Jo Leigh - One-Click Buy - September Harlequin Blaze

“Not necessarily.”

“And you like it hard and fast and anonymous. When you have sex, you pretend to be someone else, don’t you? A French maid, a 1920s movie siren, a good-girl blue blood gone bad.”

“I don’t,” she squeaked.

“What are you so afraid of, Katie?” he murmured.

“I’m not afraid,” she denied. But it was true. All of it. She’d never made love in a bed and she preferred having wild, quick sex in adventurous places while role-playing. “I like sex to be exciting and spontaneous and innovative and-”

“Impersonal,” he finished.

“That’s not what I was going to say.”

“Maybe not, but it’s accurate.”

Until this moment, until he’d called her on it, she’d never caught on that she avoided having sex in a bed. She thought it was because she was impulsive and creative, but now she knew that wasn’t the truth. Now she understood the reason why she’d eschewed beds for floors and swimming pools and closets and movie theatres. Why risk and danger and quick, hurried mating with men she barely knew had been her modus operandi.

Beds were where married people made love. Beds were for committed, long-term relationships. And she just didn’t have that kind of staying power. Everyone said so.

“What are you so afraid of?” Liam repeated

You! The way you make me feel. The stark terror that if I let myself love you, somehow I’ll lose who I am.

He swung his legs over the bed, got up and stalked toward her, his naked, erect penis bouncing jauntily with every step.

Katie took a step back from him until her bare bottom butted up against the door. She wanted to turn and flee, but Liam wasn’t about to let her get away.

He planted both hands against the door over her head, leaned in, lowered his head and looked deeply into her eyes. “I understand you completely, Katie Winfield. Maybe even better than you understand yourself.”

Hypnotized, she stared into his eyes, waiting for him to tell her what was wrong with her.

“Doesn’t it get tiring?” he asked.

His question was unexpected and made her feel as if he were peeling off the edges of her skin, digging for the woman who lay beneath the surface. Her throat was closing off.

“What?” she whispered.

“Staying in motion, staying busy, trying to outrun your feelings.”

“I’m not…” Katie broke off at the tenderness in his eyes. She couldn’t talk against the pressure weighing down on her chest.

“It’s okay to be ordinary,” he murmured. “It’s okay for things to be boring once in a while. There’s nothing wrong with taking a time out. In fact, when you slow down, you’re really able to experience your adventures.”

“Oh, that’s rich.” Her laugh sounded hollow. “Coming from you, Mr. Workaholic.”

“Hey, it’s the lesson you taught me. You’ve helped me to realize, all work and no play makes Liam a dull boy. But what I’m trying to tell you is that all go and no staying power makes Katie incomplete. Slow down with me, sweetheart. Let’s explore this whole new experience together.”

As she looked into his eyes, she knew he saw her for who she really was. He saw past the flirtation and the fun and the flair for the dramatic. He saw the vulnerable Katie who was hiding behind a live-for-today motto. He knew her.

To the very essence of her soul.

Tears rolled slowly down her cheeks. Liam dipped his head and kissed them away. Then he gently lifted her up into his arms again and took her back to the bed.

This time, she didn’t protest.

“Just look into my eyes until the fear passes,” he said. “You’re safe. I’ve got you.”

Katie smiled up at him through a mist of tears. He settled her against the pillows, tenderly brushing his fingers through her hair.

He was watching her, his eyes taking in every curve and dip of her body. His glance traveled from her shoulders, to her breast, to her waist and lower, up and down the length of her legs. Then stopping to linger a moment at the blond apex between her thighs.

Awareness and a dazzling heat prickled her skin. She’d never felt so exposed. She’d thought that night he’d taken her on top of the Lamborghini was sexually charged. But that time, because he’d taken her from behind, she’d been unable to read his reaction to her body. Now, she saw every erotic thought that crossed his face.

And she understood fully the power she held over him. It simply blew her away.

Her body ignited with the heat of his gaze. That unabashed stare of appreciation caused her heart to knock against her rib cage.

He kissed her lightly, sweetly, drawing it out.

“That’s it sweetheart,” he said when she moaned softly. “Relax and enjoy every minute of this. We’ve got all weekend and then some.”

Lowering his head, Liam pressed his lips to her bare belly and then kissed his way back up to her nipples, which were aching with desire.

She quivered at the luscious sensation.

“How’s that feel?”

“Mmm.” It was all she could manage.

He flicked his tongue over one straining bud and then carefully bit down. Reedy blades of pleasure sliced deliriously throughout her breast. She moaned louder.

“You like?”

“No.”

“No?” He stopped.

“I love,” she purred.

He grinned and went back to work-his mouth suckling, his tongue caressing, fingers tickling.

Brilliant. It felt like shooting stars.

After a long, leisurely exploration that left her hauling in shallow gasps of air, he left her nipples and traveled downward. He spent some time at her navel, playing with that little gold hoop, teasing it in and out of his mouth. The gentle pulling sensation produced crazy, erotic ripples in her belly that undulated all the way down into her throbbing clit.

When his lips reached her straining, hungry clit, he stopped short of touching her with his tongue. His breath was hot against her sensitive flesh, inflaming her beyond understanding.

She arched her hips again, trying to bring his mouth and her clit into contact but he moved with her, keeping his mouth just out of her reach.

“Brute.”

He laughed.

“You enjoy torturing me.”

“Oh, yeah,” Liam admitted. “Stick with me, sweetheart. We’ll get there and I promise you it will be worth the wait.”

She didn’t want to wait. She wanted him to make love to her with his mouth right this very minute. Her brain glazed with lust, her blood pumped feverishly.

Gingerly, Liam spread her thighs wider and moved his body around so that he was positioned between her legs. “So beautiful,” he murmured.

The head of his cock throbbed against her knee as he leaned forward. Katie’s excitement catapulted. What sweet, desperate pressure.

His big fingers caressed her clit as his tongue probed her folds. Katie’s eyes slid closed, blocking out everything except his touch.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes.”

His tongue captured her hooded cleft.

Never in all her life had she been pleasured this way. It was rapture. It was ecstasy.

Liam seemed to know exactly what she needed even better than she knew herself. He reveled in her and he made her feel cherished. It was dangerous territory, these tender feelings, but she couldn’t stop them, so she rode, letting the anxiety build, experienced it and then allowed it to drop away.

While he toyed with her clit, Liam slipped an index finger into her slick, wetness. The walls of her womanhood tugged at him, gripping and kneading him in rhythmic waves, pulling his finger deeper and deeper into her.

Sound was altered and she existed in the delicious void of ocean waves and heavy breathing. She floated, bodyless. She was total awareness, her entire being a giant throb of sexual energy.