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His arms tightened on her. “Stop it, sweetheart, or we’re going to have a problem. I want this to last. After waiting this long, I want to savor tonight.”
But she was already on the edge, dying for him to be on top of her, inside of her. “We should go to my bedroom.”
“We should set some ground rules first,” he growled against her neck. “Holland, I’m crazy about you, but you’re going to let me control sex. I’m not foolish enough to think I could control anything else in our relationship but I need you to let me handle this.”
“Why does anyone have to be in control?” She’d always been in the power position with the men in her bed. Ceding it to Dax both excited and scared her.
“Because, as you pointed out, I have more experience. And I’m wired to take control. We’re not going to go at it like two teenagers. Not this first time. Maybe later, when I know exactly how to touch you to get you hot.” Heat melted his dark eyes like chocolate. “But right now I have to figure out how to handle you, how to steer you the right way.”
“I’m not a boat, Captain.”
“Aren’t you?” He brushed a big hand over one of her breasts, cupping her flesh in his broad palm and making her gasp. “Everything that’s worth doing is worth doing right. Making love to you is definitely worth my best effort. See, this little nipple is begging for attention.” He dragged his thumb across the sensitive bud so slowly she bit her lip to hold in a moan. “Take off your shirt and your bra so I can give it the proper attention.”
His voice had dropped an octave and gone velvety. Holland found herself obeying him. Her fingers shook as she reached for the buttons of her shirt, twisting each and releasing it before moving to the next. She didn’t leave the comfort of his lap, but he sat back like a king watching the show, mentally undressing her with those eyes. There was something a bit forbidden about baring herself while his erection pressed so intimately against her.
Holland unfastened the last button and let her shirt fall away before she unhooked the front clasp of her bra. Her breasts were nothing special. She hit the gym three or four times a week to stay in shape. She considered herself more athletic than sexy, but the way Dax’s breath hitched and he affixed his stare to her bare mounds, as if he’d never seen anything sexier, made her rethink all that.
He dragged his heated palm down the valley between her breasts. “Sweetheart . . . I always knew you would be gorgeous without all those clothes. So beautiful.”
Until him, she hadn’t felt that way. Her body had been a tool to use in service of her job, a way to move about each day. When she’d had sex, she preferred to go to the bedroom, get the deed done, and get to sleep. Her few longer-term boyfriends hadn’t seemed to mind, but she got the feeling Dax would take exception to that routine.
With him, it meant far more to her than a rote activity, too.
He kissed her again, their tongues tangling as he explored her breasts, caressing her nipples, plying them with his touch. Fire licked through her system. She could feel herself getting wet and ready.
“Lean back for me. I’ll hold you and keep you safe.” His words rumbled over the sensitive flesh of her neck as he gently leaned her back, resting her over his arm until she arched and thrust her chest up to him like an offering.
“Yes, these little pearls need affection.” He tongued one, laving and sucking it.
She had to bite her lip to hold in a cry. She’d never thought her nipples were particularly sensitive, but that was because they’d never experienced Dax’s clever mouth.
She heard herself whimper as he sucked one bud deeper between his lips. He didn’t satisfy himself with a little lick, a short few seconds of suckling. Not Captain Dax Spencer. He indulged. He reveled. He caressed her with his tongue, tracing her areola before he sucked the tip back into his mouth and gave her the bare edge of his teeth. A tiny bite of pain flared before he soothed the bud with a soft laving. Her body balled into an ache, her sex throbbed as he shifted his attention to her left breast and gave it the same loving treatment.
“I want to kiss and lick and taste every inch of you, Holland. Do you know how long I’ve waited to be here? Years. Fuck, sweetheart, even before I met you, I dreamed about you. I’ve always known you’re the one woman who could make me feel, make me want forever.” He nuzzled her, the stubble of his hard jaw gently abrading her skin. “Stand up and take off your pants. I don’t want anything to stop me from touching you.”
God, she wasn’t the girl who simply obeyed, but she found herself sliding off his lap and standing in front of him. Breathless, the moment full of gravity, she peered down at the man who had tried so hard to be her hero. None of her boyfriends had fought for her like that. Most had considered her more competent than they were. Not one of them had made her feel soft and feminine or so desired. Her father had wanted a boy, so he’d raised her to be tough. Maybe Dax was right that she didn’t have to be a stereotypical tough girl. Maybe here with him it was safe to be open, to express all her facets—strong and soft and terribly weak where he was concerned.
Holland lowered her guard and opened her heart as she unhooked the fastening of her slacks and let them slide down her hips. For a night, she could be Dax Spencer’s woman. That made her feel beautiful and feminine for once. And whole.
She watched as his hot stare followed the trail of her slacks as they fell slowly to the floor. He was right. They didn’t have to rush. After waiting for so long, they should savor every kiss and touch. After all, they’d never have a first time together again. Why hurry when she had no intention of moving on? Dax was the destination.
Every inch of him looked so masculine, his face all hard planes and angles that somehow formed a perfect definition of male beauty.
