He had to grit his teeth before answering. The sweet taste of Renata’s mouth had haunted him since their first kiss.
Desire roared through his veins, an inferno, unchecked and blazing like a California wildfire. From the moment they’d met, Renata had captivated him in every way possible, her eyes, her smile, the move of her hand, an extra bounce in her behind. Now all he wanted to do was captivate her the way she had him. Take his time looking her luscious body over. Strut around to get her attention, touch her neck, her arm, her backside.
If he had been Catholic, he would have said at least a thousand “Hail Marys” by now. As it stood, he’d been on his knees more times than he could count, asking God to take away the image of Renata’s shapely figure that kept his mind active these days.
So, when she stood in the middle of his apartment and asked him about his bed, his need to be near her, closer than they’d been, to feel her heat through the night, fought with everything inside him that knew better, and won.
He pulled her to him, tilted her head up, took her mouth.
His imagination hadn’t done justice to his memory. Kissing Renata was unlike any kiss he could ever remember. So overwhelming, it made him crazy for more. Before he could get carried away, he pulled back gently.
“Devin!” Renata protested. “Why does one of us always pull away?”
“So we don’t get carried away.”
Renata sighed heavily. Her disappointment pained him. He couldn’t stand to see her unhappy.
He kissed her forehead. God, if I’m about to do wrong, please forgive me, but I think I love this woman. “Stay with me tonight.” The words came out in a whisper. He hadn’t meant them to. He could tell Renata liked the sound of the idea.
Her eyes darkened dangerously with passion. She drew her arms around his neck, stepped in closer.
He could smell her skin and feel the warmth of it. She pressed against him boldly, and oh so familiarly. He took a deep breath; she caught it with her lips, and he surrendered when her mouth possessed his.
He could not get her close enough. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling, pulling. He let his wonder of her, his fascination, take over his hands and roam over her, touching every inch.
His free will faded away and he struggled to recover it, but the moan escaping Renata’s lips became his undoing. He picked her up, swiftly, urgently, and carried her to his bedroom.
He didn’t turn on a light. Instead, he let the light from the living room be their only illumination and lay her on his bed. Her face was a beautiful combination of love, lust, and unrequited need. He meant to quench all three.
He undressed her first. Selfish, he knew, but he couldn’t wait another second to see what he’d been imagining for days and weeks.
When he removed the last article of clothing, he was not disappointed. He was surprised that his mind had not been effective at all in conjuring images of her magnificence. He’d been off, way off. There were no words to describe the brilliance of beauty that nearly blinded him.
He murmured a prayer of thanks to the Almighty for creating a woman so spectacular. Then he kissed her again.
Before she could pull him on top of her, he undressed and flung his clothes far into the corner of the room, as if they offended his flesh, as if he never wanted to see them again. He needed to rid himself of the last barrier between them.
Her eyes widened in anticipation, darkened even more with need and he knew exactly what he wanted to do with her, to her, for her.
“I’ll be right back,” he whispered and walked out of the room.
“Devin,” Renata said huskily, but it was too late. He was already gone a second, maybe two, and she missed him. As if half of her body had just left the room.
Maybe he’s gone to get condoms, she hoped.
When he returned, he had a pitcher of water and a cup in his hand.
“Devin, what—” she began and sat up.
“Lay back,” he ordered, in a voice so full of sexual longing she could do nothing but obey. She breathed harder, wondering what he was doing, knowing she was so close to making love with him she could smell their need in the air. She couldn’t contain herself any longer. She had waited too long.
“Devin, please…,” she said wanting his hands on her again, roaming, finding all the places she’d imagined him touching.
He stood over her with the pitcher and the cup. He was breathing hard, too, and she could see his excitement growing before her eyes.
“Renata, I’m not going to make love to you.”
“What!” she said, not believing what she just heard.
“Relax. I want to tell you something. I want you to feel what I feel.”
She did as he asked, but her disappointment was palpable. She wondered what had changed his mind. She stared into his eyes, but nothing had changed. The need on his face was as raw as it had been just a few seconds ago.
He began to pour water into the cup in a thin slow stream.
“I love you, Renata,” he said. “I’ve fantasized about us being together, touching, kissing, making love, every day since we met.”
His words fell over her like a gentle touch. She closed her eyes and let them sink in.
“I’ve imagined your body, Renata and all the places my lips would go. Tell me, Renata. Have you imagined mine?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes.” The place between her thighs throbbed urgently. She squeezed her legs together to allay the feeling.
“You think I don’t want you, haven’t wanted you. That I don’t think about you as you do me. But you’re wrong. I want you to know how much I want you, need you…love you.”
Renata gasped, and her eyes snapped open as a cool splash of liquid hit her belly.
