He turned on his back and pulled her tightly against him, then covered them both. His body was still throbbing dangerously — could he be risking permanent damage? — but he wouldn’t go on until she talked to him, explained.
She’d just given him something so special, a gift indescribably sacred. The least he could give her in return was a chance to adjust. The one thing he wouldn’t give her was freedom.
In a blink of an eye, she’d just become his, and there was no way he was teaching her how to seduce another man. She was his now, only his.
Chapter Fifteen
As Haley lay in Crew’s arms, his hand rubbed soothingly up and down her back. He said nothing while she sorted through the varying emotions filling her heart and whirling in her mind. She was in a bit of shock, a little pain, and a lot of pleasure.
Her body was aching, but the burning had already gone away, and now she was more filled with confusion than anything else. She’d never before been with a man, and yet his soft whisperings of seduce me had made her turn into a wanton.
Hadn’t her grandmother once told her that all women were whores? She’d said that Haley’s mother had been a whore and that’s why she’d gotten pregnant. She’d blamed Haley’s mother for being a whore, and blamed Haley for being alive. Haley was an abomination that never should have been born, and it was all because of sex. Lord, just remembering those bitter tirades the few times her grandmother even deigned to speak to her sent her thoughts tumbling over each other wildly.
Even knowing all of this, Haley had still lain with a man, was still lying across his chest. She might not be fifteen, as her mother had been, but she hadn’t once thought about protection. His words seduce me had melted her from the inside out, and instinct had drowned out all rational thought. Her body had reached blindly for relief. And she’d felt relief in spades, though Crew hadn’t.
How could something that felt so wonderful be wrong? What if her grandmother was wrong? The world would end if people didn’t make new children, wouldn’t it? So sex couldn’t be the evil thing her grandmother had taught her it was. The old woman had obviously had sex herself. Haley had never thought to question whether her grandmother thought of herself as a whore too. Maybe the old hypocrite had only done it that one time out of duty. It wouldn’t surprise Haley a bit.
As Haley lay in Crew’s arms, she didn’t feel shame, she felt…something indescribable. She felt safe and comforted. She felt as if what she was doing was right.
“Talk to me, Haley. Why wouldn’t you tell me you are a virgin?” When she was silent, he continued. “I didn’t mean for this to go so far…at least not tonight. I just wanted you to see how desirable you are.” He stopped as a deep sigh emerged from within his chest and vibrated through her body. “There’s obviously no problem there, because you made me lose my mind. I’m still burning for you, though I know I shouldn’t be. Yes, you are an amazing seductress.”
Curiosity to see whether he was telling the truth made Haley move. Her hand slid down his chest, past his stomach, which quivered at her touch, and then over his still-sheathed manhood, which, true to his word, was hard as stone.
Fearlessly, she cupped her hand around his thick shaft and gently squeezed it.
“Haley…” he warned. “I’m trying to get this to go away…” His sentence ended on a moan.
But she didn’t want it to go away; she wanted him to experience the same firestorm of feeling that she had.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I wasn’t expecting… I mean, I didn’t think we’d…” Her words trailed off.
“If you keep stroking me like that, I’m not going to be able to remain a gentleman,” he warned.
Instead of backing off, she tightened her fingers around him and moved her hand down, and then up again around the head of his arousal.
“Haley,” he groaned as he lifted his head and gently took her lips in his. She didn’t hesitate, clasping onto his supple mouth and accepting the caress of his lips, her hands finally moving from his shaft only so she could clasp his head.
He shifted so they were lying side by side beneath the blanket, his hand rising to enclose her breast, stirring the ever burning coals of desire in her stomach. She felt a pulsing throb begin in her core, as if begging to have him within her body again.
Fear of the pain of his entry was fading as one of his hands rubbed her swollen ni**les, and the other ran along her back and then down to grip her enticing behind. She wiggled in his grasp, not able to get close enough to him.
More. She needed more.
“We shouldn’t do this. I don't want to hurt you,” he warned.
“Everybody does this, and the slight pain is so worth the pleasure,” she countered.
With a moan, Crew slowly turned her onto her back, leaned over and kissed her until she was breathless, then sucked her bottom lip into his mouth. Her hips lifted, seeking his touch.
His fingers moved down her stomach, and then, using the moistness from her body, he rubbed his fingers over that oh-so-pleasurable-spot, drawing out her lustful cry. Just as she was tightening, getting ready to fall headlong over that wonderful cliff again, he pulled back and her cries now voiced her protest.
A low chuckle at her impatience rumbled through his chest. “Let’s go over the edge together,” he said as he slid over her, his body once again poised above hers, the head of his impressive arousal resting in the cradle of her thighs.
Yes. That was what she wanted. She wanted to fly with him, to soar away into paradise.
Far more controlled, Crew slid a couple inches inside her heat, her body stretching to accommodate him. She felt just the slightest pinch of discomfort, but he apparently could read her body better than she could, because he was slow and easy as he pushed in inch by beautiful inch.
By the time his hips were flush against hers, all Haley could feel was a pulsing need for him to move, to stoke the flames of burning desire that were radiating through her. He stilled as she wrapped her legs around his back, and tugged on him with her hands.
She might have been inexperienced, but her body was having no trouble telling her what she needed. Her limbs were moving as if they had a brain of their own.
“I’m trying to be careful, Haley,” he groaned as she continued tugging on him.
“Take me, Crew. Please, now,” she begged. “I need you.”