For the first time in fifteen years, she let her senses run wildly ungoverned. She relished the feel and taste of his mouth. The texture of his hair and skin were new and exciting pleasures to her fingertips. Her ears enjoyed the yearning sounds that issued from his throat with a sexy vibration. His strength didn’t frighten her. It felt good where her softness cushioned and complemented it. Explosive sensations erupted at every point where they touched.
The kisses continued. As her desire mounted, she thrust her tongue deeper into his mouth. He responded in kind un
til each kiss was an act of love, a carnal exchange.
Finally, out of breath, Jade tore her mouth free and leaned against him weakly. “Dillon, can we please sit down?”
“Let’s lie down.”
She pushed away from him.
His eyes were lambent, intent, but his voice was reassuringly low. “Okay?”
The thought of lying down with him made her heart strike loud and hard against her ribs. Apprehensively, she glanced toward the bed.
He touched her cheek with the back of his fingers and drew her head back around. “Side by side, Jade. I won’t lie on top of you.”
She moistened her lips. They tasted like Dillon—wonderfully like Dillon. “All right. Side by side.” Nodding in agreement, he stepped away from her and began unbuttoning his shirt. “I’m not ready to take off my clothes yet,” she said quickly.
“That’s fine.”
Apparently her choice didn’t alter his. He peeled off his shirt and dropped it to the floor. He wasn’t wearing a belt. The waistband of his old jeans was so bleached out, the threads were almost completely white. It curled outward, away from his body, creating a tantalizing gap between it and his flat, hair-spattered abdomen. Parting the mosquito netting, he dropped to the side of the bed and tugged off his boots one at a time, then removed his socks.
He stretched out on his back, his tanned skin looking dark against the white sheets and mound of pillows. He extended his hand to her through the part in the netting. With trepidation, she lowered herself to his side. She slipped out of her sandals, but that was the only concession she made before closing the mosquito net.
Without his shirt, he seemed more threateningly male, and his raw masculinity began to overwhelm her. The dizzy euphoria that their kisses had created began to dissipate. The giddy sparks twinkled out one by one, like the embers from a dying firework. She felt the blackness of fear descending on her. Apparently Dillon sensed it, too.
He said softly, “I’m made out of the same tissue as you are, Jade. It’s just shaped differently.”
She glanced at his wide, hairy chest, the drastic dip that his abdomen took beneath his ribcage, the mystery of his navel, and the evident bulge in his crotch. “Quite.”
With his index fingertip, he touched one corner of her anxious frown. “It’s not that bad, is it?”
“It’s not bad at all,” she replied huskily. “I like the way you look. I have since I first saw you through the binoculars.”
He frowned with puzzlement. “Binoculars?” From the tip of his thumb to the tip of his little finger, he could almost span the width of her back. He rubbed his hand up and down her spine.
“Remember in L.A., when I recruited you, I told you I had been watching your work for several days. I watched you through binoculars from my hotel room across the street. Several times I thought you sensed me watching you. You seemed to look right at me.” Her blue eyes found his and held. “You took my breath.”
His hand stopped moving on her back and burned like a brand through the thin cloth of her blouse.
“I didn’t know how to respond to the way you made me feel,” she confessed in a throaty voice.
“What about now?”
“I still don’t know how to respond.”
“Find out.”
“How?”
“Touch me. The promise still holds,” he added. “I won’t touch back. Not if you don’t want me to.”
Warily she regarded his bare chest. “I would rather just kiss some more, if that’s all right.”
His smile was only a little strained. “I can stand that, I think.” He reached to pull her down to his level, but she bristled. His hands relaxed on her arms. “If we’re going to kiss, we’ve got to get our mouths on the same level. Lie down, Jade.”
After several tense moments, she stiffly lay down. He cupped her face between his hands and drew it toward his. Their mouths came together in another deep, wet kiss. It was soft, sensual, sexy. Provocatively, his tongue moved in and out of her mouth. Before long, the kiss wasn’t enough. She wanted more.