of twenty-two without ever having had sex. But then, she’d never responded to a man like this before, because no man had ever made her feel like this. And was it such a crime to want to capitalise on it? To feel like a normal woman for once, instead of someone who was made of ice from the neck down?
She tried to remember what he’d just asked her. Some flirty question about what they had just been doing and that certainly wasn’t something she would be forgetting in a hurry. ‘You were kissing me,’ she reminded him softly.
He gave a slow smile. ‘So I was,’ he agreed, framing her face between his palms and looking at her for a long moment before lowering his mouth to hers, exploring her lips with a thoroughness which left her reeling.
Against the jewelled bodice of her gown Tamsyn could feel her breasts growing heavy as he reached down to whisper his thumb over her peaking nipple, lazily circling it in a way which made her moan with pleasure. She pressed her lips against his neck, feeling the rapid beat of a pulse there. As his hand began to sweep luxuriously down over her satin-covered belly, she felt another great clench of her sex and she shivered. Did he sense that already she wanted to explode with pleasure? Was that why he moved his head back to survey the rapid rise and fall of her chest.
‘I think we need to get on the bed,’ he said unevenly.
Tamsyn wasn’t known for her compliancy and when people ‘suggested’ something, her natural instinct was to rebel. But she found herself nodding at him like some eager little puppy. ‘Okay,’ she whispered, tightening her grip around his neck like the clinging tendrils of a vine. ‘Let’s.’
Xan felt his erection pushing almost violently against his trousers and silently he cursed, because the effect she was having on him was undeniably...urgent. She made him feel about fifteen years old instead of thirty-three, and while he was in such a high state of arousal it made more sense to keep movement to a minimum. So why not push her to the floor and do it to her right there, on the silken rug? It would be fast and a little bit dirty but he could rid himself of this fierce hunger which was running through his veins like a fever. His mouth hardened because that might be the perfect solution—a quick coupling to alleviate their mutual frustration and allow them to discreetly go their separate ways soon afterwards?
But something about the way she was responding to him was making such an action seem almost unsavoury. She was holding onto him as trustingly as a tiny kitten—leaving him with little choice other than to carry her across the room in a macho display which wasn’t really his style. He was taken aback by how shockingly primitive the gesture made him feel as another spear of lust shafted through him.
Bemusement filled him as he set her down beside the brocade-covered divan, because Tamsyn Wilson wasn’t turning out to be what he’d expected. In fact, none of this was what he’d expected. She was confounding him with mixed messages. The street-wise minx was behaving in a way which was almost naïve. He’d imagined that someone so sassy and sexy would by now be unzipping him, before taking him boldly in her hand, or her mouth—because that seemed to be the current trend for first time sex. The cynic in him often wondered if this was the moment when women attempted to showcase their sexual skills in as short a time as possible—rather like a job applicant deftly running through their entire resume on a first interview. But not Tamsyn. She seemed more concerned with removing those ostentatious diamond earrings and finding a low table beside the bed on which to safely put them, quickly followed by the glittering diamond choker. And while she was turning round to do that, he moved behind her, lifting the thick curtain of her curls to drift his lips over her neck. He felt her tremble then slump against him and she wondered if she could feel his hardness pressing into her bottom.
‘I want you,’ he said, very deliberately, as he turned her round to face him.
‘D-do you?’ she said, her voice barely a whisper.
How did she manage to sound so convincingly shy, he wondered? Pulling a couple of clips from her hair, he unzipped her gown so that it slithered to the ground in a pool of glittering silk and net and she was left standing in nothing but her bra and panties. He felt another kick of desire. Her legs were bare and he bent before her to remove one silver shoe, quickly followed by another, but when he stood up again he was taken aback by how tiny she seemed without the towering heels.
Shrugging off his jacket and yanking off his tie, he let them fall to join her discarded dress. ‘Unbutton my shirt,’ he growled.
Tamsyn’s fingers were trembling as she lifted them to Xan’s chest, because for all her bravado she’d never seen a man naked and she’d certainly never undressed anyone before. Yet her instinctive fear was banished by that first sweet touch of the skin which sheathed his hard muscle and she heard him groan as the buttons flew open. Now what, she wondered, as she gazed at his bare chest—too daunted to think about attacking the zip of his trousers.
Did he sense her sudden nervousness? Was that why he gave another slow smile and unclipped her front-fastening bra so that her breasts spilled into his waiting palms and suddenly her nerves were all but forgotten? She writhed as his thumbs circled her nipples and her excitement grew as he moved his hand down between her thighs. Pushing aside the damp, stretched panel at her crotch, he found her slick heat, sliding his finger against the engorged bud with practised ease. And this was heaven. Her hips were circling of their own accord and she was moaning now and the part of her brain which was urging her to be careful, was abruptly silenced by the most powerful desire she could ever have imagined.
‘Xan...’ she breathed, looking up to meet the smoky lust which had narrowed his eyes.
‘You are just as hot as I thought you’d be,’ he declared unevenly.
She should have said something then, but she couldn’t even think of the words—let alone form a sentence with them—not when he was laying her down on the bed and pulling off the rest of his clothes with unsteady hands. And then he was naked—his body warm and strong as he lay down beside her. His hungry kiss was fuelling this wild new hunger which was spiralling up inside her and suddenly Tamsyn was on fire. His lips were on her breasts and her belly—tantalising her until she thought she would go out of her mind. And when he guided her hand to his groin, there was no shyness as she encountered the hard ridge of his erection. Instead, she felt nothing but joy as she began to whisper her fingertips against it. But he shook his head as he reached for something on the nightstand and she heard the little tear of foil and realised he must be sheathing himself.
This was it. The moment she’d never thought she’d reach because she had always been unresponsive and afraid. But she wasn’t afraid now as he moved over her and spread her legs apart. Not even when she felt that brief burst of pain and momentarily, he stilled. Instinct told her to angle her hips and to propel them forward so that he slid inside her completely—and once her body had grown accustomed to his width—those incredible sensations of pleasure were back. And how. She cried out with it so that he stilled once again and his words came out clipped, like bullets.
‘I am hurting you?’
‘No. No. Not at all. It’s...oh! Oh, Xan. It’s heaven.’
‘Is it now? Then I had just better.... Do. It. Some. More.’
With each emphasised word, he thrust deeper and deeper, until her nails were digging into his back. Tamsyn could feel the build-up of something. Something so delicious she didn’t believe it could get any better, except that it did. And then better still. It was like being whizzed to the top of a high tower block and being told to jump off, and willingly she did, gasping out his name in an expression of disbelief as she went flying over some sunlight ledge.
As he heard the
