‘It’s a risk I’m willing to take.’
‘Comfortable?’ he asked as he cleverly insinuated his body under hers.
‘Not really the word I’d use,’ she gasped, finding herself sitting astride him. His back was against the arm of the sofa and they were eye to eye.
Then she wasn’t using any words at all because he was guiding her nipple into his mouth. The slow, sumptuous friction of his tongue and lips was agonisingly arousing.
Rachel gave a deep moan and her body jerked violently before sagging against him. One of his hands rested in the small of her back and the other sank into her hair. The sweeping motion as his fingers sank into the luxuriant growth pulled her head backwards, leaving her neck sinews taut. His mouth moved upwards to the irresistible temptation of the graceful curve, leaving a trail of burning kisses. The warm scent rising from his skin made her body ache almost as much as his expert touch. Expert.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, picking up on her sudden mental withdrawal almost instantaneously. His breath was hot against her cheek as his tongue moved in lazy, teasing circles over the ultra-sensitive skin beside her ear.
Chin resting against his shoulder, her body leaning bonelessly against him, she slid her arms tightly around his middle, pulling tightly as if the contact would ease the sudden flurry of insecurities.
‘I’m not exactly experienced…I haven’t done this for…’ Before she hadn’t really been a participant at all. Her contribution had been compliance. Ben wanted more than that. What if she disappointed him? ‘My body isn’t perfect…I’ve had a child.’
‘Do you think I’m asking for perfection?’ He sounded angry and when he forced her chin up he looked it, too. His dark eyes were filled with a resentment she didn’t quite understand. ‘Do you think making love can be rated on a scale of one to ten? There hasn’t been a measurement invented that can accurately describe the way it feels to touch your skin.’
‘Try,’ she said, intoxicated and immensely relieved by the sincerity of his words. ‘Try and tell me?’
‘It’s easier if I show you.’ He firmly guided her hand downwards to the painfully congested area between his thighs. His response to her light touch made her gasp and smile with greedy, erotic satisfaction. Lips parted slightly, she lifted her passion-glazed gaze to his face.
‘This thing limits our options.’ He banged his head against the upholstered arm before sliding dramatically downwards and pulling her with him. ‘It’s either you up there and me down here, or me up here—’ her soft shriek was smothered by the erotic imprint of his marauding mouth ‘—and you down there. The choice is yours.’
‘I’m easy.’
Deep laughter vibrated in his chest. ‘Would that were true. What are you…?’ He inclined his head to see her drag his already loosened trousers and his shorts over his hips. She felt the hot, hard tip of his arousal nudge against her belly and fought hard to retain control. The gap between consciousness and dark oblivion was dangerously close.
‘I’m showing initiative,’ she said, lifting her head just close enough for the tip of her tongue to lap back and forward over the dark stud of one male nipple. She reached up and pulled his shirt, which flapped around them, a couple of inches down over the flexed muscles of his shoulders. The fabric didn’t give and the constriction caused him to collapse down on his elbows.
‘I’ll squash you,’ he warned hoarsely.
‘I like being squashed by you,’ she reassured him. She hooked her legs up and around his waist, locking her ankles firmly over his back.
‘Rachel!’ he rumbled in warning, the contorted expression on his face reflecting the strain he was under. He slid between her thighs because there was nowhere else for him to go. ‘I can’t move.’
‘You can. You can move exactly where I want you to go.’
‘I’ve never made love with my shoes on. My clothes.’
‘Don’t worry, we can work around them.’ Only one thing could satisfy her now.
‘Work around!’ A hoarse laugh emerged from his dry throat. ‘You’re a very bad girl, Rachel,’ he said thickly. ‘You mean I’m on top, but you’re in charge?’
‘Now you come to mention it…’ The air was expelled from her lungs in one long sigh as he slid firmly into her body. All thoughts of domination and control vanished at the precise moment her body expanded to accommodate his pulsing masculinity.
‘You’re—’ She gasped, sliding her arms beneath his shirt to grip the slick, warm flesh of his back.