The modest neckline had gaped when he’d lifted her into his arms, offering him a peek at her flesh-colored bra. So practical. Nothing seductive about it. Yet he couldn’t wait to see her in it.
She pushed him to arm’s length. “I think we should.”
Gusting out a sigh, Blake stepped back. As his hands fell to his side, she studied him.
“As you wish.”
“That’s just it, don’t you see?” Her expression reflected frustration. “I don’t want to stop. I want to keep going. Until we’re naked and rolling around in that big bed over there.” She gestured to where his king-size bed sat between two patches of moonlight. “But I think that would be a huge mistake.”
Her breath rasped, the cadence agitated. Blake wanted to snatch her into his arms and kiss away all her angst. With her eyes glowing, her mouth soft from his kisses, she was spectacular. And worth waiting for.
He took her hands and turned her palms upward. Bending, he placed a kiss in each one. “It’s late. Why don’t we call it a night?”
“You’ve changed your mind?” She sounded heartbroken. “Just like that?”
“You said stop.”
She yanked her hands free. “I didn’t say stop. I simply said it would be a mistake.”
Her logic escaped him. “How is that different than stop?”
“You are so exasperating.”
Before he had a clue to her intentions, she’d stripped her shirt over her head and eliminated the distance between them. He had about a second to appreciate the curves of her brea**sts before they slammed into his chest.
His arms came about her, binding her to him. She was silk and fire in his grasp. With a low groan, Blake dropped his mouth onto hers and found her lips parted in invitation. Any hesitation she might have demonstrated these past ten minutes was lost in the heat of her ardent response to his kiss.
Taking things slowly—savoring her surrender—was proving difficult. While their mouths melded in passionate harmony, in the back of his mind he braced for her doubts to resurface. They didn’t. Once committed, she was a siren calling him to lose all touch with reality and follow her anywhere.
Chest heaving, Blake eased back. As much as he hated to risk giving her time to come to her senses, standing in his doorway was an awkward place to romance her properly. Her eyes were heavy lidded and slightly unfocused as he led her toward the bed.
In a flash he’d stripped off his blazer and pulled his shirt over his head. She gazed at his chest in fascination. He flinched as her fingertips settled on his skin.
“You acted as if that hurt,” she said, absorbed in her study of his bare chest.
“Your touch has a strong effect on me.”
“It does?” She traced his pectoral muscles, fascinated by every curve she encountered. “Is that good or bad?”
“It’s very good.” Although he was dying to let his own fingers do some exploring, he kept his hands on her hips. He would have all night to discover her body. “I like being touched by you.”
Her smile came and went. “You are as beautiful as I imagined.” Did she realize what she’d let slip?
“My turn.” He guided her onto the mattress and followed her down, his lips drifting along her throat and across her chest to the edge of her bra. “You are perfect.”
She squirmed beneath him as he grazed her nipple through the fabric of her bra. “That feels amazing.” Reaching behind her, she unfastened the catch. With a quick jerk, she freed herself from the bra and tossed it aside. “This will be even better.”
Blake groaned as he closed his mouth around one tight bud. He laved her with his tongue and then sucked until she arched off the mattress. Whimpering, she clutched at his hair. Never had he been with a woman as sensitive as Bella. Suddenly he was hungry for more. He blazed a trail down her stomach. Unzipping her pants took only a second. With fingers that trembled, he hooked her waistband and slid the fabric down her thighs. She lifted her hips to aid him and in no time she lay in the middle of his bed clad in nothing but her panties.
It was a moment worth appreciating, and Blake was a man who knew the value of doing so. First with his gaze, then with his hands, he learned the arch of her feet, the slenderness of her ankles, the muscular thrust of her calves, the lean length of her thighs, the flare of her hips and flatness of her abdomen. He lingered over each ripple in her rib cage, drawing out the suspense until his fingers circled her breasts.
When she grabbed his hands and cupped them over her breasts, Blake knew she’d suffered all she could take. Leaning down, he captured her mouth, branding her with a sizzling kiss.