“As reluctant as you are to admit it, Phoebe, we both know I excite you.” He stepped forward until he was inches away. Instantly, her body hummed with a familiar tingling tension. “We both know how your body responds to me every time I touch you.”
He reached out to catch her chin in his fingers and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. Unable to help herself, a tremor shook its way through her. A wicked smile tilted his lips upward at her response. Aware of the precarious position she was in, Phoebe tried to take a step back, only for her calves to bump into the edge of the couch. The movement threw her off balance, and she lurched to one side before she fell forward into his chest.
“See,” he murmured seductively as his hands wrapped firmly around her upper arms and tugged her closer. “Your body betrays you.”
Her heart skipped a beat then began to race at a frantic pace. Something sinful and mesmerizing wove its way through his voice. It sent a shiver of fear and excitement down her spine. Senses heightened to a high pitch of awareness, she sucked in a sharp breath at the fire she saw in his gaze. All he had to do was look at her like this to drag her to the edge of the abyss. If she didn’t end this madness now, she would regret it tomorrow.
“Let me go,” she gasped. The softness of her exclamation made her realize it wasn’t a protest at all. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears as Gideon smiled.
“I seem to recall you saying the same thing five years ago, and we know how that turned out.”
“That…that was diff….different,” she stammered as her pulse quickened to twice its normal pace.
“Was it?” he asked in a husky voice that caused a tingling sensation to race across her skin. “I have a feeling your mouth will taste just as sweet as it did before. Should I find out, Phoebe?”
As he bent his head, another gasp escaped Phoebe. It was silenced the instant Gideon’s mouth captured hers. Exhilaration rushed through her body as her heartbeat pounded wildly in her chest. Just as he had once before, he didn’t conquer with force. Instead, he cajoled her surrender with the heat of his mouth, teasing and tempting hers.
Hard, muscular arms pulled her snug against him, and she drew in a quick breath as he molded her into the hardness of his body. The moment her lips parted, his tongue delved into her mouth. Brandy still lingered on his tongue, and the flavor of it danced across hers. He tasted like a tangy bite of toffee and caramel.
With an eagerness she knew she shouldn’t feel, she allowed her tongue to swirl around his in a fervent response to the almost hedonistic caress. Her response elicited a low growl of pleasure from him. The sound skated across her senses, igniting a stark need inside her that left her craving a pleasure she knew only he could satisfy. Her arms wrapped around his neck, she slid one hand through his silky, golden-brown hair. As his hand slid up over her waist to press into the side of her breast, she arched her body upward into his caress. The instant his mouth left hers to explore her throat, she moaned softly.
Dear God, how she wanted him. Had the sensations he was arousing in her now been this intense the last time. No, this was different. She wasn’t afraid now. She was free to feel and experience and give. Every inch of her was alive with sensation, and she didn’t want it to end. As his mouth skimmed lower to brush across the top of her breasts, she sighed with delight.
The moment he reached the small valley between her breasts, his tongue probed the small cavern of flesh in a slow, sensual stroke. It sent an electric current racing through her limbs until it hit the spot between her legs. Instantly, her sex throbbed and silently cried out for more.
“Do you like that, sweetheart?”
The words whispered across her skin as his tongue delved into the small valley again in two hot strokes before his mouth continued to explore the tops of her breasts. Lost in a whirlpool of sensation, she tried to speak, but the only thing to escape her lips was a moan. He probed the spot between her breasts once more before his mouth caressed its way upward and his teeth nipped at the swells of her breasts.
“Tell me. Do you?” It was a command that insisted she respond.
“Ye…yes.” At her reply, his mouth continued upward to her throat, where his mouth nipped, sucked, and teased her skin with his tongue. Her head rolled to one side to expose more of her throat, and he took advantage of the silent invitation.
“But it’s not enough, is it?” he rasped.
“I…No…I…want more.”
The moment the words escaped her lips, his body gently guided her down onto the couch. His mouth captured hers again, and a delicious shiver rippled through her as a hard, firm hand gently grasped her ankle. His fingers burned through her stocking as his hand slowly worked its way up her leg to her thigh. As he caressed her leg, his mouth teased and tempted hers until her body was crying out for his.
