“We think of the elements, the strands of a shared future, and wait until we’re safe and know what lies before us. Until we’re sure.” She held his gaze. “And then, we can decide.”
Toby studied her eyes and was reassured by the clear-sighted determination he saw there. He raised one of her hands to his lips and brushed a kiss to her knuckles. “And depending on what we decide, we might find ourselves in a better position to support the children as well.”
Her gaze locked with his, she whispered, “Yes.”
Then her gaze lowered to his lips.
He didn’t wait for any further invitation. He used his hold on her hands to draw her closer. Nearer, so he could dip his head and set his lips to hers.
This time, there was no hesitation on either side. Eagerly, they plunged into the exchange, hungry to explore further.
He released her hands and, slowly, sank back into the chair and, reaching for her, urged her to join him, and she half rose and, without breaking the communion of their lips, slid onto his lap.
Into his embrace. He closed his arms about her, and she settled her forearms on his shoulders, slid the fingers of both hands into his hair, and held his head steady so she could boldly press increasingly heated kisses on his lips.
Then she parted her lips, and in the same heartbeat, he responded. His tongue swept deep, and she shuddered, then sank even more definitely—even more evocatively—against him.
Diana gave herself up to her quest to learn, to experience and explore as much of this heady delight as she could.
If they made the decision to share their lives, then this would be an important part of what their future would hold.
This pleasure, this yearning, this compulsion to seize, to want and demand. This hunger.
This fire that grew from a smolder to a blaze, fueled by surging desires and greedy passions.
There was so much she’d yet to experience, to savor, so much that he might teach her.
So much she could imagine learning from him—only him.
That much, she knew in her heart, in her soul. He was unique, the only man who had ever ignited this fire in her blood.
His hands splayed across her back, then slid over the supple planes. The caress sent awareness streaking beneath her skin, then he sent those clever hands skating over and around, sculpting and tracing. Her breath hitched as his palms—burning even through the layers of fabric—glided over the constrained curves of her breasts.
And settled.
A long, extended engagement—one that significantly increased her understanding of physical pleasure—ensued. Who was leading whom was moot; they were both caught in the moment, trapped in the web of sensations that, together, they wrought, urged on by their mutual hunger and by building, burgeoning need.
As the minutes slid past, desire rose in an insistent wave, with every thud of their hearts rearing yet higher. Passion thrummed in the shadows. Held back. Still holding back.
Then, giddy and beyond thought, she shifted in his arms, and the invisible dam broke, and heated need washed over them and swept them away.
He closed his hand about her breast, and she shuddered. His fingers played, and she moaned through the kiss, and the sound ratcheted her hunger and his even higher.
The compulsive tension fed by desire and passion, by escalating hunger and need, wound about them, sank into and through them, and steadily cinched tight. Tighter.
Until the inevitable demand pounded, urgent and desperate, in their veins.
They had to stop.
Had to pull back before they went too far.
Toby managed to drag his lips from hers enough to gabble words to that effect, only to have her gasp, “I know.”
And she kissed him again, more fiercely, more ferocious in her wanting than before.
Then, with a sound like a tortured groan, she planted her hands on his upper chest and pushed back, sat up, and broke the kiss.
He opened his eyes and watched her slowly raise her lids. Through the shadows cast by the lamplight, they stared at each other. Anchored on his lap, she gazed into his eyes, while her breasts dramatically rose and fell as she struggled to regain her breath.
