Scene of the Crime: Return to Bachelor Moon by Carla Cassidy

impossible to deny even if she had wanted to.
    As his lips left hers and blazed a slow trail down her throat, she tangled her fingers through his thick dark hair and whispered his name.
    He leaned back and looked at her, as if expecting her to tell him this was enough, that he needed to go to his room now and stop what they both knew was about to happen.
    “Come with me to my room,” she said, taking any doubt out of the situation.
    He stepped back from her, his eyes glowing as another flash of lightning momentarily lit the room. “Are you sure?” His voice was taut with tension.
    As a reply she took his hand firmly in hers and led him into her private quarters. He stood in the center of the sitting room as she locked the door, and then he followed her into the bedroom, where a small lamp pooled a glow from the nightstand.
    She turned, and before she could say anything or draw a single breath, she was back in his arms, his mouth covering hers in a kiss that seared her to her very core.
    They fell onto her bed, their embrace unbroken, his mouth still covering hers. The tumult of the storm was personified in her bedroom, barely restrained, as he fumbled with his buttons to remove his shirt.
    She helped him, wanting to feel his naked chest, to run her fingers across his warm, firm muscles. When his shirt was finally undone, he broke the kiss, sat up, shrugged out of the shirt and threw it into the darkness beyond the bed.
    She watched hungrily as he stepped from the bed, kicked off his shoes and pulled off his socks then removed his slacks, leaving him clad only in a pair of black boxers. The light from the bedside table loved his skin, emphasizing lean muscle and wiry strength. With eyes that glittered with unbridled need, he returned to the bed and pulled her back into his arms.
    His skin was fevered as his legs wound around hers, and she grabbed hold of his broad, bare shoulders. They kissed again, his mouth feeling as if he touched her everywhere.
    He broke the kiss and stared at her, the faint light dancing silver shards in the depths of his blue eyes. “You know that tomorrow it will be as if all of this never happened.”
    She heard the words he didn’t say, words to let her know this night meant nothing to him, that it wasn’t the beginning or the end of anything. It just was.
    She nodded. “I know, and that’s okay with me.”
    It was as if these simple words unleashed the most powerful part of the storm. He grabbed the hem of her nightgown and pulled it up and off her, leaving her clad only in a small pair of matching panties.
    “You are so beautiful,” he said, his voice deep and husky as his gaze lingered on her bare breasts. He cupped them with his hands and rubbed his thumbs over her nipples until they were taut and aching. “I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind.”
    When he drew one of her nipples into his mouth, a moan of pleasure escaped her. He teased the tip, licking and sucking as she tangled her hands in his hair and pulled him closer, tighter against her.
    In all of her twenty-seven years, she’d never known the need she felt at this moment, never experienced the kind of out-of-control passion she felt now for him...for Gabriel.
    As he continued to tease and lick her nipples, first one and then the other, one of his hands slid down the flat of her stomach. Her breath caught as he rubbed his hand over her intimately, the only barrier the silk panties she still wore.
    His hand heated the silk, and she arched her hips up to encourage the contact. She was on fire, and he was the only person who could put out her flame.
    She reached down and wrapped her hand around his hard length, shielded only by the cotton of his boxers. He released a groan as she squeezed slightly and moved her hand up and down.
    He allowed her to continue for only moments, and then rolled away from her and took off his boxers. This time when he kissed her, he started in the center of her breasts and nipped and licked