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  That sobered her and she took her hand away from his mouth.

  “Hey,” he said, “it’s going to be all right.”

  She smiled but her lips quivered a little. “I know. I’m just…nervous.”

  Afraid, is what she meant. He imagined women the world over felt very much the same way the first time they gave themselves to a man. And telling her it was going to be okay wasn’t helping one little bit. He’d have to show her.

  The room was dim and he didn’t bother with the bedside lamp. There was enough light spilling in from the hallway as well as the moon that shone through her open curtains for him to be content, and he suspected Del would be more comfortable if it was dark, anyway.

  He let her slide down to her feet beside the bed. Reaching for the hem of the little dress, he slowly tugged it up her body and over her head, tossing it carelessly into a corner.

  Her hair was a loose, wild cloud spilling over her shoulders and he gently combed tresses aside, pushing them behind her shoulders until her torso was revealed. All she wore now was a lacy black strapless bra and a tiny pair of matching panties.

  As he took in her slim, shapely figure, the generous slope of creamy breast and rounded hip, his palms nearly itched to touch her. “Del,” he said softly. “I can’t believe I let you hide from me all these years. What a dope I was.”

  She smiled again, a little less tentatively this time. “I didn’t exactly go out of my way to let you know I was interested.”

  “Were you? Interested?”

  She nodded. “Very.”

  Very. She was right, she had hidden it well. If he’d had any idea a little alcohol would uncover the truth, he’d have taken her out for a drink a long time ago.

  He slid his hands from her shoulders in toward her throat, circling her neck gently. Letting his thumbs brush downward, he skimmed the shadowed cleavage between her breasts and let his hand drop to the front clasp of her bra. It had been a long time, but he hadn’t forgotten everything he knew, and he easily snapped open the simple fastening. The fabric sprang free but clung to her, caught on the peaks of her breasts, and he smiled as he slowly brushed over the satiny flesh and let the bra fall to the floor.

  “Pretty,” he murmured, bending his head. He set his mouth against her neck just below her left ear, kissing and tasting the tender flesh he found. “Very pretty.” As his hands cupped the warm mounds, he lightly brushed his thumbs over their taut peaks, feeling them rise beneath his touch as he slid his mouth down the slender column of her throat to the delicate joining of neck and shoulder. He pulled her to him again then, turning her sideways and arching her backward over his arm as he bent his head to the breasts that jutted up at him. Lazily, he used his tongue to trace a wet circle around one brown tip, then lightly blew on the sensitive flesh, smiling when she shuddered. He flicked his tongue over her again, not missing the way she shifted restlessly in his arms, and then he couldn’t wait any longer. Nuzzling his face against her, he took one nipple into his mouth, sucking gently at it, rolling his tongue smoothly around and around as he increased the suction. Her hands came up to clasp around his head and he felt her body relax. Become his. All his.

  Gently, he eased her upright and knelt before her.

  “What are you doing?” Her hands were rigid on his shoulders.

  For answer, he tugged at the tiny panties, sliding them slowly down her smooth, bare legs. “We forgot these.” It was an effort to resist leaning forward and burying his nose in the sweet, dark-curled cleft at the top of her thighs, but he reminded himself that Del wasn’t used to such intimacy. So he stood, urging her toward the bed as he stripped off his shirt and kicked out of his shoes. “Why don’t we lie down?” If she were more experienced, vertical wouldn’t be a problem. But he wanted her to be comfortable, to have wonderful memories of her first time. Her first time with him.

  She began to slide onto the bed, but suddenly she stopped. “Aren’t you going to undress?”

  He nodded. “You can help,” he told her, taking her hands and setting them at his belt buckle. He closed his eyes in delight as he felt her small hands fumbling with the belt, the tips of her fingers pressing against him as she found the zipper tab and slowly lowered it. She spread his pants wide and he said, “Ahhh,” as his hardening shaft was freed from the tight strictures.

