Page 110 of Threat of Danger
He solved the space problem by reaching over and tugging her into his arms, draping half of her over his hard body. Her head rested on his shoulder, one arm around his chest. As if they were a couple, as if they’d slept in the same bed a hundred times, and were going to do it a million more.
Maybe if she hadn’t been in love with him for half of her life, the casual embrace would have felt like a normal progression in their budding relationship—if, indeed, they were having a budding relationship, which was by no means certain. But with all her teenage fantasies crowding back into her brain, the idea of sleeping in Derek’s arms seemed momentous.
“So.” His voice came from above her head, but she could also hear it rumbling under her ear. “How soon do you want to get married?”
She looked up so fast, she smacked the top of her head into his chin. She couldnothave heard that right.
“I sink I bit my thong off.”
She rubbed the top of her head, but grinned, even as her heart raced. “Let me see.”
He kissed her—a long, languorous kiss that built bonfires in her veins and erased all previous thoughts from her mind.
“I think your tongue is fine,” she said when he let her go. “In my professional opinion.”
“I think more testing is needed to be sure.” He rolled her under him.
His weight on top of her felt heavenly, even if he was careful to keep most of it off her, bracing himself on his elbows. Something hard and massive pressed between her thighs, making his intentions clear to the point where she could no longer remain in denial about what was about to happen here.
Their previous sexual encounters by the cabin and then by the river had both happened in the aftermath of a rush of high emotions. One could say they’d simply gotten carried away. But now ... if they did this ...
“There are people downstairs,” she whispered, wanting him desperately and still having trouble believing that this was actually going to happen.
“I’m a Navy SEAL. Nobody will hear me coming.”
She groaned at the pun. But then somehow he made her clothes disappear, and things turned very serious very fast.
He worshipped her body in complete silence, until she was a writhing, mindless mess. She couldn’t stop moaning in pleasure. He solved that problem by sealing his lips over hers and putting his tongue through some serious testing.
Most of the time, in the past, she’d had sex with someone to prove to herself that she could. Or because she wanted the relationship, the partnership, the sense that she wasn’t alone, and knew that the man she was with needed sex to be a part of that.
Sex with Derek was easy. She didn’t have to think about it. She certainly didn’t have to force anything. She craved him as much as he seemed to crave her, certainly a first since her three days of hell.
Derek was ... Making love to Derek in her old childhood bedroom was a seriously surreal experience.Soooomuch better than her wildest teenage daydreams. He knew exactly how to make her body go wild. Heownedher.There.She was as much of a feminist as the next person, but could think of no other way to put his mastery of her senses.
“I love you,” she told him in a ragged whisper, all she was capable of.
He looked up from her breast, from a glistening wet nipple he’d teased into an aching hard bud, his face tight with desire, his eyes brimming with hope. “Say it again.”
“I love you, Derek Daley.”
“I love you too, soon-to-be Jessica Daley.” He held her gaze. “After the navy, after all my wanderings, I wanted to come home. But then I realized this place wasn’t really home without you here.” He paused for a second. “It’s like when I write a book, and the beta readers and the agent and the editor, everybody loves it. But I know there’s something missing. I just can’t put my finger on it.” He paused again. “And then I find that one detail and add it in, and it pulls everything together, makes everything work, takes the book to the next level.” He smiled at her. “You take my life to the next level, Jess.”
He moved up over her body and kissed her senseless. When neither of them could breathe, he rested his forehead against hers, panting. She’d moved her knees up on either side of him, and he was cradled between her thighs, his hard length pressed against the most sensitive parts of her. With nothing between them. And it still wasn’t enough. She arched her back for even more contact.
He groaned, the most tragic and painful sound she’d ever heard. “I don’t have protection.”
“I have a birth-control implant.”
He raised his head. Hope filled his eyes. “I’m clean.”
“Same here.”
“So you don’t mind if I ...”
She squirmed under him. “I’m going to scream if you don’t.”
“I wouldn’t want to be responsible for waking people up.” He shifted into position, against her opening. And then, in one smooth thrust, he filled her.
