her hip. “Like my suit?” she asked in a sultry voice, turning first one way and then another. He looked her over and his gray eyes held scalding desire.
“Fabulous,” he said in a deep voice.
“I bought it for you,” she replied.
“Come here, Em,” he said in a throaty rasp that strummed her nerves.
She hurried a few feet away from him and jumped in, surfacing with her head tilted back to get her hair out of her face. Hands closed on her waist.
“I like your suit,” he said, running his hands over her hips as they both treaded water. She drew a deep breath. His hands slipped lightly across her breasts, a faint touch, yet scalding. As she drew closer, her leg slid between his and she felt his arousal.
“I thought all this cold water would keep you cooled down.”
“Not when you look like that,” he said, staring at her mouth. She ran her hands over his broad shoulders, relishing the hard muscles. She wanted to touch him everywhere, needed bare skin against bare skin.
Jake’s mouth covered hers. Her awareness splintered among his kiss, the cold water swirling around her and his warm body against her, his leg between hers, pressing intimately. Holding her tightly with one arm around her waist, he let his other hand drift down her bare back over the tiny string that held her top in place. His kiss went deep, distracting her so that she was only dimly aware of his hands moving over her, tossing aside the top of her suit and then peeling away the bottom, his hand caressing the inside of her thigh. Sensations tangled, melting together, fueling fires already raging.
Her moan was both pleasure and need. His hands cupped her breasts, thumbs circling her nipples while she cried out in pleasure.
“Let’s get out of the pool,” he said gruffly, hoisting himself out and then leaning down to pull her into his arms.
His black suit molded to his amply endowed male body. She peeled it away to free him. Wanting him desperately, she ran her hands along his muscled thighs and then over his tight bottom. He kissed her and walked her backward, his legs against hers until her calves bumped a chaise longue.
He’d been gone a week, and she’d been alone. He was a passionate lover and she was eager for his powerful male body, his bone-melting kisses.
Jake cupped her breasts in his warm hands, dark against her pale skin.
“You’re beautiful! You have a gorgeous body.” He leaned down to take her nipple in his mouth, his tongue curling around it, stroking it. She clung to his broad shoulders and closed her eyes, moaning with pleasure. She ran her hands over him, needing to caress and stir him to frenzied heights the way he was doing to her so easily.
Jake picked her up and placed her on the chaise, sitting beside her and showering kisses over her breasts as his hands roamed freely over her.
Gasping and writhing with pleasure, she trailed her hands down over his chest, tangling in damp chest hair, then sliding to a washboard stomach. She heard him inhale deeply as he kissed her throat, trailing lower to kiss her breast. He teased her, nibbling and licking and then showering kisses across her stomach while his hand stroked the inside of her thighs.
With a cry of need, she turned him to rub her breasts against his back, wanting his hard, lean body against her. Tonight, passion carried more emotion than any time they had ever made love. Hope for their future and a knowledge that he wanted her both fueled her need for him. She ran her hand over his flat stomach to his thick hard erection and wrapped her hand around it.
He inhaled sharply and turned to kiss her hungrily. Then she was on her back again. Jake’s mouth and hands explored every inch of her until he buried his head between her thighs and teased with his tongue, a torment that fanned blazes.
She tangled her hands in his hair, spreading her legs and arching against him. Emily cried out with pleasure, wanting him inside her, wanting him more than ever before.
Tension built like a spring coiling tighter and tighter, sweeping her into a whirlwind. “Jake!” she cried out, raising her head to bite his shoulder. She dug her nails into his back, then scrambled around to take his thick rod in her mouth, running her tongue over the velvet tip.
Now his hands were tight fists in her hair while he licked her. His tongue toyed with her even as she teased him. With a groan, he flipped them so that she was on her back with Jake’s weight on her. He kissed her hard, pinning her to the chaise while she writhed beneath him.
He knelt and spread her legs, watching her, leaning down to enter her slowly. He filled her and paused, driving her wild with need, and then withdrew. She screamed his name and tugged at him, wrapping her long legs around his waist and pulling at his bottom as she arched up to meet him.
He thrust hard and fast. Her world spun, blurred. Sensations melted into one driving force, all consuming as she rose toward the brink. The tension became unbearably exquisite.
His control vanished and he plunged fast, sending her over the edge. Ecstasy burst in bright lights behind her closed eyelids and her pulse drummed in her ears. Dimly she felt him shudder as he pumped his release in her. She clung tightly to his virile body, rocking with him.
Their ragged breathing became quiet. Sated, they held each other tightly. She hoped a baby would come from their lovemaking. Emily rubbed her temple against his warm shoulder. Tonight she had hope and, for the first time, a sense that Jake wanted her. She marveled at these new discoveries, relishing them like newfound treasure. Their marriage might indeed blossom into love.
When he turned them on their sides, she was still enveloped in his embrace. He stroked her back and brushed tendrils of hair from her face. “You’re fantastic, Em.”
“You stole my line. What a lover you are, Jake. And tonight was so very special. I can’t tell you how happy you’ve made me and how much hope for our future I have now.”
He held her close, his voice a deep rumble. “Good. That makes me happy, too. This is what we needed, Em. A clearer understanding. I want you as my wife. You’re important to me.”
“Jake.” She sighed with pleasure and turned her head to kiss him. A long scalding kiss that made him groan.
She lay her head against his chest. “Jake, this is the best night of our marriage.”
“I quite agree,” he said. “You have a fantastic body. You keep it hidden beneath those clothes you wear.”
“I’m sure you would’ve enjoyed having a secretary who wore skintight revealing clothes.”
“Yes, I might have. Particularly if she was as efficient and competent as you.”
“Thank you,” she said, pleased by the compliment.
“See, I told you that love will bloom,” he said with satisfaction. “I think it’s pretty damn good between us right now,” he added, smiling at her.
“Tonight has been special. I’ll remember it all my life. And I hope you’re right about love for both of us.” She stroked his chest. “Have you ever really been in love?”
“No,” he said, his smoky eyes hiding his true thoughts. “Not really. I’ve had relationships and some were longer than others and better than others, but I’ve never been deeply in love. I’ve never felt fireworks, never wanted any woman with me for the rest of my life.”
For just a moment she was quiet as she thought about that description and wished that someday she would fill it.
“You’re marvelous, Em, and our marriage is good—we’ll come to love each other.”
“You think that because you always expect to get what you want,” she reminded him as she traced his jaw with her fingers, feeling the tiny stubble of a beard. Her hand slipped lower, along the strong column of his neck and across one broad shoulder. “Fireworks don’t come with familiarity, Jake. Fireworks and a racing heart come from love at first sight. Never with convenience.”