'Dio! What is it with you and cars?' Jake rasped, his dark head lifting, his hand slipping from her breast, his arms enfolding her to hug her tight. 'We have arrived, cara.' And it was only then Charlie realised the car had stopped.
In minutes they were naked on the bed, though Charlie had no clear memory of how they got there, and Jake was beside her, his dark eyes like molten jet sliding over her.
Her hair was loose, and he ran a hand through it, spreading the golden strands across the pillow in an almost reverent gesture before his head lowered and he took her mouth in a deep, open-mouthed kiss that went on and on.
For Charlie it was like coming home. She looped her arms around his shoulders, her fingers stroking through the silky hair of his head, and moaned her delight as she felt the caress of his hand on her breast. Heat flooded her veins, filling her body with sensual excitement as she arched against the teasing torment of his clever fingers. And she groaned out loud as he broke the kiss to dip his head and take the swollen peaks into his mouth, suckling first one and then the other. Her inner muscles clenched with need, desire lancing through her, making her hot and wet with arousal, and so very ready for him. Hungrily her hands roamed over him. He was all power and heat, and "she gloried in the perfection of his body, and shuddered as he stroked and caressed her, kissing the slight swell of her stomach, and murmuring husky words of adoration to their unborn child. Then with tongue and hands he resumed his sensual quest, finding every sensitive pulse, tasting every intimate part of her, until she was a shaking, whimpering creature, lost to everything but the erotic pleasure he gave her.
Suddenly he reared back, and she stared in mute fascination at his arousal, a magnificent potent force between his thighs, wild with wanting. Then his hands gripped and lifted her and he was there where she ached for him to be, easing into her slowly, inch by perfect inch, his sensuous probing electrifying her until every nerve in her body was screaming for release.
She wound her arms around his neck, her head falling back, as with a powerful surge he slid in to the hilt. He repeated the movement, increasing the pace, his mouth finding her breast once more. She clawed at his back and sought his skin with her teeth, wanton in her need, and she cried out as her inner muscles spasmed around him in an explosion of pleasure.
Jake gave a deep, primitive growl and increased the pace and with one final thrust that seemed to touch her very womb his body shuddered in violent release. He fell back on the bed, taking her with him, and she lay sprawled on top of him, her body quivering and her head buried in the curve of his throat.
Jake's arms wrapped around her and he stroked her trembling body, gently, softly, until she sighed and lay still in his arms.
Tenderly he rolled her onto her back on the bed and leaned over her. 'Dio, I needed you so much, amore mia ,' he husked, bestowing a kiss upon her brow while his hand lazily traced the line of her shoulder and lower to cup her breast as if testing the weight, and then gently traced the swell of her stomach.
He needed her. It was music to her ears, and this time she did not object to the amore mia as a deep sense of peace flooded through her. After what they had just shared, she could let herself believe he meant it.
But she was rudely disillusioned a moment later as his hand was abruptly withdrawn and he stared down, his hooded lids lowering to shield his expression. 'But I should not have done it.'
'Leave the party, you mean?' she said softly, a smile playing around her mouth as she lazily lifted her hand to his square jaw. 'I'm sure no one will mind.' Her fingers caressed his slightly roughened chin. 'I know I don't.' She raised languorous blue eyes to his, and for a moment she saw some deep emotion in his dark gaze.
'Maybe not. But that isn't what I meant.' He placed a hand on her stomach. 'I couldn't bear it if I hurt our baby.'
'There's no fear of that. They are tough little beggars.'
'And you would know? You have had one before?' he mocked gently.
'No, but then neither have you,' she mocked back, tracing the line of his high cheekbone and up to his temple, the pad of her finger resting on the tiny pulse that beat there.
'I almost did once,' Jake murmured.
Her eyes widened on his and the anguish she saw in the swirling black depths had her hand falling from his face in shock. 'But...you...how?' she stammered. She felt the sudden tension in his long body pressed against hers, and heard it in his deep voice as he began to speak.
'I was young and careless, and five months into a not- really-serious relationship when my girlfriend told me she was pregnant. Naturally I offered to marry her. I bought her the engagement ring she wanted, and gave her the money she demanded to arrange the wedding, but when she realised I ploughed most of my money into building up my business and was not as wealthy as she thought, my fiancée spent the money on a holiday and an abortion instead of the wedding.'