“Blake,” she moaned. “Please…I want…” She didn’t know what to say or how to tell him. How could she explain what was happening to her when she didn’t understand it herself? She felt the pressure building inside her like the air of her island home before a hurricane, and without knowing how or why, she was being swept into the storm.
“Relax,” he whispered. “I know what you want.” He chuckled huskily, moving his hand lower. “But the more time we give it, the better it will be.”
As he slid his hand over her belly down to her inner thigh, she relaxed into the soft tick, surrendering to her own desires as heat pooled inside her.
“Uncross your legs,” he whispered.
Mesmerized by his voice, by his touch, she did as he ordered. “I…I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” she admitted.
“Do as I say. Just relax, let yourself feel it.”
He slid his hand between her thighs and began to stroke the soft flesh, and her body recalled, at once, how good it had felt only a few hours ago.
“That’s it, that’s right, love,” he breathed, teasing her earlobe with the tip of his tongue, his caresses gentle and unhurried.
Sapphire turned her head to look away from him, letting herself go, imagining herself floating until he again lifted her higher, moving faster until every muscle in her body tensed and then released. She cried out, threading her fingers through his hair, struggling to catch her breath.
“What is that?” she panted, arching her back one last time as the sensations washed over her. “I don’t—”
“You talk too much,” he interrupted, amusement in his voice as he brought his face close to hers.
Her lashes fluttered and she opened her eyes to meet his brown gaze, stormy and unreadable. She wished she knew what he thought of her, beyond his lust.
“But that’s not it, love. There’s more,” he murmured. “I want you to undress me.”
She tensed, suddenly afraid of him, of herself. She could feel her cheeks growing warm with embarrassment. To let him do this to her was one thing, but to actually participate…“No, I couldn’t.”
“You could,” he told her, holding her with his eyes, grasping her hand and bringing it under the hem of his shirt. “And you will.”
Looking up at him, she drew her finger tentatively over his bare chest. Just one stroke. Then another. Then another, and in a matter of moments, she found herself marveling at the muscular hardness of his male body and the strangeness of it. When she brushed her fingertips over one of his nipples and heard him catch his breath, she smiled to herself, fascinated by the thought that she could arouse him the way he could arouse her.
Blake lowered her hand to the waistband of his trousers. She drew her hand back as if burned.
“No need to be shy now,” he whispered. “Surely you’re curious, my virgin jewel.”
She watched through her lashes as he leaned back, pulled his shirt over his head and then found the button of the only piece of clothing left between them. She gasped as she watched him spring forth from the fabric.
“Harder for a man than a woman to hide his desires,” he teased as he tossed his clothing to the floor. “Go ahead. Touch me.”
Biting down on her lower lip, she hesitantly reached down, drew back and then reached again.
She heard him groan and recalled something Angel had once said about the power a woman held over a man. All at once, she understood.
“Like this,” he breathed, guiding her hand up and down, his skin amazingly soft. “That’s right,” he whimpered, lifting his mouth to hers. This time his kiss was neither gentle nor unhurried, but almost brutal, and the thought that for this moment she had such control over him made her brave.
As they kissed, she continued to explore, stroking first the flat muscular hollow of his belly, then his upper thighs, then that place again. So smooth and yet so powerful…warm silk over marble…but larger than she’d imagined…so big…too big to ever…
“Sapphire,” Blake gasped when she stroked him again. “Easy, love, or we’ll be done before we’ve started.” He covered her hand with his, burying his face in her hair as he slowed her motion. “That’s right,” he whispered. “That’s right.”
He nudged her onto her back and her hands fell to her sides as he b
egan to kiss her again. When he parted her thighs with his knee, she gave no fight. She wanted to know what this was all about, this act that in the history of the world had toppled kings, set brother against brother and brought about wars.
Blake grasped her hands and slid them upward until they were over her head, stifling her moans with his mouth as he slowly began to penetrate her.
At first his movements were slow, gentle, but then he thrust into her and she cried out in pain, her eyes flying open. “Ow!” she cried, snatching her hand from his to slap him on the back. “That hurt. You didn’t say it would hurt,” she accused, panting hard.
He chuckled, deep in his throat, covering her face with kisses as she tried to turn her face away from him. “It will never hurt again, my love, I swear it. From here on out, it only gets better.”