Page 24 of A Kiss at Midnight

“I’m going to come, Jewel. I’m going to shoot deep inside of you. Come with me,” he demands, his voice breathy but confident. Grabbing my hair, he holds me in place and takes my lips with an urgency that inflames me.

A passionate scream rips from me as he slams against my core, burying himself deep, setting my release free, and making my body convulse with an overload of sensation. He was right. The sexual pleasure I felt during the day is nothing compared to what I’m feeling now.

He shouts in ecstasy as he shakes within me, as his thick desire pulses powerfully against my walls. His release goes on for an eternity, and then he collapses against me, his body molding me to the bed. Too spent to move, I shut my eyes. It’s all too much, and there’s no possible way I can keep going. Sleep provides sweet relief. Sleep is my sanctuary. I give into it and fall into darkness with Blake still buried deep in me. I don’t realize yet that I’m in too deep now to get out easily... don’t realize I truly am his...

Chapter Review

Chapter Fourteen

Blake

Jewel relaxes nextto me, and it takes me a few more seconds before I find the strength to carefully pull myself from her, then shift to my side. I gaze at this woman peacefully asleep beside me. Part of me wants to shake her, to wake her up, and demand she explain herself.

She was a virgin! How in the hell hadn’t she told me this important information? I cringe as distrust runs through me. What’s her game? What does she have to gain by keeping this from me? Is it a trap? I pause for a moment to self-analyze.

Would I have believed her had she told me? I’m not sure... I think I wouldn’t have, that it wasn’t possible. I want to think of her as nothing more than another female wanting to get whatever she can from me. I want to believe we’re equally using each other. We are, aren’t we? I’m so damn confused. I’ve never been in this type of situation before. All of the women I’ve been with have known the score.

Sure, these women might’ve wanted to turn it into something more, but they knew from the start that any sex was temporary. I thought Jewel knew this as well. Was I wrong?

We have an arrangement that’s mutually beneficial to both of us. Even if she was a virgin, it doesn’t matter, does it? No! This doesn’t change anything. She’s still selling herself to me. She came into my office, stripped down, and offered a deal I couldn’t refuse.

I run my fingers through my hair as I flip over onto my back. I want to be hard here. I want this not to matter... but it does. Why is she doing this? Why is she selling herself to the highest bidder? Everything within me screams there’s more to this story than she’s sharing. I shake my head.Stop this!

I might be her first lover... but I won’t be her last. This thought doesn’t sit well with me. Jewel has this strange innocence in her eyes that fills me with guilt when I look at her for too long. An odd eagerness to please rests within her. I crack a small smile. She also possesses a stubbornness that shows the world she’ll never be owned. When our time ends I have no doubt she’ll be hunted... wanted... and taken.

It won’t take long for some man to break her... to erase the optimism I faintly see in her that’s trying to break free from whatever’s sent her into this situation. I won’t be the man to take that hope from her. Dammit! I can’t think of her like this. I can’t grow attached to her. We have an arrangement, and at the end of our time together itwillbe over. I remind myself she’s already lied to me... and she’scertainlyplayed games from the very first moment our eyes connected.

I stay where I am for a few more minutes, finding it difficult to pull away. I force myself to climb from the bed. As she feels the loss of my body she whimpers in her sleep and reaches out as if seeking me... and my stomach tightens. I want to crawl back into bed beside her.

No! I won’t do that. I won’t allow her to have power over me.

I lean over and carefully cover her sleeping body. She turns and snuggles into the pillow I was using. A small smile plays across her lips as she sighs and falls into a deeper sleep. I walk from the room, then march across the hall and use the guest bathroom. I stand beneath the shower spray for a very long time, hoping the water will wash her from my system.

It doesn’t work.

I’m restless when I climb out and pace around my home until, nearly an hour later, I’m wearing only a towel, standing next to my bed watching her sleep. She looks so young, so innocent with her lips turned up in the barest of smiles, her breathing deep and even.

“I’m only doing this because I want you near me when I get the urge to take you. It’s all about convenience.” I say these words aloud, though only in a whisper. I’m lying to myself. I crawl into the bed, lying next to her. I let out a curse as I reach for her, then pull her sleeping body against me. Unfortunately I enjoy how it feels to have her head rest trustingly against my chest as I lie on my back.

No woman has slept in my bed. Not ever. I’ve never allowed something so intimate. Yet as she snuggles against me, her smile growing a little bigger, I recognize the first stirrings of peace I’ve felt in a very long time — maybe ever.

Refusing to analyze this because I know that if I do I won’t be able to let this situation continue, I pull her tighter against me. I nearly come undone when she wiggles closer, seeming to need the comfort of my touch to quell whatever demons reside inside her.

My body hardens and I consider flipping her onto her back and waking her up by plunging deep inside her. That’s why I’m sharing her bed, isn’t it? Of course it is. I should do this without a second thought, but I don’t move.

Instead, I continue to hold her, involuntarily caressing her back. Tomorrow I’ll be myself again. This out-of-character behavior has to be from the shock of discovering her innocence. That’s all it is. It can’t be that I actuallycareabout this woman. I’ve never cared about any woman... and I don’t plan to develop feelings for her.

Certainly, I’m only holding back from having sex again tonight because she was a virgin, and I realize she’s sore. I don’t want to make it worse. I need to give her a few hours to heal so she can be a better lover for the rest of our time together.

I’m well aware I’m lying to myself, but it makes me feel better. I’m going to lie here for hours without rest. There’s too much on my mind. I turn, pulling her just a tad closer and close my eyes... and sleep claims me before I know it.

Chapter Review

Chapter Fifteen

Blake

How in the hell didI end up with a virgin?”

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