  He looked down at himself. His stretchy briefs were…stretched, leaving little to the imagination. Putting his thumbs beneath the top elastic edge, he slowly pulled them out and down. As he freed himself completely and stepped out of the briefs, he wondered what she was thinking. Had she ever seen an aroused man before?

  Just as he was about to reassure her that yes, it really would fit, Del said in a small voice, “May I…touch you?”

  He smiled, trying not to look too much like the Big Bad Wolf in Grandmother’s bed. “Sure.”

  But when she had permission, she hesitated. He reached for her hand and lifted it, slowly drawing her palm to him, wrapping her small fingers around him and holding her hand there with light pressure.

  She looked up at him, eyes wide in the dim light. “It’s soft!”

  “No,” he said definitely. “It is not.”

  “I know that,” she said with a startled laugh. “I meant it feels velvety. Soft over hard.” She explored a little, running her fingertips up and down and around, and he shuddered, feeling a dangerous frisson of pleasure slide down his spine. Hastily, he pulled her hand away with a rough laugh.

  “I like that,” he said, “but if you don’t want this to be over right now, you’d better stop.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, perfectly serious.

  “Me, too,” he said with feeling.

  He stepped around her and pulled the covers back to the foot of the bed. She slid onto the mattress while he donned protection, moving over as he followed her until she was on her back in the circle of his arm.

  He gathered her close with one arm, the other resting at her waist. He was pressed against her soft hip, and if he’d ever known anything more erotic than this moment of sexual anticipation, he couldn’t remember it. He kissed her gently, running his hands from her waist to her breast and down again. Letting himself sink into the flavor and scent of her, deepening the kiss until she attempted to turn more fully into his arms.

  He slid his hand across her belly, stroking her soft skin, allowing his hand to trail lower with each movement until his fingers were stroking the soft, tight curls between her legs.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered.

  He knew she didn’t mean it literally. “Taking it nice and slow,” he told her. He eased one finger into her warm cleft. “Open your legs for me.”

  Her eyes were wide, searching his face, so he leaned down and kissed her again as he slipped his hand farther between her legs and found what he’d been hoping for. She was moist and slick, responding to his handling as if she’d been made for him. Probing deeper, he found her snug channel and inserted one finger.

  She was tight. Very tight, and he felt sweat breaking out all over at the thought of what it was going to feel like when he was inside her. He’d better not think about that right now. “You okay?” he asked her.

  She nodded. “It doesn’t hurt.”

  He smiled tightly as he withdrew and returned, this time using two fingers.

  She was breathing heavily, beginning to move restlessly against him. He smiled to himself as he bent his head and took her breast again. As he did, he slipped his fingers up through the dense nest of curls, searching out the tender bud hidden there. She gasped sharply as he pressed, then circled lightly, and her hips lifted off the bed. “Sam!”

  “Del,” he murmured against her skin. “Relax. Enjoy.”

  To his delight, she was amazingly responsive, her body reacting with every slight touch, every kiss, every breath she took. Her hands grew damp and frantic as she clutched at him, her nails digging into him as she tried in vain to pull him atop her.

  He was having an increasingly difficult time keeping a lid on his own reactions. The feel of her satiny hip repeatedly pressing against him was a potent stimulant, and soon he found himself moving against her in response, pleasure shivering through his system with every subtle shift.

  Finally, when he sensed she was as ready as she could be without completely sliding over the edge, he shifted his weight. Del accepted him eagerly, spreading her legs so that he could nestle himself in the warm cove of her thighs. Just the feel of her soft body beneath him threatened his control, and he quickly moved into position.

  “This might not be comfortable,” he warned her.

  “I don’t care.” She urged him on, palming his buttocks and trying to pull him to her. “Please, Sam?”

