Keri's breath shuddered to a slower pace while she alternated between the drenching bask of pleasure and the shaken sensation that this was what had eluded her all along. So this was why sex turned people's lives upside down and inside out and back again.
And it had taken a virtual stranger to show her.
A great bursting ache of pleasure seeped its warmth through her body, and as he came to lie over her again she breathed one heartfelt word.
'Beautiful.'
He smiled, and touched his lips to her nose. 'Yes, you are.'
'That wasn't what I meant.'
'I know it wasn't.' He brushed a strand of hair away from her damp cheek. 'Now, look at me.'
Cautiously, she opened her eyes, terrified of what she would find written in his. What would he think of her now? So wild and so free and with such little provocation? But there was no censure on his face, though the shadows thrown up by the firelight onto those cheekbones made him look faintly formidable. And his mouth was as soft as his eyes-if only she knew what colour they were-as if he were about to enjoy a delicious feast, and she felt strangely shy, the power of what had just happened to her making her realise just how inexperienced she really was. Especially compared to him. And now? What now? Could there be more, and as good as that? Suddenly her starved body was greedy.
He touched his lips to hers. She could taste herself on his mouth, and that felt so unbelievably intimate that she sighed, snaking her arms around his neck to pull him closer. She could feel the hard, flat planes of his body, and the cradle of him, where he was harder still.
'That's good,' he murmured approvingly. He ran his hand over the skirt, which was rucked up almost to her waist. 'Is it warm enough to take this off, do you think?'
The fire was blazing, and her skin was still glowing in the aftermath, but it seemed that his question had not really required an answer. He was pulling off his sweater with a practised hand and tossing it aside.
Underneath, a slim-fitting dark T-shirt moulded itself to the muscled sinews of his chest and he peeled that off too. She saw the rich, tawny skin, the sprinkling of hair which arrowed down to the waistband of his jeans. Oh, but he was magnificent! The way she had always known that a real man should look.
She trickled her fingertips over the oiled silk of his torso. And he felt the way that a real man should feel too. 'You are so beautiful,' she said shyly.
He smiled as he observed her rapt preoccupation with his skin. For a moment there he had thought she was going to be a selfish lover-taking, never giving. Wanting only pleasure for herself without wanting to give any back. And thank heavens he had been wrong.
She was coming back to life, and the contrast between this near shyness and how wild she'd been earlier was making him feel as weak as water. Then he glanced down and saw the clean lines of her slim body, reminded himself that she was shaved-and how many women did that? So it figured that the shyness was probably just a show, to salve her conscience, to make her feel less guilty about what she had just let him do to her.
'Want to take my jeans off for me, Keri?' He ran her hand down the shaft of his thigh and glittered her a provocative look. 'I'm just putty in your hands.'
Insecurity threatened to swamp her as she felt like a complete novice in the light of his obvious and breathtaking experience. She dared not say no, but her hands were trembling so much that she was afraid she might make a complete mess of such a simple act.
He saw the shaking fingers and smiled. 'Don't hurt me now, will you?' he drawled mockingly.
'I … I'll do my best.'
Jay gave a low laugh-weren't the English the masters, or the mistresses in this case, of understated irony? She had just had the most mind-blowing orgasm and now she was fumbling around like a sweet young virgin.
Somehow she managed to get his jeans off, and everything else too, her heart beginning to thunder again when he was finally naked, lazily and assuredly naked, save for the narrow plaited band at his wrist. But she didn't have time for second thoughts, because he was skimming the rest of her clothes off until she, too, was naked. He pulled her against him, wrapping his long, strong limbs around her, the sensation of his warmth and his strength driving every thought from her mind other than the realisation that she wanted-no, needed him to make love to her. Properly.
'Oh, Jay.'
'What is it?'
How had this happened, and when? Her head fell heavily to his shoulder as he began to stroke at her breasts, and wherever he touched her it was though he burned into her, making her nerve endings shriek aloud in recognition. 'You make me feel … ' The words trailed off, for there were no words for the way he made her feel.
'Wanton?' he prompted, his words molten whispers against her cheek. 'Because that's the way I want you to feel, Keri. And now just feel me. Go on, sweetheart-feel how much I want you.'
She touched him, feeling him spring against her, so hard and so virile, and it was as though she had never been intimately acquainted with a man's body before.
And maybe she hadn't. Not like this. Filled with a sudden need to explore him. As if she wanted to touch and kiss and caress every single centimetre of his body. She reached down to encircle him in her hand, curling her fingers around the rocky shaft, and some instinct made her writhe her hips against him even while she bent her head to tease and graze at his nipple with her teeth.
Jay shuddered beneath her touch. God, she was passionate! Too passionate, because suddenly he knew that he could not wait, that this was good, but not good enough. He had never felt so full, so hard, so ready to burst, and he wanted more. Everything. The real thing.
Decisively and irrevocably he moved over her, and Keri's eyes snapped open in alarm. 'You will … you will use something, won't you?'
It was a sensible question, and one which did not need to be asked, since his hand was already reaching out for the pocket of his jeans-yet it irritated the hell out of him and he wasn't sure why.
But he found what he was looking for and gave up thinking, sliding the condom on and then sliding straight into her. He groaned because she was so tight-oh, so beautifully tight-that it was almost over before it had begun, until he reined right back.
As he moved he lost himself in her heat, hearing her gasp in time with each exquisite thrust, and he heard some deep, primeval sound dragged from deep within his own lungs. Maybe it was because it had been too long, or maybe because this was like an unexpected gift, but his senses seemed more highly tuned than normal. This was the closest you got to heaven, he decided through the achingly sweet mist. And the furthest place from hell. This, this, this …
She cried out just before he did, tightening her arms around his neck and pulling his head down to kiss him, so that at the moment of abandonment they were locked together in every way that counted. She revelled in the feel of him inside her, the sensation of someone so big and so strong being momentarily helpless, caught in the grip of passion which made his powerful body shudder, and she thought she had never known anything quite so heart-stoppingly beautiful.
Emotions were funny things-they pounced on you at unpredictable times-but a woman was especially vulnerable after lovemaking, and Keri especially so just then. She felt rocked in the aftermath of debilitating pleasure, and then in flooded doubt, insecurity and an aching wistfulness which began to gnaw away at her dreamy state. How heartbreaking that it should have taken her until now to experience something as beautiful as this. She bit her lip.
Jay drew his mouth away and dropped his head heavily onto her shoulder, feeling empty, sleepy. He yawned against her skin and closed his eyes.
Keri felt the steady slowing of his breathing and her heart sank. She wasn't holding out for comfort or reassurance-she just wanted him to say something-anything-even if it wasn't true. For what could she say to him, when what had just happened was completely outside her experience?