The heavy weight pressing into her collarbone grunted.
‘Stop that, or I’ll have to ravish you again, and it will probably kill us both.’
Her instinctive chuckle at the wry observation choked off as the delirious fog dissolved. And a strange new reality came flooding in.
The man lying on top of her, his black hair illuminated by the firelight, his masculine scent intoxicating, had just given her so much more than she had thought possible.
A vicious shudder racked her body and she had to bite down on her lip, hard enough to taste blood, to stop the shocked sob buried in her chest rising up her throat.
Emotion slammed into her like a freight train.
What had she done? She had known sex with Leo would be good, the best she’d ever had. Because that wasn’t much of a competition.
But she hadn’t expected it to mean anything more than that. And yet it had. Because as well as the stupendous, breathtaking orgasms, there had been the staggering wave of intimacy.
‘Hey, what’s wrong, Jade?’ he murmured, the gruff use of her sister’s name only making her feel more exposed. More compromised.
She hadn’t told him the truth. Had convinced herself it didn’t matter. And now suddenly it did.
Her flesh released him with difficulty as he withdrew.
He frowned and cradled her cheek. ‘Did I hurt you?’
She shook her head, unable to speak past the huge boulder forming in her throat.
She’d ruined everything. She had never thought sex could be so overwhelming.
And now she had to deal with the consequences.
She’d always been impulsive. And she’d paid a high price for that in the past. But this time, this time, she’d gone too far, way too far to ever be forgiven.
‘Speak to me, Jade,’ he said, brushing his thumb down the side of her face, shaming her even more as brutal yearning echoed in her sex. ‘You need to tell me what’s wrong.’
‘I... I...’ The tenderness and concern in his expression only shamed her more. She’d lied to him, convinced herself it was just a little lie, a convenient omission, but now she knew it wasn’t. ‘Really, I’m fine,’ she managed. She pulled his hand away from her face, so she could move away from him.
The flight instinct was a familiar one. So she went with it.
She needed to think, figure out how to break the news to him—that she wasn’t the woman he thought she was.
She scooted off the bed, brutally aware of the sticky residue of their lovemaking. He hadn’t used a condom.
Doesn’t matter. You can deal with that later, once you’ve told him the truth.
Her heart lodged in her throat. But how did she do that? He had treated her with such respect, such warmth, such care, and it was all based on a lie. She’d seen the puzzled look cross his face when he’d entered her, had known in that instant exactly what he was thinking.
Why isn’t she a virgin?
She made it to the edge of the bed, swung her legs to the floor, but just as she prepared to make a dash for the bathroom he grasped her wrist.
‘Everything’s not okay, Jade,’ he stated, his voice strained but firm, his frown deepening. ‘That much is obvious.’
Please stop calling me that. I’m not Jade, I’m Juno.
‘If I hurt you, if I was too rough with you, you need to tell me,’ he said.
Please, just stop.
‘You didn’t... You didn’t hurt me, Leo. The sex was phenomenal... It’s just, I’ve never had an orgasm during sex before and...’ A blush blazed into her cheeks as she babbled to a halt. Had she just admitted that? Out loud?