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Tension zipped along Nina’s nerves. Control, her mind screamed. She whipped up a hand to stop him.
“I’m not a baby, Jack. I’m a woman.”
“I know,” he said warmly, taking her hand and putting it on his shoulder as he slid an arm around her waist. “I’ve got the music on. Let’s dance.”
Her body hit his and didn’t want to leave it. Besides, dancing was relatively harmless, she argued, nothing more than a social convention, done in public all the time. Except she knew perfectly well Jack was a great dancer, a sexy dancer, and she was playing with fire. Heat was racing through her veins even before he gathered her closer.
“I need to hold you,” he murmured, his mouth hovering near her ear, his breath tingling over her skin. The ache of yearning in his voice sent an echo reverberating through her body, stirring the need to be held, to feel his weight, his strength, his warmth, his sheer animal maleness.
“It’s been so long,” he groaned, his hands sliding over her back, relearning its curve, revelling in the sensual rub of silk on flesh, his and hers.
Yes, so long. The words moaned through her mind, wanting freedom of expression. It would be treacherously easy to close her eyes to the future and seize the moment, taking what she could while she could. Would that be so wrong when it felt this right to be held by Jack? But if it was so right, it would still be right tomorrow, she cautioned herself. And all the tomorrows that made up the future.
They swayed to the music. Tempted beyond caution, Nina slid both arms around Jack’s neck, pressing her breasts against the satisfying solidity of his chest, loving the firm delineation of his muscles as he sucked in a quick breath, then slowly released it.
It was dangerously wanton of her. She knew it but didn’t care. She had been too long apart from him, too long feeling only half alive. Her body was singing at every brush with his, exulting in the moving pressure of his thighs, arching sensuously to the moulding of his hands. She felt the growing hardness of his arousal, and excitement speared through her, leaving a shivery weakness that forcefully reminded her she wasn’t ready for this.
A paralysing thought crashed into her mind and stopped her feet dead. “Jack…”
“Natural response,” he soothed.
“Jack, have you been with other women?”
He met her gaze with sizzling sincerity. “Not since you, Nina. I don’t want any other woman.”
“Oh!” She flushed at his directness, at the desire blazing from him, searing her conscience with doubts about her decision to go her own way and leave him to his.
“You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. The only person I’ve ever loved, Nina,” he said huskily.
Her heart turned over. Jack was like her, alone in the world, no family to speak of, and though friends were good, it wasn’t the same as loving and knowing yourself loved. Without thought, without reason, Nina’s whole being surged to meet him as he bent his head to kiss her.
Their mouths melded, emotional intensity swiftly moving to a passionate expression of their craving to be one again. It was only when Jack scooped her into a more intimate fit with his erection, wildly accelerating the need to merge together, that Nina’s swimming senses whirled back to some common sense.
“Jack!” she gasped, tearing her mouth from his, her hands scrabbling to hold his head back. She choked out the words in incoherent little bursts. “I can’t. The birth. I’m sorry. I’m not—I didn’t mean…”
“Not fit yet,” Jack interpreted, sighing raggedly as he eased away and met her frantic eyes with rueful understanding. He stroked her cheek, transmitting tender caring as he smiled, warm pleasure welling over desire. “It’s enough to know you feel the same, Nina.”
“I have an appointment for a medical checkup next week,” she babbled, not realising she was implying a promise, rushing to excuse the frustration of not following through on the promise she had recklessly implied in flying with her instincts here and now.
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t care how long we have to wait. What’s another week or a month?” His smile spread into a happy grin. “I’m already on top of the world knowing you want me as much as I want you.”
Her heart stopped its mad beating, hanging suspended for a mind-blowing second. She’d done it! Committed herself without thinking! Only to making love with him, she feverishly excused. Her pulse picked up again, drumming through her temples, definitely a rush of blood to the head. And other parts of her anatomy.
Jack planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. “I promise I’ll keep it cool until the doctor says it’s okay. I wouldn’t hurt you for anything, Nina.”
Cool, yes. Better to stay cool for as long as she could. Though it would be wrong to lead Jack on and not deliver. If she just took one step at a time…The big risk was in taking too much for granted.
Jack tilted her face up to his, his eyes probing hers with compassionate concern. “Was the birth very rough on you, Nina?” he asked softly.
She grimaced. “There was a clock on the wall. I kept telling myself if I survived one more minute I might make it through actually having the baby.”
“That bad,” he muttered, distressed by the description. “I wish I’d been with you.”
“It’s behind me, Jack. I’ve got Charlotte now, and she’s worth far more than one day’s pain to me.” Needing him to realise and appreciate the importance she placed on their daughter, she added, “She was going to be my world. She’ll always be an essential part of it. If you hurt her, you hurt me.”
He looked taken aback. “I’d never hurt a kid, Nina. What on earth gave you that idea? I know I said kids were…” He hesitated over what words to choose.
“An abomination,” she finished dryly.
