Breath of Scandal(150)

She didn't want him to stop what he was doing with her hand. He held it against his lips as he spoke, his breath leaving moist patches on her skin. He turned it slightly and, as he opened her fingers, sank his teeth into the plump base of her thumb.

Closing his eyes, he kissed the center of her palm, burying his mouth in the heart of it. His lips were warm and earnest, his tongue playful and erotic. He guided her index finger



418



Sandra Brown



up to his mustache. He explored it from one curving end to the other with her fingertip, riding the rim of his upper lip.

Lightly, he scraped his teeth against her index finger. It tickled-on her finger and in her lower belly. He took turns with each of her fingers, nibbling the flesh, stroking the skin with his tongue.

Jade derived almost as much pleasure watching him as she did from feeling what he was doing. Candlelight picked up the lighter strands of his hair. Dark, stubby eyelashes lay against his cheekbones, which were faintly traced with squint lines. His mouth, with his fuller lower lip beneath the wide mustache, looked unmitigatedly sexy. Looking at it made her tummy feel like a cat, stretching with animalistic pleasure after a long sleep.

He kissed the inside of her wrist, then worked his way up to the bend of her elbow. She felt the damp sweep of his tongue and the slick surface of his teeth as he drew her skin against them. The side of his head bumped against her breast, and Jade feared the dreaded panic had returned. But slowly, from the center of her breast, her body told her this was good and right.

"They're supposed to get hard."

She didn't realize she had breathed the words aloud until Dillon's head came up. "What?"

"Nothing - "

"What did you say?"

"I said . . . said that they're supposed to get hard." "What are?"

"My nipples."

He lowered his eyes to them. "Are they?"

She nodded. "When you rubbed your head against me." "Did it feel good?"

-Yes. "

"Have I done anything so far that you didn't Re?" "Yes. "

-What?" "You stopped to chat."

He chuckled softly. "See? I'm slipping back into my old



Breath of Scandal



419



ways. I'm expecting something to go wrong when I want like hell for everything to go right."

As though this were a slow routine that they enacted every night, he raised her arms and laid them on his shoulders. Clasping her loosely around the waist, he drew her closer, until their bodies made contact. As he adjusted them together, Jade couldn't conceal her astonishment.

"Your nipples aren't all that get hard, Jade," he reminded her in a rough whisper. Pressing his forehead against hers, he continued in the same, urgent tone. "It's only flesh. It's me, and you're not afraid of me, are you?"

He waited for her to answer. She finally shook her head, rolling her forehead from side to side against his.

"Please don't be afraid of me." "I'm not."

"Then kiss me." He angled his head back and looked down at her. "Kiss me, Jade."

"I have."

"No, I've kissed you. There's a difference."

She wanted to prove to him that she wouldn't chicken out. More important, she needed to prove it to herself. She slid her fingers up through his hair, drawing his head down as she simultaneously went up on tiptoe. She pressed her mouth against his.

His response was lukewarm at best, and that piqued her. "It would help if you kissed back."

"You're not kissing me. We're touchin lips. That doesn't count. " 9



Her fear of intimacy warred with her determination to defeat it. On tiptoes again, she tested the line between his firm lips with the tip of her tongue. it gave way, and suddenly she was skimming the inner lining of his mouth with her tongue, rubbing against his, tasting Dillon. She drew his head down farther. His mouth closed upon hers.

Something wonderfully sexy happened. They both felt it. Making a hungry sound, he crossed his arms at the small of her back, bending her against his middle. Because Jade still felt that she was in control, she allowed it. In fact, she welcomed the solid heat of his body.



420



Sandra Brown



Breath of Scandal



421



For the first time in fifteen years, she let her senses run wildly ungoverned. She relished the feel and taste of his mouth. The texture of his hair and skin were new and exciting pleasures to her fingertips. Her ears enjoyed the yearning sounds that issued from his throat with a sexy vibration. His strength didn't frighten her. It felt good where her softness cushioned and complemented it. Explosive sensations erupted at every point where they touched.

The kisses continued. As her desire mounted, she thrust her tongue deeper into his mouth. He responded in kind until each kiss was an act of love, a carnal exchange.

Finally, out of breath, Jade tore her mouth free and leaned against him weakly. "Dillon, can we please sit down?" "Let's lie down."

She pushed away from him.

His eyes were lambent, intent, but his voice was reassuringly low. "Okay?"

The thought of lying down with him made her heart strike loud and hard against her ribs. Apprehensively, she glanced toward the bed.