“Wh-why?” She had to concentrate hard to keep from melting into a puddle at his feet.
“When I put my hand to your bare back I couldn’t help but imagine how it would feel to caress every inch of your soft skin.” There was such passion in his deep baritone, a wave of heat streaked from the top of her head to the soles of her feet.
Her knees threatened to give way and Kiley placed her hands on his chest to steady herself. “I’d like to touch you, too.”
The look in his eyes stole her breath a moment before he stepped away from her to remove his tuxedo jacket and tug his shirt from the waistband of his trousers. He held her gaze with his, and neither of them said a word as he unfastened the stud closures, then shrugged out of the shirt and tossed it aside.
Her hand trembled as she reached out to run her fingers over his padded pectoral muscles and the taut ridges of his abdomen and stomach. The light sprinkling of hair covering his hard flesh tickled her palm and reminded her of the marvelous contrasts between a man and a woman.
When he shuddered from her light touch, she smiled. “Your body is perfect, Josh.”
He brought his hands up to brush the stretchy fabric from her shoulders, then kissed the newly exposed skin. “Having you explore my chest feels wonderful, honey. But I want to touch you, too.” As he pushed the evening gown down her arms, then over her hips into a shimmery black pool at her feet, Kiley’s pulse raced at the look of appreciation in his smoldering blue eyes. When he discovered that she wasn’t wearing a bra, his sharp intake of breath caused an interesting little flutter deep in the pit of her stomach. “You’re beautiful, Kiley.”
Cupping her breasts with his hands, he alternated kissing and teasing her beaded nipples, sending waves of heat sweeping over her. But when he took one of the tight buds into his mouth to explore her with his tongue, the sensations coursing through her were so intense, she felt as if she might faint.
“J-Josh… Oh, my.”
“Does that feel good, Kiley?”
Unable to form a coherent thought, all she could do was nod.
“Do you want me to take off the rest of our clothes?” he asked, continuing to taunt the overly sensitive tip.
“Y-yes.”
Dressed in nothing but her panties and high heels, she stepped out of the dress at her feet and braced her hands on his shoulders for him to remove her black velvet shoes. When he straightened, she watched him quickly kick off his own shoes, then unzip his tuxedo trousers to shove them and his boxer briefs down his legs. He tossed them and his socks onto the rapidly growing pile of their clothing. When he turned to face her, Kiley’s breath lodged in her throat.
She’d been right. Josh’s body was—in a word—perfect. His shoulders were impossibly wide, his muscles well-defined and his torso lean. But as her gaze traveled lower, her eyes widened. Josh wasn’t just perfect, he was magnificent.
Fully aroused and looking at her as if she were the most desirable creature on earth, he stepped forward to hook his thumbs in the waistband of her lace panties. “I want to feel all of you against me,” he said, his intimate tone sending another flash of heat flowing through her.
Once the scrap of silk and lace had been added to the pile of clothes, he took her back into his arms, and the feel of skin against skin caused her knees to give way. He caught her to him and Kiley thought she might go into complete meltdown. His firm, hair-roughened flesh pressed to her smooth feminine skin, the hard length of his erection nestled against her soft belly, set off tiny little sparks skipping over every nerve in her body.
“Honey, I think it would probably be a good idea if we get into bed while we both still have the strength to get there,” he said, his warm breath feathering the hair at her temple.
He led her over to the bed and while she pulled back the navy satin duvet and got into bed, he reached into the drawer of the bedside table. Tucking a small foil packet under his pillow, he stretched out beside her and pulled her to him.
“I’m going to try to go slow, honey,” he said, giving her a kiss so tender it brought tears to her eyes. “But I’ve wanted you again for so damned long, I’m not sure that’s going to be possible.”
“A couple of weeks isn’t…all that long,” she said, trying to catch her breath.
“I’m not referring to seeing you at the meeting of the funding committee,” he said, skimming his hand down her side to her hip. Caressing her thigh, his movements were slow and steady. “I’m talking about how long it’s been since we made love the first time. I haven’t been able to forget that night three years ago. If I had known your name, I would have tried to find you. But I didn’t think asking your sister was the right thing to do, especially since I started distancing myself from her after that night.”