Page 71 of As the Devil Dares

She knew what he meant, and a blush heated her cheeks and all the way down to her breasts. “Yes,” she whispered, “that, too.”

Turning her in his arms, he kissed her hungrily as he stepped her backward to the bed. This time when he lowered her to the mattress, he left hot, open-mouthed kisses down her front. He suckled at her breasts until she moaned and her back arched off the bed in sweet torture. Then he continued downward over her belly, lower and lower…

She held her breath as his mouth found the aching place between her thighs, only to exhale with a soft shudder when he placed a tender kiss there. But when he continued to kiss her intimately, she squeezed her eyes closed and bit back a moan. Never…oh, never had she imagined being with a man could be both so heavenly yet so wicked at the same time! But only because of Robert. He made her feel beautiful and desired, the way no man ever had before. And as she knew in her heart, the way no other man ever would again.

With alternating kisses and licks, he flamed the fire inside her until all of her shook with an increasing need that begged to be released. She pulsed electric, every nerve ending in her body tingling. The world receded until all she knew was the exquisite feel of his mouth against her, the softness of his hair as she reached down to run her fingers through it, the solidity of his hands stroking her inner thighs and holding her open to his ravishing lips.

When he closed his mouth over the little nub buried within her folds and sucked, her hips bucked off the bed.

“Robert!” she cried out, her fingernails digging into his shoulders.

“Relax, Mariah,” he cajoled, each word a hot tickle that pulled tighter the knot in her lower belly. “Let yourself go and enjoy it.”

Heavens, if she enjoyed it any more, she’d jump right out of her skin! But she couldn’t fight back the flames licking at her toes as he continued to kiss between her thighs. Or the overwhelming urge to wiggle her hips against his mouth.

An appreciative groan escaped him. “It’s all your fault, you know,” he whispered against her.

“How…is this…my fault?” she panted out between gasping breaths.

“Because you’re so delicious that you make me want to devour you.”

The brazen audacity of his words poured liquid flames through her, and when he sucked at her again, a shuddering wave of pleasure crashed over her. Her breath came in large gasps as her thighs quivered against his shoulders. She felt as if she were levitating weightlessly off the bed, with only her hands clenching the blanket beneath her to keep her from floating away to heaven.

When the exquisite release waned, she lay still on the mattress. Her eyelids were too heavy to lift as she drank in the residual waves of pleasure lapping softly through her.

Then her desire-fogged mind registered that he had slipped away from her. “Robert?” she whispered anxiously, afraid that he’d changed his mind. That he didn’t want her after all.

“I’m right here,” he assured her. “I’m not leaving you tonight.”

When he returned a few moments later, his clothes were gone, and his naked body was warm and hard and so very large as he slid up the length of hers. Everywhere their bodies touched, heat prickled her skin, and a new, even more intense ache sprang up inside her.

“You are beautiful, Mariah,” he murmured.

She opened her eyes. His blue gaze was haunting in the darkness as he stared down at her. The enemy she’d known was completely gone now, and in his place was this wonderful man who was making tonight perfect for her.

He kissed her, with more tenderness and desire than she ever imagined possible. No more animosity between them, no more clothes, no more words…only bare body to bare body, both exposed and vulnerable. Certain that this night with him was good and right, more certain than she’d ever been of anything in her life, she wrapped her arms around him and welcomed him into the cradle of her thighs.

He reached between them to gently caress her as he shifted his body over hers. Her already sensitized flesh ached from even this light touch, yet she yearned for more. She knew how men and women took their pleasure in each other, and if having his mouth on her had been that exquisite, then his body inside hers would surely be bliss.

His hand slipped away from her. Instantly bereft, she let a whimper of protest rise to her lips—

Then a hardness nestled down against her sex, and she tensed as he lowered his hips and slipped inside her warmth, inch by slow inch. She held her breath at the unfamiliar sensation of being filled and stretched as her body expanded around his.

She squirmed beneath him. Not uncomfortable exactly, but neither was it the same wonderful pleasure he’d given her with his hand and mouth. She blinked back the hot tears of disappointment threatening at her lashes, not wanting him to see how upset she was.

Holding himself over her on his forearms, he lifted his hips to retreat, then lowered himself again, this time sinking deeper and causing her to spread her legs wider around his hips to be more comfortable. All of him shook, and the way his body clenched so stiffly over hers only added to her discomfort. She bit back the urge to tell him to relax, just as he’d done to her.

A low groan escaped him. “Sweet Jesus…you’re so hot and tight.”

“I’m sorry,” she choked out, no longer able to hold back tears that he should find her so disappointing.

Despite his grim smile, he gave a tense laugh and placed a quick kiss to her lips to reassure her. “That’s a good thing, minx.”

She didn’t believe him. “Is it?”

“A very good thing.” He squeezed his eyes shut and repeated the slow retreat and plunge. This time he slid deeper, her body forced to stretch even wider to accommodate him.

She wiggled her hips beneath him to ease the pressure—