Instead he soothed the places he’d nipped with erotic laps of his tongue that were so exquisitely painful she saw white starbursts behind her closed eyelids.
“Better?” he asked.
“Mmm.” Speaking was beyond her. Her body was on fire, an empty, aching raging inferno of need.
He levered himself up on his elbows and met her gaze. “I should slow down.” But from the heat in his eyes and the dark flush on his cheeks, slow was the last thing he wanted.
“Not for my sake I hope.” She let out a strangled laugh. “Any slower and I might die first.”
“Me, too.” He brushed her dark hair off her flushed cheek. “So, far be it for me to deny you.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
JACK LOOKED at her face. No, he couldn’t deny her. Especially when he needed her so badly. He hadn’t realized how much until he’d looked into her compassionate, blue eyes.
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He glanced down. Her breasts rose and fell beneath the nearly sheer lingerie and having tasted the sweetness beneath, Jack desired more.
And obviously so did she. He pulled hard on the thin strap on her shoulder and it tore from its binding. He did the same to the other strap and eased the teddy off her, as she lifted her back and hips, all too eager to shed the constricting undergarments.
What he saw was beyond his wildest imaginings. If he’d walked into this room at the boiling point, looking at her naked body shattered what remained of both his reserve and his restraint. “You’re incredible.”
She averted her gaze. “Can we stick to the truth?”
“Absolutely.” She obviously still didn’t believe in her beauty or worth and given what he’d learned of her history he understood.
But when she was with him, dammit, she shouldn’t have to doubt. He drew back and stood, stripping quickly, divesting himself of his clothes until he could join her again on the bed. Heat arced between them, hot and powerful.
Her eyes bore into him, watching his erection. “You see what you do to me.” She was seeing him naked, yes, but she also saw inside him, deeper than any woman had before.
A wry, yet adorable smile twisted her lips. “It’s a known fact men don’t always think with their…well you know, when they’re looking to get lucky.”
He laughed at her forthright response. That was his Mallory, the honest woman who didn’t hold back what she was thinking. “I wouldn’t call it getting lucky if it was just an easy lay with someone I didn’t give a damn about.”
Her lashes fluttered, showing her uncertainty. “Well it’s also a known fact men will say many things in the heat of the moment and mean very few of them.”
“We’re not in the heat of the moment.” He eased forward until he could push her legs apart and kneel between. “Yet.” He kept his gaze on hers but bent lower, his lips inches from paradise.
She let out a slow exhale of air. “You talk a good game.” And her husky voice told him how much she liked his talk—as well as his obvious intent.
“It’s no game. If all I wanted was any woman, I wouldn’t be here now.” Because she was too damn complicated, too compelling, too everything as far as he was concerned.
If he lost himself inside her to forget the pain of the day, he risked losing himself to her forever. But he was here and too far gone. He wasn’t running away.
“And sweetheart, if all I wanted was any woman, I’d be inside you by now, taking care of my needs instead of doing this.” He dipped his head and licked her, tasting her femininity, feeling her heat and fueling the dewy dampness.
“Believe me now?” he asked.
A shuddering moan was her only response. Her hands gripped the bedding by his sides and her hips jerked upward. From her liquid heat Jack knew she was close to the edge and he couldn’t wait any longer. Good thing he didn’t have to worry about readying her for the next step.
She caught him off guard, toppling him over onto his back, straddling his waist. He barely saw her reach for the drawer or rip open the foil packet, but he most definitely felt her ease the moist plastic sheath over his penis, and pause for deliberate handling that went above and beyond merely donning protection.
The desire to drive himself inside her was strong. The need to watch her as she lowered herself onto him and accommodated his width and length even stronger. But he couldn’t stop himself from touching her, from taking his fingertips and parting her feminine flesh and from placing himself at her opening.
He grabbed for her hips at the same moment she released her restraint. He slid inside her heated core, feeling her slick and moist passage close around him.
“God.” The word erupted from him in a guttural groan. Her body’s initial resistance was his tight consummate pleasure. He’d never felt anything so hot, so right, so perfect, he thought, and their fit brought a choking sensation to his throat.