When her hands grasped my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, I'd found bliss. She knew how to touch perfectly, expertly, giftedly. With fingers, palms, knuckles, even the backs of her hands, she used everything to feel. She wasn't touching for her own gratification as had been the extent of my experience before.

128*

No, she touched to give me pleasure, and I knew instinctively that my pleasure would make her feel more.

A leg nudged between my thighs. I spread them willingly. She shifted to lie between them, holding herself above me on her elbows. Slowly, she lowered her weight onto me, and the sensation nearly made me cry out from excitement.

"Okay?" she asked with concern as my eyes must have flashed the clutter of emotions I could no longer hide.

"Yes, yes." Or I would be if I could just get control of my heartbeat, and breathing, and stop trembling.

"You feel so good, so excited." She took an earlobe between her teeth, ramping up the tremble to a full-blown shiver.

I realized the fire I'd been feeling had caused an arousal like I've never known. The moistness of my past s.e.xual encounters didn't begin to describe what felt like the flood now between my legs. G.o.d, what was she doing to me? The perplexing notion flew out of my mind the second her mouth attached itself to my breast.

"Raven," I groaned, unable to believe that someone could be this talented at pulling pleasure from my body. s.e.x had never felt this amazing before. If I were being truthful, I'd have to admit that I'd never really understood what all the hype was about. Now, with her soft body over mine, her mouth and hands working me like she knew every secret pleasure zone, I finally got it. The revelation distracted me so much I wasn't entirely aware that her head had settled between my legs. Hot breath blew onto my over sensitized flesh, and the smoothness of her face made my thighs twitch with unrest.

"I'm going to taste you." Raven's eyes locked with mine before she moved forward and ran her tongue along my drenched core.

I bucked at the feeling then groaned when her mouth affixed itself to me. Nothing could have prepared me for *129 this. Oh, I'd experienced oral s.e.x before, but never with such expertise. Her mouth took me in, stroked me, pleasured me, loved me. In that moment, I felt a surge of panic inundate my system as I realized I wouldn't be able to convince her that I'd climaxed. She would know; she'd have to, especially in her position right now. Oh, h.e.l.l! Why hadn't I thought about this before I went to bed with her? Would she be discouraged with my inability to o.r.g.a.s.m?

When the panic tightened every muscle in my body, I reached down under her arms and gently tugged. Her mouth left me, eyes searching with question. "Up here," I coaxed.

"Let me make you come first." Her tongue reached forward again, making me hiss.

"Please, Raven," I pleaded. "I need to touch you."

"Oh, honey, anything you want," she a.s.sured when my voice cracked with desperation. She crawled up to kiss me with those lips that had given me more pleasure than I'd ever known.

Urgently, I rolled her onto her back, pressing my weight onto her. When I could wait no longer, I tore free of her mouth and slipped down her body, pulling gently on every inch of velvety skin. She was so smooth, soft but firm, so different from anything I'd ever known, but so perfect.

Reaching her breast, I lashed my tongue against the pebbled nipple, wanting to tease before I tasted. Her sudden intake of breath told me she enjoyed the teasing. I pulled the nipple into my mouth, flicking and sucking, basking in the moans that escaped her.

I straddled her thigh, nearly biting the tip in my mouth when my engorged c.l.i.toris rubbed against the crest of her hip. This heightened reaction was so foreign to me that I didn't know how to deal with it all. My hand felt its way down her abdomen, loving how her silky skin seemed to jump into my fingertips. When neither of us could stand the delay, I delved my fingers through her slick folds.

130*

"Yes, Jos, that feels amazing. I'm so close already. I don't think I'm going to last."

"Don't hold back, lovely," I groaned, my head pounding with ecstasy. My fingers swirled around, mapping the creases and ridges and valleys of her sodden flesh. Teasing and tantalizing until a finger chafed her c.l.i.t directly.

