Almost a Lady by Heidi Betts Page B

pebbled peaks.
    "Brandt,” she breathed again as his lips closed over one aching tip. His mouth was so warm on her breast, his hands so strong and sure as they grasped her hips. He positioned himself between her legs, his shaft pulsing at the opening of her desire. His fingers brushed through the downy auburn curls, seeking the hidden nub of pleasure within.
    He found her slick and ready, her need so strong that she arched into his hand. He had never been with a woman who became so hot so fast The urge to drive into her, to let himself be swept away in a tide of pleasure was so great he had to bite down on his lower lip to maintain a thin strand of composure.
    As far as he knew, she was a virgin, he reminded himself. He had to go slow. He had to make it good for her, too.
    She whimpered and twisted beneath him, nearly severing his last tenuous thread of control. “ Shh ,” he whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “It's all right,” he told her. “I'll be gentle, I promise."
    She answered by tangling her fingers in his own hair and tugging his mouth down to hers. Her breasts pressed flat between them. Her legs wrapped around his hips.
    Brandt slid into her easily, groaning with the exquisite pleasure that simple motion brought. He buried his face in her neck until he thought he could breathe without coming apart. Then he began to move. Slowly at first, giving her body time to adjust to his invasion. Her nails dug into his back, urging him to continue.
    He kissed her ear, nipping the lobe, let his tongue trail across her jaw until he reached her mouth. Her lips opened beneath his and he kissed her, wrapping his tongue around hers, licking the edge of her teeth while one hand toyed with a pert nipple and the other delved between their bodies.
    His fingertips skirted the mat of hair between her legs, drawing a line straight to the source of her enjoyment. While he moved inside her, increasing his rhythm and movements, he touched the bud of sensation and felt Willow tense with pleasure. Her breath caught in her throat and it took a full minute for her to begin breathing again. All the while, his finger flicked and whirled, drawing agonizing cries from her near-frozen lungs.
    He wanted to give her fulfillment. Wanted her to come before he did, but as her cries and undulations increased, his control began to slip. He grit his teeth, hanging on with a silk-thin strand of control. If she didn't reach her climax soon, he would be forced to go before her—and then backtrack to give her her pleasure.
    Willow's nails dug into his shoulders, her head arched into the pillows, and her hips rose to meet his thrusts. “Now,” she whispered raggedly. “Please, now."
    And that was all it took for Brandt to grant her wish. He clutched an arm around her waist, pulling her closer, at the same time locking his mouth to hers. And as her legs wrapped more tightly about his waist and her cries of delight reached a crescendo, he held a thumb to her clitoris and took one last, hard thrust.
    Tremors of satisfaction wracked them both and he rolled to his side to keep from falling off the edge of the bed. Willow went with him easily, her arms around his neck, her face pillowed in the curve of his neck. He was still inside her, but she didn't seem to mind. She simply pulled her knees up to accommodate their position.
    Which made him wonder. . .
    Had she seemed a touch too passionate for an untried virgin? Had she fallen into bed with him just a little too easily? Had his passage been a bit too smooth?
    He gave his head a mental shake. Of course she'd been a virgin. Willow might possess the smartest mouth he'd ever encountered on a woman, she may even toss around innuendoes like they were confetti, but she had only been in that brothel on a job for the Pinkerton Agency, not as a working girl. She had to be. . .
    Then again, did it matter? It shouldn't. But in the recesses of his mind, he couldn't help thinking that it did.
    He wasn't