Chapter Nine

Chloe could hardly believe she was lying on the bed looking up at a sinful y gorgeous man as he pul ed his T-shirt off and threw it on the floor.

Seeing al those muscles, his incredible washboard abs, al but paralyzed her.

She'd never seen anyone like Chase, live and in person, before.

"You're so beautiful." The words were out of her mouth before she even realized they were coming.

He responded by moving over her on the bed, placing his hands on either side of her face, and kissing the rest of the breath from her lungs. One of his legs came between hers and she couldn't stop herself from closing her legs around him and thrusting her h*ps up against his taut thigh muscles.

She was already so close, knew she could probably come with nothing more than another one of his mind-blowing kisses and the friction of his thigh against her.

"Chloe." Her name was a whisper of need from his lips to hers and before she knew it, he had her T-shirt and jeans off. When she was wearing nothing but her bra and panties - thank God she'd at least kept her nice lingerie from her earlier life - he shifted away to stare at her.

She knew she wasn't nearly as thin as the models he worked with, knew that her body wasn't perfect, not by any means...but, amazingly, she could tel that Chase didn't care.

He liked her just the way she was.

"Jesus, Chloe. You're kil ing me here." He reached out and ran one slow finger from her chin down her neck, making her arch into his hands as he trailed his gentle, heated touch down to the val ey between her breasts. "You're so damned lovely."

"You've already seen my body," she reminded him.

"Not like this. I couldn't touch you, then." His eyes lifted from her curves to her face. "I couldn't kiss you the way I wanted to kiss you."

How did he manage to keep stealing her breath when she was beyond certain that he'd already stolen it away just moments before?

"Show me. Show me how you wanted to kiss me."

She could have sworn a growl rumbled in his chest as he slid one hand into her hair, the other beneath her h*ps to press her more firmly against him.

His mouth was hot, yet gentle, over hers - that first, desperate rush to have each other turning into such sweetness, such joy as he tasted every inch of her lips with his, pressing soft kisses into the corners, the flesh at the center, the cupid's bow of her upper lip. And then his tongue licked along the curve of her lips, a slow, sensuous journey that awakened every last cel in Chloe's body. Until, final y, he dipped his tongue in between her teeth and she met him halfway, taking everything he was giving her and returning it multiplied.

Her entire body had turned soft, pliant against him, and she could feel herself throbbing between her legs.

"Please," she whispered when he lifted his head so that they could draw some oxygen into both their lungs, "I need - "

She hadn't put words to her desire for so long that she found the words drying up on her tongue.

"Wil you trust me, Chloe?"

She wished she didn't have to think about it. But she did. Trust wasn't just something she could give out easily anymore. "I want to."

His smile warmed her from head to toe before he pressed a kiss just below her earlobe.

"Wanting to is a perfect place to start."

Loving the fact that he wasn't pressuring her to try and give him something she wasn't capable of giving, as he shifted again on the bed and began to run his tongue across the swel of one breast, she let loose a low moan of pleasure.

From one to the other, he didn't rush, didn't hurry despite the desperate little sounds she was making. The look he gave her was more than a little wicked when he lifted his head from her chest.

She opened her mouth to tel him what she needed, opened her mouth to speak, but again, the words wouldn't come.

"Never be scared to tel me what you need. What you want."

"More." The one word was al she could get out.

His response to her request was to brush the pad of his thumb over one of her ni**les and she actual y gasped at the sensation.

She'd never known a smile could be so ful of desire until she looked into his eyes. He touched her br**sts again and this time she instinctively arched into his hand, saying, "Yes. Please. More of that."

His hands moved behind her back, and then he was pul ing her bra off and the air felt cool on the aroused skin of her breasts.

"I'l never, ever get tired of looking at you." Even though his hands were large, her br**sts overflowed them. "I'l never stop wanting to touch you."

Somewhere in the back of her brain, an alarm sounded, tel ing her "never" wasn't the kind of word someone used when they were simply having a fling. But she was too busy holding her breath, waiting for what was coming next, to pay attention to that faint warning.

"I'l never stop wanting to taste you." He lowered his head until his soft hair was brushing against her skin, and then his tongue was flicking out to tease her nipple.

They'd been here last night, with his mouth on her while she melted into a puddle of need, but he hadn't been tel ing her how much he desired her as he kissed and touched her.

