Baby for the Billionaire(88)

“Please, Jack,” she whispered. “Make love to me.”





Eight




Without a word, Jack swept Annalise into his arms and carried her to the petal-strewn bed. He lowered her to the satin duvet, the rich ruby color a perfect complement to her hair and skin.

“Nudity becomes you, wife.”

She laughed softly, just a hint of shyness evident in the deepening color that swept across her cheekbones. “I suspect it would become you, as well.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Or were you going to make love to me with your pants on?”

Following her example, he removed his remaining clothing, lingering over the process the same way she had, despite the urgency to simply finish the job and get down to business. He wanted to go slow, to ease toward the moment when they became one. To build the memories one blistering touch at a time.

When he finished stripping, she moistened her lips and lifted up onto her elbows. “Jack … I think I should warn you that I’ve just started birth control but it’s not effective yet. I guess I should have said something sooner.”

“I’ll take care of everything.”

He made short work of the matter and then joined her on the bed. Candlelight flickered across her, gleaming on the sweet, rounded curves of her body and chasing darkness into the dips and valleys. He traced his index finger across the dusky tip of her breast, watching the nipple bead beneath the light caress.

“What should I do?” Annalise asked.

“Whatever you feel like. Nothing you do will be wrong.”

“Show me how,” she insisted. “Show me what you like.”

Jack took her hands in his and guided them to his chest, pressed them there, close to his heart. Her fingertips danced across his flesh. Where once there was ice, each lingering stroke melted the coldness, turned it to warmth. Then to heat. He sank backward and gave himself up to her. Her undisguised pleasure and curiosity were a joy to witness. Little by little her inhibitions fell away and her stroking touch grew bolder.

She cupped him, then measured his length and width with her fingers and he closed his eyes, fighting to retain some vestige of control. This was a first for her, he reminded himself—her first memory of being with a man, of having free rein to indulge the sensuous side of her nature and explore to her heart’s content—and he wanted it to be perfect. When she’d driven him as far as he could handle, he gathered her up and flipped her onto her back, caging her within his arms.

“Jack,” Annalise whispered, her voice rife with emotion. “Make love to me.”

He couldn’t help but smile. “I’m working on it.”

A soft laugh escaped. “Work faster.”

Jack didn’t listen. He took his time, not wanting to alarm her or do anything that might remind her of that long-ago event. He needn’t have worried. With each touch she loosened, opening more and more of herself, both physically and emotionally. Shards of moonlight caught in her eyes, allowing him to witness her intense pleasure.

He cupped her breasts, filling his hands with the delicious weight of them while he teased the tips into excited buds. Then he tasted, reveling in the unique flavor of her. He felt the pounding of her heart against his cheek and the swift burst of her breath ruffling his hair. Sliding lower, he delved across the tensed muscles of her abdomen to the protected delta below. Cautiously, he drifted inward. Her small gasp of pleasure was all the encouragement he needed. He pleasured her until he felt the early ripples of impending climax. Only then did he pull back and settle himself between her thighs.

Cupping her bottom, he lifted her and slowly surged inward. Her hips shifted to meet his, fighting to find the appropriate rhythm. It took her only a moment to discover it. And then instinct kicked in and she followed the beat. Moved with it. Drove it. Caught within her rapture, she was sheer radiance. She rode them toward a peak, further and higher than anything he’d thought possible. They teetered there for an endless moment before the first tiny convulsions shimmered through them. And then they shattered.

As he flew apart Jack realized that the cold had disappeared, replaced by a raging fire he didn’t think could ever be doused. Annalise had done that to him. Had done that for him. Somehow, in some strange, unfathomable way, she’d freed him from the arctic wasteland in which he’d been living and brought him into the sun’s balmy light.

“Are you all right?” Jack asked much, much later.

Annalise stirred against him. “I think so.”