passion she soon eagerly matched. His hand came up to cup her breast through the soft wool of her sweater. Her nipple rose, instantly turgid beneath his fingers.
"Oh, Lila."
The whisper her name on his lips sent a ray of heat directly to her core.
She allowed him to slip the sweater over her head and unhook the simple bra beneath. Her hands went to the buttons of his oxford cloth shirt and slipped them open with far more grace than she expected to have with shaking hands.
His chest was smooth, with just one patch of crisp, curling dark hair in the center. His stomach was ridged with muscle, and another line of the same crisp hair led down past his navel to disappear beneath the waistband of his trousers. Lila wanted to see where that line led. It was the way his hips moved beneath her fingers that prompted her to at last undo the button. His urgency was feeding her own, chasing away the last doubts and reservations she had.
He kissed every inch of her bare skin, moved his mouth along the soft curve of her stomach and smoothed the elastic waistband of her knit pants over her hips. They were both naked before she knew it, and she was on top of him again. His erection nudged her lower belly, and his chest hair tantalizingly scraped at her over-sensitized breasts until, gasping, she had to pull away. The firelight lined him in gold and orange and shone in his hazel eyes. It bathed his body in the colors of autumn leaves.
She sat up, wanting to see all of him. Tom lay back and propped his head on one of the sofa cushions. His gaze caressed her. In the flattering firelight, Lila didn’t feel self-conscious. His touch had made her bold at last, and she refused to speculate on whether her thighs looked heavy or her breasts too small.
She took him in her hand and slowly ran her fingers up and down the length of him. His cock thrummed in her grasp, and the sharp intake of his breath made her smile a little.
"Lila." His voice was hoarse, filled with longing.
Suddenly, he tugged her away from him and rolled over her. When she was cradled in his arms, Tom pushed her back gently until her head rested on the cushion. He pressed a rapid line of kisses down over her breasts and stomach. When she saw what he meant to do next, she stiffened.
"Wait." She hadn’t prepared for this. Hadn’t prepared for any of it, in fact, but the thought of his tongue on her made her feel faint. It would be too much. She would be lost.
He didn’t listen to her, pushing away the hand she’d pressed to the top of his head. Firmly but gently, he parted her thighs and pressed his lips to the soft patch of hair between her legs. The pressure of his mouth made her bite back a cry. Then, too soon, he found her clit. Tom first kissed the sensitive spot, then stroked it with the tip of his tongue.
Lila flung an arm across her eyes, unable to watch and not wanting him to see the passion she knew contorted her face. He slipped one finger inside her, and her hips rose helplessly to meet his tongue as it danced along her clitoris. A familiar tension coiled in her belly, growing tighter and tighter until she at last had to gasp his name.
"Tom!" Lila was nearly mindless with the pleasure his tongue and fingers were working on her.
He pulled away, and she found the courage to look at him. His eyes were glazed, but he smiled at her. He moved up to cover her body with his own and pressed deliciously against her.
"This isn’t the best time to mention it, but I didn’t come prepared for this."
For one moment she had no clue as to what he hinted. Of course. She would have felt like an idiot, if his fingers weren’t still tweaking her nipples and making her shift restlessly beneath him. He meant about protection.
"My bag." She pointed. He raised a brow at her, and she recognized her expression on his face. "It’s not what you think."
"At this point, Lila, I don’t care to think about anything." He rolled onto his back and stretched out one long arm until he snagged the handle of her handbag with one of his fingers.
Lila shuffled in its depths for a moment and pulled out the