Out on his brother's porch, they'd been stealing a moment.

Tonight, there were no limits. He wouldn't stop after making her come.

The only question that remained was, would she get scared and decide to run again?

The gentle pul of his lips on her breast, the perfect scratch of his teeth against her sensitive, taut flesh, had the question scattering away as her entire focus narrowed down to those few square inches that he was torturing so beautiful y.

And then he was kissing his way down her stomach, making her squirm as his tongue dipped into the hol ow of her bel y button. She was lost in sensation when she felt the bed dip again and realized he was kneeling between her legs. A gentle press of his large hands on the inside of her thighs had her opening up for him.

She should have been shy, should have wondered how she could lie there and let him just look at her like that, almost na**d except for a pair of fairly indecent panties, when the two of them barely knew each other.

But as he pressed his palm against her core and she felt just how wet she was, something in her brain clicked over to memories, bad ones, where she'd been vulnerable like this with another man. A man who had hurt her.

Chase had been wonderful so far, but what if he turned on her? She didn't real y know him.

How could she in only forty-eight hours?

Oh God, what was she doing, lying here spread-eagled for a man who was, for al intents and purposes, a stranger?

"Chase, I - " She tried to close her thighs, covered her br**sts with her hands.

He immediately said, "One word and I stop."

She knew what she should do. She should get up off this bed, put her clothes on, and try to pretend none of this had ever happened.

But, oh, how she wanted this. How she wanted Chase.

He'd told her just before they'd ripped off each other's clothes that if they started down this road, he wouldn't be able to stop. But here he was, offering to do just that if she needed him to.

Feeling trust begin to root a little deeper within her heart, she whispered, "What word?"

She was surprised to see his mouth move up into a little grin. "How about bananas?"

Amazed to find herself almost smiling back at him, she asked, "So if I need to say that word, we'l stop."

He nodded. "Instantly."

She couldn't believe how quickly talking that out - and knowing he'd be true to his word - made the fear recede.

And the heat resurface.

Suddenly, instead of embarrassment, there was only need. She had to press herself even harder against the heel of his hand, had to say his name again as a plea for even more.

"It's even better than I thought it would be."

Somehow, she managed to get her brain to click into gear, to take in what he'd said enough to ask, "What's better?"

"You. This." His eyes roved over her body, to the place where his hands were covering her panties, then up over her breasts, to her face. "I've been picturing you like this for so long."

She had to smile then, despite the throbbing ache between her legs. "We've only known each other two days."

"It's been a rough forty-eight hours." He moved his palm away from her damp core and slipped his fingers into the side of her lace panties. "Every single second of them, I've wanted to be here with you. Like this."

The way he slid her panties from her h*ps was pure sensual torture.

And then, she was completely bare before him.

"So damn lovely." His murmured words made it easy for her not to shut her legs as he stared at her. "So wet. For me." His hand was back a moment later, sliding over her slick heat. "Al for me."

His touch, his fingers on her, was more than she thought she could bear and her begging shifted gears. "I can't." She panted, feeling wild and out of control when his thumb slid over her clitoris and rested there. "It's too much." But even as she said it, she knew wild horses couldn't drag the word bananas from her.

And then - oh God! - he was sliding a finger from his other hand into her and her inner muscles began to clench involuntarily around his thick digit.

"Come for me, Chloe."

Her eyes locked onto his in the exact instant that her body obeyed his request. As his thumb swirled perfect circles over her clitoris, as one finger was joined by two to slip and slide from her clenching heat, Chloe couldn't do anything other than ride the wave of intense pleasure. Her back arched, her head fel back against the pil ow, her eyes closed tight, and she cried out his name. Al the while, her h*ps were bucking against his hand, his fingers, his thumb.

Her orgasm seemed to go on forever. She felt limp. Utterly wrung out. Not sure when she'd be able to even move again.

Until she felt that soft brush of hair against her skin. Not on her chest this time, however.

On the inside of her thighs.

She tried to sit up on her elbows, but her muscles were al stil too rubbery. "Chase?"

Her only answer was the slow swipe of his tongue against her most intimate flesh. He cupped her bottom in his hands and dragged her closer to his mouth.

No. Chloe knew things he didn't, couldn't know.

She couldn't possibly come again. Not after the orgasm he'd just given her. She would be good to go for a while now. She opened her mouth to tel him so, but before she could get even one single word out, she realized just how good he was making her feel.