The need in Devin’s eyes had grown even more intense. He did want her. He continued to pour. The sensation of water falling slowly on her body drove the sensual current of her longing deeper into her. She gasped again and muttered his name.
“Just like this cup, my love for you is overflowing, Renata. Do you hear me? What I feel for you is overflowing.”
Just then he placed the cup and pitcher on the nightstand and dropped to his knees. He lowered his head to her abdomen and his lips and tongue found all of the places on her body where the water had traveled.
The feeling was so exquisite she could only grab him, hold on, and whimper.
He followed the trail of wetness across her breasts, down to her navel, and down farther still, until she burst open and screamed his name.
She opened her eyes. Devin lay beside her smiling. He was still fully aroused and she resisted the deep urge to touch him where he was most sensitive.
He twirled a strand of her hair between his fingers. “I wanted you to see how much I want you.”
He reached down and pulled a sheet over them. Then he reached out and held her hand and stared at her so intensely she thought he was looking straight into her soul. “Do you still want to make love?” he asked.
The mere question from his lips sent a hot chill vibrating through her. She could only nod. If she opened her mouth, no telling what part of Devin’s body would end up kissed by it.
“Then let this connection bring us together tonight and we will.” He squeezed her hand tighter. “Sweet dreams,” he whispered.
Content to be near him in this way, Renata closed her eyes. In her sated state, she fell asleep quickly. Her dreams were filled with Devin. And in them they made love for…hours.
So as to not give an appearance of impropriety, Renata got up in the middle of the night and left Devin sleeping peacefully in his bed. She went home hoping that they’d shared a new beginning that would not end with the light of day.
The next day brought Renata a great Sunday morning surprise. Devin was at her front door, bright and smiling.
“Good day!” he said more cheerfully than she could ever remember. “I was hoping you were home.”
She opened the door wide. “Well, good day to you, too!”
He sounded good. He looked good. The blue suit he had on made him look professional and sexy at the same time. She decided to take a chance to find out whether he felt as good as he looked.
She stepped into his arms. Their embrace was magnetic—as though they’d been sealed together by an invisible force. And she was right.
He did feel good.
“This is serious, isn’t it?” she murmured nuzzling in, snuggling closer.
“Yes. If we don’t find out what really happened to that painting, my fellow parishioners are going to make sure that the police put Malcolm under the jail.”
She sighed. It was true. Although, when she’d asked about being serious, she hadn’t meant Malcolm.
Devin picked up on her meaning. He pulled away and bent down to look her in the eye.
“Yes, it is,” he said, his voice deep and silken. “It’s very serious.”
His lips kissed her chest through her blouse. The heat from his breath flowed through the cotton fabric, warming her skin. She shuddered.
He kissed her again and again. Delicately. Deliberately.
Deliciously.
Her shoulder. Her collar bone. The crook of her neck. The space behind her ear. The hollow of her cheek. Her eyelid.
By the time his lips touched hers, she was already melting into his body, already surrendering. This thing pulsing between them was no longer a harmless flirtation on her part. No longer a man retreating or a woman giving in to passion.
What they had together was a serious love affair. A serious dedication to each other.
A serious commitment.
She opened her eyes. He was already staring back. His dark topaz orbs were serious and playful at the same time.
His lips brushed warmly across hers. “Before I lose my mind, let’s go for a ride and talk about Malcolm.”
“I can’t go like this,” she said tugging at her casual clothes.
“Sure you can. Come on!”
He grabbed Renata’s wrist and her hand disappeared in his. When she got into Devin’s SUV, she was prepared to listen to any ideas he had about investigating the missing painting. Renata even had a couple of ideas of her own.
Devin spoke before she did. “Early this morning, I went back to the Smiths’ house. I’m sure you don’t want to hear why, but I’m going to say it anyway.” He turned on the engine and pulled into the street. “God led me back there.
“As my good blessing would have it, I had breakfast with Malcolm and the Smiths. Remarkable people. They are obviously getting on in years, but they were the most gracious, energetic, sincere hosts whose home I’ve ever had the pleasure of dining in. First, we all talked, broke bread, shared a laugh. After a short while, the couple went to sit on their front porch leaving me alone with Malcolm.
“After I assured him that I wasn’t there to turn him over to the police, we had a discussion—more like a meeting of the minds. And I realized something. Malcolm is not just like I was at that age. He’s smarter, wiser. It became very clear that all the anger that I was projecting onto him was coming from the resentment I have of myself for behaving like a fool in my youth. When the truth of that settled in my mind, I began to see Malcolm for the young man that he is and not the scoundrel that I used to be.
“That’s why, no matter what, I’m going to make sure that the painting is returned by whoever stole it.”
She turned to Devin then. So sure of himself, so calm. His resolve inspired her. Gave her confidence.
And the courage to say something that had been on her mind since last night.
“I love you, Devin.”
“Renata…I love you, too.”