Jessie reached behind her and pulled the strings holding her bikini top in place. His eyes widened as the striped top tumbled to the floor.
“Jesus,” he said, automatically reaching out to cup the enticing fullness that tilted slightly upward, his thumb stroking over the hard little berry at the tip. Perfect.
He wanted to settle his mouth there, taste that smooth perfection. He wanted to lay her down on the sofa and bury himself to the hilt.
Jessie cupped the back of his neck and pulled his mouth back to hers for another searing kiss, this one slow, deep, and lingering, making his erection throb.
Christ, he wanted her.
Jessie just kept kissing him and he kept kissing her. He was kneading her pretty breast, lifting and caressing, when he felt her stiffen against him. Too far gone to think clearly, he cupped the other breast and stroked her nipple till it hardened, slid his hand into the back of her bikini bottom to cup her sweet little ass and pull her closer, fitting her snugly against his erection. Damn she felt good.
“Bran...” she whispered. “Bran...I’m sorry, please...don’t.” Through the haze of his lust, the pain in her voice finally reached him. It hit him like a bucket of cold water that she wanted him to stop.
Sucking in a breath, he forced himself to move away, his body aching from the strength of his arousal. “Christ, Jess, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry. I knew better. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Her lips trembled. She gathered up her white terry robe and slipped it on. “Don’t say that. It wasn’t your fault and you know it. It was my fault. I planned it. I tried to seduce you. I thought I could make it work.”
She looked at him and tears glistened in her eyes. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I just...I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you.”
He told himself not to touch her. That she would probably pull away if he tried to hold her, comfort her, but the next thing he knew he was easing her against his chest, her arms were around his waist, her head tucked beneath his chin. He felt a faint tremor move through her body as she fought to hold back tears.
“It’s okay, baby, don’t cry. I wanted you, too. So much.” He kissed the top of her head, felt fine strands of red-gold hair against his cheek. He wanted to say that if it were anyone’s fault, it was Ray Cummings. But he didn’t want the specter of Cummings’s past deeds anywhere near her.
“I shouldn’t have done it. I knew better. I just...I wanted to feel normal again.” She shook her head. “At least now I know the truth.” She turned and started walking.
“Jessie, honey...”
But Jessie just kept walking. Disappearing into the bedroom, she firmly closed the door.
The sound was like a gunshot straight to the heart.
* * *
Jessie lay awake in the darkness. She had taken a risk tonight and she had failed. She brushed a humiliated tear from her cheek. In a way, it was worth it. Because now she knew for sure that she would never be a normal woman again. She wanted Bran Garrett with a soul-deep hunger unlike anything she had ever known. If her body couldn’t convince her mind to accept him as a lover, no other man stood a chance.
She rolled onto her side and looked at the red numbers on the digital clock. Nearly 3:00 a.m. She needed to get some sleep, but every time she started to drift off, she remembered the heat in Bran’s amazing blue eyes, remembered the way he had looked at her, as if she were the only woman in the world.
She remembered the exact taste of his kiss, the soft-firm feel of his lips melding with hers, the warmth of his tall, hard body. She remembered the touch of his big hand caressing her breast, his thumb sliding over her nipple.
Yearning arose, swift and unrelenting, coming from somewhere deep inside her. She didn’t understand it, couldn’t figure out how she could experience such intense sexual desire and not be able to act on it.
In time, she would learn to accept things as they were, to deal with the reality—just as she’d dealt with the trauma of surviving three days with Ray Cummings.
Instead of thinking of him, she fixed her thoughts on Brandon and eventually fell into a deep, drugging sleep. It was late morning when she emerged from the