“Then, what—”
“Basil,” she interrupted pleasantly. “Are you ever going to kiss me again?”
Seven
“What?”
Sherry grimaced. The man looked rather bewildered by her question. She couldn’t tell if that was because he genuinely didn’t understand what she’d meant when she said, “Are you ever going to kiss me again”—which seemed rather unlikely. It was a pretty straightforward question, after all—or whether he was just befuddled that she had been brazen enough to ask it. She suspected it was the latter. She supposed she’d somehow shocked his old-world sensibilities.
Self-conscious under his unblinking stare, she shifted uncomfortably and began to babble. “I mean we’re alone here, something that probably won’t happen often. And we do have to find out if we experience that shared pleasure business you mentioned. For one thing, I’m really quite curious about that myself. I mean I can’t even begin to conceive of what that might be like. But we also need to find out if we experience it so that we know for sure that I truly am a possible life mate. Because I’m not at all sure—”
Much to Sherry’s relief, Basil ended her little babbleathon by kissing her . . . and it was as amazing as the last two times he kissed her. She liked to think she was a good kisser, but the man was a master at the art. There was no hesitation, he was just suddenly beside her on the couch, his hand at the back of her head, pulling her forward as his mouth descended to cover hers.
She sighed her relief into his mouth, and then opened to him when his tongue slid forward to demand entrance. Passion immediately roared up through her like a freight train, and she gave up analyzing his kissing skills. It was impossible to think when your body suddenly felt like liquid fire. Sherry felt as if she was bubbling and melting wherever he touched her, and his hands were everywhere. The hand at her head dropped down to her back, pressing her closer even as his other hand found and covered one breast, cupping and squeezing the soft globe before gently pinching her nipple through the cloth of her blouse and bra.
Sherry groaned and clutched at his shoulders, her body arching to thrust itself into the caress. She then groaned again when he released her to work on the buttons of her shirt. She tried to help him, but her hands were suddenly clumsy stumps. It didn’t matter, though, the man was skilled in more than kissing. He had the buttons undone and the front clasp of her bra unsnapped so fast it was enough to leave her gasping with shock. It was a sound she repeated when both his hands suddenly closed over her breasts.
Moaning into his mouth, Sherry arched and twisted into his caresses by turn as his fingers played over her. Then she groaned with disappointment when he broke their kiss, only to gasp, “Oh, God,” when his mouth replaced one hand and he drew the nipple between his warm wet lips and began to suckle.
“Basil,” she gasped, clutching at his head to urge him on. Sherry felt his displaced hand briefly clasp her knee. When it then began to slide up her leg under her skirt, she instinctively let her legs spread a little for him, shocked to find them trembling like a virgin’s as his hand continued its journey.
Basil lifted his head to kiss her again as his fingers brushed against the silk cloth of her panties. It was just a feather light touch the first time, but became firmer the second time, and Sherry groaned, her legs clasping around his hand and squeezing eagerly. Basil nipped her lip in response and withdrew his hand to urge her legs apart again. He then hooked a leg over her knee, keeping the one leg still and preventing the other from closing as well. Once that was done, he deepened their kiss again, his tongue thrusting into her mouth as he found her silk panties again. He brushed over the cloth once, then quickly tugged the material to the side and began to caress her without the cloth in the way.
Sherry cried out into his mouth and then began to suck on his tongue, her body writhing where he had her pinned to the couch as her need grew in mounting waves that were becoming almost unbearable. She needed release, she needed him inside her, thrusting and—
Tearing her mouth from his, she cried, “Basil please!” and reached for his pants. Her hands were not clumsy stumps anymore. Suddenly they were working again and she quickly had his dress pants undone. She would have reached in and found him then, but Basil immediately broke off what he was doing, stood up even as he caught her legs to turn her sideways on the couch, and then came down on top of her. His kisses then turned almost violent, his tongue thrusting out to spread her lips even as he reached down between them, freed himself, and then shifted his hips and thrust his erection into her.
Sherry cried out, her hips bucking to welcome him, her body clasping his hardness, reluctant to release him as he withdrew a bit before plunging back in. Some part of her mind was aware that it was all happening extraordinarily quickly, that foreplay had pretty much been neglected altogether, but she didn’t care. She wanted him, needed him to do exactly what he was doing. Foreplay could wait for the next time, she thought, and then cried out in shocked pleasure as an orgasm exploded through her with darkness hard on its heels.
Knocking at the door woke Sherry sometime later and she peered around with confusion at the room she was in. Windows, blinds, a television . . . Oh yes, the sunroom, she recalled, and remembered what had happened here at the same moment as she became aware of the man slumped on top of her. Basil. Good Lord, they’d—
Another knock interrupted her realization of what had gone on, and she quickly grabbed the afghan off the back of the couch and pulled it over them both as the door began to open.
“Oh, sorry folks,” Teddy said, turning his head away as he realized what he’d walked in on. “Just checking to make sure you two were still here and okay. For a bit we thought you’d left. This was the last place I thought to look. But I’ll let you be.” He started to pull the door closed again, but paused with it still cracked open. Eyes still averted, he added, “Katricia and Drina are making supper if you want any. Don’t worry if you don’t. We’ve all been where you are, so we’ll understand. But we’ll put some away in the fridge for you to grab later when you surface.”
“Thank you, Teddy,” Basil murmured, and Sherry glanced down to see that he was awake now and had tugged the afghan off of his head to look around. It left her chest bare, and his sleepy eyes were lighting up and turning bright silver as they roved over her naked flesh.
“You’re welcome,” Teddy said, drawing her gaze back to his averted face. “And if I don’t see you before bedtime, good night.”
He pulled the door closed then, and Sherry glanced back to Basil. “He doesn’t think we’ll want to eat?”
“As he said, he’s been where we are. He knows the hunger between life mates will hold more sway,” Basil murmured, tugging the afghan off of them both and letting it slide to the floor.
“Is this life mate hunger?” Sherry asked uncertainly.
Basil stiffened, his eyes shooting to meet hers with surprise. “You still are not sure? Even after what just happened?”
“Well, it was pretty amazing,” she admitted. “But I still didn’t experience anything that could be described as shared pleasure. At least, I don’t think I did. I mean, it’s never been this intense before, but . . .” She let her words trail off when Basil dropped his forehead to rest on her shoulder, and then asked, “What?”
“This is my fault,” he acknowledged, raising his head. “I was just so—it has been so long and—I pretty much attacked you and—”
“You didn’t attack me,” she interrupted with a smile. “Heck, I asked you to kiss me, and I was the one who—”
“No, I meant that I did not give you the chance to do much. I was all over you and did not give you the chance to do more than hold on for the ride.”
Determination filling his expression, he shifted to a sitting position, forcing her to do the same. Once they were seated side by side, he kissed her again, and Sherry moaned as desire immediately reignited within her. Honest to God it rose up fully formed, as if they hadn’t already sated it once but had merely stirred it to life and then taken a short break.
Sherry’s whole body was humming just from the kiss. She hardly noticed when Basil caught her hand and drew it toward him . . . until he wrapped it around his already hard erection and squeezed her fingers gently, urging her on. Rather than respond to the silent request, she froze with shock. Something had zinged through her when Basil wrapped her hand around himself. Some sort of . . . She squeezed him gently, and then eased her hand his length and gasped into his mouth when it happened again. Excitement shooting through her like—