her gaze for a moment, then bent his head to hers.
Chapter 3
The first brush of his mouth was tentative. She could feel him holding back, hesitant. And she knew that the smart thing to do was lean away from him, murmur thanks for all he’d done, then slip quietly away from Marcus Waters.
But a part of her she didn’t recognize, a wild, untamed part that had lain dormant for all of her twenty-one years, pushed aside the rational voice in her head. Instead, Jessica curled her arms around his neck and pressed against him.
He felt solid and tough, his chest and legs hard and unyielding against her softness. It felt as if his heat would consume her until there was nothing left of her but the aching at her core. She felt helpless in his arms, completely overwhelmed. But she trusted him, she realized. She had connected to Marcus on some level, and she didn’t want to move away. Instead of frightening her, his heat and desire thrilled her, increasing the throbbing deep inside her. She twisted against him, not sure what she wanted but knowing that she wanted more.
He groaned and crushed her lips beneath his, devouring her mouth. When she gasped with surprise, he plunged into her mouth, tasting and caressing her with his tongue.
She tightened her arms around him, and he groaned again. Pulling her closer, he pressed her more tightly against him until every part of her was touching the hot, hard length of his body. Pressure coiled deep inside her until she squirmed against him, searching for something she couldn’t name.
“Jessica,” he groaned, tearing his mouth away from hers. “Tell me to stop.”
“I don’t want you to stop,” she whispered. She wanted to be joined to him, to know everything possible about Marcus Waters.
He swept his hand down her back, lingering at her hip, shaping the curve of her buttocks. She could feel his hand tremble against her. “I want you,” he muttered. “I don’t want to stop, either.”
“Then don’t,” she said recklessly, throwing all caution to the winds. She was lucky to be alive tonight. And suddenly she wanted to know what she had been missing all those years she’d spent in the lab doing nothing but working and studying. Knowing she might have been killed, she wanted to know what it felt like to be fully alive.
He pulled back a little, and she felt him staring at her. She opened her eyes with an effort. The desire that glittered in his blue eyes made her feel drunk with power. She had done that, she thought. She had made this man want her. And holding his gaze, she reached up and kissed him.
He kissed her with his eyes open, watching her, seeing her response to him. And as he kissed her, as his hands roamed over her back, she saw his eyes darken, felt his muscles harden even more. He reached up and brushed the hair out of her eyes, and she realized he was trembling.
Suddenly he picked her up and laid her on the bed. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured as he leaned above her. He traced the curve of her cheek to her neck, and his hand lingered at the top of the T-shirt. “I didn’t bathe you very well, you know.”
“Why not?”
He stared at her, his eyes hot and dark. “Just looking at you made me hard. By the time I put you in this bed, all I wanted to do was touch you.”
Jessica swallowed. “You can touch me now,” she said, her voice husky and low. She hardly recognized herself. This wasn’t Jessica Burke, the woman whose middle name was cautious, who had never had a serious relationship.
The neck of the T-shirt gaped between her breasts, and he let his fingers linger there, sending fire shooting through her veins. “Are you sure, Jessica? It’s not too late to say no.”
“I don’t want to say no.” A part of her was appalled, but her body throbbed wherever his fingers slid over her. And the ache inside her was too urgent, too all-consuming to be denied.
He watched her for a moment, then bent his head and pressed his mouth to her collarbone, his hand still between her breasts. His lips and tongue tasted her, teased her, until her hips moved restlessly beneath him.
When he lifted his head his eyes gleamed. “You taste wonderful. But I’ll bet there are other parts of you that taste even better.”
Slowly he pulled the neck of the T-shirt down until her breasts were exposed. She jerked when she felt the cool air brush across them and instinctively reached to cover herself.
He stared at her hand for a moment, then looked at her again. His eyes were almost black, and tension vibrated out of him. He held her gaze as he bent and kissed her, and she felt all her muscles go slack.
“Move your hand,” he whispered. “Wouldn’t you rather have me touching you?”
Her hand fell to the bed beside her, and he kissed her again. Then he raised his head to look at her. She felt her nipples getting hard just from his gaze.
He propped himself on one elbow, and his hot gaze swept her body. Then he lightly traced the curve of her breast with one finger. When she shivered, he cupped her with one hand. “They’re just as beautiful as the rest of you,” he whispered.
The throbbing was almost unbearable. She felt like Marcus was slowly winding a spring tighter and tighter inside her. When she twisted toward him, he closed his eyes briefly, then opened them to stare at her. He drew one finger across her nipple.
The jolt stunned her, and she cried out. She watched his face tighten, then he touched her again. She couldn’t stop the moan that started deep in her throat.
Suddenly he bent and took her nipple in his mouth. She bucked against him, overwhelmed by the sensations. Her body felt completely foreign to her. Nothing mattered except the touch of Marcus’s hands and the feel of his mouth. A sharp need throbbed deep inside her, and she instinctively moved her legs apart.
Marcus slid his hand to her thigh, and his fingers traced circular patterns on her skin. A whirling vortex pressed down on top of her, drawing her inside it. When Marcus slid his hand up her thigh and lingered between her legs, she rose to meet him. The sensations crashing over her were almost unbearable.
Marcus grabbed her shirt with an urgent hand and pulled it over her head. She was naked in front of him, but she didn’t care. She had gone too far into the vortex to think about modesty. Instead, she reached for him, trying to unbutton his shorts.
“Let me,” he whispered. “If you touch me now, it will all be over much too soon.”
He stripped off his T-shirt and tossed it to the floor, and she stared at his chest. Dark blond hair swirled around his nipples, and she ached to touch it. Then he pulled off his shorts, and her eyes widened.
He watched her look at him while he reached into a drawer of the night table and pulled out a foil packet, which he opened quickly. Then he kissed her again, his hand sweeping over her body, sending hot licks of fire down every nerve.
“Shall I show you the other places that taste good?” he murmured.
She was incapable of speaking. Her tongue was thick in her mouth, and her head was spinning. He stared at her for a moment, then let his mouth trail between her breasts and down her abdomen. She jumped when he bit the inside of her thigh.
Then he put his mouth between her legs, and she
