Josie pulled air deep into her lungs, her tingling breasts lifting until they brushed the fine hair sprinkling his chest. She grasped on a deeper level the significance of their joining without protection. The trust inherent in such a move touched her beyond words, beyond understanding. Everything that was her seemed to fuse with him, throbbing, expanding and contracting, their heartbeats one as she crossed her ankles behind his back and lifted herself up from his shaft, then slowly slid back down.

He was kissing her. Gently at first, one hand supporting her bottom, the other curving around to the back of her head, holding her still as he launched a sensuous assault. His tongue flicked over her bottom lip then dipped inside her mouth. Her hunger growing, she wrapped her arms around his neck, entangling her fingers in his hair, pressing her breasts fully against his chest, her nipples hypersensitive.

He slid his hands to her waist, taking his time. Gripping her hips, he lifted her up, then back down, establishing an easy, deep rhythm that made her quake from the inside out as she squeezed and released the tension of her legs to accommodate the move. She leaned back so that only her fingers were laced behind his neck, encouraging an even deeper meeting. Then she swiveled her hips, rubbing provocatively against him.

He groaned, his erection twitching inside her when she did it again. Then again, her own crisis growing nearer as she watched the effect she was having on him. Moisture dotted his forehead, dampening the hair that had fallen over his brow, drawing attention to the desire darkening his eyes. Then she released her grip on his neck…

Drew knew a moment of fear when Josie let go of him, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to support herself. He shifted his balance to protect her…only it appeared she knew exactly what she was doing. Clasping her hands tightly over his at her hips, she leaned back, farther and farther, until she could touch the floor. The view the move provided sent his blood pressure soaring: his member buried deep inside her, her pink flesh engorged and glistening in the candlelight.

She released his hands then stretched her arms over her head, bracing herself against the floor and tightening her legs behind him. Then she moved.

Drew’s heart beat thickly as his hips bucked, once, twice, then he was releasing his seed in her slick, tight opening at the same time her own passion-filled moan filled his ears.

For long moments, he was incapable of movement, his knees threatening to give way under the sudden weakness. He felt Josie’s hands on his again, and he grasped them, lifting her until he held her tight against his chest. She released her legs and slid down the length of him, the mere feel of skin against skin enough to make his erection twitch back to life.

Then she kissed him.

Dear Lord but this woman was going to be the end of him. She tasted of sweetness, and heat and desire, her lips claiming his in gentle persuasion. But what she was trying to persuade him of, he didn’t know. Surely she knew that he loved her? Was she perhaps attempting to get him to say it? He gazed deep into her eyes and knew that she wasn’t. Instead, she seemed to be saying the words herself.

The realization nearly knocked him over with the power of it. Deepening the kiss, he swept her up into his arms and carried her to the canopy bed, laying her gently across the length of it. Then he followed, covering her body with his, doing nothing more than kissing her and somehow feeling that if he could do that for the rest of his life, he’d never want for anything more.

The sound of the trumpet grew almost mournful as it drifted through the open doors. The candlelight flickered over her, her exotic beauty dark against the white linens and pillows. After long minutes, he trailed his fingers down over her defined collarbone, over the damp skin between her breasts, over her toned stomach. Reaching her moist curls, he nudged her open with his index finger and thumb. He dipped into her slick channel, then used the proof of their desire to swirl his fingertip around her tight nub. Her back arched against the mattress, thrusting her breasts into the air. He hungrily claimed them, taking each into his mouth as he caressed her below, licking and drawing them deep until they were shiny from his attention. Then he thrust two fingers deep inside her waiting flesh, drawing her muscles tight.

After riding the wave of sensation caused by his move, she looked at him with her whiskey-brown eyes. The raw emotion there stopped him in his tracks. And touched him more profoundly than any physical act. The honesty…the nakedness…the power was almost too much for him to view head-on.

So he didn’t.

