Part 16 (1/2)
He laughed under his breath, carrying Kati into his study. He slammed the door behind him and put her down so that he could lock it.
She retreated to the fireplace, where a fire was crackling merrily, and glanced down at the bearskin rug. She quickly moved away, and Egan watched her as he took off his hat and coat, his eyes sparkling with amus.e.m.e.nt.
”It wasn't that bad, was it?” he asked, nodding toward the rug. ”I thought you enjoyed what I did to you on that.”
”Don't you have work to do?” she asked, moving behind his desk.
”Afraid of me, Kati?” he asked softly, moving toward her.
He looked devastating. All lean grace and muscle. His dark hair was mussed, and his eyes were sensual.
”Egan, let me go to New York,” she said unsteadily, backing up until the wall stopped her.
He moved toward her relentlessly, until she was trapped between the hard wall and his taut body. He put his hands deliberately beside her head, the way he had in the kitchen that morning, and she trembled with the hunger to feel that hard body crus.h.i.+ng down on hers.
”Now we talk,” he said softly, watching the emotions play on her face. ”You told me you loved me. How? Is it just a physical thing, or is it more?”
Her lips parted on a rush of breath and her body ached for him. He poised there, taunting her; and, involuntarily, she moved against the wall.
”Tell me,” he whispered, ”and I'll do what you want me to do.”
She swallowed, so weak with love that she couldn't even protest that arrogance. ”I love you in every way there is,” she told him. ”Every single way.”
”I've got a nasty temper,” he reminded her quietly. ”I like my own way. And I've lived alone for a long time. It won't be easy. There are going to be times when you'll wish I hadn't carried you off that plane.”
Her body felt like jelly as she looked up at him. ”I love you,” she whispered. ”I love you!”
He eased down over her, letting her feel the full, devastating effect the words had on him, and he smiled at the mingled hunger and embarra.s.sment in her face.
”I'll want a son,” he murmured, watching the effect of that soft statement. ”Maybe three or four of them.”
She smiled slowly, wonderingly. ”I'd like that, too,” she said, trembling as she realized what he was saying.
”No big wedding, though,” he added under his breath as his body began to move slowly, sensuously, against hers. ”Just the minister and some of the boys and Ada.”
”Yes,” she whispered, lifting her mouth, pleading for his.
”And if a word of what I'm about to do to you gets into print,” he threatened with his mouth poised just above hers, ”I'll chase you to Jackson with the truck.”
”Yes, darling,” she whispered back, standing on tiptoe to reach his open mouth with hers. ”Egan, what are you going to do to me?”
”Come here and I'll tell you,” he murmured on a soft laugh.
She felt his fingers taking away the sweater and opening the blouse, but she was too busy unb.u.t.toning his s.h.i.+rt to care. Seconds later, hard, hair-roughened muscle pressed against soft, bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s; and she moaned, lifting her arms around his neck as she moved hungrily under him.
”Not here,” he groaned. He lifted her and carried her to the rug, easing her down onto it.
”You can't imagine,” she managed shakily as he lifted himself over her trembling body, ”how many books I've read this scene in.”
”You can't imagine,” he countered, ”how different this is going to be from reading.” His hands slid under her, lifting her to the hard pressure of his hips, and he watched her with glittering silver eyes as she cried out. ”You see?” he whispered unsteadily. ”Kati, I'm drowning in you. Drowning in the feel of you, the taste of you.”
He bent, and she gave him her mouth totally, moving instinctively under the weight of his taut body, loving the heaviness and hunger that was crus.h.i.+ng her in pleasure.
”Like this,” he whispered, guiding, and she felt him in a new and shocking way, and her eyes flew open incredulously.
His face, above hers, was hard with desire, his eyes glittering with triumph as he saw her pleasure in her eyes. ”Now,” he breathed, and his hands went under her thighs. ”Now, just do what I tell you.”
She felt his mouth on hers through a fog of incredible hunger, and somewhere in the middle of it, she began to cry. It was the sweetest maelstrom in the world. She felt the rough silk of his skin under her hands, and she touched him in ways she'd never dreamed of touching a man. Her legs tangled with his while he taught her sensations that shocked and burned and stung with pleasure.
”Please, Egan,” she whispered into his ear, gasping as he lifted her hips closer. ”Please, please!”
”I want you just as much,” he whispered back. ”But we're not going all the way.”
”Egan!” she groaned.
”Trust me, Kati,” he whispered. ”Give me your mouth, and lie still.”