Nothing left to do but shed the hideous nursing bra. In retrospect, stripping out of it probably increased her sexiness quotient. She dropped it on the ground near her blouse and fought the urge to cover herself when Antonio’s heavy-lidded gaze swept her with clear appreciation.
“You might want to hurry,” he muttered, hands clenched on his thighs as he looked up at her from his prone position. “I’m about to lose my mind.”
“Really?” That sounded...lovely. “Am I making you crazy?”
The thought pleased her. Imagine. Caitlyn Hopewell was driving a man insane with a slow striptease. It practically made her giddy.
He groaned. “Completely. You’re killing me. If you had any idea how much I want to—” He shook his head, teeth gritted. “Never mind. You take this at your pace. I’ll be the one over here practicing my patience.”
“No. Tell me. What do you want to do?” She fingered the clasp on her jeans, toying with it the way she imagined a more experienced woman might do. “I might let you.”
“Oh, yeah?” he growled. “Lose those pants and let’s rumble, my darling.”
The endearment rolled through her and left a whole lot of heat and pleasure in its wake. “I like it when you talk to me like that.”
“You do, huh?” Amusement curled his lips upward. “Not well enough, since you’re still dressed.”
“Well, you still haven’t told me what you want to do.” The curiosity was killing her. So she shoved off her pants, careful to take her nonsexy underwear along for the ride, and kicked them both away.
She couldn’t get more naked. With the moon as the only source of light, her flaws weren’t as noticeable and the lines of her postpregnancy body smoothed out. And that was when it dawned on her—that had been the whole purpose of lights-out. Was there nothing that the man missed?
Antonio worshipped her with his gaze and she let him, keeping her arms by her sides. The way he looked at her made her feel beautiful. As though she had nothing to hide.
“Now then. Tell me,” she commanded, proud that her voice didn’t waver. “What sorts of wicked activities do you have in store? Because I’ve waited a lifetime to be thoroughly ravished and I’m a little anxious to get started.”
* * *
Groaning, Antonio tried to keep his faculties about him as he surveyed the very tempting woman on display before him wearing nothing but moonlight and a smile.
Blood and adrenaline pounded through his veins. He’d kept a very tight hold on his body since he’d opened the bedroom door. Caitlyn had just pushed him to the brink with a unique mix of innocence and friskiness that belied her lack of experience.
He hadn’t expected it to be such a turn-on.
Or for her to systematically break down his resistance until he held on to his self-control by the barest edge. He wanted her more fiercely than he’d ever wanted anything—including his memories. His muscles strained to pounce. To possess. To claim. To relentlessly drive her to the threshold of madness the way she’d driven him.
But he couldn’t because Caitlyn deserved something special for her first time. She deserved someone gentle. Restrained. Refined.
She had to make do with Antonio Cavallari instead.
“I...” He nearly swallowed his tongue as Caitlyn sauntered toward him, invitation in her eyes that he couldn’t misread even in the pale light. “My intentions are to make love to you. There’s nothing wicked about that.”
The hard floor beneath the comforter ground into his knees, but he couldn’t have moved if his life depended on it. He should have prepared better for this, changed out the furniture. Caitlyn’s first experience with sex should happen in a bed, but he refused to make love to her in the same place he’d been with another woman. Whether he could remember it or not. It was a matter of principle.
“Why not? What if I want wicked?” she murmured and halted directly in front of him, then folded her legs under her to mirror his pose. Knee to knee. She pierced him with a gaze far too knowing for a woman of her innocence. “Listen to me so there’s no confusion about this, Antonio. I watched you in the ring and it was brutal. But it was beautiful at the same time. Like you. It was an unsettling, thrilling experience. There’s probably something wrong with me that I like the primal part of you. But I don’t care.”
Without hesitation, she traced the falcon tearing across his flesh, watching him as she touched him, and he sucked in a breath as his skin pulsed under her fingers.