Before she could do more than gasp his arm hooked around her, turning her before he pressed her into the cushions of the couch. The dress rode up her thighs as she stared up at him in surprise and he wasn’t helping much as he pressed one hard thigh between hers.
“Oh, Terrie,” he said, his voice soft, filled with dark longing. “I’m more than ready for you to be a woman. But are you really ready to be my woman?”
He didn’t give her a chance to answer. His lips came down on hers in a kiss that sizzled Terrie from her head to her toes. Her hands clenched his shoulders as she fought to keep her senses from reeling, but there was no escaping the firestorm he ignited inside her.
His big hands framed her face, pushing into her hair, holding her still as his tongue invaded her mouth with decadent hunger. It swirled around her own, tempting her, teasing her as it stroked in and out, mimicking a much more earthy, sexual act.
She arched in his arms, helpless now, gorging herself on the pleasure his lips and tongue bestowed as he dominated the kiss. His head tilted, his lips slanting against hers as he groaned deeply into her mouth and one hand moved to cup the fullness of her breast.
Terrie stilled. Was she too large, as Thomas had sworn?
Before the thought was finished Jesse had lowered the zipper in the back of the dress, drawing it slowly down her shoulders as his lips moved to her neck, his breathing rough, heavy, as he began to blaze a path to her right breast.
“Jesse,” she whispered his name as she fought to breathe. The sensations rocking through her body were intense, mind destroying, and he hadn’t even truly done anything yet.
“Damn.” He paused at the cup of her bra, breathing hard and heavy as he so obviously fought for a control she didn’t want him to hold onto. “Terrie. Not like this,” he whispered, but his fingers stroked over her nipple, causing her to arch in exquisite need.
“Why?” Fear beat at her with razor-sharp talons. “What did I do wrong, Jesse?”
His head rose slowly. The look on his face had her thighs clenching, her vagina spilling more of its liquid heat in a primal demand. His cheeks were sensually flushed, his eyes a brilliant dark green and as hot as lust itself.
“You do too many things right.” He tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a strained groan, Terrie thought.
His gaze went to the flesh of her upper breast, his fingers stroking over it almost regretfully as he looked back up at her.
“You know what will happen,” he whispered. “I don’t want to hurt you, Terrie. I care too much for you to ever want to hurt you. But you know what I’ll want.”
“And only your wants matter?” she asked him.
He shook his head as he moved away from her quickly, as though if he didn’t do it then, he never would. She sat up more slowly, watching as he stared down at her, breathing hard, heavy.
“No, Terrie, that’s not all that matters,” he informed her impatiently. “If it were, then I’d be in your bed now instead of fighting an erection that never seems to go away.”
Her gaze flickered to his hips. She fought to breathe. Nope, there was no hiding that. It was thick and long, pressing demandingly against his slacks.
“Dammit, you should at least act scared,” he growled as he sat down carefully in the large chair across from the couch.
“I’m not frightened of you, Jesse.” She allowed a smile to tilt her lips as she straightened her dress then reached back to pull the zipper back into place.
She was very much aware of Jesse watching every move she made as she arched to grip the small tab and draw it up slowly.
“Could you handle it?” he asked, and she knew he wasn’t talking about the zipper.
She stood to her feet, smoothed her dress down, then looked at him coolly.
“Could you?” She arched a brow in question.
He smiled slowly. “Don’t dare me, Terrie.”
She lifted her shoulder in unconcern. “Don’t push me, Jesse. I want you, not a pack of hound dogs. Take that however you want to. And decide which one you want the most. You can let me know when you figure it out.”
So much for seduction, she thought sarcastically.
He stood slowly to his feet. “What the hell do you mean by that?” he growled.
“I mean, Jesse, when you decide you want me without all the dire warnings and predictions, then you can let me know. I care about you, as you well know. If I didn’t, then I’d be damned if I would put up with your arrogance, or your habit of showing up at my home before sunrise for coffee. The question is, can you do without your buddies long enough to take it?”
She didn’t give him time to answer. She swept out of the office quickly, fighting the shuddering need racing through her body, and the sudden tightening of Jesse’s muscles as though preparing to move for her. If he wanted her, then he knew where he could find her. Alone.