nostrils. He gulped. The need for blood, her blood, had awoken.
He needed to slow things down, bring it to a controllable level while he pleasured her so thoroughly that loving him was the only thing she knew. The only thing he knew.
He delved his hand along the curve of her hip, along the length of her long leg, then up her thigh until he reached the hem of her shirt. Up... up... he lifted the material. Slowly - it nearly killed him to go slow. He tantalized her nerve endings with barely there touches, and when the material was bunched at her waist, he paused. Silence encompassed the tent. Not even the sound of their breathing could be heard. Perhaps they both waited, breath bated, for his next move.
His blood sparked with electricity as his fingers played at her waist again. Her skin was so soft. So perfect. She was silk and roses. "I don't want to scare you," he whispered huskily, already knowing she was far from afraid. "Tell me if I do something you don't like."
"I'm not - "
"I'll explain everything I'm doing to you," he added, neatly cutting off her protest. "Right now, I'm simply going to explore you. Your legs, your stomach, your every curve and hollow, every sensitive place that makes you gasp for more."
"Yes. All right."
"We'll learn what you like together."
"Every time you touch me, I feel flames licking me, burning me. I like that."
He uttered a strained chuckle. More sweat trickled down his temples. "If you didn't feel that way, that would mean I was doing something wrong. It's my job - no, my privilege - to make the fire become an inferno." As he spoke, he traced his name on her thigh.
She was his, that's all there was to it. Only his.
"Oh, yes." Her low, needy moan blended with a sigh of pleasure. The sounds combined, emerging more like a purr.
A man true to his word, Gray introduced himself properly to her body. "I'm going to touch your breasts." "Like before?"
"Like before." He lingered there, kneading and rolling her nipples between his finger and thumb.
Her hips arched, her body bowed. Her head fell back, long lengths of her silky hair tickling his chest. Thunder boomed and the rain increased in pressure, pounding against the shelter. He'd never again see another moonlit, stormy night without thinking of Jewel.
She was passion incarnate.
He'd only had a mere glimpse of her passion, but he was eager for more. When he'd kissed her, she'd erupted. Just like that. Her hands had moved over him, her lower body had arched into him. When he touched her...
"I'm going to make a mental note that we both enjoy this area." His voice was strained, so strained he barely managed to get the words out. Had he ever been this on-edge before? He didn't think so; he couldn't remember a time when a woman had ever invaded his mind so thoroughly.
Jewel's stomach quivered when he stopped to dabble at her belly button. So soft, so sexy. He could have spent the rest of the night there, but continued his exploration. "I'm going to touch your bottom."
"Yes. Please." She gasped out the words, her voice heavy with anticipation. When he reached the rounded curves, she arched her hips. He massaged.
He called himself a million kinds of fool as his gaze fastened on her neck, watching the pulse there.
Growling, he delved his hand between her legs. When he began working his fingers up the inside of her thigh, she cried out.
"Gray, I need - I don't know! I watched you a hundred times but I don't know what I need."
He chuckled, the sound more a choked gasp than anything. She was writhing against him, silently pleading. "You need a more intimate touch, baby. Like this." He tunneled his hand through the tuft of silky hair guarding her wet folds, then sank one finger inside her tight sheath.
Her hips instantly shot toward the sky. "Oh, gods."
"Do you love me?" He pulled his finger out and spread her moisture with circling strokes. The final vestiges of his control were slipping. A sense of urgency was overtaking him.
"Gray. Gray! Do that again!" she commanded, ignoring his question.
His mouth stretched tight with the strain of his own arousal, his need for blood. Sweat no longer trickled; it dripped from his temples. God, he loved hearing his name on her lips.
"Did you touch yourself like this often?" he asked her. So easily he pictured her splayed out on