Instead, he smoothed his hands over her lithe body, then coaxed her to roll over onto her stomach. She rose up onto her knees until her sex was in contact with his sex again. She stretched her hands straight out in front of herself, elongating her back as she strained back against him. He ran his thumbs the length of her spine and gasped when he felt one of her hands grasp his erection between her legs and place his knob against her. Then she slid back, taking him in.

Drew instinctually bucked in response, thrusting himself even deeper. And as he moved in and out, watching her juices flood over his turgid flesh, he realized that he hadn’t used protection.

The thought caused him a moment of pause. He’d never gone without protection. Not even while married because Carol hadn’t wanted to go on the pill. Something about weight gain and risks that he didn’t understand. And since he’d never even come close to having the children conversation with her, he’d always worn condoms.

But now…

Josie drew away then rolled over onto her back, placing her legs on either side of his as she gazed up at him.

And in that one moment, Drew knew that he’d be the luckiest man in the world if the woman, this woman, who had rocked his life to the core, would be the mother of his child.

When he reentered, he didn’t turn away, didn’t mask his emotions, and he met hers head-on.


A FEW HOURS LATER, Josie roused from a light sleep, her bottom snuggled against Drew’s hip where he lay on his back next to her. A few of the candles had burned themselves out, leaving the room dimmer than it had been earlier. But the light that filled her was more than enough compensation.

She’d never experienced before what they’d shared tonight. Now she understood what it meant to truly make love. And she wondered how anyone could ever compare cold, emotionless sex with what she and Drew had just shared.

The scent of their mixed passion filled her senses and her chest felt as if it were packed with cotton batting, as weightless as a cloud. Longing and need filled her on an emotional level as powerfully as physical desire, and she was loath to examine it too closely for fear that it might vanish.

She heard Drew’s even breathing catch, then he rolled over, placing his front against her back. Her womanhood was swollen to almost the point of pain from his passionate attentions, but that didn’t stop her from wanting him all over again.

She turned and slid her right leg over his, rubbing herself wantonly against his growing arousal. His hand moved over her stomach, causing her to catch her breath as his fingers burrowed into her curls and fondled her at the same time as he entered her again.

Heat spread through her limbs, and she tilted her hips back and forth in time with his leisurely strokes, his fingers keeping pace against her. She reached down between them and caressed his balls, pressing them against her clit then encircling the base of his penis as he entered her then exited.

She loved every moment of their joining. It fascinated her. He fascinated her. She didn’t think she would ever tire of discovering the things that mildly stimulated him and the ones that shoved him right over the edge. While she enjoyed touching their joined parts, following the movements, he liked to watch. She thought of climbing back on top of him so he could do just that when a sudden climax caught her off guard. He came at the same time she did.

He slowly stroked her until her spasms subsided, drawing her closer against him, despite the heat.

“Water,” he whispered against her ear. “I need water.”

She moved to get up.

“No. You stay here. I’ll go get it.”

She lay back, lazily watching as he got up and his tight butt disappeared into the connecting bath. A moment later he came back out with a towel secured around his hips, grinning her way, then going out into the hall through the drawing room. Soon thereafter, she heard his footfalls on the steps.

Josie closed her eyes and realized she was smiling. She idly drew her fingertips along the length of her stomach, then back again, then trailed a path to her own womanhood. She wanted to cup herself, as if the action could somehow trap Drew’s sperm inside her.

She stretched her neck. Is this what her grandmother and mother had done with their lovers when they’d conceived? Had they been with men they loved, but knew they couldn’t have except in one important way? Had they thrown caution to the wind, praying for a child out of the most moving experience of their lives?

The thought that Drew’s sperm was even now making its way toward one of her eggs made her chest feel lighter still.

A sound made her open her eyes.

Only it wasn’t Drew standing gazing at her from the open doorway.

It was Philippe.

19

DREW WASN’T SURE what had hit him. All he knew was that when he opened a bleary eye, he was lying facedown first on the kitchen floor, the tile cool against his cheek.

He felt the back of his head, his fingers coming away with dark liquid. Damn, but that hurt.