She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, couldn’t even say his name to beg for more.
When he pulled the cotton over her head, he stared down at her with such heat in his eyes that she felt spotlighted by his desire. As if she were the only woman he wanted, the only one he’d ever want.
“There it is,” he whispered. “All that pretty purple lingerie. I saw the hint of it beneath your shirt, and you have no idea what that did to me.” He slid one finger beneath the strap of her bra, brushing down, coming perilously close to her nipple as he dipped into the cup. Then he pulled the straps off her shoulders, letting them hang a moment down her arms. Decadent. Sexy.
Unbearably erotic.
He toyed with her, his hands at the zipper of her jeans, driving her crazy. Finally, he slipped the top button loose. “I wonder if your panties match that lovely lilac.” He drew on the zipper, hissed out a breath as he saw the fabric of her panties. “Hell, yes. You can make a man wild with imagining what’s beneath all these clothes.” Then he hooked his fingers inside her waistband and stripped off her jeans. All the way down, going on his haunches before her. “God, you’re beautiful.”
He pulled everything off, including her shoes, as she braced herself on his shoulder. His skin burned even through his shirt. Then he looked up at her, his gaze following the length of her body, his eyes as hot as a wildfire. Rising slowly, he let his fingers take the path his gaze had moments before. She trembled for him.
“I need to touch you.” He seduced her with his words, his heat, the way he snapped open her bra in the front and moved to circle her nipple with one possessive stroke. She was naked except for the tiny bikini panties.
And she was all his for the taking.
“I need to have you, skin on skin. Now.” With that, he stripped away the final wisp of fabric covering her. “You steal my breath. My sanity.” His admissions were raw with heat—and emotion.
“You steal my sanity too,” she whispered. “And I want to strip you down the same way.”
“You took the words right out of my mouth,” he said in that low, commanding voice that always made her come apart at the seams. “It’s your turn now, Ari.”
Her hands on his belt, she didn’t fumble. The hot flare of passion burned in his eyes as she undid his zipper with an achingly slow glide. And her mouth watered for his taste.
Finding the hard jut of him with her hand, she knew taking him that way wasn’t something she could do badly, even as inexperienced as she was. He was so special, and she wanted it so much. She stroked him with the tiny pearl of moisture on his tip.
“Everything,” he said. “Take it all off.”
She stripped off his shirt, caught for one moment by a dusky nipple. She licked him, sucked the nub into her mouth. Then bit him lightly. His body surged in her hand.
“So you want to play dirty, huh?” he whispered. Then he gently steered her to her knees…and she swore every last part of her liquefied.
She tugged off the rest of his clothes until he was gloriously naked, and she was eye level with all that beautiful flesh—thick, full, hard, and long. Up close and personal, she was able to appreciate his magnificence in a way she hadn’t that one special night.
Then she took him, just the tip, circling with her tongue, and his body arched, his hands tangling in her hair. “I’ve imagined this. I’ve dreamed about you, Ari. Over and over.”
Knowing he’d dreamed of her the way she had of him, the moment overwhelmed her, and she took him deeper.
“Jesus,” he whispered through a sizzle of breath.
The sound made her feel beautiful and wanted and powerful. Power was something a girl like her had never found before. It wasn’t even something she’d known she wanted until the moment he gave it to her.
Then he hauled her to her feet, kissing her openmouthed, his taste still on her tongue. “You feel so damned good,” he murmured. “But it’s too soon. This night needs to go on forever. And I can’t control myself around you.”
She didn’t hold back her smile. Refused to hold back anything. “Then don’t.”
He lifted her high and gently tossed her on her stomach in the middle of the bed. He climbed after her, stalking her, pulling her up on her hands and knees and moving in behind her, his thighs taut against hers.
“Are you sure you mean that?” His words were harsh with need as he ran his hands down her back to her hips, resting them on her bottom. The things he said and the way he touched her made her feel raw and needy, her skin sensitized all over.
She’d never expected to find a man she could be so totally open with, so completely available to, giving him anything he wanted, and yet trusting that she’d be okay. Not just okay—amazing. She wouldn’t let herself be afraid to ask for everything. To ask for him.