He could spend a lifetime discovering all there was to know about Loretta Castille.
She surprised him again by boldly grasping his arousal.
“Whoa, careful there.” He laughed a bit nervously. She had no idea how precariously he was balanced, or how easy it would be to send him over the edge. A couple of years of celibacy had given him a hair trigger, and he didn’t want this to end quickly.
“Should we…you know, get into bed now?” she asked.
He found her combination of bold action and timid words endearing. So many intriguing contrasts. He pulled the covers back on her poofy four-poster bed, and a light, flowery scent drifted up.
The woman perfumed her sheets. She couldn’t have known he’d be here today, so she must do it on a regular basis, just for herself.
“It’s a very feminine bed.” She sounded embarrassed. “You’ll probably feel silly lying in it.”
“The only thing I feel is turned on. But for the record, I love your bed and I’m honored you’re inviting me into it.” He sat on the edge and pulled her down into his lap, prolonging his sweet torture as her bottom pressed against him.
In one deft move he leaned back and rolled them both onto the bed. The mattress was softer than anything he’d ever slept on. “You have a feather bed.”
“Just a feather mattress topper. What can I say? I’m self-indulgent.”
“I’m planning to indulge you.”
LUC’S WORDS SENT tendrils of pleasure along Loretta’s nerve endings. She could hardly believe she was doing this, and she felt like she was doing everything wrong-responding hotly at the wrong moments, talking when she should shut up, thinking of her own pleasure instead of Luc’s.
But she was at the mercy of those damnable hormones. She could blame them for the misfiring neurons in her brain, too, that caused this temporary lapse in judgment. Her will had simply disappeared, and all she could do was go along for the ride, and a highly enjoyable ride it was.
Luc nudged her onto her back, and at first she felt pure relief that he was going to put an end to the suspense. Her blood was churning, her skin hot, her breath coming in short spurts. She was ready to see this through, ready to know what it was like to make love with Luc.
But he had other ideas.
He started by kissing her again, very thoroughly, his tongue darting in and out of her mouth in a teasing way. She made a noise low in her throat, a sound of need that was, again, embarrassing but over which she had no control. She’d hoped he would take it as encouragement that she was ready, that he wasn’t rushing her.
But he was the one who wouldn’t be rushed, she realized, as his attention wandered to her neck, which he kissed and nuzzled. Meanwhile his hands weren’t idle. He explored her breasts as if they contained the great mysteries of the universe.
She squirmed under his touch. She was afraid she was simply going to implode from all the stimulation. Then he took her nipple into his mouth and sucked gently, and a cord seemed to stretch inside her body, straight from her breast to her core.
To her total amazement and embarrassment, she did implode. He wasn’t even touching her…there. She was one great big uncontrollable ball of female need and he was taking full advantage. All she could do was gasp with the overwhelming pleasure of it all.
He chuckled low in his throat, and she cuffed him lightly on the ear. “You think that’s funny?”
“Not funny, exactly,” he said, looking up at her with a wicked smile. “But very enjoyable.”
“In case you were worried, you haven’t lost your touch.” But she silently added that she was pretty sure she hadn’t lost hers, either. It was like riding a bicycle, right? She reached between their bodies and found his rigid erection, and his smile abruptly disappeared.
“Oh, honey.” He rolled over onto his back. “What are your plans?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” And she pleasured him the way she knew men most loved to be pleasured, hoping he would exhibit the same lack of control that she’d shown.
But he had more discipline than she did-or maybe she had lost her touch. Because although he obviously enjoyed what she was doing, he didn’t climax right away.
After a short while, Loretta found she was feeling all squirmy again. Giving him pleasure had turned her on again. Abruptly she straightened to her knees, and at Luc’s questioning look, she swung one leg over him and prepared to take what she wanted.
“Oh, now, wait a minute-”
“I don’t want to wait.”
He smiled at her audacity. “When you’re riding a bicycle for the first time in years, you don’t immediately start doing wheelies.”
“I like wheelies.” She grasped the iron-hard length of him and guided him to her. She was hot and slick with need, and he stopped pretending to want anything else.
She started to sheathe him, slowly at first, but then she just needed to fill herself with him.
“I can’t…control things as well…from this position.” Luc’s face had gone rigid, his eyes closed.
“That’s the idea. I want to see you lose control.” And she started to move.
“You’ll get your wish.” He grasped her by the hips in a vain attempt to slow her down. But now she was off and there was no stopping her. She slid up and down the length of him, drawing him in more deeply each time, wondering if she’d developed a whole new set of nerve endings, because she couldn’t remember sex feeling anything like this before. She closed her eyes and gave in to it, and to her amazement, she came again with a burst of heat so explosive she actually looked down at herself to see if she was still in one piece.
She caught Luc’s grin of triumph just before his face tensed and he grimaced. “Oh. Lo, you…I…” But whatever he’d been trying to say got caught in his throat as he found his own pleasure, thrusting violently inside her two or three times, his hands gripping her even more tightly. She would have bruises where he held her-bruises where his fingers clutched.
Something to remember this crazy afternoon by…for a few days, anyway.
As her own climax faded, she slumped against him. He wrapped his arms around her and she savored the closeness, the feel of his sweat-slicked skin those last few precious seconds they were joined, before his body relaxed completely and she pulled away from him.
“Loretta.” The way he said her name was almost a growl.
“Luc.”
“Are you by any chance on the pill?”
CHAPTER SEVEN
TALK ABOUT COMING BACK to earth in a hurry.
“Uh, no,” Loretta said.
“Ah. Then I guess we should have had this conversation a few minutes ago.”
“You know, it never occurred to me. Which is pretty stupid.”
“Hell, it’s not as if I don’t know better.” He sighed. “I’ve never in my life forgotten that little detail.”
“And I’ve never in my life had to think about it. Jim and I never used anything, and it took me two years to get pregnant. So we probably don’t have anything to worry about.”
“Still.”
“You’re already sorry, aren’t you?”
He kissed her on the nose. “Oh, hell, no, I’m not sorry. I shouldn’t have even brought it up. Let’s not borrow trouble. I just want to lie here with you.”
“It was good, huh?” She was embarrassed that she needed the validation, but she felt pretty inept at the moment.
“Good doesn’t even get off the starting blocks. I’ve never…let’s just say you tested my powers of control beyond any reasonable limits. I almost came when you took off your bra, and it just got better from there.”
She appreciated his frank appraisal of their lovemaking. But something niggled at the back of her mind, something she needed to worry about-besides the fact she’d just had unprotected sex with a man who she was pretty sure had no burning desire for children. She looked out the window, noticing the angle of the sun, and it hit her.