Iris Johansen - Always

His thumb and forefinger plucked teasingly at one burgeoning nipple, and he laughed huskily as it hardened and distended to pointed beauty. "Come here, Lisa." The blouse was pushed off her shoulders and the bra followed it. Then she wasbeing lifted to straddle him, his hands running up and down her naked spine in a fever of urgency. He arched her forward and his mouth enveloped her breast with a hungry groan.

Her fingers tangled in his hair and she threw back her head with a silent moan. His tongue on her breast was burning, starting little flames of sensation that touched every part of her body.

"You like that?" he muttered. She couldn't answer: her throat had closed and her breath had stopped in her chest. He took her silence for consent and suckled strongly while his hands rhythmically squeezed her breasts. Finally his lips left her. "I love the taste of you," he murmured. He rubbed his cheek back and forth against her breasts, and she could feel the faint stubble of his beard scraping her softness. It sent a hot liquid tingling to the apex of her thighs. "The feel of you." With each movement his tongue darted out to caress, to tease, to taste. Her hands clenched on his shoulders, her arousal almost unbearable in its intensity. She opened her eyes and watche,d his lips move against the swollen globes of her breasts, his tongue on her nipples.

Then his hands were on the zipper of her slacks. He didn't lift his head as he slid the zipper down with a soft, sibilant hiss. Then his hands were sliding beneath the waistband, cupping her buttocks. Lisa tensed, the muscles of her stomach knotting painfully. His hands were kneading her feverishly while his lips pulled powerfully at her breast. His chest labored harshly with the force of his breathing, and she could feel the hard length of him pressed against her. She nestled closer with a littlemoan. His muscles stiffened and his hands dug into her with unconscious force.

She didn't care. The minute pain was only another element in the cascade of sensations. "Don't do that," he said between set teeth. "I'm trying to be gentle, dammit I want everything to be-" He broke off. "Oh, my God…"

"What's the matter?" she whispered.

"The matter is that all my brains seem to be located in my groin," he said with supreme self-disgust. "All I can think about is laying you down across this seat and driving into you."

"Sounds good to me," she said with a faint smile. "It sounds wonderful to me."

His hands tightened on her. "It was a hell of a lot easier to stop when you weren't so willing." His fingers moved yeafningly over her skin with tactile hunger. "Say no, Lisa."

"No?" Her eyes widened. "I don't want to say no. Why should I do a stupid thing like that? I'm about to turn into an incendiary bomb and you want me to stop?"

"Please. Say no." His gaze was fastened on the ripe heaviness of her breasts, and he ran his tongue over his lips, remembering the taste of her. "I can't stop unless you do. And it's important to me."

"Why?"

"Because you're important to me. All my life sex has been just another appetite to be appeased. " He smiled crookedly. "Wham, bam, thank you. ma'am. That's why I automatically behaved like a stud presented with a prize mare when I knewwere going to let me love you. But I don't want that with you. 1 want it to be special."

Lisa stared at him with a wild mixture of emotions-frustration, desire, exasperation, tenderness. "Now you tell me," she said, shaking her head. After a moment her lips began to quirk. "Lord, how I hate a tease." She slid off his lap and into the seat next to him. "All right. I'm saying no. Very reluctantly. But I have an idea you're going to be sorry about this, Clancy."

"I already am." His eyes lingered hungrily on her naked breasts. "You're taking this very well."

"No, I'm not taking it well at all. At the moment I could murder you. Or rape you. I haven't decided which."

He looked startled. "That sounds bawdy, coming from you."

"That's because I am bawdy on occasion." She grinned at him. "Just because I'm a trifle thin and delicate-looking, don't make the mistake of thinking I'm a milk-and-water miss."

He looked at her, his eyes narrowing. "You seem… different."

Her smile was a sudden brilliant flash of warmth. "I've come alive. If you don't like it, that's just too bad, Clancy. You're responsible for it."

"I like it," he said softly. "I'm just having a little trouble adjusting to it. I wonder what other surprises I have in store for me." His gaze returned compulsively to her breasts. "Could I persuade you to put on your blouse? Looking at all that lovely bounty is putting me in a very painful state."

She reached down and picked up her blouse,then slipped it on and began to fasten the pearl buttons.

"Haven't you forgotten something?" He nodded to the lacy scrap of a bra on the seat.

She shook her head and calmly picked up the bra, stuffing it into her tote bag beside the seat. "Nope." She picked up her linen blazer and slipped it on. "I'm taking out insurance."

"Insurance?"

"The way you're behaving is entirely too gallant and noble to suit me. I'm not at all sure how long it's going to take you to set up this 'special' situation in which to make love with me. So I thought I'd add a little incentive. This jacket maintains a facade of respectability, but I want you to know it's only a facade. That I'm naked and available for you." Her smile was both mischievous and wickedly alluring. "That all you have to do is reach out and undo a button or two and you'll have whatever you want. Anytime you want it," she whispered. "Is that enough of a goad to your initiative, Clancy?"

He gave a low whistle. "Why, you little devil. Hell, yes, that's enough of a goad."

"I thought it would be." She leaned forward and began to fasten the buttons on his shirt. Her hands were still trembling, but she didn't try to hide it. She wanted him to see how much she wanted him. She couldn't tell him she loved him as yet, but she could give him that. "Of course, I don't promise to keep my hands off you." Demurely, she lowered her lashes to veil her eyes. "But I'll make an effort. It depends on how long you make me wait."

"Well, I promise it won't be long. You're a tough lady to go up against."

She sat back in her seat and picked up a magazine from the table beside her. "But I guarantee you'll enjoy it when you do go up against me," she said softly. "You certainly didn't seem to have any complaints before you got that sudden attack of conscience."

"Lisa, dammit…"

She smothered a smile. "Sorry. It's not too late to change your mind about me. You didn't really know what you were getting when you made me that offer. The lady you knew on Paradise Cay was only the tip of the iceberg. Now the part of the iceberg that Was submerged is breaking up and bobbing to the surface."

"How does it feel?" he asked, smiling gently.

She thought about it. "Mostly good, I think. Sometimes a bit scary. It's a little difficult to flow with the southern current and feel the ice melting. I can't help wondering what will be left by the time I hit the Equator."

"I know what will be left." His hand reached out and covered hers. "A lady with dignity and character who will have become all she could be. There's nothing to be afraid of in that. I'm looking forward to being around to see it."

Lisa felt a sudden tightness in her throat. Clancy was a rock to cling to in that current. How many other people had used his strength and support in the past? He gave so selflessly that it was easy to forget he had needs as well. She felt a rush of fierce maternal tenderness. Well, she wouldn't forget, and she wouldn't let anyone else forget, either.

She looked blindly down at the magazine on her lap. The moment was so fraught with emotion that she had to lighten it. "I hear that you live in the sheikh's palace. Does that mean I'm going to be established as a harem favorite?"