If You Believe

Gasping, moaning, she writhed beneath him, matching him thrust for thrust.

"Oh, God," she whispered. The need took on a sharp, painful edge. She reached, strained, arched for something she didnt quite grasp, a relief she couldnt imagine.

"Oh, God. "

"Thats it, Mariah," he whispered against her forehead. "Come on, baby, come on. I cant . . . wait. . . . "

He plunged into her, filling her with a scalding, pumping heat that pushed her over the edge.

She clutched his sweaty shoulders with talon hands, her head fell back. Control spiraled away from her, left her whole body shaking with need. She clung to him, her torso arched, quivering, trembling. . . .

For a breathtaking second, she felt poised on a sharp, quivering tip. Her body spasmed, went rigid.

Relief came in a red-hot, dizzying wave that sent her flying into a warm, dark nothingness of pure pleasure. Her body rocked, throbbed in a timeless, undulating rhythm.

Slowly it pulsed away. With a quiet sigh of wonder, she collapsed back onto the pile of twisted sheets and blankets, her body shaking in the aftermath of passion, her arms and legs numb and limp.

His arms curled around her, held her close. She felt warm and spent and infinitely safe. "Is it always like that?" she asked softly.

He laughed, and the sound filled her with happiness. "No. Its almost never like that. "

She looked up at him, her eyes steady on his. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, but she knew she couldnt say them yet. Knew that perhaps she could never say them. "You were right. "

Tenderly he pushed a damp lock of hair from her eyes and curled it around one ear.

"About what?"

"You are the best time I ever had. "

He grinned. "I told you I never lie. "

Chapter Seventeen

It was the best sex hed ever had.

Mad Dog glanced down at the woman sleeping peacefully in his bed and still couldnt believe it.

She lay sprawled beside him, one arm curled possessively across his chest, the other bent awkwardly beneath her body. Her face was a pale, perfect cameo against the grayed fabric of the sheets. Silky mahogany curls lay spread out across the pillow and mattress like a waterfall of fire.

He watched her sleep, amazed by the joy he took in such a simple thing. She was so unlike the other women hed slept with. Course, they were whores, mostly, but still he wouldnt have thought there was such a difference. The women he knew slept like lumberjacks, their painted mouths hanging open, their breath thick with the odor of old tequila and tobacco smoke. During the night, their face paint smeared so badly, they looked like theyd been punched in the eyes.

Naturally, with that sort of thing waiting for him, Mad Dog got out of their beds early.

But now he felt differently. He wanted to sleep with Mariah. Really sleep. He wanted to curl alongside her and hold her tightly and be there with her in the morning when the sun came tapping on the glass.

He gazed down at her. Her skin looked as soft and exquisite as ivory silk, her ears small and delicate. She breathed evenly, ruffling the linen pillowcase with each exhalation. Her pink lips were parted slightly, her dark eyelashes fluttered every now and again.

He focused on her lips, remembering with electric intensity how shed kissed him, touched him, licked him.

Is it always like this!

Her innocent words came back to him, and this time he realized their full impact.

What had he said to her? He couldnt remember if hed answered at all. But now, naked and beside her, the truth exploded at him.

It wasnt always like that.

It was never like that.