The effect of his hand on hers again made her pulse jump. ‘And what? You don’t trust me?’ she joked, hoping to inject a little lightness to ease the thick tension filling the room.
His hand trailed up her arm to slide around her nape. Tilting her head, he looked deep into her eyes. ‘Trust doesn’t come easy to me, but I’ve trusted you with more tonight than I have anyone in a long time, Jasmine.’
Her breath squeezed through the lump clogging her throat.
‘Why?’
He shrugged. ‘Perhaps I’m learning to trust my instincts again. Perhaps because you’re the only one who didn’t enjoy Mendez’s antics earlier.’ He smiled again.
Despite his attempt at a joke, Jasmine remained fiercely glad of her decision not to give in to Joaquin’s threat; she blinked back hot tears and smiled. ‘You have no idea how much that means to me.’
The lightness evaporated. He stepped closer, an almost desperate hunger screaming from his body. ‘I still want you, Jasmine. Very badly.’
Throwing caution to the wind shouldn’t have come so easily, shouldn’t have felt so freeing. Because she’d learned very early that everything came at a cost.
But she replied, ‘Take me,’ before she registered the enormity of the plunge she was taking.
The sensation of luxurious covers beneath her back was the first inkling that they’d left his study. The equally luxurious feel of him as he lowered himself on top of her confirmed that thought.
Crushed by his delicious weight, she couldn’t mistake the imprint of his impressive arousal pushing against her. Hot sensation pierced her, settling low in her belly as he deepened the kiss. His tongue delved into her mouth, commencing a bold exploration that left her reeling and struggling to hold on to the last of her sanity.
His hands slid down her sides, creating a path of heat wherever he touched. Locating her side zip, he eased it down.
At the touch of fingers on her skin, Jasmine gasped.
He raised his head, his dark grey eyes spiking into hers. ‘Your skin is so soft, so silky,’ he murmured huskily.
‘Thank you,’ she responded, then cringed, feeling suddenly gauche and awkward. The first time she’d done this, it had ended badly. Beyond badly. The second time had been worse. What if third time wasn’t lucky...?
She lost her train of thought as he gripped her hip. His heat penetrated the silk material to her skin, fanning the flame already building inside her. Wanting to experience even more of his warmth, she raised her head and traced his mouth with her tongue.
Her action drew a gasp from him, his eyes darkening even further as heat scoured over his taut cheekbones. ‘I hope you’ll forgive me,’ he murmured distractedly as he nuzzled her jaw, planting feverish kisses that caused her heart to pound harder.
‘What for?’ she managed to squeeze out.
He settled firmer against her. ‘It’s been a while for me. I will want to take my time.’
A wave of heat engulfed her face. ‘Oh. Yes...well, it’s been a while for me, too.’
A look crossed his face, almost of relief. Jasmine’s heart swelled, her hand finally unclasping itself from his neck to caress his cheek. He planted an open-mouthed kiss in her palm. That intimate caress drew another gasp from her. Pleased by her reaction, he traced his mouth over her wrist, down her arm to the curve of her elbow, and licked the pulse.
Fire erupted in her pelvis so fierce and sweet, she moaned.
Galvanised by her response, he levered himself off her and stood beside the bed.
Jasmine had never imagined watching a man undress would trigger anything but embarrassment. But watching Reyes shed his clothes became another heady experience. Enthralled, she watched him ease his tuxedo jacket off his broad shoulders before releasing the studs of his shirt. Her mouth watered as his deeply bronzed chest was revealed. Her fingers itched to touch, to explore. Curling them into the covers, she held still and adored his beauty with her eyes.
‘The look in your eyes threatens to unman me, querida,’ he rasped. His fingers went to the button on his trousers.
Embarrassed that she’d done something wrong, Jasmine started to look away.
‘No. Don’t look away,’ he commanded.
Her eyes flew to his. ‘But you said—’
‘Sí, I know, but I hate the thought of being deprived of your attention.’ With an impatient shove, he kicked the rest of his clothes away and stood before her, gloriously, powerfully naked.
Jasmine silently thanked him for giving her permission to look. Because she couldn’t have looked away now if her life depended on it.
He was spectacular! He stepped closer and she watched, fascinated, as the clearly delineated muscles moved beneath his skin.
Her stomach clenched with renewed arousal when he reclined next to her. ‘I want you naked.’
She wanted to find fault with his imperious tone, but Jasmine would’ve been a hypocrite if she didn’t acknowledge that every word that fell from his lips only further increased her excitement. Lending action to his words, he brushed aside her hair, slid one hand under her dress’s thin strap and eased it off her shoulder.
He feasted his eyes on her, scouring every inch of her breasts as if committing them to memory. With a firm tug on her bra, he bared one nipple, a guttural groan rumbling from his chest as he lowered his head and sucked her flesh into his mouth. He teased, he tormented. His fingers traced, paused over a scar on her shoulder, a remnant from her shady past.
She held her breath, her fingers convulsed in his hair, holding him to his task even as she tensed in anticipation of a query. His touch moved on. When he turned his attention to her other breast, Jasmine whimpered in delight and relief.
Dazed, she felt him tug her dress off. Her panties and bra followed, discarded by urgent hands that caressed her skin with masterful strokes.
Wet heat pooled between her legs, a fact Reyes’s exploratory fingers didn’t miss when one possessive hand cupped her feminine core.
Raising his head from her tight, wet nipple, he speared her with a fiery gaze. ‘Maybe I won’t go slow after all. I have to have you now,’ he rasped.
The next few seconds whizzed by in a blur, the sound of the condom wrapper tearing open barely impinging on her heated senses. He gathered her to him before she could draw breath. Placing himself between her thighs, he speared his hands in her hair and angled her face to his.
Eyes the colour of gunmetal held her prisoner.
He thrust inside her fast, hard, then immediately set a blistering pace that stripped her of every thought.
Their coupling was furious. Heady in ways she’d never dreamed sex could be. She screamed as the first, fierce climax hit her. He kissed away her shocked cries, almost greedy in his possession of her mouth, then slowed his pace just long enough for her spasms to ease.
Then he surged to his knees, placed her in front of him and entered her from behind. Guttural, indecipherable Spanish words spilled from him as he thrust over and over inside her, one strong arm clamped around her waist. Her throat clogged with emotion, her heart pounding wildly in her chest as tears gathered in her eyes at the magic she hadn’t come looking for, but had miraculously found.
Reaching up behind her, she clasped his nape, turned her head and met his lips with hers. They stayed like that, their sweat-slicked bodies rocking back and forth until he tensed, a harsh groan rumbling through his chest, followed by convulsions that triggered her second, deeper orgasm.
His arm remained locked around her as he eased them back