Dax sat, still fully dressed while he studied her. She stood a heartbeat away wearing nothing more than her panties. Being so exposed should make her feel vulnerable. Instead, Holland felt every bit as beautiful as he’d told her she was even as the fear of being so emotionally exposed cut through her. But she took a deep breath and remembered his sweet words. God, when he told her how much he wanted her, that he wouldn’t leave her, she believed him.
Flirting with something lasting was uncharted territory for her and perhaps a bit dangerous with Dax, but she couldn’t turn back now. She was finally ready to see if they could have something like forever.
She stepped out of the slacks, having kicked aside her shoes long ago. He sat forward, his stare unwavering as he cupped her hips. There was nothing between those hot hands and her aching flesh but a tiny scrap of cotton. Her bikini panties weren’t as sexy as she’d like, but Dax didn’t seem to mind. He leaned in and nuzzled his nose against her sex, breathing in her scent.
Normally, she would shy away from such intimacy, but he gave a low groan. The sound rumbled and vibrated along her sensitive flesh.
“Fuck, I can smell how aroused you are. Your panties are damp. You’re wet, aren’t you, sweetheart?”
She closed her eyes and sank her fingers into his hair. “Yes. I’m not usually like this, Dax. What are you doing to me?”
“Showing you how good we are together. Give over and let me take you somewhere only the two of us can find. This isn’t normal for me, either. Something this amazing can only happen with you.” His fingers slid under the straps of her panties and dragged them down her thighs, baring her feminine flesh to him. “You smell so fucking good to me.”
His words were like drugs, clouding her mind and turning her whole world soft and hazy. He nosed her, rubbing against her labia as he dragged her scent in with an audible breath again. And when he nudged her folds with his tongue, gliding between to taste her, she couldn’t help crying out in a strangled scream.
Her body trembled as she closed her eyes and sank into the moment. “Oh, Dax. Oh . . . That feels so good.”
“You taste good, just like I knew you would. Honey and sunshine.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her o
nto the couch. “Lie back and spread your legs for me.”
She did, and he followed her, settling on top of her. Holland’s sofa was apartment-sized and Dax was a big man, but the awkward tangle of arms and legs still made her shiver with a pleasure that went beyond the physical. She enjoyed being close to him and feeling like a woman in his arms. She loved feeling as if he was all hers.
After a lingering kiss, he stood again. She watched as he unbuttoned his shirt and tugged it off. That spectacular chest of his came into view. The sight almost had her gaping. Powerfully built, muscle and bronzed skin covered his arms, shoulders, and torso. His slacks rode low on his hips, showing off the notches there. Now she understood perfectly what he’d meant about wanting to lick every inch of her, run his nose over her flesh. She wanted to learn his touch, his taste, his scent. Wanted to surround herself with him until nothing and no one else existed. Only Dax.
He knelt on the floor and turned her to face him as he settled in, his big body twisting until he wedged his shoulders between her thighs and found a place for himself at her core. “I want to make you fly, sweetheart. I want to be the only man you come for ever again, the only man who gets to see and taste and touch you.”
He lowered his head and licked his way through her wet flesh to her clitoris.
Holland groaned, reached for him. Need pounded through her. She let her head fall back as he parted her flesh even more and licked her again, spearing her with his tongue. Another flash of lightning heat sizzled her, scorching along her skin until all that mattered was the pleasure he gave her and the intimacy they shared. He unwound her polite façade, obliterated her protective walls, and reduced her to a trembling bundle of need. And she knew that he alone could put out this fire and save her.
He slid his tongue deeper inside her before replacing it with one of his thick fingers.
“You want more?” His husky murmur taunted her just the slightest bit.
When she looked down her naked body to find him staring up at her with a decadent grin, he tantalized her by rotating his finger deeper inside.
She nodded.
“No, you have to ask me,” he chided gently. “Ask me to make you come, Holland.”
He was a bastard to make her beg, but she was too far gone to fight him. “Please. Dax, please make me come.”
“My pleasure,” he growled against her needy flesh.
He picked up the pace, adding another finger as his lips closed around her clitoris and began to work the little button hard. His fingers curled up inside her, rubbing and exploring while his tongue worried her sensitive nub. Holland clutched at the pillows around her as her head thrashed. Dax’s big body held her down or she might have come off the couch as he found some magical place inside her body that had her gasping with a growing ecstasy she could barely fathom. Between his fingers inside her and his mouth all over her, she couldn’t fight orgasm a second longer.
Pleasure swamped her, hard and fast, and as she splintered, she cried out his name. Her body shook and stiffened as the orgasm became her everything. He didn’t let up, forcing her higher and higher. She could have sworn her peripheral vision began to fade, narrowing her whole world to just Dax.
Finally, he let her go and she relaxed, limp and satisfied. Her blood flowed through her system in a pleasurable thrum. He scooped her up and stood, cradling her to his body. And she felt both delicate and adored in his arms.
