Awaken to Pleasure - By Nalini Singh Page 0,37

his hands back on her hips. Aware that he could feast on her forever if he did this right, he caged his rampant desire. Tonight, he'd be the tender lover she needed, not the marauder he was.

"Just keep pushing until I say stop." Her words were flippant but her tone nervous.

He adored her. "I'm at your command." A sudden thought gave him pause. " Cara, are you protected?"

He didn't expect her to be. After all, she was a virgin. And, he'd ordered her not to guard against pregnancy.

"I know what we agreed,Jackson, but I don't think I could handle being pregnant with everything else that's happening. We need to use something." She sounded worried but resolute.

He kissed her neck again. "Okay, piccola . One step at a time." Though his Italian soul rebelled against his wife protecting herself from his seed, the civilized man knew that she was too fragile right now. First he'd seduce her until all worry left her. Then he'd make love to her so often that nothing would protect her. And then, he'd gently love her as she grew big with his child.

A sigh of relief from his beautiful wife. "Thank you. If ... we manage to do this, I'll organize a prescription for birth control when we return home. Have you...?"

"Yes." Despite his autocratic demands, he'd brought protection, wise enough to know that he couldn't push her too far, too soon."I am healthy, mia moglie ."He'd had himself tested after he'd discovered Bonnie's infidelities, his pride in shreds. "After you are on birth control, I want to be skin to skin with you." The image ofTaylor's body enclosing his in passionate heat momentarily blinded him with need, obliterating any painful memories.

Her neck flushed. "Yes. What..." He felt her swallow. "What does mia moglie mean?"

"My wife." He didn't bother to hide his simmering satisfaction at that fact.

He'd been gently stroking her hips the entire time they'd been talking. Now, he tugged her backward just a little, until their bodies touched along her entire length. He sucked in a breath at the lush feel of her against his erection. She didn't demur at the intimacy, so he moved one hand to lie flat on her stomach, while the other ran up the smooth skin of her arm. She gasped but let him do as he would.Jackson wondered if she'd be a passive lover. The thought didn't appeal.Taylor's fire was one of the reasons he found her so sexually compelling.

"Jackson?" Her tone was pure female temptation.

"Yes?" His voice was becoming hoarse as desire took a stranglehold on him.

"Can I touch you, too?" Fingers settled hesitantly on his arm, as gentle as butterfly wings.

"Anywhere," he managed to answer, his body taut with memories of her stroking the night before.

"Oh, good." A sigh of relief. "You've probably noticed that I can't control myself around your body."

He couldn't help it. Chuckling, he hugged her around her middle and buried his face against her warm neck, breathing in the tart scent that was indisputablyTaylor.

"What's so funny?" Leaning back into him, she clasped slim hands over the hand he had on her stomach.

"I was thinking that I am the same where you are concerned, piccola ." He kissed his way up her throat.

She tasted like woman. Soft, delectable, welcoming woman. Her body melted for him, accommodating the hard angles of his own body with such sweetness that he was undone.

"Jackson," she murmured, when he moved to the other side of her neck, pushing her hair aside. Her voice was slumberous, pleasured,as sultry as the tropical night.

"Mmm?" He placed both palms flat against her stomach, accustoming her to the feel of him.Taylorwasn't petite - her head reached his shoulder, but she had a feminine build that made her very vulnerable to his obvious strength. His shoulders were twice the width of hers. If Bonnie had called him brutish before he'd really started pumping weights, what wouldTaylorthink?

A hint of worry stirred but he fought it.Taylorwasn't Bonnie. She would never deliberately hurt him with cruel barbs. But, given her experience with the more brutal members of his sex, he wondered if she might find his body too big and bulky when he wasn't lying down on the floor, as he'd been when she'd touched him. Possessive, demanding and adoring as hewas, rejection from her might kill him.

Taylorinterrupted his shadowy musings. "You know how you have your shirt half unbuttoned?"

"Yes." He nibbled on her. She shivered and angled her head to give him easier access.