hands curled around his denim-clad calves, and she rose higher in order to take him deeper into her mouth. He groaned again, arching against the cushions, and the sound made her nipples tighten to aching, greedy points.
She started a rhythm, a sexual, purposeful retreat and advance, and her heart took it up, like a military drummer’s beat driving the pace of the march. Vance’s palm caressed her cheek, and she glanced up at him, struck by the keen glitter in his half-mast eyes. It stalled her a moment, and she just held him in her mouth, sucking lightly as she took in the aroused flush on his face, the stark beauty of his features.
Her heart squeezed in her chest, the rhythm faltering there, too, and she swayed on her knees, dark spots swirling in her vision.
In a second, Vance had pulled her up, taking her into his lap. “You have to breathe, silly girl.” His fingers gripping her chin, he tilted her face toward his. “Breathe.”
The air she sucked in made the black spots disappear—and then she was struck by her vulnerability. She was trembling again, and naked, surrounded by a mostly clothed Vance. She made to climb off him—time to gain the upper hand!—but he tightened the arm about her waist. His other hand lifted to cage one swollen breast.
She moaned.
“Yeah,” he said, blowing aside her hair so he could press a kiss to the side of her neck. “My turn now.”
Pinching her nipple, he moved his mouth upward, ignoring her desperate wiggles. “Vance...”
“Hmm?” he asked, the sound humming against the hollow behind her ear.
“Please...”
He lifted his head and his fingers eased up on her breast. “Please harder, softer? Please more kisses? Please more touches?”
Her mind reeled, thoughts not coalescing. “Just please,” she finally said, aggravated.
His smile was almost sweet. “Of course.” Then he stood, lifting her in his arms.
The bedroom was dark, the sound of the ocean bouncing off the walls. He’d left the windows open, she thought, because the air was cool against her skin and smelled soft and wet. He placed her on the mattress, then came down over her a moment later, his elbows on either side of her head. His body was naked now, his skin delicious against hers.
“Oh, Layla,” he said, framing her face with his hands. “Shall I tell you what you do to me?”
“Don’t say anything,” she begged. “Don’t talk.” If he did that, he’d ratchet up her desire and she would lose herself in the heat and need, lose her control over her thoughts and her voice and then it would be she who was talking, telling him the truth she hadn’t yet eradicated from her heart. It was only loosely rooted, it had to be, but it was there now, and dangerous to her pride and to her future.
Instead of answering, Vance kissed her, long and deep and drugging. Yes, she thought, thankfully this wasn’t talking, and reveled in the sensation of his tongue sliding against hers. She sucked on it, open to his flavor, letting the heat and weight of his body sink into hers. Her arms went around his neck and her legs twined his hips.
More kisses. A thousand kisses. A night of kisses.
But then he lifted his head to move down her body. Layla panted in the ocean-scented darkness, arching her back as the flat of Vance’s tongue swiped across her nipple. “Look what I’ve found,” he murmured, and then he traveled to the other, greeting it with another wet velvet caress. “You’re hard for me, baby, just like I’m hard for you.”
Oh, God, yes, she felt it. She felt his length against her thigh, the tip of him wet and that made her wetter, too. One hand tried to find purchase in his short hair, but there was only the silky brush of it against the hollow of her palm. How could that be so sexy? But it was, and even sexier in contrast to the way his thick shoulder muscle bunched against the grip of her other hand.
His mouth sucked her nipple deep. Layla tightened her fingers on him, riding the exquisite bliss of the pull. Her mouth opened, and she moaned, the pitch of it turning higher as he paid attention to her other breast, too, kneading the soft flesh, rubbing his thumb against the tight tip.
“I’m thinking about making you come just like this,” he said, lifting his head to blow cool air on her damp flesh. “I’ll just kiss and lick