"Oh G.o.d, oh, oh, Jos!" Raven shouted just before her hips bucked against my hand. I felt the o.r.g.a.s.m slash through her and watched the flush of her skin under my mouth. Perspiration beaded everywhere as ripples tensed and relaxed each of her muscles. The pulsations against my fingers felt almost as good as the sight of her head and shoulders jerking against the bedspread. A rush of power crashed into me at the realization that I'd given her such pleasure.

Before she'd fully recovered I resituated my face between her legs to study the twitch of the glistening pink folds. An overwhelming need to taste her tore at my being. I kissed the shiny skin of her inner thigh, heading toward the only taste that would quench my craving.

"Oh, honey," Raven sighed breathlessly as she reached for me. "Let me finish making love to you now."

"You said anything I want, lovely." I was too close to her center to stop now.

Her head dropped back to the bed with a groan. "I like the sound of that."

I grinned wickedly at her. "Letting me do anything?"

"That, too, but I like when you call me that."

"Good, now let me do anything all over you, lovely," I commanded playfully.

With a moan, she complied, inching her legs wider. I nipped at the tender skin of her thigh, watching her open more for me. Her eagerness and trust squeezed at my heart with exquisite pressure. A muskier version of her scent slammed against me when I lowered my head to her very being. The first gush of flavor sated my tongue like no other *131 taste I've encountered. Her satiny flesh quivered in my mouth as I licked every surface, missing nothing but her c.l.i.toris. She'd liked the teasing before, and I felt like I could taste and tease all night.

"G.o.d, Jos, please!" she begged.

Before my tongue found her c.l.i.t, I fastened my lips to her hood, sucking first then let my tongue join in. Her thighs closed around my head, and she pressed harder into my mouth. My hands clutched her firm a.s.s, pulling her closer.

This felt so natural I couldn't believe I'd never found it before.

I laved my tongue to her opening and thrust inside, once, twice, and again before her labored breathing and moans told me she was close to the threshold. I moved back up and sucked her extended need into my mouth, lapping at her until she cried out my name and crashed into another o.r.g.a.s.m.

"Oh yeah, oh wow! Jos, that was fantastic." She pulled me up to lie on top of her. The friction I felt nearly made me scream with delight. I'd never been this close to the edge with anyone before.

Her lips cherished my face like she had last night. When her mouth fused to mine, she rolled me over, pinning me under her. Her eyes danced with desire while her hands touched my b.r.e.a.s.t.s again. I tried to stem the panic I felt, hoping I wouldn't disappoint her with my noncompletion.

She replaced her fingers with her mouth and let her hand drift downward. I seized up, the frenzy of sensations so wild and unfamiliar. A throaty chuckle sounded just before her mouth dipped quickly to my frazzled need.

When she sucked me into her mouth, I skittered along the precipice, willing myself to tumble over. Begging and pleading with my body and mind for release. What felt like a tingle of that unattainable swirl flashed through my belly.

I'd long ago learned to bury any frustration at never 132*

reaching o.r.g.a.s.m with a lover. But this time, I wanted it so much-for her.

"Come for me, Joslyn," she ordered softly.

I want to. Oh G.o.d, Raven, I want to!

Her tongue explored every part of me, patiently, languidly. A hand glided up my torso to tweak a nipple, sending a new jolt of pleasure through my body. My heart strummed harder than I thought it could handle without causing cardiac arrest.

The faint tingle turned into an insistent churning. No, it can't be. This doesn't happen to me. I can't be about to climax. It didn't matter that her mouth felt like it has been pleasuring my body for years, knowing exactly everything I needed.

Even I had trouble making myself come. There was no way she was going to make this happen. Only it felt so good, so right, so extraordinary. No, I don't o.r.g.a.s.m, not for anyone.

Not even as much as I wanted to. Except... yes, yes, I'm coming!

