air.” She inhaled, remembering. “I cannot wait for the warm weeks to arrive so that I can go outdoors again. It is so beautiful, but only for that brief time. I will take you. I only wish it was not so far off.”
“You haven’t been outside since summer ended? Sorry, Sunbeam, but we’re going to have to correct that.”
“But there is snow everywhere.”
“Exactly.” A look of pure anticipation lit up his handsome face. “I snowboard. It’s my favorite sport. When I first learned I was coming here to live, I thought I’d have to give it up. Then I found out about the snow. Yeah, baby. Powder, powder everywhere. And no crowds!” He laughed, saw her expression of confusion and brushed his thumb over her chin. “Don’t you know what snowboarding is?”
She hated for her ignorance on a subject to be exposed. “No. It must be a barbarian Earth sport.”
“Yes, it is. And I’m going to show you how to do it. You’re so athletic. You’ll love it. But there are no runs here, I take it. I’ll meet with your staff on constructing some. One advantage of being royalty, I guess.” He stopped himself on that last sentence as if he’d blurted out something he hadn’t intended. “Is this the fabled snowbell ice?” He dipped a spoon into a cloud-soft mountain of lavender frost.
“It is a dessert,” she explained. “It is eaten after the meal.”
“Who says we can’t have dessert first? No one’s here to tell us what to do.” Jared piled some on her plate, paused and spooned some into her mouth. The crisp, sweet taste burst over her tongue. As she dabbed at her lips with a finger, his gaze lingered on her mouth.
Now she would feed some to him, she thought. They reached for the spoon at the same time. Their knuckles collided. She flushed and smiled. “God, you’re beautiful when you smile, Keira,” he said.
Her cheeks warmed some more.
“And you’re even more beautiful when you blush.”
“Ah! I am always blushing now. I cannot seem to be able to stop it. I don’t think I have ever blushed so much as I have with you.”
“Do I embarrass you?”
“You…make me think of things that make me blush.”
The air thickened with their attraction. He moved to kiss her. She reached for him and pulled him to her the rest of the way. She did not want to think about what he had said about the danger. She wanted to forget it.
She kept kissing him. She could not get enough. “I want you,” she pleaded, tugging open his shirt and smoothing her hands over his muscled chest and stomach. His skin was so warm and smooth.
“We’ve made love all day. You’ll be sore in the morning…”
“I have billions of nanomeds in my bloodstream that will ensure I will not be.” The same computers that would choose the hardiest and most genetically promising of Jared’s sperm to deliver to her egg when she ovulated. “I promise you,” she said, tugging on his belt, “we can make love all night and I will feel nothing but pleasure.”
Jared cleared the table with a sweep of his hand, moving the plates aside. Some cutlery fell to the floor. Lifting her, he sat her on the tablecloth, kissing her as he lowered her onto her back. He shoved up her skirts and dropped his pants.
Keira shrieked in surprise as the cool air hit her bare bottom. Jared’s voice was hot and it tickled her ear. “Barbaric of me, I know, but I figured there was no time to waste.”
One of his hands disappeared under her skirts. Magic fingers. Her head landed on the table. The laser-sharp lights of the chandelier turned into stars as he teased and caressed between her legs until she throbbed for him.
He seemed to know the exact moment to thrust into her. She opened her mouth as a cry of pleasure slipped out. Her toes curled and she arched her back. “How does that feel, sweet Keira? Is it good?”
There was nothing to compare with that first plunge, nothing. He had her pinned to the table, her entire body focused on the blazing, pulsing, luscious ache where they were joined. She wanted him to move. To move! But could do little but make small, mewling sounds. The art of language seemed to have escaped her.
He gripped her hips, holding her, kneading her flesh as he began to thrust. His delicious swaying was slow and deep, and it rocked her to