love with you, either. But I do want your respect. I wanted to make sure you weren’t just going to play with me, and no one wants to get cheated on, or abandoned.”
He cupped her chin. “I swear to you that I will never leave you. And I will never humiliate you, or disrespect you, by taking another woman into our bed.”
“I believe you.”
She sank onto his lap and twined her arms around his neck, threading her fingers through his hair. “My whole body aches for you,” she said, meeting his eyes.
“Mine, too,” he said, taking her hand and placing it over his erection, showing her how much he wanted her. She moved her hand over his length, her expression so full of awe that he couldn’t help but take stupid masculine pride in it.
“I think we should take this upstairs.”
“The table looks fine to me,” he growled, not knowing where this feral, uncivilized desire came from, not knowing what he could do to control it. She revealed something inside of him he hadn’t known existed. And he didn’t want to tame it; he wanted to unleash it.
“One of the staff could come in,” she said breathlessly.
He pressed a kiss to the elegant line of her neck. “Now that we don’t want. This is definitely a two-person party.” He nuzzled the tender spot just beneath her ear-lobe and reveled in the feminine sigh of pleasure she rewarded him with. She was so eager, so responsive, and he loved it.
Alison slid from his lap, her heart pounding wildly. She’d done it. She’d committed to doing this. And she wasn’t sorry for it at all. She wanted him. Needed him in a way that shocked and terrified her. She didn’t know this wild, wanton version of herself. She felt as if she could do anything with him, could let him do anything to her. She trusted him with her body, wholly and completely, and the prospect of doing that only excited her.
As he stood from the chair and took her hand, his eyes burning with erotic intent, she wished, for the first time in her life, that she’d had sex with someone at some point, just so she wasn’t going into this blind. Maximo had lots of experience—she’d seen the evidence of that thanks to the photos of the parade of women he’d dated in his early twenties, and he’d been married for seven years. She didn’t even have a lot of kissing experience to recommend her.
On the other hand, he would make it good for her. He would know what he was doing. At her age, after having received exams from gynecologists and OBs and having the artificial insemination done she doubted there would be much of a barrier for him to deal with, if there was one at all. And that, coupled with all of his experience, would probably lessen any discomfort she might feel. And, with any luck, he might not notice.
She nearly laughed at that thought. Of course he would notice her inexperience. There was no way she was going to be able to fake some kind of blasé sophistication. Not when his touch just about melted her.
But his hand felt so good, so warm encircling hers that it was hard to care too much. He held on to her as he led her up the stairs, took her to his bedroom. There was no turning back now. And she didn’t want to.
“Alison.” He closed the door behind them and pulled her to him, bringing her up hard against his masculine chest. She spread her hands over his pecs, running them down his flat stomach, feeling the ridges of his ab muscles through his shirt. She’d never explored a man’s body like this before, never took the time to appreciate all of the delicious differences between men and women.
He kissed her again, his mouth hard on hers, and she parted her lips willingly, meeting each thrust of his tongue with her own. He slid his hands over the silken material of her dress, over the curve of her buttocks and down her thighs. He gripped the hem of the skirt and began to pull it up slowly, bunching the slippery fabric in his hands until he had it drawn up to her waist. He moved one hand down over her rear end again and he groaned when his hand touched bare skin. His obvious appreciation thrilled her, and combined with his touch sent a shock wave of need rocketing through her.
He released her dress, keeping his hands beneath the fabric. He gripped the sides of her thong panties and dragged them down, kneeling before her on the floor as he removed them. She lifted one foot to step out of her underwear and wobbled slightly, but he steadied her by holding tightly to her hips.
He leaned in, his breath hot against the silk fabric as his mouth hovered over her slightly rounded stomach. “So beautiful.” He laid his palm flat against her belly, the expression on his face so reverent, so awed, that it made her throat tighten with emotion. He leaned in and kissed her there, and she felt as if her knees would have buckled if she hadn’t been held firmly in his strong grip.
Standing again he kissed her lips, her neck, her collarbone. She wasn’t even aware that they’d been moving until the back of her knees came into contact with the edge of the bed. He lowered her slowly to the soft surface, his hard length brushing her hip as he joined her on the mattress.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said, reaching around and untying the flimsy knot that held the halter top of her dress in place. He pushed the fabric aside and revealed her breasts.
He’d seen her before, out at the pool, and already knowing that he liked the way she looked bolstered her confidence. He cupped her breasts, teased the aroused tips. She tilted her head back onto the pillow and just enjoyed his touch, relished the knot of arousal that was tightening in her pelvis. She could just stay like this forever, with him caressing her, lavishing attention on her body.
She let out a moan of disappointment when he abandoned her breasts, his hands skimming over her curves, still clothed in the thin silk of the dress. He pushed the fabric up again and exposed her naked body to his gaze. She hadn’t been embarrassed for him to see her breasts, but having him so close to a part of her only her doctor had ever seen had her blushing hotly.
“Max.” She was about to ask him to turn the bedroom light off, but the warm press of his lips on her thigh stalled the words. And when he parted her legs and ran his tongue along her inner thigh she lost her command of the English language entirely.
She fought to regain some control, some kind of command over her senses. Impossible when she felt as if all of the feeling inside her were too big to be contained by her skin, when she was certain she might shatter into a million pieces. A needy moan escaped her lips and her body trembled as he moved closer to the place where she was wet and aching for him. She didn’t have control anymore; she felt as if she might fall from the earth and float away, as if there was nothing holding her to the bed.
She gripped the sheets, tried to focus, tried to find some shred of sanity, because this, what he was doing to her, making her feel, was terrifying. She couldn’t temper it, couldn’t lead it, or plan it. But she felt her hold slipping, felt herself ready to plunge over the edge, and if that happened she was afraid she would go on falling forever.
“Let go, Alison,” he growled, pressing a hot kiss just above her feminine mound. “I want to make you lose control.”
She shook her head, even though she knew he couldn’t see. “No.”
“Yes. I want you to stop thinking. I want you to feel.” He ran his tongue over her flesh, flicked it over the sensitive bundle of nerves and continued down, dipping inside of her. Her hips came off the bed and he gripped them tight, holding her to him, not letting her escape. “I want you to come for me.”
He continued his intimate assault, pleasuring her with his lips, his tongue, as he whispered exciting, erotic words. He pushed
