"You th-thought I was a boy," Janna accused in a low voice.
"I thought you were too damned sexy, girl or boy, because my britches had a better grip on the truth than my eyes did. My eyes kept telling me that you were a boy and I was some kind of crazy to get all hot and bothered when you touched me. My britches kept telling me that you were as female as they come and I was some kind of moron not to peel off your clothes and get better acquainted."
The hands that had been tightly gripping Janna eased and began rubbing her shoulders with gentle, circular motions.
"I know you've been hurt in the past," Ty said, his voice low, carrying no farther than her ears. "And I want you so bad that I can't even think, but I would cut off my fingers rather than hurt you. And the way you were kissing me…" He closed his eyes as a sensual echo resonated through his body, tightening his loins until he had to clench his teeth against the bittersweet ache. "Do you want me, little one?"
Janna tried to speak but she had no breath. Her heart was wedged in her throat, blocking the passage of air. Seeing Ty's need turned her inside out. She wanted to hold his head against her body and comb her fingers soothingly through his hair; and she wanted to kiss and be kissed again, teasing his tongue with her own and tasting him in a slow, secret kind of dance that made pleasure expand and softly burst deep within her body. Her need to experience that again was so great it was pain.
Was that what was drawing Ty's face into taut lines? Did he feel the same aching need?
"Ty?" she whispered.
His eyes opened. In the fading light they were a green as deep as the forest itself.
"I…" Janna's voice died. She licked her lips and felt the sudden tension in Ty's body as his glance followed her tongue. "Did you like kissing me?"
Ty almost laughed in the instant before he remembered that any knowledge Janna had of men was brief and brutal.
"Yes," Ty murmured, brushing his open mouth over hers. "I liked it. Did you?"
He felt her breath hesitate, catch, then flow over his face in a sweet sigh of agreement. Smiling, he gently caught her lower lip between his teeth, testing the warmth and resilience of her flesh. She went very still in the instant before she trembled and made a small sound.
"I'm sorry," Ty said, releasing her. "I didn't mean to frighten you."
"You didn't," Janna said qijickly. "I don't know what's wrong. It just felt so good it made something burst inside me and I went all shivery. I'm sorry."
Ty's breath caught and his eyes narrowed in sensual response to her words. Whatever might have happened to Janna in the past, she was a total innocent when it came to the pleasure a woman could find in the arms of a loving man. The thought of teaching Janna the secrets hidden within her body made Ty feel hot, heavy, thoroughly masculine.
"Don't be sorry," he said huskily. "I like knowing that I've pleased you."
"You do?" she whispered, looking at his lips, wanting to taste him again, to feel his tongue moving within her mouth.
"Yes." Ty smiled and nuzzled the slanting line of Janna's cheekbones until he came to the silky edge of her hair. He stripped off her hat and headband, untied the rawhide thongs holding her braids and unraveled them until his hands were full of the cool fire of her hair. He made an inarticulate sound of pleasure as he searched blindly with his mouth for the tempting curves of her ear. "I want to please you, little one. Will you tell me if I do?"
"Y-yes."
"Yes," Ty breathed as he found Janna's ear with the tip of his tongue, teased the rim and then penetrated the hidden, sensitive core.
Frissons of pleasure tightened Janna's skin, sending telltale parades of goose bumps up and down her arms. She made a startled sound and her hands tightened on Ty's shirt in sensual reflex. When his tongue repeated the penetration again and then again, she felt a sensation like wires tightening deep within her body, making her feel languid and restless at the same time.
"More?" Ty whispered, biting Janna's ear delicately.
He felt her helpless shiver of response and his lips shifted into a very masculine smile of approval and triumph. Before she could speak he softly devoured her ear, his tongue pressing into its core with the same rhythmic movements that had made pleasure swell and burst within her before. Her husky, barely audible moan made him feel as though he were being bathed in golden fire.
With a swift movement of his head Ty captured Janna's mouth. There was no surprise this time when his tongue slid between her teeth, filling her mouth with the taste and feel and textures of his hungry kiss. She answered him by spearing her fingers into his hair and holding his mouth hard upon her own, moaning softly at the sensual heat of him, wanting to take that heat within her own body. The rhythmic caress of tongue against tongue was reinforced by the unconscious movements of her body against his as she tried to ease the heaviness and aching that had condensed in her tightly bound breasts and between her restless legs.
Making a sound halfway between a curse and a prayer, Ty gently disengaged from Janna's hot embrace.
"Before you ask," he said, breathing quickly, audibly, keeping his voice low, "I liked having your body rubbing over mine. I liked it too damn much. I don't want to hurt you, little one. That means we have to take it slow for a bit longer, until you're ready." He closed his eyes and wondered how the hell he would manage it. "Which means that you'll have to give me a minute or two to catch my breath."
"Can I talk while you breathe?" she asked hesitantly, keeping her voice as low as his.
Ty laughed softly despite the savage ache between his legs. Leaning down, he brushed his lips over Janna's mouth, tasting her with a single quick stroke of his tongue before straightening and smiling down at her.
"What do you want to talk about?" he murmured.
"I wish it were darker. Then you wouldn't see me blush when I ask you."
"I'm glad it isn't darker," Ty whispered, nibbling on her chin. "I want to see you, blushes and all. Especially the 'all.' What's your question?"
"Will it-will you hurt me?"
"Oh, God," Ty whispered, gathering Janna into his arms and rocking her gently against his body. "No, little one," he said, kissing her hair, her ear, her flushed cheek, her eyelids, her lips, butterfly brushes that reassured her as no words could have. "If I go slow and you try to relax and not be afraid, it won't hurt you at all. And I'll go slow, Janna. I'll go slow if it kills me."
Slowly her arms came up and around his neck. She pressed her face against the hot skin at the opening of Ty's shirt.
"Will going slow spoil it for you?" Janna whispered. "I don't want to make it bad for you. I want to please you, Ty. I want that so much I ache."
"Going slow won't spoil it. In fact, it can make it so good you feel like dying."
"It can?"
Janna's voice was husky with the conflicting emotions racing through her, passion and nervousness and a hunger to touch and be touched that was completely new to her.
"It can," Ty said. "At least, that's what I'm told. I've never known that kind of pleasure myself."
Janna tried to speak but had no voice. She licked her lips and tilted her head back until she could look into the darkly luminous green of Ty's eyes.
"I want to pleasure you like that," she whispered. "Will you teach me how?"