Part 10 (2/2)
Storm let her legs fall open, amazed that she had obeyed Grady's command without the slightest protest. He didn't enter her immediately, wringing an agonized groan from Storm. Didn't he know how she ached to feel the hard thrust of his strength inside her? Instead he inserted his hand between their bodies, locating the tender bud nestled between her thighs, and ma.s.saged in slow, erotic circles. At the same time his lips toyed with her sensitive, swollen nipples. He suckled her b.r.e.a.s.t.s as his fingers grew bolder, searching for the pleasure points he seemed to know by instinct.
Suddenly he reversed their positions, bringing Storm atop him. For a moment Storm looked confused. Grady chuckled, delighted that he was the first to teach her new ways to love.
”What are you doing?”
”I told you there are many ways to love. You and your husband must have been innocent babes when it came to loving. It will give me enormous pleasure to teach you all I know. It will probably take me a very long time.” Storm's eyes grew round as saucers as she considered his mind-boggling statement.
”Put me inside you.” His voice was harsh. By now his control was hanging by a thin thread.
”No.” Storm had no idea why she was fighting the issue. She knew he'd soon have her begging him to take her. The man was a devil. He showed no mercy, demanding more than she was prepared to surrender. He wanted her soul.
Grady gave her an enigmatic smile as he raised his head and began suckling her nipple, while with the soft pad of his thumb he manipulated the tiny bud of her desire until it was swollen and throbbing.
”Put me inside you,” Grady repeated in a strangled voice. This time she obeyed instantly.
A groan of unholy torment erupted from his lips as she grasped his swollen staff and brought it against her moist crevice. Erupting in a frenzy of unrestrained pa.s.sion, he grasped her hips and raised her slightly above him, thrusting upward as he brought her down to meet the rigid length of his manhood. His hardness electrified her and the sweet agony of impalement exploded upon her like a thousand tiny bursts of pleasure.
”Grady! Oh, Grady!”
”Do you like it this way, sweet? Ride me, Storm, ride me.”
Grady's strokes grew harder, stronger. It was magnificent. It was sweet agony. It was mind-numbing bliss, yet so profound an experience she wasn't certain she'd survive. While he was merely enjoying a moment of physical desire, her soul was being ripped apart.
And then the involuntary tremors of fulfillment began, making her oblivious to all but the searing need Grady had built inside her. A moan of ecstasy slipped through her lips, and hearing her, Grady's thrusts grew more frenzied, freeing her in a bursting of raw sensation. Before the last cries left her throat, his own climax sent him spinning after her. It was several minutes before Storm could move or speak. Her words brought Grady abruptly from a state of euphoria to a rude awakening.
”You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
”What!”
”You heard me. Let me go!” She tried to slide off him, but Grady held her so tightly his male appendage was still wedged deeply inside her.
”Why are you so angry?”
”Because you took unfair advantage of me. I can't think straight when you-you-”
”-Make love to you?”
Her chin rose several notches in the air. ”Seduce me.”
”What's wrong with that? It's what we both wanted.”
”It's what you wanted. I had no choice in the matter.” She began pounding her fists against his chest, making no impression at all.
”Dammit, Storm, stop that. Do you intend to beat me every time we make love?”
”There won't be another time. I can't think straight when you-when you're-”
”-Making love to you?”
”Forcing yourself on me.”
He laughed harshly. ”Are you trying to say you didn't enjoy what we just did?”
”Yes.” Her lids fluttered downward to conceal the blatant untruth of her statement.
”You're a terrible liar. Do you think I'm so inexperienced that I don't recognize real pleasure?”
”That's the trouble,” Storm said sullenly. ”You're too experienced. You know just where to touch me to make me feel things I never felt with Buddy. It's not right. Buddy was my legal husband. I loved him.”
”Is that why you're angry with me? Because you resent how I make you feel when we make love?”
”That's part of it.”
Abruptly he lifted her off of him, setting her down beside him. She scrambled for a blanket to cover her nakedness. ”You're a coward, Storm Kennedy. You're afraid of your own s.e.xuality. It's too powerful to cope with so you compensate by accusing me of seducing you. If it salves your conscience, then by all means think of me as a ravisher of innocent women.”
Storm flushed, realizing Grady had come too close to the truth for comfort. ”It isn't right to feel so-so-”
”-Wonderful?”
”Shameful,” she contradicted. ”It shouldn't happen like this. Buddy hasn't been dead very long. What kind of woman am I to allow myself to be seduced so easily?”
”A pa.s.sionate woman who has never been fulfilled until now. I'm not tarnis.h.i.+ng your husband's memory. He was obviously young and inexperienced, but dammit, Storm, he's dead. You're a true pioneer. Not many women could accomplish what you did on your own. You can remain stubborn and lose everything you've won or accept my proposal of marriage and lose nothing.”
”Except my soul.” Grady recognized the pain in her voice and was puzzled by it.
”I don't want your soul, Storm Kennedy. What I want from you is much simpler.” Even as he spoke the words he realized he wasn't being truthful. Was it really pity or responsibility he felt for the young widow? Or was it another, more complicated reason that had nothing to do with her husband's death? ”I want my son with me. He's still young and impressionable and needs a woman's influence. That's where you come in.”
Storm's thoughts raced in every direction, finally returning to one inescapable fact. Grady didn't want her for herself and she d.a.m.n sure didn't want a man who had no room in his barren heart for love. He gave her too much of everything but himself. Yet, what choice did she have? Losing her homestead would devastate her. But being a wife to Grady in every sense of the word would be even more devastating. He'd proved his mastery over her twice and was likely to do so again, stripping her of her pride, her ident.i.ty-her soul. Was there no way to keep their relations.h.i.+p less intense without surrendering everything to him? she wondered dismally. When it came the answer was a stroke of genius, and she smiled at the simple solution.
”You want me to make a home for your son,” Storm repeated, making certain she knew exactly where she stood with Grady. ”And at the same time you'll be giving me a home and salving your conscience where I'm concerned.”
”Yes,” Grady said.
”Then I see no reason to share a bed if we marry.”
”What!”
”I said-”
”I heard what you said, dammit! Are you crazy? How can you ask that of me after what we just experienced together?”
”Easy. I don't want to be forced into something I'm not ready for. I'm newly widowed. Let me mourn my husband for a decent interval before accepting another man in my bed.”
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