Nerves tingled along her already sizzling skin. She’d been thinking of this since their first date, in reality probably since the moment she saw him lift that scuba mask on the boat. She knew this was right, that he was the one, but with expectations so high, she couldn’t help fearing somehow something would go wrong.
Steeling her spine and pushing back doubts, she pulled her hand from her hobo bag and placed a condom on the bedside table. “But I bet we can make it one hundred percent perfection by morning.”
He ambled toward her, one sexy step at a time. “That’s a bet I’m more than happy to take.”
Then he kissed her and the last thing she thought about was the room’s décor or timing. All she cared about was the man in her arms. He swept back the green cloth over her hair, the silky fabric slithering down and off. His hands followed. Stroking. Tempting. Along her back and sliding down to cup her bottom. Her body melded to his. Her br**sts went tingly and tight against the muscled wall of his chest. The rigid length of his erection pressed into her stomach.
Kissing him, being with him set her on fire in a way that so defied logic she was caught unaware again and again. And right now, she didn’t want reason. She just wanted to feel.
He touched her with the same intuition he’d shown in how he’d known just what to say when her heart had been bare and hurting over sharing about her mom. Jose understood and that connected them. She’d recognized they were meant to be together from the first moment she’d seen him.
The way he swept off her blouse and loose fitting pants with such ease, he could have been her longtime lover. His moves synchronized with hers. His clothes fell away into a pile as entwined as their bodies. Bare flesh to flesh, his skin sealed to hers, the cut and definition of masculine hardness turning her inside out.
His lips trekked down her throat and she could swear she heard him whisper “freckles” with a low growl before his finger teased her nipples, plucking with just the right amount of pressure to make desire pulse through her. She pressed her knees together against his thick thigh. She squeezed harder against the moist ache between her legs, burning for more. With each husky word Jose whispered against her skin, he promised to deliver.
And as she was fast learning, this was a two-way street, with her touching him and finding that every stroke brought her as much pleasure as she gave. Her fingers played over the flex of muscles along his chest. She scored her nails lower, his washboard abs twitching into deeper refinement. His skin was like warm butterscotch, tempting her to…
She flicked her tongue along his collarbone, salty sweet and all hers. He ducked to capture her mouth and the minty taste of tea remained. Was everything about him perfect? Even the way he’d handled adversity with a humble strength. God, he was making her fall deeper in love with him by the day. By the hour.
And right now, by the caress.
Backing toward the bed, her legs tangled with his until the mattress met her calves and he lowered her onto the coarse tapestry spread, her feet still hanging off the bed. Before she could think, he knelt on the floor at the foot of the bed and leaned forward to press a lingering kiss to her stomach. His intent became abundantly clear as he hooked her legs over his shoulders and nuzzled the inside of her thigh.
Being so open and vulnerable to him could have been awkward, but everything with Jose just felt natural. Right. And utterly blissful. Pleasure rippled through her with each intuitive stroke of his tongue, every caress of his talented fingers. She ached to be closer to him, to feel him on top of her, inside her, and just the thought of that alone sent her the rest of the way over the edge. Her back arched into the release, again and again, her restless hands grasping at his head, his shoulders, urging him upward.
Somewhere in a distant functioning part of her brain she noticed how he sheathed himself before sliding upward, kneeling over her, moving with her up the bed. Every rasp against her super-sensitized skin made her shiver with aftershocks as she inched toward the piled pillows.
Her head sunk back into the downy softness as she clasped at Jose’s shoulders, unrecognizable murmurs rolling from her as she urged him closer. Yet, he still held back, driving her crazy with his mouth along her br**sts up to her neck, until finally, thank God, finally he kissed her with an incredible mixture of passion and tenderness. Then thrust inside her, stretched her, filled her, and she knew…
Their date, being together was absolutely perfect. So much so it scared her to think of losing him.
Chapter 7
Jose sensed the change in Stella when she woke, the way her breathing shifted in their small military quarters. He’d been with her so often, he knew the feel of her body asleep—and awake. She’d woken at least twenty minutes ago, but for whatever reason, she chose to keep her eyes closed while she rested her head on his shoulder.
At least she’d rested for more than six hours since the questioning in the hangar. He sure as hell wasn’t going to argue about holding her. He just stroked his hand along her shoulder, the memory of that night in Egypt so damn real in his head right now, he went hard at the images swimming in his mind. He’d known he loved her but suspected if he said it right after sex, she would have thought he was talking with his dick rather than his heart. So he’d waited for the right moment to tell her.
Not that it all mattered in the end. He should have been smarter, should have seen the train wreck before they both crashed full-on into a massive heartache that was still kicking his ass.
Before he could stop himself—and hell, he didn’t even want to stop—he kissed the top of her head. And how sappy was that? He was all choked up over nuzzling her hair. Her hair, for God’s sake. He’d been with this woman dozens of times, tasted every freckle on her body. He squeezed his eyes closed, resting his forehead on her and just breathing in the unique scent of her that overrode any shampoo.
Her hand fell to rest on his shoulder, signaling she was finally ready to admit to being awake.
He eased back to look in her eyes. “How do you feel?”
“Better, rested. Thank you.” Her fingers trailed down to his chest and his body twitched in reaction. “Jose, it would be horribly cliché of us to kiss right now… or more.”
His body went even harder against his fly in reaction to her words. “Clichés aren’t always bad.”
She closed her eyes tightly, resting her head against his shoulder. “Can we just talk? Just see if we can hang out here together? I don’t want to say good-bye yet, but honest to God, Jose, I can’t go back.”
Did she realize how her ni**les beaded against the robe, making him ache to sweep open the neck and take each peak in his mouth?
He decided to take hope from the fact that she wasn’t running out the door. He hugged an arm around her shoulder. “Stay put. The less you move the better it is for both of us.”
She looked up quickly.
He just winked.