Page 28 of A Lonely Road
“I want you to tell me what you want, what you need, if you want to stop or back up or slow down. I don’t want anything between us to make you uncomfortable. And before you accuse me of treating you like you’re breakable,” I added as my teeth grazed her throat, “this has nothing to do with that. I just want to know that you’re enjoying yourself as much as I am. There’s no rush. You’ve got nothing to prove here. Deal?”
Her fingers threaded into my hair. “Yeah, deal. But Jake?”
“Yes, Nora?” The words rumbled along her collarbone, raising goosebumps across her skin that I traced with my lips.
“I think you should stop talking now.”
I laughed softly, but I obeyed. Her nails skimmed along my scalp until I groaned against her neck. It was true, she wasn’t as fragile as I first thought, not by a long shot. I was beginning to wonder instead if she had surrounded her true self with walls of spun glass. It felt like the Nora in my arms had burst forth and let those barriers crumble to dust behind her.
This Nora was eager and enthusiastic and driving me up the wall with those soft purring sounds in her throat.
Still, I was determined not to rush things, no matter how tempted I was to take her right there on the kitchen table. When my palm slipped under the hem of her skirt, stroking a pathalong the outside of her thigh, she tightened her fingers in my hair to tug my head away from her collarbone.
“Time to continue the tour,” she told me. I blinked at her, uncomprehending, so she nipped lightly at my jaw. “Do you have a bedroom around here, or just a fancy kitchen? I think we should take this somewhere more comfortable.”
My lips curved upward at that. “Oh, yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Let’s go.”
But first, I kissed her again, letting my mouth convey every dark desire I hoped to explore, then I took her hand and led her upstairs.
Chapter Fourteen
Jake
WhenNorastoppeddeadat the bedroom door, a flash of concern chipped through the haze of need surrounding my brain. I glanced quickly at her face and the worry evaporated. She was simply studying the room: the king-sized bed, the midnight blue walls. A tiny smile played across her lips and a fascinating twinkle lit her eyes.
“Oh, this is lovely,” she murmured, entering the room and running her fingers over the rich oak of the bed frame.
The motion, especially combined with her expression, was intensely erotic. I wanted to feel those fingertips drifting along my skin.
“I’m glad you like it. You’re welcome to join me here any time,” I replied, watching her closely.
Patience.I wanted her so badly I ached, but still I waited. Once her eyes met mine again, I took a slow step toward her, then another. When I was at last standing before her, she ran her hands over my chest.
“I think . . .” She drew a breath. “Would you mind taking this off? I want to see you.”
I did as she asked, tossing the shirt onto the dresser. Nora’s sigh floated through the room. “Better?” I asked, grinning at her expression of appreciation.
“You’re beautiful,” she said. Her palms lifted to glide over my skin, molding to the muscles of my chest and shoulders, smoothing the rough golden hair she found there.
“That’s my line,” I said, my voice low and husky as I set my hands at her waist. “You are so, so beautiful, Nora. Do you have any idea how much I want you?”
In answer, she lifted her face for another deep, earth-shaking kiss. I was certain I could get lost in a woman like her, a woman whose every touch, every glance, set my soul aflame. Each nerve ending was starved for her touch, burning for her. Had I ever desired anything else with this depth, with such intensity?
If I had, the memory of it was swept away in a stroke of her tongue.
Without releasing my mouth, Nora twined one arm around my neck and used the other to tug my hand upward from her waist until I was cupping one perfect breast in my palm. My thumb brushed slowly back and forth across her nipple untilit tightened and peaked against my hand. She sighed into my mouth as heat shot straight to my cock.
Encouraged by her reaction, I rolled the bud between my fingers until she gave a frantic little cry that I felt more than heard. Then she yanked at the ruffled neckline of the dress, pushing the bodice down past her hips until the garment fell straight to the floor, and kicked off her sandals, never breaking the contact between our lips.
“God, you are so soft,” I whispered as I slid one hand across her bare skin until I reached the clasp of her strapless bra.
She shimmied until it dropped away and my hands immediately took the place of the pale gray satin. While my fingers plucked and teased, guided by the sweet little sounds she made, Nora fumbled with the zipper of my jeans.
“Do you want to slow down?” I asked, nuzzling my nose along her jaw.
“Not on your life,” she whispered. A growl of satisfaction escaped her when she finally managed to tug the zipper down.
I released her just long enough to shove the jeans over my hips and step out of them. In a movement so swift that she let out a little gasp of surprise, I lifted her, my hands curving around her ass, squeezing gently. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I carried her around to the side of the bed, then lowered us both until she was lying across the deep bluecomforter and I was stretched out along the length of her body.
