"Let go," he commanded.

And she did. She tugged at his shirt, and in seconds his clothes were gone. When he lifted her up, setting her on the counter, she felt the cool tiles against her bare skin. Leaning her head back against the cabinet, her body sought what he wanted to give.

Unchecked desire made her legs weak as he ran the edge of his thumb along the delicate seam beneath the tight curls. Then slowly he tugged her forward, her legs spreading wider. And when he pulled her gently from the counter and onto the hard head of his manhood, she gasped and clung to him, her legs curling around his waist.

He moved her carefully on the plump head, and he groaned into her neck. Then slowly, gently, he guided her hips as she slid down the hard, full length of him.

He cried out her name when he had impaled her completely. But he was big, too big, and she gave a small mewling cry.

"Damn," he said, his voice ragged.

With amazing strength, he pulled her free, then set her on her feet. When she would have touched him, he turned her around until she braced her hands on the counter.

"I won't hurt you," he promised. "But I can't stop."

He peeled away her skirt entirely. She felt aware of herself as she had never been before. Naked and daring.

He ran his palm up her spine. His touch whispered around, over her ribs, until he found her breasts. Her nipples puckered even tighter, a tiny moan escaping from deep in her chest. His palms pushed the mounds high, his thumbs circling, making her body pulse. And when his hands drifted down and around, they didn't stop until they came to her bottom.

"You are amazing," he murmured, palming each round cheek, parting her ever so slightly, then pressing his hard erection against her. "You turn my thoughts upside down, twisting my mind until all I see is you and all I want is to slip inside you until I come."

He took her hand and guided her back to the bedroom. But he didn't take her to the bed. He had her sit on a small love seat. Her breath caught when he kneeled before her, then gently spread her knees.

"I want to touch you and kiss you everywhere." Her chest rose on a deep breath. "Your eyelids"-he kissed her there-"your ear"-he brushed his lips along the delicate shell-"your mouth." He gave her a fleeting kiss, taking her hands and stretching them out along the back of the love seat.

"Don't move your arms," he commanded gently.

Then he cupped her face with his palms and he kissed her again.

She inhaled deeply, and he tasted her mouth. He circled and probed. Instinctively, she sucked as he slid his tongue into her, and when she started to move her arms, he stopped. "No moving," he reminded her, his voice gruff against her lips as he kept a tight rein on his desire.

She cried softly in frustration as he began to kiss her skin, exploring. She moaned when he pulled away, but the moan shuddered when he touched her nipples with the pads of his thumbs, and her head fell back, her wild tresses cascading in a tumble of curls.

"I burn to feel you," he said. "Here." He squeezed ever so slightly, then took her in his mouth, sucking her nipple deep, tonguing the barely perceptible indentation in the very tip before drifting to the soft underswell. His breath rasped in his chest, his body straining toward her. "Here." He trailed lower over her abdomen, and then lower until his lips grazed her tight V of curls. Her head came up, but her arms didn't move when he nudged her knees farther apart. Their gazes met. "And here," he whispered.

Without looking away, he touched the sweet tender flesh between her thighs, parting her with his finger.

Instinct flared, and she tensed against him.

"Let me touch you."

Then she eased just a bit, enough so that he could glide his finger along the wetness on her secret folds.

"I said I was going to touch you everywhere. I've barely begun."

She bit her lower lip in that way she had that drove him mad.

"Trust me," he said, his body pulsing, barely patient enough to show her pleasure, show her the very

intensity her body could experience. He wanted to lay her back and give in to the driving need he felt

to be inside her. But not yet. Her knees jerked apart in tiny increments as he began to run his fingers through the tight curls. When finally she exhaled a sighing breath, he slid first one finger inside her, then two. Her hips tilted up to him as he stroked. When he dipped his head and licked her, she was lost, and did little more than open farther to him.

He licked and sucked, stroking her. She gave in completely, threading her fingers in his hair, her body arching over his head as he trailed his lips along her curves. Then suddenly they were on the carpet, their bodies tangling together.

They rolled, each hungrily trying to get closer. Frantic, until they rolled again, bringing him on top.

Supporting his weight on his forearms, he framed her face. Her innocence and love shone up to him.

Then she moved against him, and he needed to be inside her.

He guided himself to her and instantly he realized that despite her being wet and wanting him, he'd have

to be careful, go slowly.

Sharp need stabbed through him, but he concentrated on Kate and her pleasure.

He kissed her patiently, wooing her, pulsing against her opening, teasing her flesh into easing. But Kate

groaned in frustration, whipping her head from side to side.

"I want you inside me, all of you."

"I don't want to hurt you again," he managed to say over the shuddering desire that threatened to

consume him.

She slid her hands down his back to his naked hips. "You won't." Then she pulled him to her, and he couldn't hold back any longer.

He gave in to the full strength of his need, and a deep groan escaped him. He nipped and sucked,

unleashing desire as he sank deep. Her mouth fell open on a silent gasp. But when he tensed and tried to pull out, she said, "No!"

"You want this? You want me?"

"Yes! Yes!"

She rolled her head on the carpet with each syllable. Pleading. Demanding.

He pulled her close, his heart pounding against his ribs, and he felt her entire body trembling as she adjusted to him.

"Wrap your legs around my waist," he instructed her.

The minute she did as he asked, he sank even deeper, and this time he gasped at a woman who could take all of his length-as if this woman, Kate, was meant for him. Had always been meant for him.

"Damn," he whispered thickly into her mouth. "You're mine."

He began to move slowly until he felt her passion surge again. She panted as he stroked her slickness

with his sliding shaft, bringing her up toward orgasm, kissing her, his tongue mimicking his lower body. And just when she cried her release, he plunged deep and captured her mouth with his, slipping his tongue into her hot wetness and feeling her shuddering tremors as his own. Then the tremors were his, his body erupting and arching into her, convulsing with a sheer aching intensity that he had never experienced before with any woman.

He whispered her name three times as his passion spent itself.

They clung together for what seemed like hours, neither wanting the bubble around them to burst. When he finally pulled up onto his elbows, he saw that her cheeks glistened.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, his voice ragged.

She smiled at him, then reached up and touched his face. Her fingers came away wet. "They're your

tears, Jesse, not mine."

TWENTY-ONE.

Someone called out, causing Jesse and Kate to freeze.

"Jesse! Where the hell are you?"

"Fuck, it's Derek," Jesse stated.

"Did you lock the door?"

"You were the last one in."

Kate gasped, and they broke apart. Like guilty teenagers, they raced back to the kitchen and started

scrambling to pull on their clothes. Jesse was done in no time, but Kate fumbled with her buttons.

Jesse gently but assuredly moved her hands away. "Let me."

"There's no time!"

"Exactly," he said, amused when he gestured to the mess she had made.

He worked the fastenings with ease. "There."

Kate gasped when she saw the ripped edges of her panties on the floor. "No! Over therel"

"Damn. How do you forget underwear?"

She started to argue.

"This isn't the time, Kate."

Which was true. But neither of them could retrieve the slip of material before the older Chapman

burst into the guest cottage.

"What the hell is this?" Derek asked grimly, his hair and shoulders wet from the rain that had started

to pour. He shook the afternoon edition of the El Paso Tribune in the air.

Every trace of vulnerability in Jesse disappeared. "Hello to you, too, big brother."