He groaned. “With pleasure, Esmeralda.”
Teasing quickly sizzled into passion when he crushed his mouth against hers. She crowded as close to him as she could get, parting her lips to grant him as many liberties as he chose to take. He accepted the invitation eagerly, dipping his tongue into her welcoming mouth to explore with a scientist’s thoroughness and claim with an adventurer’s boldness.
With her robe parted, only his clothing and her thin satin nightgown lay between them. Even that barrier was too much. She wanted to savor the athletic body she had so admired when he’d worn nothing but swim trunks. Sliding a hand between them, she fumbled with buttons even as Jason pushed at her robe, slipping it off her shoulders and letting it drop to the floor around her bare feet.
The image of his beautiful chest had flitted through the back of her mind all day, taunting her even as she had admired him in his sexy Western wear. When she had seen him in the pool—had it been only that morning?—she had wanted to run her hands all over him, to explore and admire every nicely defined muscle, to press her mouth to his skin and see if he tasted as yummy as he looked. Now that they had complete privacy, she allowed herself those liberties, sliding her palms slowly from his shoulders to his narrow waist, flicking the tip of her tongue against one flat brown nipple until she teased a low groan from his throat.
His hands tightened spasmodically at her hips, then slipped lower to grab the hem of her nightgown and tug upward. She raised her arms. In one smooth move, he swept the gown over her head and tossed it aside, leaving her clad only in a pair of black lace panties. It had been a while since she’d been this intimate with anyone, but she didn’t feel particularly self-conscious with Jason. The unmistakable appreciation in his expression as he looked at her was quite the ego booster.
She’d have much more freedom to explore—and be explored—on the bed. Taking his hand with a smile, she turned to lead him there. She planted a hand on his chest and gave a playful shove, and he cooperated by tumbling onto the bed that had already been made ready for her to climb into. He reached for her, but she evaded his hands long enough to unzip a compartment in her carry-on bag and pull out a few sealed packets. She hadn’t expected to need protection this weekend, but she was glad now that she was in the habit of always carrying some in her luggage. Tossing the packets onto the bed with Jason, she dove into his waiting arms.
His hands and mouth were already moving eagerly over her almost before she stretched out beside him. Her black lace panties joined his clothing in a jumbled pile by the bed. After kissing a slow, thorough, mind-emptying path from her mouth to her throat to her breasts, he nibbled his way from her rib cage to the top of her thigh, both tickling and further arousing her. Locking her hands in his dark hair, she squirmed and giggled breathlessly. His husky chuckle made her breath catch hard in her throat. His left hand moved to the inside of her thigh and the breath shot out in a gasp.
Jason lifted his head suddenly, and he stared at her right hip. “You have a tattoo.”
She couldn’t help giggling again. He’d sounded for all the world as if he were telling her something she didn’t already know. “Yes, I was there when it was inked.”
He traced a fingertip gently over the thumb-size fairy that hovered just above her right hip joint. “You continue to surprise me.”
Shifting her weight, she pushed him onto his back and climbed on top of him. “I’m just getting started, Dr. Jones.”
A groan rumbled deep in his chest as he reached for her. “By all means, continue.”
Lowering herself slowly onto him, she leaned over to speak against his parted lips. “With pleasure.”
Though he was tired, Jason wasn’t ready for sleep. Morning would arrive all too soon, and with it, a long day of scheduled activities during which he would have to keep his distance from Madison. She’d made it clear enough that he was to do nothing to suggest he’d spent any more time with her than any of the other members of the wedding party. He would keep his word—but he already knew it would be very hard to be in the same room with her without wanting to touch her. Or even just gaze at her, as he was doing now, propped on one arm and lying on his side next to her.
She lay against her pillow, her honey hair tossed appealingly around her face, her cheeks flushed from their lovemaking. She wore no makeup, but her lips were rosy and a little pouty from his kisses. The skin of her throat and the upper curve of her breasts above the snowy sheets glistened faintly from exertion.
They had been rather energetic, he thought with a surge of thoroughly masculine satisfaction. Now he would be content to just lie there looking at her for hours yet.
She opened her eyes, giving him a sweet, lazy smile that made him change his mind. He was quite sure he’d want to do more than just look once he’d had a chance to recover a bit.
“You’re staring at me, Dr. Jones.”
He really did love it when she called him that. Silly, maybe, but she was just so darned appealing when she teased him with their own private joke. “It’s hard to look away from perfection.”
She laughed softly, shaking her head against the pillow. “And you tried to pretend you don’t have ‘moves.’ If that wasn’t a practiced line, I don’t know what it would be.”
It would be the truth, he thought, but he merely smiled.
She nestled more comfortably into her pillow. “Hmm. I think I’m going to feel that ride tomorrow.”
Jason chuckled.
She punched him lightly in the chest. “I meant the trail ride.”
“Yes. I knew that,” he said, tongue in cheek.
“You are so bad.”
Never in his life had Jason D’Alessandro been seen as a bad boy. Even though she was only teasing—after all, she didn’t even know the real him—it was sort of heady to have Madison refer to him in that way.
He wondered idly how he would look with a tattoo. Just a small one, maybe, somewhere his patients wouldn’t see. He’d discovered the tiny fairy on Madison’s hip with both surprise and arousal, realizing it was positioned so that it could only be seen by those she chose to reveal it to. Preferring not to wonder how many others had admired that little drawing, he brushed a hand over her hip beneath the covers, savoring the silky feel of her.
“There’s so much about you I don’t know,” he said.
Slowly stroking his arm with her left hand, she shrugged. “I’m a fourth-year psych resident, grew up and studied in Little Rock, except for attending college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana—where I met BiBi. Two older siblings, both surgeons, one widowed mother, no ex or current husbands, kids or pets. I’m applying for fellowships in several child and adolescent psych programs, so I’m not sure where I’ll be this time next year. That pretty well tells you all there is to know.”