Her clitoris was stil sensitive, but unlike most guys, Chase seemed to understand that without being told. Instead, he focused his attention on drawing perfectly light circles around the nub that was growing tighter and tighter with every passing second.

She should have known it was coming, that he wasn't going to stop without tasting her everywhere. But she stil couldn't comprehend just how far her budding trust was going to go tonight.

Not until Chase began to f**k her - it wasn't a word she was used to thinking, but honestly, there real y was no other word for it - with his tongue.

She'd felt wild when he'd made her come with his fingers, but that wildness had nothing on what came over her when his tongue and fingers started playing her with the genius of a maestro.

"Oh God. Oh God. Oh God."

The second time around she wasn't even sure when her orgasm started, couldn't spare a thought for how Chase could have possibly gotten her there again so quickly. Lost in a world of sensation, of pure ecstasy, the beauty wasn't just from the way Chase was touching her, licking her.

What she was feeling was al wrapped up in the man, himself, in every kind thing he'd said and done for her since that moment by the car. Sex wasn't just sex anymore. Instead, it was something so much bigger, something utterly interconnected to a part of her heart that had been dead for so long she'd thought it would stay forever buried.

It was that realization that had her coming down from the peak fast. Way too fast.

She would have tried to hide her reaction from Chase if she could have, but he was too good at reading her.

And she wasn't nearly in the frame of mind to play games.

"Talk to me," he said.

In an instant, he was beside her on the bed, cradling her in his arms. She could feel his erection - stil trapped in his jeans, huge and throbbing against her h*ps - but he wasn't in any hurry to finish what they'd started.

Didn't he realize that only made things worse? That he only scared her more when he acted so sweet, when he put her first? Because he made her want things, long for things she'd tried to convince herself she didn't need anymore.

She shook her head, made herself say, "Just f**k me."

But instead of doing what any other guy would have done, he simply raised an eyebrow at her language. And looked even more concerned.

"I wil ," he promised, "but first I want you to talk to me."

She swal owed. "You already know how much I want you." She gestured to her body. "You would have known that if I hadn't said a single word."

He kissed her then, once on the lips, before saying, "Tel me how you're feeling, lovely girl."

The endearment had her tensed muscles turning to mush again. "Stop doing that."

He frowned. "What am I doing? Did I hurt you?"

"No." Frustration with herself - and with him for being way too awesome - made the word staccato and sharp. "You know you didn't hurt me."

"Then what's wrong?"

"You're too great!"

The three words came out at almost a wail and he shifted her in his arms, as if he might understand what she was getting at if they only changed position. A moment later, she found herself flat on her back with Chase levered over her, his weight trapping her against the bed.

"You don't like great?" He was running one hand down her arm as he asked the question.

"I do, but - "

Wrapping his fingers around her wrist, he gently lifted her arm above her head and leaned in to run kisses and love bites up the sensitive skin on the undersides of her arms. "But what?"

"It's just that - " Her words fel away as he repeated the gentle caress and kisses with her other arm, lifting it above her head, too.

"Right there," he murmured, looking down at the way her ribs were arching slightly, lifting her br**sts up to his chest. "So pretty." He circled one of her ni**les and it begged for more, tightening beneath the sweet caress of his fingertip.

Oh God, it was hard to form rational thought when he was doing that, but she had to at least try.

"This is supposed to be sex." His eyes met hers and she clarified, "Just sex."

She watched him go stil above her and when his hand tightened on her wrist, for the first time since she'd been in his bed, she couldn't stop herself from thinking how big, how powerful he was. If he wanted to hurt her, it wouldn't matter if she yel ed "bananas" as loud as she could.

"I won't do that again," he said, and before she even realized what had happened, he let go of her wrists and had them switch places so that he was lying on his back and she was sitting up, na**d and straddling him.

"No fear, Chloe." He brought her hands to his lips and kissed them. "I can't stand to see that frightened look in your eyes when we're together. I won't hold you down again like that. I promised you I'd never hurt you and I meant it. "

"I know." The two whispered words floated between them as they stared at each other like that for a long moment.

Emotion pulsed and flowed, rose without ebbing. This was what she was real y afraid of, she knew.

Not that Chase would physical y overpower her.

But that the strength of his emotions might actual y slip in beneath her armor.

At yet, at the same time that her heart was grappling with fear and love and pain and trust, her body was crying out for more.

