she’d kissed him. He could still feel the softness of her lips as they’d brushed his, and he wanted that again.
Her loose pants, T-shirt, and hoodie shouldn’t look sexy on her, but they did. Maybe it was her bare feet and pink toenails that aroused him so much, or his suspicion that she wore nothing under her shirt. That would explain why she’d added the hoodie, because the house wasn’t cold enough to justify it.
But she’d left the sweatshirt unzipped. It hung open now, allowing him to see the slight tightening of the T-shirt where it stretched over what appeared to be her unbound breasts. The house wasn’t cold enough to make her nipples pucker, either, but it looked like they had.
He looked into her eyes, and what he saw there sent heat surging through his veins. Lust settled heavily between his legs, and the knit briefs stretched as he grew hard. “Melanie, I . . .”
“The first kiss was mine to give.” She took a shaky breath. “The second one is up to you.”
Stepping forward, he cupped her face in both hands. Her dark lashes fluttered down as he lowered his head. Easy, Eldridge. Easy. Reining in his passion, he slowly mapped the contours of her mouth with the tip of his tongue. His heartbeat thudded in his ears as he tasted, touched down, molded his mouth to hers.
Her tiny whimper loosened the bindings on his control. He delved deeper, thrusting with his tongue and sliding his fingers through her silken hair to grip the back of her head. The baguette and Perrier she’d been holding slipped to the floor and she wound her arms around his neck.
The more he invaded, the more she surrendered. This could only end one way. But she deserved a warning. Reluctantly ending the kiss, he looked into her passion-glazed eyes. “I’m taking you to bed.”
“Oh, thank God.”
That was all he needed. With a hoarse chuckle, he swept her up in his arms and carried her down the hall. She wanted him. In this erotic, pre-dawn darkness, all arguments against making love had vanished in the heat of their kiss. Holding her in his arms felt so right, as if he’d known her forever.
He laid her in the middle of his bed and climbed in beside her without turning on a light. The pale glow of the moon through the sheer curtains at his window seemed fitting to this magical moment. He didn’t speak, and neither did she.
They didn’t need words as they discarded clothing and greeted each new discovery with lips and tongue. He was used to taking the dominant role, but she’d have none of that. She was clearly the kind of cowgirl who wasn’t hesitant about going after what she wanted. Once he was naked, she pushed him onto his back and explored him with such thoroughness that he clenched his jaw against the urge to come.
As if she sensed that he was losing control, she gave him one last intimate kiss on the head of his cock before turning onto her back and stretching out in silent invitation. That simple gesture drove him wild. The urge to ravage her was strong, but he curbed it.
Instead he mimicked her technique and took his time. With slow kisses and gentle laps of his tongue, he roamed at will until she began to pant and writhe beneath him. But when he nuzzled the dark curls between her thighs, eager to make her come, she finally spoke.
“No.”
He lifted his head, surprised. “Why not? Don’t you like—”
“Oh, yes.” She gulped for air. “But I want . . . all of you.”
All of him. She wasn’t in his bed purely for her own pleasure. She was here because she wanted that ultimate connection . . . with him. She wanted to be as close as humanly possible. That told him something important about her, something he was very glad to know.
His cock seemed glad to hear it, too. By the time he’d slipped out of bed and located the box of condoms in his armoire, he was as rigid as a battering ram. That didn’t mean he had to act like one, though.
When he returned to her, he leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss. “I’m mighty grateful for tonight.”
Her smile was barely visible in the faint light from the moon, but that smile shimmered in her reply. “Me, too.”
“I’m glad.” He moved over her, his heart beating fast. He’d bedded many women, but he’d