  He forced himself to move slowly, to enter her only one small fraction at a time before withdrawing and forging ahead a little more. Over and over again, he repeated the motion, his arms corded with the effort of holding back, every muscle in his body focused on the slick, tight glove of her body. She didn’t seem to be in pain or even discomfort, her eyes shining and her warm body flowing around him. Suddenly, she arched her back, digging her heels into the bed and shoving herself up, offering him everything. The motion embedded him deeply within her, and he groaned as he felt his body slipping from his precarious control. His hips surged once, then again and again. He gritted his teeth. “Del,” he ground out, “I-can’t-wait.”

  “I can’t, either,” she panted. “Make love to me, Sam.”

  It was impossible to resist her plea. Letting his body take over, he ceased to think. Pure sensation reigned as he found his rhythm and urged her into following his lead, fiery pleasure spreading through him with each stroke. His body drew tighter and tighter as forerunners of ecstasy tap-danced down his spine
. Del was moving wildly beneath him, with him, her slim body a beautiful sight.

  She was making small sounds each time he moved against her, a whimpering, keening, needy sound that rose higher and higher until her body began to convulse beneath him, her tight sheath gripping him, milking him again and again as she shook and shattered. He couldn’t wait, couldn’t hold on, and with a rush of satisfaction he followed her, his body completing the mating ritual in the most primitive of ways, arching his spine and sending his seed forth in an explosive finish that nearly took off the top of his head.

  In the aftermath, he slowly let his shaking arms relax and collapsed onto Del, burying his face in the pillow just beside her. Her arms came up around him immediately and the small motion created a warm glow deep inside him. She stroked his back lightly and as he moved to one side and drew her into his arms, he knew he was going to do his best to see that he spent a lot of nights from now on in Del’s bed with her small body tucked securely against him.

  Four

  “Why,” he said, kissing the fragile shell of her ear that was mere inches from his mouth, “haven’t we ever done this before?”

  He felt her shoulder slide against his chest as she shrugged. “I always wanted you to notice me.”

  “I did notice you. I’ve spent countless hours over the past seven years wondering exactly what was under those huge shirts of yours.” He cupped a breast in one big palm, gently brushing his thumb back and forth across the nipple. “Now I know,” he said with deep satisfaction.

  “You noticed me? Why didn’t you ever do anything about it, then?” She ran her fingers through the hair across his breastbone.

  He shrugged. “I’m shy?”

  When she hooted with laughter, he tickled her until she screamed for mercy. Then she found the single tiny ticklish spot along the left side of his ribs and he was the one begging her to stop.

  “I can think of some s words that describe you, but shy isn’t one of them,” she gasped, wiping tears of merriment from her face.

  “Such as?” He smoothed her hair and settled her along his side again. He sandwiched one smooth thigh between his as she turned into his arms and nestled her head on his shoulder.

  “Surly,” she said.

  “Me?” He was too preoccupied with his body’s response to her to be offended. He was already half aroused again from their tussling and teasing, and her knee was lightly brushing some very sensitive territory. Having her sweet warmth so close and so very available was a form of the most pleasurable torture, because he knew she would be too tender, too sore, to accept him again that night.

  “Everyone in the office trembles when you pass,” she said.

  “What happened to s words?”

  “Scary,” she said promptly, and laughed when he growled. “Sexy, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  “Smart, seductive, surprising depths—”

  “That’s two, but I like it.”

  He felt her smile against his skin. Then she gave a mighty yawn. “I’m sleepy.”

  “Go to sleep, then.”

  “Will you stay?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “I’ll stay.” Just try getting rid of me, baby. For some reason, he thought of her earlier question again. Why didn’t you ever do anything about it, then? Why hadn’t he ever thought about asking Del out? And then he knew. “You want to know why I never asked you out, Del?”

  “Um-hmm.” She sounded slightly more alert.

  “Because I was afraid of what would happen when it ended. You’d have left and I couldn’t have stood that. I need you, Del.”

  She stretched up and pressed a kiss against his chin. “I need you, too.”

  But she didn’t. She had a life that could move on quite smoothly without him in it. But if she quit and he never saw her again… “I can’t imagine running the business without you.” It was inadequate, but he couldn’t really express what he wanted to say.

