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“Yup.”
“I’ve never screamed before.”
“I’ve never made a woman scream, so we’re even.” He gave her a quick kiss. “We have a little problem.”
She reached between them and touched the length of his arousal. He was hard and ready and his breath caught as her fingers closed around him. “I wouldn’t say little,” she told him. “Not even average. I think this is a big problem.”
“Thanks for the compliment, but that’s not what I mean. I don’t have any condoms with me, and I assume you’re not on birth control.”
“I’m not.” She cleared her throat. “But I do have, well, protection.”
She tensed, half-waiting for his gaze to turn accusing or for him to recoil with disgust. He did neither. Instead, he smiled and said, “I like a woman who’s prepared.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Where are they?”
She pointed to the nightstand. He opened the drawer and pulled out the small box containing three condoms. The box was still sealed. She’d purchased it in a fit of defiance after Luke had left her but had never had the occasion to use them before. A couple of times, she had nearly thrown them out, but now she was glad she hadn’t. They were going to come in very handy.
Jim put on the protection, then shifted until he was between her knees. “I want to be inside you, Heather.”
“I want that, too.” She stroked his face, tracing the outline of his mouth, then cupped his cheeks.
“I’ll take it slow.”
The thought of what those words meant had her shivering in anticipation. She wanted him to go slowly, to fill her inch by inch until she thought she might die from the pleasure. Desire swept through her, and it was as if her recent release had never occurred. She wanted him as powerfully as she had before.
“Make love to me,” she whispered. “Please.”
He braced his weight on his arms, his arousal seeking her feminine place. She reached a hand down between them to guide him in. As promised, he went slowly. Her body stretched and contracted, then stretched again. Her breath caught as wave after wave of incredible need washed through her, leaving her breathless and wanting.
She hadn’t realized she could be so ready again so quickly, but as soon as he’d entered her all the way, she felt herself straining toward her completion. He withdrew, and on his next thrust, a rolling wave of release gathered momentum with his withdrawal, then swept over her again. It had never been like this before. She didn’t understand what was different, and she couldn’t find it in herself to care. There was only the moment and the man. Her body convulsed again and again, drawing him in.
She clung to him, begging him to never stop. He thrust harder and faster until she couldn’t stand how wonderful everything was. She wrapped her legs around his hips and kissed him. They shuddered together in one last incredible explosion.
* * *
Sometime later, Jim felt the world come into focus around them. Heather was still in his arms, their bodies pressed against each other. He stroked her silky hair and breathed in the scent of their lovemaking.
“That was incredible,” he said.
“I know.” Satisfaction filled her voice. “I didn’t know it could be like that.”
“Me neither.”
He’d never had a woman respond the way Heather had. He’d never felt so connected and complete…or so terrified. Being in Heather’s embrace was like coming home, and that was a sensation he’d spent his whole adult life avoiding. He didn’t want to connect. He didn’t want to get involved. And it was way too late to be having these concerns now. It had already happened. Somewhere between their first hello in the elevator and their lovemaking today, she had become his absolution.
“How long can we put off the sensible conversation?” she asked.
He knew what she meant. It was one thing for two consenting adults to agree to make love without promise of a relationship. In that case, sex was a shared biological function that was supposed to make them both feel good when it was over. But that wasn’t what had happened this time. They’d gone to a different level and he didn’t know how to get back to where they’d been before. What if he couldn’t? What if the only place he would ever belong was right here, with her?
“What do you want to do?” he asked.
He wanted her to answer all the questions because he had a bad feeling that if she asked them of him, he would be at risk of telling her what he really felt.
“I want to never move,” she said with a laugh, then shifted until she was sitting up.
Her hair was mussed, her face flushed. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She reached over the side of the bed and pulled on her short robe.
