fast. Reckless. Even painful. What she got was hot, delicious sensation. “Joe!” She wriggled, but the heat just consumed her all the more. “Where’s my
“For someone new at this, you’re awfully bossy.” He kneeled between her legs. “I like that in a woman.” He put on a condom before she could stop him. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be protected, but she wanted to participate in everything. Before she could complain, he was kissing her again and she could participate in that, oh yes, she could.
Joe tasted her lips, her jaw, the precise spot on her throat where the pulse frantically leaped, then took her mouth again, shaken with the force of his own need. And those fierce little sounds that escaped the back of her throat were the most arousing he’d ever heard. He heard her sigh, then when he nudged at her hot, wet center, she gasped.
“Okay?”
“Yes,” she murmured, opening for him. “More. You promised.”
“Hold on to me, Caitlin. Hold on tight.”
Her arms slipped around him. His mouth closed over hers as he slid into her inch by inch. When she cried out, he froze in terror that he’d hurt her, but she shifted her hips, lifting experimentally. “Oh,” she breathed, drawing him in deeper, snugger, tighter. “Oh, I like it.”
His hands shifted from her hips to brace on either side of her face where, from behind a haze of deep hunger, he watched her for any signs of pain or discomfort. She shot him a dazzling smile, and he saw only pleasure-dazed, dark pleasure.
“There’s even more, isn’t there?” she asked hopefully, making him both groan and laugh at the same time.
She met him stroke for mind-blowing stroke. And in her eyes, he saw everything he’d feared. Warmth, affection, acceptance, heat, need. Love. He saw her soul, and his mirrored back. He knew that alone should have brought the most fear of all, but miraculously, it didn’t.
Beneath him, her eyes went wide, her mouth opened in a surprised O as she began to tremble and quiver. He tried to hold back, to prolong it for her, but his body finally betrayed him as she convulsed. Her shudder worked through him and became his, swirling and demanding, and he buried his face in her neck. She sobbed out his name as she climaxed, and clenching her fisted hands in his, he let himself go with her.
CAITLIN WOKE FIRST, to the sound of a light spring rain. Joe held her as he slept, her back to his front, his arms possessively tight. One of his large hands, fingers spread wide, was low on her belly. The other had tangled itself in her hair. One of his thighs was pressed between hers, and for a minute, she allowed herself to snuggle in deeper, surrounded by his warmth.
She’d made love, for the first time in her life. Giddiness welled, as did a blissful wonder. She’d never known… never expected it to be so spectacular.
He had made it that way, she thought, joy flooding her. He’d been fierce and wild, and gentle and tender. And afterward, he’d carefully cleaned her with a warm washcloth, expressing concern, but it hadn’t been necessary.
She felt fantastic.
And ready for more.
His breathing was deep and even, and she decided to show mercy as she’d obviously exhausted him.
The scent of the rain on the air drew her, as did her curiosity about the house. She’d only caught a short glimpse of it. She slipped out of his arms, then stopped to admire his tough, rangy body, only half-covered by the sheet.
He was…heart stopping. And, for now, hers.
The air was hot, muggy, so she walked nude to his dresser and stopped short, baffled at the reflection. Her hair exploded around her face in loose curls. Her lips were red and swollen, her eyes bright with light
She looked…like a wild woman in love, one who’d just been shown how much she was loved back.
Did Joseph love her?
She twisted to see the still sleeping form on the bed. He was magnificent, sprawled in all his glory. He certainly lusted after her, and she blushed remembering exactly how much.
But did he love her?
She sighed, suddenly discontent. She stepped out onto the dark patio. His house faced the ocean, giving her an incredible view of heavy waves lit only by whatever weak moonbeams managed to evade the clouds.
A jag of lightning flashed across the sky, and a second later thunder rolled. The roof of the deck was slatted and the cool rain fell through, wetting her. Shivering a little in spite of the hot air, she stood there, face upturned to the mist, loving the erotic feel of the cool drops landing on her hot body.
Just standing there watching her take her own pleasure from the rain had him rock hard. He walked up behind her, slid his arms around her slick body. “I thought it was all a dream,” he whispered in her ear, taking the soft flesh there between his teeth, drawing goose bumps to her skin.
Arching back, pressing her spine to his chest, she sucked in her breath when his hands spread on her thighs, streaked up her hips, over her belly and captured her wet breasts. “If it was,” she moaned, “it’s the best dream I ever had.” His thumbs flicked over her rigid nipples, making her writhe, her hips rubbing urgently back against his.
“Caitlin.” He slid his hand down, down past damp curls and into hot, creamy heaven, thrilling to the soft, dark sounds she made. “Are you sore?”
“No, not yet,” she murmured, gripping the railing in front of her for balance and grinding her hips in tune with his hand. “I had no idea…how it would be. I want more, Joe…more.”
Whatever she wanted tonight would be hers. Whatever she needed, he’d find a way to give it. The rain fell unnoticed, and the night sang with the sounds of the ocean waves hitting the shore below them.
He kept her from falling as she came, quivering in the pale light, her skin aglow. He held her like that, just held her, with her bottom snugged up to his thighs, with their hearts racing together, and he had to fight against swiftly and greedily taking all that she offered. It wasn’t easy, not with her hands urging him as she reached back and gripped his hips, and her body poised and waiting, silently confirming she yearned as much as he. The ache within him became primal and blinding as he absorbed the exquisite feel of her against him.
Nothing would ever be the same again.
Suddenly, there was no reason to rush; there was time. Time for everything. And oh, how he wanted everything, every whisper, every promise, every touch, every single second of this time with her.
Everywhere he touched, she turned something inside him to gold. Despite the misery of his past, she made him feel good, wanted, needed…loved. “You make me feel so alive,” he said huskily, kissing his way along her jaw. “So alive.”
She twisted her head, and her lips parted for his kiss. The urgency returned tenfold. She pressed back against him, restlessly running her hands up and down his thighs, trying to draw him inside her.
The darkness cocooned them; the rumbling thunder and flash of lightning provided their music. There was no other sound except the frantic roar of their own hearts and harsh, needy breathing. One last time, Joe brought his mouth down to hers, taking her stunned cry into his throat as he gripped her hips and sheathed himself into her from behind, filling her. Not just with his body; even in his confusion, he understood that.
Caitlin threw her head back against his shoulder, her body bowing in slim arch with strain and wonder and abandon. Even as part of his brain struggled to register that he didn’t want to love her, didn’t want to need her, she was taking him away to a place where there was no reality. Where love didn’t hurt. Where he could let himself go.
He closed his eyes and did just that. He’d known, hadn’t he, that it would be like this with her. No restraints, no
