Kiss an Angel(55)

He brushed his lips over her temples. “I’ll buy you a new pair. I swear.” He gave a gentle push.

And went nowhere.

She stiffened. Her worst fears had been realized. She’d atrophied from so many years of being unused.

He drew back a little and smiled down at her, but she could feel the tension in his body and knew he was on the verge of losing control.

“I thought you were ready, but I guess I haven’t been thorough enough.” He shifted his weight ever so slightly and began caressing her.

Within moments, his voice seemed to come to her from a great distance. “You’re so tight, sweetheart. It’s been a while for you, hasn’t it?”

She sank her nails into his shoulders. “It’s—yes. I might have—” she gasped as new sensations spiraled inside her “—closed up a bit.”

He groaned and repositioned his body. “Then let’s open you back up.” With that, he pressed home.

She cried out and arched to get away from him or to get closer, she didn’t know which. Her body stung from the sweet, aching stretch. He grabbed her bottom and thrust more deeply. At the same time, his mouth covered hers, devouring her. His possession was fierce and strong, but the awful tension she felt in him told her he was still holding back. She didn’t understand why until she heard his barely audible murmur.

“Let go, sweetheart. Let go.”

She knew, then, that he was waiting for her, and those tender words sent her flying over the edge again.

When she came back, his skin was slick under her hands, his body taut with need. But he was a strong and generous lover.

“Once more, sweetheart. Once more.”

“No, I—”

“Yes!” He drove again, deep and sure.

Outside, the thunder rolled, and inside she did as she had been bid. This time, however, he went along.

Time trickled over them as they lay motionless, their bodies entwined, his remaining inside her own.

She would never forget this. Despite the horrible things that had led to this moment, she could not have had a more wonderful introduction to lovemaking, and she would always be grateful to him for this.

She pressed her lips to his chest and stroked him with her palms. After all this time, it had finally happened. “I’m not a virgin any longer.”

She felt his body go rigid beneath her hands. Only then did she realize she had spoken her secret out loud.





11




“What did you say?” Alex reared up over her.

She wanted to bite her tongue. How could she have spoken the words out loud? She had been so drowsy and content that she’d been lulled into stupidity. “N-nothing,” she stammered. “I didn’t say anything.”

“I heard you.”

“Then why are you asking?”

“You said you weren’t a virgin anymore.”

“Did I?”

“Daisy . . .” His voice held an ominous note of warning. “Am I supposed to take that literally?”

She attempted to adopt a tone of moral superiority. “It’s really none of your business.”

“Bullshit.” He vaulted from the bed, grabbed his jeans, and pulled them on as if it were imperative for him to put some kind of barrier between them. He spun back to confront her. “Just what kind of game are you playing?”

She couldn’t help but notice that he hadn’t fastened the zipper, and she had to tear her eyes away from that enticing V that revealed his hard, flat belly. “I don’t want to discuss it.”

“Do you seriously expect me to believe you were a virgin?”

“Of course, I don’t. I’m twenty-six years old.”

He shoved one hand through his hair and began pacing in the small space at the foot of the bed, speaking as if he hadn’t heard her. “You were so tight. I thought maybe it had been a while, but I never figured—how could you have been around all these years and never f*cked?”

She shot up high into the pillows. “There isn’t any need for you to use that kind of language, and I want you to apologize to me right now!”

He stared down at her as if she’d lost her mind. She stared right back. If he thought she was going to back down about this, he could think again. She’d heard enough foul language during her twenty-six years with Lani to last a lifetime, and she wasn’t going to subject herself to any more. “I’m waiting.”

“Answer my question.”

“After you apologize.”

“I’m sorry!” he shouted, losing his famous self-control. “Now you tell me the truth right this minute or I’m going to strangle you to death with those tights, throw your body in a roadside ditch, and dance on top of it!”

As an apology, it didn’t count for much, but she decided it was the best he was going to do. “I’m not a virgin,” she said carefully.

For a moment he looked relieved, and then he regarded her with suspicion. “You’re not a virgin right now, but what about when you walked into this trailer?”

“I might have been then,” she muttered.

“Might have been?”

“All right. Was.”

“I don’t believe it! Nobody who looks like you gets to be twenty-six without ever—”