"Raven!" I screamed, riding out an o.r.g.a.s.m so forceful it made me doubt I'd ever experienced one before. The pulsations continued, relentlessly wracking my body while her lips and tongue eased up on the pressure.

Finally, she crawled up over me, staring down in wonder at my still shuddering body. "Feel good?" All I could do was stare back at her. "Guess so." From anyone else that would have sounded smug. From her, it sounded reverent.

"You-I can't believe-you, you made me come."

"Yes." She fluttered her eyebrows. "I loved making you come." When I didn't respond too astounded by my first o.r.g.a.s.m with someone else, her expression grew concerned.

"What is it?"

Unexplained tears flooded my eyes. A barrage of emotions a.s.saulted me without relent. G.o.d, I'd turned into one of those people. Ruled by emotions, unable to contain *133 their release. And in this beautiful woman's arms, too. I'm such a pathetic schmuck. Stop crying! Stop it right now!

"Sweetheart," Raven spoke softly, watching me with concern and understanding in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," I croaked when I gained some control over the roiling sway within me. "I don't cry. This isn't normal for me, I a.s.sure you."

"a.s.surances aren't necessary, Jos. You don't need to withhold what you're feeling right now." Tender fingers wiped away the tears that had fallen. She pressed kisses to my tear-stained cheeks.

I clutched her against me, loving the feel of her weight on top of me. What was happening to me? I'd always wanted to be free of any restrictive heft, to be done with any reminders of the s.e.x I'd had. This was different, she was different and not because she was a woman. Raven was different. "You made me come," I repeated when I'd trudged my way to the top of the emotional mountain.

She c.o.c.ked her head. "You seem surprised by that. You made me come, too. Twice."

"I don't usually..." I couldn't finish what I'd never told another living soul before.

Her surprise told me she knew what I hadn't said. "Not usually?"

"Actually ... never."

"But, by yourself?" Embarra.s.sed, I nodded once in response to her question. "Oh, sweetheart." Her voice held wonder, and I felt those pesky emotions start to bombard my tightly held control.

Was this what everyone talked about? Falling so quickly and thoroughly and hopelessly? No, I've gone thirty-seven years without falling in love. I must be making more out of this than is there. The o.r.g.a.s.m, I'll blame it on the o.r.g.a.s.m.

The devastating, earth-shattering, inconceivable o.r.g.a.s.m. At the hands of someone else. Well, mouth of this incredible woman. Yeah, a good o.r.g.a.s.m could wring the sensibility 134*

right out of anyone. It was the only explanation for me bursting into tears after climax and clinging to Raven like I didn't want to leave.

"Stay," she said after the slightest shift of my body from beneath hers. It didn't sound like an order or a plea. It was as if she'd slipped inside my mind and knew that I always left but didn't want to tonight. It was an invitation when one wasn't necessary. Like when people say "have a seat" after someone is already in the process of sitting. "Will your dogs be okay for the night?"

I couldn't believe she remembered them let alone thought about them right now. Her concern made me drop the preconceived excuse. "They should be fine."

"Then it's something else." Raven drew her fingertip down my forehead and onto my nose. "You're embarra.s.sed about crying." It wasn't a question, and I couldn't have denied it had she been asking. "Don't be."

"Easy for you to say." I tried for a lighthearted response.

"Don't be," she repeated, a request not a command.

Desire and something unidentifiable brightened her brown eyes. "That was the most beautiful thing that's ever happened to me. Please don't be embarra.s.sed, Joslyn."

"I seem to do the most unexpected things around you, Raven. I don't know how to handle that." Or these tumultuous emotions.

"Don't try to handle it." A simple order accompanied by a commanding kiss. "Let me see you, not the person you wear around for the rest of the world. Please stay. I don't want to give up this night yet."

G.o.d, she was good at this. So good, I may never want to give up this night.

Chapter 17.

