This Calder Sky (Calder Saga 3)

Chase lifted his head a scant inch from her lips. “Don’t hold your mouth so stiffly. Relax,” he urged in a soothing murmur. “Let your lips move against mine.”

“All right.” Her sweet breath fanned him, stirring him.

This time Maggie offered a tentative response to the pressure of his mouth. She liked that funny little curling sensation it created inside her. Under his guidance, her confidence grew and was rewarded with pleasure.

His thumb began drawing lazy circles in the sensitive hollow below her ear, arousing more senses. There was so much warmth tingling through her body that Maggie found it hard to believe that only minutes ago she’d been shivering from the cold. She was trembling, but for an entirely different reason.

When Chase ended the second kiss, her lips clung to his for a brief second. She was glad when he stayed close and didn’t draw away. She stared at the masculine line of the mouth that had produced those wonderfully new sensations flooding through her. Her gaze wandered over the flaring width of his nose and the angular points of his cheekbones before being caught by the intensity of his eyes. Except for the burning vitality in his eyes, he could have been carved out of stone. Maggie was unaware that his extreme wants were holding him motionless. She became faintly puzzled by the luscious way she was feeling, wondering if it was normal.

The long, shaky breath she released was almost a sigh. “Are you supposed to feel all quivery inside when a man kisses you?” It was an artless question, prompted by a curiosity she couldn’t contain.

“Not with every man—just one or two.” His voice vibrated from someplace deep within him.

By slow degrees, Maggie began moving her lips closer to the line of his mouth. The hesitation was caused by an inner sense, warning her that this was an experiment that could get out of hand, but her natural boldness carried her past the point of caution. Chase didn’t make her come all the way—meeting her at a spot in between.

This time when his mouth closed over hers, she knew exactly what to do. The eagerness of her returning kiss brought an instant, and demanding, response from him. She felt she was being eaten up, consumed whole by the ravishing hunger of his kiss. The subsequent weakness made her sway, but his free arm moved, his hand catching her shoulder to hold her steady.

He shifted his position so she didn’t have to lean to reach him. The softness of her seemed boundless. Her lips yielded to the probing intrusion of his hard tongue, but her white teeth presented an irritating barrier. He withdrew. There was no need for force when instruction had already shown she was an apt pupil when properly coached.

“Open your mouth, Maggie,” he murmured against the corner of her lips.

This time there was no resistance and his tongue penetrated into the dark, secret recesses of her mouth. At first, she kept her tongue pressed tightly to the bottom of her mouth, avoiding contact with his. Gradually, she relaxed, letting her tongue touch his and curl around it until the two were wildly mating, turning Chase raw with a greater need. His arm was around her, one hand splayed between her shoulder blades, while his other hand remained on the smoothness of her neck.

The bulky jacket kept him from getting as close as he wanted, the jacket and the hands and arms beneath it, holding onto it. Frustrated and unable to control the powerful and primitive desires too long suppressed, Chase untangled his mouth from hers and sought the lobe of her ear, taking it between his teeth and nibbling at it, wanting to eat all of her and feed this insatiable appetite that consumed him. His hand glided down her throat, paving the way for his kisses and pushing aside the dusty collar of his jacket to expose the hollow of her neck and shoulder. He felt her tremble and heard a faint moaning sound. He was pleased to know he was affecting her with his caresses, drawing her into eddying currents of passion with him. Yet the embrace was too one-sided. He was doing all the holding and touching. His body craved the sensation of her caress.

“Give me your hand,” his husky voice instructed, and Maggie slipped a hand through the overlapping folds of his jacket.

He guided it to the solidness of his bare chest. Her fingers spread over the heat of his skin, muscles contracting in a quiver beneath her touch. She began a tactile exploration of his manly torso and found it more exciting to touch than to admire at a distance. Curling chest hairs softly brushed her sensitive palms; nerve ends tingled in delighted reaction. Muscles rippled in his shoulder and arm, and Maggie gloried in the contained strength beneath her fingers.

His mouth came back to claim her lips in a driving possession. The raw urgency of his kiss pushed her backward, his arm slowly lowering her to the ground. The jacket cushioned her naked flesh from the gravely bed of sand. His hand traced her arm, using it to insinuate his way inside the jacket. The sure, easy cupping of her breast in his palm made the intimacy seem so natural. Her fingers loosened their hold on the jacket. Somewhere, she lost the reason for keeping it shut. The coolness of the air against her skin only made the warmth of his touch all the more pleasurable; and it left her other hand free to double the amount of territory she could explore. Also, there wasn’t anything in the way to stop him.

