Mixed Messages. Linda Lael Miller

way down her belly and wrung a raw gasp from her throat when he took her boldly into his mouth. He gripped Carly’s ankles firmly, parting her legs until she was totally vulnerable to him.

      A fine sheen of perspiration covered her body as he attended her, and her hair clung, moist, to her forehead and her cheeks. She writhed and twisted, murmuring nonsense words, while Mark drove her toward sweet damnation.

      She cried out at the fiery tumult shuddering through her body, surrendered shamelessly to the searing pleasure. And when it was over, tears of confusion and relief trickled down her cheek.

      Gently Mark released her ankles so that she could lower her legs. He closed her robe and kissed her damp brow softly.

      “Oh, God,” Carly whispered, as shame flowed into her, like water rushing into a tide pool.

      Mark traced her lips with the tip of one finger, and considered her with kind eyes. “Chemistry,” he said, and then, to Carly’s utter amazement, he turned away.

      She scooted off the counter and stood for several moments, waiting for her knees to stabilize. Mark had already reached the door, and his hand was resting on the knob.

      Carly cinched the belt of her bathrobe tightly. She couldn’t believe it. This man had aroused her thoroughly, had subjected her to a scorching climax—and now he was leaving. “Where are you going?”

      The insolent brown eyes caressed her as he opened the door. “Home.”

      “But…”

      There was a touch of sadness to his smile. “Yes,” he said, answering her unspoken question, “I want you. But we’re going to wait.”

      Carly was finally able to move. She stumbled a few steps toward him, filled with resentment because he’d made her need him so desperately and then dismissed her. “You would have been the first,” she taunted him, her voice barely above a whisper.

      His eyes slid over her slender body, which was still quivering with outrage and violent appeasement. “I’ll be the first,” he assured her, “and the last.”

      And then he was gone.