Page 25 of West Wind

His fingers danced over her throat and down to her breasts. He lowered his head and kissed her nipple, sucking softly as she caught her breath and pressed herself against him.

The sensations he stirred inside her were amazing. Every touch took her farther, higher than before. When he moved his warm mouth over her breasts, she thought she might die. He lit a fire in her belly, a hunger that was primal and undeniable.

Her days to come were uncertain, but she had tonight.

Shelley abandoned all his reservations and lost himself in the desire that consumed him. He fell, and kept falling. Annie was the chasm that had threatened his dreams earlier, but now he fell languidly, wonderfully, with no thoughts of attempting to escape or of saving himself.

He rolled over to tower over her. He could see her face better this way with her dark hair spread out beneath her and the moonlight on her face. Her lips were slightly parted; he had to kiss them one more time before he finished undressing her.

She wanted him as much as he wanted her, he saw it in her eyes and felt it in her hungry kiss. That amazed him, because he couldn’t remember ever wanting anyone as much as he wanted her at that moment. Was this different for her or was she just a hot-blooded woman? Would any man satisfy her craving, or just him? Had she been this way with her husband? With Pierre? With Icky?

It didn’t matter. All that mattered was this moment. This night. The only night they would ever have. Annie pressed her body against his. Her skin was as silky smooth as his was rough.

She whispered his name as he buried his face against her neck and nibbled on her earlobe. Her hands were buried in his hair as he kissed the tender skin at the side of her neck, moving his lips lower to kiss the base of her throat, then lower still to take one taut nipple into his mouth.

He covered her mouth with his when he entered her, and discovered too late that his Annie, his Widow Brown, was a virgin.

He stilled her initial cries with a kiss and started again, slowly and with a gentleness he worked very hard to keep hidden from the outside world.

Annabelle instinctively raised her hips. Shelley was between her legs in a way that felt wonderfully natural, buried within her so deep he was a part of her. She’d heard that there would be pain the first time, but it was no greater than the pain of not having him inside her.

Her initial pain behind her, she lifted her hips to him again. In that moment, surrounded by darkness in a world that ceased to have meaning, he was all hers. He’d instilled a craving in her that only he could satisfy.

She clutched him, unable to catch her breath. She didn’t know what was driving her to such a fever pitch as she urged him to move faster. When she couldn’t take any more, a glorious spasm shook her body. She heard herself call his name as he drove into her deeper and deeper, until she felt his own release.

They didn’t move or speak for several minutes. At first, she didn’t think she could. Every ounce of energy was gone, but she felt wonderful, warm, elated.

When Shelley rolled onto his side to take his weight off her, he kept her in his arms, as though he was reluctant to let her go.

“I don’t love you. I promise,” she whispered against his chest. Her fears about the future and the past were nothing now, mists blown away by the storm they’d created. She wouldn’t say or do anything to ruin the moment for him, or for herself. “But no one makes me feel as good as you do. No one.”

He ran his hands through her hair, gazing at the stars over their bed. “I don’t love you too, darlin’.”

She smiled and kissed his chest. It was the sweetest thing he could’ve said.

CHAPTER TEN

When Shelley opened his eyes, Annie still rested on his chest.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” he muttered. Last night’s pleasurable activities took on a very different aspect in the harsh light of day. A virgin. A goddamn virgin.

She lifted her head, a contented smile on her face. Evidently she felt none of his regret as she gazed at him, those big brown eyes warm and inviting.

“Good morning.”

He covered his face with both hands and shook his head. “Get dressed,” he said more brusquely than he’d intended.

“What’s the matter?”

He lowered his hands and stared at her. Her smile and her look of contentment faded.

How did she manage to look so innocent? His eyes lit on a tiny pink spot on her chin where his beard had scratched her. Annie said nothing, but watched him expectantly. Her lips were rosy and swollen, her creamy soft skin even more perfect by the light of day. He began to remember everything that had happened between them, what was hidden under the rough blanket that barely covered her.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were a goddamn virgin? How did that happen, Widow Brown?” He didn’t even try to disguise the anger in his voice. “I don’t suppose you’d like to explain that to me?”

She chewed on her bottom lip, and looked—for a moment—as if there were real remorse in her heart.

“I’m not really a widow,” she confessed in a low voice.