For Chase.

The way she was sitting on his h*ps perfectly positioned her over his erection. Even the slightest movement, as smal as a breath, had the zipper of his jeans rubbing against her clitoris. Her ni**les tightened as she looked down at Chase and saw his beautiful, bare chest laid out beneath her for the taking.

It was pure female instinct that sent her hands off to explore his muscles, to play in the light dusting of hair around his ni**les and below his bel y button. "You should be a model."

She watched him try to grin, but it never quite replaced the need on his face.

"I'm glad you like what you see."

It sounded like he was gritting out each word and she knew why. His erection had, shockingly, grown even bigger beneath her.

"I want to see more," she said softly.

Sliding a little lower down his body, she was barely aware of her br**sts swinging as she concentrated on undoing the zipper of his jeans. "It's your turn," she told him.

He tried to distract her by cupping her br**sts and tasting both of her ni**les at once. She moaned and nearly gave in to him, to the delicious persuasion of his lips and tongue and teeth. But, God, she wanted him na**d, too, wanted to see al of him just as badly as he'd seemed to want to see her bared and spread before him.

With increased focus, she slid his zipper down the rest of the way, and even behind the fabric of his boxers, his erection jumped toward her. She tried to take his jeans off, but her hands were suddenly shaking.

"I'm right there with you, lovely girl," he said in a husky voice before he took matters into his own hands and took care of his clothes.

Chloe knew better than to stare. She wasn't a virgin. But no na**d male she'd ever seen in person - or in a photo - had looked like Chase.

And then he was kissing her, both of their na**d bodies pressed against each other and just that skin-to-skin contact, the feel of him, hot and hard, the hair on his legs scratching against her, the muscles of his stomach and chest and arms pressing into her, were the most erotic thing she'd ever experienced. Even more than her orgasms.

The words "You feel so good" were out and between them before she could hold them back.

"So damn good," was his response, and this time she was the one kissing him, wanting to climb inside of him and never come out to the real world again.

Complete. She felt complete with him. Except, as her body reminded her, for one thing.

She needed him inside of her.

Now.

Her h*ps moved into place over his and she was so close - oh God, just one more inch and he'd be pressing against her, into her - when his hands moved to her h*ps and held her stil . "Wait a second."

Misunderstanding him, thinking the whole honorable thing was popping back up at just the worst possible time, she said, "I want it, Chase. I want you inside of me. So, so bad." Her desire was so big, so overpowering, that her mouth had actual y lost its fear of speaking what she wanted aloud.

She belatedly realized he was tearing something open. A condom wrapper. Another time she would ask him where it came from, but right now, al she cared about was getting it on him.

And getting him in her.

Together, they worked to slide the latex protection over his hard shaft, and then he was lifting her again, over him. The first press of the thick, broad head of his penis made her breath came out in a gasp.

"We'l go slow," he told her, but she didn't want to go slow.

She wanted al of him. She wanted fast. She wanted hard. She wanted to be so ful of Chase that there was no room for anything else, no room for fear or worry or thoughts of what the future might hold.

She looked straight at him, let herself fal into his beautiful eyes, so intense, so ful of desire and arousal...yet so gentle al at the same time.

"I want you." Her words rang out like a vow in the bedroom.

"Then take me."

He was making it her choice. Despite how hard he was, despite the fact that he could be inside her before she even blinked, he was stil making sure he didn't take anything she wasn't ready to give.

She sank down onto his shaft with a moan of deep, deep pleasure. When they were groin to groin, she stil ed over him to appreciate how good he was making her feel. Beneath her, she could feel how tense every muscle was, but he let her settle deeper onto him at her own pace.

She began to lift off him - wanting to feel that delicious slide of heat and power, wanting him to make her entirely his - and her inner muscles clenched tight around him.

"Chloe, sweetheart."

She put her hands on his chest and felt how fast, how hard his heart was beating beneath her palms.

And then she was riding him until her thigh muscles were screaming out, and he was driving into her, farther, deeper than she thought he could go.

Nothing had ever felt like this.

She had never felt like she could fly before.

Oh, how she flew, higher and higher until she was crying out Chase's name and he was rol ing them over, his heavy weight crushing her into the mattress as he moved with her, up, up, up to the peak and then over, over, over.

Chase had done more than show her how to fly.

He'd flown with her.