Silence hung in the air behind her.
“Don’t sound so eager,” he drawled, but a moment later she heard movement. “Let’s have some privacy, shall we?”
Tension rattled inside her as the suite flooded in darkness, leaving only a faint glow from the city lights beyond the glass. She still didn’t turn around. She needed to focus on those city lights, to remember she was here for a purpose.
“Will you respect me in the morning, Jarrod?” She heard herself mutter the cliché, but needed to say it all the same.
“Yes,” he said quietly, close behind her, so close his breath stirred strands of her hair. “But will you respect you in the morning?”
She thought about that, surprised by his astuteness. His question had dispelled any hint she was selling herself, and she was grateful to him for that. “Yes,” she murmured.
And then his hands cupped her bare shoulders, the thin straps of her dress were little protection against him. “I’ll make this special for you, Briana.”
She could see his reflection as if they were standing in front of a mirror, the gleam in his eyes seeming to pierce the glass to reach her, seeming to suspend them in time.
Her throat thickened. “I know.”
All at once he slid his hand under her golden-blond hair, held it up as if loving the feel of it, then letting it fall like sparkling champagne over her shoulders.
“You’re stunning,” he murmured, admiration in his voice as he pushed some strands aside to kiss her nape in a gesture that was simply and deliciously sensuous. “A natural beauty.”
For a split second she tried to stay in control…tried but soon weakened when his kisses continued to caress her skin. She lowered her lashes, silently shocked at how easy she was succumbing to his touch.
Yet it wasn’t just this moment between them. Jarrod was right about there having always been an attraction between them. And that attraction had been unrelenting in its pursuit of them. Tonight, right now, was the culmination of it all.
She couldn’t help herself. She tilted her head to the side to allow him easier access—and she gave in. There was no going back now. Nor did she want to. She wanted to be in his arms.
Slowly he undid the zipper at the back of her dress, his lips whispers of sensation as they followed the lowering zipper, making their way down her spine, kissing her where no man had ever kissed before. It was a seduction of the senses that made her head spin.
At the base of her spine he let go of the zipper, and her dress plummeted to the floor and pooled around her ankles. She held her breath, frozen in this instant, watching in the glass as he straightened behind her, all the while admiring her lacy black bra, matching high-cut panties and thigh-high silk stockings.
“My very own model.” His hands splayed over her hips as he moved closer, letting her feel his arousal.
A moan escaped her but she managed to say, “Supermodel,” and was proud of herself for still having some sort of fight left in her.
He gave a husky chuckle, then lowered his head. He placed his lips against her shoulder and began to nibble at even more pleasure points she never knew she had. When his hands slid around to capture her lace-covered breasts and his fingers lightly squeezed her nipples with the sweetest torment, she moaned with wanting him.
“Too much?” he muttered.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom, spreading her across the thick bedspread as if she were a pleasure to be savored. She lay there in the lamplight and stared up at him. His eyes glittered as he took in her half-naked state, her breasts eagerly straining against the lace, the V-shape of her high-cut panties a sensual delight.
His gaze soaked her up, then landed on her face. “Do you realize I’ve never kissed you?” he muttered roughly, his eyes focusing on her mouth.
She inadvertently moistened her lips. “Same here.”
Neither of them smiled. The moment was too intense.
He pulled the T-shirt over his head, his chest bronzed and sprinkled with hair. He kicked off his shoes and slid onto the bed next to her. And then he claimed her mouth in a kiss that was so passionate it made her head spin. This first touch of his firm lips against her softer ones was more than she had ever expected, more than she’d ever wanted from a man—until now.
And then his tongue parted her lips and stole into her mouth, stole the breath from her, demanding she give him everything of herself. When she capitulated, his groan of appreciation sent a thrill through her as she clung to him like there was no tomorrow.
Right now there was no tomorrow. There was only him and her, and the wonderful sensations he was stirring inside her. He undid her bra and eased back, the lace falling away, and she quivered when his fingertips brushed her bare breasts.
“Aah, something else that needs kissing,” he murmured as he lowered his head and took a nipple in his mouth, playing with it with his tongue, then sucking in the sweetest of tortures.
Needing to touch him, to be a partner in this, her hands cupped the back of his head and held him to her. She loved spreading her fingers through the short hair, loved it even better when she slipped her hands down to his sculpted shoulders, then the length of his back to the waistband of his trousers.
He shuddered and muttered low in his throat, “You’re distracting me.” Then he took a deep breath and got to his knees beside her. “Now, what else needs my attention?” he teased, though his eyes were dark with desire as his palm glided down over her stomach, farther down where he dallied and stroked her through her panties, until heat washed over her and made her limbs tremble.
And then his gaze dropped to those trembling limbs, covered by the sheer silk stockings. “I love these things on you,” he rasped, slipping his finger under the band of one stocking, and ever so slowly peeling it down her smooth leg. His lips followed the trail until she breathed his name through parted lips.
He repeated the process with the other leg, and when she breathed his name again, his lips trailed back up to her thighs, up the center of her panties where he paused to inhale her.
He turned his head and looked up at her. “Are you sure?”
Tender warmth entered her heart. He was giving her another chance to back out, another chance to say no to all this. As if she could now.
“Yes, I’m sure,” she said on a whisper, and that was all the encouragement he needed.
He rolled off the bed and shed the rest of his clothes, and he was suddenly, magnificently, naked. She stared at his unashamed erection, the hardness of him, the powerful male perfection, and she knew that she had to have him inside her. She put out her hand to reach for him, then stopped.
Instead, she lifted her bottom off the bed, pushing her panties down and off herself. Her eyes connected with his as she held them in the air with one finger before dropping them on the floor like a flag of surrender. It was a surrender she willingly made tonight. There was no tomorrow after all.
Something smoldered in the depths of his eyes, and a pulse leaped along his jaw, making her hold her breath. A moment later, he didn’t say a word as he reached for the condom from the bedside table and sheathed himself, before coming back to her, kissing her deeply, the full length of his body pressing her down against the mattress.
She kissed him back, loving the feel of his hair-roughened chest against her own tender breasts, the heat of his arousal as he melded into her femininity, filling her completely. She felt like she had never made love before. Not like this.
And then he stopped kissing her, and his eyes captured