At thevulnerability in his voice, she smiled tenderly at him. He wantedthis to happen. That much was clear to her, and so did she. “Oh, Itrust you, Crispin. More than that, I want you. Now more thanever.”
He could barelycontain the joy her declaration caused within his chest. He hadn’tthe slightest doubt she’d be the perfect sex partner. Keeping herout of his heart, on the other hand, might prove impossible. It wasa risk worth taking, he thought, gazing into her eyes. Even if itkilled him.
“So, is it a go?” He held his breath.
“Yes, Crispin, it’s a go. Go go go, yes, sir, andplease!”
“Wonderful... now come here.” He leaned forward and they met inthe middle, sealing the deal with a kiss.
“So, how do we do this?” she asked when he drew back, a renewedlook of confidence on his handsome face. Gone were all traces ofvulnerability. In its place, was a look so wicked, it caused her toshudder.
“That, my dear, is no longer your concern.”
Chapter 20
Unable to holdback any longer, Crispin crawled towards Gwen and tucked his handaround the back of her head under her chestnut hair. He then leanedin and captured her lips with his own. He kissed her long and slow,tangling his tongue with hers. She was nervous, understandably so,and he wanted her to relax more than anything. Her comfort wasparamount to making this work. The last thing he wanted was toscare her away. In order to do this right, he had to break her inslowly. When she sighed and moaned, he smiled as he kissed her. Hisplan was working. Almost too well.
When she wentto lie down, he dragged her back up. “No no no... much too soon forall that.” He leaned in and whispered in her ear. He thenpositioned her so she sat on the edge of the bed, her feet on thefloor.
“Uh huh, okay,” she said, her cheeks flushed, her eyes hoodedwith desire. She started to roll up her sweater when he stayed herhand. “Crispin, I’m hot.”
“Are you now? Well, I’ll help you with that.” Sitting besideher, he rolled her sweater up slowly and then flipped it up overher head. He didn’t remove it all the way off. He fashioned itaround her arms and angled them behind her back. “I’ve been wantinga peek at these beauties all day.” He first looked at her face andthen feasted his eyes on the creamy swells of herbreasts.
With her armslocked loosely behind her, Gwen was wide open to his perusal. For atiny fraction of a second, she felt a spike in her anxiety at thenear-feral look in his dark dove grey eyes. Seconds later, at thefeel of his hot tongue on her skin, all worries evaporated intothin air. She wanted more than anything to use her hands, to holdhim, to run her fingers through his wavy long hair. She couldeasily untangle herself from her sweater, but she knew better. Thelast thing she wanted was to give him reason to stop what he wasdoing. As it was, he had one large hand on the small of her back,fingers splayed and stroking her skin ever so softly. His otherhand was resting rather snug on the swell of her belly while hecoated the exposed skin of her chest over and over again with openmouthed kisses.
“Beautiful...” he whispered when he brought his mouth to herear, licking and biting her lobe, planting a trail of kisses to hermouth and back. The hand on her belly started to move south,fingers fumbling with the button on her jeans. Giving the zipper atug, he then slid his hand home.
When shejolted and arched at the feel of his hand in her pants, he held hertighter and nipped his teeth into the skin where her shoulder mether neck. He had Gwen panting with need and the urge to take holdof him overwhelmed her. Before she could stop herself, she pulledfree one of her hands and reached around his neck. To her, it feltlike the most natural thing to do. But that’s where she waswrong.
In reaction,he tensed and immediately backed off, causing her to flinch. “Whynot?” she gasped.
Glaring ather, he easily overpowered her and pressed her onto her back,pinning her hands down on either side of her head, her sweatertossed aside.
“Just don’t!” he growled, his mind reeling. He wanted to goslow, but she wasn’t making it easy. Sure, he could stop andexplain it all to her, but first, he had to have her at least once.At least this once, before she realized he was not this grandiosehero, she imagined him to be. He’d been looking forward to thismoment with her for too long. This was not the time for sharinginsecurities.
“Okay...” it was all she could say, seeing the pain behind hisstormy expression. She decided not to press him on it. Fornow.
With regret,Gwen thought she’d ruined the moment. But after a few seconds ofheavy breathing and unbearable tension, he closed the space betweenthem, pressing their bodies together. Relief flooded her and shesighed at the feel of his smooth hard chest against her nearlynaked upper body. At first contact of his steely hardness to hercore, she moaned and rolled her eyes in ecstasy. A deep sighfollowed in response to the heat of his body against hers, thepress, the weight of him, the promise of what was to come. With hisfingers still coiled around hers, he covered her mouth with a deeppenetrating kiss, his tongue thrusting in and out of her mouth,keeping pace with his hips as he repeatedly ground himself againsther until they were both ready to combust.
“Now, if you promise to behave,” he murmured against her neck.“I promise to put this fire out between your legs.”
“Yes, oh, yes...”
“Good,” he said as he pulled away. “Now let’s get started,shall we?”
Bewildered andflustered, she blinked up at him. “Started?” As far as she wasconcerned, she was already approaching the finish line.
“Oh, cheeky monkey, you have no idea what you’re getting into.”Steeling himself to the task, he sat back, tugged her
