“Alysse...” He said her name on a long sigh and her heart skipped a beat.
“Do you want me?” he asked, whispering the question close to her ear.
“Yes,” she said, surprised at the breathless quality of her own voice. She also wanted something that she was afraid to believe he could give her. She wanted his heart. “I’ve thought of nothing else since I saw you shirtless on the beach. You have a very tempting body, Jay.”
“Then take me,” he said.
She did want to take him, and yet at the same time learning about his past had made her afraid to really use him. Jay was more vulnerable than she’d realized. It was silly, because he seemed so strong and indestructible that it had never occurred to her he could be hurt.
“I will,” she said. But she promised herself she would do her best to protect his heart, too. Because hurting Jay would only result in wounding herself.
She took his hand and led him up the lighted path of her small bungalow to the front door. She fumbled for her key and almost dropped it.
“Nervous?”
“Silly, huh?”
“Not so silly. We aren’t strangers anymore.”
That struck her. They’d married and divorced but hadn’t really known each other. The impact of what she was doing held her still.
“I’ll go,” he offered.
If he left she’d never see him again—she knew it. And she had to ask herself if she was going to hide away from life on the off chance that she might get hurt or if she was going to live it.
“No. Stay.”
Jay smiled then, a real smile, and she felt that flood of emotion rushing through her again. He stooped, picked up her keys and handed them to her. She turned to put the key in the door lock and he came up behind her.
His hands were on her waist, his mouth on her neck dropping gentle kisses that stoked the flames of desire burning through her and convinced her she’d made the right decision in inviting him in.
She finally got the door open and they stepped into her foyer. Jay closed the door and leaned back against it. He stood there for a moment surveying her and her lovely house. He crossed his arms over his chest, his expression unreadable, and she wondered what he was thinking.
“Nice place,” he said at last.
“Thanks.”
There was awkwardness between them that hadn’t been there before and she wondered if it was because in her mind this had all changed. She had admitted to herself how much she cared for him. There was no going back.
“Come here, Aly. Make me believe I fit in your world.”
She took a step toward him and he pulled her into his arms. She held him closely, burying her head in his shoulder and inhaling his unique scent—the saltiness of the sea that clung to his clothes and hair, the earthiness that she always associated with Jay. He kissed her passionately and slowly, as if they had all the time in the world.
Then she felt him caressing her back, his hands roaming up and down her body, loosening buttons and zippers until they could slip underneath and touch her naked skin.
She shuddered. Oh, she’d missed his touch. She gasped as he spanned her waist with his hands and lifted her off the ground so that she was more fully pressed against him.
She pushed her hands under his shirt, rubbing his chest to tease him. Then he drew her closer still.
“Oh, Jay,” she said, knowing her heart was in her voice.
He swallowed hard and she saw a brief hint of emotion flash in his eyes before he kissed her.
In an instant, their tender moment became one of white-hot lust. His mouth was on her neck, one hand on her breast and the other between her legs. She was shaking and on the edge of her climax in seconds.
His hand left her breast and she heard the sound of his zipper being lowered and then felt his hot cock between her legs. He turned her around, though she wanted to see his eyes, hold his face.
Behind her, he guided her hands to the door and then touched her intimately to test her readiness. She felt the tip of his cock and shifted backward to urge him inside. He’d aroused her; she wanted him, there was no doubt. And he didn’t waste another second before he thrust inside her.
He tweaked her nipples and then reached lower to fondle her clit as his hips pumped faster and harder.
Blind desire consumed her.
But still the questions sped through her brain, still she wanted to see him.
Suddenly, she felt the intense contractions of her body as her orgasm began and his hands quickly went to her hips and to pull her into each of his thrusts. He sent her over the edge into a climax that made stars dance in front of her eyes.