Make Me Melt(22)

Without giving her time to protest, he turned her beneath him in one swift, smooth movement. She let out a small sound of surprise but then settled back against the pillows with a sigh of delight and wound her arms around his neck, feasting on his mouth.

Oh, yeah, this was perfect, except that now she was arching against him, rotating her hips against his in an invitation that was unmistakable.

Jason dragged his mouth free and bent his forehead to hers, sucking in deep breaths. “Easy, sweetheart,” he gasped. “I don’t want to go too fast, and if you keep that up, I’m not going to last.”

She gave him a bemused smile. “Really? But you’re a marshal. I thought you guys were all about control.”

He raised his head and looked down into her flushed face. Her blue eyes glinted in the moonlight, shimmering with arousal. Her mouth was swollen from his kisses, reminding him of a ripe strawberry. He wanted to bite her.

“Where you’re concerned,” he said, his voice husky, “I have no control.”

It was the truth. He was breaking every rule in the book by coming upstairs with her and not maintaining a professional distance. He’d sworn to protect her, and here he was taking complete advantage of her. He could tell himself that his prior friendship with her father—and, to a lesser extent, with Caroline herself—made it okay, but he knew he was lying to himself. He wanted her more than he could ever recall wanting another woman. He’d wanted her that night when she’d been sixteen years old and had done her best to entice him, but that had been nothing compared with what he felt right now.

Raising himself on one elbow, he pushed aside the fabric of her silky robe, until the upper swell of her breast was revealed. She made no protest, but he heard her sharp intake of breath. He traced his fingertips over the creamy flesh, noting how her nipple tightened beneath the satin fabric. Jason paused to devour the sight and then dipped his head to brush his lips over the hardened nub before drawing her nipple into his mouth and suckling it gently. He heard Caroline whimper, and he laved the distended tip with his tongue.

“Please...please.” Her whisper was ragged, and she cupped his face, dragging it upward so she could fasten her mouth against his and draw his very soul from between his lips.

That broken plea, combined with her molten kiss, was enough to push the last of his restraint over the edge. He’d intended to go slowly, to let her set the pace, but he hadn’t counted on the intensity of his need for her. Heat spiraled downward through his midsection as he felt his control stretch thin.


“You drive me crazy, you know,” he muttered against her lips. “That night that you waited for me in this room...I didn’t want to stop, but you were so young. Afterwards, I couldn’t stop thinking about you, imagining how you would taste....”

He slanted his mouth across hers, deepening the kiss, wanting to consume her, to eat her alive. She arched against him, sliding her hands up over his shoulders to pull him closer.

He needed to be closer, too, with nothing separating them. He wanted to feel her skin against his, to absorb her heat. He pushed her robe down the length of her arms, wanting it gone completely. She helped him by pulling her arms free, and then she was completely naked but for the miniscule scrap of white silk at her crotch.

He almost stopped breathing.

Then he filled his hands with her breasts, admiring how full and firm they were and how her nipples ripened beneath his fingers.

“Oh, God,” she panted, shifting restlessly against him. “You have to touch me or, I swear, I’m just going to die.”

“But I am touching you,” he rasped, smiling against her neck.

“No, I mean—you have to touch me...there.”

Her plea was desperate, and lust jackknifed through Jason. With a low groan, he claimed her mouth while at the same time he glided his hand down over the silken skin of her abdomen until he encountered the edge of her panties.

Caroline made an incoherent sound and covered his hand with her own, pushing it downward. Requiring no further invitation, Jason cupped her through the thin layer of silk. She was sweltering, and the fabric was damp with her desire. He could feel the contours of her folds through the insubstantial barrier, but it wasn’t enough.

Pulling away from her, he reared up on his knees and positioned himself between her legs. Caroline watched him through half-closed eyes as he drew her panties down over her hips. She helped him by drawing her legs up and kicking the filmy material free. And then, there she was, completely exposed to his gaze.

Jason thought he’d never seen anything as erotic or beautiful as the sight of Caroline Banks, spread naked across his bed with her knees bent. She stole his breath. Her feminine folds enticed him from beneath a narrow strip of curls.

“Oh, man,” he groaned. “You are so incredibly, amazingly perfect.” He cupped her with one hand. Her skin was like hot silk. When he parted her and slid a finger along her slick cleft, she cried out and arched against his hand.

“I need you,” she said, “inside me.”

He grew even harder at her words. “Soon, baby,” he promised. “There’s just something I have to do first.”

Pushing himself backward, he knelt on the floor by the edge of the bed and slid his hands beneath her buttocks. He devoured the sight of her, pink and plump and glistening with arousal, before trailing kisses along her inner thigh. She trembled beneath his touch. When he reached her core, he breathed in her scent and then pressed a kiss directly to her center. She bucked and cried out, and her hands clutched his head.