I’m sorry, Melony.”
“No. No. You are right. I’ll tell you sometime about my mother’s accident and why I don’t like to talk about it. I’m just not ready yet. But her death was fairly recent. Are the things you refuse to talk about as recent?”
“Touché.” She had a point.
There was a difference in needing time to heal from things that happened before talking about them and running from them for years. It was time that he opened up about his past, but he was too damned scared he’d frighten her off if she found out about it. How could she still care for him, view him as a good man once she knew about the things he’d allowed to happen right in front of him?
“How about, for now, we enjoy this gorgeous night?” She leaned back and stared up at the clear, dark sky.
“Agreed.” He looked up to see millions of stars twinkling down at them.
“It’s beautiful.” A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
He stared at her, aching to kiss her, aching to hold her. “It sure is,” he whispered.
She turned her head to him and sucked in a breath when she realized he’d been talking about her. “You are such a flatterer. Cute? Maybe, but I’ve never been in the beautiful category.”
“Why would you think that?” Did she really believe she wasn’t beautiful? She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid eyes on.
“Look at me.” She fluttered her hands around her face and down her body.
He was looking, all right. When she sucked in another sharp breath, he knew his eyes were glowing.
“I’m short, and my fashion sense is a little out there. I mean, I don’t think beautiful women have pink, spiky hair or navel piercings.”
Holy shit! She had a navel piercing? All of the blood rushed to his cock, and he growled at the thought of laving her belly button and the piercing with his tongue. He took a deep breath and held it before letting it out slowly.
She raised her brows at him and giggled. “That was a new sound.”
He ignored that statement, as he didn’t want to explain that new sound had been a growl because she was turning him on like he’d never been turned on before.
“Beautiful comes in all different sizes, shapes, and colors. And you, Melony, are beautiful.” He reached out and traced the outer ridge of her tiny ear with his finger.
“Oh yeah, my ears are deformed too.”
He leaned closer, but couldn’t see one problem with her perfect ears. “Deformed how?”
She reached up and ran her finger over the top. “See? There is supposed to be a space between my ear and the outer line that defines it. But there’s not. The skin just kind of lies against my ear instead.”
He laughed. “Your ears are perfect.”
“They aren’t like everyone else’s”
“Everyone else’s are deformed then.” He reached out and gently pulled the lobe between his thumb and index finger.
“Huh.”
He leaned close, his lips a scant inch from her ear. “I think they are perfect. I think you are perfect.”
Chapter Ten
Melony caught her breath when Lorent whispered against her ear. His scent tickled her nose, and butterflies flittered in her tummy. She wanted him to kiss her, had wanted him to do so in the Learning Center, but now no one would interrupt them. That thought was a bit daunting because she didn’t know how well she trusted herself to stop at just a kiss.
While she was attracted to him, liked him, wished to explore her growing feelings for him, she was a virgin. Jumping into bed with him, no matter how much he turned her on, was not something she wished to rush. But when she turned her face to him, and his lips brushed against hers, her restraint flew out the window—actually it broke through and trampled over the glass in a frantic stampede for freedom.
His mouth was firm but soft on hers at first, a mere coaxing, but when she relaxed against him and sighed in response, all gentleness was forgotten as he angled his head and deepened the kiss. She gasped, and he took advantage of the moment by sliding his tongue inside and tangling it with her own. She’d been kissed before, but this was no ordinary kiss. It was as if he was searing himself on her for all time, making sure she’d never forget the wild, wicked, dominant taste and feel of his mouth on hers.
She groaned, and reached to drag him closer, but the groan quickly turned into a squeak when he flipped over, taking them both to the ground, where she softly landed on top of him. God, the man was all muscle. She swore she could feel every ridge, every defining cord wherever their bodies pressed together. They stared at one another, both breathing hard, until finally, he reached up, cupped her nape in one hand, and urged her mouth back to his.
His tongue delved into her mouth over and over, and his teeth nipped gently at her bottom lip, igniting a towering inferno to rage inside her. Her hands rested on his shoulders, while his other arm slowly encircled her waist and pulled her tighter against him. Her breasts pressed into his chest, and her nipples beaded in excited peaks. The friction as they rubbed against him was nearly unbearable.
The need to get rid of their clothes and lay against him skin to skin rode her hard. She gasped when his hands found the hem of her shirt and yanked it over her head, then brought his mouth back to hers. Her breasts spilled out into his hands, and he kneaded each one gently before he sat up and pulled her thighs apart over his lap until she straddled him. He broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers, his breathing coming in strangled gasps as he caressed her breasts. When he ran his thumbs over her nipples, she shivered in response.
He sucked in a sharp breath, and his hips tilted up. The evidence of his arousal pressed hard against her, and she gasped again. He felt . . . big, so big. She started to protest, scared that this would never work between them because he’d never fit inside her, but froze when he bent his head and curled his tongue over one nipple. Heat flooded her and pooled low between her thighs, where her body more than willingly readied itself for his possession.
As his mouth, teeth, and tongue ravished one nipple, then the other, every reason why she shouldn’t make love to him now disappeared into the passion-induced fog in her brain.
His big hands roamed her back and drew her against him as he stoked her so high she thought she’d spontaneously combust. She cried out and rubbed against him. A growl was her only warning before being flipped to her back, where she now cradled Lorent, this huge, dominant male, between her thighs as his face remained buried in her breasts. The pleasure he was giving her robbed her of the ability to speak, and tears burned her eyes.
She curled her fingers in his thick hair and held him to her as he continued ravishing her breasts and nipples. The intense heat coming from his body bled through her skin, and she strained against him, reveling in the comfort his closeness gave her. He didn’t crush her, was careful to keep his weight off her, but he was still heavy enough that she felt deliciously entrapped by his bigger frame.