Part 9 (1/2)
Ryder was enjoying it every bit as much as she. He smiled lazily as he savored her soft lips, teasing them into parting. But he drew back when she lifted toward him, keeping her carefully at a distance while he skillfully built the tension between them to flashpoint.
Her teeth caught his lower lip and then his upper one as the pleasure grew. Her soft body pressed coaxingly against his, savoring the powerful muscularity of him until she felt the slow, fierce reaction of her provocation. And even then she didn't draw away. Her breath caught gently, because this was becoming familiar to her, this rigid set of his body. Familiar. Even welcome.
He felt her yielding and barely kept himself in check. Slowly, he thought. Slowly, so that I don't frighten her.
His lean hands began to slide down her back while his lips toyed with her. They moved to the very base of her spine and pressed tenderly. He felt her breath expel in a soft rush against his mouth and his heart skipped.
”Your legs...are trembling,” she said against his mouth, her nails biting into his arms.
”Yes.” His head tilted to give him better access to her lips. ”I'm going to make yours tremble even more,” he whispered. His hands contracted and began to move her lazily from side to side, so that her belly brushed the evidence of his fierce arousal. She felt her body contract with anguished pleasure, even as she stiffened and lifted to him.
”On a...public beach,” she began in a wobbly voice.
”A deserted public beach,” he whispered. ”And we're only kissing.”
”No,” she said, s.h.i.+vering. ”Oh, no, it's not...only kissing!”
”It isn't enough, either,” he bit off against her mouth. ”Hold on tight, little one. I have to have something more...”
Even as the last word was drowned out by the roar of the surf, she felt his mouth suddenly pus.h.i.+ng her lips apart just before his tongue thrust insistently inside them.
The sensation was one she'd never felt with anyone except Ryder, and it was almost unbearably sweet. Fierce heat clenched in her belly and made her shudder rhythmically against his taut thighs. He gathered her up tight in his arms and his mouth became urgent. She felt her own heart beating and at that moment she'd have given herself to him in the sand without a thought of shame.
He knew it. Her reaction was impossible to miss. It gave him a sense of aching elation, increasing his ardor.
”I can't stand up much longer,” she managed when his mouth released her swollen lips just briefly.
”If we lie down, there's going to be a whole new definition of the statement that we know each other,” he said unsteadily.
”But we couldn't...here,” she protested weakly.
”That's what you think,” he said with rueful humor, pressing her hips against his to prove to her that they could, here.
”I mean, people,” she faltered. Her eyes met his. ”Someone might come down here.”
”I know.” His mouth touched her eyelids, her nose, her cheeks, her chin. ”Letting you go is going to rank along with scaling Everest on ice skates.”
”I'm sorry.” She opened her eyes and looked up at him, with her arms still linked around his neck. ”I wasn't teasing. If you need me that badly, I won't even try to stop you,” she whispered shyly.
His jaw tautened. ”I think I knew that. But I won't ask the supreme sacrifice. Not now.” He began to let go of her, very slowly. His arms still had a faint tremor, and his body was painful.
”It hurts, doesn't it?” she asked gently, searching his darkening eyes.
”Yes.” He put her away from him and took a deep breath, trying to get past the knifelike pain in his gut.
”I suppose I shouldn't have done what I did,” she said hesitantly, watching him straighten his clothes with shaking hands.
He looked up, his fingers still on the b.u.t.tons of his s.h.i.+rt. ”Shouldn't you?” he asked and began to smile. The pain was easing, and now he could hardly believe that Ivy had actually come on to him. But unless he'd lost his mind, that was exactly what had just happened. ”Why not?”
”It was, well, brazen,” she said slowly.
He chuckled, but it wasn't a mocking kind of laugh. It was deep and pleasant and his eyes mirrored it. ”As long as you confine your outbursts to me, we'll manage,” he told her. He leaned toward her. ”I enjoyed it,” he whispered.
She blushed. ”So did I.”
His eyes twinkled. ”In which case, you have my permission to do it again, whenever you like.”
”Really?” she stammered.
His eyes were kind. Ben had hammered the impulsiveness out of her, the natural affection. But he was slowly bringing it back. He only hoped he was going to survive it. For the past few years, he'd been mourning Ivy, so there hadn't been a woman. Before that, he hadn't been accustomed to stifling his pa.s.sions. Only now was he beginning to realize what an uphill battle it was going to be not to rush Ivy into a relations.h.i.+p she wasn't ready for.
”We'd better get on the road,” he said after a minute. ”We don't want Jean to worry.”
”No, of course not.”
He slid a protective arm around her shoulders. ”You can show her your bear. Have you thought of a name for him?”
She smiled. ”Bartholomew.”
”What?”
”Well, he's a very uptown sort of bear,” she said seriously. ”You can't really expect me to give him a common name.”
He shook his head, but he didn't make any more comments about her choice of names. He just smiled.
Chapter 7.
Ryder found Kim Sun at Ivy's house, teaching Jean how to bake sponge cake.
”Don't fuss,” Kim Sun challenged his boss. ”You said my menu bored you, so I have learned beef stew, liver and onions, fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. Mrs. McKenzie taught me. In return, I taught Mrs. McKenzie to make Napoleons, crepes Suzette and sponge cake. Good trade, huh?”
”Good trade,” Ryder had to admit. His pale eyes went to Ivy. She smiled at him, her eyes liquid, and for the first time, he felt nervous. She was going soft on him physically, and he was old enough to see dangers that she couldn't. He'd gone too fast, despite his good intentions. She wanted him, and apparently she was willing. But he didn't want her on the rebound. Even if she hadn't wanted her husband, she'd loved him. He wanted her heart much more than he wanted her exquisite body. But he wanted that enough to lose his head and take it, which would only complicate things. He had to keep the pace slow and steady, which meant, unfortunately, that he was going to have to draw back and put a rein on her impatient desire. He was going to have to manage that without turning her off completely or damaging her pride, and without going out of his mind because of his own frustrated desire. A tall order for a man violently in love.
Ivy saw the expression on his face and misunderstood it. Had she been too forward? Had she frightened him off?
”I'd better get up to the house. See you tomorrow, Ivy,” Ryder said. ”If you're through,” he told Kim Sun, ”you can drive me up to the house.”
”I am through for now,” the smaller man agreed. ”Thank you, Mrs. McKenzie.” He bowed his head to Jean.
”Thank you!” she replied heartily. ”I'll fatten Ivy up yet with these new recipes!”
”She could use a little weight,” Ryder said, his eyes sliding warmly over Ivy's slender body. ”Not that there's anything wrong with the way she looks,” he added gently.
”Flattery will get you supper,” Ivy teased.
”Thanks, but I've got a lot of paperwork to get through,” he said after a minute, hating the refusal when he saw her crestfallen look. But he couldn't handle being alone with Ivy much more today. His body was already giving him h.e.l.l for what he'd refused it earlier.