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She had to tell him that much.
“Jake,” she said softly, “don’t you see? Making love with you will be the one thing, the only thing, I’ll have to remember when—when we’re not together anymore.”
Jake drew a shuddering breath and tried to close his ears to what she was saying. Instead, he gathered her against his heart, held her, rocked her…And then he groaned and kissed her with all the emotion he’d so carefully kept hidden.
From Cat.
From himself.
“Tell me what you like,” he said. “When I touch you…Tell me.”
“Anything you do. Any place you touch—”
Her head fell back as he put his open mouth against her throat. She tasted like wild honey; her scent made his head spin.
A surge of emotion he’d never felt before shot through him.
“Cat,” he whispered. It was all he trusted himself to say. There was more, the words just out of reach, but for now her name was enough. He said it again as he ran a gentle finger over the taut outline of her nipple beneath the cotton fabric of her gown, then sucked it into his mouth.
A wild sob of pleasure burst from Cat’s throat. She clasped Jake’s head, her fingers tunneling into his hair as she arched against him.
Her body was on fire. Her breasts tingled. She could feel liquid heat between her thighs, in that place Sister Angelica had once said was the ultimate source of evil.
She wanted to feel Jake’s hand there. Between her legs. Was she evil, too, for wanting such a thing? It didn’t matter. She couldn’t ask. She’d never—
She didn’t have to.
His hand slid under her nightgown, his callused fingers deliciously rough against her ankle. Her calf. Her knee.
Cat grabbed his wrist.
“Jake?” she said shakily. “Oh, God, Jake…”
His hand stilled. She felt his entire body tighten.
“Cat,” he said hoarsely. “Honey, if you want me to stop, tell me now.”
She stared at him for a long moment. Then she touched a hand to his cheek.
“Don’t stop,” she said, her voice so low he could hardly hear it. “I want—I want you to touch me everywhere. I need—I need—” Her breath caught. “Don’t hold back. Do everything. Show me everything. That’s what I want, Jake.”
The whispered plea raced through him like a flame touched to kindling. Jake cupped Cat’s face and kissed her hard, slanting his mouth over hers again and again. He nipped her bottom lip, sucked it into his mouth, groaned when he felt the first, delicate slide of her tongue against his.
The last bonds of restraint slipped away.
There were tiny buttons down the front of her old-fashioned nightgown. Putting it on her hours ago, he hadn’t trusted himself to deal with all those buttons. Instead, he’d slipped the gown over her head.
It turned out he couldn’t deal with them now, either. His fingers felt too big, too clumsy. With a growl, Jake hooked his fingers into the demure neckline and tore it open down to her waist. He dipped his head, kissed her breasts, licked her honeyed pink nipples.
Cat went wild in his arms. Her head thrashed against the pillow; her hair slid over it like silk. How many times had he imagined this? Cat in his bed, his name spilling from her lips as he made love to her?
He kept his eyes on her face as he cupped her breasts and feathered his thumbs over the tips. She cried out; her dark lashes fell to her cheeks, flushed the pale rose of a shell tossed on the shore by a storm.
She was beautiful. So beautiful.
And she was his.
He kissed her mouth, swallowing her soft cries of pleasure. He swept his hand down her warm flesh to her narrow waist and slid his fingers under the torn nightgown. His blood was roaring in his ears. A huge wave was building inside him; the need for release pounded through his body with each beat of his heart.
