She felt her body quicken.
With his fingertips he coaxed her to surrender.
She did.
Wave after wave of blissful sensation cascaded over her. She trembled with each fiery inundation. They seemed to go on forever. When the last one finally receded like the lacy benediction of a wave against the shore, where sparkling bubbles burst and were absorbed into the sand one by one, she wanted to leave her eyes closed and sleep forever.
But she felt his breath against her cheek as he kissed it gently. She opened her eyes. Trent was staring down at her with a tender smile curving his beautiful mouth.
But his body wasn’t as serene as his face. She could feel the tension of passion as yet unleashed. He worked his hand between their bodies and opened his jeans.
His hands cupped her bottom. He lifted her up and spread her thighs over his lap until she was straddling it. He slipped inside her, and her head fell forward onto his shoulder as they sighed their mutual gratification.
He was so warm, so smooth, so hard. The petals of her body closed around him. He moaned his supreme pleasure. And it was the dearest sound she had ever heard. She had pleased someone and it had nothing to do with how she looked.
He reached high, and she gloried in the strength and power of his possession. Her soft whimpers told him so. For her, he wanted to be better than he’d ever been. He kissed her breasts lingeringly, lovingly.
Rana didn’t think it was possible, but she felt new stirrings of desire deep within her. With each searching motion of his body, the desire escalated, until she was racing toward the precipice of reason again.
He waited, baring his teeth with the effort to hold back. Only when her crisis came did he relax his control. Then he experienced a release so complete, so wondrous that it shook not only his body, but his heart and soul as well.
Damply, weakly, they clung to each other. Their hearts beat in time. His breath fanned her shoulder where he rested his head. Hers soughed against his throat.
The rain tapping at the windows was like background music now. The ticking of the clock on the mantel in the parlor could be heard faintly over their harsh breathing and the pounding of their hearts.
At last he set her down. Then he pulled her close and hugged her tight. He was amazed that she was so slight. His arms encompassed her with room to spare. He planted a tender kiss on the crown of her head.
Wordlessly taking her hand, he led her toward the stairs. He went ahead, but kept his eyes on her as they made the long, slow climb to the second story. He pulled her inside his bedroom and pushed the door closed, shutting the world out. Leaving her to stand in the middle of the room, he went to the bed and turned it down. Then he extended his hand to her and nodded toward the bed.
“We have to talk,” she said huskily.
“No, we don’t.”
Slowly he began unbuttoning his shirt. Rana’s breasts ached with reawakening desire. He peeled the shirt off and tossed it heedlessly onto the floor. Hooking his thumbs in the waistband of his jeans, he pulled them down.
When he straightened up, he was naked. And splendid. He came swaggering toward her across the shadowy room. The watery light from the windows cast beguiling, fluid shadows over his nakedness. She wanted him again.
Her arms dangled loosely at her sides, a testimony to her compliance. Without a word he pulled her unbuttoned blouse from the waistband of her skirt. It joined his shirt on the floor. He eased the straps of her slip down her arms and lowered it as far as her waist. His hands made one tender pass across her breasts. He dipped his head and touched the crest of one with his tongue; then, because it performed with such feminine beauty, he dallied there longer than he had planned.
“ Trent,” she gasped when she felt her knees about to buckle beneath her.
“Shhh.”
He unbuttoned her skirt with dispatch and pulled it and the slip down to the floor. They faced each other naked. He swept her up in his arms and deposited her lovingly on the bed, then followed her down, covering her.
She welcomed his weight. It pressed her into the mattress, and she loved the feeling. He was hard and heavy. She ran her hands down the supple expanse of his back and over his buttocks. She’d never had access to a man like this before. His sheer masculinity was a curiosity she wanted to explore and examine. Playfully she dug her short nails into his buttocks, and he grinned.
She kissed him. Wantonly.
He kissed her. Wetly.
He slid his tongue in and out of her mouth until she was breathless. “Still want to talk?” he drawled as his parted lips meandered over her neck and chest.
“We should.” She moaned when he covered her nipple with his mouth, rubbed it with his tongue.
“You’ve never learned to relax, Miss Ramsey.”
He moved lower, kissing her stomach as he went. She shivered with carnal delight. His tongue dipped into her navel, laved it thoroughly.
“ Trent?”
“Hm?”
Instinctively she drew her knees up. He positioned himself between them.
“We really should-”
His next caress was so giving, so unselfish, it stopped her words… her heart.
“This is what we should be doing,” he whispered against her softness. “And I intend to go on doing it for a long, long time.”
Seven
“You never did tell me where Ruby is.”
He shifted his long legs beneath the sheets and found a warmer spot next to hers. “You didn’t ask.” He butted his nose against her jaw.
“I did so.”
“You did I must have had my mind on something else.”
“All you said was that we were alone.”
“Good thing, too.” He chuckled before his mouth settled on hers for a deep, satisfying kiss. “I’m sure that hallway has never seen such excitement.”
She yanked on a chest hair, and he yelped. They laughed together, and when their laughter subsided he said, “Auntie left this morning to sit with a sick friend. She said she might not return until tomorrow. So,” he said, dragging out the word, “tonight we have the whole house to ourselves.”
“But we’re not using the whole house, only this bed.”
“That’s the general idea.”
Their lips met. The kiss was soft and sweet. His lips plucked at hers, and they responded. “I never imagined that I’d be with you this way,” she whispered against his mouth.
“I imagined it. A lot.”
“Well, actually I did imagine it. I just… Oh, you know what I mean.”
“I couldn’t imagine you this way.” He ran his hands over her hips caressingly.
“What do you mean?”
“I couldn’t imagine what your body was like beneath your clothes. I confess that one of my better-developed talents is being able to undress a woman with my eyes.” He frowned. “I couldn’t even begin to undress you, and it drove me nuts. I wanted to know what you were like naked.” His hands moved to her breasts and kneaded them lovingly. “I am delightfully surprised.”
Moving lower, he began loving her breasts with his mouth. Rana laid her hands on either side of his head. His hard jaw was getting bristly from his beard. It rasped pleasantly against her skin.
The rain continued through the night, and so did their lovemaking. Surely no two human beings had ever been more physically compatible. His slightest touch awakened a vibrant sexuality that she hadn’t known she possessed. They made love repeatedly. The mood and tempo varied, but his body never failed to bring hers to a pinnacle of sensation and satisfaction.
Gradually she was overcoming her shyness with him. At first she had been hesitant to initiate anything, even to touch him.
“Lay your hands on my chest,” he urged breathlessly when he surprised her by rolling her atop him. “Touch me. Please touch me.”