Part 34 (2/2)

He heard her breathing accelerate as she sucked on his lower lip, then left his mouth to string kisses over his cheek and jaw, and he was glad he'd shaved while he was upstairs.

”What should I do now?” she whispered.

He cleared his throat. ”Well, I've been lying here hoping you'd roll up my s.h.i.+rt so you can play with the hair on my chest and my nipples. Or the hair under my arms. That would feel good, too.”

”It would?”

”Oh yeah.”

He felt her fingers trembling a little as she carefully rolled up his s.h.i.+rt, her hands stroking his chest as she worked. She combed her fingers through the dark, crisp hairs she found there.

”That's nice,” he murmured. And when her fingers glided over his nipples, then plucked gently at them, he heard a sound of appreciation rise in his throat.

”You like that?”

”Yes.”

She leaned over, touching one nipple with her tongue before sucking it into her mouth, and he clenched his fingers so as not to break his promise and pull her down on top of him.

Raising her head, she stared down at him. ”It makes me... hot and tingly to do that.”

”Me, too. When you touch me like that, it makes me want to do the same things to you. And I know you want that, too. I can see your nipples standing out against the front of your s.h.i.+rt. They're tight and throbbing, aren't they?”

When she didn't answer, he went on. ”Don't be afraid of the good feelings. Don't be afraid of what you want to do with me. When a man and a woman care about each other, making love feels very, very good.”

”It already feels good. But...” She lowered her eyes, focusing on the lower part of his body where an erection strained behind the fly of his jeans. ”I made you...”

”Hard,” he finished. ”Because of what you were doing.”

Her shoulders tensed. ”And now you want to put that thing inside me, don't you?”

”There's no use lying about it. You know I want you. But my p.e.n.i.s, that 'thing' as you call it, doesn't control me. I wouldn't want to be inside you unless that was what you wanted, too.”

She was staring into the distance with unfocused eyes, and he didn't know if she'd heard him or not. ”You could hurt me now,” she whispered.

”But I won't. Never.” He had told her to leave Falcone out of the conversation, but he heard himself say, ”I need to ask you something. Did Falcone force himself on you more than once?”

”Only once. I... ran away after that.”

He breathed out a sign. ”Good.” Clenching his hands behind his head, he said, ”Did you know that the first time a woman has intercourse, it's likely to hurt? No matter if she wanted to do it or not. There's a membrane that has to break the first time. And usually that hurts.”

He saw a flush spread across her cheeks. ”I... didn't know. n.o.body told me. I thought every time would be like that.”

”No. The next time you do it, it will be because you want to. And it will feel good.”

She looked like she wanted to believe him.

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