Dell realized he should have expected this, should have known from the moment he met her that they would end up here.
His resistance to this inevitability had been futile and foolish. What sane man would turn away from such passion? He had been stupid to fight it. With every breath he possessed, every second he lived, he wanted her. So badly, he was desperate to prolong it as long as possible.
Having her stunning body in his arms, the tantalizing taste of her skin on his tongue, the scent of her in his nostrils, was as close to perfection as he was ever likely to get. He slid his hands beneath her shoulder blades and buried his face between her breasts, inhaling deeply.
She bowed her back and fisted her hands in his hair.
He knew what she wanted, and he had every intention of giving it to her, but only if he could savor every moment. Because even though he had her in his bed, he would never be fooled into believing she was anything but desperately out of his reach. He was not going to take a single second of this for granted.
Shifting his head, he suckled her other breast, drawing the peak harshly into his mouth, triumphing in the sound of her swift gasp. He flicked his tongue over her pebbled nipple before drawing it deep.
Her low moan flowed through him like molten honey.
He had never known anyone with such a deep and natural sensuality. Had never held a woman so intent upon the experience of lovemaking. She was impulsive, passionate, and demanding.
She fired him up to a savage heat, but he resisted the temptation to give in to her urging. He was determined to go slow with her, explore every inch, soak in every response. His cock ached with need, but Dell gritted his teeth and slid lower along her body. He pressed soft kisses around the curves of her ribs and down the center of her abdomen while her slim hands gripped his shoulders, her fingers curling tightly into his muscles.
He thought he heard his name escape on a harsh sigh, but he couldn’t be sure. Her petite form made subtle twisting, rolling motions beneath his mouth and hands. He doubted she was even aware she was doing it, but it was effective in pushing his control to the limit.
He could take a little more. But first, he needed a taste of her.
Continuing lower, he hooked his arms under her knees, spreading her thighs around his shoulders. Then he grasped her perfect rear in his hands as he lifted her to his mouth.
She jolted and gasped. Her legs squeezed around him.
Dell looked up the length of her sprawled body as he gave a long lick of his tongue along her heated female flesh. A heady moan slid from her throat, and her eyes flew open to meet his.
“Bloody hell,” she whispered, her voice sultry with shock and desire.
Dell chuckled at her reaction and flicked his tongue teasingly against her swollen bud.
Her lashes fluttered and her head fell back while her body tensed in a sensual curve.
He flicked his tongue again then swirled it in soothing circles over her folds. The way she moaned was intensely erotic and triggered a sharp tightening in his loins, but he was not nearly finished with his exploration.
He continued to enjoy her with his mouth. Gently suckling and nipping at her flesh. Easing his tongue along every fold and secret valley until she softened against his mouth. Yet even then, he did not retreat. He covered her clitoris with his mouth, laving it with his tongue as he eased one finger into her slick passage.
Her entire body tensed. On a gasp, she reached out to grasp his head in her hands.
“Dell?”
The sound of his name in her breathy, sultry voice sent shockwaves of pleasure through his body.
He had reached his limit.
Rising up over her again, he settled heavily between her thighs. Then he took her mouth in a lush, erotic kiss as he rocked his erection against her core. She gasped and moaned into his mouth. Her fingers fisted urgently in his hair.
With a muttered curse, he leaned to the side just enough to reach down and release his breeches. He made short work of shoving them down his legs before settling over her once again. He was helpless against the groan of pure pleasure that rolled from his throat when he felt the slick heat of her flesh caress his hard length. He rocked his hips once, twice, sliding his erection along her opening.
Propping himself on one elbow, he reached between their bodies to position himself. Then he pressed forward.
Her passage was tight and resistant.
Dell gritted his teeth.
Her body squeezed his with such luscious heat, he wondered how he would manage a minute more of the intense pleasure rising within him. She was going to draw a climax from him in the first long thrust. He could not allow that to happen.
He stopped the progress of his possession and held himself where he was. Sweat rolled down his temples and along his spine. Dropping his head, he allowed his forehead to rest against hers. He kept his eyes tightly closed as he tried to distract his thoughts away from the million licks of pleasure running rampant through his body.
After a couple of seconds, she shifted beneath him, moving her hips in a way that allowed him to sink a tiny bit deeper.
