Sacrifice of Passion (Deadly Legends) by Melissa Bourbon Ramirez Page A

him.
    “It should have been you…” Her voice was distant. Sad.
    His puzzlement grew. “Laney, it is me…”
    After another moment, she dropped her arms and her body relaxed. “Vic.” Her voice dropped to a low, sultry incarnation that made him shudder. “I can’t forget…”
    That made two of them. He couldn’t forget about her either, not since he’d run into her in San Julio’s veterinarian office. Every freaking waking moment of the last three days. “Me, either,” he murmured. He pulled her down and started to kiss her, but she put her fingers to his lips, pushed him flat, and shimmied out of her thin pajama bottoms.
    Finally, she brought her gaze to his face. Smiled faintly. “It’s time.”
    Seeing the curves and hollows of her body and feeling the faint pressure of her knees and calves along his outer thighs as she kneeled over him forced his heart to his throat. This was Delaney West. His Laney. “Long overdue.”
    Her smile turned wicked. Seductive. And then she caressed one of her breasts and ran her other hand up her thigh, teasing her fingers against the space between her legs.
    He almost came on the spot. “Come down here, Laney.”
    With firm hands, he pulled her forward and she sank down until her bare backside was resting on his stomach. Reaching behind her, she slipped her hand into his boxers and stroked his erection with a long, even rhythm. He let his hands slide up her thighs with a feather-light graze until they wound through the thin strip of hair between her legs. She closed her eyes and moved with him as his fingers explored her, her urgency increasing.
    He needed more. Now.
    As if they could read each other’s thoughts, she released her hold on him as he gripped her hips and propelled her upward. She fell forward, propping her hands against the wall at the head of the bed, her hips positioned perfectly over his face, her knees on either side of his head.
    And then, at long last, he was tasting her. She moved against him as his tongue pinpointed her arousal. He worked slowly at first, then faster with each of her low seductive pants.
    Delaney. God, he’d been waiting for this for years. Never thought she’d take him up on his deal. But he’d been delusional to think they could do this one time and then it would be over. He knew now, without a shadow of a doubt, that making love with her would not cleanse his mind of her. No, it would infuse her more deeply into his soul. After this, he’d never be free of Delaney West.
    She tasted sweet, just as he’d imagined. His tongue circled and flicked against her as she moved against him. Her moans grew. He wasn’t the first man to love her, he knew, but he’d give her the best orgasm she’d ever had.
    She writhed, her rhythm growing erratic. She was close…
    The wind outside picked up, a gust blowing into the room. The bedroom door slammed, and Delaney jerked, her body close to convulsing. She froze. Trembled. Tried to pull away from him. “Oh, no…”
    Oh, yes. He gripped her hips, flicking his tongue against her until the sudden force of her orgasm hit, a tidal wave that visibly coursed through her, making her cry out. He held her tight, relishing the feel of her shuddering body, her total loss of control. The orgasm he’d been waiting twelve years to give her.
    The second it passed, he felt her body go limp. She fell backward, her hair spilling down in front of her, obscuring her face from him. Her hands dropped to his chest, her breath ragged and strained. Her voice was a hoarse whisper.
    “Oh, God. No, no, no…”
    He reached up to push her hair out of the way with his fingers, stifling his urge to flip her onto her back and find his own release. He wanted to be in her. Now. But he stopped when he saw the expression on her face. She seemed…horrified.
    The only evidence of the sensations her body had just experienced were the faint marks of scarlet on her cheeks. That uneasy feeling drilled deeper into him. “What is