Best Kept Secrets(155)

They lay down together. He pulled the covers up over them,

took her in his arms, drew her close, and kissed her with

more tenderness than passion.

"You're very small," he whispered against her lips. "Did

I hurt you the other night?"

"No." He angled his head back and looked at her suspiciously.

She ducked her head timidly. "Only a little."

His hand curved around her throat; he stroked it with his

thumb. "How was I supposed to know you were a virgin?"

"You weren't."

"How come you were, Alex?"

She tilted her head to one side and gazed up at him. "Are

the reasons why so important, Reede?"

"Only because you let me."

"Letting you never entered my mind. It just happened."

"Any regrets?"

She laid her hand along his cheek and drew his head down.

They kissed long and avariciously. His hand had found its

way to her breast again by the time he ended the kiss. Pushing

back the covers, he watched his fingers caress her nipple.

"Reede," she said, her voice tentative, "I'm embarrassed."



"I want to look. Just tell me if you get cold."

"I'm not cold."

She was making small, yearning sounds even before he

lowered his head and closed his lips around her nipple. He

sucked on it with masterful skill. His hand moved down to

appreciate the curve of her waist, then smoothed over the

shape of her hip and thigh. He touched her navel playfully,

and lightly scrubbed the area beneath it with his knuckles.

He touched the delta of springy hair, and his eyes turned

dark.

"I want you to come this time," he murmured.

"I want to."

He slid his hand between her thighs. She raised her hips

slightly to accommodate him. She was already wet. He

slipped his fingers inside her.

"Reede," she gasped with pleasure.

"Shh. Just enjoy."

His thumb idly fanned back and forth across that vulnerable

gem of flesh while he planted kiss after fervent kiss on her

fertile mouth.

"I think it's about to happen," she panted between kisses.

"Not yet. Talk to me. I never get to talk in bed."

"Talk?" She couldn't even think. "About what?"

"Anything. I just want to hear your voice."

"I ... I don't . . ."

"Talk, Alex."

"I like watching you cook," she blurted.

"What?" He chuckled against her lips.

"It was very manly, the way you banged and rattled the

pans. You're messy. You didn't crack the eggs, you smashed

them. Your ineptitude was endearing."

"You're crazy."

"You're making me crazy."

"Am I?"

He inched his head down and stroked her belly with his

tongue. His thumb continued to finesse her slowly, provocatively,

maddeningly, while his fingers slid in and out. Sensations

began to bubble warmly within her lower body. The



pressure centered on the idle movement of his thumb, so that

when he replaced it with the tip of his tongue, she cried out.

She clutched handfuls of his hair and tilted her hips upward

toward the heat of his avid mouth, toward the swirling magic

of his tongue.

Not until the aftershocks had subsided did she open her

eyes. His face was bent low over hers. Damp strands of hair

clung to her cheeks and neck. He lifted them away and laid

them on the pillow.

"What does a woman say at a time like this, Reede?"

"Nothing," he replied gruffly. "Your face said it all. I've

never watched a woman's face before."

Alex was deeply touched by his admission, but tried to

make light of it. "Good. Then you won't know if I did it

right or not."

He glanced down at her flushed breasts, at the moisture

that had caused her pubic hair to glisten. "You did it right."

Lovingly, she combed her fingers through his hair. "It

could have happened before it did, you know--like, that

evening at the airfield. And the time in Austin when you took

me home. I begged you to stay with me that night. Why

didn't you?"

"Because you wanted me there for the wrong reasons. I

wanted a woman, not a little lost girl looking for her daddy."

He studied her doubtful expression. "You don't seem convinced."

Unable to meet his incisive eyes, she looked at a point

beyond his shoulder. "Are you positive that's the reason? Or

were you looking for somebody else?"

"You don't mean somebody, you mean Celina." Alex

turned her head aside. Reede gripped her jaw and forced her

to look at him. "Listen to me, Alex. You made me mad as

hell by saying what you did the other night, that crap about