She was eager. All the energy pent up within her seemed to push against him, wanting to get out, wanting to infuse itself within him. He tried to slow her down, kissing her languidly, tasting her fully, running his hands all over her, learning her body.
But she would not be slowed. Each kiss he bestowed, she trumped with one deeper and more passionate. Each caress was matched with one more daring, more dangerous. Each attempt to hold her off, to hold her at bay, failed when she refused to play along.
Her hands slid up and down his back, pulling him harder against her breasts and into her warmth, and then her palms dipped lower, stroking his buttocks through his trousers. Desire shot through him, sharp as a knife, and he groaned out the need.
“You like that, don’t you?” she whispered, working her hands over him, dipping them between his legs, and cupping his balls through the trousers.
“Oh, God,” he moaned and resisted the urge to snatch her by the hair, flip her over, and plunge into her like an animal. “We must slow down.” He managed to get the words out somehow. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’m not afraid.” Her hands had now worked their way around his waistband and were dangerously close to his erection. “I want you to hurt me. I want you to pleasure me. I want to feel it all.”
And then the fall of his trousers was loose, and her warm hands were on him. “Oh!” she said, leaning back to look at his cock. “It’s like velvet. Sleek and smooth and—”
“You’re driving me mad,” he growled, pushing his trousers to his knees and then down to his ankles. “You’re—”
He watched, bereft of speech as her hands glided along his cock, up and down, around. And then, coyly, she leaned forward and touched the tip to one of her hard, budding nipples.
He almost came then. Stephen took a sharp breath and clenched his hands. He wanted to be inside her, he wanted to take her slowly, but if she kept up like this, he would be fortunate to last more than three seconds.
He had to take over. Much as he was enjoying her explorations, he had to get this under control or lose control all together. With regret, he took her hands in his and stepped backward. Her face fell immediately. “Was that wrong?” she asked. “I thought you liked it.”
He gave a rueful laugh and cupped her cheeks. “I do like it. I like it too much.”
Her eyes were still full of skepticism, so he added, “You can’t do anything wrong with me. Nothing you do will be wrong.”
She smiled again, and he shook his head at the mixture of strength and vulnerability in her. One moment, she was ready to try anything, to conquer the world. The next she was tentative and unsure. He loved both sides of her, and he loved that he would be the one to take her on this new adventure.
Kneeling on the bed beside her, he pulled her close for a long embrace, then cupped her cheek again and kissed her slowly. As usual, her excitement bubbled forth, and she tried to speed his kisses to fever pitch, but this time he wouldn’t allow it.
He would take his time with her no matter how much it depleted his self-control. And so he kept his kiss deep and passionate and slow, and after a moment, she responded in kind. But the experience of kissing Josephine Hale this deeply, this intimately, was more than he’d anticipated. He felt drugged on her mouth, the feel of her body, the sound of her ragged breathing.
As though entering a dream, he reached forward and caressed one breast. She moaned, arching for him, giving herself so completely that Stephen was taken aback. A moment of responsibility he’d never before felt stole over him.
He had to do this well; he had to do this right. She trusted him. Completely. It was in the arch of her nude body, the whispers from her mouth, urging him on, the way she followed wherever he led. She had no doubts, no reservations. Had anyone ever trusted him so completely before? Had he ever wanted anyone to?
Rewarding her trust and openness, he continued to stroke her, memorizing the feel of her, noting each small gasp, each loud moan, each quick intake of breath until her body was like an instrument to him. He was the virtuoso, playing her exquisitely.
And now it was time for the final score. He reached between her legs and cupped her. She was warm, shockingly so. Waves of heat emanated from her, the fire burning hotter as his hand rested there. And now she was all but purring in his ear and pushing against him.
He couldn’t remember ever feeling as though a woman wanted him so much. And he knew he’d never wanted to be inside a woman as much as he wanted her.
Slowly, so slowly, he inched his fingers apart until he formed a V at her most sensitive spot. Then he squeezed. Gently, almost imperceptibly. Her body went rigid, and then she gasped with pleasure. He squeezed again, and this time she moaned aloud. “More. More.”
He intended to oblige her, but he changed positions, extending one finger and teasing her tiny hard nub with it. She writhed against him, and he could feel her limbs go weak and limp. He wrapped one arm around her, supporting her as the finger played her lightly, bringing her to new heights he could well imagine.
And then, when he’d measured her breathing, measured her moans, and knew she was at the point of climax, he inserted the finger inside her. She screamed, her body so taut she felt as though she would break. Sliding the wet finger out, he ran it lightly across that hard nub once more, then slid it back inside, and this time he felt the first spasms of her orgasm.
“Oh, don’t stop,” she moaned in his ear, her breath coming quick and making him want her even more. “Don’t—”
Her next words were lost as he slid the finger out and in and then felt her come against him.
It was a full body climax. She shuddered, convulsed violently, clinging to him, screaming out her pleasure, until finally she slumped, exhausted, against him.
But Stephen was not through. He wanted to give her more. He wanted to drown her in pleasure. Gently, he lowered her to the bed, bent over her and began to kiss her back to awareness. Her neck was long and slim, and her hair must have been washed in the lavender scent he had smelled earlier.
When he felt her arms go around him, he moved to kiss her collarbone and the slope of her pretty white shoulders. Of course, her small, high breasts were waiting for him next. There he suckled and nipped, teased and taunted, until she was all but offering herself to him.
He was kneeling between her legs, and she had opened to him so that the tip of his erection rested at the juncture of her thighs. The temptation there was enormous. He could smell her on his fingers, and he had felt the heat inside her a moment before. Now he wanted to be surrounded by that heat, to envelop himself in her.
