My Heart's Desire (Barrett 1)

“Look at me, Alexandria,” he commanded.

Her eyes flew open.

Drake smiled, a slow, sensual smile that wrapped itself about her like a heady spell. He guided her hand around his neck, reaching for her other hand to do the same. “Now kiss me.” He saw the uncertainty in her eyes. “You’ve done it before,” he reminded her in a husky, teasing voice. “Remember?”

“I remember,” she whispered.

“So do I.” He didn’t wait, but lowered his mouth to hers slowly, an inch at a time, until he brushed her lips in the lightest of caresses.

Alex tightened her hold on him, pressing her palms into the corded muscles at the nape of his neck.

Drake chuckled. “Want something, princess?” he murmured against her soft mouth.

Alex stood on tiptoe, sliding her fingers into Drake’s thick hair, anchoring his head more firmly, tugging him down to her. She opened her mouth the way he had taught her and traced a slow path across his bottom lip with her tongue.

Drake tensed. All playfulness having vanished, he lifted Alex off the floor and crushed her against his chest, opening his mouth and possessing hers with an urgency like none he had ever known. Again and again he kissed her, bruising her mouth with his rapacious need, which flamed higher with each blazing contact.

He carried her to the bed, never breaking the kiss, and lowered himself on top of her on the rumpled sheets. He had planned to go slowly, to tease her to the very limits of her control, to wait until she begged before he took her.

He had to have her now.

The wildness inside him grew steadily, destroying his reason. He had always known that she affected him as no other woman ever had, but this desperate, violent need was more than he could bear. She was soft and clinging beneath him, unaware of the torture she inflicted on him with each sensual twist of her body. Blindly Drake tugged at the straps of her nightgown, urging them down. At the same time he realized the impossibility of removing it when their bodies were wedged so tightly together. He couldn’t wait, and he couldn’t let her go—not an inch, not for a moment.

He slid his arms beneath her and with one violent tug ripped the gown in two and dropped the shreds to the floor.

Alex gasped. The shock of his action and the realization of her own nudity were too much for her. Instantly Drake began to caress her back in slow, soothing motions, softening his devouring kiss to a gentle seduction of her mouth.

“I’m sorry, princess,” he rasped, struggling, yet unable to slow down. “I … lose all control … around you.” His hands did not remain still. The moment he felt her relax he began to explore her body, touching, stroking, shaking with hunger.

Alex closed her eyes, melting into the bed. He had touched her before, but never like this. Never without a shred of clothing to protect her. Never without the realization that they would have to stop. Never as her husband.

Her body took over. With feline grace she arched against his touch, moving sensually as his hands roamed the length of her. Their tongues warred, mated, retreated, then mated again. And suddenly Alex wanted more.

“I want to touch you, too,” she murmured into his open mouth. She slid her hands around to the front of his shirt. “Drake?”

With a raw sound of animal need Drake propelled himself from the bed. Never taking his eyes off her, he tore the clothes from his sweat-drenched body, flinging them to the floor. He paused for a mere second before he lowered himself back down over her trembling body.

“You are so beautiful,” he ground out, barely able to speak. “I want to look at you … all of you … but I can’t. Not this time. Oh, God, you feel so good. If I don’t fill you soon I’m going to explode.”

Alex was reeling. The sight of him, huge and aroused, had made her breath catch and her heart pound. The thought of him driving himself into her scared her to death. She was a

bout to tell him so, to pull away, when he lowered his weight upon her. She whimpered at the sensation of their naked, melding skin. And all thoughts of denial were lost.

“Drake … oh, Drake.” She wrapped her arms around him, gliding her hands down the rippling muscles of his back to his taut buttocks.

He groaned as if in pain. Raising himself on his elbows, he stared down at her with eyes that were almost black with passion. “What are you doing to me?” he rasped.

She paused. “Should I not touch you like this?”

“You should touch me everywhere, princess. And not only like that.” He gave a husky laugh. “There are so many ways …”

“Teach me.”

Ablaze with desire, he stared into her passion-flushed face. “Later. Not now. I’d never last.” He lowered his head to her throat, lightly licking the sensitive hollow until she moaned with pleasure. “Oh, Alex, Alex, I’m on fire for you.” His mouth moved down from her throat until it reached her breast. He brought his hand up to cup it, circling with his tongue over and over.

Bursts of heat flowed through Alex’s body as she arched up to Drake’s teasing mouth. When he knew she was desperate, he took the throbbing nipple between his lips and lightly tugged. She cried out, tossing her head from side to side on the pillow.

Her reaction was nearly his undoing. He repeated his action with her other breast, struggling for a control that seemed out of his grasp.