‘Yes, you are. And I’m sorry for lashing out just now...you didn’t deserve that.’
His apology struck at the heart of her. ‘That’s okay...’
He put his hands on her hips and pulled her towards him so that she lay back on the couch. She whispered through her erratic heartbeat. ‘What are you doing?’
He smiled, but it was the smile of the devil. Dark and decadent. Sexy. ‘Something I’ve wanted to do from the moment I saw you in this dress.’
He leant forward, putting delicious pressure on her between her legs, and slowly but methodically pushed her hands out of the way so that he could pull apart the neckline of her dress, all too easily. Lia remembered his look in the shop, and instead of feeling self-conscious, something scarily exultant moved through her.
Her delicate underwired blue lace bra opened very conveniently from the front. Ben undid the catch and pushed the lace material aside. He cupped one full breast with his hand, making it pout upwards. Lia’s breath stalled as shards of pleasure raced through her body. Excitement fizzed in her veins. And then Ben bent his head and tongued her nipple, bringing it to tingling hardness before he sucked it into his mouth.
Lia had a moment of sheer disbelief that this man could possibly want her this much before sensations she’d never felt before swamped her and removed her ability to think. Without even registering the movement, she found her hands were in Ben’s hair and she was clutching him to her breast. Eyes shut, heart pounding...
He was reaching right down inside her and unlocking the door to all the insecurities she’d buried deep. And she couldn’t stop him. Because the pleasure was eclipsing any fear she might be feeling—if she was even capable of being rational right now.
When Ben finally lifted his head from her tender flesh she opened her eyes, and it took her a second to focus and realise that she held his head in a death grip.
She let go immediately, horrified. But Ben just smiled. He lifted a hand and brushed some hair back off her cheek in a surprisingly tender move, even as she felt the hard length of his erection near the apex of her legs. She was aware that if she moved slightly it would create the friction she suddenly needed.
Who was she? What had she become?
‘You look deliciously...undone.’
Ben’s voice was gravelly. Lia looked at him, feeling twin desires: to move and pull her dress around her again, and also just to lie there and offer herself up to him.
He started to press kisses down her torso, his hands reaching around and finding where the dress was tied, undoing it easily, the silk like water in his hands. Soon he had her dress pushed apart completely, and he looked down at her blue lace panties.
Immediately Lia had a memory of her ex-fiancé, recoiling in horror when he’d first seen that she didn’t shave all over, and she tried to sit up awkwardly, putting a hand down to cover herself.
Ben caught her, though, stopping her hand with his, looking at her. ‘What is it?’
Now she felt horribly rational, and exposed and sane. Her ex-fiancé wasn’t remotely in the same league as Ben, and if he had found that part of her a turn-off...
She looked away. ‘I’m not...’ She forced herself to look at him. ‘I’m probably not like your usual lovers...’
Ben looked down between her legs and then back up, incredulous. ‘Because you don’t shave?’
Lia gulped. God, this was excruciating. She nodded. His face flushed and he took her hand and brought it down until he could place it over the bulge between his legs. The very hard bulge. Now she flushed.
‘Sweetheart,’ he growled, ‘when I make love to a woman I like to know she’s a woman. And right now I need to taste you, more than I’ve ever wanted to do anything else. Will you let me taste you?’
Something scarily exultant ripped through Lia. He wasn’t turned off. He wanted to taste her. Did that mean he wanted to do what she’d seen Simon doing to his secretary when she’d walked in on them that day? The thought sent her mind reeling. It had looked so decadent to her at the time. And she’d never got over the jealousy that he’d been moved to do that to this lover, not to her... And now this man was asking her—
Before she could lose her nerve, Lia said huskily, ‘Okay.’
Ben reached for the sides of her panties, expertly pulling them down and dropping them near her feet. She was bared completely now, the silk of the dress falling away as he pushed her thighs apart even more.
Lia closed her eyes and bit into her fist as Ben’s head dropped and she felt his mouth on her soft inner thigh, pressing kisses and nipping at her skin gently. She was in danger of hyperventilating again, especially when his mouth moved higher, closer to the apex of her legs.
She didn’t think he could spread her any wider but then he did, his big hands high on her thighs.
As if reading her mind, he commanded, ‘Look at me.’
Reluctantly she opened her eyes. Ben had taken off his shirt and his chest was bare and massive. She couldn’t breathe as he bent forward and pressed his mouth to her, his tongue hot and wet as he dragged it up the secret folds of her body.
Lia’s breath returned and she hitched in big gulps as that dark head bobbed and moved between her legs. His hands looked massive on her pale skin.
Ben looked up, ‘Touch your breast.’
Feeling dizzy, even though she was all but lying down, Lia brought a hand to her breast, trapping a nipple between her fingers.
‘Now, squeeze...’ Ben instructed softly.
She did, and gasped as an arrow of pleasure went straight to her groin. Ben smiled and it was wicked as he bent his head again and tortured her with his mouth and tongue.
When he pushed a finger deep into the heart of her she arched her back off the couch, and then it became two fingers, thrusting in and out as his mouth and tongue lapped at her with fierce intensity.
Lia couldn’t hold on. The coil of tension inside her snapped and she cried out as pleasure exploded her into tiny pieces. Waves of after-shocks rocked through her body for long moments, and she only became aware of her surroundings again when she could open her eyes and blink to focus, realising that Ben had lapped all that pleasure from her body and was now pressing lazy kisses to her inner thighs.
She felt undone. Turned inside out. Totally exposed but too spent to do anything about it. She realised that she was still squeezing her breast, almost painfully, and let go.
WHEN BEN FINALLY straightened up, tearing himself away from Lia’s intoxicating taste and scent he was not prepared for the glorious sight of her looking so shocked. Her hair was a dark cloud around her head. The blue silk dress was crumpled beside those lush curves.
The realisation that she looked so stunned stopped him from automatically moving his hands to his belt to seek his own relief. He ignored the insistent ache in his pants and rested his hands on her knees. ‘Are you okay?’
After a moment her eyes seemed to clear and she nodded. But he noticed that she reached for her dress with visibly shaking hands, pulling it over her as much as she could. The heat in Ben’s blood cooled a little and he moved back so that she could pull her dress down, concealing that glorious body from view.
‘What is it, Lia?’
She looked at him for a moment, almost accusingly, but he just looked right back. Making a little huffing sound, Lia scooted back on the couch until she was sitting upright. She bit her lip, but then eventually said, ‘One day I walked into my ex-fiancé’s office and found him with his