hi.”
“Hi.” His voice sounded strangled.
“I couldn’t help but notice you were awake.”
“I’ve been awake for an hour.”
She reached down between them and closed her fingers around the heated flesh of his arousal. “Like this?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” She brushed up and down his length, amazed at how velvetlike and hot his skin was.
His hand clamped over her wrist. “Stop that.”
“Why?” she asked again.
“You’ll make me lose control.”
After the way he’d made love to her earlier, putting her comfort ahead of his desire, she didn’t think it would be possible. “Would I?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“No, it’s not.”
“I don’t see why.” She was no longer a virgin. She could handle him going a little wild. In fact, she looked forward to it. She shouldn’t be the only one losing connection with reality when they made love.
“We can’t make love right now.”
“Did you only get one condom from the concierge?”
“No.”
She leaned forward and inhaled against him before pressing an open-mouthed kiss to his smooth chest. He tasted spicy and all male. She couldn’t help flicking her tongue out to explore more of his skin. His muscles were rock hard and so were the small nipples her lips found in the darkness. She circled one with her tongue and then bit it very gently.
He made the sound of a dying man faced with Heaven, but consigned to Hell. “Stop.”
“I don’t want to.”
“If you don’t, I’m going to end up buried deep inside you again.”
“And this is supposed to be a bad thing?” She liked, no loved, having him deep inside her body, one with her in a way no other person could ever be.
“It will hurt.”
“I don’t think so.”
