Bound By Marriage(5)

But his only reaction was to shake his head. "Oh, no, Jess. You don't  get to reduce this to nothing more than a quick, meaningless bang."

Embarrassment flooded her. But he wasn't finished. "I'm going to pleasure you, my darling wife. It's my job as your husband."

She was sure he was taunting her. "Stop playing games."

Moving so swiftly that she had no chance to step away, he scooped her up  in his arms. "I'm absolutely serious. I want my wife screaming for me."

Her skin went taut at the utter resolve in those green eyes. She could  find no words with which to respond as he carried her to the master  bedroom and set her on her feet by the bed. The sexual charge between  them was electric.

Caught in its surge, she didn't have the will to drop her arms from his  neck as he wrapped his own around her back and began to slide down the  zipper, slow and careful. Every nerve in her body was already stretched  to the limit-the leisurely descent threatened to make them snap. Taking a  shuddering breath, she closed her eyes in an effort to regain her  balance.

His lips followed her into the darkness, sweeping her under. Gabriel  kissed like the man he was-confident, possessive and fully in control.  One of his hands rose to tangle in her hair, tugging back her head to  facilitate his taking of her mouth, while the other slipped inside the  now open zipper to lie flat on the naked skin of her upper back.

She moaned, captured by the undercurrent of hunger that lay every sweep  of his tongue, every press of his lips. Escape was a word she no longer  remembered and addiction was a very real possibility.

When he did set her free, it was only so he could kiss his way across  her jaw and down her neck. She tipped her head, cooperating without  conscious thought.

Nothing she'd ever done had prepared her for this assault on her senses, this layering of pleasure upon pleasure.

Gabriel's hand was rough against her skin, the hand of a man who worked  the land. But on her neck, his lips were almost velvet soft-a seductive  contrast.

She lost her breath as he closed his teeth over a pulse point, then  released with exquisite deliberation, scraping those same strong teeth  along the sensitive flesh.                       
       
           



       

"Mmm."

Her senses melted under the sound of blatant male appreciation. And the  surrender was so sudden and total that something slumbering inside of  her jerked to full wakefulness. This wasn't right, wasn't how it should  be.

She'd prepared herself for going to bed with Gabriel, had told herself  she'd bear the experience, though it would hurt to sleep with a man she  didn't love.

Yet here she was, coming apart in his arms. It confused her, made her  want to pull away. But the fact was that her last-ditch effort to regain  control stood no chance of success, she was so completely out of her  league.

Under her dress, Gabe curved one hand around her ribs to lightly brush  the side of a lace-covered breast, destroying all thoughts of rebellion.  Her sharp cry made him chuckle. It was a very sexual sound. Even she  understood that tone, the tone of a man who knew he had a woman in the  palm of his hands. Tonight he was the master and she very much the  novice.

The thought sparked a new burst of defiance. She might not be able to  stop herself from going under but she refused to give in completely.  Thrusting her hands into his hair, she tugged and made him raise his  head. "Why do I have to be the one who's undressed first?" Her voice was  husky, her words uttered on a gasp, but at least she'd gotten them out.

"Here I am. Unbutton the shirt." It was both an order and a dare. He didn't think she'd do it.

So she did.

Tanned male skin appeared bare inches from her lips-pure temptation that  locked up her throat and shot arrows of need to her most private core.  She'd made a bad miscalculation. However she had no intention of backing  down. Mouth dry, she continued down his chest and stomach, pulling the  shirt from his pants to finish the job.

When he kissed her again, her hands were still between their bodies and  it was inevitable that she'd flatten them on his chest. The shock of  skin to skin contact made her tremble. There was nothing soft about  Gabriel. The man was built like a lean, beautiful machine and the  womanly heart of her could only appreciate him.

When he slid the hand from her hair along her shoulders, she  instinctively understood the silent request. Dropping her hands from his  chest, she let him pull the dress down her arms. To her surprise, he  stopped with the neckline just above her breasts and let go. Her hand  shot up in a responsive movement, clutching the satin to her chest.

His eyes glittered with passion, unshielded in a way she'd never before seen.

"Do it for me, Jess."

There was nothing else she could do, not with the fury of passion between them.

Her body had triumphed over her mind, taken over everything she'd ever  known about her own needs and desires. Unable to hold the power of that  gaze, she looked away … and released the dress. It slid off her body like  cool water.

Silence.

She found the courage to look up.

Green eyes clashed with her own and time stopped.

"Beautiful." He broke the connection to run those eyes down the  corset-like teddy, to the point where the lace tops of her stockings met  the bare skin of her upper thighs. Then he retraced his journey,  leaving her scarcely able to breathe. And that was before he shrugged  off his shirt.

She bit back a whimper but not soon enough.

"If you want to touch, do it." His hands went to her waist and stroked  down to close over the curves of her bottom with boldness that made it  very, very clear he considered her his in the most basic sense.

Hands fisted against his chest, she fought the urge to lean closer to taste him.

His skin was beautiful, healthy and golden brown, radiating power. A  second later, he used that strength to pick her up and drop her lightly  on the bed.

Then never taking his eyes off her, he sat down on the edge to remove his socks.

The muscled temptation of his back laid waste to her final defenses. She  was about to reach out to touch when he stood. His hands went to his  belt.

Fingers grasping the sheets, she watched mesmerized as he unbuckled the  belt and pulled it out of the loops. It fell to the carpeted floor with a  dull metallic sound. But she could hardly hear anything, her attention  fixated on his fingers as they undid the top button of his pants.

Then he pulled down the zipper.

Cheeks ablaze, she closed her eyes and felt-more than heard-his low  chuckle as he got rid of the pants and climbed into bed beside her.  Throwing one leg over her lower body, he put a hand on her stomach. "I'm  not naked … yet." It was a scandalous whisper in her ear.

Opening her eyes, she found his lips a thought away from hers, his eyes  holding no amusement despite that chuckle. The hand on her stomach slid  lower.

"Stay with me," he ordered when she would have turned her head.                       
       
           



       

She stayed, admitting to herself that she was a full participant in this  dance at the very instant that he moved to cup her intimately. Her body  arched up and she found herself squeezing her thighs to hold him to  her. Giving a hoarse groan, he kissed her hard, that big hand rubbing  the excruciating need between her legs. A second later, he was gone. She  cried out at the loss, the sound so desperate she shocked herself.

"I want you naked." His fingers begin to unlace the ribbons holding  together the teddy. His clenched jaw left no question as to the force of  his arousal. "Where did you get this?"

"Hollywood Boulevard," she managed to answer.

Kissing the curve of her neck, he pushed one hair-roughened thigh between hers.

"Wear it for me again." It was a definite command.

She might have protested his arrogance had he not chosen that moment to  peel apart the sides of the teddy and cover a breast with his palm. Her  mind splintering, she pushed into that callused male touch. But he  released her far too soon. She had to bite her lower lip to keep from  begging him to come back.

"I like the way you look at me, Jess. Now it's time for me to look at you."

Rising to his knees, he moved until he could tug the teddy off  completely and throw it aside. Then he took inventory of her with his  eyes-from the tips of her stocking-covered toes to the curves of her  hips to the peaks of her breasts.

Jess felt every look like a physical touch and when he pushed up her  legs to bend them at the knee, she didn't have the will to protest, much  less the ability.

He spread her knees to kneel between them, his body heat an exquisite caress.

Running his hands under her thighs and bottom to her lower back, he pulled her up to straddle him.