Bittersweet Love - Cathy Williams [43]
It still wasn’t too late to stop, she knew that. He would go if she insisted, but she didn’t insist. She watched, fascinated, as he unbuttoned his shirt, exposing the muscled breadth of his chest, with its dark hair tapering below his navel into the waistband of his trousers. She had never seen a naked man before. When he undressed, she stared, knowing that he was amused by the expression on her face.
‘You look amazed,’ he whispered, settling next to her and guiding her hand to his maleness.
‘I am.’ She gulped and then burst out, ‘I’ve never…’
‘Never?’ His face was serious. ‘But what about Eric?’
‘He never…we never…’ Words failed her and she lapsed into embarrassed silence, wondering whether he would find her virginity a complete turn-off. She did. She thought it was ridiculous in this day and age, but some frustrating uprightness had stood in the way of her ever sleeping with a man without love.
‘To be your first,’ he moaned into her ear, and she realised that her virginity was anything but a turn-off for him.
He unzipped her jeans and slid his hand underneath, running it over the flat contours of her stomach, teasing her until she felt as if she was going to dissolve in desire. She traced her finger over her breast, tempting him in turn, satisfied when he could no longer resist and bent his head to suckle on one pink peak. She arched back, thrusting her breast into his mouth, loving the feel of his moist lips around it while his tongue darted across the nipple.
With his hand he helped her wriggle free of her jeans so that she was left in her lacy underwear, then he caressed her thighs, his fingers finally working their way under her briefs to arouse her to a pitch of passion which she was finding difficult to control. He was taking his time, though, and for that she was grateful. He knew that she was inexperienced and every touch was gentle as he explored her body.
He kissed her stomach, and she felt her breathing become difficult as his head moved lower, he gently eased her briefs from her, and his lips caressed her most intimate parts with a tender persuasiveness that made her gasp with pleasure. She parted her legs to accommodate him, her body jerking to the rhythm he was setting, until she pleaded with him to satisfy her completely.
There was a short, sharp pain as he thrust into her, then only mounting bliss as he moved deep inside. He bent down to kiss her lips with fierce hunger and under the palms of her hands she could feel his back damp with perspiration. She closed her eyes and let sensation sweep her away. How could she think that she could ever have made love with anyone else? For her it had been an unbelievable experience.
Later, as they lay next to each other on the bed, her head nestled in the crook of his arm, she wondered where they would go from here. What happened in situations like these? Was there some blueprint for behaviour?
He kissed her ear, tucking her hair carefully behind the lobe and whispered that she was beautiful.
If only she could believe it. ‘Hardly,’ she murmured, blushing, and as if to assure her that he was telling the truth he led her hand to his arousal as it once again throbbed into life.
Natalie wished that this would never end. Reason was so cold and harsh, but already, even while she enjoyed the heights of pleasure to which he was taking her, it was establishing itself.
It was telling her that regret was only a short step away.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THINGS always looked different in the cold light of day. Nightmares faded, depression lifted, hope sprang into life.
Natalie stared at the first light of dawn through the crack in the curtains and thought that she couldn’t have been more miserable if she had tried. She looked down to where Kane was