Page 18 of Rainwater

He opened heavy-lidded eyes to peer at her. “I thought women liked sensitive men.” He gave her a slow, knee-melting smile.

“Oh, we do. We do.” She responded by leaning forward and flicking her tongue across one nipple. His hands came up to cup her head just as her mouth closed over the hard peak.

He trembled and jerked. She could feel his reaction against her mouth and in his hands where they rested in her hair, against her scalp.

The rush of power and feeling came all at once, almost too much for her to bear.

The soft, surrendering groan made her need burn hotter.

This strong, brave man trembled because her mouth was on him.

That thought and his reaction made her weak and warm.

As she drew lazy circles around his puckered flesh, his breathing grew harsher, his muscles flexing beneath her hands where they were braced against his arms.

Before she could even begin to get her fill, he jerked her head away. His eyes were glazed with desire, his face stark and hard, the passion for her etched deeply in his expression. His eyes bored hotly into hers and she got a glimpse of the wildness in him.

She saw something else there, as well. She saw his fear, real, so very real, burning with desire. He closed his eyes briefly as if he was in great pain.

“Corey,” she said fiercely, rising to her knees so that she was level with him. “Just one night. I understand. You’re leaving in the morning. I’ll drive you to the bus depot. Don’t think about it now. Don’t let it intrude on the time we have together. Please.”

He tilted her head up. His eyes traveled over every inch of her face as though if he looked long enough, hard enough, he could burn her visage into his brain.

He swallowed and leaned close, so close his mouth was almost touching hers.

“Tell me one more time. Tell me you’re sure about this.

God, Jennifer, don’t let me hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m a bastard.

I still want you. I don’t give a damn about anything else. ”

She touched his face softly, gently, and slowly he sank to the bed, wrapping her in his arms.

“Yes, you care, or you wouldn’t ask me again. I’m sure, Corey. I’ve never been surer. You’re not a bastard, just a bad boy, and you understand. Bad boys always understood me, but you, your insight is astounding. You were right. I’m a wild, reckless woman inside wanting to get out…wanting—”

His mouth cut off her words, sucking her into a vortex of pure feeling and touching. Their clothes disappeared without conscious thought. He took his time touching her everywhere, claiming her as his and his alone.

Pushing her onto her back, he whispered, “Where’s the protection, darlin’?”

She looked up at him with unfocused eyes.

“Jennifer…?”

She blinked as if coming out of a dream. He smiled seductively at her expression and she smiled back a little sheepishly. “Oh, in…the drawer by the bedside.”

He found what he needed and took no time slipping the sheath on. And then he entered her, his lips parting on her name.

His baby-soft whisper rang in Jennifer’s ears like a shrill whistle. Her own cry of pleasure mingled with the sound of her name as he slid into her.

He cupped her face and stared down into her eyes.

“I want you to know that this is no one-night stand. I want you to know that this means a great deal to me. Shh,” he said when he saw her get ready to speak.

“Don’t talk. Don’t ask me for promises and I won’t have to break any. Just know that I’ll never forget you.”

She closed her eyes, trying to think around the excruciating pleasure that was running in intense waves through her body.

But the thoughts whirled away and the words remained.

Later, when she was coherent, she would sort through them.

Take them out like shiny pieces of glittering glass to look at and savor the beauty.

She sighed softly. This was what she wanted. And as she knew when she’d made the decision to take what she wanted, she knew the aching pain of letting him go.

But tonight was hers.

Holding him here would be wrong. It would be like holding a wild animal that was trying desperately to find freedom. Corey was tortured and unwilling to tell her why. As much as she wanted him to stay, she wanted him to make that decision himself.

He moved then, slowly, by degrees, and every thought fractured and spun away. There was no yesterday, no tomorrow. Just now, just this man, just Corey.

She felt as if she were trying to breathe in a sauna, the air was so thick with sensuality and the heat of their passion.

It had never been like this. She hadn’t had much to compare lovemaking to, but she knew deep down that it would never be like this with anyone else.

