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He chuckled. "You're damn right it isn't. But I have to start somewhere. I've never had a virgin before, and this seems fairly innocuous."

Not to her. Everything he did or said, everything about him shimmered with sensuality-the scent of him, the planes of his face, the tension of his body. She was drowning in it, and her gaze clung to his as if to a safe mooring. No safety there, only glittering promise.

His fingers brushed the upper swell of her breast.

She shivered, and the muscles of her stomach contracted in response.

"You'll take me and then get up and walk away?" he murmured.

"Yes."

His fingers were at the knot of her sarong. "It will mean nothing to you?"

She had to force the answer through dry lips. "Nothing."

The sarong fell to the floor. She was naked.

He unbuttoned his shirt and threw it aside. "The hell it won't." He buried his hands in her hair and tilted back her head. His eyes were blazing. "I won't be nothing to anyone, goddammit." He pulled her into the cradle of his hips. Arousal. Stark, bold, merciless against her nakedness. "Is this nothing?" His palms cupped her buttocks, lifting her, rubbing her against him.

Shock tingled through her. The hair of his chest was brushing against her nipples, and they were growing more sensitive and hard with every passing second.

"Is it?" he asked again.

She could barely remember the question. "It's very pleasant… I think."

"And this?" His head bent, his tongue touched her nipple.

She cried out, her spine arched.

He lifted his head and he smiled. "Pleasant? I think you'll find that too tame a word." Then his lips closed on her breast, sucking strongly.

Fire. Hunger. Emptiness. It seemed impossible they could exist together, but they did. She reached out, her fingers burying themselves in his hair, holding him to her. Dear heaven, even the feel of his hair between her fingers was causing a tingling heat. She wanted to scream, moan…

He switched to her other breast, sucking, licking. His hands began to open and close on her buttocks. Pressure. Heat. Her heart was beating so hard it filled the cabin-no, it filled the world. Darkness and flame… and hunger.

He finally lifted his head and looked down at her dazed face. "I can't take this anymore," he said hoarsely. "I have to be inside you." He took her hand and pulled her toward the bunk. "Come."

She followed him docilely. In that moment she would have followed him anywhere.

Then he was over her, parting her thighs and moving between them. His hand was on the curls surrounding her womanhood, patting, stroking. "So soft." He tugged gently as he positioned himself. The muscles of her stomach clenched as a bolt of heat went through her. He nodded. "You like that? I'll give you more after I-" He stopped, not moving. "Christ." He looked down at her. "I don't know anything about this."

She looked at him in bewilderment through the haze of lust he had so skillfully built around her. What on earth was he talking about? It was clear to her he knew everything about this. "You appear to be very… well versed."

"Not with virgins, dammit. I don't know- It's supposed to hurt. I should take more time."

More time? When every nerve in her body was on fire? "No!"

"But I don't want to-" He broke off when she took matters into her own hands and lunged upward. His eyes closed as her tightness closed around him. "Damnation."

He plunged hard and deep!

Pain. Fullness. Joining.

Her teeth sank into her lower lip as sensation after sensation stormed through her. She felt so stretched, she was sure she could take no more. Yet, as the pain subsided, she was beginning to feel again that throbbing emptiness that had to be satisfied.

He was frozen within her, every muscle of his body knotted and strained. "Shall I move?" he asked in a low voice.

She would die if he didn't. "Yes."

"Thank God!" Some of the tension left him, but he was still braced as if on the rack. He moved stiffly, the first few thrusts slow, easy. "I'll try to-" he whispered. "It's no good. I'm sorry. I can't do-"

He exploded, thrusting short, long, fast, frantic.

She clutched his shoulders, desperately holding on to him as that emptiness grew and the hunger sharpened. She tried to help him, thrusting upward, instinctively clenching around him to keep him inside her when he left her.

"No, don't do that," he gasped. "I can't-"

She had to do it. She had to have all of him. Her head thrashed wildly from side to side on the pillow. She could feel the wetness on her cheeks, and she realized tears were streaming from her eyes. Lani had said this unbearable hunger was supposed to end. Why didn't it? Why was it growing and changing, making a slave of her body until she could only move mindlessly to the rhythm Jared set?

"Please, make it-" She didn't know what she wanted to ask of him. Make the torment stop. Make it go on forever. Belonging. Every stroke was drawing them closer. Jared. Possession. Darkness. Hunger. Faster, harder, Jared's breath was a harsh sob above her.

Or was she the one who was sobbing? It didn't matter, they were one.

"Now!" he said through his teeth, plunging to the heart of her.

She screamed as the dark hunger exploded, splintered into a brilliance like nothing she'd ever known. Jared collapsed on top of her. "Dear God."

It seemed they lay joined together a long time, but Jared's breath was still harsh and uneven when he leaned forward and his lips brushed her closed lids. "I think it's safe to assume you found me 'pleasant.' You're definitely more Kanoa than prim Cassandra."

His voice was a velvet reverberation in the darkness, Cassie thought dreamily, as lazily seductive as a summer breeze. This was beautiful, but she wanted it to start again. Soon he would touch her, stroke her, and the flames would start.

She opened her eyes. He was only a heartbeat away, looking down at her, his eyes so blue and clear she felt as if she were looking into forever. She wanted it to be forever. She wanted to float on and on in this special place until there were no more tomorrows. "Ku'aihelani," she murmured.

"I beg your pardon?" He kissed the tip of her nose. "I don't believe I know that word."

"It's not a word, it's a place. It's where-" She broke off as she came fully awake. This was not forever. This was no Ku'aihelani. What was she thinking? "Never mind."

"But I do mind. I'm a very curious man." He tugged at the lobe of her ear with his teeth, pressing just hard enough to send a tiny tingling through her. "I want to know about this Ku'aihelani. I want to know everything about you."

So that he could possess her mind as he had her body. Panic shot through her as the memory of that joining surged back. Dear God, what had possessed her? She knew the answer. He had possessed her, and dominated her and made her forget everything except what he had wanted her to feel.

She pushed him away with all her strength, catching him unawares. She jumped out of bed, looking around wildly for her sarong.

"Where the devil are you going?" Jared raised himself on one elbow. "Come back to bed."

"Why?" She picked up the sarong from the floor and jerkily wrapped it around her hips. "It's over. I'm going back to my cabin."

"It's not over. We've barely started."

She whirled on him. "It's over. I chose to come here. I choose to leave. You have nothing to do with it."

His lips tightened. "I beg to disagree. I had considerable to do with it ten minutes ago. I'm reluctant to be cast aside so arbitrarily."

"I told you that I'd walk away. I told you coupling with you would mean nothing to me." She brushed her hair back from her face with a shaking hand. "Nothing at all."

His gaze narrowed on her face. "Then why are you running away?"

"I'm not running away."