He felt a tug and looked down. She pulled his jeans off, then crawled back up his legs again. She wrapped her hand around his shaft as her body slid over him. Her mouth met his as her fingers went to work on the condom. She slipped it on and then straddled him again.
His body snapped to attention. Every muscle and cell on alert. He wanted to grab her and pull her down on him, but he let her keep the lead. A part of him sensed she needed to be in control this first time.
Fine with him.
“Ready for me?” She breathed the question against his lips.
He kissed her then so blindingly deep and long that his breath stuttered inside him. She moaned and he licked his tongue inside her mouth. Giving her every chance to slow him down, he put his hands on her hips and guided her to his erection.
Their bodies took over then. She slid down, her mouth opening and her eyes growing wide as she took him inch by slow, aching inch. When he was finally completely inside her, he threw his head back against the pillows and clamped down hard to keep from thrusting. His body pulled tight and his muscles strained.
She brushed her mouth over his ear. “Ben?”
“Huh.” That was all he could say.
She smiled against his skin. “I need you to move.”
* * *
JOCELYN STARED UP at the ceiling. They’d made love twice and the time ticked somewhere past one in the morning. The pale yellow light of the lamp on the dresser gave the room a soft glow. So did the heavy breathing of the man snuggled against her with his face tucked in her hair and arm balanced across her stomach.
She’d made a choice tonight. The right one. Thanks to everything that happened and the way she’d locked down her life, she hadn’t been with any man in almost two years, but Ben was the right man.
She moved her leg along his calf. Even that part of him was solid. Not an ounce of fat on this guy.
His head popped up. The stormy pain that had lingered in his eyes when she first came in the bedroom was long gone. The stress lines no longer marked the area around his mouth.
Now she spied only satisfaction. And not a subtle hint of it, either. No, he wore the smile of a man who enjoyed sleeping with her.
Seemed only fair, since he looked at her and a healing warmth spread through her, relaxing every limb. Her body still tingled from the kissing and the touching.
Somewhere deep inside her, a light danced. He’d let her lead. Let her control their first time together. She had no idea how he knew, but he had, and that freedom to explore made her want to stay right where she was.
“Abigail Wyndam.”
He shifted slightly and frowned. “What?”
“That’s my real name.”
He pushed up on an elbow and balanced his upper body over hers. When he winced, she pushed him onto his back and came up over his chest.
“Your injury.” She whispered the reminder.
“Are you sure you want to talk about this now?”
The spin in the conversation didn’t throw her. He meant the name. “I was a nurse nowhere near here when a male neighbor decided he owned me.”
Ben’s body stiffened under her hand. “Jocelyn... I mean...”
She continued to brush her fingers over his skin, touching his chest and his throat, loving the feel of him. “I legally changed it. Use Jocelyn.”
He didn’t say anything after that. Didn’t pepper her with questions, even though he clearly wanted to. He somehow controlled his investigative nature and let her tell the story in her time.
She’d definitely chosen the right man.
“He started out friendly, then switched to a stalker. He acted like we were dating, though we never did.” The familiar anxiety started twisting in her gut. “He was a policeman, so I had nowhere to go. And I tried. Believe me, I tried.”
“You shouldn’t have had to. He should have stayed the hell away from you when you said no.”
Ben went so still she worried his bone would crack.
She touched his face. Gently, with the back of her hands. “What?”
The color drained from his cheeks. “I...I did that to you. I followed you and didn’t listen when you said no.”
“No.” She held his face in her hands. “Asking me out is not the same thing. I admit at first I was scared.”
“The gun. I showed up at the hospital.” He closed his eyes and when he opened them again the anguish was right there.
“You are not him. You never hurt me. You never threatened me.” When Ben just lay there unmoving with his body frozen, she leaned down and kissed him. “I know you never would.”
His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her tight against him. Those lips went to her hair. “I’m so sorry.”
“I wanted you. Even when I said no, I wanted you to keep asking.” She rubbed against him and felt his erection twitch.