Page 43 of Karma

He blew out a relieved breath. “I hope not. But being a gentleman, I had to make sure you’re feeling up to anything more.”

***

He wanted tostay, Liza thought, and everything inside of her eased. She wanted the same thing. Because let’s face it, he made her heart race faster, and just being with him put a smile on her face. She could even learn to deal with the intimacy of being around his family every once in a while. He kissed that good. He took care of her that well. Not to mention, he made her feel a whole host of other things she wasn’t about to look into too deeply.

“I’m up to it,” she assured him.

He grinned. “So am I.”

“I see that. Or should I say I feel that?” She laughed and wriggled in his lap.

“Okay, you. Up. Unless you want me to take you here on the couch.”

To her surprise, the thought had its appeal.

“Didn’t I tell you not to look at me that way unless you were prepared for the consequences?” he asked gruffly.

She hadn’t realized she telegraphed her desire on her face and swallowed hard. “I don’t believe you finished the thought last time. At least not in words.” It had led to their first kiss, though, and her body flushed with heat at the memory and pulsed at the hope of going further tonight.

“That’s it.” Somehow, he stood with her in his arms. “Bedroom?” he asked in a dark, desire-laden voice.

This was her last chance to say no. “What are you waiting for?” she asked him instead.

With a low growl, he headed for her room, and the next thing she knew, he laid her down on the bed. She took in the predatory gleam in his eyes, and everything inside her went to liquid mush. Moisture slickened between her legs, dampening her panties. Her breasts felt full, her nipples hardened, and her stomach clenched with unfulfilled need.

All that from one look.

“I wish you didn’t have to worry about being gentle,” she admitted, wanting him with everything she was.

“Slow and easy’s good for the first time,” he assured her. “There’ll be other times for hard and fast.”

True to his word, he began to undress her at a leisurely pace, unbuttoning her jeans and pulling them down over her legs. He paused to run his lips over her bare skin, licking a delicious trail from her stomach down her calves, past the sensitive flesh behind her knees, to her toes, only to travel up again. With painful slowness that let her feel his lips over her skin, he finally returned by the same path, lingering on the inside of her thighs but skipping the parts hidden by her skimpy underwear.

She trembled beneath the sensual assault until his tongue dipped into her belly button, then worked its way down to the top of her panties, and her stomach clenched in building need. He continued to torment her, his tongue trailing along her panty line until her clit throbbed painfully and the pulsing between her legs wouldn’t be denied.

He ran one finger down the center of her sex.

Her hips arched upward against his hand, and she let out a moan. “I wouldn’t have taken you for a tease.”

“It’s not teasing. It’s foreplay.” His voice sounded richly decadent, and she swallowed a sigh at the sexy rumble.

Dare merely chuckled and returned to his task. He hooked his fingers into the sides of her panties and pulled them down and off, revealing her to his heated gaze.

“Nice,” he murmured, his eyes darkening.

She knew what he saw, having been to her favorite spa last week. She wasn’t bare, but she was cleanly waxed, and he clearly approved, she observed, as he lowered his head and set about tasting her.

His warm mouth touched her damp heat and set her entire body on fire. He’d promised slow and steady, and damn him, the man kept his promise. Long strokes of his tongue along her almost bare outer lips were merely a prelude. She raised her hips, pushing herself into his mouth, silently begging for what he wasn’t yet ready to give.

His low chuckle sent hot air circling over her sex. “You want more, baby?”

She loved when he called her that. “Yes,” she said on a hiss. “More. Please, more.”

“Since you asked so nicely.” Without warning, he parted her opening with his fingers and thrust his tongue deep inside.

She cried out, shocked that he’d elicited such a guttural sound. Liza liked sex, but this? Wow, the man had talent. He alternated between unexpected nips that at once stung and heightened her pleasure followed by soothing, loving sweeps that had her squirming beneath him, shifting then arching her hips as he drove her higher and higher still.

Could she come from this? She never had before.

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