An Irresistible Bachelor(68)

"I wasn't thinking much at the time."

His head started moving from side to side. "Jesus..."

"Why is it different because it happens to be the first time? You would have been ... fine with it if I'd had another man before you, right?"

He laughed harshly. "Christ, I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but I'm glad you haven't been with anyone else." He stopped shaking his head. "I just wish I'd known. I would have done things very differently."

"I, ah, I thought you were doing just fine."

There was a long period of silence. She started to grow cold as she pictured him pulling on his clothes and bolting from the room like that guy in college had.

But Jack wouldn't do that, she told herself. Surely, he wouldn't.

He looked at her again. "You should have something that's worth remembering."

"I don't know, Jack. You were pretty unforgettable." She deliberately kept her tone light, not wanting to hint at the desperation she'd feel if he up and left her. Unsatisfied. Alone.

His eyes measured her gravely. She could tell he was wondering if he really had hurt her.

He cleared his throat. "I'd like to try this all over again."

She smiled and reached for him.

Moving cautiously, as if she might be broken, he shifted closer to her. He reached out and brushed his knuckle down the skin of her cheek and then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. His hand traveled down her jaw to her chin and he brushed the pad of his thumb over her lower lip while tilting up her face. There was a gentleness about him, a concern, that tempered the need that had returned to his face.

When he kissed her, his mouth was light on her lips, soft to the point of frustration. He refused to deepen the contact. Even though she wanted more, and twisted to get closer to him, he stayed just out of reach. His hands began to stroke her neck and her collarbone and then under her breasts and a sensual languor came over her as his lips followed.

No matter how hard she tried, he remained elusive, pleasuring her with his hands and his mouth without letting her return the favor. Even when she let out a ragged complaint, he refused to bring his body against hers. She kept grabbing at his arms to pull him down, but he hovered above her skin, kissing her breasts and then her stomach as he stroked her thighs. The torture was deliriously frustrating and the pressure in her body kept growing and growing until she scored his skin with her nails as she held on to him.

And then he kissed where she had never been kissed before.

A blast of white heat shot through her and it was only after the waves had stopped racking her body that he laid on top of her. This time as he slid inside, she felt only a sweet rush of pleasure.

"Callie," he said roughly, "are you okay?"

It sounded as if he were talking through gritted teeth and his body was shuddering. She could feel it shake over her. Inside of her.

"You feel so good," she said against his neck.

Jack didn't move. Running her hands over the tense muscles of his back and shoulders, she was struck by a sudden thought that he was going to leave again.

"Are you... is it okay for you?" she asked.

His head dropped on to her shoulder. "Good God. Yes."

She shifted under him and heard him groan at the friction of their bodies.

And then he gripped her hard and began to move inside of her. As his thrusts gained power, they carried her with him into a frenzy of heat. She let out a hoarse cry as light exploded inside of her again and heard a guttural sound escaping from him as his body quaked.

In the stillness that followed, she felt him relax against her, though he was breathing heavily.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Callie nodded, not trusting her voice.

She was glad she had waited for him.

As a tear left one of her eyes, she was grateful for the darkness. She didn't want to have to explain herself. It would have been too hard to make him understand how good it had felt. How good he had been to her.

Jack shifted his weight so he was lying next to her and she looked away, catching the glow coming through the stained-glass window. She felt him stroke her cheek and then stop when he ran over the path of her tears.

"Callie, what's wrong?" he asked urgently.

The choked noise she made was supposed to have been a confident nothing.

He tilted her head to him. "Tell me what's going on."

She sniffled and brushed her tears away. "I'm just a little emotional, that's all."