The moment his fingers caressed the bare flesh above the top of her stocking, it made her sex ache with a raw intensity that she wanted—needed—him to satisfy. Her hand slid downward to find his hard length, and the instant her fingers traced the outline of him beneath his trousers, a growl vibrated out of him to pulse its way into her body.
He shifted his position so he was cradled against her palm, and another sound of his pleasure echoed against her lips. The sensual touch made her breath hitch in her throat as his hand brushed past the soft linen of her undergarment, and he slid two fingers into her. Even though she’d anticipated the intimate touch, it still made her suck in a sharp breath of delight. Every stroke of his fingers inside her set her blood on fire.
Hot. Probing. Sultry.
The caress heated her from the inside out until she was dragging in small, frantic breaths of air. The moment his thumb rubbed across the sensitive piece of flesh on the rim of her sex, her body jerked hard against his hand. With each fiery touch, he carried her upward to a heightened state of pleasure where everything was rich, vibrant, and filled with raw, primitive sensations that left her whimpering for more.
Her body was filled with a growing pressure she’d not felt since the last time he’d touched her. It was an undeniable force that pushed its way past her belly into the heart of her. Blinded by the sudden, wild need streaking through, her breaths became soft pants as her hips rocked against each stroke of his fingers. The sensations built up inside her, the power of it like the swift current of a river. It dragged her along with a promise of an intense physical and emotional ecstasy.
A small shudder rippled through her, and she arched up from the couch cushions. Her lips parted to release a cry of pleasure, but he quickly silenced the sound with a hard kiss. Strong fingers continued to stroke, press, and create a wave of sultry heat that left her ready to weep as the sensations inside her spread outward, taking her to a precipice she wanted to fall off of into the delicious fires of satisfaction.
Another moan whispered out of her as he deepened the intensity of their kiss. Pleasure grasped her more firmly in its hold, tightening her body until she was silently begged for him to send her plummeting over the edge of a cliff into a blazing inferno. The fire that was just about to consume her suddenly vanished as he pulled his hand away from her. Frustrated at being denied satisfaction, she released a small cry of protest. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she stared up into gray eyes glittering with desire.
“It still isn’t enough, is it?”
“You know…it’s not,” she whispered with a sob that revealed how much she craved his touch.
“I agree.” The growl of need in his hoarse reply sent a thrill of excitement rushing across her skin.
He wanted her as much as she wanted him. A second later, their gazes locked as he pushed the skirt of her gown up and the tip of him pressed against her sex. Eager to feel him inside her, she slid her hand over the taut muscles of his back, down to his hard hips.
She pulled hard on him as she silently urged him to fill her with his hard length. In one swift stroke, he buried himself inside her. The dark groan that rumbled out of him made her nerve endings tingle. Sheer delight scraped its way along her senses, and she sucked in a deep breath of pleasurable gratification. Her eyes fluttered open to see him watching her with a look of untamed desire.
The intensity of it made her drag in another deep breath of excitement. A small smile tipped the corners of his mouth at the sound as his weight pressed her deeper into the cushions. Unexpected and fierce, she experienced the need to taste him again, and she tugged his head down to kiss him.
Boldly, she thrust her tongue into his mouth to dance with his. The soft groan that rumbled up out of his chest reverberated into her body. Hunger and need pulsed their way through her as she pushed her hips upward to meet him stroke for stroke. Fingers splayed against his chest, another low rumble of sound vibrated out of him and into her hands. It was a delicious sound of passion, and she loved the way it echoed in her ears.
There wasn’t any part of her that wasn’t alive with the fiery heat his touch had aroused in her. The moment his mouth left hers to work its way along her neck, she trembled with a need for a fulfillment that was still outside her reach. His lips nipped and tugged at her skin, followed by the tip of his tongue teasing the spot he’d made sensitive with his mouth.
Pressure began to build inside her again, pushing its way down to her sex. It heightened her senses, and she whimpered her frustration at the slow pace of his body melding with hers. The need growing inside her was quickly reaching a feverish pitch. It was growing harder with each passing minute not to beg and plead with him to assuage her thirst for that ultimate crescendo of pleasure.
