"That's good enough for now," he whispered taking her hand and pulling.her toward the bed.
He lay down on his back and pulled her on top of him. Cupping her head between his hands, he gave her a long, thorough kiss, sending his tongue deep into her mouth. His legs sawed restlessly against hers. One knee insinuated itself between her thighs and worked its way up until she was riding it.
With one hand, he began tugging her underpants down over her hips. Then he rolled her onto her back and removed them completely. His eyes swept her hungrily. His hands skimmed the surface of her body, touching her breasts, nipples, thighs, the cluster of curls covering her mound.
"Stevie," he mumbled thickly before levering himself above her and pressing his face into the cover of her shoulder.
"Judd?"
"Yes, sweetheart, right now.'
"Maybe you should know-"I do know, baby. Believe me, I do.' "I'm a virgin."
His head popped up. Eyes that had been foggy with passion came into sharp focus as instantly as a high-tech camera.
"A what?"
Even after she repeated the word, he stared at her with patent disbelief. Slowly he eased himself up, rolled over to his side and sat on the edge of the bed, keeping his back to her.
"God, I wish I hadn't quit smoking."
He rested his face in his hands, digging into his eye sockets with the pads of his fingers. Eventually he peered at her over his shoulder. She had self-consciously pulled the bedspread over her.
"How did you wind up a virgin?" She gazed at him with puzzlement. "I'll rephrase. Why, how, are you still a virgin?"
"Maybe you should have finished what you started in Stockholm."
"With Presley Foster breathing down my neck? No thanks. Did he scare off all your would-be lovers?"
"In fairness to him, no. I did. Not overtly," she added when he gave her a curious look. "I just never took the time to let anything develop.
Potential boyfriends always took second place to tennis."
"Second place isn't a healthy or desirable spot for a man's ego."
"So I discovered." She moistened her lips nervously. "I wouldn't have told you if I'd known you were going to stop."
"I wouldn't have gone so far if you had told me sooner."
"Does it matter that much?"
He laughed hoarsely, humorlessly. "Yeah, it matters. A lot."
"Why? I don't think it would have mattered in Stockholm."
"Maybe, maybe not. But in Stockholm I was young and stupid. Now I'm old and stupid. At least when you're young and stupid you've got an excuse for being stupid."
Stevie closed her eyes briefly, then she stretched out her arm and laid her hand on his bare shoulder. "Please, Judd, comeback."
Keeping his eyes averted, he stubbornly shook his head no. "I can't assume that responsibility, Stevie."
"It doesn't come with obligations."
"They're implied."
"Not to me."
"Tome."
"Please."
"I said no."
A small, strangled sob escaped her.
Judd's head snapped around. He saw her tears, saw the pleading in her eyes. Apparently they touched him in a way her temper tantrums could not. The resolution keeping his lips compressed and uncompromising deserted him. His features softened.
He lay down beside her again and drew her against him. "Don't cry, Stevie. Don't." Typically a cynic where women's tears were concerned, he held her close and kissed her brow with commiseration.
She nuzzled his naked chest, rubbing her face against the pelt of crinkling hair. "Please, Judd, make love to me while I'm still whole. I want it to be you."
Why?"
"Sentiment, maybe. Even though you doubt it, I know it would have happened in Stockholm if Presley hadn't stopped us." She touched his nipple with the tip of her tongue, licking it deftly, and pressed her palm against his hot, swollen flesh.
"Oh, baby," he moaned, threading his fingers up through her hair. "Stop."
"I don't want to stop."
"You've got to, or- "
"I want to be a complete woman once. Just once, Judd, please."
She dusted his chest with soft, airy kisses, swinging her head back and forth as she worked her way down. She kissed his stomach, then his belly, which was rapidly rising and falling. Her lips tracked the satiny stripe of hair that fanned out denser and coarser on his lower body. He was in a state of supreme agitation and had almost reached the point of no return when he closed his fingers around her head and raised it.
He rolled her to her back and leaned over her.
"Okay," he rasped breathlessly, "if you're sure."
"Absolutely sure." He nodded grimly.
Laughing, she touched the corners of his mouth.
"Your frown is death to my ego. You could look a little happier about it."
"I'm worried."
"I told you not to be. There are no strings attached."
"It isn't that."
"Then what?" Her eyes rounded and she gasped. "You do know how, don't you?" she asked teasingly.
"Yeah, I know how," he said, his intensity unchanged. "And hard and fast isn't the way to do it the first time. If you keep doing stuff like that…" He blew out a breath and shook his head as though to clear it. "I'm going to set the tempo.
Got that?"
She nodded obediently, though she wasn't sure she could keep such a rash promise when her blood was surging through her veins with a mix of want and wonder. She wasn't sure Judd could stick with the plan, either. His breathing wasn't any steadier than hers and his face was ruddy with arousal.
"Alright, kiss me," he instructed her huskily.
"Forget everything you've ever heard about technique. Kiss me the way you think a 'bad girl' would and we'll both have a much better time."
Taking his advice as a challenge, Stevie linked her arms around his neck and drew his head down. His open mouth met hers, and it was a melding of dual passions. His tongue probed the soft, wet heat of her mouth, sliding in and out, mating with her tongue, which then returned the favor to him, apparently to his satisfaction, for he groaned with pleasure and drew it deeper into his mouth.
His hands rubbed her back, then gradually pulled the bedspread from between them until they were lying naked face to face again. She felt the warm, smooth tip of his shaft against her belly. His thighs pressed against hers. Her breasts lay lush and full against his hard chest; her nipples nestled in the dark, curly hair.
All the sensations were exquisite. The contact with his raw masculinity made her feel wholly female. She wondered how she had survived this long without being intimately acquainted with his body.
And she realized at that moment that she was falling madly in love with her enemy.
Asking him to make love to her had little or nothing to do with Stockholm or with sentiment, or any other excuse she could have conjured up. She wanted to be with Judd, be a part of him, entirely, without reservation or inhibition.
It was as simple as that.
Though, actually, it wasn't simple at all. It was very complex. Too complex to muddle through while his mouth was inching down her throat.
He scooped her breast toward his descending mouth and sucked on the tip with strong, urgent tugging motions that touched off responsive chords in her womb. "Ah, Judd," she cried in ecstasy.
"You're sweet, Stevie. Very sweet." He moved to her other breast while his fingers caressed the nipple he'd just left wet and erect.