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He took her other nipple in his mouth and drew, slow and strong until her blood heated to flashpoint and she wondered if she might climax there and then.
‘Jack!’ She didn’t know if she shouted or whispered his name but the depth of her longing was there, plain as day. As if her quaking, taut body wasn’t proof enough.
Yet it was his revelation that truly undid her.
Jack had been celibate since she left!
It didn’t occur to her to doubt it. Jack never lied. The idea of him waiting all this time, forher... It shouldn’t make a difference but it did.
He pressed closer, pinioning her against the tree, one hand cupping her breast and the other sliding up the silk of her skirt, bunching it to caress her bare thigh.
She heard a gasping sigh. His or hers? He kissed her again, slow and deliberate like the progress of his hand up her leg, giving her time to stop him.
Bess thought about it. She really did. For at least a second. Somewhere in the back of her brain she knew there was a reason she shouldn’t do this. But what reason could outweigh the euphoria of this, just one last time?
His hand stopped at the damp lace between her legs. The feel of his hand there... It took everything she had not to thrust forward into his touch.
He pulled back, just enough so they could drag in air. His forehead rested against hers. ‘I should stop. I can’t take you up against a tree, no matter how much I want to.’
Bess’s heart leapt. His words notched her arousal impossibly higher. At this moment there was nothing she desired more than Jack filling that aching void within her. She imagined taking him inside her and for a moment the world around her blurred.
The hand between her legs moved away and her eyes snapped open as he lifted his head.
His expression looked stark in the chiaroscuro of black shadow and silver moonlight. With regret and guilt? His voice was pure gravel as he said, ‘We came here to talk. Not—’
‘I don’t want to talk now.’
He nodded, his mouth turning down as he straightened, allowing more distance between them. His chest rose mightily as if he too had difficulty catching his breath. ‘I understand. Tomorrow morning—’
‘Not tomorrow morning. Now!’
Bess grabbed his upper arms, feeling his bunching biceps through the fine fabric of his shirt, and leaned in close. Jack held her easily, a frown digging into his forehead as he surveyed her.
Because he wasn’t accustomed to her making demands? Because she’d swung from not wanting to be near him to wantinghimso fast?
But it hadn’t been fast. That was the problem. Marriage to Jack Reilly was bad for her but that didn’t cancel out the fact that sex with him made her feel wonderful, whole and powerful in a way she hadn’t known for almost a year.
He didn’t release her. If anything his hold tightened. ‘Elisabeth, are you sure?’
That, more than anything else, tipped the balance.
Jack could have followed through and taken her as they both wanted in that moment of sheer erotic excitement. Instead he pulled back and offered her space. Even now when she’d made it clear she desired him, he did something he’d never done before. He hesitated.
Her husband never hesitated when it came to taking what he wanted. Unless it was a ploy to heighten the sensual tension between them. But that wasn’t the case now. He was giving her time to reconsider, handing her back power instead of using it to his own advantage. Giving her time to regroup and possibly reject him.
Bess’s eyes rounded.
Jack had changed.
She had no doubt he could still be ruthless. But in this moment he wasn’t pressing his advantage. He wasn’t charming her or persuading her or even seducing her, though the feel of his muscled body against hers was a promise of pleasure to come.
Something swooped high and hard in her chest. A sudden soaring, as if an unseen weight she’d carried lifted.
He was putting her first.
Jack had always been unselfish during sex, ensuring she climaxed, often several times, before he did. But this was more. This was deliberately ceding control of a situation where he had an advantage.
A thrill ran through her that had nothing to do with his body against hers, or the way her libido had suddenly reactivated. This thrill ran deeper and more potent. It shook her certainties about their relationship.