Holland let her head roll onto his chest and she listened to the speeding gait of his heart with a punch-drunk smile. “Now I know why they call you Captain Awesome.”
His eyes flared as he marched toward her bedroom. “Oh, sweetheart, I haven’t even started showing you how awesome I can be.”
Holland sighed. If the last few minutes hadn’t been the peak of her day, then she just might have found heaven. She should have known Dax would be the one to take her there.
SIX
Dax was fairly certain his libido was running on a short fuse. He was set to explode at any moment, and he would be damned if he came all over Holland like a seventeen-year-old kid with his first woman. He’d had to apologize profusely to Gabi Webber, a pretty senior at the girls’ school near his prep school alma mater, Creighton Academy, because he’d ruined her uniform. Not happening tonight. He would give Holland the best he had. His past, his thoughts, his heart . . . they all led him right to this woman. He belonged with her.
He forgave her for refusing him all those years ago. She’d been young. Hell, he probably hadn’t been ready, either. He would have expected her to be a good Naval wife, to stay home and have their children. But Holland needed a career every bit as engrossing as his own, and asking her to live alone and eventually single parent wasn’t entirely fair. He understood that now. She was driven and needed to achieve outside the home, and he would do everything he could to make that possible for her. This time, they were both ready for something more, something lasting. Nothing was going to tear them apart. He would make sure of it.
He stepped into her bedroom and eased her down to the bed. The room was functional, the furnishings comfortable and feminine without the frilliness of other women’s bedrooms. All grays and creams with a hint of peacock blue. He liked it. He felt at home in her tidy apartment.
He’d definitely felt at home when he’d been between her legs, his mouth on her pussy. She’d been so hot, the feel of her around his fingers had singed him. He’d tasted her sweetness as she shattered against his tongue. It had been everything he’d fantasized about and so much more because Holland was real—stubborn and smart—and she’d chosen him. She’d spread her legs and welcomed him inside.
Now he intended to brand her with pleasure so profound that she’d ache deep inside whenever they were apart. He would feel it, too. Neither of them would be complete unless they were together in every way possible.
She turned over, bracing her head in her hand, that glorious body of hers laid out. “Do you know how much I want to see you naked, Captain Awesome?”
He didn’t want to get into that shit. “Just Dax.”
She sighed. “Dax, could I please see you naked? I’ve wanted to for so long. Unlike some of your friends, you’ve been careful about not getting caught by the press with your pants down.”
He had to grin at the thought. He’d been lucky, especially after that wild weekend in Vegas with Harry and strip pool. He’d been a much better pool player than the English prince. “Did you watch for me?”
Her smile dimmed the slightest bit. “Always. I suspect you’re going to be gorgeous.”
Hearing her say that made him feel about ten feet tall. She wouldn’t believe it, but he rarely had a woman look at him with such open and honest desire. The fact that she knew and wanted him—and that her feelings had nothing to do with his friends, money, or position—did something for him.
He reached for the fly of his slacks and he undid them, letting the garment slide to the floor.
He didn’t wear underwear, and when her eyes widened and she gasped, he just smiled.
Holland sat up, staring, her breath hitching. He groaned inwardly, his cock harder than he ever remembered. When had he desired a woman more than his next meal, his next sunrise, his next breath? Dax knew the answer.
He couldn’t believe he was finally about to have the woman he’d always wanted. A part of him ached to simply jump on her and find some blessed relief, but he wasn’t going to rush this or her.
When she scooted to the edge of her bed and touched a soft hand to his chest, it was the sweetest torture. Her palm glided over his torso, her fingers tracing every line and muscle that defined his body. Soon, she raised her other hand. It joined the first in her exploration like twin butterflies brushing a soft, aching path across his skin.
Then she leaned forward and pressed her mouth right over his heart.
He clenched his fists at his sides so he didn’t toss her to the bed and penetrate her in the next five seconds. “You’re g
oing to make me crazy.”
She gave him a Mona Lisa smile. “I’m going to explore you the way you explored me.”
Holland bowed her head and ran her tongue over his nipple. A pleasant shiver went up his spine. He bit back a groan as he sank his hands into her gloriously soft hair. “Bite me. Just a little nip. I want to feel your teeth.”
Her lips curled against his skin and he tensed, waiting. Then she nipped him. It was blissful torment, exactly enough to drag him back from the edge. It made his dick jump, too. But now he could stand still and give her what she wanted.
She shifted to the other nipple, giving it the same treatment. He looked down, watching her golden hair brush across his skin. It was like a web he could get lost in. Holland was usually so tidy in her appearance—sleek suits, neat skirts, never a hair out of its perfect and functional swept-back do. But now she looked a little primal. With her hair mussed from his hands and those gorgeous lips bruised from his kisses, she was the most tempting woman he’d ever seen.
She dropped to her knees in front of him and he held his breath, praying he would outlast what she planned next.
“You’re beautiful, Dax.” Her eyes fell to his cock as she brushed her hand up the length of his erection. She looked at him
