“Damn you,” he said softly, his breathing shallow.
“You don’t mean that,” she said, refusing to back away. Her confidence surged more powerfully than it had in weeks.
Finally Paul’s hard, unblinking expression softened to one of wry acceptance. “No. I don’t mean it,” he said, his arms pulling her close. She could feel the ragged whisper of his breath across the top of her head.
“I don’t want this to be a mistake,” he said.
“It isn’t,” she said with astonishing certainty. If anything, Paul’s doubts and restraint had proved that to her. He respected her and that was every bit as important as loving her.
She had yet to define her own feelings clearly, but she recognized that they were stronger and more powerful than anything she’d known before, a blend of friendship and desire that might very well become love. But the relationship needed intimacy to grow, to mature into something lasting. Whatever happened in the future, tonight’s risk was one that had to be taken.
His hands cupped her face, the pads of his thumbs playing across her lips as he studied her intently. Gabrielle felt her heart thundering against her ribs as she waited. Finally he nodded, then lowered his mouth to hers again in a gentle promise.
When the kiss ended, he kept the promise, scooping her into his arms and carrying her through the darkened apartment to her room. He reached for the light switch, but she shook her head.
“There’s a candle.”
When he’d lowered her to the bed, he lit the candle, filling the room with the scent of lavender. Then he turned and started for the door.
“Paul?”
“I have to protect you. I’ll be back,” he promised.
Her heart filled to overflowing at this further evidence of his caring. Her trust was not misplaced. This was right. As she waited for his return, her stomach muscles tensed in anticipation of his joining her on the bed. Her pulse was beating to a sensual cadence. Then, as the narrow mattress sank beneath his weight, her skin tingled at the brush of denim and flannel against her flesh.
Expecting no more than urgency and a swift claiming from this first time together, Gabrielle instead found herself caught up in a slow building of passion. Paul teased and tempted and explored, waiting for sensation to subside before finding new ways to drive her wild with desire. She’d never imagined this exquisite tension, the urgent need to reach a peak of pleasure beyond all experience. He played her body as expertly as a longtime lover, but with the reverence of a man receiving an incredible gift for the first time. He lingered and tasted and stroked until fire consumed any remaining doubts for either of them.
His skin became slick beneath her anxious touch. His muscles tensed to steel as he moved to claim her at last. There was one unbearably slow thrust that startled her with its promise of yet more pleasure. She gasped as he withdrew, then began to fill her once again.
She heard his faint, startled exclamation of her name as if from very far away, then sensed that he was hesitating. Her body protested at the delay. Instinctively her legs circled his back and her hips rose in search of a heat that ignited her own passion.
She was vaguely aware of Paul’s anguished moan as he plunged into her again. There was an instant of pain that took her by surprise and then was gone as their bodies adapted to a natural rhythm as old as time. Just when she thought she’d reached the highest peak of excitement possible, he led her on, flames of pure sensation firing her blood. And when passion exploded through her body at last, joy radiated through her heart at the unexpected sense of fulfillment.
The delicious tension slowly subsided. She opened her eyes to find Paul staring at her. “Okay?” he said, brushing damp tendrils of hair back from her face.
“More than okay.” Rapture lingered as an incredible sensation of well-being.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what?” she said, rubbing her fingers across the stubble that darkened his jaw. The sandpapery, masculine texture sent shivers dancing through her.
“That you’d never been with a man before.”
“Does it matter?” she said, feeling oddly defensive at a moment when she wanted to indulge herself in far sweeter memories.
He smiled. “Not in the way you’re apparently thinking. I could have made it better for you, though.”
“I doubt that,” she said, a wry inflection in her voice.
Grinning slightly, Paul ran a finger across her lips. “Thanks for the flattery, but really, why didn’t you say anything?”
“It’s not exactly something you announce on a first date.”
“This is not a first date. We’ve been living together for weeks now.”
“Platonically.”
“Barely,” he said dryly.
She scowled at him. “If you want to get technical. But I still say this is our first date.”
“At what point did it become a date and not just another night at home? When you decided to fix a fancy dinner? When I inadvertently stood you up? Or when you began to seduce me?”
He had a point, though she couldn’t imagine why he felt the need to belabor this. Being a virgin at her age might be unusual, but it wasn’t exactly a crime.
“Okay,” she said grumpily. “Even tonight wasn’t a date, which is all the more reason for me to have kept my mouth shut about my lack of experience. Why does that bother you so much? I thought men got all macho and tingly knowing that they were the first. Didn’t I get it right?”
“Don’t get testy. You got it very right. I was just surprised. You’re a beautiful, desirable woman. I can’t believe you’ve never had a serious relationship.”
“Actually, I was engaged.”
“And you never…” he began incredulously.
“If you’d met Townsend, you’d understand. It was a very formal engagement. Until I met you, I had no idea of the meaning of the word desire.”
“I’m glad I was able to broaden your vocabulary.”
All of a sudden there was an
