Chapter 12

"You looked good in my clothes. I wouldn't mind loaning them out again. And with all the hotels I visit, I always leave my brushes behind, so I keep a bunch of new unopened packages of them in the drawer to the left of the sink. You are welcome to one."

He effectively destroyed any argument she would have had, and finally she had to concede with a nod.

"Okay, I'll stay."

He took a step closer, their bodies almost touching, and his head dipped a few inches as though he was going to kiss her.

Please, please kiss me. Her silent prayer went unanswered. Instead, he swept the pad of his thumb over her lips, as though trying to memorize their shape and feel.

The man was going to kill her. All these near-kisses and no­kisses. If she didn't get control of herself, she was going to grab him and kiss him herself.

"Good. Let's change, and then we'll get a movie going."

Ten minutes later, Felicity was sitting on one end of the couch in the center of the L-shape, wearing Jared's black boxers and a large red T-shirt. Jared wore pajama bottoms, blue-and-black plaid with a blue sweatshirt that said "Creighton Law" across the chest.

"Creighton?" She pointed at his faded sweatshirt as he collected several thick blankets and pushed the large leather ottoman toward her so she could prop her feet up.

"Yeah. Been out six years, but I love this sweatshirt too much to give it away." He tossed her a fleece blanket, and she settled into it, relishing the way the soft fabric soothed and warmed her.

"You like old movies?" Jared held up two DVD cases. Suspicion and Notorious.

"Tough choice­um­Suspicion." She nodded at the Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine flick.

He popped the movie into the player and turned the TV on. Once the huge flat-screen was filled with the credits, he joined her on the couch. Rather than sit a few feet away, he lifted up her blanket, eased in beside her, and curled an arm around her waist, tucking her firmly against his side. The sudden intimacy had her entire body tensing, both with apprehension and excitement.

"It's just a movie," he murmured in her ear and feathered a kiss on her temple, as though assuring her that she didn't have to go any farther physically than she was with him right now.

How did he seem to know what to say? He was perfect and too damned tempting.

His scent, that wonderful woodsy scent mixed with fresh rain, was an endless comfort. It reminded her of home. When spring showers washed through the town and she'd leave her windows open. The scent and sounds of rain were a soothing enticement.

"I'm glad I went to see Sargent with you." His chest rumbled with his low murmur.

"Me, too. It sounds like you don't get enough time to enjoy life." She winced. "I'm sorry, that sounded rude. I didn't mean it like that." She lifted her head and leaned into his touch when he brushed the hair back from her face.

"I know you didn't. You don't have a mean bone in your body, princess." He tapped her cheek playfully with his index finger.

"Hey! I can so be mean. You don't know me." She bristled, irritated at the increasing amusement at his face. Tiny lines crinkled around the corners of his eyes and mouth. A sexy mouth, one she'd fantasized about kissing most of the day.

"I am getting to know you." He was tracing her lips, his brow furrowed in thought. She sucked in a breath, wondering, waiting to see what he'd do next.

"You, Felicity, are a kitten, sweet, soft­"

Struck by an impish impulse, she bit his thumb.

"Why you little" He tackled her back on the couch, laughing as she squealed. He pinned her down with the weight of his body and started tickling her.

"Oh! Quit that!" She was laughing too hard for the threat to be taken seriously. The blankets fell off them and onto the floor, and in the midst of their playful struggles, Jared's hips slid into the cradle of her thighs. The intimate press of his body to hers made them suck in a shared breath. Faces close, both of them panting, Felicity dared not move except to wriggle her hips under his. He captured her wrists, pressing them down into the soft, worn leather of the couch on either side of her head. She licked her lips, rocked her hips again in a silent invitation, a plea for something she needed but feared to ask for.

"Not a kitten," he murmured moving a few inches closer, enough that his nose brushed the tip of hers. "More like a tiger. Fire, spirit, beauty."

For a man who claimed he knew little of art, he painted with his words.

"Please, Jared." She didn't know what she wanted him to do, only that he had to do something.

"Shouldn't­" he breathed.

"Have to­" she begged.

"Yeah," he agreed and dipped his head toward her.

The velvet press of his lips to hers melted in a slow-burning fire. Feathery, teasing, his tongue sought hers, and she gasped against his lips in erotic delight. The kiss hardened, turned possessive, and it thrilled her. Her body was on fire, the way he gently restrained her, took his kisses slowly, deeply, a banked eagerness one thread away from losing the control he held as he taught her how to kiss.

