But these weren’t ordinary kisses, not the light caresses she could expect to share with other boy-friends she had had. These kisses were piercing the whole of her being, Jake’s mouth devouring her until she felt dizzy.
She lay back on the blanket, Jake’s body half lying over her as he continued to kiss her. Her arms were up about his neck, her fingers tangled in the thick dark hair at his nape. His hands were moving caressingly over her body from breast to thigh, but not once did he attempt to touch the fastening to her bikini again.
He raised his head to look down at her, his eyes dark with his arousal. ‘Now tell me that Matthew Day means something to you,’ he ordered gruffly.
‘Matthew who?’ she asked dreamily, lost in the vortex of her own passion.
He smiled his satisfaction, caressing her lips apart with his fingers. ‘Matthew Day,’ he murmured. ‘The man you’ve know three years, the man you lived with for a time.’
Her eyes widened. ‘Are you jealous, Jake?’
His lips gently parted and probed hers, warmly caressing. ‘Insanely,’ he admitted against her mouth.
‘You needn’t be.’ She trembled, her body on fire for him. ‘Do I have the right to be jealous of your other women?’
He lifted his head. ‘There are no other women,’ he said indignantly.
‘Your past women,’ she amended, her fingers lightly playin
g with the hair at his temple.
‘Not when they’re in the past, no.’
‘Matthew is part of my past.’
His mouth tightened. ‘It isn’t the same thing at all.’
‘It isn’t?’ she asked innocently, revelling in her power to make him jealous. ‘I thought it was exactly the same.’
‘You’re nothing but a teasing little …’ His hands tightened about her waist.
She raised her eyebrows. ‘Yes, Jake?’
‘Little wanton!’ he finished firmly.
She laughed huskily, touching several strands of grey hair she had just discovered at his temple. ‘You haven’t exactly lived a life of innocence, not if these are anything to go by.’
‘Do I look as if I have?’ he taunted.
‘No,’ she answered truthfully.
‘Well, I haven’t, and I’m not going to claim otherwise.’
‘Why have you never married?’ she asked curiously.
He frowned. ‘Who said I haven’t?’
Her eyes widened. ‘You mean you have?’
‘Would it make a difference?’
She gave a nervous laugh. ‘Of course it would.’
Jake moved away from her to lie on his back. ‘Why should my being married make any difference to us being here together?’
Stacy sat up, looking down at him searchingly, his expression unreadable as he met her gaze unflinchingly. ‘You really don’t know?’
‘You mean it does matter to you?’