His shirt disappeared, and for some reason, Angelina couldn’t seem to catch her breath. Unlike her one and only other lover, Alec’s chest was smooth, nearly hairless, but tanned. She’d already noted he didn’t have the milky complexion and freckles that usually accompanied red hair, and now she saw his tan extended...everywhere. At least, everywhere she could see so far.
She flexed her hands and placed them on his chest. Tentatively at first, but gaining courage for a bolder approach, she stroked and kneaded, feeling his muscles bunch and tighten under her ministrations. “You have a beautiful chest,” she told him, laughing a little under her breath. “I cannot seem to stop touching it.”
Her words—or was it her touch?—seemed to have a powerful effect on him, because he tensed and his nipples beaded. Then his hands were on the belt of her robe, tugging impatiently at the knot she’d tied so securely. “You have no idea what you do to me,” he told her, the hard edge to his tone letting her know exactly what she was doing to him. It was a heady feeling.
The knot gave way finally. Her robe fell open and he pushed it off her completely, letting it drop to the floor in an untidy heap. Then his hands were doing to her what she was doing to him, and—Oh God, she thought as she tried to drag in enough air to survive, because his caresses were robbing her of every normal function. Desperate for more—more of everything, more of Alec—she fumbled with his belt, but he forestalled her there, too, unbuckling, unzipping, heeling off his shoes, stripping off his pants until he stood naked before her. Strong. Erect. Impossibly aroused.
The throbbing between Angelina’s legs grew more intense, making her fully aware of her own needs for the first time in nearly forever. She tried to drag Alec down onto the sofa with her, but he shook his head. “I’ll be damned if our first time is going to be on a sofa,” he said roughly. “And it’s not going to be quick.” He cupped her face in his hands and captured her lips, luring her tongue with his. He finally let her go when she whimpered with need, and he whispered, “Hell no, Angel. This is going to take all night.”
All night. The words swirled in her mind, one word chasing after the other. All. Night. All. Night. All. Night. Wasn’t that what she wanted? One night to forget not only what she didn’t want to remember, but that she wasn’t free the way most women were free? One night to let herself experience everything Alec offered? Every touch. Every taste. Every sensation. One whole night—or what was left of it—to live the fantasy.
“Yes, please.” Was that her voice? That soft, yielding, feminine sound?
She’d thought her meek acquiescence would make him happy, but she was wrong. His face hardened until the bones stood out, and the sudden intensity in his expression made her eyes shift under his. He caught her chin with one hand and forced her to look at him. “I’m going to please you, Angel,” he said softly but implacably. “I’m going to please you until you scream my name. And you’re going to please me...until I scream your name. That’s the only way this is going to work between us. You’re going to tell me what you like...every step of the way. You’re going to tell me what you want. And I’ll do the same for you. And when we’re done, we’ll start all over again. And again. And again. Until neither of us can take any more.”
Angelina shivered and her nipples tightened unbearably as she realized Alec wasn’t like any other man she’d known in her life. He was...unique. He didn’t want soft and yielding. He seemed to want her just as she was. Tough. Uncompromising. Determined. Strong. He respected those qualities in her, because...because he was the same way.
She searched his eyes, his face, and knew it was the truth. He wanted exactly those things from her she’d been afraid would always prevent her from having what most other women had. She would never have to hide her true self from Alec. Never have to pretend to be someone else. It was a freeing revelation.
Then sudden fear whipped through her. Not fear of Alec, but of herself. Fear she wouldn’t be satisfied with one night. That she’d want more. That one night with Alec would only make her crave him like an addict craved a drug. That she would want forever.
But she couldn’t let fear rule her. She never had. She never would. She would take this night with Alec because she wanted it...wanted him. That was all. And she wanted what Alec had promised her—she wanted him to make her scream his name.
Even more, she desperately wanted to make him scream her name. That thought was an aphrodisiac all its own, that a man like him—so strong, so powerful—would surrender control to her, mind and body. Her eyes gleamed at the thought. “Yes,” she promised, running her short, unvarnished nails over his taut muscles, accepting everything he offered...for one night only. “I will make you scream.”