“Trust a man I barely know?”
He kissed her ear, still making those “shushing” sounds. “You know me, and I’ve told you the man is safe. And you should certainly trust your sister. What responsibilities did you have at eighteen?”
The trembling became worse and she leaned into Harry, for the moment letting herself relax, letting his heat seep into her. “None that I want Jill to have.”
“You’ve done an incredible job with her, Charlie. She’s an intelligent young lady and an excellent judge of character. She has enough sense to call you if anything should go wrong.”
She bit her lip, trying to sort out her thoughts. “Why should I trust you when you don’t trust me?”
His hands stilled.
“Something’s going on with Carlyle. I can feel it.”
A look of alarm passed over his features and his frown turned fierce. “That has nothing to do with you.”
Flabbergasted, she leaned back to look at him. “And my personal life has nothing to do with you, but I noticed that hasn’t slowed you down any!”
Her new posture pushed her pelvis closer to his, while baring her upper body. His gaze again lowered to her breasts, and he remained silent.
Tension radiated off him and she shifted. “What? No answer to that?”
His hand coasted down her spine to her backside, cuddling and stroking. In a near rasp, he said, “We’re standing in a bedroom, you’re taunting me with these luscious little breasts of yours, and I’m so aroused I can barely think. Did you really expect me to indulge in conversation?”
Her own arousal hit like a tidal wave, stealing her breath and filling her with undulating heat. All her confusion, all her nervousness, magically transformed into sexual awareness. She could barely get a whisper past her constricted throat. “Harry?”
Shaking his head with a denial she didn’t understand, he closed his eyes. “I can’t do this anymore.”
The heat of his hard chest beckoned her, and she braced her palms flat there. “Do what?”
Startling her with his suddenness, he lifted her, walked the two steps to the bed, then dropped with her to the mattress. He caught her hands and lifted them over her head, then groaned as her breasts pressed to his chest.
The weight of his body both appeased and intensified the ache, making her squirm. “I love how you feel, Harry. So hard and hot and strong.”
The low gasping of his breath tickled her ear. “I’m glad you think so, because I’m in no hurry to move.”
“I don’t want you to move. Let my hands go.”
“No.”
“What do you mean ‘no’?” When he didn’t answer, she tried to pull away.
“Not this time, honey. This time we finish it. My way.”
Charlie felt both excited and slightly alarmed by his uncompromising tone, uncertain how she should react. Then she realized she really had no choice. Harry wasn’t letting go, and that meant she’d have to accept whatever he had planned.
Her eyes narrowed sensually. She’d wallow in every second of his dominance.
* * *
RAISING HIMSELF slightly, Harry smiled and transferred both her hands into one of his own, then cupped her jaw. “You’re just filled with demands, aren’t you?”
“I wasn’t…”
“Hmm. Yes, you were. It’s part and parcel of who you are. But I like it. Most of the time. Right now, I like you soft and submissive beneath me.” He kissed her gently, pulling back when she tried to deepen the kiss. “Do you like it too, honey?”
“Yes.”
That soft whisper shook his resolve. Harry closed his mouth over hers, felt her lips part and immediately stroked his tongue inside. Her slender thighs tightened restlessly, her body shifting in subtle, erotic moves. His free hand slid down her side, then to her soft breast. Damn she felt good. Her nipple was already puckered, pressing against her thin cotton bra, and with a low curse, he caught the cup with his fingertips and pulled it down until her firm breast came free.
Harry tore his mouth away from hers to look at her. He leaned back and to the side, keeping her hands firmly clasped, watching in heated appreciation as she strained toward him.
Her breast was so white, the nipple a soft pale pink, and he wanted her. He leaned down with no forewarning and drew her into his mouth.
She gave a stifled scream.
“Hush. Someone downstairs might hear you.”
“Harry…it’s too much.”
“Nonsense,” he said, taunting her with his assurance. “You’ll like this. Just be still.”
She didn’t even try. As he licked and gently sucked, she struggled against him, moaning, twisting. She kept trying to pull her hands free, but he didn’t think she was even aware of it. She didn’t want to be free, it was just in Charlie’s nature to fight any type of restriction. He felt provoked by her reactions, and grew all the more determined to control things.
From the day he’d met her, she’d made him crazy with her take charge ways, even while his admiration for her courage grew. Little by little she’d seduced him, not just sexually, but emotionally as well. He wanted her, and he was tired of denying himself. Unlike his ex-wife, who tried to manipulate with tears, Charlie fought fair, with upfront demands and honest compromises. He enjoyed his battles with her, rather than feeling guilty over them. She excited him on every level, and he couldn’t resist any longer.
Later, he’d work through the problems. But now, in this precise moment, all he cared about was making her his own.
He loved the taste of her, her hot reactions, and he wanted more. Coming up to his knees, straddling her hips so she couldn’t scoot away, he tugged the bra completely off. Charlie froze for an instant as the heat of embarrassment colored her face and throat. “You’re looking at me.”
“Yes.” With one finger he touched her exposed nipples. “You’re wet from my mouth, tight and sweet.”
Her eyes closed again and she made soft sounds of desire. Her breasts were plump, offered up by the way she kept straining toward him. The mere sight of her aroused him as much as an hour of foreplay. “You’re right, sweetheart. These are very special.”
“You’re embarrassing me, Harry.”
His mouth tipped in a small smile. She didn’t sound embarrassed. She sounded excited. Her breasts shimmered with each breath, her diaphragm expanding. Her abdomen was silky smooth, narrow. The waistband of her jeans curled out away from her skin and he deftly flicked the snap free. He could hear her rasping, anxious breaths as he slowly tugged down the zipper. Her belly was taut, her hips staining upward. He dipped one fingertip in her navel, then followed the line of her zipper downward, gradually parting the material until he came to the elastic waistband of her bikini panties. Because he’d already seen her bra, he wasn’t surprised that these were also white cotton.
“You have very conservative taste in underclothes,” he murmured.
His finger continued to tickle up and down just inside her zipper and her voice shook when she replied. “No one sees them but me.”
Her words filled him with satisfaction, and the possessive urges no longer alarmed him. “I think this one is jealous,” he said of the breast he hadn’t yet tasted.