He soughed a ragged breath at the erotic sight of Christine half-naked and so shameless in taking what she wanted. The fit of their bodies was tight and deep, the position leaving both of his hands free to caress and explore while she rode him at her own seductive pace. He pressed his mouth to her neck, scattering damp kisses along her throat and to her chest as he tugged the lacy cups of her bra down, exposing her breasts and the swollen, hard tips that rose up and begged for his touch.

She leaned back, giving him better access to her breasts as he lowered his head and laved a nipple before taking it deep inside his mouth. She clutched at his head and arched, offering herself up to him while gyrating her hips harder, faster, against his.

Despite how close to the edge he was, he tried to hang on just a little bit longer, waiting for her to catch back up. He curled his tongue around her other nipple, giving it equal attention as he sucked and nipped and teased the tender peak. She continued to rock against him, creating the most delicious friction, her insides slick and hot, clenching and unclenching around him until he felt the bubbling heat of his climax fast approaching.

Desperate to come, he lifted his head and fitted his mouth to hers, his tongue claiming hers in a deep, wet kiss. Taking charge, he gripped her hips with his hands, giving him the leverage he needed to meld their bodies in a way that allowed him to pull her down while he thrust into her harder, pumped faster, deeper. The heat inside grew hotter, like liquid fire doused with lust and passion and desire.

He felt her thighs tense against the building pressure of her orgasm, her inner muscles tightening spasmodically around his shaft as she embraced the climax rushing through her. She whimpered against his lips and he finally let go of his restraint, allowing his own scalding release to send him into the realm of complete ecstacy and utter bliss.

When his tremors subsided, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face against her damp neck, his emotions in a tangled mess. "Christy," he whispered, her name a soft litany as it escaped his lips.

She wound her fingers in his hair and gently tugged his head back, an enchanting smile on her lips. "Did you say what I think you just did?"

She looked so beautiful with her face flushed with satisfaction and her eyes shining with adoration-for him, he realized. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he teased.

"Oh, I think you do." She kissed him softly, her lips so sweet and coaxing. "Say it again."

He was beginning to think he couldn't deny this woman anything, and he didn't even try. "Christy," he murmured against the tender press of her mouth on his.

"Mmmm," she purred as she nibbled on his bottom lip. "I love the way that sounds, so sexy and husky." Sighing contentedly, their bodies still joined, she pulled back so she could look into his eyes. "You can't go back to calling me Christine. You know that, don't you?"

Her sassy, confident tone amused him. "We'll see about that."

She laughed and gave him one last affectionate kiss on his lips. "I could use a nice hot shower. Care to join me?"

"You scrub my back, I scrub yours?" he asked, lifting a brow.

"Yeah, something like that," she said with all kinds of sexy innuendo in her voice, the earlier incident with the snakes now completely forgotten. "I've never had a shower buddy before, and I'm thinking it could be fun."

He grinned, more than willing to give her another first. "Count me in."


CHRISTINE decided that taking a shower with Ben was a luxurious, not-to-be missed experience. The stall enclosure, finished in beige granite, was roomy enough for two, with dual his-and-hers showerheads on opposite sides of the walls and a small bench seat. She didn't normally use both spigots, but then again, she'd never had company in the shower, either.

At the moment, she was standing face-to-face with Ben, with the spray of water hitting them both in the shoulders and back, massaging muscles and sluicing their skin with moisture. Between slow, lazy kisses, Ben gently scrubbed her chest, arms, and stomach with a soapy bath sponge fragranced with her favorite vanilla body wash, while she ran her palms over his muscled chest. The more sensitive areas of her body were treated to the slick caress of his hands and fingers, and he was very thorough in making sure she was clean everywhere.

She sighed and enjoyed the relaxing, arousing process, knowing she'd get her turn to do the same to him very soon. She kissed him again, then looked into his dark, seductive brown eyes as a slow, contented smile curved her lips.

He returned her smile with one of his own as his hand glided over her breast, spreading the soap over the plump flesh and her tight nipple. "You're looking awfully… satisfied."

"For now," she replied impudently, knowing it wouldn't take much for her to want him again, even after those two amazing orgasms she'd had in the kitchen.

He chuckled, the deep, male sound echoing in the cubicle. "You're determined to wear me out, aren't you?"

