And then she found herself being pushed back against the wall.
He kissed her neck, and she shivered. And then he pulled the top of her dress down, revealing the red lace bra she had on underneath, a bra that barely covered anything. “You’re beautiful,” he said, the awe in his voice giving her the strength to push on.
He pushed the bra cups out of the way and bared her breasts to him. He groaned, and suddenly big, rough hands moved up to cup her, his thumbs sliding over her nipples. And she let her head fall back as she gasped.
“Yes,” she whispered, closing her eyes.
And then he was kissing her again, from her mouth, down her collarbone, to her breast, taking a nipple deep into his mouth.
And at the same time, his hands worked their way up her dress, between her legs. His fingers were stroking her, over the matching red underwear she had on, before he pushed them beneath the waistband, began to stroke her slick flesh in earnest. This man, the stranger, was touching her. And she thought she might die of pleasure.
And she thought dimly, it was the strangest thing, that for most of her life she had imagined that she could never want a man other than Damien Prince. And here she was, coming apart under the expert hands of a man whose face she’d never even seen.
It gave her hope, really. It gave her a lot of hope.
But right now it was about to give her an orgasm, and she couldn’t think anymore.
Suddenly, he pushed two fingers up inside her, and she cried out her pleasure, desire raining down inside her like a storm.
Her hands were greedy at his belt buckle, clumsy and uncertain of what might happen next. But she managed to free his stiff arousal, and wrapped her hand around his heat. He was big. But then, she didn’t really have anything for comparison. All she knew was that it was bigger than she expected. She had the vague feeling of being on a runaway train. She didn’t know what she was doing. And she couldn’t stop.
It was like her innocence was acting to make it even more impossible to deny. Not as a barrier. Because she just needed to know what happened next. She needed to know.
He moved his hand down her thigh, gripped her leg and pulled it up around his waist, and then she felt the blunt head of his arousal testing the entrance to her body. She was powerless to do anything but roll her hips forward and accept the invasion. She was too hungry for it to do anything else. Too desperate for pleasure to be afraid of the pain.
And it did hurt. A cry was wrenched from her lips, and suddenly, his gaze met hers, fierce and almost angry.
“I’m fine,” she said. “I’m fine.” She put her hand flat on his chest and felt his heartbeat raging there, and then she kissed him. And he didn’t resist anymore. He pumped deep inside her, and she was lost in the rhythm. Lost in the pleasure.
Then he lowered his head and bit the side of her neck, and her whole body spasmed, her climax shocking her, even as he found his own on a hard growl.
And suddenly she realized, she had just lost her virginity in a storage room two days before Christmas. She had just lost her mind. Utterly and completely. And all the boldness she had felt only moments before transformed into shame. How could it be anything else? Sickly, awful shame.
Tears filled her eyes, and she did her best to blink them back as she pushed away from him, and tripped on her shoes.
She started to fumble at the mop, trying to get it out from the door.
“Are you okay?” He didn’t sound like the dangerous outlaw of moments before. He sounded concerned.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“If you hadn’t done that before...”
“I have to go,” she said.
And she managed to right her clothing just as she wrenched the door open. She stumbled out into the hall, and saw an exit. Right out the back. It should be easy to take that, and go to the side where she had parked her truck. She ran down the hall, and he wasn’t right behind her. Probably because he was still mostly naked. Her shoe came off, but she kept on running.
And then she went outside and ran to the left. She got in her pickup and jammed the key into the ignition, starting it as quickly as possible. And when she turned to look, she saw him. Standing there, his shirt still open, her shoe in his hand. Then she put the car in Reverse and went straight out to the highway. And she did not look in her rearview mirror.
CHAPTER TWO
HEHADTHEmother of all hangovers when he woke up the next morning. But Damien Prince had a feeling it wasn’t strictly from alcohol. He had a high tolerance for alcohol, and anyway, working in the wine industry, it didn’t excite him all that much. Alcohol was a professional hazard, and it was about refining and tasting, more than anything else. It was the woman. Whatever the hell that had been. He didn’t... He didn’t do shit like that. Not anymore. He was in his midthirties. He didn’t screw women in storage rooms, much less take their virginity.
No. She could not have been a virgin. Except she’d acted like his thrusting into her hurt. And then she’d run away.
He rolled out of bed, in the small cabin he was staying in on his friend Levi’s property. It was nice of his friend to invite him to stay for Christmas. It had been a last-minute thing. He’d called Levi on his way to last night’s event, and Levi had said he ought to bunk with them, and it hadn’t sounded half-bad, all things considered.
There was nothing for him to go home to, after all.