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‘I’m glad you told me because now I understand why you keep backing away. You don’t believe that I’ll be able to love your baby the way I love you. You don’t believe I can love unconditionally.’
‘You don’t love me. Please, stop saying that.’ She covered her face with her hands. ‘You can’t possibly love me.’
‘Why not? Because your stepfather didn’t love you? Because your mother didn’t stand up for you? That doesn’t make you unlovable, sweetheart, it just makes you unlucky. But luck can change and it’s time yours did.’
Her hands dropped and she turned to look at him. ‘Jake…’
Unable to help himself, he brought his mouth down on hers. Her lips, impossibly soft and sweet, parted under the insistent pressure of his. He felt the hot burn of arousal scorch his body but held himself back, not wanting to rush her, aware that she was still deeply upset and extremely vulnerable. If he’d stopped to think then he probably would have admitted to himself that it wasn’t the best time to kiss her, but somehow thinking seemed impossible. He slid a hand into her silky hair and kept the kiss gentle and exploratory. He tasted hesitation and fear. Sensed her reluctance. And then she slid her arms round his neck and kissed him back, her tongue touching his.
The kiss was mindless, endless, and then she pulled back slightly, her dark eyes clouded.
‘We shouldn’t be doing this.’
He stroked a hand over the smoothness of her cheek. ‘If you can give me one good reason why we should stop, I’ll give it my full consideration.’
‘I’m pregnant.’
‘That’s not a reason. You’ll have to do better than that.’ His lips brushed against hers and he felt her shiver of response.
‘My New Year’s resolution was to stop believing in romance.’ Her voice was breathy and feminine and slid over his nerve endings, increasing his arousal several notches.
‘New Year was weeks ago.’ He nibbled at her lower lip. ‘It’s time you broke your resolution.’
‘Jake…’ She groaned his name against his mouth and he felt aching, tearing claws of lust drag through his loins. He couldn’t remember feeling this desperate since he’d been a teenager and suddenly he felt his control slipping.
‘Come upstairs with me, Miranda.’ He stroked her hair away from her face and kissed her again. ‘Now.’
‘Yes.’ She rose to her feet and he scooped her up into his arms, ignoring her soft gasp of surprise and protest.
‘Put me down! You’ll slip a disc or something. I weigh a ton.’
‘You don’t weigh anything,’ Jake growled as he carried up the stairs to his bedroom. The curtains were open and moonlight shone through the windows, casting a gentle light over the room. ‘You should be heavier than this. You definitely need to eat more. I’m going to devote tomorrow to feeding you.’
Her arms tightened around his neck as he laid her in the centre of the bed. ‘What about tonight?’
‘That’s devoted to something else entirely.’ He came down next to her and brought his mouth down on hers, forcing himself to take it slowly. Part of him wanted to strip her naked and take her fast but he knew that she deserved so much more than that. She deserved to be well and truly loved. So he kept his mouth gentle and his hands slow.
He felt her body shift under his, felt the urgency of her own response and removed her top in a smooth movement. Her breasts were perfectly rounded and he lowered his head with a groan of masculine appreciation.
‘You’re so beautiful.’
‘I’m so fat.’
Even though he was aching and throbbing with need, her tiny plea for reassurance was so entirely feminine that it made him smile. ‘Sweetheart—do I need to tell you how much I want you?’
She lifted a hand to his face and there was uncertainty in her eyes. ‘Do you?’
‘Can’t you tell? I wanted you from the first moment I saw you sitting by that frozen lake. You looked at me and I was lost.’ He moved his body so that she could be left in no doubt as to his own state of arousal and dragged the tips of his fingers over her nipple.
She arched towards him, her mouth damp from his kisses, her dark hair tumbled around her shoulders. She was all woman and her beauty drove all words from his head.
He didn’t know how to tell her how he felt.
He only knew how to show her, so he lowered his head and his mouth touched first one breast, then the other. Then his tongue flickered out and he licked and teased before sucking her into the warmth of his mouth. He heard her soft gasp, felt her hands slide into his hair and grip.
He felt her body shift restlessly, felt the stroke of her leg against his, urging him on, but he discovered that he was no longer in a hurry. Who, in their right mind, would want to rush something so impossibly perfect?
He ignored her soft whimper and her searching hands and took his time, removing the rest of her clothes and his and then sliding his mouth down her silken skin, lingering on the curve of her abdomen before moving lower still to discover the heart of her.
