Karen Foley - Make Me Melt

Now Caroline drew in a shaky breath and listened to Jason’s approach. She knew she was doing the right thing. Her father had all but said Jason found her attractive. But he was leaving in the morning. She wasn’t about to let him go without telling him how she felt.

The windows of the beach house were open, and the gauzy curtains billowed softly with the warm breeze that blew in from the Pacific, carrying with it the salt-tinged fragrance of the sea. In the distance, she could just hear the rhythmic pounding of the surf. Caroline curled her fingers around the sheet and waited. The pillowcase beneath her cheek smelled faintly of Jason—dark and woodsy. She breathed deeply, and the familiar scent lent her some courage.

When the door finally opened, she saw him silhouetted briefly in the hallway before he stepped inside and drew it closed behind him. Caroline’s heart beat so hard and fast in her chest that for a moment, she wondered if he might hear it. In the dim light of the room, he didn’t see her lying quiet and still in the bed, but her eyes were accustomed to the darkness, and she could see him clearly.

He walked past the foot of the bed toward the open windows, unbuttoning his shirt as he went. He finally peeled it off and dropped it onto the back of a nearby chair. He stood at the windows. Pale moonlight slanted in through the open casement, illuminating his body and revealing the strong slope of his shoulders and the muscled definition of his arms. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the tattoos on his shoulders and across his back. She couldn’t make them out clearly, but the black ink was unmistakable against his skin. She’d known he had them—had caught sight of them once as a young girl when he’d taken a late afternoon swim in their pool. But when he’d realized she was watching him from her playhouse in the corner of the yard, he’d quickly pulled himself out of the water and dragged a shirt over his head. She’d never seen the tattoos again, and she wondered if he deliberately kept them covered because he was ashamed of them.

He braced his hands on the sill and leaned forward, letting his head drop, as if torn by some inner conflict. He stood like that for a long moment before straightening and scrubbing a hand over his hair.

Toeing his shoes off, he shucked his jeans and walked toward the bed. Caroline knew the precise instant that he became aware of her presence. He reached for the sheet that covered her and then recoiled.

“Jesus.” His voice was a shocked rasp, scraping across her senses like rough velvet.

Terrified that he might leave, Caroline surged to her knees on the bed, hands reaching for him as the sheet fell away. “Please don’t go. I need to tell you something.”

He caught her wrists when she would have touched him, but he didn’t thrust her away, as she’d half expected. Emboldened, she leaned toward him. He wore a pair of boxer briefs and nothing else, and she could smell the scent of his skin. As always, it turned her thoughts to dark, forbidden acts. She had zero experience in that department, but her imagination was rampant with images of how it would be with him.

“Caroline, you shouldn’t be in here.” His voice was low, tense.

“I had to. You’re leaving tomorrow.” She scooted closer on her knees, until she was at the very edge of the mattress. “I wanted to tell you that I—I love you. And I want you to be my first.”

In the stunned silence that followed her declaration, Caroline could hear the whooshing of her own blood in her ears.

“No.” He pushed her hands away and took a jerky step back. “You don’t. Jesus, you’re just a kid.”

“I’m not. I’m almost seventeen. All my friends have already lost their virginity.” She stepped off the bed and, before he could retreat, pressed her body against his. When she slid her arms around his lean waist, he went rigid in her embrace. “Please, Jason,” she entreated, smoothing her hands over his skin. “You’re all I think about.”

He grasped her shoulders and tried to shove her away. His voice sounded strangled. “Are you naked?”

“Not yet. I’m still wearing panties.”

“You need to go back to your own room. What if your father comes in?”

“He won’t,” she assured him. “He never comes upstairs.”

William’s bedroom was located on the first floor, at the farthest end of the beach house. He typically went to bed in the wee hours of the morning, but once asleep, Caroline knew that very little would wake him up.

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” she continued. “Please kiss me.”

His eyes, the exact shade of tempered glass, glinted in the indistinct light, and she shivered at the heat she saw reflected there.

“Caroline—”

“Please, Jason.” She raised herself on tiptoe and pressed gentle kisses against his collarbone, his throat and anywhere she could reach. He tried to hold himself rigidly away, but Caroline pressed herself against him until her breasts were flattened between them. She let her hands stroke over his back and lower. When she smoothed her palms over the firm mounds of his buttocks and raised her hips to his, he gave a harsh groan, and she felt his restraint give way like the moorings of a storm-tossed ship.

“Caroline.”

The word came out like a plea, and she felt her heart leap. Then he thrust his hands into her hair and bent his head to cover her mouth with his own; his taste surrounded her. She’d been kissed before, but never like this. He swept his tongue past her lips, stroking the inside of her mouth until heat blasted through every cell in her body, and she felt boneless with pleasure. She drew in a shuddering breath when he released her mouth and dragged his lips along the side of her throat.

“So sweet,” he muttered against her skin. “So soft and so damned sweet.”

When he cupped one bare breast in his hand, Caroline gasped. He caressed her gently, kneading and rolling her nipple in his fingers. “Oh, my God,” she breathed. “That feels so good.”

Nobody had ever touched her so intimately, and she had no idea that her breasts could be so sensitive, tightening beneath his touch and sending a jolt of sensation to her groin, where moisture simmered.

When Jason dipped his head and drew her nipple into his mouth, the feeling was so intense that Caroline clutched at his shoulders and gave a helpless moan. Beneath her palms, his body was sleek with muscle and his skin radiated heat. He laved her with his tongue, while he squeezed and fondled her other breast.

She closed her eyes, swamped with sensation, her body restless. This was finally happening, and the reality of it exceeded all her fantasies. How long had she dreamed of this? Each time he came to visit her father, especially over the past year, her yearning for him grew, until there was only him. She hadn’t been sure he would want her—he was always so distant with her. Maybe this didn’t mean anything to him beyond a momentary physical release, but right now she didn’t care. The way he made her feel—she couldn’t stop even if she wanted to.

And she definitely didn’t want to.

And now that she’d had a taste of him, she didn’t think she could ever be happy with anyone else. With Jason, there was no awkward groping or wet kisses. Everything he did was done with confidence. Even at twenty-one, he was no stranger to sensual pleasure.

She was unprepared when he lifted her in his arms and laid her down on the bed, following her with the length of his body. He braced himself on one elbow while he continued to nuzzle her breast, and one thigh insinuated itself between hers.

“Yes,” she breathed and instinctively raised her hips to rub herself against him. The contact sent a flood of moisture to her center. She could feel him, hard and hot, against her stomach, and the knowledge that he was aroused caused her pulse to quicken until she could feel the need for him throb through every vein in her body, all the way to her fingertips.