That's Amore! - Janelle Denison [21]
"I'm sorry about that," she said, truly apologetic that Jason had to deal with Kalani. "He shouldn't have been there."
"It didn't bother me at all." He smoothed her hair away from her face. "He's a nice guy."
"Yes, he is," she agreed, and even she heard the hesitancy in her tone, which Jason promptly called her on.
"Sounds like there might be a 'but' in there since things didn't work out between the two of you."
She sighed, pondering the best way to explain her relationship with Kalani. "He is a nice guy, but he wasn't the right guy for me."
"I already know that, since I'm the right guy for you."
She laughed, his claim on her warming her deep inside.
He reached for her hand and laced their fingers together, connecting them not only physically, but emotionally as well. "Why did you break up with Kalani, especially when your family liked him so much?"
"Because my family wouldn't have had to live with him, and I would have." Leila turned more fully toward Jason and curled her legs beneath her on the sofa. "Just like my brothers, Kalani comes from a very traditional family, where the men are raised to be the providers and the head of the household, and the women are demure and accommodating."
Absently, Jason twirled the gold plumeria band around her ring finger. "That night at the luau when I first met you, you were demure and shy. Those were the qualities that initially drew me to you."
"You know what they say about old habits dying hard. That's how I was raised, to be subdued around men. When I first met you, I was just breaking out of that reserved shell of mine and testing my newfound personality."
"Well, you blossomed into a beautiful, independent, sensual woman." He lifted her hand and placed a warm kiss in her palm.
"I like who I've become," she stated empathically. She only wished her mother would come to understand and accept the changes she'd made in the past year. "When I was with Kalani I realized that our relationship was totally unbalanced. Marrying him would have been a huge mistake. In time I would have felt stifled, and probably would have grown to resent him. But with you, I'm my own person, and we've always been on equal ground."
He reclined against the corner of the couch and pulled her with him so she was lying against his side. "Little did you know it was my intention to keep you barefoot and pregnant all along." His tone was low and teasing.
She laughed and punched him lightly in the belly for that chauvinistic remark, earning an exaggerated "oomph" from him for her efforts. "Seriously, Jason, you've always accepted me for who I am, without any expectations. That's why I fell in love with you."
He considered that for a moment. "Is that the only reason?"
She drew lazy patterns across his T-shirt-covered chest with her finger, circling his nipples before skimming her way down to his flat belly. "Well, your sexy smile and hot body caught my attention, too," she said huskily. "And that first kiss you gave me in the gazebo … no one had ever kissed me like that before. You stole my breath, and I just knew you were going to steal my heart, too."
His fingers slid into her hair, cupped the back of her head, and drew her down for a kiss that was just as slow and sweet and drugging as that first time. Her lashes fluttered shut as he nibbled at her bottom lip, coaxing them to part so he could sweep his tongue inside her mouth and take her deeply, thoroughly.
His wicked, wonderful mouth continued to seduce hers, making her blood run hot and sluggish in her veins. Her breasts tingled, grew heavy, and her nipples tightened with almost painful intensity. And between her thighs, a steady, throbbing sensation began.
Feeling restless and needy, she shifted closer, moving her body up and over the heat and strength of his. She pressed him deeper into the sofa cushions and straddled one of his hard, muscular thighs with her own, welcoming the pressure and friction against her aching feminine mound.
But it wasn't enough. She needed more, and she broke their kiss to tell him so. "I want you inside me." And