“Mitch?”
He’d been waiting for that faint sign of hesitation, but it still hit him like a grenade. A shudder racked his whole body, but he regained control. With immeasurable tenderness, he simply wrapped his arms around her and held her close until his teeth were able to unclench and his heart at least tried to batter out a normal beat. He’d meant to say nothing at all, yet the hoarse voice was clearly his. “Stay here tonight, Kay,” he whispered. “Just…stay with me. Lie with me.”
Chapter Nine
“Yes,” Kay said breathlessly.
“I won’t push you into making love. I just want to wake up with you in the morning, that’s all.” He tilted her head back to see a strange play of emotions on her face. “I mean it. We’ll just sleep. I won’t-”
“All right, Mitch.” Her voice had all the solidity of Jell-O. Her bones, too. When he picked her up in his arms, she wound her hands around his neck, her eyes frantically searching his face as he carried her over to the bed.
Just sleep? Every square inch of her body suffered instant withdrawal symptoms. She’d been about to say please very nicely, and it certainly wasn’t to just sleep.
Kay was touched as well as startled. Touched that he was willing to be that sure of her feelings before they made love. An old-fashioned man was terribly hard to find. Someone who respected as well as wanted her, someone who wanted to love as well as be loved.
He slid back the spread and blankets and eased her onto the cool sheets with a soft, lingering kiss on her mouth. Looking down at her, his eyes were as dark as his black opals, with just as much latent fire. Leaning over her, he unbuttoned and then tugged off her skirt with a single glance up, as if to confirm that she didn’t object to the intimacy.
She didn’t. When he drew the covers over her, he kissed her again. “Give me a minute to get the lights,” he murmured.
She waited, feeling both bemused and bewildered. When she heard him downstairs, turning off lights, she slipped off her stockings and settled under the covers.
The wind had become a wintry howl. Mitch was back in short order. In the darkness, he removed his pants and shirt and then slid into the bed beside her. Most possessively, he tucked the thick comforter around her chin before deliberately shifting to his side of the bed.
Kay waited expectantly. She had the measure of exactly how aroused he’d been just a short time before; the man took fire at even the slightest touch, but in the most giving way. He was special, so damned special.
And he was going to reach for her; she knew he was. And when he did, she would certainly forgive him for his good intentions. The point was that he’d meant them honorably, and anyway, at the moment she wasn’t overflowing with good intentions herself. It had been a very long time since she’d really wanted someone. It had been forever since she’d wanted anyone as badly as she wanted Mitch.
But he didn’t reach for her. She could hear his breathing; he wasn’t asleep. In time, she edged toward him, and then a little closer, and then curled around him like a kitten. At first, he reacted with utter stillness, but then his arms wrapped around her and he drew her cheek to his chest. His heart thumped a staccato beat in her ear, making her half smile. Mitch was not going to find it all that easy just sleeping.
She didn’t expect to either, but she was so incredibly surrounded by warmth. Desire became a narcotic, the darkness like a lover’s curtain. Such total trust…she couldn’t remember feeling that with another human being. With a sigh, she closed her eyes.
Watching her sleep, Mitch was fascinated. Dawn was sending the faintest light in at the windows, a gray color tinged with dusty rose that just barely illuminated the room. Kay’s lashes curled up on her cheeks, like black velvet on cream.
She was a sprawler, he’d discovered. During the night, she’d kicked off the covers and then twined around him for warmth. Every time he covered her, she just kicked off the blankets and gravitated toward him again.
At the moment, she was wearing a black half-slip, scarlet bikini panties, and the comforter. The sheet had disappeared hours before. The last time he’d tugged the comforter around her chin, the slip was wound around her waist and her bare breasts were trying to nuzzle against him. If that wasn’t enough to deprive a man of rest, the feel of her long slim leg tucked between his…
He hadn’t slept much.
“Mitch?” Sleepily, Kay’s eyes opened to discover Mitch propped up on one elbow, his eyes inches from her own. She smiled groggily. “What on earth are you doing?”
“Watching you wake up,” he murmured.
“That’s no fun.”
“That’s how much you know.” It would be so easy to reach under the covers, to stroke that warm, silken skin as he’d stroked it in the night. So easy to take her… She stretched sleepily, like a wanton cat, her eyes moody with sleep and her smile unbearably seductive. Easy to make love to her?
His body informed him that it was criminal not to. His head knew exactly what body part went where. That aspect of it wasn’t a problem. It was doing it right, pleasing her, the fear he’d damn well rush like hell, hurt her, not love her well…not love her the way he wanted to. That he’d disappoint her…
So, his hand slipped over rather than under the covers, over the curl of her shoulder and into her hair. He leaned toward her, and his lips touched her forehead. It wasn’t a kiss, but a craving to know what her sleep-warmed skin felt like. “You need,” he murmured, “blueberry muffins.”
“Pardon?”
“Muffins.”
She shook her head. Surely, that look in his eye would lead to a caress-but he vaulted most determinedly out of bed.
She noted that he’d slept in a T-shirt and Jockey shorts-undoubtedly in deference to her virtue. Darn lucky for his virtue that he wasn’t still within arm’s reach. The Jockey shorts really didn’t fit very well in the condition he was in. But she probably wasn’t supposed to notice that-he’d turned away as quickly as he could.
Still, she noted with approval that he wasn’t overly self-conscious about his body. He certainly shouldn’t be. He had an honest ripple of muscle in his shoulders, a flat, taut stomach and hard, smooth legs. Also, a flat little fanny that made her smile. The man was pure male, built on neat, strong lines, just the one bulge exactly where it should be and the rest physically fit without making a big deal out of it. At the moment, she was inclined to make a big deal out of it, and wished he’d get back in bed.
“Mr. Cochran?”
He tugged on a velour robe, glancing up as he belted it. “You just stay right there. I’ll bring up some coffee and muffins.”
He brought back the coffee and muffins and watched her strew crumbs from one end of the bed to the other as she waved a muffin around while she talked. The pillows were plumped up behind her, and the comforter tucked under her arms provided only the barest protection for his sanity.
“I can’t believe you can make muffins like this!” she exclaimed. “Heavens, if I thought I could get breakfast in bed every morning, I’d marry you, Cochran.”
“It’s just amazing what a woman will say when she’s exhausted. And you certainly should be. You did calisthenics all night, kicking and thrashing around.”
Kay hastily swallowed. “Did I keep you up?” she asked guiltily.
“Once I had you pinned down so you couldn’t move, I slept just fine,” he lied.
“So you’re that kind, Cochran.” Kay nodded sagely