anybody had done anything like this . . . Reaching up, she gripped his shoulders, sinking her nails into them.
Gentle, slow tugs with his lips, then his teeth. Teasing strokes with his tongue. Back and forth, and each stroke sent an arrow of pleasure darting down between her legs until she was rocking her hips restlessly, the ache there about ready to make her go crazy.
Her breath caught in her throat, lodged there as he went to his knees, trailing a line of burning kisses straight down her torso. When he reached her pubis, he pressed his mouth to her and Dru tensed, her entire body tightening. One hand stroked up the back of her thigh, possessiveness in every touch.
As he guided her legs farther apart, she stared down at him, watched his dark head, so intimately close.
The sight of it was so beautifully erotic, she felt herself cramping from need, aching for want of him. He nuzzled her curls, his breath ghosting over her clit. Not even a touch and it was too much. Then he flicked his tongue against her . . . and she shattered.
Too much need, too much sensation, and that light touch was all it took.
She heard a rough groan from him as she erupted with a cry and his hands came up, gripping her hips, holding her steady as he teasingly flicked his tongue over her, again, and again, pushing her higher . . . oh. Oh . . .
It ripped through her, brutal and fast and wicked. The heat of it, the intensity of it, all of it was too much. She shuddered her way back to earth, and if she’d had five seconds to think, she just might have been embarrassed.
But there was no time to think, or even breathe. Strong arms came around her waist, hauling her up. Too dazed, too breathless, she stared down into Joss’s face as he carried her over to the bed. The soft, smooth sheets were cool against her back as he laid her down, her hips on the edge.
“Stay there.” He bent over to kiss her, his voice a ragged growl in his throat.
Stay here . . . I can do that, Dru thought, her brain barely operating. Getting up. Moving . . . not going to happen.
That had been . . . wow. And he’d barely done anything.
* * *
HIS hands were fucking shaking.
As he tore into his duffle bag, he couldn’t help noticing that small, significant detail.
Up until this case had started, he was pretty much unflappable. Women just didn’t get to him like this. They didn’t.
But Dru wasn’t a woman . . . she was his woman. The only one. His everything. And she had him shaking. If he wasn’t careful, she just might have him coming in his pants before he even had a chance to unzip them.
No. Finally spying the box of condoms, he ripped it open and pulled a couple out. He damn well wasn’t going to lose it before he made love to her. Not after all this time. It might be over quicker than his first time, but damn it, he’d still make it good for both of them.
And who the hell cared if his hands were shaking?
Rising, he turned around and then stopped, dead short, a fist rising up to grab him, a fist right around his heart. The breath in his lungs dwindled away to nothing as he stared at her. Her lids were lowered, a soft flush on her cheeks, and a smile curved her lips upward.
That smile . . . it was the kind of smile that would elicit riots. Start wars and end them. And then she lifted her lashes and caught him watching her.
Feeling like a lovesick fool . . . feeling like exactly what he was . . . he was helpless to do anything but go to her as she lifted a hand.
So much they needed to talk through, so much they needed to figure out. And none of it mattered as long as she kept looking at him like that, because it meant she hadn’t totally written him off, right?
Crossing to her, he threw the condoms on the bed next to her and knelt down, pressing his lips to the soft flesh just inside her left knee. “You’re so damned beautiful . . . so damned amazing.”
From under her lashes, she watched him, the smile fading, until nothing but naked longing remained on her face.