His finger went roaming down her back again until it came up against the waistband of her bikini panties. It skimmed from side to side then paused at the top of her cleft, bared by the low waistband. Shay held her breath as his finger slid slowly down over the swatch of fabric concealing her butt and then cupped her.
He leaned in again, this time catching her earlobe in his teeth. "Always been partial to black sheep. Just how baaaad can we be?"
He was trying to lighten the moment but her heart was too full to respond. She had awakened ready for him. Could not handle anything less.
"Shay?"
She shook her head, afraid she was going to do something dumb like cry.
"This is for you," he whispered into her ear. "All you want, as much as you want, as long as you want it. Change your mind, just say no."
His hands slipped slowly up her arms before cupping her shoulders and drawing her back against the hard-muscled planes of his chest, cocooning her with the heat of his body. The skin-to-skin contract was devastating to her sanity, overriding her with sensations she'd never felt before. His heart beat behind her left shoulder blade, a little fast but solid. He scooted in until his erection pressed against her. But his hands were gentle. Nothing said he had lost control, would not yield to her command. She didn't know how to handle that. He felt strong and capable, and his tenderness was taking apart every defense she'd ever built.
Then his hands slipped past her sides and his fingers worked up under hers to cup her breasts.
He nuzzled her neck. "You're so soft. And sexy, Shay."
He took his time, playing with each nipple separately, as if each were a little present not to be missed. It was an excruciating tease, shifting her excitement into a higher gear.
Finally he dropped his hands from her breasts and scooted back. She felt cool air move in between them. Then the shock of his tongue, warm and sinuous between her shoulder blades, made her gasp. After a few more licks, he pushed her to the edge of the bed and lifted her to her feet. He slid up behind her and pulled her back between his spread legs. "This is for you, Shay."
His warm wet tongue found the indentation of the small of her back, using long licking strokes to trace her spine. Both hands slid into her waistband, pushing her bikini bottoms down. His tongue followed the exposed indentation of her spine downward, each lick moving a little closer to her cleft.
He reached around to the front with both hands. One splayed across her lower belly to hold her while the other moved down to cup her mound. Forced so tightly against him, Shay had to bend forward slightly to keep her balance as his fingers delved deep into the vee of her body. Then his rasping tongue slipped into the shallow dimple at the base of her spine.
Shay whimpered in pleasure laced with embarrassment. She couldn't help herself. She pushed her hips against his probing fingers, opening for him so that he could find her melting wet center.
He took his time, fingers moving in a slow pulsing rhythm between the slick wet folds of her body. No man had ever touched her so gently and with such assurance. His tongue and teeth licked and nipped up and down her spine in time to the friction of his fingers as he made love to her with everything but his cock.
It was wicked and so strange, and so good!
When he finally lifted his head, his voice was deeper than she'd ever heard it. "This is all for you, Shay. You deserve to be appreciated. To feel every good thing a man can give you."
Dry-mouthed but weeping below from his stroking, Shay couldn't deny it. Yet some protective corner of her female brain told her not to surrender completely.
"Hm, it's better when you fully participate." Damn. She sounded as breathless as Marilyn Monroe.
He chuckled but it sounded half strangled by desire.
He withdrew from her slowly and then his hands on her bare hips were turning her to face him. He kissed her navel, darting his tongue into it before lifting his head and smiling at her. His fingers peeled her panties down her hips. "You want more." He kissed her below her navel. "You'll get more." His kiss moved lower still.
And then he made love to her with his tongue.
She held on to him for dear life, fingers digging into the muscles of his shoulders for support because her knees had gone weak. He cupped her butt in both hands, bracing and holding her in place for his tongue fucking. The term had always sounded, well, dirty to her before. But with James it was the most delicious torture. When she flew apart, little cries of ecstasy breaking from her, he held on, loving her with his tongue and teeth until she collapsed against him.
He gathered her to him, kissed her navel and pressed his face into her lower abdomen. "Enough?"
Shay caught her breath, her eyes flying open in outrage. He couldn't be serious. "More."
He lifted his head, lips glistening with the essence of her. "Then come here and I'll give you more." He pulled her down onto the bed.
Lying spread on her bed with her legs hooked over James's shoulders, Shay thought her bliss couldn't be any greater. He was moving inside her, his chest arched high and away from her as he flexed his hips to plunge deeper with each stroke. He worked her slowly, deliberately, pushing her up but not over the edge. With each stroke he gave his hips a little wiggle that made her gasp with pulse-pounding delight.
"Please. Just … Ooooh. James!"
James gritted his teeth. He'd been holding himself a little apart, prepared this entire time for her to suddenly change her mind. She'd been through so much. Suffered too much. He didn't want her to think he was another user, out for what he could get from a woman. He had been prepared right up to the very second her cries of fulfillment filled his head to pull back, if that's what she suddenly needed.
Now he didn't have to. The pent-up frustration of balancing on that knife's edge, for her sake, was released. Her cries turned him inside out and upside down. And stoked his lust to a level he'd never known. And then he lost control, moving high, hard and fast to her sweet little cries of pleasure.
Her body still quivering with little aftershocks of pleasure, Shay lay staring at him through her lashes for a long time before she spoke. "Where did all that come from?"
A tiny smile tugged his mouth as he reached out to brush strands of her hair from her cheek. His eyes still radiated the heat they'd generated. "I don't know. I just went for it. Too much?"
"I never- No. Just … wow."
* * *
A little after six A.M. Bogart pushed through the mostly closed bedroom door and padded over to James's side of the bed. He didn't bark but he did move in until his nose was within inches of James's face. The perfume of warm doggy breath woke him.
Golden eyes stared intently into his.
"Right." He tossed off the covers and reached for his jeans.
"Where are you going?"
He looked back over his shoulder. Shay was looking at him with a big grin on her face. That was a new and welcome sight.
He grinned back. "Taking Bogart for a walk."
She rolled over, dragging the covers with her. "I'll do it."
"It's chilly. I won't be long."
She gave him the porcupine look. "You forget. For a whole month he was my dog. I miss taking care of him. Please?"
James hesitated. He didn't want to spoil what would be a normal moment between them. An easy couples moment. "Okay, but don't go far."
He looked at Bogart, who was giving him that lolling-tongue doggy grin. "Do you see what you've done? I even have to share my girl with you."
Bogart barked brightly and padded over to Shay's side of the bed.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Shay sat behind the wheel of her car, trying to get up the courage to drive into work. It was Monday morning. James had already left to report for retraining, but the look on his face as he kissed her good-bye was anything but happy.
"Get a restraining order against Coates. Today."
Balloons? Harmless.
After she'd walked Bogart early Saturday morning, James had walked in on her popping the balloons in the kitchen. The sexy sleepy-eyed man of early morning vanished. Pissed-off Officer Cannon was a force to be reckoned with.
Shay thought about lying. But there was a note tied to the bouquet of balloons she found on her doorstep that read "First Anniversary. Think of me." No name. No need.
James looked at the note a long time before saying in a flat voice that this was the last time he was going to hear Eric Coates's name without doing something about it.