Rendezvous With Yesterday (The Gifted Ones #2)(72)

Robert groaned as Beth’s nails scored his scalp. Her body arched against him as he took the taut tip of one breast between his teeth and teased the other with deft fingers. Urging her onto her back, he rolled half on top of her and inserted a thigh between hers.

His tenuous control begin to weaken.

He should not be doing this. They should not be doing this. ’Twas beyond improper. And he did not wish to dishonor her.

Had he not harshly criticized Dillon for taking Alyssa to his bed outside of wedlock? How could Robert do the same with Bethany?

But she made it damned hard for him to resist the temptation. She made him damned hard.

And she has slept in your bed for a fortnight with none the wiser, a wicked voice reminded him.

Beth moaned when he transferred his lips to her other breast. Writhing in pleasure, she ground her hips against his arousal.

Robert ignited. His whole body burned with the need to possess her. To be inside her. His hands shook. His caresses grew bolder, rougher as he nearly tore the robe off of her in his desire to see more, to see all.

When she lay bare before him, Robert stared, awed, hardly able to draw breath. “You are beautiful, Beth.”

So perfect. Soft, milky white skin dotted with pale freckles atop gentle ripples of muscle that flexed as she reached for him. No black scraps of material hid what he had spent far too many hours imagining. His hungry gaze devoured pink-tipped breasts that were surprisingly full for one with such a small frame. Beneath them, the ridges of a narrow rib cage led to an even narrower waist. Full hips spread beneath, bracketing a thatch of dark curls that beckoned him as water would a man in the desert.

He rose above her, eased his other knee between her thighs, urging her to spread them wider so he could settle himself in between. He sought her mouth with his own, plundering and consuming as his pulse pounded in his head. He was frantic for her, his hands roaming at will, too rough surely for an innocent.

But rather than frightening her, his passion merely seemed to inflame her.

Beth fisted her hands in his shirt. “Take it off,” she demanded hoarsely. “I want to feel your skin against mine.”

No sooner had she asked than ’twas done.





The coarse dark hair on Robert’s chest abraded her sensitized nipples. Gasping, Beth wrapped her arms around him and explored the heavy muscle of his back with her fingers. He was so warm. Both hard and soft at the same time.

The flesh beneath her hands bunched and flexed as he slipped an arm beneath her shoulders to elevate her breasts. He took one tight, aching bud into his mouth, teased it with his tongue and his teeth.

It felt sooooo good.

The other he pinched and rolled between thumb and fingers, kneading the mound and sending shards of pleasure slicing through her.

Beth moaned his name, undulated beneath him, felt the long, hard length of his erection pressing against her core. She moved her legs restlessly against his as the burning ache inside her intensified, begging to be assuaged. She wanted more. She wanted all of him. Burned for him.

Stroking her hands down his back, she molded them to his muscled ass and squeezed, urging him against the heart of her.

He groaned. The hand at her breast tightened. Dizzying currents of sensation swept through her.

She couldn’t think. Could only feel. Want. Need. More.

Too breathless to ask him to remove his braies and hose, she instead delved beneath them, smoothing her palms across bare skin. His lips left her breast and scorched a burning path down her stomach. His tongue dipped into her navel.

Then he rose and sat back on his heels between her legs. His hands stroked her thighs as his heavy-lidded gaze roved over her, arrayed before him like a banquet, as though he could not decide which morsel he wanted to sample next.

Beth said nothing, merely watched, panting, while he slipped off the bed long enough to remove the rest of his clothing. His thighs were thick with muscle and dusted with dark hair as she had known they would be. But what she really had been waiting to see made her eyes widen and diluted her rampaging desire with a trickle of unease.

The few glimpses R-rated movies had given her of full-frontal male nudity had never featured an aroused male. And even if they had, she suspected Robert would’ve outshone most of them.

She met his heated gaze. “Okay. Now I’m a little nervous.”

“Then mayhap I should distract you.”

Before she could register his words, he climbed back onto the bed, slid his arms beneath her knees, then bent his head and took her with his mouth. Pure, unbridled ecstasy raced through her. Closing her eyes, Beth buried her fingers in his hair and clung as he laved and sucked and teased, rushing her toward a first climax more intense than anything she could have imagined.

Her chest rising and falling with rapid breaths, she lay sprawled beneath him as he crept up her body, trailing kisses along the way.

Robert braced himself above her on his elbows, gently settling his weight upon her.

As heavy as he was, it should have been uncomfortable. But it felt good. Incredibly good.

She stared up at him, feeling dazed and sated, yet hungering for more.

He quirked an eyebrow. “Still nervous?”

A disbelieving laugh crossed her lips. “Hell, no!”

Chuckling, he pressed his lips to hers. “Only you could make me laugh while I am clinging to control by my fingertips.”