The firm roundness of her breasts was his undoing. If he had possessed the strength of will to stop before they went too far, Chase lost it at that moment. All he retained was the control to take it slow and make it an experience that would be as gratifying for her as it was going to be for him.

His thumb circled the rosy peak of a breast, feeling it grow hard under his stimulation. Then his mouth began a slow foray to its irresistible lure, but was sidetracked by other attractions on the way—the leaping pulse in her throat, the tantalizing hollow at the base of her neck, and the delectable curve of a shoulder bone. Finally reaching his destination, his tongue encircled the hard button of her breast and she breathed in sharply in reaction, drawing away from him.

Chase kissed the rounded curve. “Don’t be frightened,” he murmured.

Frightened. Was that what she was feeling? She was nervous, but there wasn’t any fear involved. It was a sensual adventure, discovering the untapped depths of her desires. Each new touch introduced her to a whole new realm of sensation. She, who was so clear-headed, practical, and realistic, was being carried away by passion. What was more, she was enjoying every second of the dazzling journey.

Her hands glided over the bulging muscles of his arms to the back of his shoulders, silently assuring him that she wasn’t afraid. A slender hand curved itself to thickly corded muscles of his neck, fingers sliding into shaggy dark hair to apply a downward pressure when his mouth opened on her breast and he took the nipple inside it. His erotic suckling caused a peculiar tightening of the muscles low in her stomach, creating a raw ache that begged to be assuaged. She writhed slightly in an attempt to ease the building pressure, tightly clenching her inner thighs together.

Aware of the signaling movement, Chase let his hand roam downward from her breast while his tongue and lips continued to give it their attention. On the slow descent, his hand caressed the curve of her waist and briefly cupped her hipbone, then paused on the quivering flatness of her lower stomach. At the slight arching of her hips against its weight, his fingers slid into the silky patch of hair and rubbed the area with a gentle firmness.

Instinctively, her hips began to move in slow, rhythmic gyrations. Sidetracking her attention, he dragged his mouth from the peak of one breast to let it climb to the crest of the other. While he teethed the pointed crown, his massaging fingers made a more intimate search until he could feel the warm moistness of her. Soft animal sounds of pleasured torment came from her throat as she writhed and arched her hips high to further his entry. She was driven wild by the sensation.

Heat flamed through him at this totally uninhibited response. With a groan, Chase ripped his mouth from her breast to bruise her lips, separating them with the hard thrust of his tongue. His own fevered throbbing was driving him; need was screaming through his system. While one hand continued to work her until she was loose and ready, the other unbuckled his belt and unfastened his Levi’s. She moaned in protest when he took his hand away to hunch out of his pants.

Wedging her legs apart with his knee, he slid himself between them, priming her again with his hand before attempting entry. Hot eagerness boiled inside him, but he beat it down, probing into her by slow degrees. When he reached the thin barrier of her virgin veil, his first attempt to pierce it brought a muffled outcry of pain. She twisted away from his mouth, pushing at his chest with her hands as she tightened her legs and hips in an attempt to force him out. Chase held himself still with an effort.

“No.” Her head was turned away from him, her eyes tightly shut as her hips continued to strain from him. “Don’t.” Her voice was husky, disturbed, but not pleading.

He stroked her hair with a trembling hand, brushing his mouth across her jaw and cheek. “It’s too late, Maggie. I can’t stop now,” he muttered thickly. “Don’t pull away from me. It will only make it worse. It always hurts the first time, but don’t fight me, honey. I swear it won’t hurt for long.”

After a long second, Chase could feel her forcing her body to relax, but she kept her face turned away from him. He began kissing her neck while his hands slid down to hold her hips still. When he moved against her again, she tensed but didn’t struggle. Chase was as gentle

as he could be, but he knew it wasn’t enough as her fingernails dug into his shoulders and a choked sound of pain ripped through her throat at his penetration. With slow, steady strokes, he carved out the opening. The shuddering tension of near-satisfaction grew hard within him, but he knew it was too soon and forced himself to stop to contain it.

When he ceased his movements, she slowly brought her face around. He concentrated on the ivory smoothness of her features and the vivid contrast of her black hair. He was shaken by the rare combination of pride, beauty, and strength.