‘You’re so beautiful.’
‘I’m so fat.’
Even though he was aching and throbbing with need, her tiny plea for reassurance was so entirely feminine that it made him smile. ‘Sweetheart—do I need to tell you how much I want you?’
She lifted a hand to his face and there was uncertainty in her eyes. ‘Do you?’
‘Can’t you tell? I wanted you from the first moment I saw you sitting by that frozen lake. You looked at me and I was lost.’ He moved his body so that she could be left in no doubt as to his own state of arousal and dragged the tips of his fingers over her nipple.
She arched towards him, her mouth damp from his kisses, her dark hair tumbled around her shoulders. She was all woman and her beauty drove all words from his head.
He didn’t know how to tell her how he felt.
He only knew how to show her, so he lowered his head and his mouth touched first one breast, then the other. Then his tongue flickered out and he licked and teased before sucking her into the warmth of his mouth. He heard her soft gasp, felt her hands slide into his hair and grip.
He felt her body shift restlessly, felt the stroke of her leg against his, urging him on, but he discovered that he was no longer in a hurry. Who, in their right mind, would want to rush something so impossibly perfect?
He ignored her soft whimper and her searching hands and took his time, removing the rest of her clothes and his and then sliding his mouth down her silken skin, lingering on the curve of her abdomen before moving lower still to discover the heart of her.
He heard her faint gasp of protest turn to a moan of ecstasy as extended his voyage of discovery and pushed the boundaries of intimacy.
‘Jake, please…’ His name was a sob on her lips. ‘Please…’
He knew what she wanted—knew what she was asking for—but he wanted more from her, wanted to push her to the very edge of sanity, and he used his fingers and mouth to do exactly that, his own arousal heightened by her cries and the fierce reaction of her body as he pushed her through clouds of sexual excitement to a powerful climax that rocked her whole body.
Only when the violent spasms finally ceased did he slide up the bed and roll onto his back. He was so aroused he thought he might explode, and he lay for a moment, trying to focus on something other than Miranda. Trying to regain some semblance of control.
And she was silent, too, eyes closed, her lashes dark against her pale cheeks.
‘Miranda?’Worried about the lengthy silence, he turned his head towards her. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I’m not sure.’ And then her eyes opened and she gave a slow, satisfied smile. Her gaze fixed on his, she slid a leg over him and then sat up, her cheeks flushed and her dark hair falling forward. ‘Is it OK to do this?’
There was a purposeful, seductive gleam in her dark eyes that he found intensely arousing. Dimly aware that she’d asked him a serious question, Jake sucked in a breath and forced himself to think like an obstetrician. ‘It’s fine,’ he groaned. ‘I’ll be gentle, I promise. Sweetheart, have I told you that you’re incredible? And beautiful?’
Despite the intimacy of their position, her smile was shy. ‘Do you need glasses?’
‘No, I need you.’ He slid his hands over her hips, positioned her carefully and felt the silken heat of her womanhood tease the tip of his arousal. Afraid that he might explode within seconds of entering her, he slowed the pace, controlling her movements, refusing to allow her the satisfaction she so clearly craved.
‘Jake—I need to…’ Her breathing shallow, she pushed his hands away impatiently and sank onto him, taking him deep inside her, destroying his plans to take her gently and carefully.
Heat exploded through his sensitised body and he gave a harsh groan and opened his mouth to tell her to slow down, but she lowered her head and kissed him, her delicate tongue coaxing his into a dance every bit as intimate as the rest of their encounter.
&n
bsp; Struggling to find his customary control, Jake tried to hold her hips but she grabbed his wrists and anchored them above his head, moving with a slow erotic rhythm that reduced his world to nothing but sensation.
Dimly he knew that this wasn’t how he’d intended it to happen. He’d intended to orchestrate the whole thing but somehow she’d taken the initiative.
Reluctantly her mouth left his and she sat up, her hair sliding over her bare shoulders as she moved over him with the smooth grace of a dancer. The heat in his loins reached intolerable levels and he tried to warn her that she really, really needed to slow down, but the only sound that came from his mouth was a hoarse groan of encouragement. Aware of her own soft cry of release, he felt her body spasm around his and he exploded inside her with propulsive force, driven past the point at which he might have been able to regain his slippery hold on control.
* * *
She woke to find him watching her.
‘Good morning.’ His voice was husky and deep and he leaned forward to deliver a lingering kiss to her mouth. ‘You slept well. I’m pleased. How are you feeling?’
Unsettled by the look in his eyes, she rolled onto her back. ‘Fine.’ Shy? Embarrassed? She thought of all the things she’d told him, the things they’d done…