Secret Love - Brenda Jackson [45]
He picked her up in his arms and took her up the stairs, holding her close to his heart, where she belonged and where he intended for her to stay.
Jake placed Diamond in the middle of his bed. Drawing away, he stepped back to look at her. As incredible as it was, this woman had completely captured his heart. And now because of her, he could allow himself to have hopes and dreams. For the first time in years, more than he cared to count, he was filled with a deep sense of inner peace. It was an emotion he thought he would never experience again.
For a long minute he continued to stare at her, inhaling her scent, analyzing her striking features. He watched her take a sharp intake of breath when his hand went to his belt buckle and begin tugging it through the loops. He saw the heat darken her eyes when he pulled his shirt free and began unbuttoning it. And he saw the slight trembling of her hands when he removed it.
The bedroom lamp’s soft incandescent glow danced shadows across her clothed body. She looked right in his bed. But, he thought, as he reached for the snap to his jeans, she would look even better with no clothes on.
Diamond sank into the soft covering on Jake’s bed as she watched him take off his clothes, piece by piece. She drew a steadying breath, thinking no man had a right to look so masculine. She watched the pulse in his throat, thinking that it matched the irregular beating of her heart.
She continued to watch him, captivated by his broad shoulders, hairy chest and the dark line leading down into his jeans. When he removed his pants, her gaze ran down the full length of his nude body. The startling evidence of his physical need for her caused her bones to tremble within her flesh. For a moment, she was rooted to the spot on his bed and held immobile by the hungry look in his eyes. Diamond barely breathed a sound when Jake began walking back toward her.
When he got to the bed, he reached out his hand to her. When she placed hers in the palm of his, he gently tugged her upright and brought her smoothly against the solid wall of his chest. Then he wrapped his strong arms around her and lightly, ever so lightly, his lips unerringly found hers.
Driven by a desire greater than any of the other times they had made love, Diamond kissed him back as a heat, hotter than any she had known, spread through her. He feasted on her mouth; he devoured it. She tried to wiggle closer and found her clothing restrictive. She wanted to be skin-to-skin with him.
As if reading her thoughts, Jake’s hand moved lower to her jeans, searching for the snap. She gasped when he found it and undid it. She cried out when he touched her, letting his fingers come in contact with her belly. Drawing in a deep stuttering breath, she expelled it. With a hungry growl, he broke off the kiss and immediately reached for her shirt. His impatient fingers popped the buttons free.
From there he didn’t waste any time undressing her. He tossed her clothes in a careless heap on the floor atop his. When he turned back to her, he knew that tonight would be a critical turning point for the both of them. Their silence was strangely comfortable, wordlessly soothing. But now, he had to break the silence that encased them. He could no longer fight the flood of emotions consuming him.
When he moved in place over her and kissed her again, he lifted his head and met her gaze and whispered, “I love you,” before smoothly entering her body in a single stroke. He then began making love to her slow and easy.