She padded across the hardwood floor and stopped in front of him.
“I want you to know what you’re getting into,” he said.
Somewhere during the past few minutes her decision had been made. “I do,” she whispered. They’d been moving toward this moment from the beginning. The outcome was as inevitable as the changing tide. She only hoped they didn’t destroy each other in the process.
“I can’t make any prom...”
She covered his lips with one finger. “I know.”
Looking into her dark eyes, Mike believed her. The knowledge should have lifted an otherwise heavy burden. It didn’t. What did he want from her? he wondered. Better yet, what could she expect from him? He hoped it wasn’t more than he could give.
“Carly?”
She wet her lips. “Have you ever made love on a water bed before?” she asked in a husky voice.
Her velvety words wrapped themselves around him. She had apparently made peace with herself, leaving her reservations along with her inhibitions behind.
He shook his head in response.
“A first for both of us, then.” She smiled and placed her hand in his. “I’m glad.” After shifting her skirt, she knelt beside him and pulled him up from his seat on the floor.
He allowed himself to be led, only until he’d reached a standing position. Then he backed her toward the large bed that beckoned to them. When her calves reached the platform, he stopped and encircled her waist with his hands.
She smiled and lifted his shirt, her soft hands linking behind his back. He dipped his head toward her, but she caught him off guard. In one smooth motion she wrapped one leg around his and pulled him toward her so they tumbled backward onto the bed together. The mattress rocked beneath them in undulating waves. Carly landed beneath him, laughing with delight.
The tinkling sound and the light in her eyes removed whatever reservations had remained in his mind. “Think you’re so clever?” he asked, brushing his lips over hers.
“Nope. I know I am.” She smiled and laughed some more.
He kissed her again, letting her unique scent fill the empty spaces inside him. To keep from crushing her, he rolled to his side and propped himself up on one elbow. Sealing his mouth over hers, he entwined his tongue and feasted until he could barely breath.
They’d never done much more than this, yet each kiss contained more power than the last. He marveled at her ability to reach inside him with nothing more than a touch. What would happen when they came together? The conflagration would probably consume them both.
He wondered if that was the source of her fear, but before he could analyze further, her hand came between them and caressed his arousal through the rough denim of his jeans. His body jerked involuntarily at her touch and the bed swirled beneath them.
“When did you get so bold?” he asked.
“Only with you.” Her hand cupped him tighter.
“Not yet.” He removed her hand and grasped her fingers with his own. “Not if you want this to last.”
“I want,” she murmured. From beneath heavy lids, her eyes fastened on his face. He removed a strand of blond hair from her cheek and kissed her lips.
“So do I.” Reaching behind her neck, he opened the two buttons that held the top of her dress in place. He watched, mesmerized, as he drew the top down, inch by tantalizing inch. Since he’d been given a brief sample before dinner, he knew what lay beneath the light material.
The dress fell to her waist and he sucked in a deep breath. Carly, however, closed her eyes. A rosy color tinged her cheeks. He raised one hand to cup her face. “Hell of a time to get shy, sweetheart.”
Personally she couldn’t think of a better one. “Takes an awful long time for the sun to go down, doesn’t it?” she asked, while silently praying for darkness. She raised her arms to cover herself, but he stopped her by grabbing hold of her wrists and pulling them down gently.
“Don’t. I’ve been waiting too long.” His voice sounded rough to her ears.
She allowed him to draw her arms to her sides, but kept her eyes tightly shut. Whatever she had anticipated, it wasn’t this slow perusal. She no longer felt capable of lighthearted banter, not when she felt so vulnerable and exposed.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, just before she felt wet heat on one breast. In shock, she opened her eyes to see him leaning over her, lavishing undivided attention on her hardened nipple. She gasped at the utter intimacy of the act. He suckled her, nipping and soothing with alternate breaths. Heat, which had begun in her chest, traveled with lightning speed to the juncture of her thighs.
Were these wonderful sensations the same ones she had feared hours earlier? Right now, she couldn’t imagine why. She ran her fingers through his thick hair, enjoying the rasp of his day-old beard against the sensitive skin on her chest.
He lifted his head long enough to turn to the other breast, giving it equal attention. She felt only a moment of cool air on the spot his mouth had abandoned, before his hand began equally skillful maneuvers. Muscles in her stomach clenched as he rolled one nipple between his thumb and forefinger, while working the other with his mouth.