Her voice, that beautiful husky voice, made his body loosen with desire. Beneath his hand he could feel her nipple tightening through the damp fabric of her swimsuit and, breathing raggedly, he began caressing the swollen tip with his thumb, liking the way it made her arch into him and the sudden quickening of her breath.
Her hands were clutching him and tugging him closer, pulling at the waistband of his shorts, and then she pressed her hand against the hard ridge of his body and he groaned.
‘Let’s go upstairs—’ He was fighting to get the words out.
‘No.’ Her voice was husky with need.
He tried to protest, but it turned into another groan as her fingers slid beneath the waistband. Recognising defeat, he picked her up and dropped her onto the nearest lounger. As she sprawled backwards on the fur he took a step away and, keeping his eyes trained on her face, he slid down his shorts.
CHAPTER SEVEN
HIS HEART WAS slamming against his ribs like a door in a gale.
Had any woman ever looked sexier? She was sprawled against the fur, her eyes wide and feverish, her damp hair spilling over her shoulders. Like the ice in spring, he felt his blood start to melt as his gaze dropped lower. The wet fabric of her swimsuit looked so much like melted caramel all he could think about was how it would feel to lick it off the curves of her body.
It was suddenly difficult to swallow past the hunger
swelling in his throat, and without even really knowing that he was doing so he moved swiftly to join her.
Her skin was hot to touch, and dotted with drops of water like tiny transparent pearls. Leaning forward, he touched the one closest with the tip of his tongue and then, keeping his eyes fixed on her face, he traced a path to the next one, and the next, feeling her tremble at his touch.
‘Ragnar...’
She murmured his name, and it was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard. He stretched out over her and kissed her hungrily. She cupped his face with her hands and kissed him back. They broke apart to catch their breath, and then without a word he reached out and slid first one and then the other strap away from her shoulders, peeling the damp costume away from her body until she was naked.
He breathed out unsteadily, staying his hunger to admire her high, firm breasts and slightly rounded stomach. ‘You’re so beautiful,’ he whispered and, lowering his face, he ran his tongue over her nipples, tasting the salt from the water as she arched upwards, pressing against him, offering herself to the heat of his mouth.
And then she was jerking free, her eyes dark and fierce, and he breathed in sharply as she reached for him, wrapping her fingers around his hard length. His hand gripped hers but she batted him away, bending over him to brush her lips against him. And then she was taking him into her mouth and he was groaning, his fingers grasping her hair, his body gripped by a pleasure so intense it was almost painful.
He was fiercely aroused, his body tight to the point of breaking. The feel of her mouth was turning him inside out. He was so close, too close—
Clenching his teeth, wanting, needing to be inside her, he pulled away, moving with panicky suspended hunger to fit his body against hers.
‘Ragnar...’
Her fingernails dug into his back, but it was the urgency in her voice that cut through his heartbeat.
‘I’m not protected.’
Not protected.
He stared down at her, blood roaring in his ears. His preoccupied overheated body was making it hard to think clearly and her words were bouncing off his dazed brain like hailstones on a roof.
And then he swore silently—not just at the implied consequences of that statement, but at his own near-adolescent loss of control. Had he really been so caught up in the moment that he’d forgotten all about contraception?
Catching sight of her small set face, he put his shock and shame to one side and, blanking out the relentless ache in his groin, captured her face between her hands and kissed her gently. ‘It’s okay...we don’t have to—’
He breathed out against her cheek, fighting to contain the desperation in his voice. He would rather wait than put her under pressure.
Her fingers tightened against his arms. ‘I want to, only I don’t have any condoms.’
‘It’s okay,’ he said again. ‘I don’t either—well, not here, anyway.’
He didn’t want her to think that he wasn’t careful, and nor did he want it to look as if he’d made assumptions about what would happen here tonight.
She bit her lip. ‘There hasn’t really been anyone since... That’s why I’m not...why I haven’t...’
He didn’t know why but her words made a warm ripple of relief spread over his skin, and without meaning to, he said softly, ‘There hasn’t been anyone for me either.’