Dell tensed against the urge to plunge to full depth and claim the release that was so readily available.
Instead, he lifted his head again to look into her face, needing to see what she was feeling, hoping the experience was at least half as pleasurable for her as it was for him.
His chest seized at the sight she made.
Her eyes shone bright silver. Her sable hair was a tangled mess beneath her, and a fine sheen of sweat coated her flushed skin. And her lips, so lush and swollen from his kisses, were parted for the passage of her rapid breath.
Dell could not resist those lips.
He lowered his mouth to hers and slid his tongue past her teeth as he rolled his hips, pressing further, going deeper. The way was slow and so damn intense he nearly missed noticing the barrier he encountered deep within her. But when he did, he jolted in surprise and lifted his head to stare at her in harsh accusation.
Burning lust was a demanding presence through his blood, but this revelation managed to hold it at bay. He realized his massive error. Somewhere along the way, he had convinced himself that with her bold manner and passionate nature, she could not possibly be the innocent he had first believed her to be. It was the only way he had allowed himself to go this far.
“You are a virgin,” he muttered roughly.
She slid her hands over his shoulders in an impatient caress as she undulated beneath him, silently urging him to continue. When he did not, she opened her eyes to meet his tense gaze.
“You are a virgin,” he repeated. His voice was steadier this time.
There was a flicker of awareness in her eyes, and her brow creased with confusion. “I am, though I expect very soon not to be. Does that matter?”
“Of course it matters.”
How could it not matter? Anger at her recklessness started to snake through the lustful haze in his brain. “Do you have any idea what we are doing right now?”
Her frown deepened. “Of course I do,” she retorted, and her voice was strained. “Do you? Because right now you don’t seem to be doing much of anything.”
Dell said nothing, just stared down at her as he tried to keep his hardened flesh from pulsing within her body.
As he watched, her expression changed from defensive and irritated to something else. Something that made his gut clench. She suddenly looked vulnerable in a way he had never witnessed in her before. Her eyes swept closed for a moment before opening again. She licked her lips before she spoke.
“Please, Dell.” Her voice had lowered to a soft murmur. “You cannot leave me now. I could not bear it. You must know how badly I want this. How badly I have wanted you. This has been everything I dreamed it could be, but”—she paused, and her gaze slid to the side as a blush rose on her cheeks—“there must be more. My body aches for more. Inside…I feel a craving that is overwhelming and urgent and beautiful. I am certain I will go mad if you do not continue. You said I was not alone. Do not leave me now.”
Her tone grew harsh by the end, and her hands gripped painfully at his biceps as though she would try to hold him to her by any means possible.
A nobler man would retreat, leave the last vestige of her innocence unbreached.
But no one had ever accused Dell of being noble. Though a part of him might wish he could be that man, it just wasn’t possible when her urgent plea rippled through him like wildfire. Heating his blood, firing his loins.
He withdrew from her sheath in a slow glide.
Her fingernails dug into his skin, and she tensed beneath him while a strangled sob caught in her throat.
Then Dell pushed forward into her heat, but no farther than he had been before. Her gasp of relief and pleasure filled his awareness.
He withdrew again, in the same slow, torturous slide. Then another careful thrust forward.
He had never taken a virgin before. He knew it was a painful experience for women, but he hoped he might ease the experience if he could overwhelm her with pleasure before the inevitable shock of pain.
He made several more languid thrusts, patiently getting her body accustomed to the invasion of his. At the same time, he kissed her with all of the skill he possessed.
His body shook with his efforts as he reaped the benefits of the prolonged yet limited thrusts into her heat. Leaning to one side, he reached down between them and found her clitoris with his middle finger. Circling her flesh in time to his thrusts, he finally felt her stiffening beneath him as her breath became stilted and fast.
Then all of a sudden, her inner flesh fluttered in deep spasms. At the same time, her body bowed and a moan caught hard in her throat as her climax stole her breath.
With a harsh grunt, Del braced himself over her and plunged hard into her body, breaking through the thin membrane and seating himself fully. She cried out his name, nails raking down his back.
That was all it took.
His release came hard and fast, wiping away all further thought, all sense of self and separation from the woman with whom he was joined. The pleasure drowned him in a welcome wave, completely sapping his strength, while filling him with a pervading sense of contentment unlike anything he’d ever experienced.