Open-mouthed, raw, persistent yet tender. He demanded everything and conquered her kiss by kiss, sigh by sigh. When his hold on her wrists vanished, she slid her hands up his body, fingers dipping and rising over the contours of his muscled back. They settled on his shoulders and her fingers dug in, clinging as he assaulted her senses and destroyed everything she thought she knew about him, about herself.

Their bodies rocked together, an ancient rhythm hindered only by clothes. The leather of the couch was soft and whispered beneath her as she tried to shift, to find some way to ease the pangs of desire exploding like fire in her womb. Fear tinged each kiss, fear of the climbing heights, the pounding blood and the flashbangs of heat along her skin whenever he touched her. Felicity had never felt this way before.

Jared's kisses cast her into the fire, molded her into something new, never to be undone by any man's kiss but his.

She slid her hands under his shirt, and the warmth his skin radiated made her toes curl and her back arch. His hips rolled into hers again, and she hissed sharply as arousal and need shot through her. Her nails raked his back, desperate for another taste of the endless bliss each movement of his body promised. Was this what the poets and songwriters meant? This steady yet frantic race toward an unknown length of time when only pleasure could exist? White-hot stars shot across her eyes.

Jared nibbled her lips, licked the seam of her mouth, and then plunged his tongue inside again and again, until she felt like she was free-falling. The room went black around her, and she drifted in the clouds, not a breath left in her as she let go. After an eternity she came back down, bit by bit, to realize where she was­and what she'd done. With Jared.

"You are so fucking beautiful when you come," his gruff voice murmured close to her ear, tickling her, sending delicious little shivers through her.

A new tingle licked like warm little flames up and down her spine, and her womb clenched again with a new riot of small aftershocks. It was the first time she'd heard him curse, and somehow the way he'd said it made her body spasm. Embarrassed, she ducked her head into his shoulder and neck, hiding from him.

"So shy? Don't be, sweetheart. Not after that."

A kiss, so faint she wondered if she'd dreamed it, tickled her ear.

"We'll just sleep here, together," he suggested gently. She couldn't resist snuggling deeper into him. Jared embraced her, completely wrapping himself around her.

It sounded so simple, but she'd never be able to just drift off­

***

Jared knew the moment she fell asleep. So quick, so sweet, she curled into him like a sleepy kitten, and almost purred before drifting off. He gently shifted her body so he lay lengthwise against the back of the couch and she lay in front, spooned against him.

The tumble of her hair teased his nose with those hints of vanilla, and the sweet scent of her skin was alluring. She tasted like heaven, had kissed like it, too. Wild, innocent, passionate. There was no casual seduction or feigned interest. Felicity poured her heart and soul into her lips. Each kiss was imbued with the power of her soul.

And when she'd come apart beneath him? Jared swallowed a moan, trying to ignore his body's hungry demands for more. This had been for her, to show her what she had to look forward to. He couldn't give her everything he ought tobut he could give her that. And it had been something for him as well, sinking into her mouth, feeling her unwind beneath him and let go. Their chemistry was palpable, scorching his body in ways he'd not felt for years. But he knew a girl like Felicity deserved chocolates and dancing and moonlit serenadesand he just wasn't in the position to give her those things right now. He'd have to let her go so she could find another man to be her prince, another man to make her happy­

Still, the thought of someone else, another man touching her, holding her, kissing her­ He tightened his grip and held on, afraid she'd vanish like mist after sunrise.

Please, let me have this, let me have her, just for one more night.

He was a good Catholic boy, but it had been years since he'd prayed for anything. Reaching over Felicity's body, he retrieved the blanket from the floor and settled it around their bodies. A soft click from down the hall made him lift his head.

Tanner padded toward them in the direction of the kitchen, wearing only pajama bottoms. He froze when he saw Jared holding Felicity on the couch. Jared held a finger up to his lips to indicate silence, and then he turned his attention back to the movie that still played on the flat-screen. Tanner could think whatever he wanted, and Jared knew he would hear about it tomorrow, but he didn't want to think about it right now. And he didn't want to wake Felicity. She was smart enough and shy enough that she'd try to pull away. He couldn't allow that. Not yet. He had to have her for just one more day if he could. Then he would let her go.