Page 37 of Gentle Persuasion

Cole stood in the shadows of the kitchen, moved beyond words at the sight he beheld. He’d walked into the house just as Debbie had walked out. His ears caught the sound of the patio door catching, and instinctively, he went to investigate. He’d expected to catch a thief. And in a manner of speaking, he had. Debbie Randall had stolen his sanity weeks ago. Tonight she’d just stolen his heart.

His breath was tight within his chest. His lungs expanded in shock as he watched her gown come off. She offered herself to the night and the water, and he resented the fact that it hadn’t been to him. His feet moved of their own accord as he walked out of the house. Silently, he stood in the shadows and witnessed the water covering her, caressing her. It was more than a man could stand.

He bent down. His shoes came off. He straightened and began to undress. His jacket fell across the patio table, his gun and holster beneath it. Next came his shirt. His fingers paused at the button-fly of his jeans when something—an unbreakable code of honor—made him hesitate. No matter how much a rejection might hurt, he’d have to ask. He couldn’t take. Not with her.

“Can anyone join in, or is this a private party?”

His deep, husky voice startled her. She stopped in midstroke and made a small, splashy U-turn in the pool. Her feet weren’t touching, so she paddled until they did, swiped her hair from her face and the drops from her eyes, letting the water’s turbulence lap at her breasts.

She stared, missing nothing of the fact that he was nearly undressed. She lifted her arm and motioned, a silent beckoning, then held her breath in wanton fascination as Cole stripped away the last of his clothing, leaving him bronzed and bare in the shadows of the night.

He was already hard and yearning. She tried not to stare at his body, but couldn’t resist. He wanted, and it was because of her. It made her own body echo with an ache he could not see.

He stepped into the shallow end of the pool and walked toward her like a man in a trance. The water lapped at his knees and then his thighs. She started toward him, at first moving slowly against the thrust of the water and then faster as she moved toward the shallow end. And then they were face to face.

The water enveloped him. He was hot and hard, throbbing with desire, and knew there was no danger of losing that overwhelming feeling. Not when his lady was coming toward him wearing nothing but diamond droplets of H2O. They ran in pearlized perfection down her body, illuminated by the faint lights that penetrated the shrubs and trees surrounding the backyard.

The water rested at the boundary just below his navel. Debbie stopped, suddenly a bit wary, a bit afraid of what she’d unleashed with her invitation. This man wore many faces. But the face of a lover was one with which she was not yet familiar. Her breath caught in the back of her throat as his hand reached out and caressed the nearly faded bruise on her shoulder.

“I’m afraid I’ll hurt you.” His voice was harsh and needy.

Debbie lifted her arms. “Only if you stop.”

With a groan, he caught her up, lifting her high, nearly out of the water, and then let her down, sliding her cool, wet body against him, and tried not to shake from the emotions that overwhelmed him.

She was tiny, but so perfect. Her breasts cushioned against his chest as his hands spanned her waist. The curvaceous flare of her hips fit his ache as she wrapped her legs around his middle and let him walk them both into deeper waters.

And then her mouth tilted and caught his next moan, slipping across his lips with wet precision.

“I’ve never wanted or needed anyone in my life the way I want you, lady.”

Cole’s voice was harsh and aching. His hands slid around her, tracing the path of her spine as the water enveloped them. Cupping her hips, he let the water rock her against him. He shuddered, wanting to thrust now. Needing to disappear into the woman beneath him. And yet he waited.

Debbie was lost beneath the spell of the night and the man above her. His hands did things of which she’d never dreamed. His mouth wove magic into the act of love. She needed to belong to him wholly, to take the man inside her and feel his heat and his strength. But he resisted the final motion that would complete the thought. Instead, he continued to investigate her body with a mind-bending thoroughness.

“Come here, sweetheart,” Cole whispered. He walked them both toward the side of the pool.

Debbie’s head touched the edge, and instinctively, her hands went backwards and grasped the sides to keep her from sinking. She knew she was in over her head…in more ways than one. She was helpless at the hands of this man.

Her body arched, parting the water as she anchored herself to the side of the pool. The movement thrust her breasts up and out, enticing and taunting, and Cole could not resist. His mouth swooped and he encircled the tight little bud at the center of one breast, relishing the hard throb of her pulse beneath his tongue. He rolled it gently between his teeth and felt her body buck beneath him as the tiny pain sent shafts of pleasure throughout her system. He laughed once, low and distinct, and then drank from the droplets in the shadowy valley between her breasts as he journeyed across to the other side and took similar license.

His heart pounded. His manhood throbbed. The water was nothing but a silken torture, lapping and teasing with ever-constant movement. His hands slid down below the surface and between her thighs, parting them with gentle persuasion as she opened to receive him.

He might have been able to wait. It just might have been possible to prolong the delicious torture of fluid foreplay, but she moved. And he slid too close to the heat and fell into the pleasure.

For one long moment, neither moved. But their shock at the joining was fleeting as their need grew.

Her grip tightened on the side of the pool as Cole entered her more deeply. Letting her float free, his hands encircled her waist and he began to move.

She moaned once, the size of him more than she’d imagined, yet no more than she could stand. He was hot and hard and silken, a motion of magic inside her body.

Her groan made him panic. “Am I hurting you, baby?” he whispered, uncertain how he’d ever be able to withdraw from the sweetness.

“Not enough…not enough.”

Her answer drove him over the edge. Cole caught his breath at the magnitude of feelings that overwhelmed him. For the first time in his life, he was home…and he knew it…and it scared him to death. But he’d needed too much and had stepped over the line.

The water rocked her gently, and then Cole gripped her waist and rocked her again. Slowly at first and then with increasing speed and depth, he took her right to the edge.

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