Rainey sucked in a breath. “That’s not…” But the words that formed her protest seemed to float out of her head like soap bubbles, the sensation of the tip of his tongue tracing her ear washing her mindclean.
“And you like that I carry a first-aid kit on road trips.” He was trying to make her laugh, and it was working, but when she laughed, the sound came from deep in her throat, a husky purr she didn’t recognize. The hand at her waist moved lower until it stroked the length of her thigh, still hidden under thebathrobe.
“And you like that I’m the one man in an all-girl band.” This time she shook him with her laugh. “Oh, and that I live with mygrandfather.”
“Stop,” she begged. “You shouldn’t be teasing when I’m trying to show you how I feel.” Too late, Rainey clamped her mouth shut. Jacques pulled up to stare down at her, his eyesalert.
He didn’t say a word. He just gazed down at her with sharp attention. His focus, so unrelenting and seemingly endless, made all the nerves in her body roll up in her stomach like a ball ofyarn.
“Howdoyou feel?” he askedfinally.
Rainey bit her lip. He was the one who could open his mouth and spout song lyrics. She couldn’t compete with that. If Rainey could write a song for him, she’d pour her beating heart into it, but she had about as much a chance of that as she did staying afloat in the ocean with her hands and feet bound inchains.
She brought her free hand between them and pressed hard against his shoulder, lifting her hips. Jacques took her cue and rolled off her, but before he could make another move, Rainey followed and climbed astride him. Mimicking his actions, she took both of his hands and pinned them to the bed beside hishead.
Heat flared in his eyes, but Jacques remainedsilent.
With her movement, Rainey knew that the robe had separated beneath her, so when she shifted down, she settled bare onto the crotch of his jeans. The proof of his arousal and sensation of rough denim along her soft flesh made her shiver. It wasn’t enough, though, to surpass the splendor of having him beneathher.
Hours before, Jacques had lit her ablaze, taking her places with his hands and mouth that she’d almost forgotten existed. He’d made her feel desired and desirable. Beautiful. Needed. Now, with his whole being beneath her and a night that stretched out before her, Rainey wanted to do the same forhim.
She fisted his T-shirt and hauled it up over his head. Of course, Jacques had to be a willing participant for this task, and thankfully he was. Neither of them spoke now, but his quickened breath communicatedeverything.
Spreading her fingers, Rainey placed them lightly on his bare chest, and for the first time, she felt Jacques shiver. And it filled her with immense pride. He brought his hands up to her face, and Rainey caught them, shaking herhead.
“No, keep still,” she whispered. “I’m showing you,remember?”
Locking eyes with hers, he allowed her to lay his arms back down on the mattress before he blinked and gave her a hoodedgaze.
“Oh, my God,” Jacques murmured when she ran her fingertips down his torso, just grazing him with her touch. Rainey reveled in touching him, and she feasted her eyes on his male beauty. With the tips of her fingers, she traced the seam between each muscle in his shoulders and down his arms — and there were many. She watched as her hands skated back to his chest and a crop of chills peppered his skin. When she let her ring fingers outline his tight nipples in synchronous circles, Jacques hissed in a sharp breath, closing his eyes with an expression of nearagony.
The sight of him sent ripples through her middle. Watching him come apart in ecstasy would be like a sacred rite. Rainey wanted to give that to him as much as she wanted to claim it as her own. She knew it didn’t make any logical sense, but Rainey could not help but feel that if she gave him that bliss, she’d be able to keep it as well. She’d have that moment of beauty that would belong to her. And no matter what happened, no matter when Jacques’s music took him, nothing could take the moment away. Memorizing his perfect form with her eyes and fingers, Rainey knew that claiming him — even just once — would give her heart and memories a treasure to hold that was far sweeter thanregret.
But as she sat atop him, the impulse that drove her wasn’t the one that focused on taking, but the one centered on giving. From the moment she’d met him, Jacques had given of himself. She couldn’t think of a time when she’d been with him when he didn’t show her an act of kindness or consideration or treated her with care andconcern.
He was alwaysgiving.
And this time, she wanted him to take what she had to give. She wanted him to know that she was his. For as long as that lasted. Rainey leaned over him and took his mouth, letting her lips tease and taste his before her tongue soughtentry.
But when she gave, he took. He took her kiss with a groan of satisfaction. And Rainey kissed him like she was made for it. For that and nothing else. When his hands lifted to her hair, Rainey shook her head against his mouth. At the silent scolding, he gave a huff of protest, but he dropped his hands, this time tucking them behind hishead.
The position drew her eyes to the sublime splendor of his biceps and the carnal, masculine thatch of hair in his armpits. Kissing his mouth was exquisite. Sacred. Undeniable. But the need to kiss those biceps made her tear her lips from his and move with precision and focus down the side of his jaw, to the muscled slope of his neck, over his broad shoulder and up the inside of his left arm. The skin there was shades lighter than his shoulders or forearms, and as Rainey tasted the flesh, she smiled. Here was a secret even the sun did notknow.
“Rainey…” he rasped, his whole body shuddering beneath her. “MyGod…”
She let her tongue stroke once more over the arch of muscle. “Does it tickle?” shewhispered.
His eyes were shut, his brow furrowed. “Yes… no… itfeels…”
Speechless Jacques was a new phenomenon for her. Inspired, she scooted lower, dragging her lips down the terrain of his arm to the top of his chest. Her hands ran down his sides until they met his jeans. His arousal was unmistakable beneath her. With steady hands, she unbuttoned his fly and snaked his zipperdown.
“Rainey.” His voice held a note of caution, but this was her turn. It was only fair. After all, he’d breached her undies just hours before. She glanced up under her lashes and found him watching her. With the tip of her index finger, she touched the point where the band of his boxer briefs met his skin. His muscles bunched, and his breath tore as she ran her finger low across hisabdomen.
“Rainey.” This time he spoke through gritted teeth, but he kept his hands anchored under his head, his whole body now twitching with what appeared to be barely contained energy. She let her finger make its lazy way back, his struggle mesmerizing. And then — with her heart pounding — she slipped her hand beneath the band, and Jacques’s controlbroke.
In a lightning-fast move, he grabbed her wrists. “Enough!”
Chapter 25