Page 86 of Close Pursuit

He tried to roll over, to reach for her, but she used her position, seated on his thighs, to pin him down. Back up his legs she went, using her mouth and hands this time.

She licked the backs of his knees until he actually squirmed, a novel sensation for him. He was usually in the business of making women squirm. He made the mistake of groaning, and of course, Katie giggled and redoubled her tickle torture.

She nipped up the back of his right leg, and his breath caught as her mouth slid inward toward the juncture of his thighs. Her hands pushed and he let his legs fall apart for her.

Without warning, she licked the underside of his penis and he about came off the mattress. It didn’t help that her breasts were mashed against the backs of his legs and her hands squeezing his gluts needily. Her mouth closed on his sac and she took it gently into her mouth. Sensations roared through him, ripping through his belly and straight back down to his erection. He was abruptly so hard and heavy it hurt.

Her tongue delicately traced the length of him again and then swirled around the tip until he all but shouted his frustration.

“Let me up,” he demanded.

“Nope. Not done with my massage,” she answered blithely.

She kissed everything within reach of her mouth and tongue. Her hands started up his spine and her entire body followed until she was lying on top of him, a delicious silken blanket of woman and sex.

Her tongue swirled into his ear—crap, another erogenous zone he’d never discovered before now—and she whispered, “I love everything about you. Your body. Your mind. Your sense of humor. Your sense of honor. The way you keep me safe. The way you make me feel?—“

That was it. He couldn’t take any more. He surged up beneath her, flipping over beneath her in a slick wrestling move. Once he was able to get his arm around her, it was an easy matter to use his superior weight and strength to reverse their positions.

He realized she was smiling up at him triumphantly. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her legs around his hips, and she held him so tightly, it felt as if she wasn’t ever going to let go. Something cracked in his heart as the moment burned itself into his memory for all time.

He shifted position slightly, and then pressed into her, groaning as her internal muscles gripped him as tightly as her arms and legs. He stared down at her intensely and she gazed back at him, her smile slowly fading into something raw and personal and unbearably intimate as their bodies fit together and found unison.

He made love to her in slow motion, one deliberate thrust at a time. He felt every inch of her, felt every little clench and release, registered every nuance of expression across her face. It bordered on sensory overload.

How could he have raced through this act so many times before and never stopped to notice a thousand details that made it magical? The way her teeth caught at her lip. The way her chin lifted when he seated himself all the way inside her and rocked a little. The way her feet flexed and relaxed against his lower back.

It was exquisite. He’d never experienced anything like it. Even the scrap of silk that was her slip thing sliding between them was delicious to his heightened his senses.

Eventually, though, her breathing quickened, her feet became more urgent against his back. Her hands slid down to clutch his buttocks and pull him deeper. She surged against him, and he let her suck him into the maelstrom. He plunged into her deeper and faster, harder and more urgently.

But all the while, he stared into her eyes and she into his. He saw her gaze fill with wonder and glaze with pleasure and finally black out in the moment of her release. She came back to him slowly, her gaze refocusing in awe. Then the awe transformed into a smile that lit her entire being from the inside out. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. In that instant, everything was right with the world.

He was loved. And it was good.

Excuse me…what?

16

Katie watched happiness fill Alex’s dark gaze, and realization that he was happy follow soon after.

He rolled away from her abruptly, swearing luridly in Russian if his tone of voice was any indication. In English, he demanded, “What the hell are you trying to do to me?”

“Show you what it feels like to be loved and appreciated?”

“I’m not falling for it. You can’t suck me in. Iwon’tbe suborned.”

“Suborned?” she echoed, not understanding.

“It means bribed, blackmailed, or corrupted,” he spat. He jumped out of bed and strode to the far end of the room.

She sat up, yanking her silk nightgown down as far as it would go. Why couldn’t the stupid thing be a gunny sack? “I know what it means. You already made it crystal clear you’re not blackmail-able, so why would I even try?”

“You tell me.” He whirled and stalked back toward her.

Why was he lashing out like this? She hadn’t done anything to?—

—Oh. She must have scared the hell out of him. Which meant she had broken through his emotional armor, after all.

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