Forever My Love (Berkeley-Faulkner #2)(45)

“No one ever has,” she said, and he rolled her onto her back in order to look down at her face.

“What?” he whispered.

“I want you to be the first… I want…” She couldn’t finish what she had been trying to say because his mouth was on hers and he was caressing her with dizzying slowness; sweet, vibrant sensations seemed to spill from his fingers wherever they wandered. His hand cupped over the curve of her breast and rotated in an exquisitely light touch until her nipple contracted firmly in his palm. Mira gasped, her chest lifting up to his hand… his thumb rubbed over the hardening peak, and he teased the corners of her mouth with small kisses.

His dark head moved down her neck to the highest curve of her breast, his tongue darting out to taste the fragrant flesh. His deep, irregular breath fanned out over her skin, and then his mouth took custody of the sensitive, aroused nipple, enclosing her in wet heat. Mira was floating in an ocean of pleasure, liquid pleasure that invaded every pore and opening of her body. Impatiently she writhed and groaned his name, straining in the grasp of sensations she had never felt before. She made a weak protest as Alec lifted his head, “Easy…” he said softly, stroking the curve of her waist and hip in a soothing motion. “Patience, sweet

. . let me love you slowly… we have enough time.” Breathing hard, she forced herself to relax, releasing her tight grip on his shoulders. Slowly his mouth slid back to the throbbing peak of her breast, and she curled her arms around his neck, pressing her face against the silkiness of his raven hair.

“Alec,” she sobbed, and his tongue explored the sensitive hardness of her nipple with velvet strokes, tickling, caressing, arousing. He showed her a new kind of communication, with words, soft kisses, slow and exploratory caresses. As the minutes drifted by in a thick haze of pleasure, Mira thought dazedly that Alec knew her better than anyone had ever known her before.

“I’m going to take care of you from now on,” he whispered, his dark hands moving over her pale-skinned body like a shadow rippling over the winter snow. “I told you that you’d be mine eventually… and you’ll never be sorry. I know you, and I know how to make you happy—”

“Don’t… please don’t make any promises,” she said, turning her face into the pillow.

“Oh, but I’m going to,” he murmured, nibbling along the side of her neck. “You’ll have to learn to accept them… because I always keep my promises.”

“There are things you don’t know about me—”

“They don’t matter. All that matters is that I want you… I did the very first moment I saw you… you, with your Gypsy hair and big brown eyes and teasing smile. I wanted to know everything about you, bow you tasted, how you felt…”

His large hand slid from the base of her neck to the valley between her br**sts, his thumb caressing her skin lightly. Mira flushed as his fingers trailed down to her stomach; he touched her as if he owned her, he seemed to know the secrets of her body. She gasped as

he brushed through the triangle between her legs, the dark, fine curls tangling around his fingers. He gave the curling strands a light tug, not enough to hurt, only enough to cause a shocking ripple of awareness to course through her body. Her eyes opened wide as she met his, as he slid a thigh between her knees, his hair-roughened limb abrading hers pleasantly.

Mira was paralyzed with a bewildering mixture of dread, desire, and escalating anticipation. Keeping his eyes on her face, Alec ventured lower, his fingers seeking and finding a minute conglomeration of nerves. Softly he touched and stroked her. Her eyes closed, her lips parted, and he felt a rush of fierce satisfaction as he saw the fine mist of perspiration that shone on her skin.

Shivering, she heard her own incoherent whispers sift through the darkness, her voice breaking as she pleaded for him to ease her torment. She was burning with a hunger that would never cease, and yet his sensitive fingertips offered no release from the tumult he had caused.

“Don’t struggle for it,” Alec said huskily, kneading the tender nerves between her thighs, his mouth burning against her throat. “Don’t struggle… let me take you there, let me do it…” His index finger flickered against the opening of her body, and then glided gently inside her. He was stunned at how tightly her virgin flesh grasped that questing touch… even in the midst of his passion, he could not help smiling into the curve of her neck, his heart skipping a beat from a stab of pure tenderness. Startled by the intimate intrusion, Mira gasped and tried to twist away.

“Oh… oh stop, Alec.”

“I can’t stop now,” he said hoarsely. “You’re almost there… almost…” Delibertely he caressed her damp, silken warmth, probing inside of her with: his finger and urging the palm of his hand against her soft flesh. Suddenly Mira cried out, convulsed by an oner storm, a raging delight that crashed over her in a great wave. Her thighs tightened around his hand, her breath was trapped in her lungs as ecstasy overtook her in a violent deluge. “Yes, that’s it…” he crooned, his fingers coaxing another shiver of response from her helpless body, and he whispered softly in her ear. He held her while the fire inside her diminished to quiet embers, and after a long while Mira discovered that she was partially draped over him, her head resting on his shoulder, her body pressed against the sanctuary and shelter of his.