“Only you, Corey,” she murmured, her voice filling with a sob from the sheer intensity of their joining.

“God, Jennifer, you’re so damn beautiful. Touch me, darlin’,” he whispered.

Jennifer was almost unconscious from the intense pleasure that rocketed through her each time he glided into her, holding her breath so that she wouldn’t miss a minute, finding each delicious sensation even better than the last. She clutched at him, molding her hands over strong and muscled flesh.

His slow deep thrusts were torturous, bringing her closer and closer to peaking splendor only to withdraw and intensify the next wave of pleasure.

She moved with him in the slow dance of the ages as if she were irrevocably mated with him, reunited from some time long past, sweet, perfect searing rhythm, the pleasure beyond her comprehension.

Surely this kind of bliss could only exist in heaven.

How lovely to find a small piece on earth in this man’s arms.

He slipped his forearm under her hips and lifted her so that he was deeper inside her. He slowed his thrusts even more and with her hands, she urged him faster.

“Come on, pretty darlin’, let go.”

She tensed, the need in her coiling tighter.

“Stop…moving…so slow. Please, Corey, have mercy. It’s been…so…long.”

“Not until you give me what I want.” Sweat poured off his body with the intense concentration that it required not to lose command of himself. He was close to breaking, his control hanging by a thread. He thrust slowly, his whole body taut with the devastating need inside him.

“Corey, please. Harder, faster.”

He leaned down and took her lips, pushing himself as deep as he could go, rocking slightly. A flash of exquisite sensation shattered through her, and she cried out, “Corey, you’re so bad.”

His body jerked as she spasmed around him, and he whispered on the quiet air, “Bad, yeah, so bad.”

He rolled to his side pulling her against his chest and she nestled against him. It felt so right.

“You’re leaving tomorrow?” she finally asked.

“Yes.” He lifted himself on his elbow and looked down into her flushed face. He pushed a wisp of hair off her forehead and leaned down to kiss her lips. “I can’t accept a job with you.”

“Why?”

“Because, Jennifer, I’m not ready to commit or settle down.” He seemed to know those words would hurt her, but they were the ones she expected to hear. He sighed when the disappointment clouded her eyes, and she closed them briefly as if to keep back tears. “You’re sorry, Jen darlin’?”

She reached up and pulled his head down, cupping the back of his head, kissing him with warmth and tenderness. When the kiss ended, she smiled at him. “No. I’m not sorry. I’ll never be sorry. It’s what I wanted.”

He eased away from her, slipping out of bed. “Where are you going?” she asked, her words laced with uneasiness.

“To the bathroom. Any objections?” His mouth quirked with amusement.

She watched him walk across the floor and disappear into the bathroom. He moved beautifully, with a graceful prowling stride. A loose-hipped swagger with no self-consciousness at all. The man had more sex appeal in his little finger than most men had in their whole bodies.

How was she ever going to let him go?

He came back to bed and stretched out alongside her. Gently he reached out and drew the covers away from her body. “Beautiful,” he breathed, gazing at her breasts. His dark head bent and he took a suddenly puckering bud into his mouth.

She cried out his name in wonder and delight, her hand caressing the back of his neck.

He pushed her back, and she couldn’t believe it when she felt the hard heat of arousal against her thigh. “Corey? Already?”

His head lifted, that savage heat in his hot turquoise eyes. “I’m always ready for you, darlin’. I hurt for you, Jennifer.”

Her skin grew damp everywhere and tingled. Her heart tripped into a faster beat.

“I’m hurting, Jennifer,” he said again. His mouth hovered over hers, then dipped down to rain her with little biting kisses.

She ran her hand down his taut abdomen until she reached the hardest part of his body. The part that made him so intriguingly male. “Is this where you’re hurting?”

He growled deep in his throat as she stroked him. “Thank God we have all night,” he managed to say, his breath ragged, his words hoarse. “I just might get enough of you.”

He kissed her feverishly then fumbled for protection with trembling hands. And when he entered her with force and need, his raspy voice close to her ear, he said, “But I doubt it.”