"G ood morning," I murmured, still drowsy from not enough sleep. Despite not being used to waking up in someone else's bedroom, it took only a fraction of a second to realize where I was and whose hand was making my skin leap. I issued the greeting to the ginger colored window coverings I was facing. Raven's body melded to mine from behind, her arm draped over my middle, hand drawing lazy patterns on my abdomen. I rolled onto my back and suppressed a moan at the sight of a sleep-tousled Raven.

"How are you?" Her eyes, nearly hidden from unkempt bangs, showed a touch of apprehension.

I smiled up at the concerned face leaning over me.

Brushing the bangs back from her stunning eyes, I teased, "You're afraid I'm freaking out."

"A little." She shrugged with just the right amount of insecurity to eliminate arrogance from her personality traits.

"Are you?"

Was I? Nearly unprecedented sleepover aside, I was waking up with a woman for the first time in my life after having ravaged her for the better part of the night. I should be, a little, right? But I wasn't. And I stopped my mind from a.n.a.lyzing why, or I might end up contemplating that whole love thing again which this so wasn't, or couldn't be, well, 136*

shouldn't be because I barely knew her. Okay, that part freaked me out a little.

"So not," I answered truthfully because my hesitation made her concern grow. When a glint of skepticism crossed her expression, I went with more honesty. "Mmm, looks like I'm going to have to prove it." Lifting my head, I closed my mouth over hers and propelled up and over until she was on her back under me. When I pulled back from the kiss, her now bruised lips spread into a s.e.xy smile. "Convinced?"

"I don't know," she breathed seductively. "Do you have any more proof?"

I laughed at her delight and ran a hand down between our bodies to stroke her plump, slick flesh. "Hours and hours worth."

After I'd convinced her twice more, we lay spent until we could move in an upright position. She offered me the shower but decided to conserve water and join me. Once we'd helped each other wash and dry, I couldn't believe how energized I felt. If I hadn't already made love to her several times over the course of the night and morning, I'd press her against the bathroom counter and have at her again.

While she ran a dryer quickly over her hair, I started pulling on my clothes, thinking I should do something to feed us. My brain was still mush from all of the fantastic, beyond belief, hall of fame s.e.x that it took me a second to figure out I needed to leave the bedroom and find the kitchen for sustenance. I walked out into the hallway, tucking my shirt into my pants and finished with the zipper and b.u.t.ton.

Had I been looking where I was going, I would have noticed Raven's niece coming up the stairs. Instead, when I looked up, Ray was practically on top of me, eyes wide with shock. Perhaps it was my years of training at masking surprise with client confessions, or maybe it was because I'd *137 just had the best night and morning of my life, but I managed an una.s.suming smile. "Hi, Ray."

She blinked and blinked and blinked some more then stammered, "Oh, I, um, well, see we were going, ah, I was supposed to, oh man, horses! That's why I'm here."

"Okay," I accepted calmly yet started to feel the embarra.s.sment of being caught just minutes after having s.e.x with the aunt she idolizes.

"Sweetheart?" Raven's voice flowed out of the bedroom, stopping any reply. "How about omelets? Then we should go check on your-Ray?!" I'd been blocking her view as she surfaced from the bedroom, but I felt her shock when she gripped my waist to get us moving.

"Um, hi, Aunt Raven," the young woman greeted sheepishly. "Remember I asked if Kelly and I could ride your horses today?"

"Oh, yes." Raven slid an apprehensive look my way before stepping around me. "I forgot."

"This is a bad time, obviously." Ray's gaze moved studiously between her aunt and me. "You didn't answer the door, so I figured you were down at the office. I wanted to grab a riding helmet for Kelly."

A meaningful look pa.s.sed between them before they both glanced at me with apologies and hesitation. The tension was ridiculous, so I joked, "Well, so much for keeping this to ourselves."

"I won't tell anyone!" Ray jumped to promise us.

Raven, who'd been staring at me with a look of amazement, turned to her niece and laughed softly. "Try, Ray, please? It's my news to share if I choose."