  Was it his imagination or did she shrink slightly away? He didn’t move, but he pondered his last words. Did she think he hadn’t paid her fairly for all the work she’d done through the years? He’d tried, but perhaps they should discuss it. Or maybe it was more than that—he’d wondered, on occasion, if he should make her a partner. He had no idea if she’d ever thought about it, had no idea if she had any capital to invest, but she deserved it. PSI wouldn’t exist today if it weren’t for Del, he was sure.

  Then she said, “Lucky for you, you don’t have to. ’Night.”

  He knew enough about women to know a dismissal when he heard one, so he shut up. Instead, he kissed her. To his immense relief, she lifted her face to his and responded, and he gathered her closer.

  “Umm,” she said. “What’s that I feel?”

  “Me appreciating you.”

  She laughed, and to his delighted surprise, slipped one small hand down between their bodies, exploring him with her fingers. “I didn’t think men could, ah—”

  “Some men can.” He moved his hips, thrusting himself a little more firmly against her hand, groaning in pleasure when she gripped him firmly. “And would love to.” He rolled to his back, spreading his legs slightly and giving her complete access to his body. “Wanna explore?”

  She lifted her head and smiled at him, her eyes slitted with pleasure. “I’d love to.”

  The next morning, he awoke to an empty bed. The clock said it was after nine, and warm sunlight streamed into Del’s tidy blue-and-white bedroom. He tossed back the covers and rose, stretching, then snagged his pants from the floor and headed for the bathroom.

  Afterward, he followed the smell of coffee and bacon down to her kitchen.

  She was sitting at the table, nursing a cup of coffee while she read the morning paper. Her hair was down, curling around her shoulders like a living curtain, and she wore only pajama bottoms and a brief camisole top that revealed the rounded shape of her breasts in a manner none of her daily work clothes ever had.

  When their eyes met, heat flared and sizzled. But all she said was, “Good morning. Did you sleep well?”

  Her tone was neutral. For a second he was puzzled—and then it hit him. She probably was embarrassed about last night—about the frank things she’d said and done—and she was expecting him to make quick excuses and leave this morning, having completed his duties last night. He sure as hell hoped that wasn’t what she wanted, because he had no intention of going back to the unsatisfying way things had been before.

  He was glad last night had happened. He was tired of being alone. It had been more than eight years since he’d been with a woman who meant anything more than simple relief, and he didn’t realize how much he’d missed intimacy. Hadn’t allowed himself to realize it, he supposed.

  Crossing the kitchen, he scooped her out of her chair and sat down with her in his lap, settling her against his chest. He picked up her coffee cup and took a sip, then set it down and took a length of her unbound hair in his hand, gently stroking through it. “Good morning,” he said. “I slept fine until I woke up alone.”

  “Sorry,” she said, “I thought maybe you liked to sleep in on the weekends and I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “Not particularly. I’d rather spend time with you.” Immediately he felt her body subtly relax, and triumph surged through him. He’d been right. “What do you want to do today?” he asked.

  She shrugged, her camisole slipping lightly up and down against his bare chest. “I don’t know.”

  “Well, what do you usually do on the weekends?”

  Puffs of air blasted his chest as she chuckled. “Laundry.”

  He grimaced. “Me, too.” Slowly, he slipped his hands beneath the hem of the little top she wore and ran his palms lightly up and down her back. She made a sound almost like a purr and relaxed even further in his embrace, and he gently cupped one of her pretty breasts, slowly rubbing his thumb back and forth over the sensitive tip that rose to meet him. He cleared his throat, but his voice was husky and deep when he spoke. “I’ve got some ideas on how we can spend the day.”

  Immediately, the tension returned to her body. “I don’t think I can, at least until tonight,” she said, regret in her tone. She pushed against his hold and rose from his lap, picking up her coffee cup and carrying it to the sink. “I’m sure you have things to do today and I actually do have a number of errands to run—”