tipped up her chin and looked at her. ‘No, it’s not embarrassing. Your father was a monster, Jesse, to do that to you and your mother.’
‘Yes, he was.’
‘Is that why you told me you didn’t know who your father was? Because you don’t like to talk about him?’
Jesse felt guilty. ‘Something like that.’
To her surprise Luc stood up, and Jesse blushed when she registered what part of his anatomy her eyes were on a level with.
He stepped back and said lightly, ‘You must be tired. You should get some rest.’
Jesse stood up too, some of those tendrils of icy panic reaching out for her again at the prospect of Luc walking out. Without thinking she put out a hand, curling it around his wrist. It felt vital and alive beneath her palm. His pulse was strong and powerful. She suddenly knew that she needed this, needed him, as she’d never needed anything before in her life. Right in that moment she trusted him implicitly.
Huskily she said, ‘Please don’t leave me alone.’
He stopped and turned to face her directly. ‘What are you saying, Jesse?’
She looked up at him, feeling as if she was stepping out into a void. ‘Please stay with me tonight.’
Jesse could see Luc’s jaw clench.
Carefully he said, ‘If I stay with you we share a bed, and if we share a bed we won’t be doing much sleeping.’
Wild excitement rushed through her, obliterating the awful memories and the fear that had gripped her. She stepped closer to Luc, his wrist still in her hand. ‘That’s what I was hoping you’d say …’
In some dim and distant recess of her mind Jesse couldn’t believe she was being so forward, but for the first time in her life everything felt right. This man, this moment. The past few days, everything that had happened, the way he’d reacted just now and the moments when he’d shown her real gentleness—she had come to trust him on some very deep and vulnerable level, but she couldn’t really acknowledge that now. She could only act on it.
Luc said, ‘Are you sure?’
Jesse just said, ‘Stop talking, Sanchis …’ and dropped his wrist. She reached up and put her arms around his neck, funnelled her hands through his hair, urging his head down to hers. ‘Kiss me.’
Luc’s arms went around her waist, dragging her even closer. Jesse could feel the thrilling hard ridge of his arousal and moved against him.
He growled softly. ‘I thought I told you we’ve gone way beyond such formality …’
He lowered his head and pulled her up to meet him. Their mouths met and Jesse melted into a sea of raging hormones. They kissed for what felt like for ever, tongues tangling together in a languorous erotic dance. And then Jesse felt herself being lowered onto her bed. She lay back and looked up at Luc, eyes drinking in his hard-boned form greedily.
He came down over her on his arms, not even touching her yet, tantalising her. Emboldened, Jesse moved her hands to her robe and undid the knot. She pulled the robe open and saw Luc’s eyes widen and flash with fire as his gaze dipped and dwelled on all her secrets and hollows.
Impatient, Jesse came up slightly and reached for his towel, tugging so that it came apart and fell to the floor. Her own eyes widened when she took in the sheer male perfection of his body. She’d seen him naked already, but she hadn’t seen him naked and aroused.
A little overwhelmed, she fell back onto the bed, unaware that her legs were parting instinctively. Luc smiled, and it was feral. He stroked a hand down Jesse’s body, over her collarbone and over one tip-tilted breast, dwelling there to squeeze her nipple gently, making her gasp. And then his hand continued to the cleft between her legs.
His fingers found where she was moist and aching. Jesse moved her hips against him. ‘Luc … please.’
Luc’s fingers moved against her, teasing her. Biting her lip, Jesse moved so that she could reach him and wrap one hand around his hard girth. She exulted in his own deeply drawn breath.
‘You’re playing with fire now …’
Jesse felt urgency building and stroked her hand up and down his shaft, wanting him to fill her. She tried to draw him closer, every muscle in her body crying out when she held the tip of him at her entrance.
A wave of sensation was already rolling through Jesse’s body. And, as if she’d finally pushed him too far, Luc gently prised her hand from him and balanced on his hands over her, then thrust deep into her clasping body.
Jesse was so ready and sensitised that she convulsed around Luc immediately, countless waves of pleasure holding her suspended before diminishing and leaving her breathless. She felt the sweat on her skin, and tremors racked her body.
Embarrassed at the strength of her reaction, she ducked her head into Luc’s shoulder. ‘I’m sorry …’
He tipped up her chin. ‘Never be sorry for being so responsive.’
Jesse felt intensely gauche. ‘But I … You haven’t even …’
‘No,’ he agreed in thrillingly deep tones. ‘But I fully intend to.’
And with that he started to move slowly, in and out. Jesse was over-sensitive for a second, but then her body started to adjust and she could feel that urgency building all over again. She gripped his arms with her hands and wrapped her legs around his back, feeling him slide even deeper.
Soon Luc’s movements became harder and faster, and Jesse could feel herself climbing. She only half heard Luc’s guttural-sounding, ‘Damn …’ She was too intent on reaching that pinnacle of pleasure again.
And then she saw the tortured expression on his face. ‘What is it?’
Luc gritted out painfully, ‘No protection …’
But they were both too far gone. Jesse could feel her muscles start to clamp around him, urging him to completion. Luc threw his head back and shouted out, and at the last second, when everything in Jesse broke free of the delicious tension and soared even higher than before, Luc pulled free of her body and twisted away from her.
Despite the intensity of her climax Jesse felt bereft, as if she’d been cheated of something. She lay there panting, the sweat cooling on her body, and became aware that her arms weren’t even fully out of the robe. She shrugged out of it now and instinctively curled into Luc’s back. She tucked her legs under his, breathed his scent in deep and welcomed a sweet oblivion she’d never tasted before.
Luc lay for a long time, staring into the middle distance as his body came down from the mind-bending crescendo it had just experienced. Jesse’s arm was around him like a vice and, contrary to what was usual for him, his first impulse wasn’t to get out of her embrace. Instead he found his hand coming up to hold hers against him.
He felt as if he’d just been turned inside out. He’d never, ever forgotten about protection before, was far too wary of unplanned pregnancies, and yet it had been the last thing on his mind right up until it had