She lifted a brow. "Are you complaining?"

"Not at all, sweetheart." He crouched down in front of her, letting the water drench him completely as he trailed the sponge down her legs, then back up again, his hands and fingers following the same path. "I aim to please."

Nudging her knees apart, he leaned forward and slid his tongue along the folds of her sex, delving deep. She gasped and tangled her hands in his hair, pulling his mouth closer, opening her legs wider. "And, oh, do you ever please me," she murmured, then groaned as he added just the right amount of pressure and gentle suction to that taut bud of flesh still tender from previous climaxes.

Heat flashed through her, along with a liquid desire that spiraled straight down to her core. Just that quickly, just that effortlessly, he kindled an intense, wanton need within her.

God, she was so easy when it came to this man.

And she embraced every single minute of it.

Ever since her first sexual experience in college, she'd blamed herself for her lack of any physical response when it came to intercourse. She thought things would be different with Jason, but when she'd failed to derive any real pleasure from their quick encounters, it had only reinforced her belief that she was frigid. Then, when she'd discovered the intimacy issues between her mother and father and how it had affected her parents relationship, she'd seriously begun to wonder if she just wasn't destined to follow in her mother's path and would forever settle for mediocre sex.

Now she knew better. Ben had shown her that she wasn't the one with the problem, but that the men in her previous relationships had been all wrong for her when it came to physical intimacy. It was all about compatibility, chemistry, a strong attraction, and equal parts give and take. Especially that. She'd come to learn that her former partners had been much too selfish, and she'd been far too passive.

Not anymore. Now she knew what hot, mind-blowing sex was like, and she'd never settle for less again.

Those thoughts disintegrated from her mind as Ben's mouth continued to tease and torment her, his tongue gliding rhythmically within her soft, swollen flesh along with the trickle of water from their shower. His touch sizzled like lightning over her nerve endings, and when her legs began to tremble with the onset of her climax, he curved his big hands around to the backs of her thighs to help keep her upright as she gave herself over to the lust and ecstacy rushing through her body, pushing her higher, then higher still before letting her free-fall back down to earth.

When she opened her eyes again, it was to find that he'd risen to his full height, his eyes blazing with pure male arrogance and his long, thick erection prodding insistently against her belly. He layered his warm, pliable lips overs hers, and she tasted herself in his sweet, soulful kiss.

When he finally lifted his head moments later, she released a soft, sensual sigh. "Mmmm, that was nice. Very nice." Reaching between his thighs, she wrapped her hand around his shaft and nipped at his bottom lip. "I have to say that it's a huge relief to know that I'm nothing like my mother when it comes to sex."

He blinked at her, his expression suddenly wary. "Excuse me?"

Okay, that had just slipped right out without her really thinking through the impact of her comment. Judging by the uncertain look in Ben's eyes he obviously had no desire to think about her mother and sex in the same sentence. Yet, there was just enough curiosity lingering in the depth of his gaze to give her the fortitude she needed to explain, to divulge the secret she'd kept for so long to the one person she trusted the most. Ben.

That in itself was a huge revelation, and she exhaled a deep breath to settle her suddenly racing heart. "My mother isn't very fond of sex."

He digested that for a second, then asked, "And you know this how?"

"Because I had the unfortunate luck of overhearing a very heated argument between my mother and father." Needing something to keep her hands busy while she talked, she took the sponge from his hands, reapplied a generous amount of liquid body wash, and began scrubbing his shoulders and arms.

"I'd just graduated from boarding school, and when I moved back home for the summer before starting college, I realized that my parents were sleeping in separate rooms, which I found odd, but of course I didn't say anything." As she ran the sponge over his broad chest, the warm water from his showerhead rinsed the suds down the length of his body.

She concentrated on his taut abdomen, keeping her gaze cast downward while she took her trip back into the past. "But one day I came home early from visiting a friend and heard loud voices coming from the master bedroom. My mother was accusing my father of having an affair, which he openly admitted to, and I remember him saying to her. 'Can you blame me? You won't let me touch you and we haven't had sex in over fifteen years. There's no intimacy between us, yet you've made it clear that if I file for divorce you'll make sure I can kiss my political career good-bye; Then he stormed out of the bedroom and literally ran into me. Both my mother and father knew I'd heard everything, and that's when my mother decided I was old enough to know the truth."