Page 32 of Rainwater
She moved with him in the slow dance of the ages as if she were irrevocably mated with him, reunited from some time long past, sweet, perfect searing rhythm, the pleasure beyond her comprehension. Surely this kind of bliss could only exist in heaven. How lovely to find a small piece on earth in this man’s arms.
He slipped his forearm under her hips and lifted her so that he was deeper inside her. He slowed his thrusts even more and with her hands, she urged him faster.
“Come on, pretty darlin’, let go.”
She tensed, the need in her coiling tighter.
“Stop…moving…so slow. Please, Corey, have mercy. It’s been…so…long.”
“Not until you give me what I want.” Sweat poured off his body with the intense concentration that it required not to lose command of himself. He was close to breaking, his control hanging by a thread. He thrust slowly, his whole body taut with the devastating need inside him.
“Corey, please. Harder, faster.”
He leaned down and took her lips, pushing himself as deep as he could go, rocking slightly. A flash of exquisite sensation shattered through her, and she cried out, “Corey, you’re so bad.”
His body jerked as she spasmed around him, and he whispered on the quiet air, “Bad, yeah, so bad.”
He rolled to his side pulling her against his chest and she nestled against him. It felt so right.
“You’re leaving tomorrow?” she finally asked.
“Yes.” He lifted himself on his elbow and looked down into her flushed face. He pushed a wisp of hair off her forehead and leaned down to kiss her lips. “I can’t accept a job with you.”
“Why?”
“Because, Jennifer, I’m not ready to commit or settle down.” He seemed to know those words would hurt her, but they were the ones she expected to hear. He sighed when the disappointment clouded her eyes, and she closed them briefly as if to keep back tears. “You’re sorry, Jen darlin’?”
She reached up and pulled his head down, cupping the back of his head, kissing him with warmth and tenderness. When the kiss ended, she smiled at him. “No. I’m not sorry. I’ll never be sorry. It’s what I wanted.”
He eased away from her, slipping out of bed. “Where are you going?” she asked, her words laced with uneasiness.
“To the bathroom. Any objections?” His mouth quirked with amusement.
She watched him walk across the floor and disappear into the bathroom. He moved beautifully, with a graceful prowlingstride. A loose-hipped swagger with no self-consciousness at all. The man had more sex appeal in his little finger than most men had in their whole bodies.
How was she ever going to let him go?
He came back to bed and stretched out alongside her. Gently he reached out and drew the covers away from her body. “Beautiful,” he breathed, gazing at her breasts. His dark head bent and he took a suddenly puckering bud into his mouth.
She cried out his name in wonder and delight, her hand caressing the back of his neck.
He pushed her back, and she couldn’t believe it when she felt the hard heat of arousal against her thigh. “Corey? Already?”
His head lifted, that savage heat in his hot turquoise eyes. “I’m always ready for you, darlin’. I hurt for you, Jennifer.”
Her skin grew damp everywhere and tingled. Her heart tripped into a faster beat.
“I’m hurting, Jennifer,” he said again. His mouth hovered over hers, then dipped down to rain her with little biting kisses.
She ran her hand down his taut abdomen until she reached the hardest part of his body. The part that made him so intriguingly male. “Is this where you’re hurting?”
He growled deep in his throat as she stroked him. “Thank God we have all night,” he managed to say, his breath ragged, his words hoarse. “I just might get enough of you.”
He kissed her feverishly then fumbled for protection with trembling hands. And when he entered her with force and need, his raspy voice close to her ear, he said, “But I doubt it.”
The sun was hot,too hot on his skin, the sand of the ring beneath his bare feet grainy and burning. The absence of soundwas deafening and he raised his head suddenly, the instinctive fear clutching around his heart. He came face-to-face with the ornery bull, his eyes red glowing embers of hatred. His father stood next to the animal, feeding him fire with his bare hands. Corey swallowed, his throat dry with terror. The sun beat down on his bare skin, and he looked down to find himself naked and vulnerable. He wanted to cover himself up and cower, but he knew if he did, he would die. Death breathed down the back of his neck, trickled over his skin, brushed cold fingers down his spine.
The black monster moved and his shadow enveloped Corey as the sun was blotted from the sky, and an unnatural darkness covered everything.
